I Started with 90 images , these photos includede close ups of peoples faces , their individual features , and larger photos such as half bodys and 1/4 body photos
I then narrowed it down to only 25 images using the flagging tool on lightroom.
My idea was to gather different features and collect them together to make one photo , taking inspiration from David Hockneys Joiner photos , and then repeat this process on different subjects to futher explore the topic of identity
RAW IMAGES FROME PHOTOSHOOT
To achieve these images i sued studio lighting and a majoritiy of the time i used Split lighting i used a darker background to help make the images look more put together in editing when they are cut and broken up. I used both masculine and feminine looking subjects to create difference in the images.
The music industry is male dominated, with women and non-male artists often facing challenges in the major roles like production, song writing and leadership. Women make up only a small part of producers and engineers, not because of a lack of talent, but due to stereotyping and gatekeeping.
Sexism is still a big issue, with women often dealing with stereotypes, double standards, and even harassment. They’re judged more on appearance and personal lives than their male counterparts, which limits there creative freedom.
Despite the challenges, progress is happening. Groups like Women in Music are pushing for change, and more women are breaking into leadership and production roles. But to truly balance the scales, the industry needs to prioritize inclusivity and fairness at all levels.
Going into this project I had the idea of getting both a girl and a boy to play and create music side by side to show what it would look like if there was a ideal fifty fifty divide within the industry and that both men and women can both create music.
Here are the original photos.
I had decided to do some creative editing to them to make the photos more wacky as if they were album covers.
Here was my reference of some out there album covers that I put together myself with the album that has a red arrow pointing to it being my own cover.
Here are the album covers that I made from my images.
For this one, this album by “Tv Girl” titled “Who Really Cares” was my main inspiration, it uses pink and blue to represent masculinity and femininity.
I then took both of my same models for another shoot and decided to use pink and blue lighting to represent femininity and masculinity, when using the pink light I would have my female model sit closer to it and the camera, meaning she would be the main focus of the shot, I did this to represent one gender overpowering something, in this instance the music industry, I also did the same with my male model and a blue light.
These were all 212 photo that I took. I then narrowed it down to the better images – the sharpest ones that capture the best facial expressions or momentsThis is the list of selected photosI then further narrowed it down the best of the best images. Despite this being portraiture photography, I have also photographed small details like shoes, belts, trousers, lights, the setting, to further tell the story and portray the identity of the identity.
I then did the appropriate adjustments on each image.
I tried to add contrast to all the ones that needed them to match the contrast that the B&W filter gave some of the others. I turned the exposure and highlights down in a lot of them because the flash made some of them overexposed. I also turned up the shadows in a lot of them for more contrast.
Final Images
Bigger Versions
My plan now is to create a zine of all these photos as I think that is the best way to tell a story with photos – since they are all edited the same way I think they’ll look really great as a well thought out and put together set.
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.
I’ve got three really effective images in my environmental portraiture, and for the final piece I’m going to have them as a triptych, A5 and all one on top of the other. I think this is the best way to layout these images as they speak for themselves.
Another way of laying them out.
Evaluation:
The photos have a nice vintage effect to them and go together quite nostalgically. They almost have a dulled down saturation which resembles film. They are quite simple images that just capture a random moment of skateboarders just hanging out quite serenely.
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.
During the early 1980s , Hockeny produced “joiner” photographs , a form of photo collage that includes cutting areas of a photo and moving/replacing it around the image.
JOINER PHOTOS
David was increasingly interested in the limitations of photography , he wanted to explore different classical techniques ad discover how they could be broken.
“Although it looks as though there’s a central viewpoint… not one photograph is taken from that central viewpoint.”
DAVID HOCKNEY
The illusion created by the joiner photos manipulates our sight and how we view the image creating a false sense of understanding. This concept i felt related heavily to the idea of identity , people see what they are shown which may not exactly be the truth.
EXAMPLE AND ANALYSIS OF WORK
In some of his later work, Hockney overlaps the images in order to create a cubist effect, Hockney believed these photos were closer to how the eye actually views the world. This sparked an interest in optics and vision , inspiring the collection ‘joiners’
Hockney originally had a slight distaste for photography , he claimed it was
‘All right if you don’t mind looking at the world from the point of view of a paralysed cyclops-for a split second,’
David Hockney
This quickly changed when Hockney started exploring different view points
This is one of Hockney’s most famous photographs , as it inspired a way of printing for Hockney
The miss matched red and black socks contrasts the seriousness and stillness of the garden adding complexity to the image – I later decided to incorporate this in my work.
Relation and insperation to identity
I felt the way Hockney choses to break barriers when it comes to perspective and how we view an image interesting and i wanted to incorporate into my project on identity. i liked his use of contrasting ideas as well but i wanted to achieve this in a more subtle way.
The photos I took at the skatepark are a genre called documentary photography – this is the perfect opportunity to create a magazine so the photos are all linked together and tell even more of a story.
Skateboard photography normally consists of hot summer days, shirtless, sweaty people and sweltering sun. I wanted to convey a time in skating unique to the UK – cold, winter night skating – only for the hardcore. Everyone is wrapped up, gloves, hats, big coats. Skating on winter nights is hard – everything hurts more, your legs don’t work as well, the cold bites your fingertips – and this is conveyed pretty well in the photos through outfits, positions, the way people are huddled up.
I want to convey this through body language, angles, and people emotions.
Evaluation:
I think the zine conveys a sense of cold, shivery happiness like I wanted it to. I had to make some tough creative decisions in order to get some of these spreads the way they are, for example, when an image that I like becomes more of a background it is hard to accept – but it is worth it when I can put framed images over these photos because they end up look much more thought through. Also, when a landscape image has lots of negative space on one side I find it works really well to use the space to put frames or text in it. Throughout making this magazine I realised that text almost always looks more professional when it is much smaller than you would initially think. Most of the text that is in the final edition is over half the size of how I originally thought it looked good. Overall I’m really happy with how the zine came out, the high amount of contrast in the photos, and the grainy look I intentionally shot it with at a high ISO in order to have a more lo-fi effect.
Big Prints
I also want to have 5 of these photos printed in large, matte A3 size – I think this will look brilliant with the heavy grain. I’m going to choose 3 darker portraits, and 2 much more heavily exposed photos of small details like clothing or objects. That way I can have them in such an order that its almost like 1 line of a checkerboard.
Hopefully it will look something like this once printed.
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.
