We have been set a one week assignment which is to research, contextualize and submit what we feel the word 'desire' means to us. We have a week to complete the task, the whole meaning for these one week tasks is for us to think on our toes and act quickly whilst working alongside our other project.
Barbra Kruger was an graphic designer, art director, and picture editor.This background in design is evident in the work for which she is now internationally renowned. She layers found photographs from existing sources with pithy and aggressive text that involves the viewer in the struggle for power and control that her captions speak to. In their trademark black letters against a slash of red background, some of her instantly recognizable slogans read “I shop therefore I am,” and “Your body is a battleground." Much of her text questions the viewer about feminism, classicism, consumerism, and individual autonomy and desire, although her black-and-white images are culled from the mainstream magazines that sell the very ideas she is disputing. As well as appearing in museums and galleries worldwide, Kruger’s work has appeared on billboards, bus cards, posters, a public park, a train station platform in Strasbourg, France, and in other public commissions.
There are plenty of things I desire, I guess I am materialistic because the main things I want in life is to be successful have alot of money, a nice car, home, family but sometimes things aren't always possible. I thought about the word desire in depth and I realised that no matter what I do and achieve in life I always want to make sure that I am happy. If i'm not happy in what I am doing then I dont know how I am able to achieve So overall the one thing which I desire out of life is happiness.
I am pleased with this photograph as the main focus of the image 'happiness' is in focus and me, the personal subject is out of focus, I wanted the image to be like this because the one thing I desire from life is to be happy and be surrounded by positive happiness. I like how the word 'happiness' is exactly in the middle and is the main focus for the image and your eyes are drawn to the letters.
We have been set a one week assignment which is to research, contextualize and submit what we feel the word 'family' means to us. We have a week to complete the task and we have to have one final print which is 18" x 12", the image can be taken with film or digital, it's up to our own personal choice with what we want to use. The images have to creative as the genera is open, so we can do anything.
I am researching the photographer Sally Mann, the collection 'The Family and the Land' is one of my favorite collections which I have ever come across. I was told to research Sally when I was in the first year of college and ever since she will be the most influential photographer and the photographer who i will never forget.
This photo is named 'candy cigarette' if we forget about the name of he image we would see a young girl holding a cigarette, she is also standing very adult like and her expression is plain . There is a figure in the background is high up, he looks like he is standing on stilts but it is out of focus so you cannot fully understand what he is doing. Also there is another girl in the image, she is facing away from the camera but her appearance and her body language is very strong. If it wasn't for the name of the image first impressions of this image would be very strong and could cause alot of controversy. As the photo is called 'candy cigarette' Sally has explained that the image is of her daughter, who was acting older than she is. She was playing with her sister and her brother who is on stilts. I think this image is very strong and is taken well.
Idea: I hadn't a clue what to photograph with this one week project, only cause there was so many things i could photograph. I knew that I wanted to do something completely different. I was researching and I came across a stop motion video on a website which I use as a blog and It influenced me to do something completely different. I researched how to create a stop motion video using photographed and found which software i can use that I have on my computer. The project is 'what we think the word family means to us' I think I have been able to portray this well through my video and I am proud of the work I have produced. The video was made by sticking paper onto a mirror and taking a photo of each letter added on. It was sound consuming but the overall result was worth it. Also I like how you can see my reflection in the mirror and I have also added extra personal words which I grew up saying and I have mentioned my closest family members.
My video is about what the word family means to me, I could show my family through one photograph but I think that would have been original and similar to everybody else's. I decided to make a stop motion video using photographs. My video includes the words trust, support, help, home, love… these are just a few words that I have mentioned in my video. These are the words, which first came to mind when I thought of the word family. I have mentioned myself (Jessica) my two sisters (Maisie and Nancie). I have also included My Nana, Grandad, Mum, My Mum’s partner and my Aunty. These are the people who I am closest to in my family. I also included the phrase ‘I love you right up to the moon and back’ which is from the book guess how much I love you. This book used to be my bedtime book, one which my nana would read every night to me when I was younger. My family are my rock and It’s crazy how close we are, we always go on holiday together every year. At Christmas everybody comes around our house at 7am and we open Christmas presents together. There is so much love and warmth within our family and I am so happy and lucky to have a family like I have. The reason for why I used the track Sweet Disposition – Temper Trap is because some of the lyrics are.. a moment, a love
a dream, a laugh, a kiss, a cry, our rights, our wrongs and it reminds me of how my family is and how whatever happens we will always stick together and pull through. I know I can always depend on any member of my family and they are supportive with whatever I want to achieve. I am so grateful and I love them all dearly.
Over the summer we were given a project to complete. The project was to take photos for a competition.. the competition is to take photos of places of where you have visited for say.. a travel magazine. The competition has been created by The Independent and first prize is for commission, worth £3,000, from the publisher Insight Guides to take photographs for one of its guidebooks.
Misty Golden Gate by Steve McDonald who won first prize last year.
This summer I have visited a various amount of places. I took photos of when I went to Sheffield. I took the photos on film using my film camera. Some of the photos which I took didn't turn out very good because of the lighting in the hotel room which i stayed in was poor also some of the images were blured because i took them whilst I was in a moving car.
Im not using this as a final image, but i like this image as it shows what my summer was mostly about - road trips. The film which I used was Fuji film 200 colour, I am pleased with the film because I like the tone range and I also like how bright the colours are. This photo is of me sat in Ryan's car, Ryan is my best friend and we were heading home from our trip to Sheffield.
This photo was taken on Fuji film 200 colour, this photo is of the view from a hotel room which i stayed at in Sheffield. I am pleased with this image because it is clear and I also like how everything is in line. I like the different colours and I think this photo works well in colour.
This is a panoramic of an image which i took that i edited in photoshop. The original image was blurred at the bottom of the image because I was moving when i took the image. The back ground was in focus and clear so I cropped the image and it now looks like this. I really like this image because I like the different tones in the clouds and how they look 3D like.
Aspirations...
I am so jealous of Terry Richardson. I found his work because I researched who took the photos of Joe Calderone (Lady GaGa's alter ego, 'male' model') photo shoot for Vogue Japan and I discovered that somebody called Terry Richardson had photographed her as a male and female. Lady GaGa is one of the most influential artist I have ever known, she has worked hard to achieve everything she has ever wanted. She aspires me to well and to work hard to get what I want to achieve. My ultimate achivement would to photograph Lady GaGa, I think the shoot would be magical and out of this world.
The focus of this assignment is to develop depth of your knowledge and understanding of skills in communication through art and design, whilst also pushing your personal and professional development. This project is for one week, during the week we have to create a blog, write an introduction, research artists which are relevant to this project, explore ideas, take photos, create contact sheets, edit photos, final images and a 250 word evaluation. The work that we produce have to be biased on the project brief which is to take photos of our favorite objects. I am looking forward to this project because i can talk about my favorite things and create the project personal to me.
Research.
Imogen Cunningham.
Imogen was an Americanphotographer known for her photography of botanicals, nudes and industry. In 1901 she brought her first camera but then later lost interest in taking photos. It wasn’t until 1906, while studying at the University of Washington in Seattle, that she was inspired by an encounter with the work of Gertrude Käsebier to take up photography again. With the help of her chemistry professor, Dr. Horace Byers, she began to study the chemistry behind photography; she subsidized her tuition by photographing plants for the botany department.
Kanye West.
Kanye is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. As of 2011, West has won a total of fourteen Grammy awards. All albums have been very commercially successful, with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy becoming his fourth consecutive No.1 album in the U.S. upon release.
Reasons for why I love Kanye so much:
His music is different to any other music.
His lyrics are clever and well thought of.
He's a very clever man.
He isn't afraid of being different, he likes to stand out and create different things.
He's known for his arrogance and plays against it. He always speaks about about his beliefs.
Ideas.
For this project my ideas are to take photos of objects which mean alot to me. I want to take photos that people will identify that I have taken without them knowing it was me. I am going to take photos of my Kanye West collection because he is my favorite and most influential artist. I am also going to take photos of a owl which my sister brought me because i collect owls.
Contact sheets.
Final Image.
This is my final image. This photo was taken in the studio using a still life table and my slr digital camera. I chose this image because I like how the owl isn't straight on at the camera and how I angled the camera to be lower so that the owl looks bigger.
Evaluation.
Friday, 17 June 2011
Evaluation.
I think this one week assignment has been worth wile. We have been able to personalize the project to how we want it to be. I have also found it enjoyable to use Blogger. I have found it easier and a lot more beneficial. I like how you can change things at home and also how you are able to personalize your whole blog. I am happy with my final images because i feel it shows me. It shows that I like to have fun but sometimes things get to much for me. My images have been influenced by Rankin because he's not afraid to be different. My images are different to some of the other images which I have taken of myself, I have used experiments to create different effects. This course so far has developed my photography skills massively as I can now set the camera up with the lighting which you have in the room/location. I am very happy with everything that I have achieved so far and I am looking forward to carrying on with the course next year.
Final image.
Photos.
1. The reasons for why I wanted to take a photo with something owl is because my whole room is covered in owls. I always have some sort of owl accessory on. Everybody knows me for wearing owls.
2. This is just a facial expression.
3. The reasons for why I have taken a photo with a vodka bottle is because my social life is a huge part of me. I go out most weekends with my friends and have a drink and dance.
4. The explanation for this photograph is that my head is sometimes all over the place. I feel that sometimes things get too much for me and I just want to scream.
5. This photo is just an image of me showing contemptment. I feel that sometimes I am contempt with myself and my life. but sometimes I just want to hide away from everyone and be on my own.
6. This photo shows my favorite thing about myself- my eyes.
Contact sheets.
I have made contact sheets of all the images that i have taken for this project. Making contact sheets are time saving and reliable because you don't have to look through all of the images that you have taken to find the one that you want to use. I made this contact sheet using Bridge.
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Personal - me.
Background.
I come from a family which is mostly female. I live with my Nana and Grandad which is my own desision. I see my Mum near enough every day. My Mum is more like a Sister than anything else, she is always there for me whenever needed. I have three Sisters and one Brother. Two of my sisters live with my Mum and my other Sister and Brother live with my Dad. My Dad has never been a part of my life, recently he has moved back to Stoke and wants to be part of my life, I am finding it difficult to accept him back into my life because he has never been there throughout my childhood.
Myself.
I have always been the quiet one, I have had confidence problems and have been bullied throughout my childhood. I hated school, I didn't feel myself there but I stuck through it so that I could have a future. Now I am as happy as I ever could be, I have worked with myself to build confidence and believe in myself. I am strong now and im willing to take on whatever the world throws at me. I have a brilliant set of friends around me and a wonderful family behind every step I take. I am hardworking and I try my best at everything I do. I like to get involved in things and I am caring. I am very loyal and trustworthy. I think this college course has benefitted me massively as I feel I have grown up and realized that I need to work hard to get to where I want to be with my life.
I have selected these photos because they make me happy. I like to explore and travel and some of the photos are taken in Manchester. Also the people in the photos mean the most to me. These photos were not takes for use in this project, they are just a collection of images which I am including to back up my work and to show more about myself.
Ideas.
For my self portrait images I want to show my personality, hobbies and interests. I also want to show what I think my best aspects of myself are and what I like about myself. I don't want it to be just a blank portrait. To achieve these shot I need to set my camera up and see where the best position would be, I also need to think about lighting and where the best location for my images to be taken.
Research.
Rankin.
Rankin is one of the most well known photographers world wide. Everybody knows his name and you can recognize his work from a mile away. He is very talented and his photographs are always strong and well put together. Some say his pieces of work are the best. He is a dynamic, intimate portrait photographer and he has shot everyone from royalty to refugees. His powerful images are part of contemporary iconography and a mix of cross section on his own personal interests with commercial campaigns. His work is regularly exhibitive in galleries around the work. A lot of his work is studio based and portrait photographs. He also works a lot with the commercial side of the industry, by photographing campaigns and celebrities. He also likes his photographs to stand out from the rest by using high contrast and lighting. He is not afraid to do things differently.
Rankin likes to take photos of himself as well as other people. He likes to take snaps of himself on location and also in a studio. All of the photos of himself are documented on his website amongst all of the other work he has produced.
Rankin also likes to show his personality through his photographs, he's eccentric and like to be different to everybody else. He's making sure that everybody can see all the different sides to himself and his life.
Lara Jade.
Lara Jade is an internationally acclaimed fashion, portrait and commercial photographer. Lara’s most compelling quality is the ability to colour her images with strong elements of romanticism, fantasy and a hint of darkness. She first started experimenting with self-portraiture and themes of fantasy which she continues to develop and refine today.
These are examples of her self portrait work. The themes of which she specialise in run through these images as well as her other work. In the second photo she is holding a camera so it shows what she is interested in, it looks as though the photo could have been taken through a mirror. Personally I think her photography is very good, even though it is all very similar. She has worked hard and only focused on what she is able to achieve with the skills which she is good at.
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Introduction.
We have been given a one week project which is based around yourself. We have to reasearch artists who have experimented with self portraiture and who have created collections around their personal lives. We have to show our lifestyle and personality through the photos that we take. The photos that we take can be in any location and in any way. The most common way of taking self portrait photos is by using a tripod and setting the camera to self timer. We have got to produce one self-portrait which may be used as a starting point for our Personal & Professional Portfolio which will be used in University and job interviews. The self portrait must show our knowledge of visual language to portray how you would like to be seen by others. We can create these images by using props, details, clothing or makeup.
