This photoshoot is inspired by Marilyn Monroe, as she was an American actress, model and singer. Known for playing comic “blonde bombshell” characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s. We decided to explore the idea of Marilyn Monroe because she represents femininity and the idea of women being objectified. We incorporated little aspects such as making our blonde hair the main subject in some of the photos, and in some we emphasised pearls as they were an iconic symbol of feminism.
For our second photoshoot we portrayed similar ideas representing femininity. We took advantage of props such as the mirror in the studio, and we also brought our own props which we thought would portray a feminine mood; pearls, red lipstick and lots of other jewellery.
In this photoshoot, we knew we could resemble Marilyn Monroe by highlighting our hair throughout the photoshoot. We made this the focus in most of the images as it exhibits the feminine look, as well as incorporating the idea of Monroe being the “dumb blonde”.
Finally, for our last photoshoot, we made the mirror the subject of our images as this way the viewer will have something different to focus on. The use of red lipstick also symbolises Monroe as it is associated with confidence. “Red lips are universally appealing possibly due to the perceived association with sexual arousal”. We thought it was important to highlight this as it also tells a story on Marilyn Monroe being objectified throughout her life.
Here are all of my selected final images in Lightroom, before exporting them into a new folder in my documents. This way I will be able to edit them all separately
Marilyn Monroe was born June 1st 1926 in Los Angeles, California and died August 5th 1962. She was an American actress who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful films during the 1950s, and who is considered a pop culture icon. Monroe portrayed an early image as a “dumb and seductive blonde“, later implied that she was a sensitive and insecure woman unable to escape the pressures of the Hollywood society: a society where women were objectified and treated poorly compared to men. Her vulnerability combined with her needless death raised her to the status of being an American culture icon.
Monroe gained the most recognition from the movie “Gentlemen prefer blondes” in which she played a dumb blonde character that essentially men were attracted to, sadly she was never seen as anything more than a pretty woman.
Monroe was widely known throughout the 1940s and 1950s. She received several thousand fan letters a week, and was declared “Miss Cheesecake of 1951” by the army newspaper Stars and Stripes. She was mainly recognised for her blonde hair, wearing excessive amounts of pearls and red lipstick, and modelling.
My Plan:
My plan for my photoshoots is to produce a large selection of photos in the studio, enhancing Monroe’s iconic and eminent touches to her look. I plan to embody mine and the other model’s blonde hair in a variety of different ways, whilst also including pearls and making them the subject in some images. This way, we are able to tell a part of Monroe’s emotional story to people, signifying the importance of women’s rights and femininity.
Cynthia Morris Sherman (better known as Cindy Sherman) is an American artist born on January 19th 1954, whose work consists primarily of photographic self-portraits, depicting herself in many different contexts and as various imagined characters. For 40 years, Sherman has probed the construction of identity, playing with the visual and cultural aspects of art, celebrity, gender and photography. She is among the most significant artists of the Pictures Generation. Sherman has continued to transform herself, displaying the diversity of human types and stereotypes in her images. She often works in series, improvising on themes such as centrefolds (1981) and society portraits (2008). Her history portraits (1981), portray her use of theatrical effects to embody different roles and her lack of attempt to disguise her efforts: often her wigs are slipping off, her prosthetics are peeling away, and her makeup is poorly blended. She highlights the artificiality of these fabrications, a metaphor for the artificiality of all identity construction.
For four decades, Cindy Sherman has probed the construction of identity, playing with the visual and cultural codes of art, celebrity, gender, and photography. Sherman was always interested in experimenting with different identities. As she has explained, “I wish I could treat every day as Halloween, and get dressed up and go out into the world as some eccentric character.” Sherman has continued to transform herself, displaying the diversity of human types and stereotypes in her images.
Image analysis:
All of Sherman’s images incorporate a lack of femininity throughout them, as shown. One of the main aspects I noticed first was the deep contrast between the dull and dark colours surrounding the subject in the image. The background is black, allowing the face to stand out, along with the clothing she is wearing. These are effective because they do not allow the viewers eye to wonder throughout the image, rather we stay focused on the subject. Sherman regularly alters her appearance to the extreme, which makes her almost unrecognisable. For example, in this photo she has exaggerated her lips to the maximum, which I find interesting because I believe it symbolises femininity. She has also altered her eyes and eyebrows, making them very thin to the point they look fake. The use of this portrays a confused expression on her face. This is important because it gives the idea that perhaps Sherman is confused within her own identity, which leaves the viewer also questioning.
Claude Cahun was a French surrealist photographer, sculptor and writer, born on October 25th 1894. After studying at the University of Paris, Cahun settled in Montparnasse in the early 1920s and began her artistic career. It was in Paris that Cahun adopted the name Claude in 1914, as she was originally born as Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob but began to explore the idea of being gender neutral. They chose this new name because in French is both a male and female name. While Cahun was alive, it is argued that the pronouns used were either she/her or they/them because that is what was used when they were alive and used themselves; they/them because of their often-discussed detachment from being a woman or a man. Cahun is best known as a writer and self-portraitist, who assumed a variety of performative persona. Moving to Jersey in 1937 with her stepsister and lover, Marcel Moore, she resisted the occupation taking place on our island. During their lives together in Jersey, the women decided to mount an underground resistance campaign following the Nazi’s occupation of the Island in June 1940. The two campaigned against them, provoking them in a risky manner for four years until 1944 when the Gestapo investigated them. Narrowly avoiding a death sentence, the two were freed from prison on the 9th of May 1945 following Jersey’s Liberation. Remaining on the island until 1953, Cahun suffered from ill health which unfortunately resulted her passing in hospital on the 8th of December. After this, Moore continued to live on in Jersey for many more years until sadly ending her own life.
Her life was a representation of resistance, defying the conventional ideas of beauty and femininity with her shaved head and male attire, challenging them. This was almost revolutionary in the 1930’s, being in a same-sex relationship and exploring her identity in a difficult time period of traditional values. Whilst Cahun was alive, they produced many pieces of work which The Jersey Heritage Trust collection represents. Their work challenged the politics of gender and identity, alongside the work of many male Surrealists who depicted women as objects of male desire. They used domestic settings such as a cupboard at home and introduced something interesting and new to this environment, exploring gender fluidity.
Image analysis:
For example, in this image Claude Cahun is representing the masculine stereotype, which I can see from their shaved head and dressed in a suit, giving the image a monotone look. This contrasts well from some of their other photographs because they have also been seen wearing makeup, portraying a more feminine side. I believe Cahun’s work is important in todays society because it breaks down the idea that females must be feminine or males should be masculine. Being a vision of gender fluidity and breaking down the gender roles that were traditionally assigned.
“Handsome, muscled and driven, he’s a prime example of masculinity.”
Masculinity is a set of attributes, behaviours, and roles associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviours considered masculine are influenced by both cultural factors and biological factors. Masculinity is constructed and defined socially, historically and politically, rather than being biologically driven. Boys and young men who embrace positive masculinity are more likely to have positive outcomes in their lives, such as better mental health, stronger relationships, and greater success in their careers. However, toxic masculinity refers to the notion that some people’s idea of “manliness” perpetuates domination, homophobia, and aggression. Toxic masculinity involves cultural pressures for men to behave in a certain way. And it’s likely this affects all boys and men at some point in their lives.
Men are often stereotyped as the following:
Powerful
Strong
Dominant
Independent
Violent
Courageous
Assertive
Leaders
The concept of masculinity alters through history. For example, in religion or even Greek myths, stories are told of men being powerful gods and heroes, battling to protect their wives, setting the stereotype and expectations for men to be strong and fierce. This led to the idea that men or boys must act a certain way too, for example they were expected to be unemotional or to not cry otherwise this made them weak. However, through time, this idea is slowly being broken down similar to femininity, as while society grows people find more ways to express themselves and try to not fit into set categories of behaviour.
Femininity is a set of attributes, behaviours, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviours considered feminine are influenced by cultural factors and biological factors. Femininity creates stereotypes for the ways a woman should both behave and look. The societal expectations for a ‘feminine’ appearance include long hair, softer features and clothing choices like dresses and skirts. Traditional femininity sets societal expectations and standards to create toxic femininity. Toxic femininity can create societal pressures for women due to the enforcement of unrealistic beauty standards and behaviours. This causes some women to feel judged, constrained and pressured to fit these expectations, possibly even causing them to experience struggles such as isolation, anxiety, and hiding their true identity.
Society’s perception of femininity has changed over the last century as shown:
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Some factors of femininity are :
Gracefulness
Gentleness
Empathy
Loving
Humility
Sensitivity
Emotional
In the 1900s, and only up until recently, women were often objectified and seen as ‘less’ than men. This was a common stereotype that was shared across the world. It was expected that women were to stay at home with their children and spend their days cooking and cleaning for the family. Whereas men were expected to go out and do work in order to provide for the family. Women were not allowed to get jobs as it was only viewed as a ‘masculine’, meaning people assumed they were not capable of doing a mans job. This made life tough for women as well as young girls growing up because they were portrayed as weak and incapable.
However, perspectives began to change soon after when many women began standing up for themselves. Although, it was tough at first and men continued to belittle them, women eventually began claiming power and often proving to people they were capable of doing anything a man could do. This became more and more successful over time and proved they were as strong as them. Today, women are still fighting for equal rights to men, but the stereotypes and expectations of women have adapted and improved.
Binary opposition:
The themes of ‘FEMININITY and MASCULINITY’ are a binary opposite – a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning.
Binary opposition originated in Saussurean structuralist theory in Linquistics (scientific study of language) According to Ferdinand de Saussure, binary opposition is the system by which, in language and thought, two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against one another. Using binary opposites can often be very helpful in generating ideas for a photographic project as it provides a framework – a set of boundaries to work within.
The concept of identity politics and culture wars in photography is an important aspect to look at. This is because it studies your administrative identity combined with your physical characteristics, such as your date and place of birth. A photographic identity allows you to reveal yourself, to stand out among the crowd of photographers, to ensure your individuality and your irreplaceable artistic fingerprint. I believe this is extremely beneficial for modern day photography as it allows each and every person to decide how far they want to take either the masculine or feminine approach in their photographs. Identity politics also aims to eliminate negative misrepresentations (stereotypes) of particular groups that have served to justify their members’ exclusion or assimilation to the point of erasure. A great example of this is identity politics in the United States, which developed in the 1980s and ’90s as a reaction to the perceived failure of liberal civil rights legislation to eliminate identity-based inequities, such as racial and sexual discrimination. In the view of many critics, liberal ideals of equality, such as equal rights were misguided because their transcendent nature made it difficult in practice to justify policies designed to achieve greater social equity exploited groups, particularly African Americans. Indeed, during this period conservative activists and government officials frequently invoked the liberal value of “colour blindness” to resist racial affirmative action programs in education, employment, government contracting, and other areas.
Identity politics
Identity politics is politics based on a particular identity. Some examples of this are
Race
Nationality
Sexual orientation
Religion
Gender
Social background
Social class
Culture wars
In political science, a culture war is a type of cultural conflict between different social groups who struggle to politically impose their own ideology (beliefs, virtues, practices) upon their society. An example of a culture war is the gamergate controversy.
Impact on society
These stereotypes and identities had a very large impact on society because over recent years society has adapted to these changes, and they have become known and believed worldwide.
Professional headshots are a type of portrait photography typically used for websites, press releases, publications, and social-media profiles. The term “headshot” just means that the portrait photo is cropped somewhere in the middle torso – so that the focus is on your face.
Some common rules in order to produce successful headshots are:
Don’t bend your head too far forward or back – you want to be relaxed and natural-looking.
Don’t sit in an awkward position – you want to look comfortable and confident.
Don’t look down at the ground – keep your chin up and make eye contact with the photographer.
Don’t use outdated corporate headshots.
Eyes must be open and clearly visible, with no flash reflections and no ‘red eye’
Facial expression must be neutral (neither frowning nor smiling), with the mouth closed
Photos must show both edges of the face clearly
Photos must show a full front view of face and shoulders, squared to the camera
The face and shoulder image must be centred in the photo; the subject must not be looking over one shoulder (portrait style), or tilting their head to one side or backwards or forwards
There must be no hair across the eyes
Hats or head coverings are not permitted except when worn for religious reasons and only if the full facial features are clearly visible
Photos with shadows on the face are unacceptable
Photos must reflect/represent natural skin tone
Headshots Mood Board:
Thomas Ruff- Artist Research:
Thomas Ruff was a German photographer born on February 10th 1958, who lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany. He has been described as “a master of edited and reimagined images”. Ruff shares a studio on Düsseldorf’s Hansaallee, with fellow German photographers Laurenz Berges, Andreas Gursky and Axel Hütte. Thomas Ruff’s photography suggests the possibilities of his chosen medium, as he might use digital manipulation for one subject and antiquated darkroom techniques for another. Ruff works in series, creating defined bodies of work whose subjects include empty domestic interiors, appropriated interplanetary images captured by NASA, abstractions of modernist architecture and three–dimensional computer–generated Pop imagery.
Ruff is a unique photographer because he explores the boundaries of photography and challenges traditional ideas of representation. He experiments with different techniques such as digitally manipulating them or using large-scale formats in order to create visually striking photographs. His work often prompts viewers to question the nature of photography and our perception of reality.
Bruce Gilden:
Bruce Gilden is an American street photographer. He is best known for his candid close-up photographs of people on the streets of New York City, using a flashgun. He has had various books of his work published, has received the European Publishers Award for Photography and is a Guggenheim Fellow.
Bruce Gilden is one of the most iconic street photographers known for his confrontational and graphic images of a close-up subject. His work is around this due to being fascinated by the life on the streets and the complicated and captivating motion it involves in his childhood. His work has a high degree of intimacy and directness which have become signature in his work called FACE. Typically, people used are not the average person and have blemishes or look uncomfortable/awkward. Many people may say he is the most aggressive street photographer due to the rawness and realness of his images.
I like Gilden’s work because it has a sense of realism throughout. It is effective because he has a unique style that captures raw and candid moments. He often gets close up to his subjects, which I think creates powerful and intense images. His photos also have a a gritty and unfiltered quality which easily grabs attention and evokes strong emotions.
This is my final virtual gallery, which overall I feel looks pretty successful. I like how I have incorporated a range of the different lighting techniques we experimented with. I think my favourite lighting technique is the chiaroscuro because it shows a deep contrast between the light and the shadows, and gives a mood of mystery
