Fashion Constructed Image: Concept and Ideas

At the beginning of this project we were given a choice of several starting point from which we could begin developing a concept for our projects; for example, film noir. We decided as a group to chose Folk Lore and Fairy tales. We began brainstorming folk lore and fairy tales, thinking about the stories we remember from childhood and researching the less known stories too. 
After, as a group, taking a journey through brainstorming and researching fairy tales and folk lore throughout history to the modern day. As a group we came to a conclusion of the following concept, which of course as any concept does altered, improved and sacrificed throughout the project when needed. 
We took the 14th century story of Little Red Riding Hood and decided to bring it forward into the 21st Century but following the original path of the story which after researching turned out the be a lot more explicit than we remembered it being as children. Also after research we realized that this story had a lot more layers than seen on the surface and therefore we took a lot of the story away leaving a much more accessible story that was easier for us to transform into our own, for example we decided to use only two characters in our portrayal of the story which we 'Red' and 'Wolf'. We also changed the sexes of our two characters, Red becoming and boy and the Wolf being a woman. the characterization stayed the same however, we kept Little Red and a very naive young boy and the Wolf became an older woman but we kept her as a hunter, and predator. The main thing about our concept that became the most important to our group was, from the set to the characterization it was extremely important to keep the the original story whilst twisting and changing it to make it our own, and ultimately creating our own story.  

COMMISSION: Artist Research

Melissa Moore

After being shown the work of Melissa Moore in one of our lectures, I loved the concept of her series 'Know the Edge', and started looking at the series for inspiration for my own projects concept. 

I find her photos from this series can be quite sexual, or at least have hints of a sexual nature within them. For starters the concept of being in someone else's house without them knowing, the idea of dressing up, and the hints whereby she stands in bedroom, squats down in the photos etc. I thought this was really interesting, and think this is where my love for her concept came from. 

I knew from the start that I wanted to focus on the reuse of waste, but in a positive light. So to look at how society reuses waste for gain. It is almost 'trendy' at the moment to recycle and reuse so I thought that this was an area that I could find a lot of inspiration for my work from. 

These are my favorite photos from the series 'Know the Edge', for various reasons, mainly for the composition, which I've found really interesting in all of Melissa Moore's photos.  

I like that her face is not shown in any of the photos, obviously stemming from the reason that she is doing something against the law, but also I think makes the photos that much more interesting and inviting. I almost feel as though I want to be there with her, what is she looking at? Where is she in the house? What does the rest of that room look like? Where has she positioned the camera? Its that sense of ambiguity that makes this series so exciting. 

COMMISSION: Critical Appraisal

I knew I wanted to incorporate portraiture within my project immediately. My concept for this project began as a series of photographs that documented what happens to our household waste once it is taken from our homes, I wanted to capture images of the people that deal with it on waste disposal sites etc. However, after looking for visual references I found some that inspired a slight changed to my idea. My photos are meant to capture people that use waste to make a living, not work with it but selling it. From charity shops to flee markets, waste for one person can always be turned around to become another person’s gain.
The two visual references that I began looking at and that have now at the end of the project still had the biggest influence on my work/ideas are Pieter Hugo and Melissa Moore. Pieter Hugo; an incredible photographer created a series called “Permanent Error”, which gave me the idea of capturing portraits whilst the person is surrounded by the waster they have transformed. I looked at Melissa Moore because I have seen one image by her before from her series “Know the Edge” and fell in love with it, I loved the concept of her work and how she pulled it off. Her work is the reason I settled on using a 2^nd hand clothing store as my final images.  

 These are two of my contact sheets; these are the ones that I picked my final images off.

My three final images;

When it came to choosing my final images I knew I wanted to have one portrait and two or more other photos surrounded the portrait of where I found that person. I went into bookshops, charity shops, skip yards etc but my favorite was this woman in a second hand clothes shop. She goes to yard sales, house clearing, antique markets, jumble sales every weekend to get the stock for her shop. She wasn't the easiest person to photograph as she was nervous but i really love the composition and colours of the first images (the clothes rail). Im not sure how brilliantly these three images go together as a set but I like that the two environment images frame the portrait, surrounded the image quite like she surrounds herself with this transformed waste.
I think the reason I’d like my work best in an exhibition is because even though I can see it as quite commercial work and therefore suiting a magazine publication etc, I think that with an exhibition there is more freedom for your work to be viewed as its own piece of art rather than a visual aid.
My studies for this project, I feel have improved greatly from my first semester, however not completely as this project was running alongside the fashion constructed images project and I found myself getting overwhelmed at times and confused at which project to put first. I also reshot a lot more for this project which I am pleased about, as when printing came round I was confident in my three final images and could make logical connections as to why I chose them! So far, research was my most challenging hurdle, I found two visual references that I carried with me for the whole project as I adore them but I find talking about them difficult and finding strong connections to my work hard as well.

ENVIRONMENT PRESENTATION

The environment units, where the two that I struggled with the most. Not because I am not interested in this area of photography, but it is one that I don't have a lot of confidence in. It also took me a while to find inspiration and develop a concept for these units, and because of that don't think I really developed a personal connection with the projects.
For the pastiche element of this unit I chose the image by Jem Southam called Seaford Head. The reason I chose this image to pastiche was because it was the image that inspired me most, I liked the composition of this image and had pictures in my head of ways I could draw inspiration from the visual language to pastiche it. I was pleased with my pastiche as I felt it captured the visual language that had drawn my to the image I was making a pastiche of it in the first place. 

My concept for the Landscape Environment unit, was focused on the history of the environments around us. I live in Rochester and have always loved being so close to the castle and cathedral as I love to go into Rochester and walk around the historic sights. My concept came from my interest in history and the history of my surroundings. I wanted to try and show, through my photos, the importance I think the history of a place has on what it is now. 
I struggled to find a visual reference that I could draw inspiration from for my concept and my photos. I came across a painter called Susan Brown, who I wasn't actually looking at for my project but I really liked her paintings and noticed the theme of historical architecture in her paintings, but more interestingly the way she always painted these historical buildings in a modern context. 
I went up to Rochester castle to take photos for this unit as I thought it was the perfect place to try and capture the idea I had had for my concept. 

Contact sheets..

I took two films up at the castle, and unfortunately not all of the images I took came out well due to bad exposure. When it came to printing, I found that some of the images were too dark because of the way I exposed them, so due to this, my prints aren't of the best standard. I don't think this reflects on my skills when printing, as i really enjoyed the printing aspect of these units but more to do with the fact I haven't quite mastered the skill of shoot outside and exposing correctly.
I chose the three images I have as my final prints because I think that they are the most accurate representation of what my concept was aiming to achieve.. Unfortunately some of the images were not good negatives as I overexposed them when I was shooting them.

Looking back over these two units, I know that my time management let me down for both projects and had my management and organization been better I would have had more contact sheets to choose from when it came to printing, meaning that it wouldn't have mattered as much that I overexposed some of the images.

The City Environment unit also proved a little difficult for me, as it took me time to develop a concept I was happy with and found it hard to find visual references that I really connected with and was inspired by. 

For the pastiche I chose the photograph by photographer Brassai called Paris after Dark, No.27. I chose this photo because I thought it was beautiful. I have always wanted to experiment with night photography as well, so this seemed like a good choice. I went to London to do this pastiche, and walked up streets of youth hostels and hotels near Kings Cross Station to find an area where I thought I could create a similar photo with the same visual language that had drawn me to Brassai's images. I had a lot a fun shooting this image and was looking forward to seeing how the images came out as I have never shot in the dark before. However, printing was a different story. I struggled hugely with printing this pastiche as I had to control so many different aspects of the image in order for it to be perfect. I think in the end my final print is nice, it is to me very aesthetically pleasing which is what I loved about the photograph taken by Brassai but it is not a very successful print as there are some errors on the image.

My concept was to do with the question of, what makes a city? I had a conversation with my Dad around the time we got briefed for this unit, we were talking about the fact that anywhere that has a Cathedral is classed as a city. I started to think about what other things make a city a city, but not literally. I thought about why people visit cities, and thought of course about sights, usual those sights being some kind of building. For example, people visit New York and go to see the Empire State building or Paris to see the Eiffel Tower.
I looked at a few photographers for this aspect of the unit, for example Alvin Langdon Coburnn and in particular Alfred Stieglitz. Stieglitz doesn't relate to my concept but I drew inspiration from his visual language, especially when it came to printing as I really like his contrasted images and the effect they have. I also like how linear and structural some of his photographs are without being too architectural.  

Contact Sheets..

Again, with these images I badly exposed some of them which limited my chose of final prints, I like the photos I now have as my final prints, but I know that they are not my best and as mentioned before, I know that my time management let me down hugely here, if i had organized myself more I would have had time to take more photos and therefore have more to chose from so that if some of my images were over or under exposed it would not matter as much. 


The thing I have learnt hugely from, during both these units is that my organisation and time management needs to improve massively so that I can utilize the time I have and use it to fulfill everything that is asked of me during projects.  

OBJECT AND BODY PRESENTATION

OBJECT:

My concept for my Object unit, was based around the issue of Ageism and my personal connection with it. As I have a very strong relationship with my Grandparents, I thought it a good current social issue for me to base my work around. I concentrated on symbolism throughout this unit, looking at artists such as; Hans Holbein with his classical symbolic paintings, I also looked at the work of photographer Justine Reyes because of her photographic style, I really liked the simplicity of her work and drew inspiration from her classically inspired composition. 

I chose to take photographs of an egg. The reason I chose an egg was for its symbolic references. To me the symbolism of an egg reminds me of new life, innocence and the younger generation, the fact that in my images the egg is cracked and leaking was to represent broken life, referring to the prejudices against the older generations. 

My final image changed quite a bit from my original aspirations, but I don't see this as a negative thing. I was nervous to use the large format cameras as I didn't feel totally confident with them, and I think that this was one reason that, in my eyes the photo shoot didn't go very well.

Looking back on this unit I know there are a lot of things I can learn from, for example; my organisation. I didn't quite realize how much organization is needed for a photo shoot, and feel that, had I been better organised that I would have got more out of the experience, rather than getting worried and overwhelmed by everything I had to do. 

BODY:

The concept for my Body unit was focused on an idea that I had to do with representation. I asked the question, how accurate can a portrait be of a person if it is taken by another who does not know them. Basically, I wanted to focus on capturing the truest representation of my sitter that could be possible. I had this idea whilst developing my concept that a person is made up of two sides; the person they think other people see them as and the person they see themselves, personally as. 
I drew inspiration from the photographer Toby Glanville but in particular Hendrick Krestens. The reason I found looking at his work for this project was because of the personal connection he had with his series Paula Pictures, of his daughter. As I think that for my concept to have a real effect through my photos it is important to make a connection with the audience and if there is a personal connection with the sitter this is made more evident. 

Once I'd chosen my sitter, I made sure that I met with her to talk about what to expect form the shoot and what my concept was. It was important for my idea that she understood how personal I wanted this portrait to be of her. I really enjoyed the photo shoot, and felt quite confident in prompting my sitter, making her feel comfortable and getting the images I needed from the shoot. 

I was really please when I processed the films I took on the shoot day, as they all came out well. 

I chose a few images to print because I felt more than one of them captured the personality I wanted to come through. Of course, I asked my sitter which ones she liked best and which ones she felt represented her best. I ended up printing the image she chose as my final print, regardless of whether I think it's my best photo, in this case, with my concept idea it was hugely important that as the photographer I took a step back and let my sitter direct herself to achieve what I wanted from the photos.

Final Image:

Critical Appraisal: Environment

The concept for this unit was based around the way a city is made, as though each city has a series of components that make up the city. I was thinking about, how when people visit cities they go to see certain buildings, for example; New York - Empire State building. So when I decided I wanted to go to Canterbury, the obvious choice was to take photos of the Cathedral. When I arrived in Canterbury all the grounds surrounding the Cathedral were packed full of visitors, which lead me down a side road, where I ended up taking photos. From this my concept became more about all types of buildings making up one cite whether they are old or modern. I really like the image I took of the Cathedral over the wall, because it shows examples of the 'components' that make up a city. 
I looked at a few photographers for this unit; the photographer I drew most inspiration for my project was, Alfred Stieglitz. Mainly because of the style of his photographs. I really like the linear and structural feelings to his photos, and I also drew inspiration when it came to printing, I love the darkness and contrast of his images, it reminds my of a dirty city, so i aspired to make my printed photos similar to his style there too.
This unit, for me, was interesting. I enjoyed visiting Canterbury to take photos and really liked printing my photos, even if they weren't all incredible photos.. The issue I had to overcome here is my management of time. I realize now that taking a camera to a city, whether its London, Paris or Canterbury takes quite a lot of consideration and planning in order to get the most out of the visit! When looking back I realize that next time if I organize my trip better then I will have more time to concentrate on getting the photos I want instead of getting organized when I'm already standing in the street of a city! 

Critical Appraisal: BODY

My concept for the body unit was based around the question of how accurate a portrait of a person can be to that person when it is taken by a photographer who doesn't know them. Nobody knows yourself like you do, so I began to think about how I could take a photo that was the truest representation of the sitter that it could be. The other part to my concept is the idea that a person is made up of two separate perceivable people; the side of yourself as you think people see you and the side that you see yourself as. 
I looked at artists such as Toby Glanville, I found his work most interesting for my concept as his photos because of the truth within them. And although they look posed/ staged, there is also a huge sense of simplicity and truth to the photos. Truth in my images for this unit is very important, because I want to create the most accurate  representation of my sitter possible.
I took photos of a UCA student called Emily. I chose Emily because of how she came across to me  when I saw her around the university. When I asked her to sit for me I was glad I'd asked her as I could tell that she had a very loud personality, and thought that it would be great to have that come across in my images. The shoot with Emily went really well, I really enjoyed all the aspects of the day and think Emily did too. 
I really love my final images for this unit, and had great fun printing them. 
My only issue with this unit was that I struggled with voicing my concept a little, by the shoot I found that Emily understood what I was trying to produce quite well, but it was quite difficult for me to present my concept in a way that made it easy to understand. Next time I have to brief a sitter on my concept for a shoot, I plan to organize my thoughts more so that it is easy for me and the sitter to understand what I really want to get through in the photographs.