REVIEW

Throughout my time looking at photography and trying to recreate images I have learnt many things. I have don’t photography for quite a while now and realise how creative you have to be to come up wit your own set of images. While learning all about certain rules like, depth of field, rule of thirds, composition, leading lines and many more, it has helped me to understand how to capture a proper image and I can do next time to make the image better. when studying photography I started to think that images had to be planned to be captured at the right time and be a good image, but when studying Henri Cartier Bresson I learnt that he came up with the decisive moment and that your images don’t have to be perfect to everyone else but yourself. Your the creator of the images therefore you decide what you want to take and where it should be taken. I also learnt that there were different view points to look at, for example. birds eye view, women’s eye view, high view and the Dutch angle that are all very different and help to make each image different and unique from the rest.

What is photography? The actual definition of photography is known as drawing with light, but if I were to define photography I would day its a way of capturing precious moments and keeping memories. it is the communication and the recording of ephemeral moments in time, meaning it captures images in that moment and once that moment is gone there is no going back.

REFLECT

Sublime:

Overall, looking through all my blog posts, I discovered that I had forgotten that I had done. These blog posts could help me find an inspiration to see what my independent project will be. Through my first year of photography, I learnt some key skills that will help me when taking photos, I was able to take pictures and add different colours and shades to the lens of the camera to make the image look colourful. The photoshoot I did was to investigate the idea of an image being good or evil. The images that are darker based tend to be evil due to the lack of lighting, the fact that most of the models facial features aren’t visible makes the image look mysterious and dangerous and the ‘good’ images would have lighter lighting on the models face to see their facial feature to make the image look less unexpected and more comforting . One topic I am quite interested in would be romanticism and the sublime effect, the picture being a disaster but still showing some kind of beauty. The idea of sublime is ‘a self-forgetfulness where personal fear is replaced by a sense of well-being and security when confronted with an object exhibiting superior might’. I feel that a photoshoot to do with sublime could be quite successful and interesting to investigate. Especially if I already have loads of notes based on it to help direct me to the right places to take the images. Another effective experiment that we looked at was technical headshots that helped me understand the different lighting techniques, for example soft and hard lighting. Soft lighting is known to be a portrait lit with soft light and is generally lit with a large light source whereas hard lighting has the characteristics of showing edgy features like a sharp jawline or muscular definition. I feel like I was able to recreate that quite well as my final outcomes look quite successful. I’ve noticed that using a dark background will make the light on the models face look brighter and define the models features with a sharper tone, whilst using a lighter/ baby pink background the lighting doesn’t necessarily make the models face brighten up, it adds the perfect amount of light to snatch the models features without making them look sharp. We also experimented with butterfly lighting, basic lighting and Rembrandt Lighting which could be useful to use in future photoshoots. These techniques will help especially if I do a photoshoot of people’s portraits as I can perfect my skills. One thing that i have noticed throughout my work was that i have used many of Henri Cartier Bresson’s images in my work, which gives me the idea that I would like to explore his work in more depth. 

Cindy Sherman- Femininity

I quite enjoyed exploring femininity inspired by Cindy Sherman, her images are meant to portray ‘women’s lives’ and how women are treated or seen to be treated, her main idea was that women were objectified and she wanted to recreate images to show how women would be objectified, the idea that women were in charge of cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children, she would create images of her cleaning her house, she also had images of her in the mirror trying to put make up on as its considered to make women more “beautiful”. I really enjoyed this topic as I was able to get a good set of images and explore what it is like to be a women, another reason I quite like this topic was because I was able to link it with good vs evil and boy vs girl photoshoots, this lead to me expanding my research from femininity to masculinity as well and explore the differences between them. While exploring femininity and masculinity I found out how different the two genders are, the idea that men are seen as strong and dominant, they hold all the power and sometimes it shows in photos, the way they stand to show their strength. Women tend to try and look good in images and pose for the camera which shows that they are more ambitious, asserting and caring. However, when photographs of women are taken, they tend to be objectified, they tend have the male gaze on them and most of the time women feel as though they need to objectify themselves to get men’s attention. 

Environmental portraits:

This photoshoot was quite limiting as I captured all these images in school, going round all the different departments, the first 3 photos were captured in the science department, where we asked the staff to show us around and capture some images of them at work, this helped me understand how everyone’s jobs are different. I also went to the canteen to get pictures of some of the staff there, in the canteen the mixture of students and staff made me realise that we all have different lives and different things going on. These images were put in black and white, which tends to help with distracting the eye from any unusual colours but more from what is in the surroundings of the image. This wouldn’t be my favourite photoshoot I’ve done as it’s quite boring to take pictures of people without any context but with some of the images you can tell a story and try and put meanings together and understand what is going on in the image. Another reason I wasn’t big fan of this photoshoot was because I didn’t manage to get man y good quality photos and struggled a little bit finding areas to take pictures. 

Photoshoot in the studio:

This photoshoot was to help me edit on photoshop and get an idea on how to edit each photo and what worked best for each image. I was given a few props to work with and placed them down on the table, I captured a few different shots and n photoshop I was able to control the tones of the images, I changed the tones to warm and cold, which gave a different effect to each photo, I prefer the warmer tones in the image as I feel as it fits best. This photoshoot was only an experiment, but I feel as though it helped me understand the composition of the image. This photoshoot was just a small one and was quite useful and fun to do and helped me decide that landscape photography is more for me. 

St Malo:

This would be my favourite photoshoot as I prefer taking pictures of buildings and street photography, I feel as though street photography is a theme that is so broad that it’s good to focus on every little detail at a time to understand how this image was put together. Street photography can also be based on the “decisive moment” by Henri Cartier Bresson, the whole idea that there is a perfect moment to capture an image. I really enjoyed taking images in St Malo as it’s so different from jersey and a lot bigger. The people seem to be out a lot longer in France which sets out a different mood to the picture, the way the French dress very different too, so it helps me get a different perspective to street photography, one thing I would have liked to have done better is focus on a certain amount of people and sort of follow their journey round the town. Street photography is quite different to the previous photoshoots I’ve done as most of the photoshoots done were in the studio. That’s what makes these images different, also the people in the photos don’t have a personal relationship with me, they are just strangers on the streets, this makes the images look more mysterious as we don’t know what each person may be feeling, whether it’s shown on their face or not. 

Mind map & Mood board

Observe

Definition: To observe is to carefully watch with attention to detail or behaviour for its significance.

Synonyms: Notice, see, perceive, remark, detect, discover, behold, discover, spectator, bystander.

Antonyms: Overlook, disregard, ignore.

Ideas and Artists: Street photography and Henri Cartier Bresson.

Seek

Definition: Seeking is an attempt to find someone or something.

Synonyms: Search, pursue, strive, request, explore, follow, inquire, chase.

Antonyms: conceal, hide, neglect, ignore, idle.

Ideas and Artists: Archives and history.

Challenge

Definition: A Challenge is something new and difficult which requires great effort and determination. Also means proving or justifying through a contest.

Synonyms: Dare, opposition, ultimatum, confront, dispute, objection, protest.

Antonyms: Compliance, acceptance, approval, believe, support, fear.

Ideas and Artists: Cindy Sherman, propaganda posters.

Ideas

I like how Rogan brown uses textures to create the appearance and a mixture of colours/ monochrome to create artwork resembling living forms such as bacteria.

An additional idea I have came from the word ‘observe’ and ideas from Anthropocene as well as looking at work from Rogan Brown. I would start by observing people as they are and what they wear acting as a window to comment on trends, waste and materials. Once I’ve gained a better idea I would take images in a studio to reflect the mirror approach to ‘challenge’ . These images be made to resemble that from a fashion magazine with unnecessary accessories, fast fleeting trends and excessive waste with lots of animal patterns and textures.

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These types of posters were created to challenge ideals and act as propaganda. They use collages of images, striking colours and symbols to create a clear message. Formed an influential wave of art called the The Russian avant-garde.

I’ve had some ideas relating to propaganda and how hyperbolic they are are in imagery. To comment on both the subtlety and pompous approaches I could make some work which demonstrates how extreme and ridiculous some points that are made. While propaganda is commonly associated with war and recruitment as this was the most blatant and obvious however it is everywhere especially when the current political landscape is filled with ridiculous radical views that I could pick apart.

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Collages can be traced back to Picasso who’s work was much more subjective and abstract.

This experimental style created unique pieces which challenge ideals and innovated aesthetics of the time. Collages like these remind me more of posters which for challenging especially when confronting and protesting. Some ideas I’ve had has been combining history and modern images to showcase how places/people are products of both current influences and moments through the past. For example a building that has fallen into disarray in recent years might be infested with birds but quite a few years ago was extremely well used and had an extension added. I would combine images from archives of the building, images of past holders, images of bird nests and even images of the landscape to create a full picture of the ‘personality’ of the building. This would carry over ideas from landscapes and environmental portraits and resemble a piece more like Picassos collages then the propaganda. I worry this idea would require too much time on one collage and I would only have one fully fledged outcome by the end. I could create a small zine of each part of the collage to better show the makeup of this final image however I don’t want to limit myself to one building through this whole project. If the building was something larger like fort regent which has changed massively throughout the years, then there would be too much to combine into one piece however something smaller like one well used house might be too small.

An additional approach could be to combine a larger area such as flats/town/listed buildings and create a collage more like Beomsik Won’s which combine all the buildings into one larger body. This reminds me of ideas explored in Anthropocene which I would like to explore further.

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When reading through the exam booklet one line stood out to me: “For example, swifts outmanoeuvring insects on the wing…
birds and caterpillars stripping plants down to their stalks.” Insects are something that I and many other people have mixed feelings of as they are both essential for our ecosystems while also being really freaky. Arachnophobia is one of the most common fears. Insects when photographed are photographed in a way that resembles flowers in my opinion. I will be portraying bugs in the opposite way as something unnerving. Additionally the lines: “search parties, seances, ghosts, graveyards, churches, mosques, stone circles, universities.” gave me the idea of horror. I would like to make tiny insects large and formidable with shadows and themes. Additionally “Douglas Gordon created a film lasting 24 hours by slowing down Hitchcock’s Psycho, with
the intention of making us more aware of the nature of film itself.” also inspired this idea as instead of creating a film I would showcase these themes through still images. Psycho is a classic which has continued to inspire films not just in the horror genre still to this day.

Cindy Sherman also used film stills which I explored previously. I enjoyed this topic and I think this approach could work well as these images will act as mirrors.

I aim to use lighting techniques I learned from both still life and portraiture as well as natural lighting when outside from street photography as shadows are heavily associated with horror.

What you want to explore?

I want to explore the theme of misogyny, feminism, how men expect us to act and want us to act. How women are objectified and men are passive, women are active. John Berger said “Men act women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at” This quote means so much more than what it says. He is trying to say that women are self-conscious because of men and have to act a certain way or will be looked down on. Men can make women feel uncomfortable, with things that happen daily such as cat calling, sexual harassment and all these things relate to the quote as women have to put up with the horrors from these men even in the 20th century. This could be raising awareness for women and could help them as its focussing on the points that need to change. Cindy Sherman explored the theme of stereotype and how women are portrayed in the 1970s which is why I also will speak about her and be referencing her in my project.

Why does it matter to you?

This area matters to me because its about raising awareness about women that have been going through this for centuries. Women are sexualised, objectified and treated like nothing. There is domestic abuse ,rape, violence, misogyny, a patriarchal society and so much more. However speaking about these issues can bring a light to these issues and could get some women to speak up in case they’re scared or maybe could change society bit by bit. I like speaking about issues especially when it could make change and make women feel comfortable enough to speak up about it.

How you wish to develop your project?

I will develop my project by exploring the complex and deeply interconnected themes of misogyny, rape culture, and feminism through the lens of visual storytelling. I aim to use photography as a view to see harmful stereotypes and raise awareness about the lived experiences of women. I plan to experiment with various photographic techniques, such as portraiture, landscape photography, and symbolic imagery, to create emotional and psychical work that sparks conversation. My goal is not only to highlight the core of these horrific issues but also to empower individuals to engage with them and try to speak up. This could change social justice and equality as women have go through a lot which I don’t like and I think its not fair.

Here is some of the images that I am inspired by and want to do similarly to this.

When and where do you intent to begin your study?

I plan to do this by investing women’s beauty and misogyny etc, How do beauty standards shape women’s identities?.. Looking at artists like Cindy Sherman because her work will help you understand the relationship between women, identity, and representation. afterwards I would develop a question to explore, such as: “How can photography challenge conventional beauty ideals?” or “What does true female beauty look like beyond societal standards?” This could be done at home, friends home, beach, town centre, harbour, in a car, public, in bathroom with the shower running (with steam). These places are places I’m thinking of and hopefully will inspire women by starting off in a home, reflecting women I will choose settings that feel personal or empowering. I would use the tecqinues: portraiture and self-portraiture to explore both personal and societal views of women. Experiment with lighting and composition to create different moods, emphasizing various aspects of female identity. Focus on authentic representation by capturing real moments. In my images I would need to use symbolism like mirrors, clothing, or makeup, to comment on the construction of beauty. Include women of different ages, body types, and ethnicities. This is to either to highlight or challenge beauty norms. For these images I would be using a range of different editing tools, suck as photoshop Lightroom and I would be using various colours such as black and white or colour choices to enhance the emotional tone of your work. Subtle edits, like adding textures or layers. However by doing all of this I would still need to make sure and consider how it questions societal norms and contributes to the conversation about female representation to be able to try and make a change.

I would like to produce photographs that represent the lives of girls nowadays, and how social media and the internet has impacted our lives. I feel like as we have grown up, girls have decided to rather ‘fit in’ than ‘stand out’. To a certain extent, this means changing their personalities. Some examples may be the change from a colourful childhood, to colourless teenage years.

Here, I found a collection of archives from when I was younger. Clearly, there was a lot of vibrant colours, which conveys this idea around happiness, and liveliness. I would like to use these sort of images as a comparison to my life now.

Here are a few examples of the type of photography I will be taking, but also challenging. As you can see, most of the images are colourful and lively, but I would like to challenge this idea by looking into the reality of teenage girls, and not just the fun side of it.

Personal Photoshoot with Elliot

This January I did a quite absurd photoshoot with my friend Elliot stemming from one of my many sporadic ideas. I wanted a portrait photoshoot in a bath with a toaster.

Elliot is a massive book and musical fiend, a fan of the gothic aesthetic and a historical whiz. Other than the toaster those are all his belongings. Elliot’s creative contribution comes from the literature If We Were Villains and Cirque du Soleil.

The beginning of A levels really threw me in the deep end, but my mock selection portraits from light experimentation are interest me despite the over the top editing.

At the time I would have discovered the photographer Jonti Wild. His stark style pulls colour and lighting to the forefront, which is what I somewhat got to explore in this project.

St Malo

The opportunity to take photos in a foreign country gave us an unbiased and fresh perspective to review our skills.

This photo is my favourite of the selection for its candid narrative and sharp capturing that gave me minimal work to do in post.

The pictures are too purple for me, but the concepts and composition I admire and want to build from.

Henri Cartier Bresson was the main influence here. I was intrigued by his photos of people doing odd movements but couldn’t pass the opportunity to photograph people that interested me.

James Popysy’s style where he lightly overexposes the shot was creeping into the back of my head at the time hence some of the shiny whites. It’s a technique I want to follow up now as well.

Equestrian Portraits

and the raw photos

In my spare time I like to take photos of my girlfriend and her friends on their horses. It’s a good opportunity to capture photos in a fast pace environment and to play with light (e.g. reflections) and composition.

I don’t really have any inherent inspiration, I just practice my skills.

Multi Exposure

I got to experiment with photoshop during our multi-exposure experimentation. I sparingly used motion blur and the clone stamp tool for these photos. Jonti Wild again was a big influence on me.

Photoshoot with my sister and an experienced photographer

At the start of photography A level my sisters co-worker asked to do a photoshoot of her. I was invited so I could learn and take photos which was essential for me learning exposure and composition tricks. I also practiced colour editing afterwards, but it was very beginner.

William Eggleston is an artist that takes photos based on the the theory of mirrors and windows. His work is based on windows as his photos don’t tend to be personal, it’s more an overlook on other people’s perspectives. William Eggleston used colour photographs to describe the cultural transformations in Tennessee and the rural South. He registers these changes in scenes of everyday life, such as portraits of family and friends, as well as gasoline stations, cars, and shop interiors. William shows that his photos can show both mirrors and windows as some of his images aren’t really personal, but some of his images might reflect himself, possibly taking images of close friends and family that makes the image more personal to him. Although most of his images tend to be street photographs and less likely focused on one singular person. Eggleston tends to find surroundings that he would find himself in which makes it personal but not known as some other photographers. His work tends to be in a city, meaning it could represent his childhood or something memirable to him but instead of a singular object he liked to keep his surroundings important to him. I really like how colourful his images are, it’s almost as if he adds a radiant effect to his images as they tend to stand out, they almost look retro, his images make the world look a lot brighter than it is, it’s almost as if the world is losing colour and Eccleston’s photos have all the coloured sucked into them. I really like the outcome of his images as they look very different to other artists, these photos almost look likely, they give off a happy vibe. 

When looking through Eggleston’s work I found that all his photos were quite ordinary and didn’t have a specific theme, he mostly looked at images of quite boring but colourful sceneries, mostly just images of banal everyday life. William Eggleston wasn’t interested in photographing “decisive moments” like Cartier-Bresson nor was he interested in capturing abstruse characters or extraordinary moments. He was all about finding the beauty in the mundane. Many of his photographs have primarily warm tones in the background (like red, orange, or yellow)– yet his main interest in the photo may be of a very cold colour (blue, green, or violet) which stands out from the photo. His photos are mainly taken during golden hour or when the sky is really blue, he doesn’t tend to take pictures of the bad weather, he stays away from it. William Eggleston’s is an influential American photographer, widely regarded as one of the pioneers of colour photography as an artistic medium., his work elevated everyday scenes- such as ordinary street scenes, interiors, and mundane objects using a striking use of colour. Some key aspects of colour uses used by William Eggleston were saturated colours and vivid imagery, he would use colour to evoke mood and emphasise the beauty of the everyday. His keen eye for light and colour was enhanced by the new technology of dye-transfer printing, which allowed for greater control over colour reproduction and more vibrant final print. He also made ordinary objects have extraordinary details, for example he would take pictures of petrol stations, empty streets, family homes and interior details, and through his precise framing and use of colour, these scenes felt loaded with significance. It wasn’t just about documenting reality but finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. Some of his main themes were the democratic forest, southern landscapes, people and intimacy. His most famous one being Southern Landscapes where he highlighted themes of isolation, nostalgia and the passage of time. He would take his would be focused on the American South a place that he was intimately connected and familiar with. I would say his images from the southern landscapes would represent the theory of windows as images of suburban life, southern landscapes and ordinary people reveal a world that is simultaneously familiar and foreign, offering insights into a region’s cultural and social fabric. His work captures a specific historical and geographical moment, providing a view into a culture and lifestyle that may be distant or different from the viewer’s own. However, it could be controversial as some could say it’s seen as both a mirror and window, his images are personal yet universal, both intimate and detached. His careful attention to colour, light, and composition allows the viewers to engage with the image both on a personal level and an analytical level. His images tend to rely on their ability to be understood through both the lens of personal reflections (as mirror) and cultural exploration (as windows). 

Feminism, Female Identity, and Beauty

1. Research & Concept
   Investigate how photography reflects and challenges themes of feminism, beauty, and female identity. Key questions to explore include: How do beauty standards shape women’s identities? How can photography break traditional representations of women? Look at artists like Cindy Sherman, Francesca Woodman, and Laura Zalenga for inspiration. Their work will help you understand the relationship between women, identity, and representation.
2. Personal Theme
   Develop a central question to explore, such as: “How can photography challenge conventional beauty ideals?” or “What does true female beauty look like beyond societal standards?”
3. Techniques
   Use portraiture and self-portraiture to explore both personal and societal views of women. Experiment with lighting and composition to create different moods, emphasizing various aspects of female identity. Focus on authentic representation by capturing real, unposed moments that move away from stereotypical beauty standards.
4. Visual Style & Symbolism
   Use symbolism in your photos, like mirrors, clothing, or makeup, to comment on the construction of beauty. Include women of different ages, body types, and ethnicities to reflect the variety of female experiences and challenge narrow beauty ideals.
5. Photo Shoot Planning
   Focus on photographing diverse female subjects to reflect a range of identities. Choose settings that feel personal or empowering, like home, nature, or urban spaces. Be intentional with clothing and makeup, either to highlight or challenge beauty norms.
6. Editing
   Keep editing minimal to preserve authenticity, but consider using black-and-white or color choices to enhance the emotional tone of your work. Subtle edits, like adding textures or layers, can help reflect the complexity of female identity.
7. Reflection
   Reflect on how your photos address themes of feminism and beauty. Consider how your work questions societal norms and contributes to the conversation about female representation.
8. Conclusion
   Conclude by summarizing how your work adds to the dialogue around women’s identity, beauty, and empowerment.

Herr are the top 3 artists at the top.

I plan to do this by investing women’s beauty and misogyny etc, How do beauty standards shape women’s identities?.. Looking at artists like Cindy Sherman because her work will help you understand the relationship between women, identity, and representation. afterwards I would develop a question to explore, such as: “How can photography challenge conventional beauty ideals?” or “What does true female beauty look like beyond societal standards?” This could be done at home, friends home, beach, town centre, harbour, in a car, public, in bathroom with the shower running (with steam). These places are places I’m thinking of and hopefully will inspire women by starting off in a home, reflecting women I will choose settings that feel personal or empowering. I would use the tecqinues: portraiture and self-portraiture to explore both personal and societal views of women. Experiment with lighting and composition to create different moods, emphasizing various aspects of female identity. Focus on authentic representation by capturing real moments. In my images I would need to use symbolism like mirrors, clothing, or makeup, to comment on the construction of beauty. Include women of different ages, body types, and ethnicities. This is to either to highlight or challenge beauty norms. For these images I would be using a range of different editing tools, suck as photoshop Lightroom and I would be using various colours such as black and white or colour choices to enhance the emotional tone of your work. Subtle edits, like adding textures or layers. However by doing all of this I would still need to make sure and consider how it questions societal norms and contributes to the conversation about female representation to be able to try and make a change.

observe, seek, challenge

“the human desire to seek and explore the unknown has driven artists to look for fresh inspirations throughout centuries, compelling them to diverse subject matter and experiment with new materials”

historic paintings examples:

these paintings maybe thousands of years old but can still have many influences on artists around the world. For example Banksy a graffiti artist produced a piece in London’s Leake Street tunnel to comment on the fact that we seek the idea of attempting to preserve prehistoric examples instead of trying to do it with modern art such as graffiti in this case.

Banksy, Cave Painting Removal

(this is the painting referenced in the text above)

the soviet propaganda posters started in 1917 after the Bolsheviks took over Petrograd now known as saint Petersburg. as it was quite a young state it needed to spread an ideologies around the state effectively. this was going to be challenging as the literacy rates were only 37.9%, this meant that the image had to be the driving force of the poster not the words on them. this has influenced the modern age by propaganda now becoming used by for many things such as combating against world problems (COVID-19, climate change) and for things such as presidential election.

Ai Weiwei, Study of Perspective, 1999

this project was produced by Ai Weiwei to project the idea that people shouldn’t just listen to governments and should have there own beliefs. he done this by going to significant monuments and putting up the middle finger. this obviously has had an influence on the modern day with many people speaking up against government, a big example of this would be Greta Thunburg as she challenged the Swedish government to take part and battle against climate change which then turned then helped raise awareness around the world drastically.

Painter Jackson Pollock, cigarette in mouth, dropping paint onto canvas

Joe Pollock was an artist that used the “drip” paint technique, the reason he used this technique was to help explore themes such as surrealism navigation of the unconscious and Jungian symbolism. this basically means he wanted people to connect to his images through emotions what it made them feel and why?  “The Search to unravel the working of the Human psyche and understand the very nature of consciousness has often inspired artists.”

Rogan Brown is a British artist based in France. His inspiration stems from his interest in the complexity of nature, creating pieces that help us look at the world on a different scale.

mind map

mood board

I will be producing two photoshoots, with one being a document – (realism/ factual/ public) and the other photoshoot being tableaux (romanticism/ fiction/staged).

Documentary
For my Documentary/realism and factual photoshoot, I will be using ideas such as street photography and a mix of environmental portraiture going around town/popular places in Jersey and taking different photos of how different people live there life, or what they do for work and how their lifestyle is. For another photoshoot, I want to take multiple photos of how the traffic builds up either on the avenue or near the tunnel underneath the roundabout in town.

I have another better idea, of going to a bonfire night with a lot of people around watching the bonfire and fireworks and taking photos of random couples hugging, having arms around each other, maybe even kissing each other whilst a firework goes off. This may turn out not as good as I imagine because it will be very dark and especially because there will constant flashing lights from the fire works, plus the fire flames from the bonfire.

Tableaux
For my Tableaux photoshoot I have multiple ideas of either masculinity and femininity with showing different stereotypes or flipping the stereotypes around. Another idea would be about a story line with two friends meeting up to either sell drugs, or a different story line with them meeting up. Another idea links with the idea I just mentioned, but instead it could be a crime scene where one kills another and hides his body or similar thoughts to that. Finally, could do a photoshoot with either emotions or phobias such as claustrophobia with a photo of someone trapped in a small place surrounding themselves.

I went to the fireworks/bonfire night and these are some of the photos I took.

I selected a few photos I want to edit which are these photos.

Here I really liked the use of the bonfire with the grass almost path to the bonfire, which I can edit to create an essential ‘fake’ pathway which leads to the bonfire using Black and White on the outside of the photo with uplifting the green in the grass and the orangey/red bonfire.

In this photo I really like the use of both a male and female sat down watching the fireworks over them, I could of gotten lower to the ground and centred the fireworks in between them, but I have an idea of maybe either keeping them both ‘alive’ in the photo and in colour, or creating a B/W silhouette around one of the couple, with an idea of ‘The other partner wishing loved one was watching the fireworks with them’, but they are as a “ghost” sat next to them in B/W, sort of photo.

Something sort of like this where the male partner remembers when they watched the fireworks together in the past, she was next to him watching the fireworks but she isn’t physically there, just spiritually watching next to him.

For my personal study, it’s important that I choose to focus on something that I can explore in a vast way and come up with multiple different concepts for whilst also making it meaningful. I want to make this a study of internal reflection, with my own views and perceptions of life/ the world so that my work can be interpretive to others and subjective. I would like to shy away from more documentary photography showing realism and look for more abstract scenes or ideas as I want to be able to tell a true story that is manipulated so that the viewer of my work can perceive it in their own way and apply it into a different context that I hadn’t intended.

As this is the first time I have had to come up with a personal study entirely on my own, I want to make this body of work different from my other photoshoots that I have done as this is now going to include an element of privacy and a sense of vulnerability in my work. Now that we have done a short-term study on Mirrors and Windows, I can use my knowledge of this to determine what kind of concepts I want within my work to define the story, allowing me to choose a more subjective internal tone in my personal study. However, my work doesn’t particularly have a staged or fictional aspect to it in the form of tableaux photography as what I am demonstrating is a truthful, raw and real story.

INTENTION:

The intent within my personal study is going to be about the difficulties and struggles of growing up with a family member who, over time, deteriorates from gaining a mental illness. Specifically, the illness that I would like to represent is Bipolar disorder, something that can occur over time for a multitude of reasons, for example a neurological change within the brain. I think this concept will be very powerful within my work as it will be able to curate a narrative that develops throughout my final piece, as well as convey many emotions to the viewer through obscure metaphors and symbolism. As well as this, I find that creating an outlet where issues concerning mental health issues, such as photography, can be extremely progressive in removing stigma, shame or even helping to develop an understand about these kinds of things in society because they represent the reality behind the labels that people are given, as well as visually exhibiting every factor that comes along with this socially sensitive topic. Sometimes, the best way to educate about things, such as mental health is through visual art forms as it is easier to show the harsh reality behind it, as well as enabling people to communicate their own inner struggles through photography.

Bodies of work like this can begin to strike conversation about inner conflicts and battles in a form that allows the individual or people involved to express themselves in a way that words can’t describe. Mental health in men and boys, whilst slowly becoming more progressive and seen, is still stigmatised against due to phrases such as ‘Be a man’ for example. My work will be able to show that males do also suffer and the hands of these different illnesses and can be used as a form of awareness to show that this is reality, and that it truly is okay. Regardless, it also proves that things like this can happen to anyone, with them actively going through it or experiencing the second-hand repercussions of it every single day, proving that you never do know exactly what people are going through and that you must always be mindful of that.

My plan for this photoshoot is going to begin with going through old images of me and my brother and selecting ones that I think are the most appropriate for my final piece. I am going to photocopy these so that I can physically create something with them, whether that be burning selective pieces, using pen or painting over it. I think this will be very effective as it adds an element of art and graphic design into my work where I can then really get creative and use dynamic lines to tell a better story than the image could alone by itself. I will then photograph these images again so that I can put them onto the computer.

I am also going to go through many things that my parents have kept from me and my brother when we were younger, for example drawings or notes from childhood, so that I can also use these I my work because I would like to be able to highlight the way that mental health issues can completely take over and transform a person, being able to indicate that life wasn’t always like this and that these issues can develop, grow and fester so quickly out of nowhere that it occurs before your eyes before you realise. As this is something that has been occurring within my family life for a while now, being around 6-7 years, I think its not only incredibly important but that I owe it to myself to actively and clearly represent a difficult story that I have been part of that many people wouldn’t expect if I didn’t tell them, however this is something that affects millions of people on an day-to-day basis that makes it hard for them to cope with the demands of the world around them. This project is something I have thought about for a long time, knowing that this would be the topic I would like to focus on, because it is a part of me, and its a part of my family.

I gained the inspiration of using archived images such as family albums and distorting them from ‘Is that my blue butterfly?’ by Matthew Knapman, where he tears, scribbles, burns, bleeds, splatters ink, digitises and collages different images of his mother at a variety of ages and personal keepsakes of hers, in order to display the story of his mothers struggle with breast cancer, resulting in the loss of her life. I came across his personal study in the classroom when we began looking at what makes a personal study and deciding what grade boundaries we would give the one that we picked based off of their essay and their final piece. When I came across it, I instantly knew that I wanted to explore this theme of loss through different destructive methods as it will allow me to detail even further, the story that I intend to tell. Matthew Knapman gained inspiration from Jessa Fairbrother and Carolle Benitah, two artists who I plan to explore whilst also investigating the similar artists I can find and choosing whose work best correlates with my aim for my personal study, choosing who influences me the most.

I think one of the most important themes within my personal study is going to be nostalgia. The sentimental aspect behind my work, using old keepsakes from my childhood or archived images, is going to drive the story about the events that have occurred within my life that may have been unpleasant, but have shaped me as the person I am today, making it extremely important to tell this story in a clear yet respectful and truthful way. Alongside the theme of nostalgia comes a tone of grief, however, I want to convey the difficulty of grieving someone who is still here yet not the same person they one were or not who they are recalled to be. This sense of absence within my work is something I think will be very moving and striking, especially through the use of different art mediums, because not only will it make my work memorable and abstract, but it will be able to convey the multitude of emotions that I feel about the topic of mental health in regards to my brothers situation.