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

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

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

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

Essay Question

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

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

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

Possible essay questions:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Previous essays:

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

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

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

Format:

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

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

I have done a small photoshoot in St Helier to experiment with what I would like my outcomes to look like. I personally am not too satisfied with these photos and would prefer to get more detail and deadpan shots. I also think the lighting and composition in these images aren’t the best.

This is a map showing the area in which I walked:

Contact Sheet

Edit 1

Edit 2

Edit 3

Edit 4

Edit 5

Edit 6

Edit 7

Edit 8

Edit 9

Edit 10

Final Images

Image Comparison

On the left is an image by my artist reference, Keith Dotson, and on the right is an image which I have taken. These images are similar as the style of each building are quite alike and each of these images have been taken from an angle. On the other hand, Keith Dotson’s image has a lot more contrast and detail than mine. This could have potentially been due to bad lighting or editing on my behalf, or just the buildings in general.

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

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

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

photoshoot 1

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

Photoshoot 2

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

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

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

Photoshoot 3

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

ESSAY DRAFT

15 December 2024 Mr Toft Leave a comment

DEADLINE: Essay Introduction-Pg 1 Draft MUST be handed in Monday 20 Jan 2024

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

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

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

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

Essay Question

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

possible-essay-questions-to-investigate

Some examples of Personal Study essays from previous students:

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

• Essay question: Can truth and realism be shown through photography.
• Opening quote
  “Photography is the truth. The moment you capture it, you preserve the reality, but only for an instant.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson.
• Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why?
  Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Cindy Sherman.
  How will you be responding to their work and essay question?
• Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian. 
• Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
• Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
• Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
• Bibliography: List all relevant sources used

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

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

Wolfgang Tillmans is an influential contemporary German photographer. He began his career photographing nightclubs roughly three decades ago. Known since the early 1990s for his photographs of young people in their social environment – clubs, gay pride parades, warehouse parties.

Tillmans was initially known for his seemingly casual, sometimes snapshot-like portraits of friends and other youth in his immediate surroundings and scene. Tillmans was considered the “documentarian of his generation, especially that of the London club and gay scenes. Half of his work is staged, with the artist choosing the clothes and the location, as well as setting his models up in their positions.

Mood board

This mood board of Wolfgang Tillmans club images are the types of images that I would like to take in my own photoshoots.

Image Analysis

I have chosen this image to analyse this image of a woman with a mans hands in her hair. This image stood out to me because it was a lot closer up to someone and more focussed on one person instead of a group of people like lots of his other images. The main focus of the image is the woman and the hands in her hair, the arm is the brightest thing in the image making it catch your eye then the background is very dark. The image was taken in a club, which could be a tense upbeat place, but the woman looks like she is calm, the hands in her hair could be adding to the relaxing feeling. This is the most interesting factor of the image as it makes you wonder why she looks calm, it could be that the man is someone she trusts or loves or she could be drunk/on drugs.

For this photoshoot, I went into the studio and took some close up headshots of a girl. I made sure to capture her from a variety of different angels by getting her to face different directions. I also placed a light source directly in front of her face to make sure the images would be well lit and the camera would pick up every detail on her face. Once I had finished taking my pictures, I imported them into Lightroom and began the narrowing it down process. This involved me giving each image either a white flag or black flag then giving a rating out of 5 to all the images I had previously given a white flag to. I then adjusted the exposure, contrast, blacks, whites and shadows of the images. Then I exported them into a folder which I could then open up in photoshop.

To begin my editing process, I first chose the image I wanted to have in the background as my vague guide to where I should place the cut outs which would make a different, distorted face. I then cut out only the model from the image using the object selection tool and placed her on a blank piece of white paper as Brno Del Zou’s images are typically on white backgrounds but my background before was grey.

I then selected 7 other images that I wanted to use to get different parts of her face from different directions. I opened one of these images and used the rectangular marquee tool to create a box over the facial feature I wanted to use eg lips. I then dragged this cut out onto the full face image and adjusted it using ctrl t. Once I was happy with its placement I opened up a different image and repeated the process once again but with a different facial feature. When taking the images in the studio, I zoomed the camera into the model more in certain photographs so I could really capture a specific part of her face. This allowed for the random enlarged features seen in Brno’s work to be replicated in mine. Once I had completely reconstructed her face, I then decided to add a drop shadow to all of the cut outs to give my images some more depth and emphasise the idea that it was a face many out of lots of different images.

Finally, I experimented with the use of black and white. I created some images where the whole image was black and white as seen in Brno Del Zou’s work, but also created some where only certain boxes were black and white whilst the others remained in colour.

Final outcomes:

Overall, I like how this idea came out as I managed to closely resemble the work of Brno Del Zou whilst also adding my own twist on his idea. However, I may attempt to do this idea again but with a different model as I have used the same one quite a lot and I want to expand on the idea of identity in young people not just one person.

Second Attempt:

For this second photoshoot, I used photographs of another model I had previously taken in order to get different people in my project and therefore different identities as before it only consisted of one person. I completed the same process as described above to create my final image.

Final outcomes:

I like how these pieces came out as I also used images where she was smiling and then looking sad in order to portray the many emotions one may feel when trying to discover who they are and discuss the complexity of being human simultaneously. However, I would like to further this idea even more by using multiple people to make one face as I think this would portray how there’s such a vast amount of people in the world, each with their own unique identities.

These are all my final edits, my story was coming together and I figured how I wanted to do it, well ish still need some thinking time, but I was likely how my images were turning out, I changed how I wrote on the images though, as I wrote down what I wanted on the images, then I took a photo of it then I deleted the white background and made it transparent to then drag it and place it on an image.