I copied in the essay plan from the blog and put it into my own blog post so that while I was working on my essay draft, I would be able to stay on track and know what I was doing:

Literary sources: Go to this blog post here: Theory: Literary Sources and copy relevant key texts relating to the subject of your essay and list in alphabetical order in your bibliography. In addition, find your own key texts in relation to artists selected for in-depth analysis in your essay and list these too. These texts could be interviews with the artist, or reviews/ critique’s written by others. See useful online sites/ sources here .

• Research and identify 3-5 literary sources from a variety of media such as books, journal/magazines, internet, Youtube/video that relates to your personal study and artists references .
• Begin to read essay, texts and interviews with your chosen artists as well as commentary from critics, historians and others.
• It’s important that you show evidence of reading and draw upon different pints of view – not only your own.
• Take notes when you’re reading…key words, concepts, passages, page number to be used for in-text referencing etc.

Bibliography
List all the sources that you have identified above as literary sources. Where there are two or more works by one author in the same year distinguish them as 1988a, 1988b etc. Arrange literature in alphabetical order by author, or where no author is named, by the name of the museum or other organisation which produced the text. Apart from listing literature you must also list all other sources in alphabetical order e.g. websites/online sources, Youtube/ DVD/TV.

Essay Question

• Think of a hypothesis and list possible essay questions
• Below is a list of possible essay questions that may help you to formulate your own.

I began going through the Theory: Literary Sources blog post to look at the different subjects that were there to see which ones were the most relevant to my personal study and my artist references. I took screengrabs of these so that I could have a brief overview of all the key texts that I could use:

I included a section about snapshot/vernacular photography as this may be useful in my essay as this is part of my personal study.

Possible essay questions:

1. How does the work of Carole Bénitah and Jessa Fairbrother explore issues of memory and loss within family?

2. Compare How Phillip Toledano’s  and Nancy Borowick’s photography represent the concept of loss?

3. How have concepts of family, separation and memory been explored in the photo books of Sarello, Casanova and Germain?

4. How are concepts of loss and memory narrativised through the works of Markosian, Toroptsov and Sarello?

5. How have Yury Toroptsov, Mariela Sancari and Julian Germain reflected upon the  themes of memories and remembrance in the construction of their photobooks?

6. Explore How both Yury Toropstov and Julian Germain Convey the Theme of Loss, Through their work.

I thought it would be appropriate to go through possible essay questions on the blog and list them on my own because this way I can easily see which question would be the most relevant to my personal study. This way, I can start to go through and find quotes from the different sources so that I can begin my essay clearly. As well as this, it gives me a good starting point for my own research too.

Previous essays:

Below are previous high-marking essays from students that I feel are the most relevant to the concept of my personal study as this gives me good examples of what an effective structure looks like so that I can use this as a tool in my own essay.

How do Diana Markosian and Rita Puig-Serra Costa express the notion of family history and relationships in their work?

 In what ways do alterations in Jessa Fairbrother’s work make the visible what is invisible?

Format:

• Essay question: How does the work of Yury Toroptsov and Philip Toledano explore issues of memory and loss within family? 
• Opening quote: ‘surplus of Faustian energy and psychic damage needed to build modern, inorganic societies’ (Sontag 1977:4)
  
• Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question?
• Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian. 
• Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
• Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
• Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
• Bibliography: List all relevant sources used – example:

Sontag, S. (1977). ‘In Plato’s Cave’ in On Photography. London: Penguin Books.

Snapshot Aesthetic – Its purpose is the recording of meaningful moments and delights in its familial sharing. Snapshot aesthetics refers to the visual style and cultural significance that arises from casual, unplanned, and often spontaneous photography, emphasizing the ordinary moments of everyday life.

I will use snapshot images across my project, to capture natural and meaningful images, as well as matching my artist case study images, Nick Haymes.

Vernacular photography – An umbrella term used to distinguish fine art photographs from those made for a huge range of purposes, including commercial, scientific, forensic, governmental, and personal.

photoshoot 1

my first photoshoot took place at a party. This environment fit perfectly as i got a lot of my friends together, and as it was a party, followed a lot of the stereotypes so linked back to my project nicely. This photoshoot took place in october half term at my house for my 18th birthday.

Photoshoot 2

For my second photoshoot, instead of fitting stereotypes made by the older generation, i took pictures of my friends having genuine fun, outside and away from ‘bad influences’.

For this shoot, i wanted my pictures to reflect Sian Daveys work. I photographed my frieds in a ‘raw’ moment, meaning nothing was set up or staged, it was pure enjoyment of being with friends.

I also like how this shoot links with Nick Haymes work too, the simplicity speaks bigger than taking the picture itself.

Photoshoot 3

my last photoshoot was pictures taken at reading festival. i wanted to put these pictures in my work as i believe they really look in to what my project is based on, and along with other pictures, all create a theme and storyline.

ESSAY DRAFT

15 December 2024 Mr Toft Leave a comment

DEADLINE: Essay Introduction Draft MUST be handed in Thursday 18 Dec 2024

DEADLINE: Final Essay MUST be handed in Fri 31 Jan 2025

Copy this essay plan into your own blog post, titled: Essay Draft:

Literary sources: Go to this blog post here: Theory: Literary Sources and copy relevant key texts relating to the subject of your essay and list in alphabetical order in your bibliography. In addition, find your own key texts in relation to artists selected for in-depth analysis in your essay and list these too. These texts could be interviews with the artist, or reviews/ critique’s written by others. See useful online sites/ sources here .

• Research and identify 3-5 literary sources from a variety of media such as books, journal/magazines, internet, Youtube/video that relates to your personal study and artists references .
• Begin to read essay, texts and interviews with your chosen artists as well as commentary from critics, historians and others.
• It’s important that you show evidence of reading and draw upon different pints of view – not only your own.
• Take notes when you’re reading…key words, concepts, passages, page number to be used for in-text referencing etc.

Essay Question

• Think of a hypothesis and list possible essay questions
• Below is a list of possible essay questions that may help you to formulate your own.

possible-essay-questions-to-investigate

Some examples of Personal Study essays from previous students:

Essay Plan
Make a plan that lists what you are going to write about in each paragraph – essay structure

• Essay question:
• Opening quote
• Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question?
• Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian. 
• Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
• Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
• Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
• Bibliography: List all relevant sources used

Essay writing: Here is a link to another blog post which will provide you with guideline about how to structure each paragraph in your essay.

Use of AI / ChatGPT – go to this blog post here for guidelines.

I only had 20 minutes to take some photos with tony (the model in these photos), so I only managed to take a few of my ideas. His room is full of colour which really adds to the basketball theme, as well as his endless shoes and basketball Jerseys. The brown carpet does ruin the colour sometimes, so I might edit the photos showing carpet in black and white. I asked him to look annoyed and sad, to show more emotion in my photos. I played around with the angle of the shot multiple times since basketball is a very dynamic sport, and an easy way to add this dynamic effect is to take photos with weird and unusual camera angles. For the camera settings, most of the photos where set to auto, with flash since I didn’t have enough time to mess around with the settings. However, I think this made it look more home made and real, as if a family member was taking photos of him.

Here I asked tony to get a few of his basketball shoes out and place them around his head, where he then places his arm on his face, looking disappointed and annoyed. He chose his favourite shoes which ended up being the most colourful which make the image more vibrant and exciting, contrasting his facial expressions. This adds to the story of him being an over obsessed basketball player, as the colourful image adds to the basketball theme, and the disappointed facial expressions adds to his obsession with basketball, never being satisfied with himself.

Here I asked my friend to get some of his old plushies out for the photoshoot. I asked him to look a bit insecure when playing NBA 2K (a basketball game which is the most popular in the basketball community). You normally need to play the game with other players but if you look closely he is playing by himself, adding to his isolation from his basketball team mates. The plushies next to him could also add to this loneliness and isolation, especially since its taking up most of the bed, leaving him scrunched up towards the left side of the bed.

Here is my first attempted edit of a Paul M Smith style photograph, using photoshop to add layers onto one photo. I had to manually add some shadows as well using the brush tool which don’t look too realistic in my opinion. I also blurred the layers that are further away and adjusted the lighting similarly to this. Before I imported the photos into photoshop, I made sure they are similarly edited (by copying one edit and adjusting the exposure to match). I think editing like this adds more effect as the whole composition is filled by the same subject, bringing more attention to what he is actually doing. It also adds the time dimension into my photos as you can see him changing what he is doing over time in one photo. It fits in with the whole story of this project as well since he is shown to be working on himself, by himself which portrays a sense of loneliness.

These images are from the artists Justine Kurland, Kristina Rozhkova, Ellen Mark and Ramona Wang. All of these images show how girls interact with each other, the “female gaze”. I really like these images because it shows the different interactions with different woman. These images show the connection of feminine energy between all ages of girls. The nature of girls in these images stay the same throughout the ages. In the picture of the 3 girls doing each others hair have a similar feel to the 2 girls doing their makeup together. I really like how in most of these images the girls feel comfortable together and they have a connection of friendship in which they allow each other to feel happy together.

When I create photoshoots for my own personal study, I am going to ensure the girls in the images feel a connection of feminine energy. I am going to take an approach similar to Justine Kurland in the way that she sets up her tableaux photoshoot. I will go to settings where I feel like I have spent my life over the years and I will set up the images in a way that makes female teenagers contradict the stereotype of female roles.

I am also going to be inspired by Ramona Wang, I like her images because it shows the true connections between female friends and how the girls feel empowered together. Her photographs show the detail behind girlhood and the experiences girls go through together. For example the images with the girls in the toilet putting makeup on together, I like how this shows that the girls feel comfortable in their underwear together and they feel as though they are safe around they’re female friends.

For my photoshoot I would like to look more at female empowerment and the future of women’s rights and how they are being portrayed in more positive way as times continue. This photoshoot will show a more positive light on women and how times have evolved to empower them instead of restrict them to certain values and opinions. This photoshoot will be created to show woman who are capable and headstrong with knowledge and intelligence.

For this photoshoot, I will take pictures in a house which is an out of school photoshoot to display women with power and almost being over-dramatic about their posing and expressions. Another interesting component of this photoshoot, is that these women will be young adults of the age of 18, instead of a women ages e.g. 30, who has lived a life to develop into who she is. Due to these girls’ age, it creates a meaning that it does not depend on age, when a girl can be powerful and self-confident. I would like to focus on posing and how, the way you come across, demonstrates your power and confidence.

Helmut Newton References.

My images are being produced In response to Helmut Newton’s work, however, my images will display similar signifiers in his work such as the topics of dominance, confidence and power. Although Newton’s work is controversial for being either critical of women or empowering women, I would like to explore different aspects of his work, as some of his images are seen to be empowering, and some more disparaging. The conflict of emotions towards his work argue whether his images are empowering the woman as his work surrounds themes such as power and control, instead of submission and manipulation. In my photoshoot, I am going to be interpreting Helmut Newton’s work surrounding themes of dominance control and power, but my work will be highlighting the difference in empowerment and objectification. I will do this by having a similar style of photographs, but have my models be glamorous and celebrated not glamourous and subordinate.

Here are some examples of images I would like to include in my photoshoot outside of school in response to his work.

These photos are perfect representations of images I would like to produce in my own photoshoot. I want my models to look elegant and posed in similar situations to this. I am choosing this style of photos out of his different genres as I feel these images display the classy and glamorous yet voyeuristic style of images where the women are dressed up. I want my models to pose in a confident manner to show they are self-aware and strong, contrasting with stereotypical portrayals of women.

My Photoshoot:

I would like my 3/4 models to initially be dressed in long black dresses with red lipstick and long straight hair. This is to demonstrate the stereotypical powerful woman during this time period. However, I would also like to experiment with different outfits and hairstyle and makeup in order to replicate different images and create an impression of fashion photography in response to Helmut Newton’s work. I would like to initially start with black dresses as many of his photos feature this type of outfit. However, I am attempting to provide similar extravagant clothing. Here are some outfit ideas I would like to include in my photographs. Pieces such as long dresses, black trousers, blazers, heels, tights and coats, all with darker tones I think will really boost my images to look more similar to his work.

Posing Ideas.

These poses give me ideas on how to show power, confidence and beauty. These are a wide range of things I would like to focus on in order to relate to the idealised view of a woman and how they are portrayed, vs how they really are. I really want to convey a message about how women are portrayed and how the line between glamour and class and objectification and humility is able to be hidden easily in the fashion world.

Images:

These images are inspired by this image taken by Ramona Wang. I like this image taken by Ramona Wang because it shows the stereotype of girls getting ready to go out. This image shows the gender roles that woman feel obliged to put on makeup to look acceptable for other people. For my images I decided to sit in front of the mirror doing my makeup and took an approach similar to Cindy Sherman. These images show that woman are stereotyped to take a while to put makeup on, to choose and outfit and do their hair to look good. However in my images, you can see the mascara running down the eyes and the hair is messy. This portrays a contrasting idea that some girls don’t care about their appearance and are comfortable in their own skin without having to cover up using makeup.