I only had 20 minutes to take some photos with tony (the model in these photos), so I only managed to take a few of my ideas. His room is full of colour which really adds to the basketball theme, as well as his endless shoes and basketball Jerseys. The brown carpet does ruin the colour sometimes, so I might edit the photos showing carpet in black and white. I asked him to look annoyed and sad, to show more emotion in my photos. I played around with the angle of the shot multiple times since basketball is a very dynamic sport, and an easy way to add this dynamic effect is to take photos with weird and unusual camera angles. For the camera settings, most of the photos where set to auto, with flash since I didn’t have enough time to mess around with the settings. However, I think this made it look more home made and real, as if a family member was taking photos of him.

Here I asked tony to get a few of his basketball shoes out and place them around his head, where he then places his arm on his face, looking disappointed and annoyed. He chose his favourite shoes which ended up being the most colourful which make the image more vibrant and exciting, contrasting his facial expressions. This adds to the story of him being an over obsessed basketball player, as the colourful image adds to the basketball theme, and the disappointed facial expressions adds to his obsession with basketball, never being satisfied with himself.

Here I asked my friend to get some of his old plushies out for the photoshoot. I asked him to look a bit insecure when playing NBA 2K (a basketball game which is the most popular in the basketball community). You normally need to play the game with other players but if you look closely he is playing by himself, adding to his isolation from his basketball team mates. The plushies next to him could also add to this loneliness and isolation, especially since its taking up most of the bed, leaving him scrunched up towards the left side of the bed.

Here is my first attempted edit of a Paul M Smith style photograph, using photoshop to add layers onto one photo. I had to manually add some shadows as well using the brush tool which don’t look too realistic in my opinion. I also blurred the layers that are further away and adjusted the lighting similarly to this. Before I imported the photos into photoshop, I made sure they are similarly edited (by copying one edit and adjusting the exposure to match). I think editing like this adds more effect as the whole composition is filled by the same subject, bringing more attention to what he is actually doing. It also adds the time dimension into my photos as you can see him changing what he is doing over time in one photo. It fits in with the whole story of this project as well since he is shown to be working on himself, by himself which portrays a sense of loneliness.

These images are from the artists Justine Kurland, Kristina Rozhkova, Ellen Mark and Ramona Wang. All of these images show how girls interact with each other, the “female gaze”. I really like these images because it shows the different interactions with different woman. These images show the connection of feminine energy between all ages of girls. The nature of girls in these images stay the same throughout the ages. In the picture of the 3 girls doing each others hair have a similar feel to the 2 girls doing their makeup together. I really like how in most of these images the girls feel comfortable together and they have a connection of friendship in which they allow each other to feel happy together.

When I create photoshoots for my own personal study, I am going to ensure the girls in the images feel a connection of feminine energy. I am going to take an approach similar to Justine Kurland in the way that she sets up her tableaux photoshoot. I will go to settings where I feel like I have spent my life over the years and I will set up the images in a way that makes female teenagers contradict the stereotype of female roles.

I am also going to be inspired by Ramona Wang, I like her images because it shows the true connections between female friends and how the girls feel empowered together. Her photographs show the detail behind girlhood and the experiences girls go through together. For example the images with the girls in the toilet putting makeup on together, I like how this shows that the girls feel comfortable in their underwear together and they feel as though they are safe around they’re female friends.

For my photoshoot I would like to look more at female empowerment and the future of women’s rights and how they are being portrayed in more positive way as times continue. This photoshoot will show a more positive light on women and how times have evolved to empower them instead of restrict them to certain values and opinions. This photoshoot will be created to show woman who are capable and headstrong with knowledge and intelligence.

For this photoshoot, I will take pictures in a house which is an out of school photoshoot to display women with power and almost being over-dramatic about their posing and expressions. Another interesting component of this photoshoot, is that these women will be young adults of the age of 18, instead of a women ages e.g. 30, who has lived a life to develop into who she is. Due to these girls’ age, it creates a meaning that it does not depend on age, when a girl can be powerful and self-confident. I would like to focus on posing and how, the way you come across, demonstrates your power and confidence.

Helmut Newton References.

My images are being produced In response to Helmut Newton’s work, however, my images will display similar signifiers in his work such as the topics of dominance, confidence and power. Although Newton’s work is controversial for being either critical of women or empowering women, I would like to explore different aspects of his work, as some of his images are seen to be empowering, and some more disparaging. The conflict of emotions towards his work argue whether his images are empowering the woman as his work surrounds themes such as power and control, instead of submission and manipulation. In my photoshoot, I am going to be interpreting Helmut Newton’s work surrounding themes of dominance control and power, but my work will be highlighting the difference in empowerment and objectification. I will do this by having a similar style of photographs, but have my models be glamorous and celebrated not glamourous and subordinate.

Here are some examples of images I would like to include in my photoshoot outside of school in response to his work.

These photos are perfect representations of images I would like to produce in my own photoshoot. I want my models to look elegant and posed in similar situations to this. I am choosing this style of photos out of his different genres as I feel these images display the classy and glamorous yet voyeuristic style of images where the women are dressed up. I want my models to pose in a confident manner to show they are self-aware and strong, contrasting with stereotypical portrayals of women.

My Photoshoot:

I would like my 3/4 models to initially be dressed in long black dresses with red lipstick and long straight hair. This is to demonstrate the stereotypical powerful woman during this time period. However, I would also like to experiment with different outfits and hairstyle and makeup in order to replicate different images and create an impression of fashion photography in response to Helmut Newton’s work. I would like to initially start with black dresses as many of his photos feature this type of outfit. However, I am attempting to provide similar extravagant clothing. Here are some outfit ideas I would like to include in my photographs. Pieces such as long dresses, black trousers, blazers, heels, tights and coats, all with darker tones I think will really boost my images to look more similar to his work.

Posing Ideas.

These poses give me ideas on how to show power, confidence and beauty. These are a wide range of things I would like to focus on in order to relate to the idealised view of a woman and how they are portrayed, vs how they really are. I really want to convey a message about how women are portrayed and how the line between glamour and class and objectification and humility is able to be hidden easily in the fashion world.

Images:

These images are inspired by this image taken by Ramona Wang. I like this image taken by Ramona Wang because it shows the stereotype of girls getting ready to go out. This image shows the gender roles that woman feel obliged to put on makeup to look acceptable for other people. For my images I decided to sit in front of the mirror doing my makeup and took an approach similar to Cindy Sherman. These images show that woman are stereotyped to take a while to put makeup on, to choose and outfit and do their hair to look good. However in my images, you can see the mascara running down the eyes and the hair is messy. This portrays a contrasting idea that some girls don’t care about their appearance and are comfortable in their own skin without having to cover up using makeup.

This is a reflection of my favourite topics that I have studied throughout my A level photography course. I have really enjoyed exploring all of these different topics and artists, and I feel that I am a much greater photographer for doing so. These projects have really helped me in developing my ideas, and understanding what a photograph really needs to be.

Landscapes and Romanticism

With romanticism, we started by looking at its origin in landscape paintings from the early 1800s, and their relation to the sublime – a combination of extreme beauty and overwhelming scale that evokes a strong emotional reaction. I was very inspired by Edwin Deakin and his paintings of the beautiful Yosemite Valley.

In the rise of the industrial revolution, I related heavily to these artists who escaped to the natural world and found freedom through their art in spite of the realists and rationality that plagued their homes at the time. Later, through the work of Ansel Adams and his own attachment to the Yosemite Valley, I found my own deep fascination with the natural landscapes of my own home, Jersey.

Here are two of Ansel Adams’ photos that I attempted to recreate at Plemont beach near my home. Plemont has always been a place for me to walk to and explore. It has these tall cliffs and deep caves, with jagged rocks scattered everywhere, as well as this huge tidal range that engulfs the entire beach at high tide.

(high tide photos)

Further on in the landscape module, we were asked to produce a new topographics photoshoot. I was inspired by the works of Joe Deal, a photographer who is known for his sky view photographs. In order to do this, I would need to stand at a high vantage point and take photos looking down at the scenery.

This is one of the photos I came up with in comparison to Joe Deal’s work. This technique is like a ‘birds eye view’ of the world, and offers an interesting perspective on the exponential increasing of distance as you look further up through the photo. Further on in the same photoshoot I focused more on Ansel Adams, and portraying Jersey’s various natural landscapes. From this, I produced my favourite set of photos from throughout this course.

Henri Cartier-Bresson and Saint Malo

Later on in the course, we studied Henri Cartier-Bresson and the decisive moment. The decisive moment is the moment in time, from that exact perspective, where everything aligns perfectly. A perfect example of this is Cartier-Bresson’s infamous image named ‘Derriere la Gare Saint-Lazare’.

When studying him, I was fascinated with his method of taking photos, by simply allowing the world to move in front of his camera and waiting for the perfect moment to take the photo. When we visited Saint Malo for a street photoshoot, this was my exact mindset. Ultimately, I found myself wondering alone through the streets of Saint Malo, looking for these decisive moments.

These were the first photos that I was very happy with during the photoshoot. To me, they are related to each other as two opposing sides, an admiration of photography, and the taking of a photograph. I felt that these both related to me in a way, as the photographer of both of these photos and also an admirer of both of these photos.

This is my favourite photo from the photoshoot.