What do you want to explore?

I want to explore the club and youth culture in Jersey. I want to explore this because as a part of the youth in Jersey I want to be able to express what young 18 year olds experience when they go out into town or to parties during the weekend. I also want to explore this topic because I like to go out and I want to be able to capture the moments of going out whether these images are raw or set up.

Why does it matter to you?

This topic matters to me because I am an 18 year old living in Jersey and being isolated on an island night life is so different here compared to places like England and around Europe. But living in Jersey gives us very different opportunities and lifestyles compared to how living in England would be, for example we get to go to the beach everyday during summer and then be able to go into town or to a party afterwards, whereas, that wouldn’t be a common thing to do in England.

Which form I would like to present my study

I would like to present my photos in a photobook. I want to do this because it will look best presented in a photobook where its like a story and each page has either a new day or event on it, each event separated by a filler image where we are no longer at a party but just drunk or hungover.

When and where I intend to begin my study

I intend to begin my study with a few photoshoots around town and at different parties that I will go to, I want to take window images where they are not set up of the people that I go to the parties with, but I will have 1 set up photoshoot where the images are set up and my friends are acting out about being hungover and drunk, as filler images.

How is femininity shown through childhood, and stereotypically perceived through society?

Introduction –

Femininity is a very broad label to put on not just looks, but beliefs and speech. Femininity is the characteristics shown stereotypically by women and girls. As a female today, my views and beliefs have varied throughout the years of my childhood. Not just because of growing up, but social media played a very big part as well. Everyone telling you what you can and can’t do, wear and say, really affects a developing brain, especially in a world where all you want to do is fit in. A very big inspiration in not just my photography work but mindset too, is Cindy Sherman. She breaks social stereotypes and never adapted herself to norms all through her long career. My work reflects hers quite deeply, as well as showing my own personal hints throughout as well. My childhood came with a lot of emotions and cultures, growing up abroad and living with a strange environment, with my parents splitting and that changing my view on stereotypical love. I want to include all the messy and irregular things that have happened to me and show them to the world. By normalising the unnormal, it can reflect Sherman’s work perfectly, the abstract, unnormal and weird. My project will be mainly surrounded by the idea of femininity and masculinity, using my previous project on that topic as inspiration and almost like a baseline for help. I know that will benefit my overall outcome. I’ve photographed moments of love, lust, fun and danger, focusing solely on teenage life for my first couple of photoshoots, the fun memories and universal moments that teenagers all over the world could relate experience too. I want to finish photographing the other areas of my topic, the family and childhood aspects, which I hold dearly in my mind. I want to focus my nostalgic photos on natural light, the outdoors and nature in general. I feel like naturalistic light can bring copious amounts of nostalgia to a photoshoot and that is a very important aspect to my project.

Paragraph 1 –

Femininity and stereotypes have been judged and watched for centuries, artists and photographers have battled these negative connotations alongside all the change and disruption it has caused. From the suffragette movement to the recent pro-choice movements against abortion bans in the US, and the Taliban control over woman in Afghanistan, photographers have followed it all. These movements are very important to me not just as a photographer, but a young woman in this era of time. With almost all my rights no longer being mine in some parts of the world it takes all the hard work and effort woman have given to fight these issues back after almost 100 years. I want to not only share my childhood story and simple issues that I faced personally with my audience, but also include the issues women all over the world face. Woman have always been the underappreciated gender, through stereotypes, and social and societal norms, “take care of the kids, clean the house, cook the dinner” and those are only the superficial sayings. I want to look deeper into the suffragette movement as inspiration for my photoshoot, since I want to add in almost nostalgia, the idea of the pro-choice movement almost repeating history of the suffragette movement, links nicely to my idea of using old, archived photographs and polaroid photos. The movement also being so powerful in female history, gives not only an impactful connotation to my work, but also helps show the hardships that continue to ensure to this day. Even though the times have changed, the issues still commence, and I believe that focusing on that explanation and topic can impact my personal study immensely. The use of usually candid photographs that are taken of these movements, are very powerful, raw emotion and genuine expressions hold a lot of importance, so I want to include that aspect. I want to place photos that demonstrate issues women must face all over the world, next to innocent childhood photos and general childhood to adulthood moments and memories to show the contrast and the behind the scenes, of almost every girl’s life. With photos that depict party scenes, kindness and genuine friendship and love, contrasting with photos that depict hatred, maliciousness and hurt. I believe that everyone should have to see the life every woman lives, whether it is fitting into societal norms, or rooting into personal insecurity. Many people wrongly think that life as a woman is nothing but giggles and makeup, cooking and cleaning but the struggles that woman face hold an unmeasurable amount of weight on each and every one, including myself. I want to be able to open the eyes of the people who view my work, physically, emotionally and morally. I want them to not only feel emotion towards it, but feel the need to make change, to thank their mother, grandmother, sister and friend, for making it through to whatever stage they may be at in their life, a simple thank you and an I love you can really make the hardships worth it, when you hear it from someone you love. While I understand that the ‘normal’ woman may not understand or even be able to fathom half of the issues that some woman in Afghanistan, for example may be living with, everyone has their own hardships and with my work, I want to show the raw and sometimes hidden difficulties that come with life, and more importantly being a girl. Social media has not been around long enough for people who endured the suffragettes movement, I believe that with the power that social media holds over everyone on this earth, my work could reach just the right people, not just those who could do something about it, but those who need the hope of knowing someone is watching and noticing and wants to make a difference.

Paragraph 2 –

One photographer that I believe really resonates with my work is Bianka Schumann.

Her work focuses on the idea of memory, she explored this topic through two perspectives. The first reflects on adolescence, growing up and something that she calls ‘no mans land’. This is what she describes as the space between childhood and maturity. The awkward time frame where I sit now, you think you know everything there is to know but really, you have no clue. The second perspective being nostalgia, the memory of things that sometimes we don’t realise we remember. The secret memories hidden away that are enclosed by not just time but hurt too. These memories are usually deeply personal and some things that people don’t often feel the need to share.

Bianka uses a lot of natural light in her work, it gives an incredible idea of the instinctive and regular life through childhood. Using clever spacing and portrait she also brings unease and danger into her work slightly. I feel that this is symbolism of danger and unease could show the criticality of childhood, the importance of this time in every person’s life. Bianka also uses techniques in her photography like blurring. She often blurs backgrounds of photos, whether this is to bring more attention to the focal point or show a sense of desperation, a need to be seen. Many children have times where they don’t feel seen, and maybe this is how Bianka helps her inner child heal from not being seen. Bianka’s ideas of nostalgia and memory is something I really want to interpret into my personal project. My memories I have surrounding my childhood are very close to my heart, good or bad. So, including them is important for me. Since my main idea is to pursue the theme of childhood and growing up from the feminine perspective, I believe nostalgia can be a very powerful approach for expressive work as it resonates with a lot of different people, man or woman, from all over the world, in whatever way they want to portray it. I also would love to include Bianka’s use of natural light. I feel that is can emphasise meanings and symbolism throughout my work very easily. Studio lighting and artificial light can come across as too harsh in some respects. I want my photographs to not look staged, I want it to be as natural as it can. Obviously, I will need to think about staged ‘candid’ photos since it is difficult to capture photos in the style I’m looking for in natural scenarios, with completely natural lighting that is perfect for my photographs.

Paragraph 3 –

Another artist that resonates with me and my work is Catherine Panebianco, a photographer who resides from British Columbia, Canada.

Her work, similar to Bianka Schumann’s, focuses on memories, home and people she loves. Catherine’s work looks for a sense of belonging and place, a safe space some people may phrase it as. This really links to my work because of the idea of security, I wanted to include this in my project in the form of archived photos. In Catherine’s work, she used archived photos and the original place they were taken.

I believe that that holds a lot of power in reconnection with past memories and emotions and though I don’t want to use that exact idea, the concept I believe is very powerful. The technicalities of Catherine’s work varies from blurry background to natural light. Similar to Bianka’s work, it really encapsulates nostalgia, the use of this technique of naturality captures the ease and thought that links to nostalgia, no artificial memories, just raw. I believe that natural light can help develop or remind a person of memories and the undeniable link that holds with each individual, whether that’s fragile reminders or ones that bring someone the most comfort. Catherine’s use of blurs in her photos is also an extremely powerful tool id like to include in my work. It focuses the viewer on the spotlight of each photo, immediately retaining their attention and in Catherine’s case, the polaroid she uses in each of her photographs.

It shows the focal point immediately allowing the individual to focus on the centre of each photo, concluding their own story and interpretation of each photo. Focusing on the centre of the image, whilst the rest of the story comes in when they take a wider look at the artwork. I also really appreciate the personal feeling her work holds. The subtle inclusion of Catherine’s hand in each photo allows each viewer to have a separate and individual relationship with the art and the artist herself. I also believe that a small detail like this almost takes the serious connotation these types of photoshoots hold, and while Panebianco’s work is very well established, it allows a relaxing and calm nostalgic environment surround the piece. One aspect of Catherine’s work I definitely want to impact mine is the idea of a focal point, her use of a focal point really resonates with me. I want to bring that self-creating feel to my artwork, not just to interest my viewers, but to resonate emotionally with each and every individual. One photo alone can bring up so many emotions for someone and I feel like nostalgia is a universal part of that. Natural light, which I’ve mentioned countless times, is a serious technique I want to include. The comfort and natural feel it can bring to art is so powerful. It brings a general understanding to art and not just others but our self too. Natural light has a powerful way of bringing things together, in a technical way, it compliments everything in nature, the beauty and danger of it all. However, in an emotional way, it brings it together almost intertwining them as one. The memory of the warm sun and comforting, grounding feeling of outside, can bring thousands of memories form everyone all over the world together.

Conclusion –

Both artists explore a variety of different themes, techniques and approaches. While Bianka Schumann focuses on growth and maturity through approaches like adolescence and growing up, Catherine Panebianco focuses on memories, home and people she loves. Bianka pinpoints in on the journey and the growth, the experience that is needed to grow emotionally and spiritually as a person. She uses a lot of natural light, similar to Catherine’s work but they both use it so simply to produce completely different pieces of art, yet they build on the same emotions in each and every person. I believe that Bianka’s use of natural light help her explore the naturality of her emotions. The expression that she uses to impact her photography is seen clearly through all her work. Since her work resonates a lot with childhood the use of natural light has such a different impact and outcome overall then what you see with Catherine’s work, where it impacts clarity and feeling more overall. In Bianka’s work, the portrait photographing technique is very moving and impactful for her theme and production. With the inclusion of this technique, the technicality side of photography is really brought to light as well, as this is something you may not focus on as much with Catherine’s work which focus more and candid photos and archived polaroid pictures which create not just emotion but dimension. While Catherine uses proof of memories and archived photographs, Bianka takes hers from scratch. Personally, I believe that Catherine’s technique is sub sequentially more impactful emotionally, however some may argue that the use of fresh images may reach a lot more important subliminal messages to other people and allow individual emotions to manifest in each person. Up to now, my personal work I feel, has reflected a lot more of Bianka’s not just thought, but technique overall. The use of similar ideas she has included, my portrait photography and ‘canid’ moments caught through the lens, my reinvention of old memories, It all leads back to her work. While I love the ideas that is shown through Catherine’s work, the idea of including archived photography into my newly made photos has become more crowded than I have liked. I will be definitely be including the use of archived photos, but I believe that they give so much impact themselves that placing them into or on top of new photos can be almost overbearing in my project in particular due to the heavy theme I have dedicated my work too.

Bibliography –

• https://thereart.ro/bianka-schumann-photography/
• https://www.lensculture.com/articles/bianka-schumann-arkhai-the-intimate-secrets-of-adolescence
• https://www.lensculture.com/bianka-schumann
• https://www.lensculture.com/articles/catherine-panebianco-no-memory-is-ever-alone
• https://www.catherinepanebianco.com/no-memory-is-ever-alone-1
• https://www.lensculture.com/catherinepanebianco

In this photoshoot I went to the beach near kiosk, because this was a beach I used to go to very often when I was younger, and even up until last Summer. I also go to kiosk quite often, so this setting and the activities presented here represent my identity very well. We also visited a shed that we used to go to in Summer, but it has a lot of damage now, so I took photos of the setting and us exploring.

Contact Sheet

The images which are highlighted green are the photos that I have chosen to edit, because they represent my themes of youth and identity the best, and they have the best compositions and lighting.

Edits

I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would slightly brighter and more vibrant.

I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites and vibrancy, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would be slightly more exposed, as the lighting was not the best, as it had started to get darker.

I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the blacks. I did this, so that the image was slightly more exposed and slightly more vibrant.

I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image would be slightly less exposed, as I has used the flash, so the lighting was not the best. I also wanted it to be slightly more vibrant, so that the colour of the rocks would pop more.

I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I have done this, so that the image was less exposed, because the lighting was too harsh, due to me using the flash. I also wanted the colours of the rocks to be more vibrant.

I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, and vibrancy, while decreasing the highlights, saturation and blacks. I did this, so that the image was less exposed, because of the harsh lighting due to the flash being used.

I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this, because it was very dark, so I needed the image to be more exposed. I also added a yellow tint to the image, because there was a lot of blue tones throughout the image.

I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image was slightly more exposed.

I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image was more exposed and more vibrant.

I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the paper was less white and had more of a yellow tone, so that it would appear older.

I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and whites. I did this, so that the image was more exposed, so that the subjects flash was brighter and more could be seen.

I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image was more vibrant and saturated.

I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this, so that it is more vibrant.

I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image was slightly brighter and the paint splatters were more vibrant.

I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image had slightly warmer tones through it, rather than cool tones.

I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image was slightly brighter and the colours of the paint were more vibrant.

I edited this image by increasing the contrast, shadows, whites, vibrancy and saturation, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image was slightly brighter.

I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites and vibrancy, while decreasing the highlights and blacks. I did this, so the image would be more exposed. I also added a yellow tint, because the image had lots of blue tones through it, so I wanted to cancel them out.

I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows, whites and vibrancy, while decreasing the saturation, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image was more exposed. I also added a yellow tint, because the image had lots of blue tones through it, so I wanted to cancel them out.

I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows and vibrancy, while decreasing the whites, saturation, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that so the image would be more exposed. I also added a yellow tint to this image, because there were lots of blue tone throughout it.

I edited this image by increasing the exposure, contrast, shadows and vibrancy, while decreasing the whites, saturation, highlights and blacks. I did this, so that the image was slightly more exposed. I also added a yellow tint to this image to cancel out the blue tones in it.

Photoshoot Conclusion

Overall, I think this photoshoot went well, because I was able to create and present different narratives of activities I used to do when I was younger. I was also able to experiment with shutter speed in this photoshoot, so I could create movement in my photos.

However, I thought the still image walking down the lane was more visually pleasing, but I am glad I experimented.

I was also able to get detail shots, which would be good to use in my photobook to break up my images a bit.

However, next photoshoot I would need to go out a bit earlier, as it started getting dark very early, meaning I had to use the flash, which didn’t create the best lighting for the images.

Photobooks are a typical format for presenting a photographers gallery of images. These images are contained into a concept, collection or a story, having an overarching theme. Sequencing and placement of the images are defining factors that contribute to the aesthetic of the book, however many photographers sometimes use text to relate these images to more qualitative information too.

Laia Abril – ‘The Epilogue’

“giving voice to the suffering of the indirect victims, the unwilling eyewitnesses of a very painful degeneration” – Laia Abril, Burn Magazine

I chose Laia Abril’s photobook ‘The Epilogue’ to deconstruct as not only does it surround a sensitive topic, this being the story of the Robinson family after the loss of their 26-year-old daughter to Bulimia, but it also incorporates many unique techniques in order to keep the narrative consistent and detailed.

“Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are brutal holidays in our family” – Cammy’s brother

The Epilogue

Abril works closely with the family to reconstruct Cammy’s life through memories and flashbacks to depict the second-hand implications that her family were affected by also, showing not only the absence, frustration and guilt that her family share, but to act as a memorial to her wilfulness and energy. By doing so, this photobook comes together to act as a bittersweet way of remembering a loved one.

However, this photobook has wider applications through its explorations of the dilemmas and inner conflicts that many young girls and their parents face, and by giving voice to the suffering of the family or the indirect victims of eating disorders, such as close friends, it allows their eyewitness stories to be heard to process this grief, or allowing the viewer to relate and feel seen in order to prove that they aren’t alone in their battle against it. This conveyed narrative of loss, tragedy and remembrance provides a tone of solace to the viewer through the rawness and honesty in documenting Cammy’s story.

Being quite a large photobook, Abril has multiple genres in relation to her image-making in order to depict the Robinson’s family accurately, whilst also being paired with information in a text format, including ‘testimonies’ from family members, as well as small captions describing what the image represented or what it involved.

The Epilogue employs contemporary pictures, archived family images, letters, interviews, and documents in order to attempt to answer the complex question of Cammy’s identity and highlight how she was beset by psychological problems. This breaks down her life into a distressing amount of detail and picks apart the events in her life leading up to her death so that we, as the viewer, can gain a holistic perspective of her and her family dynamic.

The book begins with candid images of the Robinson family paired with more landscape images to gain an initial understanding of who this person may be and allows the viewer to have a glimpse into what Cammy’s life was like:

The beginning images connote love and connection, this could be suggestive not only to the bond they share in their times of remembrance and grief, but also how Cammy was surrounded by adoration from all members of her family. This could also be relative to how this story began until her Bulimia deteriorated her.

Similarly, Abril incorporates contemporary images of items too, such as strawberries or trainers in the back of the car, possibly symbolising how remnants of Cammy are everywhere, and how they feel that she is still with them.

Abril includes medical information too. Towards the beginning of the book, Cammy’s new born identification sheet is digitised, creating a familiarity between the viewer and herself. Abril also does this with what seems to be Cammy’s ECG paper (tracing her heart) as it states earlier in the book that she previously had more than one seizure in relation to her eating habits.

Diary entries and letters from Cammy and family members also take multiple formats in The Epilogue, either being digitised, for example:

However, Abril also plants sections of these documents and data by making them look like leaflets overlaying the images that the viewer can pull out and read. I really like this aspect on Abril’s work because this creates a more physical perspective for the viewer rather than it being a singular visual narrative to make it more engaging. This could be a symbolisation of how her illness had good and bad days, explaining how her illness could spike at any given moment even in the midst of happy memories. I thought that this was extremely effective.

Abril also employs the use of archived images in order to be reminiscent on Cammy’s life and the moments that she felt enjoyment in order to make The Epilogue encapsulate the fluidity of emotion around this topic. Her use of various image styles and methods reinforce this idea, and this allows Abril to rehearse the story of the Robinson’s family overall to really assess what the situation was like and how this impacted all members.

With the image below, its clear to see that Abril uses a multitude of formats when layering her images too. This includes:

• Double page spreads,
• Single page,
• Half page spreads,

Abril also would play alternate with the sizing and placement of the images, sometimes making the image look as if it came from a polaroid, in contrast to placing the image just off-centre.

Laia Abril:

Abril’s work in photography is heavily affiliated with themes of bio-politics, grief and women’s rights. Abril pushes the boundaries from looking into the failing structures of law that continue to perpetuate rape culture, to the impacts of abortion control in varying cultures, leading to her various projects surrounding the impacts of eating disorders – Thinspiration, for example, being a self-published zine that challenges the use of photography in pro-ana websites (websites which use the promotion of behaviours that influence anorexia nervosa).

Her bodies of work strive to advocate for inequalities, specifically more feminist matters, which are able to act as forms of activism for the female community, and give those less fortunate a voice. I feel that with The Epilogue, Abril is striving to speak out to young girls who may be struggling with body image or an eating disorder themselves, and strives to assure them that they are not alone. This also provides solace to parents or families who may have a young daughter who struggles with an eating disorder or recovering from one, so that they can hear the Robinson’s story and use this to find peace within their possible own grief. Eating disorders are a sensitive issue and I feel that Abril intended to show the harsh reality behind them in order to spread this awareness, and could possibly be used to create preventative methods against them through the spread of awareness.

The Epilogue “… is a sombre and affecting photobook … dense and rewarding … At times, it makes for a painful read. From time to time, I had to put it down, take a breather. But I kept going back.” – The Guardian, Critic Sean O’Hagan

The Epilogue has received numerous awards, some of these being:

• In 2014, The Epilogue was shortlisted as First PhotoBook award in the Paris Photo-Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards
• The Hood Medal of the Royal Photographic Society
• In 2023, the Spanish National Photography Prize
• The PhotoEspaña Best Book Award
• The PhotoBook festival in Kassel

Narrative, Design, Concept:

The term ‘Epilogue’ actually means a final or concluding act or event, usually a section at the end of a book or play that serves as a comment or conclusion on what has happened. I find that this being paired with a graphic rectangle over can be assumed to be Cammy’s face is very powerful as it secretly hints at her death without giving away any specifics until further into the photobook. I find that this could be metaphorical for how different she became, as eating disorders do not change just a person’s body but their attitude, personality and mindset too. Although the title is literal, I find it quite poetic too as this is concluding what happened to Cammy until the end of her life, resonating with the ending of the book. The weight of the book goes hand-in-hand with the title too as it tacitly hints at the dark and heavy subject matter that Abril is representing.

The beginning and last pages have an ominous blue tonality to them, appearing to be leaves against a wall at night-time. This adds to the solemnity that the front cover inhabits, preparing the viewer for this dark story. The photobook has a hard cover that has been printed on, however the graphic section of blue is slightly raised in an embossed way. This is where the design is raised up from the surrounding material. Within the book, this also consists of three chapters categorised into dates so that there is a progression of her illness at three intervals. All of the pages are kept white and portrait, however some images have been enlarged so that Abril could have pages which fold over so that it is interactive.

Whilst all the different types of images that Laia Abril employs in this photobook, the image of the scales above is the most defining image of the photobook. This image is extremely powerful, being that it would have been used by Cammy when tracking her weight. The swift in tonality between the scales themselves and the white background creates an ominous tone that can be echoed throughout the rest of the photobook with support from Abril’s other images, adding a ghostly effect to the scales themselves. In my work, I would like to be able to use this idea of having a defining image in my photobook, because Abril has been able to use this to solidify and verify the narrative that the other images were implicitly hinting at. Images like these can tend to pause the viewer so that they can take time to really connect with the context of the narrative and think about the deep conceptual meaning behind it.

QUESTION IDEA- How are women portrayed in art by the work of Helmut Newton in comparison to the work of Cindy Sherman’s untitled film stills?

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

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

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 Ideas

possible-essay-questions-to-investigate

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

• Think about an opening that will draw your reader in e.g. you can use an opening quote that sets the scene. Or think more philosophically about the nature of photography and its feeble relationship with reality.
• You should include in your introduction an outline of your intention of your study, e.g.
• What are you going to investigate?
• How does this area/ work interest you?
• What are you trying to prove/challenge, argument/ counter-argument?
• Whose work (artists/photographers) are you analysing and why?
• What historical or theoretical context is the work situated within?
• What links are there with your previous studies?
• What have you explored or experimented with so far in your photography project?
• How will your work develop.
• What camera skills, techniques or digital processes have you used, or going to experiment with?

• 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.

‘To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed.’ (Sontag 1977:4)

Photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking at and what we have the right to observe.

Bibliography: List all relevant sources used:

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

Mulvey, L. (1973) ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ in Screen (1975)

Avgikos, J (2002) ‘Cindy Sherman: Burning Down the House’ in Well, L. The Photography Reader. London: Routledge.

Judith Butler is an academic and writer who is an authority on feminism and gender studies, incl queer theory. Her seminal book is: Gender Trouble which we do have a copy of in the Library LRC and in Media. Here is a good overview of her work – make sure you read it all and watch video as well.

Butler, J. (2019). ‘Gender as Performance: Judith Butler’ in Dixon, M. Media Theory for A-Level Students. London: Routledge.

1. How is the work of Claude Cahun and Cindy Sherman questioning the politics of gender and female stereotypes?

2. Compare how Cindy Sherman and Phoebe Jane Barrett challenge gender stereotypes in their work.

3. How are woman portrayed in art by the work of Helmut Newton and Edouard Manet with reference to Berger’s book, ‘Ways of seeing.’

QUESTION IDEAS:

Essay:

Essay:

Contact Sheet:

For my second personal study photoshoot, I chose to use 4 of my friends as models and recreated scenes inspired by Justine Kurland and Ramona Wang. The location of this shoot was in indoor and outdoor locations, meaning I was able to get a range of different images portraying different feminine ideas and perspectives. This differs from the first shoot I executed because it was only based on outdoor scenes, meaning I only had a limited amount of different backgrounds to include, which didn’t add any unique elements for me. Although this photoshoot incorporates factors from both my artist inspirations as they share focus on femininity, within this photoshoot I have portrayed similar aesthetics to Roberta Tocco specifically because she includes female models often displaying a close relationship with one another, for example physical touch, in her images. I have recreated these by photographing my friends including myself exhibiting these ideas, where we are often seen as being feminine by ‘comforting’ one another. I believe that the use of physical touch between females successfully links to my project and the overall themes, this is because stereotypically, women are seen as nurturing due to us having duties of having children, and this highlights the importance of having emotional connections with others. Other photos I captured such as portraits of one model individually can also link to youth and femininity due to the fact by having one female model in an image the viewer is able to make assumptions of why the image was taken, what I am trying to portray and identify what the main subject is. Contrastingly, I did photograph outside in a dark and empty car park, where we took the images of the girls out the car window and on the car bonnet. The reasoning behind this was to illustrate teenagers girls and their fantasy life, which again links to Tocco and her focus. These images show the feelings girls have towards growing up and becoming young adults who need to find their own identity. By photographing youthful and women-like factors, it allows me to begin telling my own story through my own personal experiences of being a young woman who is slowly steering away from childhood, and I feel that these images represent girlhood and youth effectively.

On Lightroom, I imported all 273 images from my shoot, and placed them in a new collection named “Personal Study photoshoot 2” so I could have future access to this photoshoot. I then flicked through all the images, and deleted the ones that had no potential and perhaps did not reflect my artists or display the themes I am focusing my project on. Next, I categorised all my images into one of three categories by colour coding; green, yellow or red. Which makes the editing process easier as I will only want to edit the green images, the ones that have the best lighting, camera focus, shutter speed and iso etc. During this, I also flagged the best images from the shoot, meaning I can differentiate them from the rest when I come to edit them, and therefore only focus on my best outcomes.

Furthermore, to begin my editing process I selected just my flagged images to edit so it separates them from the least successful outcomes. This made it easier for me, so I can identify which images I want to include from my shoot into my final book.

Editing:

The following images I have edited are my best selections from photoshoot 2, where I mainly took inspiration from Ramona Wang, yet I also included inspirations from Justine Kurland in the sense of careless teenage runaways.

For my first edit, this image has an overall mood of melancholy due to the models facial expressions. Therefore I wanted to exaggerate these feelings through decreasing the saturation of the image, which makes it appear colder to the viewer. By increasing the contrast too, I extenuated this to add more depth into the image and overall increase the intensity. However, despite it looking effective by itself, I don’t think this image will fit into the rest of my photobook as it is not the aesthetic I am aiming to show.

I edited this image again, this time keeping saturation within it as I feel it gives the image some life. Although the models facial expressions show sorrow and dejection, I believe that by adding more vibrancy it is able to lift the overall mood of the image, which will take the viewers attention away from just her face and allowing the viewer to appreciate the background. I decreased the highlights in this image because I didn’t want the LED lights on the mirror to be too distracting and blinding, yet they are still noticeable, which I wanted them to be as mirrors and lights can link to girlhood and youth through ideas of makeup.

Edit 2:

With my second edit I took a similar approach to the first, as it is the same model in the same location. However I feel this image has more potential due to it being a portrait, which immediately implies that the main subject is the model, rather than letting the viewers eye wonder through the image. I wanted to include her outfit into this image, specifically the skirt as I think it represents feminine qualities and stereotypically, red is a lustful colour that women wear. As these elements within the image are prominent, I decided to keep the editing minimal to prevent distractions and giving the overall outcome a fictional aesthetic. I increased the contrast to add exaggeration and make the image look magnified, and keeping the whites and highlights significantly low so it doesn’t look too luminous.

Edit 3:

I decided to recreate some of Roberta Tocco’s approaches to editing this image, by keeping the image vigorous through decreasing the exposure which allows the colours and tones within the image stand out. I decreased the clarity in this photo, giving the image a more delicate and romantic mood. I think this works well as throughout my project I will be highlighting romance and delicacy in order to portray ideologies about femininity. Furthermore, I slightly increased the vibrance to accentuate the shades of red because I think they are an essential factor of the girlhood theme.

Edit 4:

As this image was taken at dusk, it has slightly cooler natural lighting, which is definitely something I wanted to take advantage of because this was one of Tocco’s main components, as it gives the image a more simplistic overall look. To make this stand out, I decreased the exposure slightly so the section of sky in the background wasn’t too outstanding and so it could blend in naturally with the rest of the colours throughout the image. I did not increase the contrast in this image specifically because it allows the image to appear softer and perhaps more feminine, rather than harsh. Similar to the previous image I edited, I also decreased the texture and clarity to make the image look simplistic.

Edit 5:

As my fifth photo had artificial and vibrant lighting, this contrasts from the rest of my images as it doesn’t execute the same realistic theme, so I wanted to make the image appear brighter so it could still be eye-catching. Therefore, I increased the exposure slightly so it wasn’t too dark, and kept the rest of the adjustments minimal to stop it from looking insincere. Again, I decreased the highlights and whites significantly because the candle on the left of the image was too bright and exposed, leaving the rest of the image looking bland. Yet, I kept the contrast neutral so the darker tones within the image were still visible.

Edit 6:

Firstly, I decreased the exposure slightly because I wanted the range of colours throughout this image to be seen as I think the different colours contrast each other, which makes the background more exciting. I kept this image in colour as I believe it adds a sense of realism as we see the world in colour and not black and white. Moreover, I am trying to portray a realistic idea within this image especially as I feel that my models facial expressions indicate jealousy. As jealousy is a common emotion felt by females growing up, I am able to draw the viewers attention to this which may be relatable. Therefore, there is very little editing in this image besides slightly increasing the contrast to add depth and emotion.

I also experimented with using a black and white filter on this photo, however I do not think it looks as effective as in colour. Despite black and white being stereotypically associated with sadness and realistic emotions, I feel that the image in black and white gives a surreal theme overall. Additionally, I believe it emphasises how the image is staged, which defeats the purpose of the themes I am portraying.

Edit 7:

With this image, I decreased the temp to 0 because I wanted to give the image a cooler tone, where the colours within the image can contrast each other, as well as allow the main subject to stand out against the background. By increasing the contrast and decreasing the exposure, this allows the viewer to focus on the model as it exaggerates the use of the flash on the image. Overall, the main subject already stands out due to the shadowy background, I wanted it to stay this way so I ensured the viewers eye would wonder through the foreground first, and then through the background.

Edit 8:

As this photo was taken in a unique location, I wanted to make it black and white to reflect girlhood and the struggles that come with growing up as a girl. Overall, the image has a melancholy mood to it, I wanted to accentuate this idea by decreasing the exposure so it is easier to notice the details in the image, and so it didn’t appear too blinding to the viewer. I also decreased the whites and increased the blacks to bring out the depth in the image and therefore add more of a depressing effect.

Edit 9:

Due to this photo having multiple people in it and the frame is full, I did not want to edit excessively. I decreased the exposure to make is easier to see what’s in the image, as well as decreasing the contrast so it wasn’t too intense, as I think the models already carry the overall photo. Due to the lighting being typically darker already, this brought out many of the textures throughout forcing it to look grainy. Therefore, I slightly decreased the texture to minimise this, yet increased the whites significantly to add some vibrancy.

Edit 10:

This image is similar to the previous one above so I changed it into black and white so the differences between them can be interpreted easier. However, I believe this image already has a staged approach and I think the black and white emphasises this. I decreased the highlights to -100 as it allows for the different tones to contrast effectively with each other, as well as not having too much light in the image. In addition, I slightly increased the contrast because it exaggerates the black and white effect, although I think it decreases the authenticity of the overall photo. I did not edit much more because I didn’t want to draw too much attention to the fact it is staged. Overall, I believe this image would look significantly better in colour to defeat this narrative.

Edit 11:

This edit is very minimal, as again it shares a similar aesthetic to the two previous outcomes. However, due to this one specifically having coloured lighting, it already stands out from the others. Meaning I had to decrease the highlights and the whites to keep an overall neutral lighting, and I wanted the fire from the lighter to be visible and vibrant. I increased the shadows to bring out the main subjects, which I think looks essential for the theme of my photoshoots. Lastly, I had to decrease the texture to add a smoother effect because the lighting is darker in this image compared to the others, meaning it was harder for the camera to capture accurate interpretations of the setting.

Edit 12:

This image of two models is very close up and personal, so I kept the editing minimal so I can represent my theme of youth and identity well. This is because I believe I need to present my photoshoots as realistic, and staged as little as possible. I decreased the texture so the viewer can focus on the eyes and the jewellery on the models, as they are a very important factor of girlhood and representations of being a girl. I decreased the exposure so there was the right amount of luminosity in the image. I also decreased the temp to -100 as it gives an overall neutral tone, as before this edit the image was very cool-toned. Lastly, I slightly increased the contrast to exaggerate.

Edit 13:

In this image, I figured that by matching the exposure and contrast so they can reflect each other, this would bring out the main subjects yet not bringing in too much lighting. I wanted the car to appear vibrant and colourful, as I feel this is a way of presenting girlhood and youth too. I increased the contrast to keep the dark background, I feel that this links effectively to Justine Kurland and the rebellious behaviour from the teenage runaways. I also decreased the highlights to prevent the camera flash from reflecting too much on the car.

Edit 14:

As this image is very similar to the previous, I kept the editing very minor to bring out the main subjects and so they can work well against the dark background.

Edit 15:

For my last edit, I changed it to black and white to create a drastic and tense effect. I thought this would compliment the overall artistic effect, which also works together with the dark background. I decreased the whites and highlights so they didn’t appear reflective, and by doing this it made it easier to focus on the models face, without too much brightness.

Notes

• Instead of gong through all the 5 stages, the protagonist gets stuck at stages 2-3 where they unable to fight back with their thoughts or “demons” which then causes them to fall back to the start of where they began.
• By the 2nd stage, the protagonist thinks they have become an “enlightened being” however that is not the case.

I would say that this photoshoot went quite well as I was able to capture some good images inspired by William Klein. I went around town with my model and tried to get some decent looking background, just like William did in New York, although jersey is a lot smaller and isn’t as posh as New York, I did manage to get a good set of images. My main goal was to try and find a wide cross walk so that I could recreate on of his famous photos, but I found it difficult and was only able to capture small cross walks, which isn’t bad but made it very difficult to make this photoshoot link in with my artist. I asked the model to pose for me in numerous places and even tried to get similar pictures to Klein’s, although it was difficult to get the model to wear a set of outstanding and bold clothes, I would say I still managed to get a similar aesthetic as I had planned to get. Most of the places in Jersey has scaffolding which doesn’t help and tends to make the image look very tacky, but that could a representation of what jersey is and how it is different to New York, jersey is a lot less busier and smaller, the population is lower and there are barely any shops left. This is what my hometown looks like and that is how it’s meaningful to me. After collecting these photo’s I then implanted them onto photoshop to edit the black and white effect just like Klein did to his. Though when I was editing, I realised that I was able to make my images different shades of black and white and add a tint of yellow to it, which made it look more unique and original. I will also be editing some other things on these images, to help present it better when constructing it into a book. For example, my plan is to make it look like a vogue magazine, so I will be implanting the vogue sign on the top and adding more detail to the bottom describing what my book is about. overall, this photoshoot went quite well and helped my get an understanding on the way William Klein photographed and how difficult it is to get decent images when in the middle of town, I did have certain goals when capturing my photographs and didn’t exactly manage to capture all of them but I did recreate one of William Klein’s photo with the model on the stairs walking it, but I did realise when I was photogating I wasn’t able to see the stairs so it didn’t really go as plan, so next time I do a photoshoot I will make sure to have a certain inspiration photograph to recreate and focus on one photograph at a time. I would also like to try and control my lighting a bit better as in some of the photographs they are darker and in others they are lighter, which doesn’t really help to balance the set of photographs I want to put together when contracting my Photobook/ magazine. I did find that when the model wasn’t looking directly at the camera it made the photograph look better, it added a sense of mystery and was overall just different from regular photographs of fashion photography, it almost added a style like Vivian Maier had in her candid photographs, I did also try and add different levelling when taking the photo just like Willian did, he tended to be higher up taking his models from above whereas I did the opposite and tried to get a shot of the models form below. I would definitely like to go back to town and get some more images with the same model wearing different clothing and try to find different surroundings, possibly when its busier as in Williams Klein’s images he always had people in background of his photographs. 

For this photoshoot, I was inspired by Marcelo Monreal. I began the editing process by first selecting an image of my model where she was slightly on her side (which would allow me to bring her face out to the side later). I then used the object selection tool to create an outline around the model then pressed layer via copy. I then dragged this cut out onto a blank white piece of A4 paper.

Next I used the lasso tool to make a shape on her face and then dragged out that shape to the side to give the illusion of a mask coming off of her face, revealing her true self. I then went onto google and searched up yellow and blue botanical flower prints. I chose these colours as the model is from Sweden and the colours seen on their flag is blue and yellow. This made my idea more personal and about identity as I incorporated her heritage into the image, which is a part of her identity.

Once I had selected a flower, I used the object select tool to make a cut-out of the flower and dragged it onto the model. Then, I had to bring the flower layer below the face cut out so that the flowers were behind the model. I repeated this step many times until I had the desired amount of flowers. I also experimented with adding a Swedish flag amongst the flowers. Finally, I experimented with different background colours and layouts. Ultimately, I decided to add an image of a Swedish newspaper in the corner in order to emphasise the point of the image being about showing her identity. I then tried different colours for the background eg red, blue and yellow. I think the red background made the model pop the most due to the extreme contrast between the black and white model and the red in the background.

This is the photograph of the model I decided to use and the kinds of flowers I wanted to incorporate in my design.

Overall, I like how this idea came out as I managed to successfully resemble the work of Marcelo Monreal but was still able to add my own personal take on it by making the flowers inside of the models head be about her identity by showing the colours of the Sweden flag (which is where she is from). I also liked the idea of adding a rip into the background and adding an extract from a Swedish newspaper to emphasise the point of image being about her identity in the form of her heritage/ upbringing. Next time I would like to experiment with people from other cultures and instead of flowers, add objects that are associated with that place so it makes it clearer what I’m trying to convey.