Definitions

Aesthetic- patterns in a photographer’s use of visual elements to create beautiful images. These elements can be frame compositions, subjects, color schemes and lighting techniques.

Formalism- Focusses on the formal elements, such as the design, composition and lighting and it is all about the elements, rather than the subject matter, as there is no emotion or context behind the image. The photographer becomes a visual designer whenever a frame is captured. In camera cropping concentrates on the desired subject while eliminating everything else.

Example: The west coast f/64 group, founded in 1932 consisted of a group of photographers working under the formalism movement eg Ansel Adams.

Indexicality- the way a photograph points (like an index finger) to its referent.

Example: Ideas that photographers are closely related to memory, the past, presence, absence and death.

The indexical sign is based in cause and effect, eg. the footprint in the wet sand indicates or traces of recent presence.

Symbols and metaphors can be indexical too.

Representation- photographs that are made of the real world and that represent a place or things relatively realistically.

Representation refers to the way in which individuals, groups or ideas are depicted. The use of the term usually signals acknowledgement that images are never ‘innocent,’ but always have their own History, cultural contexts and specify, and therefore carry ideological implications.

Narrative- the idea that an image or a series of images can be used to tell a story or create a narrative. A narrative is an account of an event or a moment in time, which makes photography the perfect medium for constructing narratives.

The book I have chosen to look at is called “half- story half-life” it seems to create a story based on perhaps masculinity and the teenage youth among boys, trying to discover their identities and bonding with one another as friends. All the images are set in a forest Using documentary style photography to create a story as although they know he is there taking photos the images are not staged as such and are just showing the adventures of the teens. I feel the story could be representing the fact they might be trying to escape reality, showing that they are care-free and just enjoying life hanging out in a forest. I also got the impression that it could perhaps also represent how males/teen boys tend to be more risk taking hence why some of the images show the boys jumping off cliffs into a natural lake. In almost all of the images the boys have no clothes on the top half of their body which also shows their muscles which could be relating more to the masculinity side of things showing again their strength and more risk taking behaviours that females arguably don’t have as much of.

Some of the images from this book:

2. Who is the photographer? Why did he/she make it? (intentions/ reasons) Who is it for? (audience) How was it received? (any press, reviews, awards, legacy etc.)

The photographer of the book is called Raymond Meeks. Raymond Meeks is a photographer who was born in Ohio in 1963, he has been recognized for his books and pictures centered on memory and place, the way in which a landscape can shape an individual and, in the abstract, how a place possesses you in its absence.  His books have been described as a field or vertical plane for examining interior co-existences, as life moves in circles and moments and events, often years apart that unravel and overlap, informing new meanings. Raymond Meeks lives and works in the Hudson Valley, New York. He gains inspiration by book narrative and collaboration with writers of poetry and short fiction and the merging of image and text. Half story Halflife, his recent body of work, is a visual biography of the post-teen age, in a specific time of the year, that leads from blizzards on unknown paths to leaps into darkness. The audience in which Raymond Meeks targets with his photo-book is summer dwellers (which is people who enjoy summer and make the most of it). Raymond Meeks’ photobook named “half-story half-life” was big among those especially youth who were also adventurous and could relate to the images within their own lives. Here is what Raymond Meeks said about what he had gained whilst and after creating this photobook “It was ritual. I was raised Catholic, so these rock outcroppings to me were like altars. These bodies leaping into the dark void almost became like this sacrament. I feel like each generation has to pay for the sins of the previous generation. They were almost offering up their bodies and it’s the process of evolving by way of ritual, that process of coming of age, something that’s been going on at this specific place for as long as people can remember” This quote actually somewhat relates to the study that I am doing as he also bases his personal faith around the images he takes and find references to how he was raised as a catholic.

3. Deconstruct the narrative, concept and design of the book and apply theory above when considering:

Book in hand: how does it feel? Smell, sniff the paper.

The book I have felt quite heavy and the cover was smooth feeling. The smell of the book was also almost musky it smelt rather old even though it was actually fairly new. It also had that distinct paper smell.

Paper and ink: use of different paper/ textures/ colour or B&W or both.

The paper of the book was in between both thin and thick paper it had a gloss coating on the paper which gave it a smooth texture. Each of the pages were white paper ages whilst all the images were in Black & White which gave the book a nice contrast in colour.

Format, size and orientation: portraiture/ landscape/ square/ A5, A4, A3 / number of pages.

The book “Half-story Half-life” is an A4 sized photobook in portrait format. There are 144 pages in the book and of those 144 pages 142 of them are pages with images on them.

Binding, soft/hard cover. image wrap/dust jacket. saddle stitch/swiss binding/ Japanese stab-binding/ leperello

The book I am looking at has a Soft cover where small sections have all been folded and held together before being glued to the cover. The cover is a faint image from the book imprinted on both the front and back of the cover as it loops around.

Cover: linen/ card. graphic/ printed image. embossed/ debossed. letterpress/ silkscreen/hot-stamping.

The cover is a soft card with an image from the same photoshoot presented in the book that is enveloped on the cover on both the back and the front.

Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing.

The title of Raymond Meeks’ photobook title, Half-Story Half-Life, could be described as a reflection on the fragmented nature of memory, personal experience, and storytelling, suggesting a blend of narrative and existence that is incomplete or in flux.

Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told?

The photobook captures teens cliff jumping. He went back over several summers to capture the youth doing these activities. It creates a story of youth and growing up. The images seem to symbolize the transition from adolescence to adulthood as it represents the youth jumping into the unknown almost like how the future is unknown showing how the teens are fleeting from youth and going towards adulthood and the uncertainties that come with it this is represented through the images of the boys jumping into the lakes off of cliffs and exploring a forest. It also represents the desire they have to move forward and the risks that come with it when they do that, as they take a leap of faith jumping forwards into the unknown of the water below its the same as taking that leap into adulthood not knowing what is yet to come. I feel the images can create many stories through them as another way I interpreted it was as if it was showing how males are more prone to taking risks. Almost as if the book was based around masculinity and representing male strength through the shirtless images.

Design and layout: image size on pages/ single page, double-spread/ images/ grid, fold- outs/ inserts.

The image sizes throughout the book varies. Meeks may have been doing this to create a bigger picture behind the layout as all the images are different sizes and are placed in different locations on the pages this could be trying to express how not everything in life is the same and out of order as nothing goes one direct way in life. and the stages of going through life can be different for everyone with different struggles etc. Every image in the book is a single-page spread, with most pages having one image to every two pages with the occasional two pages with an image each. With some pages being very empty this could perhaps be suggesting how nothing is yet complete and there are always gaps and areas yet to be filled in life.

Editing and sequencing: selection of images/ juxtaposition of photographs/ editing process.

Meeks has selected a variety of images for this photobook however they are all very similar and are all images of either the males exploring, walking around the forest or jumping off the cliff into the water. he keeps a very structed set of images he has chosen to follow the theme. Every image in his photobook is in a black & white aesthetic and the sizing of the images when laid out varies massively amongst the book. The images look reasonably edited while also being very natural and just kept to how he has originally captured them.

I chose to research and observe ‘ Shrinking violet’ by Shannon O’ Donnell expressing female expectations around the house, and the traditional role of women. These photos surround the theme of feminism and the inspiration from her mother. From what I take from this, she decided to take her images of herself on her own, similarly to Sherman’s work, she stood the camera up and posed with the correct props and clothing such as kitchenware and a dress and heels. Although the subject is expressing and revealing herself as being the traditional role in the house like a housewife, O’ Donnell making it look like she took these herself in her house creates an element of independency which clearly differs to the key stereotypical features of a woman.

The photographer is Shannon O’Donnell who was inspired by her project of making a film of her mother, including documenting her daily life and her mothers role in the household. One of her main elements was to obtain sarcasm whilst mimicking the traditional housewife stereotype as gender defines everyone and at her belief, can be limiting at times. Her approach to image-making was to stage craft them herself and pose herself. The audience I would say is too target women specifically as it may motivate women who face inequality to this day and definitely expresses a narrative surrounding the theme of women. However, she was massively inspired by Cindy Sherman’s book ‘Retrospective’. Her collection ‘retrospective’ is at the Museum of Modern Art. For a time Cindy Sherman, Troy Brauntuch, Jack Goldstein, Sherrie Levine, and Robert Longo shared a Soho gallery. Did they ignite “The Pictures Generation”? Recalling a long tradition of self-portraiture and theatrical role-playing in art, Sherman utilises the camera and the various tools of the everyday cinema, such as makeup, costumes, and stage scenery, to recreate common illusions, or iconic “snapshots,” that signify various concepts of public celebrity, self-confidence, sexual adventure, entertainment, and other socially sanctioned, existential conditions. As though they constituted only a first premise, however, these images promptly begin to unravel in various ways that suggest how self-identity is often an unstable compromise between social dictates and personal intention.

Cindy Sherman is a contemporary master of socially critical photography. She is a key figure of the “Pictures generation,” a loose circle of American artists who came to artistic maturity and critical recognition during the early 1980s, a period notable for the rapid and widespread proliferation of mass media imagery. At first painting in a super-realist style in art school during the aftermath of American Feminism, Sherman turned to photography toward the end of the 1970s in order to explore a wide range of common female social roles, or personas. Sherman sought to call into question the seductive and often oppressive influence of mass-media over our individual and collective identities. Turning the camera on herself in a game of extended role-playing of fantasy Hollywood, fashion, mass advertising, and “girl-next-door” roles and poses, Sherman ultimately called her audience’s attention to the powerful machinery and make-up that lay behind the countless images circulating in an incessantly public, “plugged in” culture. Sexual desire and domination, the fashioning of self-identity as mass deception, these are among the unsettling subjects lying behind Sherman’s extensive series of self-portraiture in various guises. Sherman’s work is central in the era of intense consumerism and image proliferation at the close of the 20th century.

Maturing in the 1970s in the midst of the American Womens’ Movement, later known as the rise of Feminism, Sherman and her generation learned to see through mass media cliches and appropriate them in a satirical and ironic manner that made viewers self conscious about how artificial and highly constructed “female portraiture” could prove on close inspection.

Some critics criticize Sherman’s Film Stills for catering to the male gaze and perpetuating the objectification of women. Others, understand Sherman’s approach as critically-ironic parody of female stereotypes. Others still, assert that both cases are simultaneously true, with Sherman knowingly taking on stereotypical female roles in order to question their pervasiveness. At the same time her adoption of these roles inevitably leads her to be objectified further.

However, Sherman claims not to be a feminist which slightly changes the narrative.

“The work is what it is and hopefully it’s seen as feminist work, or feminist-advised work, but I’m not going to go around espousing theoretical bullshit about feminist stuff.”

This slightly changes the narrative as it forces viewers to question, what was the purpose? and who was the audience targeted? Sherman’s photography is a depiction of the different ways culture defines “woman.” Her art plays on the feminist idea that gender arises exclusively within culture and deconstructs dominant gender ideologies, representing the underside of popular culture’s definition of “woman.”

Sherman recognizes those fixed identity concepts surrounding women, and she parodies the construction process and form of these symbolic myths, suggesting the possibility of women’s self-authorization in reality.

I personally like how it is a paper back however I prefer Shannon’s ‘ Shrinking violet’ being a hard back as it is more aesthetically pleasing. Sherman’s book is A4 where as Shannon’s is landscape, Sherman’s being portrait. Based off my images, I would typically decide portrait. Sherman’s book has 219 pages with lots of different collections. A lot of her images are in black and white, however her more modern images are in colour and are more unique ” Deconstructing a woman”. Whereas, Shannon’s are all in black and white. Shannon’s title being ‘Shrinking violet’ is rather poetic whereas Sherman’s is purely factual and based off her. I personally rather poetic titles as every individual can interpret it differently to them.

Both books effectively show a narrative and successful story telling within the same theme of women. Overall, they are very similar but at the same time different.

This shoot was completed over a lesson in the studio. I used the product table to get a clear image, I also liked the slight reflecting produced by the shine on the table in some of the images. I started out with 157 photos and widdled it down to 33.

Of those 33 I have chosen 12, out of those I have made two into black and white copies.

EDITS

For this photo I brought the exposer up to brighten it a little. Due to the fact that there is lots of texture and shape in the image, I have made a black on with copy of it.

for the two below, I brightened them up a little and made them a little more vibrant so that the colours popped out more.

FINAL PHOTOS

This is one of my favourites, it is of the skeleton of a leaf. The main vain that runs to the stem stands out and is in focus, where as where the leaf starts to curve towards the camera is out of focus, this adds an interesting depth of field to the image. The veins make a sort of maze for the viewer to follow with there eyes, adding a sort of mystique to and part of nature which most people would usually over look. this leaf has been give a sort of immortality through this photo, a second life, to live on in in a photo.

For this photoshoot I focused on photographing my family in similar ways to old photos which I gathered from old family albums. I did this by using similar props to the old photos.

I went through my images and flagged the ones which are successful in a white flag, and the ones which arent as successful in a black flag. I also colour coded some images in blue, these are my best images which I am going to make edits of.

Best photos

Before and after edits:

Edit 1:

I also decided to create a black and white version as black and white images are largely linked to the past which I am trying to recreate through restaging old photos.

Edit 2:

For this image I did similar edits to the last one such as increasing contrast. I also decreased the saturation slightly as I found when I adjusted the other settings the colours became too vibrant.

Edit 3:

In the before photo the exposure is quite low as the face is quite dark compared to the background which is why I increased the exposure.

I prefer this edit in black and white as the bright white background doesn’t stick out as much as it does in the coloured version.

Edit 4:

Edit 5:

Comparing the old photos:

Evaluation:

I think this photoshoot was successful as I was able to recreate multiple of the old images in a similar way. My images I created represent the artist I responded to Irina Werning as I took them in a similar way to her, which is recreating old images in the same pose with the same props. I also created the same concept of her project ‘back to the future’, as all my images are recreations of old photos. Next I plan to recreate more images, I also plan on doing more portraits which I can combine with landscapes in a similar way to John Stezaker. I will do multiple photoshoots for my landscape images possibly in places which mean alot to each individual.

ESSAY: In the Spring term will be spending 1 lesson a week, normally Wednesdays on writing and developing your essay. However, you will need to be working on it independently outside of lesson time.

Objective: Criteria from the Syllabus

• Be aware of some of the methods employed by critics and historians within the history of art and photography.
• Demonstrate a sound understanding of your chosen area of study with appropriate use of critical vocabulary. – use for image analysis
• Investigate a wide range of work and sources
• Develop a personal and critical inquiry.

How to start: 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.

Some examples of Personal Study essays from previous students:

possible-essay-questions-to-investigate

Essay Plan
Make a plan that lists what you are going to write about in each paragraph. Further help can be found here essay structure or see link here The Royal Literay Fund

• 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

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

Key Terminology: Here is a link to a glossary of key words, glossary of photographic processes, glossary of art movements and genres, and linking words and phrases.

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

ESSAY WRITING

Draft Introduction (250-500 words). Think about an opening that will draw your reader in e.g. you can use an opening quote that sets the scene. You should include in your introduction an outline of your intention of your study e.g. what and who are you going to investigate. How does this area/ work interest you? What are you trying to prove/challenge, argument/ counter-argument? What historical or theoretical context is the work situated within. Include 1 or 2 quotes for or against. What links are there with your previous studies, if any? What have you explored so far, or what are you going to photograph? How will your work develop. What camera skills, techniques or processes have you experimented with, or are you going to experiment with?

Literary sources –

1. Sontag, S (1977) ‘In Plato’s cave’ in On Photography, London; Penguin Books

Question –

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 woman 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. Catherines 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 Catherines 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 Catherines 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 Catherines 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 ourself 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 Catherines 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 subsequentially 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 Catherines 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.

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.