Yousuf Karsh

Yousuf Karsh was born on the 23rd December 1908 in Mardin, American Turkey and dies on July 13th 2002 in Boston, Massachusetts). Yousuf was the most known and greatest portrait photographer of the 20th century. Karsh photographed famous men and women of politics , Hollywood, and the arts, from Albert Einstein, Sir Winston Churchill to Walt Disney and Audrey Hepburn. Throughout most of his career he used the 8×10 bellows Calumet ( 1997.o318) camera. Now a days his work is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, The National Portrait Gallery in London, among many others. The last print of Karsh was sold for $42,5000.00.

Analysis

Visual

This image is a portrait of Audrey Hepburn, she is waring a black turtle neck, and her hair is up in a high ponytail, She is looking to the side showing her side profile. The image is in black and white which makes sense since this image was taken in 1956.

Technical

Aperture- f/22

Shutter speed- 1/500

Angle- eye level

Half Body

Contextual

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“The French novelist Colette picked her out of a ballet line-up to play Gigi on stage, and her career was launched. When I photographed her in Hollywood and commented on her quality of sophisticated vulnerability, she told me of her harrowing experiences during the Second World War. Years later, in the Kremlin, Chairman Brezhnev agreed to sit for me only if I made him as beautiful as Audrey Hepburn.”

Evaluation

For the exploring lighting project I used different techniques like half-lighting, Rembrandt lighting and butterfly lighting, using different colour gels made the light look more interesting. The different techniques give different moods and that’s what’s so interesting about lighting.

I used my parents, teachers and random people of the street for this project since the idea of this is too be authentic so when I saw my brother playing , or my dad walking in our garden that’s when I asked them if I could take a photo I wanted these pictures to be the most realistic as possible and I think I achieved that.

gallery

My inspiration for this project was how women view beauty even if beauty is relative as soon as I heard the theme I knew I wanted to focus on femininity. I wanted to show how beauty can be viewed in different ways for example when I was photographing the girl playing the drums I used one of my friends for inspiration since she always says that she feels more beautiful when playing the drums. I also know how clothes can take part on how we feel about ourselves so I wanted to show that.

for this image I wanted to kind of do a tittle page that explains the idea behind the rest of the photos

For this image I tried making a contrast between things that are consider feminine ( reading, beauty products) and playing drums that are considered masculine ( playing drums)

This image the idea behind it was that women feel more beautiful when they are wearing clothes and accessories that they like.

Gallery

DOUBLE/ MULTI EXPOSURE

Double exposure is the art created by jointing/ layering images together. This can be achieved in camera settings, or editing platforms. This technique can be made by using different images and layering them or the same image and move it around you created the effect to wanted to.

MAN RAY

Man Ray was born on August 27th, 1890, he was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He produced major works in a variety of media but considered himself a painter above all, He was best known for his pioneering photography, and was renewed fashion and portrait photography.

MY PICTURES INSPIRED BY HIS WORK

I used photoshop to edit this image Started by picking an image that I liked and then layer the same image on top but removing the background, I then lowered the opacity and positioned it where I though it looked better.

JUXAPOSITION

Juxtaposition is the art of combining two or more elements in the same picture, highlighting the interesting contrast between them, to create an eye- catching and thought-provoking image.

ALICJA BRODODWICZ

Alicja Brodowicz is a photographer born in Poland. She graduated of the institute of creative photography in Opava. And later in her life won 1st place in the portrait category in Black and White Child Photo Competition.

MY WORK INSPIRED

The first photoshoot was taken in the studio in just one day however we had a few ideas so even though it was taken in just a day we made our ideas come to life.

In total we took 139 pictures

I alone took 56 pictures not including the ones tat didn’t work out

I labelled green 37 pictures

I didn’t edit this image much since I liked how it looked without any alterations however I wanted to add more colour and reduce the whiteness in the picture so it added more contrast.

I decided to make this image black and white because I think It fits with the message that I’m trying to show.

Photoshoot 3

best images

We went down to the studio as a group of 5 and we tried different techniques of lighting them being Butterfly lighting and Rembrandt lighting we switched positions through the photoshoot so everyone would have a go at taking the pictures, arranging the light, modelling and managing the reflector.

These were out best images.

This was the first picture I took trying out the Rembrandt lighting technique, I think the upside down triangle is really defined and we did that by using a reflector on the side that we wanted the triangle. The light was far away from the model and a bit higher than her but not too much.

EDITING

I made this image black and white because it makes it look more professional and it also makes the Rembrandt lighting stand out wish was the initial idea.

BUTTERFLY LIGHTING

For the butterfly lighting we positioned the camera quite high and pointing down , then the model used a small reflector to this effect of a butterfly.

EDITING

I decided to keep this one in colour but make the shadows more defined this darker lighting that I’ve created through editing makes the image have more meaning in a way that it looks moody. This way I think the image also looks very professional and the quality is very good.

CREATIVE EDITING / EXPERIMENTING WITH PHOTOSHOP

Cindy Sherman was born in 1954 she is an American Photographer born and film maker who mostly explores gender and identity. What made her famous is the use of her own body in roles or personas in her work, with her seminal untitled Film Stills ( 1997-1980) being particularly important. These black and white photographs feature the artist herself as a model in various costumes and poses, and are her portrayals of female stereotypes found in film, television, and advertising. Sherman examines and distorts femininity as a social construct ” I like making images that from distance seem kind of seductive, colourful, luscious and engaging, and then you realize what you’re looking at is something totally opposite, ” she reflected. ” It seems seems boring to me pursue the typical idea of beauty, because that is the easiest and the most obvious way to see the world. It’s more challenging to look at the other side.”

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Analyse

Visual

In this image Sherman is portraying as a house wife her hair is done and so is her make up, and she is also wearing a put together top. This can symbolize the stereotypical women that always has to look her best even when cleaning. The image is situated in a kitchen which is stereotypical place for women around her there are dishes and soap. She is standing wish a hand on the counter and the other one placed around her belly this can suggest her insecurity even when she is put together. Her gave is on something behind her might be her husband. And the her face expression looks uncomfortable.

Technical

Looking st the picture I can see the the objects on the counter around her are unfocused this suggests that the image has a wider aperture. The shutter speed is most likely fast since the subject ( women) is in complete focus. I would say that this picture was taken in a low angle comparing it to the women, I think that the camera was placed on the counter top I say this because the objects are in the way of the camera. This image is definitely a half body shot.

Contextual

Historically, women have often been portrayed in the media through limiting and stereotypical roles. The common roles include domestic caretaker who spends her day cleaning, making food, taking care of the children, prepare, dinner before the husband comes home, always looks put together while the husband goes to work a gains a lot of money. Women in Hollywood were extremely sexualized instead of being their own person with a personality they were seen as an object that sometimes it cleans and sometimes it looks beautiful and makes children. Media concisely showed women as inferior to men. They were seen as very week, always In need of help from a male character. Images of women’s appearance, hair, weight and voice consistently been distorted towards sexual attractiveness.

Conceptual

Cindy Sherman’s untitled films Stills series critiques how Hollywood and mass media construct identity and stereotypes, particularly for women. Sherman posed as typical characters from old movies and shows that those roles are fake and created to meet society’s expectations. Her photos exposes how media reduces women’s roles to simpler.

Femininity

Masculinity