These are the edits of my first and second photoshoot:

Snapseed edits –

Using the app Snapseed on my phone, I was able to use their filters to create both a realistic depiction and more time-period based aesthetic of some of my images.

Lightroom & Photoshop –

Gun Crew:

Before:

Using the Image without me as a base Image the aim was to recreate the original photograph by layering the different positions of myself to replicate the look of the gun crew. By syncing the images to the same editing settings I aimed to create the old Yellowish texture and hue photographs from the past contain.

With this image as my reference, I tried to recreate it to the best I could.

Editing:

Using the following settings I was able to create the desired aesthetic that makes use of its low tones to contrast brightly against the limited but bright light.

Outcome:

Now edited I was able to merge these images to replicate the original image using photoshops object selection tool to layer the images of myself into one.

After:

Overall I am happy with the outcome of this Image. With the overall composition creating an interesting story, I find my inspiration from both the the original reference Image and the artist inspiration from Paul M Smith are faithfully recreated in my own piece of work.

Ammo Inspection:

Before:

Like the previous Image, the aim for this image was to create a scenario that would occur within the life of the fortress. With the Bunker being remade to look how it did 80 years ago, this helped create the immersive aesthetic which I believe added to to its overall mise-en-scene through the additional use of props and costumes.

Editing:

Using the following settings I was able to create an contrasted tone of stone grey’s and almost a sand-like white, to me this was creative in its own appearance, whilst still paying homage to the older appearance of photographs of that time.

Outcome:

From this I was then able to repeat the process of using photoshops object selection tool to create ‘clonified’ versions of myself.

After:

I Like this outcome as it recreates a plausible scenario which would occur within the bunker, with difference In headwear and accessories I feel that this image helps to separate the 2 ‘Me’s’ and creates an detailed level of immersion.

Crew Room:

Before:

With the more serious areas of the bunker being covered I thought I’d try to cover the more relaxed types of images you’d see in a bunker such as communal living and sharing the limited utilities offered.

Editing:

Using these settings I tried to create an Image with some colour, with the warmth of the photographs already with its brown and orange wood panelling as a backdrop, this acted as a stepping stone to achieve this, through the following edit settings

Outcome:

After:

With this intended candid style, I feel it creates an interesting atmosphere and aesthetic to the image, with the me on the right having a partially obscured face, like some of the other images I have made, to me, it creates a level of realism to the peculiar concept of Paul M. Smiths work I have chosen to base my images off.

Spent cases room:

Before:

With these Images here I wanted to try and continue this intended candid style, with some minor influence from Henri Cartier Bretton with use of motion blur. With the centre image, this was inspired by this photograph in particular.

‘Behind the St. Lazare’, 1932 – Henri Cartier-Bresson

Editing:

Using the settings shown I created the basis of tone, shadow, high lights and etc. This was to create that ‘Stoney’ colour like within Cartier-Bressons photograph.

Outcome:

Now edited I could now merge them into an image to create another ‘scenario’ photo.

After:

With the use of different props, poses and uniform diversity I feel as if this shows a creative mise-en-scene into the idea of my project and how I aim to show the lives of Jerseys occupiers in World War 2.

Command Phone:

Before:

Straying away from some of the multi-crew photographs I’d thought I would try some individual shots as sort of filler photographs between the main edits.

Editing:

Using both a gradient filter an exposure brush, I touched up on some details I thought were lacking towards the left side of the photograph.

After:

With a section of my influence based on the work of Michiel Peters, I aimed to recreate his images that feature a low-saturation to create a sense of drama and grittiness.

Field training:

Before:

With this image being a large one to recreate, I tried my best to copy out the poses and appearances of the individuals of each man within the original photograph of the training exercise.

Editing:

Using a blank image of my location as a basis, I edited it to my liking and then applied these settings to the set of images I wanted to implement into into it.

From this, I then used photoshop to merge them into one by cutting out myself into layers and piecing them together.

Adjusting them slightly to fill the gaps I then flattened the image to make it whole.

After:

As a result, this is what turned out:

Overall, I am very happy with this image, as editing the multiple ‘Me’s’ proved to be quite difficult. There is still some minor faults such as repetitiveness with the headdress and of course myself however this came at the expense of uniform accessories such as other hats or caps they would have worn. Cropping of the feet to was also hard, as wind direction and changes made from moving about made the lower parts seem less in quality compared to the upper, however if decide to crop by the calves this can be avoided.

Combat Exercise:

Before:

With these Images, I aimed to show my inspiration from Paul M. Smith and his series ‘Artist Rifles’. With his photograph of multiple clones of himself making an assault charge, I found that replicating this would be perfect within the types of battle trainings the Germans had on the island.

Editing:

Editing these images, like the ones previously, I applied them to my selected photographs.

Outcome:

After:

Placing the various me’s, I find it has resembled the photographs of Paul M Smith and his similar creative choices regarding his series ‘Artist Rifles’ very well.

‘Artist Rifles’, 1997 – Paul M. Smith.

Interlude Photographs:

With the edits making up a lot of the book, I will add some filler ‘interlude photographs between the scenario images I made. These images don’t include to much of the clone process.

Before:

Editing:

Using these settings, I tried to replicate the colour and tone of the ammunition room photograph.

After:

Overall I am happy with the outcome of this photograph as I find that it acts a good example of the more ‘regular’ experiences they got up to which, now we can still relate to such as shaving.

Statement of intent

I will be focusing on binary opposites for my personal study, these will be ‘old and new’. For my personal study I intend to recreate various old photos of my family members to show how people change overtime. To do this I will look at old photo albums to find photos which I can recreate. I will edit this new photos and compare them to old ones, I may also try combining these photos. I might also explore landscape photography through using older photos and holding them up in the landscapes where they were originally taken, this will not only show how people change but also how the landscape around them has changed overtime.

Photographers

Irena Werning

Taylor Jones

Intention

My intention with this photoshoot is to explore the female identity and my own identity through this photoshoot as well, just how Justine Kurland found her own identity through her work. I am going to explore the female identity and present all different female identities through my work. I want to present that the female identity isn’t just what is stereotyped, but it can be whatever you want it to be. In ‘Girl Pictures,’ Justine Kurland states that, ‘Cowboys, sailors, pirates, hitchhikers, hobos, train hoppers, explorers, catchers in the rye, lords of the flies- you name it…’ She is stating that the girls in her book were all these things. She has done this, so that she can present to the viewers that they too can be whatever identity they wish to be, no matter how different or not socially acceptable it may be. I also want to present this in my work, so that I can portray to my viewers that identity is just what you make it, instead of it being what makes you.

Through this work I also want to investigate into different stereotypes and present images that oppose these stereotypical ‘norms.’ Justine Kurland presented these girls ‘in the dominion of boys’ and ‘they were trying on a version of themselves that the world has thus far shown them was boy.’ She did this, so that she could combat against female stereotypes, so that she could present to the viewers that these stereotypical ‘norms’ aren’t just what we should be allowed to be and do, but instead girls should also be able to do anything a boy can do and act in a way that a boy would. I think this is a really important message and I want to display this message well in my work, by presenting the young girls in a more rambunctious, ‘boy like’ manor, combating these stereotypical ‘norms.’

However, I want to make a twist on Justine Kurland’s work, for my own work, and I intend on doing this, by showing a larger spectrum of stereotypes, and showing stereotypes, that are not being combated. For example, I want to display these young girls following these female stereotypical norms, because I want to display to the viewers, and to all other young girls that may see these images, that your identity can be anything you make it, and you don’t have to feel like you have to oppose these stereotypical ‘norms’, if that is who you truly are and what your identity truly is.

I also want to explore youth through my work, just like Justine Kurland did in her ‘Girl Pictures.’ As I said I also wanted to explore my identity through this project, so to explore these two things I am going to be looking back into my youth, or my ‘Girlhood’ and replicating some of the activities I used to do in my teenage years. This will help me explore youth, especially my youth and it will help me explore my identity, to see what stereotypical ‘norms’ I followed, or didn’t when I was younger. This will also help me compare my identity back then, to it now. I think youth is also a really important aspect to explore, because Justine Kurland’s whole book was based off this idea of youth and ‘girlhood,’ so to also put a twist on her work, I am making my work more internal to me, by making it relative to my youth, ‘girlhood’ and my life. I also think that youth is a very important development stage, which helps to build your identity, so I also think it would be interesting to compare my youth, to the youth shown in Justine Kurland’s book, ‘Girl Pictures.’

I also want to explore and experiment with different compositions during this topic, because both Justine Kurland and Jeff Wall borrowed compositions, ideas and concepts from famous painting, such as Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe, which they both took inspiration from. I also would like to take inspiration from this painting, so I can create similar images to both Justine Kurland and Jeff Wall, but with my own spin on it. I also want to borrow compositions, ideas and concepts from both Justine Kurland’s and Jeff Wall’s images, as well as other famous historical paintings. The reason I would like to do this, is so I can pull ideas from other great pieces of art, so that I can improve my work. I also want to focus on improving my compositions on my photos and I feel this will really help me do that, as I will be able to grasp a better understanding of composition, and the features that make a good composition.

Ideas

During my review and reflect of all my previous blog posts and topics, I discovered that I much preferred taking pictures of people rather than landscapes, whether that was portraits, tableaux images, or street photography. However, I think portraiture is my biggest strength and what I enjoy the most.

I also found the topic femininity and masculinity a really interesting topic that I found I could write a lot about. I find researching and creating different stereotypes in my photographs the most interesting part, and I really enjoyed making my images fight against these different gender stereotypes. I really enjoyed this topic, because as a women stereotypes is something I hear and see a lot of and I feel like I could do a lot for this topic and write a lot about it, because it is so internal to me and my identity. I also enjoyed how in this topic Claude Cahun for example explored her identity, by becoming a more masculine version of herself and I feel like if I were to do something related to this topic I would also be able to explore my identity.

Artist Research Thoughts

I enjoy how Justine Kurland’s images are of young girls, because I am myself a young girl, so this is something I really relate to and is internal to me, so I feel like it would be easier for me to gather my friends to create similar images. I also feel like I could produce better images, as the topic of ‘girlhood’ is so much more internal to me, as I am experiencing my girlhood right now. I also like how she also fights against stereotypes, b getting the girls to ‘try on boy,’ which I feel like I would be able to do and create up to standard images. I am also going to explore female stereotypes, as well as opposing female stereotypes, because this is how I am going to put a twist on my photos, compared to Justine Kurland’s.

I am also going to be using the same photographic technique as Justine Kurland and Jeff Wall, which is producing tableaux images, that look like candid images. I am going to create these tableaux images in scenic outdoor environments and capture normal social interactions, that I would do in my youth. I am also going to pull ideas from the activities and the settings used in Justine Kurland’s ‘Girl Pictures.’

For my photoshoot, I am going to use Justine Kurland for my main inspiration, but I am also going to pull ideas, concepts and compositions from Jeff Wall and other Historical paintings. I am doing this, because both Jeff Wall and Justine Kurland pulled compositions, ideas and concepts from famous paintings.

I am going to pull composition ideas, such as the fore ground, middle ground and background, as well as using the rule of thirds and other compositional ideas, because Jeff Wall and Justine Kurland have used these compositional ideas, and I think they have worked very well. I am also going to use similar visual elements, such as tone, shape, patterns etc. that they have both used.

Photoshoot Plan

Justine Kurland- Girl Pictures

Examples of my youth:

During my teenage years, I went out with my friends a lot. Some of the outdoor places we would go, would include:

• Harve Des Pas Beach
• FB Fields
• Fort Regent
• St Brelades Bay
• Frigate
• People’s Park
• St Ouens Beach
• La Marrais
• Town
• In my car
• Georgia’s shed
• Campfire

The reason I am only choosing places which are outdoors, is because during my youth, I had more fun and did more things, while I was outdoors, instead of inside. I also wanted to keep the setting of my images still quite similar to Justine Kurland, because I think the images will relate to ‘Girl Pictures’ more, and will come out of a better standard visually.

During my youth I did many different activities including:

• Jumping off the Lido at Harve Des Pas
• Swimming in the sea
• Wave surfing at St Ouens
• Playing hide and seek at La Marrais
• Camping at St Ouens
• Have BBQ at the beach, or in gardens
• Picnic
• Get a snack/ meal
• Tan/ chill with a book
• Make a campfire

Other place ideas:

I also wanted to include settings that were used in ‘Girl Pictures,’ because I think they are visually pleasing settings, and they really help display the combat against stereotypical norms, because a dirty woods is not usually associated with femininity. Some places I have decided to include are:

• Street
• Public Bathroom
• Field
• Woods
• Barn/ shed
• Lakes/ rivers/ pond
• Mountains/ cliffs
• Walkway path
• Sandunes
• Roadside
• Under a Bridge
• Reservoir
• Rocky coast

Similar Places in Jersey:

• Cycling path along the avenue
• Snow hill, St Ounes etc.
• Field- nans garden
• St Catherines woods
• Georgia’s shed
• Sandunes
• Underground bit at harbour
• Resoviour
• Cliff paths St Brelade
• Beach
• Fort Regent park
• St Brelades campfire

Stereotype Ideas:

Female Stereotypes-

• Use of makeup in my images
• Doing hair
• Emotional shots eg. crying
• Using colours such as pink

Male Stereotypes-

• Strong eg. use of weights
• colours such as blue
• Emotional shots eg. anger and violence
• Messing around

To fight against these stereotypes, I will have girls do these male stereotypes, so that I can present girls acting like boys, as well as girls presenting as more feminine, because these were some activities I did in my youth and they just happen to be more feminine.

Narrative of different Image Ideas:

• Playing on swings in a park
• Running down the street
• Getting ready/ washing in a public bathroom
• camping
• smoking
• eating ice cream/ other snacks
• Making fires
• Shooting glass bottles
• swimming
• playing catch
• Fighting/ boxing
• Hula hooping
• Playing an instrument eg. Guitar
• Blowing bubbles
• Catching sweets in mouth
• Reading books
• Walking a dog
• Climbing trees
• Washing feet in a river
• Picking flowers
• Fixing a car
• Roadtrip
• Sand castles/ lying at the beach
• Roasting marshemellows
• Climbing fences
• Sledging down the sandunes

Tools/ props needed:

• Make up
• Perfume
• Hair brush
• Soap
• Cigerettes
• Snacks
• BBQ
• Glass bottle
• Toy gun
• Balls
• Hula Hoop
• Instrument
• Bubbles
• Books
• Car
• Bucket and spade
• Marshmellows
• Sledges

Composition

Different compositions that Justine Kurland and Jeff Wall used included compositions from famous paintings, so I am also going to pull ideas from famous historical paintings to create some of my photos. I am also going to pull ideas, concepts and compositions from Justine Kurland’s work and Jeff Wall’s work.

Some example of historical paintings that I am going to pull ideas, concepts and compositions from are below:

Andrew Wyeth, Christina’s world 1948.

I want to take inspiration from these paintings, not only because they have a good composition, but because they also tell a story, which I could tell through my photographs, but make it applicable to modern times, and to the subject of identity and youth, because that is what I’m exploring.

Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret, The Burial of Manon Lescaut.

For this historical painting, I am going to take a picture of the same composition and actions. I am going to have one of my friends lying down being buried, like the women in this image, and have another friend burring her, but the concept behind my photograph is going to be different to the concept of the painting. In the painting the man is burring the women after she has died, but in my photograph I am going to make a modern version of this painting, and I am going to relate this photograph to my theme of youth. I am going to do this, by having the concept of my image being too young girls playing at the beach instead, because this is something I used to do when I was younger.

Andrew Wyeth, Christina’s world 1948.

For this historical painting I am going to use the same composition and setting as this historical painting and I am going to position my model in the same way. However, I am going to try and find a daisy field, so that she could be picking daisies in my photograph, instead of the concept of the painting. In the painting, she is looking into the distance at a faraway farmstead and a cluster of structures, and she is portrays the artist’s neighbor, who was unable to walk due to polio, so she would drag herself around.

For another photograph, I am going to take inspiration from Edouard Manet’s painting above, as well as the photographs Jeff Wall and Justine Kurland have made by pulling concepts, ideas, and compositions from Edouard Manet. I am going to do this, by creating a similar setting and composition as they all have. I am going to do this, by going to a scenic outdoor area that is similar to the settings they have used, such as a woods, and I am going to use the same compositional method that they have all used, with a person in the foreground, middle ground and background.

To take inspiration from these images in the best and easiest way, I am going to print off these historical paintings and my chosen artists photos, so that I can visualise what I am trying to create while I am out on my photoshoot, and so I can see them side by side.

I am also going to be focusing on my composition quite a lot throughout all my photoshoots, as I am taking inspiration from Jeff Wall, Justine Kurland and famous historical paintings. Some examples of compositional tools I use are the foreground, middle ground, background, rule of thirds etc..

I am also going to be focusing on the visual elements that I can present in my photographs, and the visual elements that are being used in the historical painting, as well as Jeff Wall’s work and Justine Kurland’s work.

List of Visual Elements:

• Colour
• Tone (light & dark)
• Texture (surface)
• Shape (2D, flat)
• Form (3D)
• Pattern (repetition)
• Line
• Space (3D concept)

• What you want to explore?
• Why it matters to you?
• How you wish to develop your project?
• When and where you intend to begin your study?

Interpreting the exam themes; OBSERVE, SEEK, CHALLENGE the topic which I wish to explore is Human and Family Connections, the main artists references which I chose to take inspiration from is Astrid Reischwitz which storytells from a personal perspective, Joanna Piotrowska which focus on psychological narratives which explore human relations and Alicja Brodowicz which combines elements of the human body with elements of nature a well. In terms of my final outcome I would like to produce a photobook that presents all my different ideas and photoshoots that relate to one another in a sequence. I want each page to feel like a story and for the viewer to understand as it progresses.

For my personal project I want to explore themes of nostalgia, family, ageing and changes throughout life when it constantly changes. These topics matter to me as having a multicultural background the topics follow me as it grow and become older, especially dividing both my Polish and English culture into daily life with speaking the languages at home vs in education/the workplace. For me family consists of mostly older generational European members growing up in Poland, living in The Netherlands as well as South England with conflicts over family, relationships, life, world war etc. I wish to develop my project by taking photos of different peoples skin and how it ages as part of formulating the topic of Human and Family Connections. As well as taking photographs of nostalgic archival images from my parents family album including photos of them when younger and other family relatives. For my first couple of photoshoots I want to include photos of my parents, my family and separate photos of elements that are sentimental to a specific time in the moment of the past e.g. the type of flowers my mum held on her wedding day, the type of car my dad used to drive, the jewellery she would wear when I was younger , the type of embroidered table cloth that would be laid out for breakfast with Polish folk art decorated etc/ things that remind her of home, belonging and both their lives.

The word observe means to notice or perceive (something) and register it as being significant. Photography is an art of observation. It has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them. In photography, observation takes on a deeper meaning, going beyond merely looking at subjects to truly seeing and understanding them. This can be understood in terms of the standard process of a scientific inquiry using observation. Firstly, there is the fieldwork (which is where you have to capture the object of your inquiry and collect the data). In photography, this is the shooting part. Photography here is taken as a method, partly incorporated into the camera and partly implemented by the photographer. Secondly, you have to analyse and interpret the data. This translates into photography as shown: How do we read photographs? What do we see (or fail to see) in them? Lastly, you have to write about your findings, a doctoral thesis or a scientific article to be published in a well-ranked journal. Scientists using photography do exactly that. Artists show their work in exhibitions or publish books, trying to please their audiences or otherwise offer them an interesting experience.

The word seek means to attempt to find something. Similarly, it also means attempt or desire to obtain or achieve. Seeking in photography is about exploring deeper layers of meaning, expression, and connection through the lens. It involves experimenting with different styles, techniques, and subjects to uncover a unique perspective, while engaging with both the technical and emotional aspects of the medium. By reflecting on your work, studying the work of others, and pushing boundaries, you can discover new ways to express ideas and capture moments that resonate with you. Ultimately, seeking in photography is a continuous journey of self-discovery and creative growth.

The word challenge is a call to someone to participate in a competitive situation or fight to decide who is superior in terms of ability or strength or to dispute the truth or validity of something. Challenge in photography is an opportunity for people to address a question, tell a story, or convey meaning through an image they have created. 

The theme observe, seek and challenge refers to humankind’s desire to seek and explore the unknown, driving artists to constantly seek new inspirations and materials to use. For example, artists used to create cave paintings which is now translated into graffiti. However, graffiti is actively looked down upon and covered up whereas cave paintings are seen as sacred and preserved, despite the two being closely related. This theme also involves peoples desire to unravel the working of the human psyche and understand the nature of consciousness, resulting in the creation of challenging and contentious images. Other artists are often inspired by the actual physicality of the human body, such as the South African artist Walter Oltmann whose piece Bleeder explores the body’s myriad networks of blood vessels. The diversity, complexity and geometry of nature also inspires artists and designers. For example, Richard Diebenkorn’s aerial inspired landscapes explore the macro world of colours and forms, created when nature is manipulated by agriculture and industry. Artists have also challenged the ideologies and conventions of their respective times through their work. Many revolutionary movements have generated specific, politically motivated artwork, primarily for propaganda purposes. Communist posters from the beginning of the 20th century, used imagery that championed notions of equality and working-class power. These illustrations generated a potent archive that continues to inspire contemporary graphic illustration. Producing art that questions the authority of kings, dictators, religions and political ideologies is a risky endeavour. Artists frequently use metaphors in their work to disguise the messages; some of these are blatant, others are obscure. Artists may also undertake hazardous journeys to capture the imagery of exotic and unusual locations. Some documentary photographers continually place themselves in dangerous situations, such as war zones, to record and capture the reality of these conflicts. For example, the work of photographers Tim Page and Dick Halstead has completely dispelled the myth of the glory of battle. In contrast, wildlife photographers have often captured the struggle of life and death that surrounds us on a daily basis.

Swindells started taking photographs while at university in Sheffield, inspired by a 1982 exhibition of Derek Ridgers’s nightclub portraits at the Photographers’ Gallery in London. After graduating, he moved to London and got a bar job in a club which he later got fired from for taking pictures. In 1985, he started taking club portraits. Since the early 80’s Dave Swindells has been documenting London’s most influential club, rave scenes and nightlife. As Time Out Clubs Editor from 1986 – 2009 he had exclusive access to nightlife and its shifts in youth culture, styles and attitudes. Dave Swindells captured on film what it meant to be raving during the late 80s and 90s. Starting off by taking sly photos on the dancefloor instead of working behind the bar, he quickly moved up in the world of nightlife press. Swindells remained Time Out’s Nightlife editor for over two decades, getting not only an insight into capital rave scenes over time but experiencing first-hand the birth of acid house.

In the case of acid house, overwhelming numbers of clubgoers defying the police to dance all night at huge, illegal parties eventually led after new laws failed to contain them to a gradual loosening of the draconian restrictions on both club opening hours and the sale and consumption of alcohol in the UK. These characteristics have also made the nightlife scene hard to record. There are technical issues for photographers in clubs, but also issues of trust. Swindells has been able to take candid pictures in clubs like Shoom because he made himself part of the culture by turning up night after night, year after year, bearing witness without ever being intrusive.

Mood Board

This is a mood board of my favourite Dave Swindells images. I have chosen these images because I like how there is a mixed variation of images, for example there are people who are posing and looking at the camera but there are also people that haven’t acknowledged it. These images show nightlife through the 80s and 90s and to me show a large difference is culture, fashion and styles from then compared to now, for example the hairstyles, outfits and behaviours. These are things you wouldn’t see in the youth culture now in clubs therefore I want to contrast this and show my own version of the youth culture nightlife in my photoshoot projects.

Image Analysis

I have chosen to analyse this image of a man in a crowd of people who stands out from the other people. He is in the centre of the image making him the focus, also the bright pink jumper he is wearing makes him stand out compared to the crowd of everyone else wearing white and black. Another thing that stands out in this image is that everyone in this image is wearing denim jeans, this shows a large amount of the fashion at the time. To me this image represents the youth culture and fun during the 80s and 90s nightlife scene.

This image is of a group of people who are raving and partying in a nightclub. this image is different from the other one as the people have acknowledged the camera and are smiling at it. I liked this difference from some of the other images because it shows the reality of what would happen if people saw someone taking a picture of them, it shows that they are having fun and wanted to have their picture taken which is a realistic factor of going out with a camera and pointing it around when drunk people see it being positioned their way, they will probably smile.

My personal study will be looking at binary opposites, specifically old and new. I will do this through comparing old photos with new ones that I have taken in a similar way to these old ones. My project will relate to nostalgia as it will be looking back on old memories and tying to capture them again within new photos. I will focus on observe, seek, and challenge within my photography through observing old photos, seeking new photos through creating them, and challenging the concept of time by showing the effects of it on things such as people and the environment.

Binary Opposites

Binary opposition is a pair of related terms which have opposite meaning, for example good and evil, man and woman, black and white. The two terms I will be focusing on are old and new.

Theory of Binaries

According to the French philosopher, Jacques Derrida, meaning is often defined in terms of Binary oppositions, he stated “one of the two terms governs the other.” For example the binary opposition of male-female, where the male is often seen as the dominant gender and women are subservient. This is linked in with the patriarchy, a system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.

Claude Levi-Strauss

(Architect and photographer) Kerényi Zoltán has a continuous interest with the past and all things antique. Kerenyi being based in Budapest, the artist would usually walk along the city streets, wondering what people used to do then when they hang around long-standing landmarks, structures, and buildings. So, he decided to reimagine by superimposing old shots and portraits of people against his own contemporary photographs. Taken from the public archive of Fortepan, Kerényi lets us time travel with his series Ablak a múltra / Windows to the past.

He quotes that motivation was he reason he’s interested in the past, it’s nice to think about those people who were walking the same streets as we do, just a hundred years ago. And showing it the way he did in this project is, he thinks, the best way. It’s also related to Zoltan’s original profession, architecture, as the connection between the past and present pictures are the buildings, the streets. There are a lot of war-time archive photos out there, but he intentionally avoided those (have just a few out of the 500 he created in 5 years) and concentrated on the happy moments of those bygone people.

Zoltan quotes that “Budapest was a perfect location for this project, as most of the inner city was built a century ago, and those buildings are still standing despite two world wars, revolutions…
If I could time-travel, I’d go back to around 1900, to see all those constructions and the vivid life of the city, which was among the foremost metropolitan centres of the world”.

I believe similarly to the photographer himself , that the biggest challenge is always to find the exact same position as the old photographer, to fit the perspective perfectly and that you have to examine every little detail. Zoltan quotes that finding the place was not that big of a deal, as he knows Budapest quite well. As well as in the beginning, he made easy location pictures, and as time went by, a lot of people helped Fortepan to add locations to a lot of pictures, making it searchable by city, street, even house number. So whenever Zoltan had a trip to a new location, he could search for archive photos in advance. But of course, there were photos without location tags and was only my genius to find the place.

Her whole series works on similarities in a artistic/poetic but realistic way.
The veins are related to the topographical maps, lightning, or crackling of a dry earth, the fingerprints resemble the circles of a tree trunk, the moles to the stars of our skies, and the the legs to two trunks stuck by their roots. A simple and emotional work that wants to remind us how close our link with nature can be.

Agnieszka is based in Krakow, Poland, the young photographer made the breakthrough in 2015 when she was participating in the contest TIFF Festival in the ‘DEBUTS’ section, as well as the Sputnik Photos workshop in collaboration with Filip Springer. The same year, the photographer opened her first exhibition titled ‘Emotional Landscapes’ in a small gallery in Krakow. Lepka’s analog pictures show various subjects including close-up shots of human body parts, landscapes, and everyday objects. In her ongoing series titled ‘Human vs. Nature’, Lepka works with the similarities between human beings and Mother Nature. Veins are put into relation with topographic maps, fingerprints resemble a tree trunk, and cacti are compared to scrubby beards. 

A series of “emotional landscapes” brings together several stories that have one thing in common – portraying human emotion in a difficult moment of life. It is a psychological study, consisting of expressing the internal state through the body, or external conditions. Agnieszka set the silhouette within the rocky space. This space is consistent for the whole composition, and arrangement of bodies thoughtful and conceptual. Deliberately avoid repetition. The figure in her photographs mostly shows her back to the audience, and shuns eye contact with the viewer, also leaving a dose of understatement.
Agnieszka discovers she likes a dirty and raw space in which she explores. The photographer tries to keep her view and characteristic colour tone for me. This cycle was present at her first author’s exhibition entitled “Emotional Landscapes” in the gallery Kraków café named “Stolica” in September 2015.
Agnieszka quotes that it was a very personal moment and also this series is very important for her, it gives her much more confidence. Agnieszka prefers analogue photography as well as traditional picture because it’s learning conscious and adult framing images, but all awards contributed to the deepening of working with digital photography, which she trying every day.

In 2011 Agnieszka achieved a diploma in Photography in General School of Fine Arts in Zielona Góra. Now she still is developing her skills and knowledge, looking and getting closer to getting to know herself and trying to find her style in photography. Agnieszka quotes that in the future, she would like to study the direction associated with photography.