Portraiture Task ry
After a visit to the National Portrait Gallery a few Photographers gave me ideas for my own work, this is an analysis of their work as well as mine.
Philip Townsend - Sorry you missed the 60s
Philip Townsend is a photographer who was around to record London in the 60s. He captured iconic stars of the time - beautiful and ugly, lords and club owners, socialites,artists, royals, rock starts, political movers and comedians. ‘I asked Frankie Howerd to pose on this skateboard - a new craze. He sportingly agreed.‘
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Jeremy Paxman - ‘Now and Then’
The photographs from this theme display range from previously unseen photographs taken in the last year, to portraits taken at the start of his career in the early 1970s. He is known for his photographs of the Royal family but the display also includes musician Phil Lynott, singer George Michael and broadcaster Jeremy Paxman.
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Diane Arbus
Diane Arbus is known as one of the great figures of American Photography who took images of contemporary life. She took photographs of people she met and befriended, her portraits are taken with striking intimacy, at home, usually in their bedrooms. Arbus main interest was in gender, identity and social acceptance.
‘Who am I and who are you?’ (Diane Arbus' biographer Patricia Bosworth) |
My Photographs - Inspired by Diane Arbus
This idea of things looking parallel but contrasting in reality gave me ideas for my own photography. As human beings we all have our own identity but what does that mean? What defines your identity? Appearance, work, religion, place, skin color, or sexuality? And are we socially accepted? |
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Photographs from Booklet Task
Exploring themes such as - Balance, Perspective views, Symmetry, Reflection, Camouflage, Extreme angles and Close up's
I tried taking photos indoors playing with different lighting from one room to the other, as well as using props to help create an interesting and ambiguous mood.
The playground was a different scene where there was natural light, I could capture a range of angles to create an extreme view using my zoom lens.
I tried taking photos indoors playing with different lighting from one room to the other, as well as using props to help create an interesting and ambiguous mood.
The playground was a different scene where there was natural light, I could capture a range of angles to create an extreme view using my zoom lens.
Theme - The Body Landscape
Photographers I looked at:
ARNO MINKINNEN
ARNO MINKINNEN
Arno Minkkinen enjoys taking photographs of the human body and will frequently contrast the nude against the natural world. “Some of my pictures might look simple, but in reality they can test the limits of what a human body is capable of or willing to risk.” His photographs will include shadows and natural lighting. He takes risks in his photographs and will avoid using artificial manipulation or assistants. “Make them single negatives: This means no manipulation of any kind.” “I do not use an assistant to look through the camera; otherwise she or he also becomes the photographer.”
JOHN COPLANS
John Coplans, a photographer who was one of the first to explore self-portraiture, took black and white close-ups of the body. He focused on the process of ageing and the physical changes that we go through. Coplans’s photographs where anonymous of the identity "To remove all references to my current identity, I leave out my head." His blow-ups of sagging flesh,creased folds and body hair of an old man become a documentary of the decline of everyman.
BILL BRANDT
“Towards the end of the war, my style changed completely. I began to photograph nudes, portraits, and landscapes.”
Bill Brandt took photos of close-ups of the body, they were in open air, he started to see knees and elbows, legs and fists but nature also became part of his work. Rocks and pebbles blended in with the body parts as well as cliffs which all became an “imaginary landscape.”
Bill Brandt took photos of close-ups of the body, they were in open air, he started to see knees and elbows, legs and fists but nature also became part of his work. Rocks and pebbles blended in with the body parts as well as cliffs which all became an “imaginary landscape.”
My Response
After looking at the three photographers I wanted to explore my theme and try taking photos of close ups of body parts to see what shapes I could create with the use of natural light. The photos show that our bodies can be moved and manipulated in different ways to a certain extent. I liked that the photos didn't look appealing and and it brought out the more unattractive side to the people. In contrast to this, i look more graceful images of the body which had a narrative behind them, there was also a certain type of ambiguity to it. I also played with fabric and passed light through it to see what kind of eerie and mysterious mood i could create, which i would like to explore further.
Here I took the idea of photographing with see through fabric further and I used natural light where the person is next to the window. I thought this worked well as it created an interesting background, I also liked the different shadows created on the body due to the harsh sun light. I would now like to explore harsh lighting using the studio and see if i get different results.
Evaluation
My initial idea for this project was to explore the human body. I wanted to create a sense of movement in the body, unflattering shapes with our bones, unusual positions/angles and see to what extreme i could manipulate the body to create interesting shapes, John Coplans was the main photographer i used to help me with inspiration. I then compared this to more delicate shapes and compositions of different parts of our body which was more to do with beauty. There was a hidden identity as i cropped the images so that you couldn't see the face, they also had a narrative behind them with a sense of ambiguity which showed insecurity and this was my aim.
I used a combination of my photographs and put them together to create different possible outcomes however, i realised that some of the pictures looked better individually therefore, i put them in frames but others were mounted together in a group of 3.
For my development stage
- I want to look at peoples possessions or insecurities
- Holding objects which have different textures - soft fabrics/glass/mirrors
- I could also play with texture but on the body such as paint, sand, mud, glitter...
My initial idea for this project was to explore the human body. I wanted to create a sense of movement in the body, unflattering shapes with our bones, unusual positions/angles and see to what extreme i could manipulate the body to create interesting shapes, John Coplans was the main photographer i used to help me with inspiration. I then compared this to more delicate shapes and compositions of different parts of our body which was more to do with beauty. There was a hidden identity as i cropped the images so that you couldn't see the face, they also had a narrative behind them with a sense of ambiguity which showed insecurity and this was my aim.
I used a combination of my photographs and put them together to create different possible outcomes however, i realised that some of the pictures looked better individually therefore, i put them in frames but others were mounted together in a group of 3.
For my development stage
- I want to look at peoples possessions or insecurities
- Holding objects which have different textures - soft fabrics/glass/mirrors
- I could also play with texture but on the body such as paint, sand, mud, glitter...
Development stage
Experiments with mud and oil
After my experimentation with projecting different objects onto the face such as - nails, cut out shapes of paper, scissors, and paper clips i tried putting mud and oil all over the body so that i could create texture on the skin. I thought it worked well and i have printed one image on a larger scale as i think these photographs have more effect when they are bigger.
Below is an example of some experimentation i did on photoshop with my photos, I made contrasting tones within sections of the one photo, some where gradual while others where more harsh.
Below is an example of some experimentation i did on photoshop with my photos, I made contrasting tones within sections of the one photo, some where gradual while others where more harsh.