Personal Study- Pioneers of Portraiture photography.

For my chosen pathway i have chosen Portraiture because there is so much a camera can capture with a person by examining their face alone you can see there ethic group there personal quality's and by them expressing emotion you can connote their story's and trials and tribulations they've been through. A photograph of a person enables the viewer to see the subject for what they appear to be however a portrait gives the viewer a deeper incite into what this subjects personality is.



The first artist I looked at was Angus Mcbean. Angus began his career in the theatre as mask-maker and scenery design before turning to full-time theatre photography.

This is quite a quirky photo because the model appears to be staring through a glassless window which has a random disc with a  knife attached to it.

Next is Alfred Stieglitz he was an American photographer and modern art promoter who was instrumental over his fifty-year career in making photography an accepted art form.

In this image the eyes of the model looks as if he is seriously focusing on something in the distant. The awkward positioning of the hands convey he is in deep thought unaware of the uncomfortable position just very focused on his prey.

Then we have Paul Strand he was an American photographer and film maker who, along with fellow modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz  helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century.

I love the serious expression on this models face as well as the tones which is most probably some sort of dirt smeared on his face, from what I can make put he is wearing dungarees which could  suggest he is a child worker, in my opinion this photograph could also be documentary as well.


Then finally we have Man ray Man ray is also a American artist however he is most known for his experiments in the darkroom such as he's photo grams which he called 'Rayo grams', However he is also well known for his portraits which displayed in an exhibition dedicated to hi portraits in the national portrait gallery earlier this year.

This extreme close up of these saddened eyes is very effective and to add to it Man ray has placed little crystal gems resembling tears around the face which gives the piece a quite mellow but clever look.

However my favorite portrait artist has to be
Jill Greenberg;

Jill Greenberg

 

Jill  Greenberg is an American photographer raised in the suburb of Detroit. She graduated with Honor's in 1989 from the Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Photography and then moved to New York City to pursue a career in photography.

In 2007 she was selected by French Photo Magazine for their 40th anniversary issue to represent one of the 40 most important photographers.Since then she has done some commercial work for corporations such as, Microsoft, Dream works, Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Disney, Coca Cola, and many more. Her photos have also  appeared on the covers of  well known American newspapers and magazines such as Time, Newsweek and  Entertainment Weekly  as well as many more numerous publications.

She also photograph's Celebrities and CEOs from numerous jobs, from being inside the music industry to the film and these include people such as Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, Alicia Keys and Chris brown. She is a Worldwide photographer whose held exhibitions of her artwork in places such as Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Paris, France; Adelaide, Australia; San Francisco; Chicago; and various other cities.

 

 

Greenberg's End Times

One of her projects that i am most interested in is called Greenberg's End Times which was a project she did in 2006. This project features, a series of photographs featuring toddlers  crying, she did this project it is said at anguish and frustration with  the bush administration and Christian fundamentalism in the united states.

 This project actually caused a lot of controversy in 2006 and mainly because The methods for getting the children to cry in some cases was by offering the children candy, then taking it away this raised allegations of unethical conduct even thought the parents of these children were present in the room at the time.This incited with a submission of numerous complaints to the art gallery that hosted a public showing of Greenberg's work.

I love how the lighting really compliments the subject in this photograph to the right the lighting looks as if it is placed on each side of the child to highlight her blond hair as well as her cheekbones. On the right it looks as if the lighting is hitting her directly from the left to highlight her whole body as the model is turned to the left as well.

I really like the detail in these images but they are almost too perfect which lead me to believe Greenberg manipulated the photograph by using either photo shop or another photo editing software. The texture in this photograph is also quite beautiful  I think the lighting collaborated with this, as the lighting is coming from the left on this particular picture it really flatterers the subject thought as it  highlights the creases in his face which he makes whilst frowning. The eyes are also well captured they almost look animated because of course of the tears swelling up in them however, these eyes also resemble 'puppy dog eyes' the phrase to suggest cute looking eyes i think the eyes are a key part in making the viewer feel guilty.

I think after now having looked at Greenberg I'm planning on going a similar route with more Child Photography as children are quite photogenic and cute and innocent to capture, I highly doubt ill take on Greenberg's approach to upsetting kids by taking away candy from them I think I'll go for a more happier child them like something to do with their imagination and how there perception of the world is candy coated to some degree.



Review of Exhibition Inside, Outside, In-between

I Thought the show was quite good there was a range of different techniques used in the final outcomes displayed, but i felt that the photography part was the strongest as the others explored creativity but lacked quality. however each piece was displayed differently and each candidate approached the theme inside, out side in-between differently.

The pieces i liked the most was this below.This student is a fine art student and i like how she's used photography and art to obscure this peoples identity with animals.

I also like this one because i like the quality of the photos and how the subject matter is slightly awkward and not everybody would be confident or comfortable with taking these pictures.

This piece was from the Textiles part of the show i like this piece because of the threaded in typography onto the canvas this screams to me that this required a lot of attention and perseverance.

I liked the photography exhibition the best because every candidate approached the theme in a completely different way there was a lot of originality and a lot of effort put into the work.I also liked how there were different presentation ideas some were hanging, others were on light boxes and others were gif's on the computers.The thing id take from the exhibition would have to be to look deep within the lines of the theme to try and approach it a different and quirky way.

I've been inspired in the sense to really experiment and use different materials when creating a final piece and not go for the obvious interpretation of the theme.

Photographers Gallery

  

The Photographers Gallery is a Gallery dedicated to photography it is situated in Central London not too far from Oxford Street.At the time i went there there was two exhibitions showing one of which was the Claire Ahos-Studio works and the other which was the Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2013.

The Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2013 exhibition featured the work of four photographers which were Chris Killip,Mishka Henner,Broomberg and chanarin and Christina de Middel. The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2013 rewards a living photographer, of any nationality, for a specific body of work in an exhibition which has  contributed to photography in Europe between 1 October 2011 and 30 September 2012. The prize is £30,000. Each Photographer is nominated for something different for example.

Mishka Henner is nominated for hes project 'No mans Land' which represents isolated women occupying the margins of southern European environments captured with Google Street View.

Chris Killip is nominated for hes project 'What happened-Great Britain 1970-1990' which comprises of  black and white images of working people in the north of England, taken by Killip in the 1970s and 1980s.

Broomberg and Chanarin were nominated for their project 'War Primer 2' which is a limited edition book that consists of pages of Bertold Brecht’s  1955 publication War Primer. Brecht’s photo-essay consists of 85 images, photographic fragments or collected newspaper clippings. 

And Christina De Middel was nominated for her project 'The Afronauts'  which is a play on 1964, after Zambia after gaining independence started a space programme in order to send the first African astronaut to the moon.

Personally for me I feel Christina De Middel should win the Prize because although the other artists showed great skill and creativity Christina's subject matter relates to a historical event which is well thought out and clever.Her models convey a great amount of emotion which links to the emotions the Zambian Astronauts could have felt and her choice of background locations bring a urban look to the piece which makes it that much more real.

CLAIRE AHO: STUDIO WORKS

The second Exhibition was about the Artist Claire Aho showing her  photographs, spanning her career from 1950 to 1970. Claire Aho began her career in the early 1950s as a news camera operator in a documentary film making company owned by her father and uncle, Aho & Soldan. She was the only female cinematographer in the field, she also filmed the 1952 Olympics, and was later hired by Warner Pathé News. She maintained a successful commercial studio between 1950 and 1970, working for  lifestyle and fashion magazines, as well as directly with manufacturers and designers.Her studio is important as it is the founding part for her photography where her photo shoots and lighting and costume set ups were introduced.

In the exhibition were a lot of interesting images but this one below stood out most for me because it reminded me of the work of Jan Von Holleben the way in which he uses child models and props to stylise a scene.I particularly like the baby pure colours used in this scene and the emptiness of it as if this were a real child's party things would be chaotic and wild but in this picture the children are sitting around the table nicely smiling almost like adults.Overall i found the trip to the gallery was a inspirational and productive one.

Chemigram's

This is a stop motion short film of making a chemigram. A chemigram is like a photogram except a chemigram is done in daylight whilst a photogram is done in the darkroom.

Their are two ways to make a chemigram and both look very different.
The first way the way shown by me in this video is to put a object in the developer my object begin my hand, secondly place the object on the photographic paper for 20secs then put in into the stop then fix and finally wash the print. the other way to do it is to put a object into the fix then place it onto the paper and process the paper by putting it in the developer stop and then fix again.
The first step by step produces a black imprint whilst the other produces a white imprint almost like reversals. 
If using your hand like i did a health and safety procedure would be to first test a small area of your hand to make sure your not allergic to the chemicals and of course don't try it if there are any open cuts on your hand.
Overall the process of making a chemigram is fun and exciting. Here are some of my end result chemigrams and my leave rubbing composition sheet.

Jan Von Holleben Outcome

These are the outcomes from the Jan Von Holleben response photo shoot, In my opinion i think the blue sky background worked well with the flying elevation shot as well as the hot air balloon, i also think the contrast of the yellow stars worked really well with the black background.If we were to do this again i think maybe we could add two people to a frame and let them kind of tell a story instead of one person.Also i think going along with the theme of Jan Van Holleben this could be better if we used models such as small children or maybe even animals or try to create a scene with just objects.

We could also have followed a well known film or television show like this.

This is a person waving from a hot air balloon this was inspired by this image.

 This is a superhero flying through the day sky it was inspired by this image.

This is a superhero flying through the night sky this inspiration was taken from this picture of Jan Von Hollebens work. With the idea of a space scene.

Jan Von Holleben Planning

Inspired by Jan Von Holleben we have been asked to create a scenery photo shoot alike his.
For our teams photo shoot we are going with two main ideas one of which is a superhero shoot similar to this below except there will be 3 of us in the shoot.

To create this our group members will need capes of some sort or material that could be tied around them like capes.


Our second idea is also similar to the work of Sam Taylor Wood where we will be doing elevation with balloons.

Except alike Jan Von Hollebens work it will be set on the ground so it would look more like this.

 To make this as a group we are going to need balloons some strings and ourselves, To shoot it we will need a extra person to take a Aerial shot from above.Then to set the scene we will simply blow up the balloons add the string to the bottoms add a person on the bottom and then take the shot.

Jan Von Holleben Analyisis

This is a Photograph taken by the photographer Jan Von Holleben. He is a German photographer born in 1977, He lived most of his youth in a commune but began experimenting with photography at the age of 13 where he followed his fathers photography traits. After following his first ambition to be a teacher to disabled children he came to England to study photography at 'The Surrey Institute Of Art and Design' soon after he began his photography career. Holleben identifies a strong connection with his photography work and the influence of his parents and childhood memories.

This photograph is one of many from the project the dreams of flying.In this project he uses child models to create a creative scene which is illusionist whether its on the ground or not.
 In the interview below he states that nowadays people become so obsessed with the aftermaths of a photograph editing and transforming its original form, the public eye has learnt not to trust the beauty in the faces of the models because they are either made up with a whole heap of makeup or digitised and photo shopped. With his photography he aims to be natural but be creative and play around with the scenery to produce something imaginative and interesting.

Jan Von Holleben Interview

To create this photograph Jan Von Holleben set up a photo shoot and positioned his camera aerial to the floor.He then with his team set up the scene with plant pots and garden hoses to create the atmosphere of a jungle with snakes and animals,He then had a plan drawn out of paper and asked the child models to be positioned in this way i would imagine he would take this shot a lot of times to make sure everything was as realist and composed exactly how he wanted it to be.

To understand how he set up this i watched this video below.

Dreams of flying Photo shoot

In this video it shows the hard work that goes on behind the work of this photograph which is a lot of planning and evaluating before the final pictures are taken.The environment in this video looks quite exciting and fun which is what i think he is trying to create in this photograph.

I have chosen this picture to analyse because like Holleben's intentions i find it interesting and exciting to look at let alone analyse. Significant props in this piece include plants, ropes, A garden hose and a teddy bear monkey all of these props help create the jungle atmosphere in a modern way.I think this piece tells a story the guy on the rope represents the hero and the small girl holding his hand the damsel in distress and of course the small boy crouched down in the bushes the villain.

This set up is classic child's play as children often pretend to be superheroes and in every great superhero story are these characters. There could be many story's made up from this image but to me i can think of a story close to the children's adventure classic 'Jungle Book'  whereby the boy and the girl are being chased by a evil monkey and as they are running they come across a big ditch with nothing but a rope hanging to get to the other side, the boy hero runs and jumps to the rope but the girl is left behind and the villain is coming closer to her so the hero reaches out his hand for her and she jumps and clings to it just before the villain grabs her.

I think the fact Holleben used child models instead of adults or even objects (which would have worked quite well with the surroundings) hint a deeper meaning which is that children are open minded and have a vivid imagination so to someone analysing this piece they might soon find out this is all on the ground and not in a jungle but to children using their imagination to analyse this piece they will see a jungle because of the creativity in their minds.I also think Holleben was maybe recreating some of his fantasies as a child and some of his childhood memories which is also what makes it personal.

To make this piece a lot of planning, organisation and time went into it and overall i think it is a very good photograph that displays imagination and creativity and fun.This piece has inspired me to take time and plan sufficiently when organising a photo shoot and make sure the models involved are feeling the emotions your trying to convey whether that's excitement or sadness or worry if the model feels it and believes it so will the photograph.

Geraldine George Responses

These are my response of a Geraldine George piece to do this i watched a tutorial and also experimented with tools in photoshop. 

To do this i first cut the background out of the image then transformed it into black and white.

Then i created a background layer and added a black stroke to the image using blending options. 

After this i cut out most of my image using the quick selection tool then i created drips with the black pen tool, once this was done i went back into blending options and added a white glow around the inside.

This is my hand draw geraldine george response to do this i took a image i had already captured and doodled around it, in this piece i made her a Egyptian queen

Geraldine Georges

Portrait of Géraldine Georges by photographer  France Dubois



Geraldine Georges is a young Belgian illustrator and graphic designer that uses a blend of illustration and photography in her work, creating an appealing mix of mediums.  Her work often abstracts the female form, capturing the eye and various body features.In a interview she was asked about why this was that she chooses to only focus on the female body and in response she replied 'She doesnt know shes a girl its as simple as that'.  



She was also asked about the elements to her work like animals, trees and blurred shapes in her work and if she thinks its important for people to come in touch with this other dimension in their everyday life and in response she went on to say how she grew up surrounded by farms and animals as shes a country girl and she finds it difficult to go back to that sort of life because of all the technology and facilities the city life brings you.
She also describes her Procedure by stating its no secret 


'I just mix collage/cutting of pictures with drawing made with a Rotring, trying to inspire a certain feeling and emotion to it. I put everything together and I try to find the perfect balance and purity. I don't like over-ornated and loud work. I like simple, clear and direct things...there is no need to overdo.' 
 The full interview is here

This image is one of many from her website, Ive picked this one to analyse because i think its one that is the most interesting in the sense of meaning. Its named Life and that is the only clue of the meaning there is no further details or further clues to what the meaning of the image is which leaves me to use what is here to try to put together a meaning.

My first response to this piece was 'Wow' because after reading the interview through and understanding shes produced this out of using a rotring-which is a pen with a thin tip its amazing she can create this with so much time and detail. What i also love about this artist is that she has actually taken this photographs herself which she has then transformed unlike Julie Cockburn who simply creates art from secondary resources.

To create this piece Geraldine would have taken a photograph of a woman from the waist upwards leaving the stomach exposed. She then would have began cutting out her chosen pieces to work from and stuck them on a separate piece of paper and begin doddling. I love the detail in the head scarf she has made this could symbolize that this woman is a muslim or maybe a nun. 


On her head this woman has two Daisy or Asteraceae like flowers. Daisys symbolize Innocence and gentleness. There are many stories about where daisys orginate from but from these sources 1 ,2 ,3 it is said that daisys derive from a Dryad who presided over forests, meadows, and pastures. A Roman legend states that the nymph Belides caught the eye of Vertumnus, the god of orchards. This happened when she was dancing with other nymphs at the edge of a forest. Belides didn't want to be the centre of attention, so she  morphed into the flower bellis. Which is the daisy's botanical name.

 Going with this conspiracys this could mean that this woman pictured is infact Belides the Dryad described. This could make perfect sense for the illustration the fact that the woman is bowing with a sad expression could suggest she is about to morph, Then the fact that the bellybutton is connected to a daisy could suggest a she has morped and that is now her life,the bellybutton being the part of belides that remains in the flower, the bellybutton could also symoblize the soil in which it is in.These two pictures with the word life written above them could be before and after illustrations of this transformation. The life above the daisy symolizling the new life she has chosen to live.

Overall i really like this image and this artist and really appreciate her work, she has inspired me to try a go at illustration because it looks really exciting and the end product looks beautiful.

Norm Magnusson Analysis

Norm Magnusson is a American Artist and Founder of the art movement Funism.The main focus of Funism is that art should be as much fun to look at as it is to think about which is what Norm tries to convey through his artwork. He began his career creating animal painting , Eventually he became more and more interested in political art and its potential for persuasion.

One of Norms projects was called 'Decorating nature' this project consisted of painting pieces of nature and capturing it with his camera.There are over 90 pieces to this collection each were painted differently to the next, subject matter included Leaves, Stones, Shells and trees. The collection can be viewed here, under every photograph is a small caption.

Under this image is a caption that says: 
 fig. 68: some stones "blue up" when the water gets cold.

In this image pictures a striped blue rock under he water. I particularly like the way the water makes a patterned effect on the rock and how the rock being coloured blue links into this well. 
The colour Blue conotates peace and tranquillity and those are also things we associate with the sea so the blue was used to recreate this label.

This idea links into the mood of the piece which i think the artist was trying to convey in a sense rocks are part of the sea and they play just as much part in creating a calm feeling.
The stripes also give a good effect because they relate to the design the water is making,The stripes aren't straight down the rock either they produce a little pattern on their own by being diagonal lines across this rock.

To create this Norm would have painted the rock using strong waterproof paints and then simply placed it under the water.The photograph has been taking portrait which allows us to see more of the location where the rock is placed.

The main subject matter of this photograph is the rock we know this because it is placed with other rocks under this water but yet still it is larger than the others and colored to make it stand out. 
Norm Magnussons work aims to draw the viewer in and find it interesting a fun on the website i previously mentioned he says 
'If a photo is pretty, the viewer will spend more time with it. If a viewer spends more time with it, they will begin to think beyond the surface of it and into the meaning of it. That’s the dynamic I hope to create in viewers of my work.'

Therefore when creating his work he has the viewers good intentions to mind.
Although this is a wide shot captured it also seems a little zoomed in as rocks aren't normally that big so this is quite zoomed in to make it seem that way.

I think the meaning of this and the project is to show viewers how beautiful nature is.
For example you may not find a rock with these huge blue lines placed on it but there are many rocks with very different and interesting patterns on them, The same way your not going to necessarily find a tree with a polka dot pattern on it but the bark of each tree is different and are detailed with unique patterns.

Some people just don't see that all they see is nature for nature a rock for a rock so by making this rock and other subject matters the focal point people can start to appreciate nature in it naturalist form.
Overall i find this image and this project pleasing i think its a excellent way to produce art and photography by being resourceful.

Henrik Bonnevier Analysis

Henrik Bonnevier is a Swedish s Photographer.Hes worked for alot of major companies such as Condé Nast Traveller, Bon Magazine, Gourmet, Toyota, IKEA, and many more.He photographs most nature / adventure, still life and for advertising. 


 In 2008 Henrik embarked on a journey to the north of sweden for 100 days to document the untouched waters in the area of seven national parks and fifteen Sámi villages. The images from the trip were said to appear in a book about the project and a exhibition. In a interview about the project Henrik Disclosed the hard ship and brilliance of the project. He also states in the interview that hes dream is to work for the national Geographic because of the love he has for taking pictures of nature in its naturalist form.The full interview is below.

100 Days in the North Of Sweden

Here are some of the photographs he took out there.

Although Henrik Specialises in a lot of photography areas i am looking particularly at his still life work, This picture for example is one of my favourites of his work I love everything about it from the background watercolours to the com placement of the still life objects.This Photograph was for a interior design firm called 'Between walls'. A interior design stylist named Camilla Krishnaswamy actually designed the shoot and produced this background technique which is called 'Colour Drip' which is from one of many of the company's 'Watercolour' range.

Its quite a contrast to have this work after the work before as in the work before everything is in its natural form and not stylises the only technical aspect is the camera shots being extreme close ups and the com placement of the fish whereas this shoot is completely organised and posed and everything is well thought about before the final image is taken,

To create this shoot the background would have been created first to do this i think Camilla used watercolour paints and mixed them with a lot of water so that they would drip and bleed into each other, secondly the table was arranged i think the table layout took inspiration from the paintings of Paul Cezanne where there is often a cloth draped over a table. The layout of the com placement is perfect everything fitting together in the space.The colours used on the table link in nicely with the colours of the watercolours,although there is a mixture of colours the colours seem quite neutral in the sense that they aren't bright or dark just in between like baby colours. And finally after evaluating everything the photograph was taken here are some pictures from the photo shoot.

 Photographs found here

The colours are what gives this piece a calm and peaceful feel  as this is a commercial photograph for the wallpaper design , it links in moods for the wallpaper and therefore suggests its target audience or place to put this wallpaper. 

In my opinion gathering the moods it portrays id feel obliged to put this wallpaper in a nursery room/child's room or maybe a bathroom as since it calms it would be a nice thing to take in whilst having a relaxing bath.

This piece has been framed in a wide shot with the chest being centred slightly to the right this is effective because it lets the viewer view the wallpaper more.Tools and equipment t used in this composition would be paint brushes a studio and a camera.

Overall i think this is a really nice and effective way to advertise this wallpaper and the photograph is very beautiful.