Coursework Project Two People behind the portraits - displaying the person behind the portrait using photographic and artistic techniques.
Why Did Choose This Project? I wanted move into a different genre of photography for my second project. More specifically I wanted to give myself a project that would allow more freedom to create artistic and more symbolic photographs. Personally I also would like the opportunity to create a collection of portraits as it is not a genre of photography I have had the chance to explore in any depth before.
Idea 1 Imperfections on the outside. Within my first idea I wanted to take portrait photographs using harsh lighting and a high aperture to pick out intricate detail in my models face giving a true insight into the model and their outer imperfections.
Andre Du Plessis
Andre Du Plessis is a photographer who tends to focus on the documentation of people within his photography and often in the style of portraits. The monochrome portrait I have selected is an example of Du Plessis’s photographic work. The high contrast and harsh lighting reveal intricate detail within his subjects face and create the exact look I want to try to recreate in my photographs. The absence of colour takes away a lot of distraction from the photograph making every line and detail stand out all the more. This intricate detail is what I believe gives the image its striking look, it enhances and captures what can’t normally be seen by eye, making the viewer think more about the person behind the portrait, their life and experiences. It appears as if Du Plessis is trying to communicate a similar message to what I intended to with my own work. Rather than merely capturing an image of a person the detail he creates reveals the life of the person behind the portrait. I believe that this purpose to the photograph allows it to be considered as an important photograph. De Plessis simply reveals an insight to his subject with his photographic technique; it could be argued that the subject’s story is then left for the viewer to decide, resulting in various interpretations of the photograph differing from person to person. Personally I appreciate Andre Du Plessis’s photographic style as I feel it represents the subject of the photographs actually person rather than simply documenting their features. I interpret his photographs as depicting the harshness of his subjects’ life. I also believe Du Plessis has a tendency to draw focus to the eyes of his subject judging by this photograph where the eyes appear to be very dark, giving the photograph a striking appearance and making his subject seem more human.
Idea Two Imperfections on the inside. With my second idea I wanted to create photographic portraits that displayed and symbolized ‘inner imperfections’ i.e. fears, secrets, health issues etc.
Kris Grimes Kris Grimes ‘Slit Photography’ self portrait is a rather visually striking and disturbing photograph. The photograph depicts a distorted self-portrait of Grimes in which it appears his face has been split into two and flattened, perhaps the reasoning for the name ‘split photography’. The manipulation of his portrait has resorted in what could be described as a horribly graphic photograph. The absence of colour in the portrait highlights further the distorted image in dismissing the distraction of colour. As well as this the photograph also appears to possess a texture, a hatched pattern, making the photograph quality appear to be that of a photocopy or rough print; this lack of quality adds to the disturbing nature of the photograph as if it were and ordinary photograph from a file and not an artistic piece. The disturbing nature of the self-portraits elongated and twisted face definitely leads me to the belief that the photograph is symbolically representative of an issue; the human face is not typically distorted within a photograph with out reason. The ‘split face’ depicted in the photograph could be a symbolisation of split personality or an attempt by Grimes to explore his ‘self’ and present his inner thoughts of himself on the outside of his body. In consideration of this; this photograph could be very important to a viewer as it could raise questions as to why Grimes would disfigure himself in such a way and whether the viewer themselves has similar feelings of possible self hatred. I believe Grimes could have been influenced to take this photograph fro exactly these reasons; to allow viewers themselves to question their inner emotions and feelings towards themselves. Personally I believe although a gruesome photograph to look at, it raises some interesting and controversial issues and it is this aspect of Grimes’ photograph that has inspired me to take my own photographs depicting a portrait subjects inner emotions.
Evaluation of Idea Two My initial intention when taking these photographs was to create a set of portrait photographs with a shocking visual impact that symbolically represented ‘inner imperfections’ i.e. repressed emotion, fears, secrets etc. I feel I have met my original intention with this second idea as my developed photographs posses a shockingly gruesome and surprising quality. The initial photographs I took for this idea were rather basic portraits, and although technically sound, taken with good lighting, correctly exposed, well composed, the did not yet posses any shock factor; which is what I wanted to be able to achieve within this idea. I have attempted to make it so the initial portraits possess some sort of graphics/shocking quality using harsh lighting and having my subjects pose with an disturbingly ordinary look (I feel the contrast of these two together give the photographs an unsettling quality). However these initial photographs unfortunately were not yet symbolic or extreme enough to represent what I had initially intended. To develop these initial photographs I used a photocopier to manipulate, stretch and distort the portraits that I had taken. The photographs produced as a result of this development were much closer to what I had initially intended to create. I also then went further in this development and manipulated the already manipulated portraits I had created to exaggerate the effect. I believe the distorted portraits I created not only have a strong visual impact but a good level of symbolism. The distortion of my subjects resulted in what I believe to be rather disturbing portraits the stretched faces appearing almost inhuman. I intended this symbolism to represent inner imperfections and I believe this is rather easy to decipher from my developed photographs but the abstract nature of my portraits also allows for multiple meanings to be taken from them as I found from asking others for feedback. The only drawback in developing my photographs in this way is that I had little control in how the photographs turned out and so some developments worked better than others. However I overcame this simply by trial and error and experimentation with the photocopier.
Idea Three This idea is an additional continuation of my second idea, in which I wanted to photographically display inner imperfections. In this continuation of the idea I wanted to explore a different technique, again in an attempt to symbolize ‘inner imperfections’ in a portrait photograph.
Evaluation Of Idea Three This idea was an additional idea continuing on from my second. I was attempting to represent a similar meaning of inner emotions but using a slightly different technique on similar photographs. To my initial photographs I added hands into the photograph changing them from standard portraits to a photograph with slightly more meaning. The added hands could be interpreted as symbolic for society smothering people and their opinions of themselves. I then went on the develop these photographs by adding scratches in the paths on the hands. I feel as if this added to the violent and graphics nature of the photographs and their symbolism.v
Final Outcomes
Full Project Evaluation Overall I am quite pleased with my initial photographs for this project, as I believe that have effectively taken inspiration from photographs to take initial photographs to meet my initial intentions. My initial photographs for my first idea were very pleasing. I believe they create a strong visual impact alone without development due to my careful consideration of the technical qualities of my initial photographs i.e. contrast, lighting, the decision to make my photographs black and white and the decision to have my photographs very tightly cropped. My initial photographs for my second idea were in my opinion, although technically well executed with good composition and lighting, not as visually strong as they could have been and most definitely not as strong as my initial photographs for my first idea. However there was purpose in these photographs being more standard and plain in that I needed them to be so for my development. My additional third set of initial photographs were essentially the same as my second with the addition of hands entering the frame of my portrait. I believe this additional element added more interest to the photographs and more symbolism and therefore were a pleasing initial set. Â I believe that I have pushed my self creatively in this project, as my initial photographs explored different techniques and my developmental photographic techniques were varied and original. I did struggle on pushing my creativity for my initial photographs particularly in my second idea but this is due to the fact that I did not intend for these photographs to be anything but standard portraits for the later purposes of development. Â
Looking back, my choice of photographers for this project were in my opinion, highly appropriate and inspirational for what I was trying to achieve. Andre Du Plessis’s portrait photography gave me the inspiration for my first idea ‘outer imperfections’ and also allowed me to experiment with new camera techniques and software in my attempt to duplicate the level of detail seen within his work. If I were to be harsh on my self I may say that in choosing to look at Du Plessis work my own work did not appear to be particularly original, however I believe my personal development of my initial photographs overcomes this worry. Kris Grimes was a essential inspirational photographer for my work in this project as his work provided me with a further insight into how to create a great level of symbolism within a portrait photograph. I think looking back now at my work and his own I could have in fact exaggerate my photographs more so in a similar style to Grimes’. As a whole I believe my final pieces for this project are quite pleasing. They are representative of my project as a whole as they are a combination of my first and second idea and as a final set work due to that fact that I deliberately made my first and second ideas complimentary. I think if I were to have more time to explore this project my next step would be further experimentation with the distortion of portraits; work similar to the work of Serge Comte and Ken Kitano with new controversial meaning and symbolism.