What does LANDSCAPE mean…

Originally from the Dutch word “landschap“, the name given to paintings of the countryside, landscape is part of Earth’s surface that can be viewed at one time from one place.

When did Landscape emerge as a genre in western culture?

Although the genre can be traced back to 4th-century-ce China, landscape as an independent genre did not emerge in the Western tradition until the Renaissance in the 16th century. However, paintings from the earliest ancient and Classical periods also included natural scenic elements.

When did classical landscapes emerge as a genre?

In the 17th century the classical landscape was created. These landscapes were influenced by classical antiquity and were created to illustrate an ideal landscape recalling Arcadia, which was a legendary place in ancient Greece and was popularly known for its quiet and peaceful beauty.

What prompted the ride of Landscape Art during the late 18th/19th century?

Landscape painting eventually gained more popularity towards the late 18th century with the rise of Romanticism, it often continued to carry a religious significance. Therefore, it became a useful method of self-expression, where the emotions of the painter were combined with their appreciation of nature which could be demonstrated in the painting.

When did landscape photography originate?

1826 and 1827.

According to records, the earliest known evidence of a landscape photograph was taken between the years of 1826 and 1827. It was an urban landscape photo taken by a French inventor by the name of Nicephore Niepce.

Methods and Techniques of landscape–

Modern Landscape Photography.

Landscape photography used to be predominantly about capturing the sublime and uncharted territory. However, there is decreasing amounts of untouched by human land, however, photography can be use to reflect this. Due to the modernisation of technology, photography and beautiful pictures of absolutely everything, can be accessed within a click of a button. Due to the fact there is around 2.5 trillion photos taken a year, and the average person takes around 20 photos per day, the true meaning, appreciation and dedication to quality photography has been taken away more and more as the technology world broadens.

New Topographics.

The term ‘New Topographic’ was created by William Jenkins in 1975 to describe a group of American photographers:

• Robert Adams
• Lewis Baltz 
• Frank Gohlke
• Nicholas Nixon
• Stephen Shore 
• And Bernd and Hilla Becher

whose pictures had a similar banal aesthetic, in that they were formal, mostly black and white prints of the urban landscape.

Edward Burtynsky.

Edward Burtynsky is a Canadian artist and photographer who mainly takes large format photos of industrial landscapes around the world. What I like about Burtynsky’s work is how his images include mostly the breath-taking views that are ‘altered‘ and ‘modernised‘ by factories, humans and industries.  Burtynsky has shared that his work is not to portray his subjects in a judgmental way but to instead create multi- purpose images “which reconnect viewers to the aspects of manufacturing and technological production that are usually ignored or at least rarely considered“. Some of his preferred areas to photograph include:

• Mine tailings
• Quarries
• Scrap piles

His amazing images are shown the connection and compromise between the magnificent and colourful natural views and the polluting, industrialised damage that affect the environment. He uses a a field camera with a large format to create his photographic depictions of global industrial landscapes. Edward has travelled top places such as China, in order to photograph the country’s contribution to one of the largest engineering projects in the world called the ‘Three Gorges Dam’.

In this image, the viewers are able to see huge the social and environmental impact of the Three Gorge project that is hugely affecting inhabitants and animals across China. The project comes at a huge expense of $180 billion dollars and has been created to supposedly stop seasonal flooding of China’s largest river, the Yangtze, which will also help to provide hydro-electric power for the immense and powerful manufacturing industries which need lots of power to generate.

He photographed a place called Wan Zhou which is a small city along the Yangtze that is affected by the project. Burtynsky chose to take a photo of a few people picking through the rubble of buildings near the riverbank. The buildings are shown to have been demolished and the residents of these homes have been relocated before the rising waters would eventually cover this part of the city. I think that the people’s clothing is particularly meaningful as it provides the only colour in the dull and dark scene. The rubble and the morbid looking river blends together, which shows the truly large scale of the project.

He is mostly inspired by:

• Ansel Adams
• Edward Weston
• Eadweard Muybridge,
• Carleton Watkins

I think this ties in very well to my research on Storm Ciaran as it shows how expenses, human activity, industrialisation and pollution are contributing to these weather patterns creating deadly effects to the Island. I would like to take inspiration to Edward Burtynsky and his work on the damage to the environment that is taking place in Jersey.

a field camera with a large format His remarkable photographic depictions of global industrial landscapes

Oil spills and fading glaciers: a beautiful world in peril – in pictures

Ansel Adams was an American landscape photographer who lived in California, he was mostly popular for his reputation of being a ‘technical master’ of black and white photography. He used a brownie box camera with most of his popular images taken with 8×10 and 4×5 view cameras. His images were seen as minimalist, with a multitude of photos shot in black and white with a sharp contrast. Ansel’s work is known for its realist style with an unenthusiastic and inspirational approach.

A quote from his book ‘The Ansel Adams Guide- Basic Techniques of Photography‘ says:

“The photographs he created speak eloquently of the heroic nature of our mountains, the tragedies of displaced people, and the extraordinary beauty of the world.”

The American West.

Adams mostly took photos in Western landscapes. His views of Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada are most known. His photographs emphasize the natural beauty of the land and display the American West and its true beauty. The reason why Ansel moved to the west, is the constant bright and sunny weather that help to carry the beautiful views that he captured.

Connection with Group f/64 and its members.

Group f/64 was created by the photographers Ansel Adams and Willard Van Dyke who was Edward Weston’s apprentice. They chose to gather fellow photographers in order to promote a common aesthetic principle. During the 1930s, William Van Dyke created a small photography gallery in his home at (683 Brockhurst) in Oakland. The group of people consisted of:

• Ansel Adams,
• Imogen Cunningham,
• John Paul Edwards
• Preston Holder,
• Consuelo Kananga,
• Alma Lavenson,
• Sonya Noskowiak,
• Henry Swift,
• Willard Van Dyke,
• Brett Weston,
• Edward Weston.

The Zone System.

The Zone System was a combination of 11 zones in Ansel Adams system which were defined to represent ‘the gradation of all the different tonal values‘ that you would see typically in a black and white print, this would help him calculate the exposure of the image he is going to take with his camera and get a rough sense of what his whole frame will look like before he shoots To fully understand the principles behind the Zone System, he explained the necessity to appreciate the relationships between the subject brightness, film exposure, development time, negative densities and the print tones. He explained how it is obvious from an technical side of inspection from his prints that “Reducing the exposure of the film, products a darker print value“.

Ansel Adams also simplified the Zone System into 3 key parts.

1. Measuring the subject brightness range
2. Determining the exposure
3. Developing the film for the appropriate duration.

Ansel Adams – Romanticism.

Ansel Adams helped to escalate photography as a valued art form in early 20th century America .Adams was inspired by the the ‘American value of nature’, which led to the establishment of the National and State Park systems in the U.S. He was also drawn to these painters’ romanticism, this then led him to use his techniques which increase the drama and capture his heartfelt passion through a photo. Ansel decided to embrace Romanticism through his black and white film to create breath-taking images of towering mountains, elegant lakes and snowy hills. This gave his pictures an extra effect and made his work stand out compared to other artists such as Edward Weston. The black and white effect created a look to the sky which darkened the blue tones to a more mysterious and shadowy, and blackish grey colour which continues into the mountains and hills which ties his photography into the subject of romanticised in landscape photography. Ansel Adams had a vision of what he wanted all his images to look like- this is called visualisation in the minds eye.

“Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film.”

 He was sometimes questioned and negatively judged for not including humans in his photographs, and instead he would represent an’ idealized’ wilderness that no longer exists in the modern world. He justified putting his images into black ad white by saying it was distracting for the viewer and diverting their attention from his miraculous achievements when taking the photograph.

MOST POPULAR IMAGE.

His most famous image is Monolith, the Face of Half Dome. It was taken in April of 1927. It is the Half Dome in Yosemite National Park after a difficult hike with his fiancée Virginia and two friends. He used a 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 Korona View camera, which had 2 lenses. 2 filters, a large wooden tripod and 12 ‘Wratten Panchromatic Plates’ made of glass. Whilst using his last plate, he attempted to replicate the image in his head that carries the qualities he was aware of when making the exposure.

He reduced the filter down by a factor of 16. He then pressed the shutter release for a 5-second exposure at f/22 this image perfectly represents his ‘first conscious visualisation in his minds eye.’

He explained it to be one of the most exciting moments of his photographic career as he removed the plate from the fixing bath and it revealed his beautiful negative interpretation. This was Adams’ first photograph that gathered the attention of the public and the art world.

MY FAVOURITE IMAGE.

The Golden Gate Bridge. In 1932, Ansel Adams decided to capture this photograph of the Golden Gate before the bridge had been constructed. This photo is both historical and beautiful. It allows the person looking at it to have an insight as tolife before the famous bridge was created and became part of the landscape. It was taken on a morning after a previous storm and Adams said “I looked out the window of our San Francisco home and saw magnificent clouds rolling from the north over the Golden Gate. I grabbed the 8 x 10 equipment and drove to the end of 32nd Avenue at the edge of Seacliff. I dashed along the old Cliff House railroad bed for a short distance, then down to the crest of a promontory. From there a grand view of the Golden Gate commanded me to set up the heavy tripod, attach the camera and lens, and focus on the wonder evolving landscape of clouds.”

During the 1960s, The Sierra club- including Ansel Adams decided to oppose the idea of construction upon high-rise apartment building on these hills. As his act of protest, Ansel chose to place small pictures of apartment buildings on top of hills in As a protest, he pasted tiny pictures of apartment building on top of the hills in this photograph and exhibited it in a San Francisco storefront. Due to this the ‘Golden Gate National Recreation Area’ was created in 19762 and protected these beautiful headlands, thanks to the Sierra Club.  

Ansel Adams Inspired Photography.

For this photoshoot, I decided to go to Greve De Lecq and photograph the beautiful rocks and water that could really relate to Ansel Adams’ locations as he often photographs mountains and water. I also visited Beauport beach and decided to photograph the beach, sand, sea and rocks from above instead of actually going onto the beach. This helped me to photograph from a more upwards angle. I feel these images had to be in black and white in order to be more similar to Ansel Adams’ work, he did this because he saw the colour as distracting for the viewer and took their focus and attention from the landscape they are actually appreciating.

I first went into all my photos and selected 3 similar photos with different exposures.

I then imported these 3 photos into adobe Lightroom.

I then selected all 3 using my shift button and clicking all 3. I then right clicked and pressed Photo Merge and then clicked HDR.

I then tested all the 4 deghost amounts –

• None
• Low
• Medium
• High

I decided to go with ‘high’, this is how the image was on the ‘none’ setting.

I then set it back to high and selected the ‘Graduated Filter’ button and decided to click and drag it down to darken the sky whilst maintaining the nice bright details of the trees.

I then selected the spot removal tool and clicked an imperfection of the picture in the top left of the sky, this helped to remove and improve the quality of the picture.

These were my final outcomes and edits of my picture. I decided to make a coloured and black and white version.

Here are my editing settings for the coloured and black and white version.

For this half term task, I decided to visit places in Jersey that have been affected by storm Ciaran. The storm hit the Island around midnight on Wednesday 1 November, was in fact the most powerful ever recorded on the Channel Islands. Whilst taking photos of the aftermath, I mainly focused on fallen down trees in more rural locations, as I think this is a vital part of the destruction and reconstruction of the island. I travelled around different parts of the Island such as…

• St Ouen

• La Pulente

• Beauport Bay

Whilst visiting these places, I came across lots of destruction of huge trees which had fallen down. I then photographed these with my camera in order to capture the best angles possible and altering my camera settings when necessary.

My Camera Settings.

The first area that I visited, I could see from my car that there was a large field that had been affected, this resulted in lots of branches being broken and lying on the floor. There was also many large trees that had fallen down, with multiple large branches being piled on top of each other.

The next location I came across, I was driving along St Ouens bay, when I saw a large tree which had completely fallen down. With all the roots being completely ripped out of the ground, this tree really demonstrates the ferocity of the conditions. This tree took up a lot of space, this photo was taken at 4:46 pm, this was when the sun was setting, which I think created a really beautiful effect on the tree, because the sun creates a sort of yellow colour on the tree. This huge tree had lots of sticks and branches poking out of it, which shows how dangerous the effects of the storm were. I also really like the blue sky with the clouds in the background. I think the contrast between the broken trees, with a beautiful blue sky highlights the aftermath and how the stormy weather may be gone, but the destruction remains.

I then went to La Pulente where I saw lots of logs that had been piled up, next to some swings that are made out of branches from the trees. These logs that had been cut and made out of the fallen trees, demonstrates the reconstruction of the trees mostly, out of all the locations I photographed. This also signifies work put in to restoring the damage that had been made.

My Best Photos.

My Favourite 4 Photos.

I like this photo because of the bright blue sky with the clouds and how the blue fades into a faint yellow creates a dramatic effect. I also like the sea, trees and green grass in the background, this dramatization from behind I think really pulls the tree roots and insides out, making them eye-catching and more interesting due to the bright colours. It also shows the true strength and power of the storm and how its dangerous conditions created extensive damage.

This photo is taken at La Pulente, this photo also has a beautiful blue sky background, with the sea, sand and rocks in the background which makes a strong backdrop of the image of logs of trees that have been cut and chopped by people. This signifies the restoration from the storm, and the human effort to replenish any damage that was caused.

I also like this photo very much, this is similar to my first favourite photo, however I also like this because it captures a fallen down tree in the background. The large tree as the main part of the photo, and then the tree in the background shows the mass destruction.

This photo was taken along St Ouen, whilst driving down a road, there was many puddles and destroyed trees and branches around. I decided to photograph this large tree that fell down, which I particularly like because of the oranges, reds, yellows and greens in the sunlight.

Romanticism is an artistic and intellectual movement which originated in Europe. Artists have been painting the landscape since ancient times. Wall paintings of landscapes were also created by the Greeks and the Romans. After the Roman Empire, people temporarily stopped appreciating pure landscapes and the landscapes were seen only as a setting for religion. This carried on until around the 16th century, then artists began to truly appreciate landscape as an important subject. Landscape first became popular in The Netherlands and people began to use it for painting, this worked perfectly for middle class protestants seeking art for their homes and wanting unique pieces of artwork.

The ideals of the French Revolution created the context from which romanticism began. It was a ‘revolt’ against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment or the ‘age of reason’ and a reaction against the scientific rationalisation of nature.

Portraits and paintings began to be used to signify history painting, classical and religious themes. This carried on through to the 17th century where these paintings were mostly used to display biblical or historical scenes.

Romanticism Moodboard.

When did Romanticism come about?

Romanticism originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. 

What are some of the Characteristics of Romanticism?

A deepened appreciation of the beauties of nature; a general exaltation of emotion over reason and of the senses over intellect; a turning in upon the self and a heightened examination of human personality and its moods and mental potentialities.

Main characteristics include:

• Emotion and passion
• Critique of progress
• An awe of nature
• A return to the past
• The idealisation of women
• The purity of childhood
• The search for subjective truth
• Celebration of the individual

DIANA DEBORD.

Diana Debord is a fine art photographer who is originally from Italy. In her words she says,  “I like to create images that merge decadent romanticism with dreamlike atmospheres, drawing inspiration from dreams or nightmares, paintings and books. I like to pack my photos with vivid colours, symbols and natural elements, just like dreamscapes captured by my camera.” Diana particularly likes to merge pictures of ‘decadent romanticism’ with ‘dreamlike atmospheres’, she will then consider colours and composition as amazing creative tools. I think that her attempt to rebel towards the greyness of modern life and capture the magic of everyday life displays her relation to romanticism and the sublime the most.

The Sublime.

The sublime can be summed up as a combination of the internal/emotional and the external/natural world. It explores how humans allow our emotions to overwhelm our rationality as we experience the wonder of creation. It can also be described as the quality of greatness such as…

• Physical

• Moral

• Intellectual

• Metaphysical

• Aesthetic

• spiritual

• Artistic

The term especially refers to a ‘greatness beyond all possibility’ of calculation, measurement, or imitation.

What is the difference between Bucolic and pastoral?

Bucolic often refers to the pleasant aspects of country life and its nature. Pastoral is similarly defined, positively as the working elements of country.

The Sublime Moodboard.

Edmund Burke.

What did Edmund Burke Think was the Ruling Principle of the Sublime?

Whatever therefore is terrible, with regard to sight, is sublime too … Indeed terror is in all cases whatsoever, either more openly or latently, the ruling principle of the sublime. Burke was interested in what happens to the self when assailed by that which seems to endanger its survival.

Edmund Burke published 1757 which is a treatise of aesthetics called A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful.  He asserts that ideas of pain are much more powerful than those of pleasure, and that the strongest pain of all is the fear of death, which causes terror.

Edmund Burke declared the sublime as “the strongest passion,” and he belittled the importance of the beautiful, claiming that it was merely an instance of prettiness.

“Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain, and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling.”

“The passion caused by the great and the sublime in nature, when those causes operate most powerfully, is Astonishment; and astonishment is that state of the soul, in which all its motions are suspended, with some degree of horror.”

Industrialisation.

Romanticism is tied into the the subject of capitalist industrialisation, as the ‘active radical culture of the artisans’, weavers and spinners ‘made’ them into a class simultaneously to being ‘made’ a proletariat by the processes of economic change. English Romantic intellectuals and artists felt that the modern industrial world was harsh and deadening to the senses and spirit.

Source – Romanticism and the industrial revolution in Britain: History of European Ideas: Vol 12 , No 5 – Get Access (tandfonline.com)

What is social Commentary?

Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on social, cultural, political, or economic issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace about a given problem and appealing to people’s sense of justice. It can incorporate protesting the oppressive consequences of capitalism, the moral decline of the middle class, or the melancholy and alienation of the individual at odds with society.

Joe Cornish

Joe Cornish, who was born Exeter was an adopted child who moved to North Yorkshire, this is where he studied fine art and reading and where his photography interest began to grow.
Joe believes that knowing his location extremely important when photographing. He has travelled to places such as:

• The Arctic and Antarctic regions
• Africa
• New Zealand
• Italy
• Spain
• America
• Russia

Joe mostly takes his inspiration from the painters…

• El Greco

• Paul Cezanne

• John Constable

Joe’s images also have a very bright, dramatic and colourful vibe, which I think really conveys the idea of ‘the sublime’ and creates a sense of belonging and wonder.

These are the photos I have decided to place into the print folder.

I decided to first choose I Rembrandt lighting technique photo, this is due to a strong background and a strong pose whilst perfectly demonstrating Rembrandt lighting.

I decided to also choose these 4 photos to use in a sequences they all compliment each other. I tested how these would look in a row on photoshop with multiple backgrounds.

I picked these two photos to place next to each other with a black background, I think these two photos also compliment each other very well.

These two photos are my other Cindy Sherman inspired photos, these will be displayed on their own as A4 images.

Virtual Galleries.

I have also created virtual galleries for all 3 portraiture photoshoots of:

• Cindy Sherman inspired photoshoot
• Experimenting with lighting photoshoot
• Rembrandt lighting techniques photoshoot

Cindy Sherman inspired photoshoot.

Experimenting with lighting photoshoot.

Rembrandt lighting techniques photoshoot.

Artist Reference.

Saul Leiter

I decided to use Saul Leiter’s photography as inspiration for my photoshoot using mirrors. I researched his images and compiled a range of images that I felt I could attempt to replicate. Saul Leiter was seen as the greatest pioneer of colour photography due to his variety of photographs mainly focusing on the homeless, the elderly and their loneliness and immigrants. He lived from 1923-2013 and mostly took photos through specific reflections such as through windows, mirrors and doorways. His moments he captures have no intention or true meaning, instead he captures the more intimate and instant moments of the world which I truly admire. The quote

“I may be old- fashioned, but I believe there is such a thing as a search for beauty- a delight in the nice things in the world. And I don’t think one should have to apologize for it.”

I really like this quote because it portrays the simplicity and imagination the photographer has and I think this laid- back and chilled approach perfectly reflects onto his photography and work. Leiter was only more recently popular in the 1950s and 1960s as his extensive use of overexposure and deliberate soft focus gained an large audience. His work was then displayed in a huge exhibition in 1955 in the New York Museum of Modern named “The Family of Man” which includes the best in photography from around the world. His approach to colour in street photography and contribution to the development of colour photography becoming a true art form is greatly admired. I can see a direct comparison in the photography and work from Saul Leiter with the work from William Eggleston. This is due to the fact Eggleston “wanted to see things in colour because the world is in colour.” and his street photography has influenced fans to call him “The grandfather of colour street photography” another reason why these photographers are similar is that they have been known to explore colour, abstraction, and the poetics of everyday life throughout their street photography.

Image Analysis

What did I notice first?

I first noticed the woman being the subject and the focal point of the piece. I can notice her red lips and defined features capturing my attention.

What’s Happening in the Image?

There is a woman stood whilst looking to her left and she is outside. She seems to be fondly looking at something and be concentrated on her surroundings. She is also looking over her shoulder and she looks very feminine and stylish.

What people and objects are shown? How are they arranged?

There is some sort of wire which is placed closer to the camera than she is stood. This creates a perspective effect on the photo.

What is the physical setting? Is place important? Are there details that suggest the time period this image relates to?

The background is not specifically familiar however I can tell she is outside and the weather looks sunny due to the light effects shining on he face.

Photoshoot.

Photoshoot, Part 1.

I wanted these photos to relate to Saul Leiter’s work, whilst also having my own twist on it. For this photoshoot, I chose for my models to include a mirror to tie into his work. I had one model sit on the floor diagonally to my other model who is sitting higher up, on a chair. My model on the chair then shone the mirror to perfectly frame the person on the floors’ face, to capture their emotion whilst also showing themselves. This technique is perfect for a contrast of people and emotions in a creative way. To improve this,

• I think the mirror could be bigger
• Take our time more.
• Create a wider array of emotions
• Have both female and male models.

Photoshoot, Part 2.

For this part of the photoshoot, I had my models standing in front of the mirror and looking at herself. She is looking with a confused/ blank expression on her face at first, and then her head tilted to the side. This is to represent her judging herself and looking at her reflection and body negatively. This is tied into femininity due to the way women tend to feel and look at themselves. She is then shown sat down with her head in her hands, which signifies stress, despair and upset about her appearance.

I really like this photo as it expresses human emotions and how females may be seen as ‘overreacting’ or dramatizing human genuine emotions. This photo Is especially moving and meaningful because my model is crying actual tears whilst also holding a straight face. This may convey the idea of concealing your emotions in order to avoid judgement or attention for feeling upset or hurt especially in females. This may also relate to masculinity as It is seen as not masculine and unusual for a boy to show their emotions.

FEMININITY

This photoshoot I decided to mainly focus on the topic of FEMININITY and teenage girlhood. This shoot consisted of female behaviours that may occur in female friendships and relationships.

Here is my mood board for this photoshoot.

Photoshoot, Best Images.

These photos perfectly demonstrate stereotypical female activities. This includes making yourself smell nice, for others and making yourself look nice, for others. This portrays a female pressure to look a certain way and act a certain way to ‘fit in’ with a specific category. This general beauty standard puts women under immense pressure to e.g. be of a slimmer build or wear a certain type of clothes. This may turn in to impacting the way women feel about their own body image and affect their self love and confidence.  A specific beauty standard of a “thin” figure is put in the classification as someone with a slender shape, flat stomach, and small waist, while the “fit” body type represented toned and athletic female physiques.

I chose this topic to take inspiration from because of how the theme of ‘Femininity and Masculinity’ hugely highlights gender stereotypes due to clothing, body image, appearances, personality and social statuses. I have placed together an array of photos which show examples of photography with inclusive and diverse viewpoints on body image which ties into femininity particularly.

• Mar Armengol.
• Melody Melamed.
• Carlota Guerrero.
• Alba Yruela.
• Jade Beall.
• Kristina Varaksina.
• Alba Duque.
• Jade Beall.
• Kristina Varaksina.
• Alba Duque.
• Sofía Suars.
• Bruna Avellaneda.
• Rosie Alice Foster.

This list is examples of female empowerment photographers who specialise in normalising femininity in human bodies. In particular, the work of the photographer Carlota Gurrero fascinated me. I think her photography surrounding femininity is extremely meaningful and has inspired my future work. She is a Spanish photographer and has collaborated with huge brands such as Nike and Dior. She is an artist I would most definitely take inspiration from in my Masculinity vs Femininity project.

Female Relationships

These photos I think perfectly show the human relationships of females through social media and technology. As it is such an influential use of every day life, it is said that females particularly become affected by communication online, such as bullying, gossiping and messaging. This is due to the fact the person is hiding behind a screen, instead of showing their real identity and expressing themselves through writing something instead of saying it in person and including tone, pace and facial expressions. My models are showing emotions of…

• Disgust
• Shock
• Betrayal
• Deception
• Trust
• Bullying
• Stress

I then decided to make a diamond cameo to present these images as I feel It gives me the opportunity to display them easily but effectively. In inspiration of Henry Mullins, I have my photo on the left looking to the right. The photo on my left looking to the left. My image at the top looking down and my image at the bottom looking up. This is the perfect option to show contrasting emotions which all tie into together.

For this photoshoot, Instead of the lighting studio, I would like to take some Cindy Sherman- type images in black and white. For this I would take them at a house which is an easy and accessible place to take photos. I chose to pick a house that gives a more old- fashioned impression. I had my model Lexi hold poses that were similar to Cindy Sherman’s poses. This is in hopes to replicate some of Cindy’s work, but to also interpret her work and make it my own.

PLANNING AND PREPARATION

I chose to make this mood board to give me ideas on what I want to incorporate when it comes to my Cindy Sherman inspired photoshoot. I decided to cut out both photos of Cindy Sherman’s photography and photos relating to people and genres of photos that I would like to include. These ideas could consist of makeup, hair, posing and expression.

In this photoshoot my model could be in a range of positions such as:

• Leaning against a door
• Looking out the window
• Sitting/ lying on the floor
• Working in the kitchen
• Reading something
• Writing something
• Thinking about something
• Looking over her shoulder
• Looking down or up
• Looking left or right
• Staring straight into the camera lens
• Sitting in a chair

These posing and positioning ideas will help me when it comes to having ideas when taking my photos. I aim to take around 50 or more photo. These will consist of multiple poses, setups and locations around my models house. I chose this location because this house has a more older, rustic and old- fashioned impression, which I decided was the best location to take my photos, instead of using the lighting studio.

As this is my first photoshoot out of school, I have decided to prioritize the content such as posing, facial experiments and merely the inspiration of Cindy Sherman’s content. I will attempt to maintain good lighting and camera settings, however It is not my main priority.

Some aspects I need to remember:

• To experiment was exposure
• Keep lighting simple
• Frame my subject
• Use black and white
• Experiment with different camera settings
• Plan ahead of time
• Have a clear plan of the costume, hair and makeup I would like my model to do.
• Use Lightroom and photoshop to further edit my photos

These are 6 main photos I would like to attempt to recreate and mirror with my own photoshoot and model. I think the two main thing to help show I an recreating Cindy Sherman’s photography is costume and locations.

The costume similar to what Cindy wears are items such as:

• Long pearls
• Long dresses
• Scarves
• Aprons
• Towels
• Long coats
• Heels
• Gloves

The locations similar to where Cindy goes are places such as:

• Kitchen
• On a chair
• Bedroom
• Living room
• Bathroom
• Dining room

ALL PHOTOSHOOT PHOTOS

Here are all the photos I took for my Cindy Sherman inspired photoshoot outside of school. I decided to categorise these images through having my least favourite images of a low quality labelled red. This may be a fuzzy, blurry low quality image which is accidental or used for experimentation with camera settings. I then have my yellow images which are of a higher quality but could be possibly slightly fuzzy or have the wrong camera settings. A green category image may be an image of high quality and may be used to edit. A blue image is an image that is edited and of its highest quality.

Example of a red category image:

Example of a yellow category image:

Example of a green category image:

Example of a blue category image:

In the first 10 minutes of my photoshoot, I decided to work with a lower quality and lower exposure and lower shutter speed with camera settings. This was to achieve a certain look of older photos taken in e.g. 1980s to replicate Cindy Sherman’s lower quality images.

My Camera Settings.

Example of a LOW QUALITY Cindy Sherman Image.

My Lower Quality Images.

MY BEST IMAGES

I then returned to focusing on high quality images and increased my camera settings to avoid blurriness.

Comparisons.

This is my photography inspired by Cindy Sherman’s work. I attempted to replicated the poses, not as much the costume or setting. I think this worked well whilst maintaining my own style but taking inspiration and referring back to Cindy’s Untitled Film Stills poses.

Photoshop Edits.

• In photoshop I made this image by opening all 4 photos in 4 different tabs in Photoshop.

• I then clicked and dragged my second photo onto my first photo, I repeated this process by clicking and dragging all 3 remaining images onto the first
• I then cropped and changed the angles of my photos my moving to tilt more to the left and right.

• I then double clicked on the layer I dragged decreased the opacity, I repeated this process for all 4 photos. I made my photos have all different opacities for effect.

• I then repositioned all my photos to fit to my preference. I wanted them to have all different sizes which I think helps the picture to look more interesting.

Virtual Gallery.

Photo Analysis.

Here is all the photos I took during my photoshoot, whilst focusing on the theme of FEMININITY AND MASCULINITY through gender stereotypes. these stereotypes may consist of colours being assigned to each gender. This is usually seen as the basic analysis of blue being associated with boys and pink being associated with girls. However, some other colours such as black, navy and grey are also associated with boys and pastel colours or bright colours being associated with girls.

My camera settings were:

My Favourite Image.

This is my favourite image throughout the whole photoshoot. I really like the plain and blank expression on her face I think this is perfect in order to portray a confused or torn mindset. This photo may either contribute to the idea of either being confused when It comes to gender or being in a sense of conflict when it comes to expression, style and stereotypes in gender. I wanted my model to sit completely in the middle of the picture, which I think really adds to the picture, It helps her to be the focal point of the picture with the hazy colours of pinks and blues around her. I also decided to crop this photo to eliminate the shadows of people and lighting fixtures around her as I think this decreased the overall quality of the image.

Here is the original photo.

My Other Favourites.

For these two photos I decided to have my female model sit on the left and my male model to sit on the right. I then firstly abided by the colour stereotypes of girls being associated with pink and boys being associated with blue. After that contrasted these gender and colour stereotypes of males and females by swapping the coloured sheets in my lights to have the bright blue light shining on the girl and the bright pink light to be shining on the boy, this is to highlight the idea of ignoring colour stereotypes and, in fact, showing the importance of free gender expression within all sexualities and genders.

In this first photo I had my honeycomb light and my other light with a snout head. For this split lighting the light with the snout was on the right side of my models, this contained a coloured disk of the colour pink and my honeycomb light was on the left of my models with a coloured blue sheet over it. These lights were both either side of my camera at a specific a 45 degree angle, but the snout light was slightly closer to my models than the honeycomb light, this is due to the light less powerful and bright than the other, having this light slightly closer than the other helped me to achieve a balanced amount of coloured light on either side.

In this part of the photoshoot, I had my male model expressing traditional male stereotypes by holding his fists up to demonstrate anger, toughness and power. However, I chose to shine a pink light on my model whilst he is holding this pose in order to represent femininity shining through a façade of strength and masculinity. Initially I did not like the shadows behind the picture, however after contemplating the true meaning of the photo I like how the shadows help to add to the idea of a façade being put up and having fists up pointing right, left and forwards. If I wanted to in the future, avoid shadows, I would have my model stand closer to the camera and further away from the white background, causing a shadow.

In this part of the photoshoot, I then had my female model expressing traditional male stereotypes by folding her arms and having a fixed blank expression on her face, I also chose to shine a blue light on my model whilst she is holding this pose in order to represent masculinity through a female to show male qualities in a female through a façade of strength and solidity.

These final photos consist of my models demonstrate the idea of boys embracing femininity and girls embracing masculinity. These photos also demonstrate traditional gender stereotypes like my female model doing a traditional female pose whilst being surrounded by stereotypical female colours like reds, whites and pinks.