Cindy Sherman-

Cindy Sherman is most known for her amazing work about femininity and taking photos inspired by stereotypical aspects of women. For these photos she does it all by herself usually, she is the model makeup artist director photographer, etc..

These images are from her work called “untitled film stills” which she created and worked on from 1977-80.

For these she plays stereotypically female characters like a housewife, sex object, gardener, etc… however, she also does have some working characters within her work. The idea behind this was to show how society views women to also show who/what women are. Having both working characters and also housewife-type characters shows that women should have the option to choose whichever they want.

I’m a big fan of her work I think she expresses her thinking and her opinions about women and how much women can achieve and how they can do whatever they want if they want it bad enough, very well.

The lack of colour in the image I think helps create this emotional aspect to the picture. The way the model is looking away from the camera gives off the impression that she is more scared and timid as when you make eye contact with the camera it has a very confident and almost scary feel to it which this one doesn’t which I think works if you think about how women were at the time.

If you use the rule of thirds she would be in the on column on the right and it kind of gives off the impression as if she is hiding in the image otherwise she would be more central which also helps create this idea of her being more sacred and timid. I think this photo is quite natural by the looks of it the lighting isn’t too harsh and it is kind of even all over so I doubt there was anything like a ring light used for this photo.

I think conceptually her whole idea was to show what life was like for women what jobs they could do and what was the most common for women especially this one as many women were forced into being housewives and didn’t get an option in what they did.

During the 1970s-80s there were many women’s movements and protests following the big push during the 60’s for more equal rights for men and women as there was a clear lack of equality that women faced. Which I think heavily affected and influenced her work/project of untitled film stills.

Duane Michal’s-

Duane Michal’s is a self-taught photographer who gained popularity for his project “Dr. Heisenberg’s Magic Mirror of Uncertainty” which was discovered when he was asked to be in French Vogue in 1999 for a science-based issue. He says he has always been both interested in physics and photography but especially abstract and what he describes as “un-photographable” work.

For these images he achieved these through having this distorted mirror so whenever the model would move the mirror slightly it would have this really interesting and unique water-like effect so the whole of the model’s face would change.

These photos can kind of appear sad and give off these negative feelings due to them being in black and white and you could interrupt the mirror as if to show him reflecting on his true emotions and how life is feeling for her and the outside is just how she presents herself and she wont show anyone how she is truly feeling.

When looking at this photo in a more technical sense one and as well in most of her other images he always has his model in the very centre of his photos if using the rule of thirds which can show how they are the most important thing as it’s in the very centre so your eye is automatically drawn to it.

I think the concept of this artwork is to show how nothing is certainty when converting life and in general so having the reflection be distorted and not show it is supposed to be kind of shows the uncertainty.

He named this project “Dr. Heisenberg’s Magic Mirror of Uncertainty” because at that time Dr.Heisenberg had recently said how “you cannot predict with any certainty the position or velocity of a particle” which clearly inspired her work as she shows that inconsistency.

Lauren Withrow–

Lauren Withrow is more of a recent photographer who has only recently been majorly discovered and she is growing big and more well-known quickly.

She describes her work as her expression of femalehood, feminity, queerness and vulnerability. She has made this amazing feel of femininity through these feminine shapes through clothing and poses everything feels more soft and rounded off which would be considered more feminine and it is clearly portrayed.

Robert Mapplethorpe-

This is Robert Mapplethorpe’s project called “Body Parts” which he would get up close shows of different sections of the human body usually a man’s body as he can photograph visual masculinity. He described his work as  “the perfect way to make a sculpture.”

His work was heavily inspired by classic sculptures and paintings where it shows the classic ideal. How men are supposed to look and act. Which I think he executed really well i believe you can see very obvious similarities between his work and some classic sculptures.

Femininity and masculinity would be considered a small part of binary opposites which is quite a broad topic so you have smaller subjects/topics like femininity vs masculinity, black vs white, peace vs war etc…

Identity can be quite a political topic especially now since more people are starting to speak about inequalities they face due to their identity. You have lots of people who will be in support of equality for everyone no matter who they are. However you will still have some people who wont agree and will discriminate due to race, gender, social class etc…

Femininity– “qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of women or girls.”

Historically society have given women these role such as being a mother (which most may be however that does not define them) and someone who should do all the cooking, cleaning and taking care of the house and family while her husband is out

Society also seems to have quite high expectations of women and how they should be feminine by always looking perfect with their hair done, makeup on, nails done. Often women are looked down on when they aren’t “perfect”.

Now more then other women are trying to defy these stereotypical thoughts and ideas about what it means to be feminine. It was always quite a masculine trait to be brave, powerful and strong but more women are now saying that being strong can be feminine too.

Masculinity– “referring to the roles, behaviours and attributes that are considered appropriate for boys and men”

As a society we have kind of told men they have to be tough, they cant be vulnerable and emotional they have to be strong for their family. It was quite common for people to tell men that they cant cry and to get over their problems they were facing.

Recently now as a society we have been trying to stop these damaging stereotypes as they hold no purpose and just isolate people. Its now although not mainstream it is more common to see a man wear makeup. Its now more alright for men to get upset and need support too.

How the war effected gender roles– A big defiance against these gender roles/rules were the war, this is because when the men went off to the war it meant there was no one to do the “man” jobs therefore the women had to start doing those jobs which showed everyone that they are just as capable as men. Not only did they start doing men’s jobs but they also had to carry ion with their original jobs like cooking and looking after the kids so it really proved to everyone how strong and capable women actually are.

Photomontage is where you create this new piece of work by (if you are doing it by hand) cutting and sticking different images onto a photo or (if you are doing it digitally) editing different photos on top of anotherto make a whole new image.

some famous photographers who have used photomontage before would be Hannah Höch who was said to be one of the origninal creators of this style, man ray who is well known for his hand photo with eyes in the center and raoul hausmann who was well known for using writen work underneath his images.

Photomonatge is often used to show and express peoples minds and how they think without words and it doesnt always have to make sense or be logical.It was most used and popular during the 1970’s and 80’s during the postmodernist era.

 

I think one of my favorite photographers who has done work on double exposure would be Christoffer Relander. He was best known for his series called “We Are Nature”. He layers the original portrait photo and layers a blurred nature image on top which is known as double exposure.

Emotional aspects-

I really like these photos they feel very tranquil and calming because all the colours are quite dull and muted but the way it’s blended makes it work

Visual aspects-

I think this image really works I like the fact it is in colour and you have the rich greens showing through unlike some of his other images.

I also really like how you can still see the model’s face very clearly underneath the nature/trees and the trees are almost being used as her hair i think that looks really successful.

technical aspects-

if you use the rule of thirds you can tell they have all the darker parts of the image where the hair would be in the collum on the right and the middle collum seems to be the most bright and colourful. The side on the left is probably the dullest it doesn’t have much it other than the model’s face.

conceptual aspects-

I get the impression from his work that Relander is trying to show us the beauty the calming effect of nature​
I would love to recreate his work I think it’s so interesting and beautiful and would be a great one to recreate.

contextual aspects-

This style of work is from his “We Are Nature” collection. Christoffer Relander is a Finnish photographer who liked the idea of pairing up each subject/model with different geographical/natural elements.

Double exposure is when you have two images layered on top of each other and you’ll change the blending options of the opacity of the images. Double exposure tends to create this dream like effect sometimes making the image look scary and give off a strange vibe but sometimes the photos can look very happy and sometimes nostalgic.

This style I believe comes from when Bernd and Hilla Becher who took photos of buildings then layered them together to create this creepy almost fantasy looking image.

I think the idea behind doing those kinds of photos is to create that kind of surreal effect for the image. Often photographers use double exposure to be able to add lots of deep and almost hidden meaning within their photos.

Butterfly lighting is where there is a small shadow usually under the model’s nose. It was first used by Marlene Dietrich who at the time was a German silent film actress in the 1920s and 30s and her director von Sternberg started to use the technique as it seemed to extenuate her strong features. The main reason butterfly lighting is used is because it makes for a very flattering portrait your features tend to stand out more and the lighting tends to be softer.

This is what butterfly lighting can look like

Chiaroscuro lighting is said to be the contrast between light and dark so any type of lighting skill could be classed as chiaroscuro. It’s inspired by films usually Hollywood crime with German expressionists. However, I will be focusing on split lighting where you light up half of the model’s face and have a shadow on the other half. This tends to add an intense feeling to the photo.

This is what spilt lighting can be

This is more Chiaroscuro lighting which the Hollywood films feel to them

EDITS

This is one of the common techniques used its inspired by the way  Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (a famous Dutch painter) created his work he would seem to create the same lighting effect on his paintings where he would have an upside down triangle appear under the eyes of the model.

Just like this

There are many advantages to using this style of lighting the main being that it will draw attention to the models eyes which creates quite a captivating shot if that is what you are wanting from it. This is because the shapes seem to create these leading lines towards the models eyes.

Overall I think the photos have turned out good i think on all of these images I picked you are able to see a very clear shadow triangle underneath the eye and next to the nose which is the premise of Rembrandt images. I think it would have been better if I could have gotten more of these with the model in different poses.

What is studio lighting?

Studio lighting is referring to when a person/photographer uses an ‘artificial’ light course instead of just natural lighting as with artificial lighting you can create the shapes and shadows a lot easier and everything is to your control unlike natural as if its natural lighting from outside then t really depends on your environment and the nature around you at that time and if its indoors and just a room lighting then you really don’t get any variation within that room.

There are three main/common types of studio lighting techniques which all create their own different effects. These are Rembrandt lighting, butterfly lighting and Chiarscuro.

Here is the contact sheet for all of the photos I have taken.

Artist Research-

Arnold Newman was an incredible Jewish photographer who mainly took environmental portraits his work is above. You can see in all of these images he tries to tell a story show something about each persons life. The image on the bottom left corner the fact the piano is so big and in the middle with none of it cut out can show to the viewer that maybe music takes over his life and he isn’t the main focus the piano and music are.

Emotional aspects-

this image makes me feel bad for the guy the room seems really bare and there isn’t much in it making him look lonely. However it has quite a serious feel to it because of how he is staring at the camera.

Visual aspects-

the contrast between the size of the piano and the man emphasis how much music takes over his life and can symbolise how small he feels in life. The lighting in the image seems to be quite harsh but also the room is quite bright as there are any shadows of wither the man or the piano.

technical aspects-

conceptual aspects-

I think Arnold Newman was trying to show how music is his whole life its his passion his hobby and his job. His music is so well known his music is probably more well known than him himself so I think he was trying to show that.

contextual aspects-

This mans like I believe was quite well portrayed through his photo as he is Igor Stravinsky a Russian composer ,director and pianist he was sad to be one of the most influential composers of the 20th century.

Emotional aspects-

I think this picture gives off quite an uneasy and creepy feeling when looking at the image. It’s almost quite an intimidating photo due to him looking straight at the camera with this dark lighting and having his face illuminated slightly.

Visual aspects-

Some visual aspects of this photos could be the fact their are lots of dark colours creating the eerie feeling. There are two pillars next to the man which are almost framing him. The place seems quite dirty with the steam you can see coming off the train and the writing on the walls.

technical aspects-

I think some of the technical aspects would be the lighting was done in a specific way as it is coming from the sides to not aluminate his face but to make shadows. the perspectives of him up close and clear background see far down but not clear.

conceptual aspects-

For this photoshoot for Arnold Newman really wanted the idea to be that Alfred Krupp was a horrible evil man who did bad things and hurt others. So he showed that through his photos he made it so the lighting seemed quite sinister and the naturally had that pose so it worked perfectly for the concept.

contextual aspects-

The content behind this image is that Alfred Krupp was a German man who helped provide the Nazi’s bombs and access through his railways during the war. And he was a big fan of Arnold Newman’s work but he was unaware he was a Jewish man. So Arnold Newman used this as a ay of revue apparently so he made Alfred Krupp look as evil ad possible.