Within this image, personally I think in adobe Lightroom my editing went well. The shadows are visible and play a large factor in this image and I prefer this lighting technique (chiaroscuro) and glad I chose to execute this technique as it creates a sense of mysterious, gentle and beauty which is a big part of femininity. I like how I used warm tones to make it look vintage and not modern although it was shot on a modern camera I tried my best. I decreased the texture and clarity to create a soft focus and more professional look to the image which links to Cameron’s work. I preferred using a black background as it makes the subjects left side of the face unable to see as the way she is standing you would, this emphasizes the shadows and technique I chose to do to create it almost the first thing to notice as a viewer. Then I continued on photoshop and created another layer with the same image and turned it upside down and experimented with the highlights and filters. When I found the correct one for me I loved the way it looks purposely imperfect which could imply that females and males have a pressure to reach expectations but we are all imperfect and make mistakes. To make this image better I would move the first split/line more to the left to make the image equal in thirds. To experiment I tried to blend the images however I didn’t like it as much as it didn’t give off the same abstract effect.

Cindy Sherman’s work

Sherman’s image

My image

I personally prefer this image in colour as it shows my editing to make it look more vintage using warm tones so it looks more like Cameron’s work as well. However I am going to experiment by putting my image in black and white so it resembles Sherman’s famous image.

Similarities and differences

In Cindy’s work she is standing in a towel which ultimately looks very feminine and vulnerable which is typically a feminine stereotype. However, as seen the subject has her arm up with her fingers which gives off a elegant and gentle look to the image meaning viewing herself in the mirror with draw catching eyes. This is similar to my work as the subject in the mirror has her arm up however holding a prop which could link to Sherman’s work. Another contrast is how Sherman is in a w towel which is a large factor to the image whereas the subject in my image is wearing black which would make the viewer look more at the face rather than the body as the background is black. A major difference is my subject in my image is not a full body shot whereas Sherman’s work is. Sherman’s work also contains depth in the shadows of her image where as mine does not as it is through a mirror completely. Lastly the subject in Sherman’s image is looking through the reflection same as my image however not looking into the camera through it. Whereas, my image the subject is looking through the camera giving more a seductive and confident look.

Julia Margaret Cameron

Cameron’s image

My image

Similarities and differences

A major eye catching similarity is the lighting. Within my image I used Chiaroscuro lighting to emphasize the beauty of femininity. This relates to Marilyn Monroe as a character as my inspiration. Cameron’s image has a soft focus in the centre and high exposure on the right side of the subjects face however that is what she was known for and was good at. We both used a black background to blend in other features which could make it look mysterious as without a background the image cannot say a lot. I edited my image to make it look vintage and sort of a rusty colour which I executed through using warm tones and a warm feathered boarder which Cameron successfully did too.

This image is too suppose to contrast the image and the stereotypes itself. As the subject in the image is applying red lipstick which is representing bold and confident as a women whilst viewing themselves in the reflection. This significantly contrasts to the stereotypes around her as a female as this is significantly the opposite to the results of red lipstick. Therefore, this piece is a juxtaposition as it is 2 different things contrasting one another. This relates to Monroe’s work from using the props and Claude and Sherman’s work as they used a mirror within femininity which could represent vulnerability.

PRESENTATION

I personally like both of these images however I prefer the second one as it has a more blended look of the two photo combination. Therefore, it generally has more of a cleaner and professional look to the image. However, the first image has 2 lines with different colours and highlights between them which I think looks quite abstract and different but purposely not perfect.

Virtual Gallery/ Presentation

I chose these photos as they were personally edited the best or the most unique. They were suppose to look vintage and old so it is inspired by Julia Margaret Cameron and Marilyn Monroe so they do not look modern. The mirror was inspired by Cindy Sherman and Claude Cahun however the props were an inspiration from Monroe and edited like Cameron.

Julia Margaret Cameron was a British photographer who is considered one of the most important portraitists of the 19th century .She is known for her soft-focus close-ups of famous Victorian men and women, for illustrative images depicting characters from mythology, Christianity, and literature, and for sensitive portraits of men, women and children.

After showing a keen interest in photography for many years, Cameron took up the practice at the relatively late age of 48, after her daughter gave her a camera as a present. She quickly produced a large body of work capturing the genius, beauty, and innocence of the men, women, and children who visited her studio at Freshwater, and created unique allegorical images inspired by tableaux vivants, theatre, 15th-century Italian painters, and the work of her creative contemporaries. Her photography career was short but productive; she made around 900 photographs over a 12-year period.

Cameron’s work was contentious in her own time. Critics derided her softly focused and unrefined images, and considered her illustrative photographs amateurish and hammy. However, her portraits of respected men (such as Henry Taylor, Charles Darwin, and Sir John Herschel) have been consistently praised, both in her own life and in reviews of her work since. Her images have been described as “extraordinarily powerful” and “wholly original”, and she has been credited with producing the first close-ups in the history of the medium.

Why was Cameron’s work criticised?

Her talent, however, left her known as one the greatest photographers in history. Still, many of Cameron’s contemporaries considered her work to be inept, for it was blurry, smudged and scratched, and instead they believed that the best photography should be about technical perfections superseding all artistic intent.

The statement ‘Julia Margaret Cameron accidentally created soft-focus photographs’ is true due to her technical inexperience. She later embraced and intentionally used this soft-focus technique, significantly impacting portrait photography.

PHOTO ANAYLYSIS

The Red Roses ( 1865)

The meaning of this picture is ambiguous as the red roses of the title are not clearly identifiable. In the Victorian Language of flowers, red and white roses signified unity, discernible here in the closeness of sisters Kate and Elizabeth Keown. The hands clasped in prayer evoke Christian iconography, where red roses stand for martyrdom and white for purity. Cameron often borrowed many of her subjects from religion, history and literature. One of her famous images is ‘ My Grandchild, 1865’

In this image, Cameron transforms a portrait of her grandson asleep into the study of Madonna and her Child. Making this image simultaneously a religious study and a family portrait.

Madonna and Child was painted by one of the most influential artists of the late 13th and early 14th century, Duccio di Buoninsegna. This iconic image of the Madonna and Child, seen throughout the history of western art, holds significant value in terms of stylistic innovations of religious subject matter that would continue to evolve for centuries.

This lyrical work inaugurates the tradition in Italian art of envisioning the Madonna and Child in terms appropriated from real life. The Christ Child gently pushes away the veil of his mother, whose sorrowful expression reflects her foreknowledge of his crucifixion.

The word Madonna means “My Lady” in Italian.

This painting from the late 13th century by Italian painter Duccio di Buoninsega, in contrast, expresses the emotions of love and tenderness between mother and child. The infant Jesus returns the Madonna’s placid but intense gaze.

MOODBOARD

MY WORK INSPIRED BY CAMERON

I edited these images to creative a less detailed focus in the centre surrounded by a feathered border with warm tones to create a vintage and old look so it fit Cameron’s work in the 19th century. I kept the portraits more focused around the outside like Cameron’s work although she got criticized for it but ended up embracing it and in my opinion I think it makes the image look a lot more elegant and gentle which is a typical female stereotype.

FIRST IMAGE

Firstly, I edited the image all in light room to begin, to edit it for it to look vintage and nostalgic so it does not look modern. Therefore, I added some warm tones with a dusty looking border feathering the edge.

The main factor of this image is the red lipstick as it is a main subject which draws to the eye meanwhile having women’s rights movement connected and Marilyn’s large factor. As well as the red lipstick stereotypes as confident and bold. Therefore meaning, I cannot put this image in black and white as it defeats the whole purpose of the image. This isn’t my favourite image as it has a pink undertone and that is not my preferred aim.

The Jewellery of this image also creates a sense of femininity especially the pearl necklace as it relates to my inspiration Monroe as she was known and wore pearl necklaces frequently.

IMAGE 2

I personally chose this image as we are using the prop of red lipstick and a stereotype of red lipstick is confident and seductive and in this image the subject looks both of the stereotypes. Another reason why I chose this image is Marilyn was seen as a sex symbol and a seductive blonde and I think this image perfectly relates to the seductive and beauty look within femininity.

IMAGE 3

I chose this image as the subject of the image is pouting which is a very feminine act or pose. The subject also has very enhanced cheek bones which could be seen as feminine however can also be masculine. The subjects eyes are looking away which is a main factor and draw catching to the image. The eyes are very detailed and feminine as well as the long blonde hair.

IMAGE 4

Further more, I chose this image as it is using Chiaroscuro lighting and as you cant see the rest of the face because of the lighting and shadows it could be seen as mysterious. The hair and the gleam in the subjects eye is seen as beauty which is a femininity stereotype. I edited it to look vintage and old using warm tones like Julia Margaret Cameron. I could relate this image as Cameron’s work instead of Monroe’s as this is a self portrait and does not contain the main factors to make it a Marilyn photo.

Image 5

I used this image as it also is using Chiaroscuro lighting and the jewellery and the red nails create a sense of bold, confident and feminine.

IMAGE 6

I chose this image as it is different to the others and gives variety. This image is seen to be feminine through the jewellery and perfume. Even the collar bones could be seen feminine.

IMAGE 7

I chose this image as the image is using Chiaroscuro lighting and the subject is looking away whilst smiling which ultimately looks elegant and gentle which is a female stereotype. I edited this image tom look vintage as Monroe was in the 50’s so I want them all to come out not looking modern. This relates to Julia Margaret Cameron’s images as she did pictorialism in the 19th century.

I then decided to experiment and add red highlights which I thought looked cool however it didn’t fit with my inspirations and themes so I decided not to keep it that way.

WHY?

Firstly, we went to the studio with our props such as red lipstick and pearls as they are a large factor and characteristic of Marilyn. Monroe was known as a ” dumb blonde” and seen as the sex symbol in the 50s. People had eventually mistaken her and actually saw her as that role which eventually sadly got to Marilyn including personal problems. We decided she would be perfect inspiration as she is a female misunderstood before the women’s rights movement as unfortunately passed just before. If we highlighted her key features it could resemble her however in a more modern way. We then used a mirror as Claude Cahun and Cindy Sherman also used one to resemble in different ways femininity.

I firstly flagged and rejected all my images so I can easily organize the possibility of the images I may or may not use and edit. Roughly we created around 250 images.

PHOTOSHOOT

PLAN

My plan is to choose around 8 of my favourite images and edit them in light room first, then move on to photoshop and create some sort of creative collage with different aspects of femininity whilst still relating them to Monroe. My plan is to make my images look as vintage and nostalgic as much as possible as if they look old. This could resemble it a lot more as then it would resemble and highlight her characteristics a lot more.

IMAGE SELECTION

Furthermore, I picked my favourite 8 images and flagged them green so I can easily find and compare my favourite images to ensure they are my preferred ones.

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe 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, as well as an emblem of the era’s sexual revolution.

Monroe portrayed an early image as a dumb and seductive blonde. Her early image as a dumb and seductive blonde gave way in later years to the tragic figure of a sensitive and insecure woman unable to escape the pressures of Hollywood. Her vulnerability and sensuousness combined with her needless death eventually raised her to the status of an American cultural icon.

The most famous movie where Marilyn portrayed a dumb blonde was ‘ Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ made in 1953 this was the film that Marilyn Monroe debuted the gold digging dumb blonde character that she would ascend to icon status with and, eventually, come to hate.

Unfortunately, the Hollywood professional and tragic personal struggles caused a ‘probable suicide’ at the age of 36 in 1962.

MOODBOARD

Monroe often wore pearls which ultimately became a part of her and would think of her with them. Marilyn and pearls associated together. Pearls are a very feminine piece of jewellery especially in the 50’s. This simple pearl necklace became her most famous piece of jewellery. Monroe wore them throughout her life as a reminder of ‘happier times’.

Marilyn also often wore red lipstick. This was probably too look like her role as a seductive blonde as the colour red symbolizes bold and confident and is an eye catching colour.

“It falls under the umbrella of power posing. The act of putting it on penetrates your sense of confidence and competence. It changes how you feel, which can change how people react to you and thus reaffirms your choice.” Throughout history, women have chosen red lipstick as a way to signal their power. Red lip colour gained popularity internationally as women’s rights movements spread worldwide. Red lipstick has been a symbol of feminism since the 19th century when it was popularized by the Suffragettes as a way to make a statement and express their desire for equal rights. The use of red lipstick was also seen during the Civil Rights Movement as a way of expressing solidarity with other feminists.

The impact was in her achievement to keep together things that are often thought to be incompatible: her ambition, her idealism, her femininity, and her striving for independence. She inspired, from both men and women, a lot of strong personal feelings, a lot of love.

My Plan

Our plan to successfully achieve Marilyn’s Monroe aesthetic is to associate little details to try create a similar vibe for the 50’s. This may be a bit difficult as we are living in the modern day however we could attempt to edit them to make them look more nostalgic and vintage. We will be including Marilyn’s large factors such as red lipstick and a pearl necklace too symbolize that sense of ‘dumb blonde’ and the femininity characteristics as Marilyn was in fact a role model and was a feminist but sadly passed before the women’s right movement. Lastly, we will be attempting to pose how Marilyn did but still using day to day outfits as the most eye catching subjects was the seductive look of red lip stick and pearls rather than her outfits. We also will be using a mirror to contrast to Cahun’s and Sherman’s work to focus on emotions and vulnerability.

Francesca Woodman

Francesca Stern Woodman was an American photographer best known for her black and white pictures featuring either herself or female models. Many of her photographs show women, naked or clothed, blurred, merging with their surroundings, or whose faces are obscured.

At the age of thirteen Francesca Woodman took her first self-portrait. From then, up until her untimely death in 1981, aged just 22, she produced an extraordinary body of work. Comprising some 800 photographs, Woodman’s oeuvre is acclaimed for its singularity of style and range of innovative techniques. From the beginning, her body was both the subject and object in her work.

Although she died very young, there is no denying that Woodman was one of the most innovative and promising artists of her generation. She pushed the boundaries of experimental photography and played with the potential of shutter speed and exposure.

The very first photograph taken by Woodman, Self-portrait at Thirteen, 1972, shows the artist sitting at the end of a sofa in an un-indentified space, wearing an oversized jumper and jeans, arm loosely hanging on the armrest, her face obscured by a curtain of hair and the foreground blurred by sudden movement, one hand holding a cable linked to the camera. In this first image the main characteristics at the core of Woodman’s short career are clearly visible, her focus on the relationship with her body as both the object of the gaze and the acting subject behind the camera.

Woodman tested the boundaries of bodily experience in her work and her work often suggests a sense of self-displacement. Often nude except for individual body parts covered with props, sometimes wearing vintage clothing, the artist is typically sited in empty or sparsely furnished, dilapidated rooms, characterised by rough surfaces, shattered mirrors and old furniture. In some images Woodman quite literally becomes one with her surroundings, with the contours of her form blurred by movement, or blending into the background, wallpaper or floor, revealing the lack of distinction of both – between figure and ground, self and world. In others she uses her physical body literally as a framework in which to create and alter her material identity. For instance, holding a sheet of glass against her flesh, squeezing her body parts against the glass and smashing her face, breasts, hips, buttocks and stomach onto the surface from various angles, Woodman distorts her physical features making them appear grotesque.

PHOTO ANAYLSIS

This image has very similarities to Claude Cahun’s work as they both signify characteristics of feminine and in the mirror looking at there reflections would could symbolize a lot especially about emotions which is a typical female stereotype.

The major difference is that the subject in the image is not looking at their reflection compared to Woodman’s work. This could signify that Sherman’s work is implying that females are emotional and sensitive whereas Cahun’s work could imply that beauty does not control femininity. Another major difference is that Sherman’s work is that the subject has no clothes, in a sense this could imply vulnerability but also a strong sense of femininity.

MOODBOARD

Claude Cahun was a French surrealist photographer, sculptor, and writer who inspired Cindy ShermanThough she made sculpture, embedded herself within activism and wrote extensively, Cahun is mostly synonymous for her contributions to surrealist photography, particularly her striking self-portraits, in which she questioned societal expectations of gender years ahead of her time and inspired the likes of Cindy Sherman, Gillian Wearing and Nan Goldin.Though she made sculpture, embedded herself within activism and wrote extensively, Cahun is mostly synonymous for her contributions to surrealist photography, particularly her striking self-portraits, in which she questioned societal expectations of gender years ahead of her time and inspired the likes of Cindy Sherman, Gillian Wearing and Nan Goldin.. Schwob adopted the pseudonym Claude Cahun in 1914. Cahun is best known as a writer and self-portraitist, who assumed a variety of performative personae.

Cahun used the pronouns both she/her/hers and they/them/theirs; she/her/hers because that is what was used for Cahun when they were alive and used themself; they/them/theirs because of their oft-discussed detachment from being a woman or a man.

Claude Cahun is a perfect example of someone who wanted to push the boundaries of gender roles in a stereotypical society.

Claude Cahun, born Lucy Schwob was a French photographer, sculptor and writer. Her most well known work is her surrealist self-portraits in which she represented a multitude of different personas. 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 Claude Cahun was alive, she produced many pieces of work which The Jersey Heritage Trust collection represents. Her work challenged the politics of gender and identity, alongside the work of many male Surrealists who depicted women as objects of male desire. She used domestic settings such as a cupboard at home and introduced something interesting and new to this environment, exploring gender fluidity.

Though she made sculpture, embedded herself within activism and wrote extensively, Cahun is mostly synonymous for her contributions to surrealist photography, particularly her striking self-portraits, in which she questioned societal expectations of gender years ahead of her time and inspired the likes of Cindy Sherman, Gillian Wearing and Nan Goldin.

PHOTO ANAYLSIS

With her signature androgynous look and surrealist-inspired use of reflection, this iconic self-portrait exhibits everything that made Cahun such an important artist. Whereas mirrors would traditionally be used in classical portraiture to emphasise feminine beauty or narcissism, here Cahun subverts the symbolism to reject such reductive depictions of gender. 

Deliberately turned away from her own reflection to face the viewer with an air of self-assurance, the image presents femininity as conflicting and contradictory, a nuanced combination of reality and artifice. Facing the camera, Cahun has her collar turned up to protect her neck from view, yet in her reflection the artist’s neck is revealed in a deliberate show of eroticism.

MOOD BOARD

“one of the most curious spirits of our time.”

Cindy Sherman

Sherman’s photography is a depiction of the different ways culture defines “woman.” Her art plays on the feminist idea that gender arises exclusively within culture and deconstructs dominant gender ideologies, representing the underside of popular culture’s definition of “woman.” Cindy Sherman is a female photographer who portrays female stereotypes of the 1950’s and 1960’s. When creating her images, she is not only the photographer but the subject as well. Sherman examines and distorts femininity as a social construct. “I like making images that from a distance seem kind of seductive, colourful, luscious and engaging, and then you realize what you’re looking at is something totally opposite,” she reflected.

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.

From her history portraits (1981), exemplifies her use of theatrical effects to embody different roles and her lack of attempt to hide 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. “I’m disgusted with how people get themselves to look beautiful; I’m much more fascinated with the other side,” she said in 1986.

PHOTO ANAYLYSIS

Within this image, Sherman has exaggerated features like her lips, eyelashes and hair to emphasize that femininity does not have to only fit the stereotype of beauty. Sherman stated “I’m disgusted with how people get themselves to look beautiful; I’m much more fascinated with the other side,” she said in 1986. Her poorly blended makeup is to deconstruct the femininity stereotype. Sherman also exaggerates the nose significantly which gives off the same effect. The background looks like a puzzle and this could signify the difficulty in trying to fit the beauty standards for a women.

Personally, I really like Cindy Sherman’s work as it decreases the pressure on women to be perfect and deconstructs the stereotype of beauty to be feminine. Sherman believes beauty comes from the inside and her images are a lovely and successful way to prove society that.