For my personal study, my inspirations come from the work of Carolle Benitah and Philip Toledano, two artists who utilise the theme of nostalgia, family, memory and loss in order to challenge events that have occurred in their lives, specifically in childhood. This is something I want to reinterpret in my own way and apply it to my own circumstances, that being growing up with a sibling who develops Bipolar disorder.

First Idea:

My first photoshoot idea solely comes from the work of Carolle Benitah. Benitah takes images from her own family archives, such as photo albums, and uses different mediums to symbolise different events that happened which are linked to the image itself, or the people within it.

She also uses the same consistent shade of red within each image to make them all link and be cohesive in the story that she’s trying to tell – this is something I have thought about doing but with a consistent shade of blue as this is my brothers favourite colour, however I need to think about this a bit more as I am unsure at the moment. But, if I do use this inspiration, I may be able to apply this into each photoshoot so that all my images link and show a clearer reference to Benitah.

As my inspiration, I am going to go through the images that my parents have involving my brother, whether that be just him, me and him or all of us, and photograph them. I am going to do this either by using the studio or creating my own small studio at home using black card as the background so that I can crop any spaces after. If this is unsuccessful, I will photocopy the physical image itself. This is because I don’t want to tarnish the actual picture, so by creating a copy this then allows me to be experimental with different mediums – such as paint, ink, thread, glitter – multiple times. I also do have digital images from my mum, meaning that I can print multiple copies off to also be able to experiment and not be worried about it being ineffective.

Second Idea:

My second idea stems more from the work of Philip Toledano, looking at the still-life’s he took of his sisters belongings from before she died as a nine year old child. Toledano took an assortment of Claudia’s belongings and keepsakes from her childhood and photographed them using a birds-eye view technique.

This is going to inspire me in my second photoshoot, beginning with me asking my parents for everything and anything they kept from mine and my brothers childhood, with the objects ranging from birthday cards to baby toys. Anything I can find I am going to photograph in order to have a wider variety of images to choose from as this will enable me to be more selective in choosing which images are the best, link the story well enough, and carry the most meaning. If I do this well, I think this will make my photobook more emotive, and encapsulate the heaviness of this topic behind it. I am going to try to achieve the lighting technique that Toledano uses, being that he uses geometric shapes in order to add that ‘out of place’ tone within the images. However, if this doesn’t work I will be able to find a way to do it on Photoshop by merging the two images and making one in black and white and the other in colour, then cutting out my desired shape in the black and white image, finally layering the two over each other so that the shape I have created is the only part of the image that is in colour.

Third Idea:

My third category of images that I am going to use is going to be of different locations that resonate with my brother and relate to his childhood. For example:

• My house
• Football fields
• My estate
• My garden
• The hospital that he goes to

These are only just a few I can think of at the moment, however I will ask my parents where the best places to go would be as they will know from taking me and my brother.

However, I don’t want my images to just be plain landscapes that don’t really fit in with my other two photoshoots so I am going to hone in on form for these images. My second zine that I did for Jersey’s maritime museum was very focused on the form of the landscape instead of the aesthetics of it, which is why I want to use this knowledge in my own personal study, as this is a good representation of seeking out the environment around me as well as portraying the context of my brothers story better. When I go to these places, I am going to take multi-shots to be able to distinguish the best images and be able to experiment better.

Overall, a key aspect of my work is going to revolve around form and shape, specifically in my third photoshoot, however this is also going to be demonstrated in my second photoshoot in a more discreet way. My photoshoots may change as I begin to work on them next week, however I need to remember to be experimental and explore different ideas by taking risks.