Kate Wingrove A2 Photography Fine Art Based Brief
4f) Coursework Project 1: Obituary: formal announcement of the death of the film camera Essay title: Discuss how a number of different photographers have used a destructive form of experimentation as a basis for their creative photography
My Pinterest of Initial Ideas in response to the brief
http://www.pinterest.com/katewingrovex/fine-art-based-brief/
Digital Appropriation Mood Board
Florian Imgrund
Jon Duenas
Christoffer Relander Oliver Morris
Dan Mountford
Sarah Byrne
Dan Mountford - Artist Analysis •
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Photographer Dan Mountford is a twenty one year old multidisciplinary freelance designer and graphic student living and studying in Brighton. He works predominantly in photography, illustration, editorial and motion design. The photographs selected are from his series titled The Worlds Inside of Us are described by the artist as “a visual journey through our minds by calm and tidy means which the reality of everyday life does not show.” He explores the use of double exposure in his photographs, successfully isolating parts of an image in the camera with no use of Photoshop. His images are captivating with their thoughtful execution and composition. The things about his images I find to be aesthetically pleasing is the simplicity of them. They are not crowded and still focus on the main subject matter while exposing natural elements such as landscapes or urban landscapes over the subject which is effective as the photo does not look accidental or does not look like there are too many distractions. Each image has been shot in a monochrome filter which helps to create depth and added texture. The elements in these photographs which have inspired me in my initial set are the themes Dan Mountford has explored including collaborating headshots with natural elements. Natural and cultural images may have been used when merging the images with these female models as it could symbolize beauty and highlight clear contrasts which may compliment all three images. However, as my theme is appropriation I will select one photographer and select a some of their images in order to experiment on Photoshop the different effects of layering natural landscapes on professional images. In the style of Dan Mountford I will also make the subject images monochrome and fade the colour of the nature landscape in order for it to appear calm and neutral.
First set of Initial Images
First set of Initial Images
Second set of Initial Images
Second set of Initial Images
Evaluation for Idea One •
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• My original intention when taking appropriation into consideration was to explore the fashion shoots by a chosen photographer, in this case I was interested in looking and experimenting with Terry Richardson’s photographs and merging natural and cultural landscapes in the style of digital appropriation photographers Dan Mountford and Matt Wisnieski. For this project I spent a long time experimenting • with various young models from Terry Richardson’s portfolios dating back to 2010 in order to find a variety of different models. I then visited a lot of pale blogs on Tumblr and found countless images of cultural, urban and natural landscapes which I then merged with Terry Richardson’s photographs. This took a lot of time as some images worked better than others and combining the images was very time consuming. The main purpose of choosing the theme appropriation was to gain a stronger understanding of the meaning and the ways in which the theme can be interpreted and presented in, for Idea 1 digital appropriation was the main theme. Taking the technical qualities of my photographs into consideration, I found out that some of my outcomes which did not make it into my final selections did not carry enough detail or did not have the same effect as some of the others did. However, after I became familiar with which images would work well with each other, the editing of the images
became quicker and the stronger photos began to develop. As well as the main theme of appropriation, I also had a theme of young people within the images as fashion was the other key theme, in this case fashion photography. I am pleased with the visual qualities of these images as I believe I made these images my own by creating composed theme whereas before there were no emotions attached. Taking the second set of initial images into consideration, I wanted there to be an underlining meaning instead of just using photos of visual quality. Hence, I chose a selection of well known celebrities all with one major thing in common, depression. The meaning behind the images is that depression is a serious illness that can happen to anyone, even people who seem to have it all. Even though the celebrities are made out to be flawless on the outside, you cannot see the pain or any life struggles they are dealing with and what the media ignores and exploits it in order for publicity.
Physical Appropriation Mood Board
Cariou verses Prince
Afsoon Ghafouri
Vanessa Fanuele
Derek Gores
Raoul Hausmann
Erin Case
Maurizio Anzeri
David Salle
John Baldessari
John Stezaker Artist Analysis •
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John Stezaker’s work re-examines the various relationships within images and tries to make a connection between them. In his collages, Stezaker appropriates images found in books, magazines, and postcards and uses them as ‘ready-mades’. Through his well-designed juxtapositions, Stezaker adopts the content and contexts of the original images to convey his own amusing and nostalgic meanings. In his marriage series, Stezaker focuses on the concept of portraiture both in a historical concept and public identity. Using publicity shots classic famous people, Stezaker splices and overlaps faces in order to create hybrids of famous faces that disassociate the familiarities in which they stand for. Coupling male and female identities into unified characters, Stezaker highlights a disjointed harmony where the different aspects of the images both compliment each other and detracts from the overall meaning of the image.
Second set of Initial Images
Second set of Initial Images
Second set of Secondary Images
First set of Secondary Images
Evaluation for Idea Two •
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My initial intention in taking another approach to my theme appropriation was to explore the physical side by taking images from fashion magazines by hand and splicing them to create photographs in order to highlight a disjointed harmony where the different aspects of the images both compliment each other. I kept to the theme of using modern fashion magazines in order to contrast from my chosen artist John Stezaker and re-create modern inspirations of his work. I had a few ideas for this topic, but chose to recreate the work of photographer John Stezaker as it juxtaposes with my previous idea in terms of how the photos were produced, and allowed me a chance to research and discover different features of appropriation. In creating this set, I purchased three different fashion magazines; GQ, Vogue and Vanity Fair as I was hoping to gain a variety of portrait photographs from different adverts or fashion shoots all with different themes. In doing so, I have created different visual qualities within my images in terms of colour, garments and a variety of models such as famous actors; Leonardo DiCaprio and David Beckham to Victorias Secret model Miranda Kerr, as well as a number of brand models. Taking the technical qualities of my photographs into consideration, I found out that some of my outcomes are stronger compared to others as they carry more detail and may appear to have stronger effects visually. This is due to the fact that my money was limited when buying magazines which means I had to make the most out of the facilities I had. A criticism which may be
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noted is how in some images the natural lighting which I used when taking photographs of the magazine splices reflected on certain areas of the image. When browsing through the magazines I wanted to pair up two images which would share create a common similarity or theme such as elegance evident in the David Beckham and Leonardo DiCaprio photo or purity verses impurity displayed in the image of Rihanna in the style of Medusa and a young model. I believe the images I created work well with each other which improves the overall technical quality. The formal elements which made my photos successful is the simplicity of them, yet how contrasting they are to each other. In some images the tones and disparities in colour helped to create a bold outlook, whereas this method differs in some where the colours remain neutral which may reflect that they are not all up to the same visual quality as the colours vary. However, this could be seen as effective as I wanted to illustrate different approaches to comparing headshots within my work and I think I have achieved this. The photos achieve a different amount of symbolism I was aiming to portray. The photos were simply meant to juxtapose with the intentions of photographer John Stezaker as his images were archaic and I intended in taking a more modern approach.
Final Outcomes