To be concerned with beauty. A set of principles underlying the work of a particular artist or artistic movement.
2. The cubist aesthetic
Cubism was a revolutionary new approach to representing reality invented in around 1907–08 by artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. They brought different views of subjects (usually objects or figures) together in the same picture, resulting in paintings that appear fragmented and abstracted.
3. Formalism
Formalism describes the critical position that the most important aspect of a work of art is its form – the way it is made and its purely visual aspects – rather than its narrative content or its relationship to the visible world. Structure over content ,no emotion or context.
4. Indexicality
Guide signs and symbols memory. In photography, indexicality refers to the direct relationship between the photographer, the photograph, and the subject. This concept emphasises that photographs are inherently linked to the physical reality they capture, serving as an imprint of the real world.
5. Representation
Ideas are depicted. To understand representation in photography is to understand how you are interconnected to the thing in which you photograph. It is to accept the responsibility for how you depict a particular subject. Understanding the deep impact images have in our society is the reason for teaching representation in any capacity.
I gathered and placed all photos I may incorporate into my photobook, and made a smart collection of them all. Again, sifting through and ignoring ones that don’t particularly fit with my project.
Carefully placing each photo into their own cell, acknowledging the clash of colours and photo contents, found where they may fit best.
Knowing my sequence of photos is one coloured and one black and white, I left gaps to add my additional photos in when they have been completed.
I’ve chosen very specifically which photos would go best together, which photos could tell a story, entice viewers and keep them drawn. The screengrab above, shows this simply, with the childhood photo including food, the teenage/young adult photo depicts stomach. This allows viewers to relate in whatever way they saw fit.
With my title having the name ‘roots’ it gives 2 meanings. The idea of my roots being my family and my childhood but also my root of my hair, as I had copper hair as a child, I dyed over it as I grew up but every couple of weeks, the ginger would come through ever so slightly.
The font I used for this title was ‘Agency FB’. This font really stuck out to me because of it’s harsh block like letters. I feel that this reflects the idea that life is harsh and stubborn too. Un malleable and very ‘it is what it is’.
I finished editing and choosing the black and white photos that will fit well with each archived photo, playing around with placement and checking what photo compliments the other the most. Some of the photos matched so well (snake photos), and they look perfect together.
For the cover, the simple but effective idea of using a photo of roots from someone’s hair gives my work a sense of abstractness and almost blindsides the viewer on what the story will be.
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 points 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.
Subjects – car and driver (comparative), the car’s soul and how it is a reflection of its driver
Starters – Exploring the relationship between… (comparative), Through the eyes of the…, a journey through…,
Potential Questions
Exploring the relationship between the car and its driver
A journey through the soul of the car; and how it is a reflection of its driver
Essay Plan Make a plan that lists what you are going to write about in each paragraph – essay structure
Essay question:
Opening quote – Jeremy Clarkson (2009). – “It’s what non-car people don’t get. They see all cars as just a ton and a half, two tons of wires, glass, metal, and rubber, and that’s all they see. People like you or I know we have an unshakable belief that cars are living entities… You can develop a relationship with a car and that’s what non-car people don’t get… When something has foibles and won’t handle properly, that gives it a particularly human quality because it makes mistakes, and that’s how you can build a relationship with a car that other people won’t get.” – Interview from “Love the Beast” (released March 12, 2009), a documentary made by Eric Bana, Whyte House Entertainment (distribution), Pickup Truck Pictures (production)
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?
“exploring the relationship between a car and its driver”
explain how a car has a soul, where that soul is found; a driver has an innate connection when driving their car
explain this innate connection in rally photography
opening quote here?
Pg 1 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
artist reference 2 – Maurice Selden
Ari Vatanen in the 1976 Granite City Rally in Scotland, photo by Maurice Selden
talk about both stories behind the photo, from the drivers perspective, and the photographers perspective
explain how the relationship between the car and the driver is evident in this photo (face direction + wheel direction show driver has trust in the car/ motion blur = speed)
however, not every car and driver relationship is like this…
Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
Artist reference 1 – Helge Skodvin – 240 landscapes
begin talking about how the regular relationship is different (more personal + emotional connection rather than a physical, drive fast connection)
present the Ferrariesta, why is it so special to me, where did the name come from etc.
get to the point – each driver develops a different relationship with their car, but ultimately every driver develops a level of appreciation for their car
link to Helge Skodvin – 240 landscapes – every car is different but each has its own soul.
refer back to artist reference – talking about personalisation + memories etc.
Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
parallels – every driver appreciates their car
Bibliography: List all relevant sources used
Bibliography
Jeremy Clarkson (2009). – Interview from “Love the Beast” (released March 12, 2009), a documentary made by Eric Bana and Pickup Truck Pictures (production)
Sticking with the black and white theme for my photoshoots, this will be the last one. I want to show and incorporate a lot more feeling and emotion with this photoshoot, with the sense of family and support backing this photoshoot I believe that will encourage a lot more un normalised feeling.
I used natural, and a simple camera flash for the lighting of these photos. Dark backgrounds to give a neutral but opposing finish in the photos. The contrast of the light and dark to build tension throughout worked so well for the outcome of these photos.
Essay Question:Looking at Justine Kurland and Mary Ellen Mark; how do females connect with each other through interaction and how do they overcome the stereotypes of gender roles?
My area of study is about femininity and how females interact with each other. I look into the female gaze and how woman overcome the gender roles and stereotypes of society. In my personal study I will be focusing on how woman overcome gender stereotypes through rebelling during their teenage life and to also show the emotions girls experience through my images. The artists I have chosen to look at are Justine Kurland and Mary Ellen Mark. I have chose Justine Kurland because she looks at how females support each other and how girls feel empowered when they are together. In Justine Kurland’s photoshoots, she expresses through the experiences she did not get to do as a teenager. Justine Kurland uses tableaux photography; this name comes from the words “Living Picture” in French. Tableaux photography is an image or array of images staged in a set environment to convey a narrative. Justine Kurland stages her photoshoots to make the images look like real life and to create a meaning behind each image. I am going to create my own tableaux photography like Justine Kurland to neglect the gender roles of young females. I have chosen to look at Mary Ellen Mark, because contrasting to Kurland she photographs girls to show the vulnerability they experience and the emotions that females go through alone. In my project, I wanted to show the two differences of girlhood and how they navigate themselves in a world full of stereotypes and gender roles. I am also going to pay attention to the outfits that the girls are wearing in my photoshoots as I believe this plays a big part when creating a sense of freedom and also a sense of isolation in my images.
Throughout the years there have been many various waves of feminism to encourage equality. “Feminist movements in the United States have called for greater political, economic and cultural freedom and equality for women.” https://www.history.com/news/feminism-four-waves. There have currently been four waves of feminism, the first one being to argue for the woman to have the right to vote which took place in the years of 1848 to 1920. This started because females were denied basic rights which led to movements taking place for woman to stand up for themselves. Woman felt that they had the right to have a say in the political decisions that were being made. Woman also wanted the right to own properties and to be able to have an education and employment which lead to more waves of feminism occurring. This led to feminism in photography in the 1970’s when feminist groups started creating their own visual documentation of what it was like to be a female. Over the years this has become more popular in photography because feminist artists are producing images to convey the idea of woman’s rights through emotion and narratives. Justine Kurland is one of these photographers, she uses her art to express her feelings towards feminism. Kurland also uses tableaux photography to create her projects. “Tableaux photography is a technique used in many photographers’ works to convey a narrative through an image or a series of images”. Tableaux Photography. The term “tableaux” was first used in an art context in the 18th century by a philosopher, Denis Diderot to describe a painting and it comes from the French term “Living Picture”. In Victorian times tableaux Vivint’s were a popular form of entertainment, this consisted of recreating artworks on stage based on a painting.
Therefore, tableaux photography involves a performance before the camera takes the shot, which is usually instructed by the photographer who tells the models what to do and how to pose. In the 1880’s, photographers strived for photography to be artwork, and this led to them using tableaux to mirror the paintings and other artworks.
Justine Kurland is a contemporary fine art photographer from New York born in 1969. At the age of 15 Justine Kurland left her home to live with her aunt in Manhattan and this was where she found her interest in art. I am inspired by Kurland’s photoshoot titles “Live Dangerously” which is a series of images presented as part of her exhibition in 2004. This project is about revealing bold and dynamic ways that females inhabit nature. The images in her project include teenage girls setting off smoke bombs, skinny dipping, climbing trees and other activities similar to these. Kurland created these images to “reveal the bold and dynamic ways in which female bodies inhabit and activate the natural world.”https://nmwa.org/art/artists/justine-kurland/, and to express the things she didn’t get to experience as a teenager. She wanted to reveal the things that she wished she had done. She wanted to portray the idea of a coming world where girls were not categorized and where they could find protection and empowerment together and within themselves. She used teenagers in these staged images because she wanted to portray the sense of freedom for females and how they express themselves in the Suburban settings where she chose to take her images. Kurland would travel up and down the country looking for locations to set her photographs in and finding girls on her way because she wanted to create a society of females and how they would react with freedom contrasting from their bedrooms where they are isolated. The locations were chosen carefully to create their own sense of danger and risk and to portray the exploration of identity. She wanted to show how females connected with each other through the female gaze therefore she wanted the girls to care for each other and this turned into a reality of the girls helping each other, feeding each other and resembling protection. Justine Kurland uses tableaux photography when creating her images to convey a narrative for the viewers. In relation to my project, I am inspired by Justine Kurland’s artwork as it shows the empowerment of woman as a collective. I am going to set up my photoshoot in woods and fields and use the tableaux photography technique to stage my images to portray a feeling of girlhood. I am going to ensure that in my images, the relationship between the models is a sense of comfort within themselves and as a society. I will use woods and fields for my photoshoot in relation to Justine Kurland because I want my images to have the perception of freedom and to have a sense of carelessness. I will edit my images in colour because I want my images to be bright to add a sense of happiness and to convey the feelings that girls have when they are together. I will also ensure that when constructing my images that the girls are connected in a way that they are helping each other and being happy to resemble the idea of freedom that Justine Kurland wanted to portray.
These images are from Justine Kurland’s exhibition named “Girl Pictures”. These were the images that inspired me to take my own. These images show the connection that girls have to overcome the stereotypes that people have which was her aim. The images are all set in woodland areas and fields which portray the freedom of the girls in the image and show the bond that females have in nature when they aren’t isolated and stuck in their bedrooms. In this project all the girls are dressed in basic outfit which has inspired me to do the same when taking my images to show the simplicity of females lives and how they connect with the world around them.
Mary Ellen Mark is an American photographer who was known for her photojournalism and documentary photography. Her work is displayed in museums and published worldwide. She was born in Pennsylvania and started photographing things with a box brownie which is a carboard box camera. She discovered a passion for art when she was at school and later attended the University of Pennsylvania where she earned a bachelor’s degree in fine art. Soon after Mary Ellen Mark got a scholarship to go and take pictures in turkey for a year which is where she produced her first book; Passport. She also visited England, Greece, Germany, Italy and Spain to take photographs whilst on her travels. When she was in her mid 20’s she moved to New York and started taking pictures of the war, specifically the woman’s role during the war where she was able to capture the vulnerability and resilience of the woman. One of mark’s most famous projects was called “Streetwise” which was published in 1988. Mark took pictures of the lives of children and teenagers who lived on the street to spread awareness of their struggles to survive, and the stereotypes others have. Mary Ellen Mark tended to photograph things that not many people were aware of like poverty, illnesses and prostitutes, to spread awareness of the poor circumstances in people’s lives. Mark’s images are mostly portrait, which shows the emotions of girls and how female viewers can relate and connect deeply with the images. Mary Ellen Mark would also take images of girls to show the concept of girlhood, however when producing her images, Mark didn’t intend to connect with the idea of girlhood, but it became apparent that she was connected to her own images when taking them. She discovered that “Her portraits capture individual lives with a familiarity that makes them universally relatable”https://nmwa.org/whats-on/exhibitions/online/mary-ellen-mark-girlhood/. When taking these images Mary Ellen Mark wanted to create a story within the images to show the vulnerability of females in the world and how they perceived through the ideas of gender roles and stereotypes. Her images also convey the fact of navigation and how young girls must find themselves within a patriarchal society which may seem threatening and scary for girls in their youth. When producing my images that are inspired by Mark’s work, I am going to manipulate the images to have a solemn tone to convey a feeling of sadness and worry through the camera lens. This way, I will try and make the images connect with females and young girls that feel threatened by the world. I will also attempt to make the background black to portray the feelings of loneliness and worry that girls in this world feel every day. I want to create a contrast of images in my project between a mix of Justine Kurland inspired images and Mary Ellen Mark’s. I want to show the difference in emotions of girls when they have freedom and when they overcome stereotypes or gender roles in comparison to when they feel isolated or controlled by the patriarchal society that is still apparent today.
These are the images I am inspired by. The black and white in the images show the sadness within these girls and show that they are simply unhappy. I like how the background of these images are filled with empty space and this could portray the loneliness that the girls feel in the image.
Both artists I have looked at have taken the same approach to overcoming stereotypes and gender roles, however they have explored this subject differently. Mark and Kurland’s work both look at the idea of girlhood and they both portray emotion through their images to convey girls’ experiences through life, however in different circumstances. Mark looks at the complexity of woman’s life and the vulnerability that girls experience in times where life isn’t so easy like the war or woman in poverty to portray to viewers the situations that girls go through that could be scary or even more so traumatic. Whether Kurland looks at the simplicity of woman’s lives because of their freedom in the suburban areas where they are photographed, where they have a sense of freedom and how they have the power to do what they want with their lives. Mary Ellen Mark’s images are all in black and white which correlates to the idea of the complexity of the girls’ lives in her images. She has no colour in her images which show the emotion of sadness through the dark colours in her images. Kurland’s images have lots of colour more so in the background this could be Kurland trying to portray that these girls grew up with a good background which is contrasting to Mark’s images where the background looked derelict and run down. Another difference between Mark’s images and Kurland’s images is the amount of people in the images. In Kurland’s images there are multiple girls which show the bond they have with each other and the connection of friendships, however Mark’s images that I am inspired by are girls on their own. This shows that the experiences they face are lonely and they’ve must navigate themselves through the patriarchal life alone. In my images, which are inspired by Mary Ellen Mark, I have manipulated a dark background surrounding the girl.
This is because I wanted to convey the darkness in girls’ lives and the struggles that they go through. For my images inspired by Justine Kurland, I have taken the images in a meaningful place where I grew up which is in a woods behind my house.
This is contrasting to Kurland’s images as the areas they were taken in don’t have any meaning to her, they were just in the visions she had growing up that she couldn’t experience because of her lack of freedom caused by the gender roles.
Maurice Selden is a well-known and very prolific rally photographer, whose career spanned 45 years from 1973 to 2018. Selden first started out capturing WRC events working for various publications, slowly working his way up through the ranks, and by 1982 had become the chief photographer for the motorsport publication LAT, covering rally and Formula 1 events all over the world. His photographs made waves through media at the time, and many were used for brand advertisements such as Ford.
Ari Vatanen in the 1985 Swedish WRCAri Vatanen in the 1976 Granite City Rally in Scotland
Here are two incredible photos by Maurice Selden, of the same driver, Ari Vatenen, in two different rallies 10 years apart. These two photos share very similar attributes that make the photos striking, demonstrating Maurice Selden’s method and style, and showing exactly how Selden finds the ‘decisive moment’ in rally photography. In my opinion, the root of his method begins with an obstacle (i.e. a corner, a jump), and how the car must act to manoeuvre this obstacle. On the left is an image of Ari Vatanen in a Peugout 205 T16, an all-wheel drive rally car made for Group B. For this photo, Selden stands on the outside of the exit to a hairpin corner, where the cars will be powering out of the corner sideways, creating a big dust cloud behind them. This perspective is perfect for two reasons; the obstacle is clear, you can see where the car came from and where it is going, and the car is all-wheel drive, meaning that the driver will perform the corner sideways before regaining grip and exiting the corner straight. Maurice Selden captures the image right before the car straightens up, and in turn, captures the car mid-slide, catching the velocity of the car in the shot. The same principle appears in the photo on the right, except in this one, Maurice Selden is standing on the inside of the corner. This shot only works because the car is rear-wheel drive, and Ari Vatanen has had to swing the back of the car out in order to make the corner without crashing into the ditch on the outside. Additionally, in comparison to the photo on the left, Selden is much closer to the corner, and has to follow the car fast, resulting in a very prominent motion blur in the background, which consequently captures much more velocity overall. But it is this velocity that ultimately makes these photos striking, it enables the viewer to feel the motion of the car and, overall, captures the raw soul of these machines.
Matthew Wilson in the 2010 Swedish WRC
Rally photography is a very raw form of photography. The sheer speed of these cars requires fast shutter speeds, and the utilisation of whatever lighting the photographer can find to make these photos pop, which essentially boils down to either; a low hanging sun, or a camera flash. These are not controlled environments, and photographers will resort to using whatever elements possible to capture these beastly machines. This photo is a good example of how Maurice Selden does this while also catching the velocity of the car in the same shot. It is clear that Selden stood at this perspective understanding that the misty conditions create these god rays that majestically light up the snowy forest. But also, Selden considers that the cars will be hurdling through the air after hitting the jump to the left that is out of shot. It is the combination of these two factors that make up this photo; all Selden must focus on doing is capturing the car mid-air to catch its velocity. In this photo, the car is just about to hit the ground, a pivotal moment that captures anticipation and fear. The car is nearly sideways, and possibly didn’t even land the jump, but it is this specific decisive moment that Selden knew to capture because of its intensity and suspense. And it is this understanding of where the decisive moment is that ultimately makes Maurice Selden such a great photographer.
Helge Skodvin is a Norwegian photographer, who predominantly focuses on documenting the many aspects of Norway in his own juxtaposed style. In 2015, he created 240 Landscapes, a collection of images that all feature the Volvo 240, a staple car of the Nordic regions.
In these photos, Helge Skodvin experiments with the colour of the environment, and focuses on isolating the Volvo 240s in a way that captures the loneliness and grandiosity of Norway, using empty car parks or mountain landscapes to create distance and size. It is unclear if Skodvin puts the cars there himself, or simply finds them in the right places and takes his photo, it may well be a mixture of both. However, the most important aspect of the Volvo 240s in these photos is what they represent.
Volvo is a Swedish car brand, very well known for its safety and its boxy style, which was developed from the early 1960s to the late 90s. Many iconic Volvos came from this era, of which you can still see on the streets today because of how reliable these cars were made to be. Before this time, Volvo hadn’t settled on any specific style for its brand, they mostly just copied the curvy big block V8 American cars that were popular in the 40s and 50s. However, by the mid-60s Volvo’s engineers and designers had worked hard to develop their own style, which came in the form of the Volvo 144.
The 144 was a near-perfect car. The Volvo engineers’ focus on safety was pivotal to the overall design, and launched Volvo far ahead of its competitors when it came to safety. The car had disk brakes all around, which were 30% more effective than the drum brakes which mostly everyone else used. The design of the car also heavily utilised crumple zones, something that the majority of cars had previously failed to do resulting in more volatile crashes and a higher fatality rate. It is obvious to see why this car was so well-recepted in Scandinavia, a place full winding and icy roads, which pathed the way for Volvo’s reputation in later years.
The 70s was an amazing decade for Volvo. It became the largest car manufacturer in Scandinavia, and continued to improve its safety features with every new car they designed. First came the Volvo 140, an improvement on the 144, most notably in the extended front bumper, providing an extended crumple zone, and a new headlight design. Volvo started 1970 with 600,000 cars produced total, and ended that same year with over 2 million total cars produced.
This was when the Volvo became a staple of the Nordic regions. Everyone had a Volvo, from taxi drivers and police, to families and their next door neighbours. This car was perfect, and for the next 4 years Volvo was hard at work trying to make it even better. Development of a new car was in the works, named the VESC for ‘Volvo Experimental Safety Car’. In these developments, new technology could be tested, such as antilocking brakes and airbags. The car was constantly tested and refined, every detail was carefully constructed to ensure the highest safety standard possible.
Then in 1974, Volvo released the 240 series.
The 240 series came in a variety of iterations, a 2-door, 4-door and Estate, and later the headlights were changed, and different trim levels would be added over the course of its 19 year run. However, a 240 is always a 240, these cars were the safest as they came, and everyone started buying them up once again. The 240 became the iconic, boxy, ‘Volvo’ look, and the car appealed to nearly every major car market at the time; UK, US, Europe, everyone wanted a taste.
As the 240 grew older, the car became a nostalgia piece for families all over the world, most notably in Scandinavia, including Norway where Helge Skodvin grew up admiring these beauties of mechanical defiance in places of such serenity and emptiness.
This is essentially what this book is filled with, it is in the name, ‘240 Landscapes’. But it is the combination of the 240 and all of its history, nostalgia and iconicness, combined with the beautiful mountainous, snowy and empty landscapes of Norway that incited Helge Skodvin to take these photos.
This is the first image that appears in 240 landscapes. Taken in the early morning, indicated by the low light level, this photo consists of a colourful home hidden somewhere in valleys of Norway. The most striking element of this photo is the framing, every entity has its own part in the frame; the bushes are in the bottom right, the driveway is in the bottom left leading to the house in the middle with a lovely green garden to the right, and in the background at the top of the image stand the grandiose, tall peaks of Norway. However, it is the placement of the Volvo that is most important. It sits outside of this very homely house next to this nostalgic looking garden with a trampoline that entails that a family owns the Volvo. From this, the viewer is presented with a glimpse into the memories that this family holds; although the family is not there, it still feels as though we are experiencing a memory of this house from the perspective of a family member, looking back on the serenity and simplicity of life as it was living here. The Volvo is a very significant part of this, as many families can relate to this type of memory when thinking about, for example, a roadtrip they once had, where the car becomes cemented in this feeling of nostalgia. It is this link to a personal emotion that Helge Skodvin is trying to get at with the Volvo’s throughout this book, one that many Scandinavian people can relate to when so many families owned a Volvo 240.
The book also explores personality in cars too. Here is a customised 240, probably owned by a car enthusiast. The photo overall is not particularly spectacular, however it is the car that is the main focus. This Volvo is yellow, with aftermarket wheels, lowered suspension and a spoiler; it is clear that the owner has modified this 240 in their own, personalised way, and in turn has transformed the soul of this Volvo. This is something I talk about in my essay; when a person customises their own car, the car transforms into something new, in a way that is personalised to the driver. This ultimately means that the car’s soul becomes a reflection of its driver, and this is what we see here in this photo. Overall, the shot is not about the snowy, urban landscape, rather it is about representing the soul of this car that has been changed in its own, unique way. It is also representative of all of the 240s in the book, in the way that they are not all the same, but each have their own soul, in the form of; colour, model, trim, modifications, scratches. Even a cars imperfections are what make up its soul.
In summary, 240 Landscapes is a photobook made to represent what the Volvo 240 truly is; a staple of the Nordic regions, a family car, a nostalgic piece of memorabilia that will never be forgotten by the generations of people who experienced the pleasure of owning a 240. This book is about Norway, its beautiful landscapes and isolated surroundings, and how the 240 perfectly slots into its environment everywhere it goes. In my opinion, the book explores many aspects of the soul of the Volvo 240,
for the entirety of my project, I will need multiple photoshoots to gather all the photographs I may need for all topics I wish to include. Focusing in on topics of relationships, upbringing, family, and teenage life overall. Harnessing the ins and outs of life as a girl, the love and enjoyment but also the difficulties too, whether that is insecurity, or hurdles they may face along the way. All of this is girlhood and growing up so I want to capture all of it as best that I can.
Photoshoot 1 –
For the first photoshoot, I wanted to focus in on relationships, in more depth, ‘teenage love’. Using myself and a friend to show this through ambient lighting and coloured spotlighted lights. I focused on gaze and touch to show affection and red and blue light to focus in on lust, the red symbolising almost the ‘rose tinted glasses’ saying more deeply.
Photoshoot 2 –
For my second photoshoot I focused on capturing teenage life, the good, bad, drunk and sober, anything I can think of that may not be normal for a teenager to experience, but has been normalised. It not just shows the messy aspect of partying, but the friendship and love that young adults have to give. I wanted to include milestones and downsides these special years that each teenager goes through ( I’m aware not all teenagers live like this ). However since I want this project to reflect on me and my growth not just through my actions but as a person, the raw and unfiltered reality would be really important to include.
Teenage life is full of love and whether that is hard to see sometimes, its always around. The love and respect I have for all my friends is a very big part of me and I don’t want to keep that out of my project and my life in general. The raw natural light photographs show the bare truth of how life is behind the cover of parents and guardians and the touch and comfort you will find in this photoshoot really embrace that.
Photoshoot 3 –
For my third photoshoot, I wanted to focus solely of collecting photos that show woman’s hardship. Since I want to show both sides of girlhood, one being the fun, exciting side that you see all over social media, and second being the issues and difficulties that woman and girls face on the day to day. I want to use these photos (after editing) to place along side not only photos I’ve taken from these photoshoots but archived photos of my childhood. This is to show contrast and almost what’s behind the wall of personality that girls not just my age but of all ages may put up.
For example, along side an archived photo of maybe my parents and siblings, I could put an edited photo of a younger girl with bruises, evidence of domestic violence. I want to include this in my Personal project because it is raw, it is something people don’t talk about or see very often and it is definitely something I want to bring awareness too. Too many people can understand and relate to this kind of experience, especially from a young age and that makes me want to showcase my story even more.
Archived photoshoots –
Obviously, I did not take these photos myself, they are a collection my parents have been growing for my entire childhood. Capturing memory after memory and depicting the innocence and love that filled my childhood. Showing a happy family with loads of friends and endless support.
I wanted the cover to make sense from both sides to follow both narratives. I choose this image because it is hazy and soft and somewhat dream like.
I put both mist images together so that the narrative would start light and outside while still being somewhat mysterious. I then interspaced with peeling wallpaper because its like peeling back a brave face. I put both images of birds together, starting with the further and honing inwards. I interspaced with another coloured one this time the sofa because its still peaceful and quite close. Following birds that can fly I choose the moth to contrast as its flightless.
I wanted to interrupt the cats and dog because the images have shifted from peaceful to somewhat aggressive with the dog, broken car and higher contrast. The cats I made sure to start with the more peaceful one and put the second more mysterious one next.
Following the more aggressive images I put together the more eerie images which continued the high contrast sequence.
To round off I choose the most abstract dark ones.
For the final layout I shrunk down all the blurry images so that they would print best and made sure that the black and white images were arranged differently to the coloured ones. I liked how the contrast between the human coloured images and natural black and white images looked when separated within the book. I put the essay at the back of the book instead of the front so that I could start right away with images which I thought was the most effective layout. I also had most of the lighter images at the front, staring off with soft and light images and gradually becoming much darker with harsher lines compared to the effect of mist.
1. Write a book specification and describe in detail what your book will be about in terms of narrative, concept and design with reference to the same elements of bookmaking as above.
Narrative:What is your story? Describe in:
3 words
Athlete, Difficulties, Passion
A sentence
It will be about a passionate basketball player who strives to be the best.
A paragraph
This story is about a player called tony who is a passionate basketball player. His room is filled with basketball items, and he’s always trying to be better than his teammates. He doesn’t participate in activities with his teammates as he’s worried he wont live up to them.
