Michals first made significant, creative strides in the field of photography during the 1960s. He was famously known for his cinematic frame-by-frame format within his images. The Morgan Library and Museum in New York exhibited a career retrospective of Michals’ work The Illusions of the Photographer: Duane Michals at the Morgan. Michals received a BA from the University of Denver in 1953 and worked as a graphic designer until his involvement with photography deepened in the late 1950s. His work was created in an era heavily influenced by photojournalism. He wasn’t interested i being the usual photographer with a studio and employees, he took his photos in his own settings. He said “I was the cottage industry, I liked small scale, I do small scale photographs”

“My pictures are more about questions, not about answers.”

Michals was a unique photographer who aimed to be different from the rest with the way he created his artworks. The thought of created films with small snapshots on a camera as appealing to him to create a story behind the photos and leave the interpretations to the viewer.

For these 2 photos, I have put them together to reference the contrasts between them. Michals has created many film shoots that surround death but using double exposure to add another person. My conceptual thoughts on these photos together link to the theme of masculinity and femininity a huge amount. In my opinion i perceive these images together as a representation of the stereotypes of the make and female individual. In the first photo, the woman can be seen to rise from her body and stay looking at it for what seems like a while. whereas, in the second photo, the male sits up and walks away fairly confidently. This would link to the theme of stereotypes by showing how stereotypical emotions affect an individual. Woman could be seen to be more accepting to being emotional and seen normal to attach to things an take longer to let go. In contrast, I view the man as showing the stereotype of being strong as he confidently rises and walks away without a look back.

The technical side of the images such as the lighting has a good impact on the images. Michal has used the use of natural light from the window to create a more natural feeling to the image to show death is a natural cause. The position of the lighting is also powerful as it is only focussing on the individual. The blank spaces and dark tone make the image feel colder as well.

The tone of the image is very clearly a dark tone. with the use of black and white and the one source of light, it can make the viewer show emotions such as sadness. The space in the images are very large and there is no cluster of objects in sight. this makes the viewer only focus on the main point which are the two individuals.

Cahun lived in jersey for a large amount of time which is now the home to her collection of art which can be found in the museums.

Claude Cahun was a French surrealist photographer, sculptor, and writer. But was known mostly for her photography work where she would dress up as different people to create different stories within her photos. Cahun presents herself in a variety of guises, adopting different personas and exploring the fluidity of identity. She dresses as both men and women when exploring the theme of identity and gender roles. A quote she said was:

 “Masculine? Feminine? It depends on the situation. Neuter is the only gender that always suits me.”

This shows her link with the theme of masculinity and femininity as she does not care which identity she takes and in a few of her photos you can see her looking more feminine than others.

This particular photograph created by Claude Cahun was named “under this mask, another mask”. Cahun can be seen to use the technique of double exposure to create a double of herself. Back then there wouldn’t have been technology to edit this on a computer. Cahun would have to take the first photo an then rewind the film in the camera to create the second photo of her in a different position. The effect of this technique could show the viewer a conceptual view of Cahun having a struggle with her identity and how she may have needed to put on a “mask” to disguise her true self.

the lighting in the photo could be natural or artificial but her use of black background contrasts well to her skin tone as the light makes her bright so with the darker background, the lighting is evened out.

With the use of black and white, this makes the image give off a dark tone as there is no bright colours in use.

This image shows Cahun standing in front of a mirror where it creates a reflection. the inclusion of a mirror in art was used as a convenient way to expose two enticing views of a female subject or to shine emphasis on a woman’s vanity. The photo is also showing Cahuns opposing personalities by the differences shown in the two versions. In the mirror reflection, she knowingly reveals her neck whereas on the closer version, it’s hidden with the raised collar. The versions shows one more confident and carefree and the other coy and somehow caged. In my opinion, I really like the hidden meaning behind this photograph as you need to look closely to be able to find the links to identity and femininity.

Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, in 1954, Sherman graduated from the state university of New York buffalo and very quickly rose to fame with her work in art.

Cindy Sherman’s photography is very clearly focussed on the topic of female stereotypes. She regularly alters her appearance beyond recognition through makeup, prosthetics, and costumes. To create her images, she assumes the multiple roles of photographer, model, makeup artist, hairdresser, and stylist. She becomes the character in the story she is attempting to portray through her images.

Many people have perceived Sherman’s photography to be uncomfortable creepy, or even terrifying since we see the depicted woman in a vulnerable position. a few of her photos show herself with her back to the camera which can also be an example of vulnerability as it could be seen as someone watching her and she doesn’t know.

What impact did she cause to photography or society?

Cindy Sherman’s photography is important because of the way it depicted how women are viewed in society. The exploration of identity, gender, and representation have inspired countless artists and photographers to up level and push boundaries when nit came to their own artwork.

In this particular photo, we can see a woman stood alone on the roadside with her luggage beside her. It was usual for Sherman to create black and white photos since that was the option for her to start her photography with. in this photo, the black and white gives an extra ominous feeling to the image. Sherman often created photos that focussed on vulnerability and in this photo it can be seen. the use of her showing her back to the camera could make the viewer feel uncomfortable as if she doesn’t know someone is watching her.

The lighting/exposure of the camera and the use of her brighter clothes has made her stand out to the rest of the image and contrast with the darkness of the sky. I think this is very effective as it makes her the obvious main focus of the image. This idea can also be taken from the use of space in the image. She is not in a crowed small area, she is in an open space alone which would create more tension for the viewer.

In this photo, I could be interpreted by the viewer that Sherman is impersonating a house wife. This can be clear by the objects she adds to the image to subtly create this thought. the use of the pan and soap bottle suggest to the viewer that she could be pictured in a kitchen. as well as this, she is also wearing an apron.

As well as the last image, the black and white can also cause an ominous feeling or sense of tension and the tone of the image makes it feels like a dark and scary moment for the woman. she can be seen to be looking over her shoulder and the viewer can interpret that to what they like but it was usually be a negative thing she may be looking at. Sherman is also seen holding her stomach which could be a usual comfort for a woman so this could further suggest something to make her uncomfortable is going on and further shows how she depicts the theme of vulnerability in her photos.

Femininity-

The definition of femininity is the qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of women or girls.

What does it mean to be Female?

Many people how different perspectives on what it means to be female. for example someone has said:

“To me, being a woman means overcoming adversity. It is strength and empowerment. It is black and white, cis and trans, straight and queer, native and immigrant, disabled and poor and Jewish and Muslim and fat and all-inclusive. What I’m trying to say is being a woman is whatever you want it to be.” -Sarah Emily Baum

Many people share that being a woman does not have a definition since it can be perceived in many different ways for many different people.

What themes do you associate with Femininity, Feminine or female?

What would you say are the assumed norms of Femininity today?

The assumed norms of a female are usually the opposites of what the norms of male is. for example, Females are seen to be accommodating and emotional, while men are usually expected to be self-confident and aggressive. As well as this, occupation also plays a large role. Women are more expected to take part in jobs such as teachers or nurses and not jobs that would suit men Physical appearance is also important, Men and women are also expected to dress and groom in ways that are stereotypical to their gender so women are stereotypically associated with make up and dresses and not, for example, muscular

Nowadays, the stereotypes are more flexible and there isn’t any set rules for what a woman can be. Since extreme gender stereotypes are harmful as they don’t allow people to fully express themselves and their emotions, it is now encouraged for people to just be themselves and not expected to follow the stereotypes.

Compare expectations and perceptions of Femininity through time, society and place

Have we reached a point where the public thinks that men and women should have equal roles in the workplace and at home? Or is there still a perception that there should be a gender divide?

In the past, it was usual for gender roles to say that a man’s job is to earn money and a woman’s job is to look after the home and family. Many people accepted the gender role divide and it was a social norm for them. In 1987, a third (36 per cent) of the public thought that most women would prioritise their caring role over having a job. Though this percentage belief hasn’t changed a drastic amount, since many woman still has the expectation of having a family one day, it has still changed enough to show that Women have gained more rights when it comes to working

Femininity in Photography
Many female photographers use it to capture women’s unique beauty. Female photographers also use their work to write and highlight the female experience. These photographers create a photographic record of women’s struggles, triumphs, and everyday adventures.

Masculinity–

The definition of masculinity is the qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of men or boys.

What does it mean to be Male?

Being male can have as many struggles as it can to be female. men have also shared their own takes on the gender.

“Being a man to me means being unapologetically you. It means not being afraid to show the world who you are, exactly as you are. Being a man is never being afraid to show your emotions” Stevie, 26

“For me, being a man is about self-discovery, building self-awareness, emotional intelligence and most importantly, my legacy.” Jack, 22

What themes do you associate with the words masculine, masculinities or male? 

What would you say are the assumed norms of Masculinity today?

Masculine norms are mostly opposite to the feminine norms. Current Dominant Masculine Norms include providing for others, physical strength, emotional toughness, self-reliance, competitiveness, risk taking, protector, toughness and aggression, competitiveness, winning, dominance (including sexual), virility, control, power, heroism, honour and courage.

It is also a general norm for males to take more important jobs such as a doctor, pilot or engineer.

Recently, the stereotypes are more flexible and there isn’t any set rules for what a male can be.

Masculinity in Photography

Identity Politics

Identity politics is a political or social activity by or on behalf of a racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender, or other group which feel a sense of unfairness due to their differences or conflicts between their particular identity

The term was coined by the Combahee River Collective in 1977. Identity politics signifies a wide range of political activity and focuses on shared experiences of injustice of members of certain social groups. Recently, in the 20th century, there was been many political movements such as  feminism, Black Civil Rights in the U.S., gay and lesbian liberation, and the American Indian movements.

Identity politics aims to eliminate negative stereotypes of certain identities where the people affect try to regain the respect that should be shown towards their identities.

Culture Wars

Cultural wars is a conflict or struggle for dominance between groups within a society or between societies, arising from their differing beliefs, practices, etc. Culture wars have said to be caused by are created or perpetuated by political special interest groups, by reactionary social movements, by party dynamics, or by electoral politics as a whole. A culture war is about social policy wedge issues that are based on abstract arguments about values, morality, and lifestyle meant to provoke political cleavage in a multicultural society.

The language of “culture wars” was first popularised by James Davison Hunter in the early 1990s to describe the tension that had emerged from conflicting worldwide views. The term was able to make more people aware of culture. Culture wars are usually described attitudinal polarisation towards issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage and gun control, which tend to have either a strong moral or values basis, or capture changing norms.

Henry Mullins Dimond Cameo

The diamond cameo is something Henry Mullins created using 4 photos of the same person but the person is facing different angles in each photo.

our separate portraits of the same subject are printed on a carte-de-visite. These are then printed onto each of the oval shapes of only their headshots and not their body.

Photos I’m using:

The final piece:

How I created it:

I added whatever photo I wanted to start with and then used the elliptical marquee tool to created the oval shape around the individual. I did this 4 times. I then ordered my photos into the front facing at the top, both side facing on the sides and then another random one at the bottom.

I think something I could have improved would be by adding a boarder around the white backgrounded photo.

Double/Multi-Exposure

Double/multi-exposure photos are an illusion created by layering images. This is usually done digitally by taking multiple images and then editing on apps such a photoshop. you can edit the level of opacity of the photos to make it more transparent to see the images that are layered underneath. There is also a way to create this effect without digital editing.

Here’s how your camera captures a double exposure in film cameras:

1. 1. Take your first photo. The camera shutter opens to expose the film to one image, then closes. The first image is generally a subject, often a portrait.
2. 2. Rewind the film and take your second photo. The camera shutter opens again to expose the film to a second image, then closes, shooting over the same frame again. The second image is generally a background, often a landscape or cityscape.
3. 3. Develop both images in one photo. The final image combines the two exposures into a single image where they’re both visible on top of one another.

My own digital attempt:

I copied the same image onto photoshop 4 time and layered the, on top of each other. I then adjusted the positioning of them by using size or just moving them slightly. From here, I edited the opacity and lowered it to create the transparent look. I did this one each photo except the background to keep a solid photo as the base.

JUXTAPOSITION:

Juxtaposition is a photography technique that consists of a contrast of separate photos. This can be created using a contrast of colour, people, places etc. Some juxtaposition techniques have also been used to create stories behind an image but contrasting it with the usual image against teh deeper meaning of the image.
Elliott Erwitt is a master when it comes to juxtaposition.

This edit was a fairly easy process. I began by deciding what I was going to juxtapose using the images and found 2 similar takes with different light colours used. I did not use photoshop for this edit, instead I edited them separately on Lightroom and then just transferred them onto a PowerPoint where I was able to align them next to each other for them to be able to go onto my blog as a single photo.

Henry Mullins was a photographer who was founded in the first few years of photography being originated. Photography came about in the year 1839, Henry Mullins started working at 230 Regent Street in London in the 1840s. He then moved to Jersey due to tax reasons in 1848 and carried on his career of photography. He set up his own photography studio known as the Royal Saloon, at 7 Royal Square. in the beginning, he was known to have worked with a Mr Millward but a year on from that he worked alone for the next 26 years in the same studio.

There was short period in the 1860s where Mullins worked in London but there is a large amount of photographs, which are held by the  La Société Jersiaise, that suggest there were plenty of people on the island willing to pay a good amount of money to have their photograph taken by Mullins.

Cartes de visite

Henry Mullins has a speciality called ‘Cartes de visite’ and the photographic archive of La Société has a big collection of these, which are produced in albumen, which was a thin paper photograph mounted on a thicker paper card. The size of a carte de visite is 54.0 × 89 mm normally mounted on a card sized 64 × 100 mm. On the online version of the archive there is 9600 images. this was usually done by a number of 16 photographs taken in one sitting.

Some of Henry Mullins’ photographs

Diamond Cameo

A Diamond Cameo is a process in which four separate portraits of the same subject are printed on a carte-de-visite. the four photos are usually taken from different angles of the subject. These are then printed onto each of the oval shapes of only their headshots and not their body.

1. Soft and Hard lighting

Hard lighting is a type of lighting in photography which is harsh and creates the effects of strong shadows in the image. It usually comes from a single, bright light which is smaller than the subject. When photographing objects, the dark lighting will also help to show the 3D-Appearance and will also further define the textures and details an object might have.

Soft lighting is a type of lighting in photography which is more diffused and creates softer shadows. Hard light has more contrast and is usually brighter than soft light, while soft light is usually more even. Soft light tends to wrap around the subject to create its subtle shadows . The use of soft lighting also increases the size of the photo as as the light rays travel in all directions as they move toward the subject. Soft lighting can also make colours pear richer and more realistic when it comes to the usual photography or cinematography.

My two favourite photos that demonstrate thus technique

Framing: Headshots

In photography, framing is often used to direct the viewer’s eye towards the subject of an image. 
for example, the technique of Rule Of Thirds is used to frame the subjects in your photo to make the image more visually captivating. The Rule of Thirds is the process of dividing an image into thirds, using two horizontal and two vertical lines

What can the rule of thirds be used to do?:

• Use composition techniques that are in line with what’s naturally pleasing to the eye
• Creatively use negative space
• Create conversation between the subject and background

in my attempt, my headshot is focussed on the right on the image and the 3 squares on the right are kept completely blank to draw attention only to the aspects in the middle and the right.

Focusing on the eyes

When focussing on the eyes in photography, photographers tend to do this is many different ways. Such as:

• Capturing the image up close
• Having the subject pose
• Adjusting the aperture 
• Lighting  

• The proximity of the photo allows the photographer to get an image up close to the subjects face. This will cause the subject to look directly at the camera with their eyes to create the interstellar stare. This will create a sharp quality within the eyes and most likely make them the main focus of the image.

• Posing with the eyes would be directed by the photographer for where they want the subject to be looking. By doing this is could enhance the lighting on the eyes when, for example, the subject is looking upwards rather then to the left.hands can also be used to focus the attention onto the eyes even when they are not looking directly at the camera

As an example, this photo shows the use of the hands posting upwards that lead the viewers gaze towards the eyes.

• By adjusting the aperture on your camera, it is another way of adjusting the detail of specific aspects. If you were to focus on the yes, you would adjust the aperture which would then slighting blur out the background of the image other than the eyes. This can be a very accurate and frustrating process as one slight movement could move the focus on the nose or the hair so to lower the chances of this happening to Paul d be smart to use a tripod if possible.

• Direct focus on the yes using lighting can easily brighten them and create the main focus. This can also be used by sunlight and not just artificial lighting. The lighting can cause shadows all over the image but the eyes will be well lit. This is a proven technique to create engaging portraits.

Expression

Pose

Chiaruscuro Is an Italian word used to describe the use of light in dark in artwork. It combines the Italian words: “chiaro” meaning “clear” or “bright,” and “oscuro” meaning “obscure” or “dark.” 
There were a few famous artists at the time Chiaruscuro was introduced but none were as good as using it than Caravaggio.

Chiaroscuro lighting technique was used in films very commonly. As shown in the photos above, it’s common that the lighting used is natural light coming fro, certain places such as through a window or a gap where the sky is visible.

Chiaroscuro examples in cinema

• The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
• Nosferatu (1922)
• The Maltese Falcon (1941)
• The Third Man (1949)
• Apocalypse Now (1979)

How to set up a Chiaroscuro Lighting studio:

By using artificial light with aid of a flash, Chiaroscuro lighting is very simple to create. The shutter speed should be set very high to remove any ambient lighting. this means any light picked up will only be from the flash. Light cross your subject from only one direction. this is usually taken from the side or on an angle.

My Chiaroscuro Lighting photoshoot editing:

This is an example of Chiaroscuro lighting as the side of her face closest to the light. I placed the flash light at an angle to capture this type of lighting. I think the position of the subjects head also adds to the lighting as all the light is absorbed by only one side.

I decided to make this photo black and white to further show the contrast in the light and dark.

Though many Chiaroscuro lighting photos are edited to black and white, there are still some that remain in colour. For this photo I decided to keep it at the original colours so that I have a photo that differs from the rest.

I like this photo because the subjects face is directly facing onto the camera but the positioning of the light is still managing to capture the contrast of light and dark.

butterfly lighting is a pattern in photography where the lighting sits above and pointing down on the subjects face. This creates a dramatic form of a shadow under the nose and chin which gives it a pattern on a butterfly. It is also given the name “paramount lighting” named for the Hollywood studio for how they lit up the actresses.

What do you need to capture butterfly lighting?

• A key light
• Flashes and triggers
• Modifiers
• Reflector

Marlene Dietrich, a German silent film actress, was one of the first people to be taken a photo of using this photography lighting technique. director Josef von Sternberg Was the one who would light her up in this way.

How do you set up a Butterfly Lighting photoshoot:

By using artificial light with aid of a flash, Butterfly lighting is very simple to create. The position of the Lighting should be directly in front of the subject and angled above them to create the shadow of a butterfly under the nose. If you find that the shadows created are a little too deep, then another subject could be there to aid the photographer with a reflector to hold below the subjects face.

Butterfly Lighting Photoshoot Edits:

For this example of Butterfly lighting, I placed the lighting directly I front of my subject and angled down onto her face. as you can see in the image, the shadow has been created under her nose. I slightly experimented with the poses of this shoot and got my subject to look upwards diagonally. thought this still worked, I think the shadow would have been dominant if she was facing straight on.