LEVEL 2B GENRE: REVIVED AND REMADE IDEA: PORTRAITS PHOTOGRAPHER: GILLIAN WEARING CANDIDATE NUMBER: 1320
CONTENTS chapter 1 introduction chapter 2 photography chapter 3 personal ideas and practical work chapter 4 conclusion bibliography
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Out of all of the different genres that I have researched in level 2A I have chosen to focus on the topic revived and remade. The reason that I decided to choose this is because I find the whole concept of remaking famous images in your own way very exciting as I have never done this sort of thing before. The two photographers that I have decided to research are Gillian wearing and Cindy Sherman, this is because I believe out of all of them they are the best at this particular genre based on the amount of time and effort they put into creating these photos. After researching these particular artist it has got me more interested in photographing people whereas before I only really focused on landscape and nature. As I am exploring the revived and remade genre I would have to try a lot of different techniques such as costume and make up, these are essential in this genre as I will have to completely transform my model in order to look like the original photo. The way that I can develop this idea in a wide variety of ways is by exploring into recreating famous film and TV programs such as avatar and titanic. There are a few camera techniques that I can use when taking these photos such as macro, which I will be using a lot as I am doing portraits, high aperture and slow shutter speed.
When doing photo-shoots for this genre I will have to use a lot of props depending on what i am trying to recreate but I know I will definitely need make up, face paint and costumes such as dresses and suits. I will be using different environments in order to achieve a certain standard and the will most likely be the woods, park or indoors in a white room. In order to add impact to my photo-shoots I will only decide to recreate photos that instantly create interest and that require a lot of changes to the model. The idea has endless possibilities as there are an endless amount of photos to recreate but I won’t just be recreating the one photo exactly how it was before I will be creating different varieties from different angles and positions. I don’t think that my photos will be to stereotypical because I’m not going to be taking normal portrait photos they will be a lot more abstract. While exploring this genre I will be working on literal interpretation because revived and remade describes that it is the remaking of famous photographs, adverts, scientific imagery.
REVIVED AND REMADE - what are
the key characteristics of this genre
What is apparent when viewing the illistrations the first quote summarises what revived and remade photos by explain- is that they offer experiences that hinge on ing that they change your original feelings about a specific photo such as our memorys stock of a still from a film or a family photo as images: family snaps, advertising, they would be remade but it portray a magazine stills from films, surdifferent message. veillance and scientific studies, old photos, fine art photographs , paintings, and so on. These are photographs that invite us to be self concious of what we see. Tracy moffatts laudanum series of nineteen photogravure prints creates a vivid and fantastic narrative , presented in the physical form of the past. Parker selects the relics that have survived as the physical manifestations of historys most importaant events and figures.
Light Quality
Light quality describes the source, amount, and direction of lighting in a photograph. Light can come from natural sources, like the sun. It can be altered or created by humans, by using such things as flash bulbs or lamps. It can also be diffused by clouds or by humans putting a veil of cloth over a lamp. The direction of light is also important when looking at photographs: it can come from above, behind, or from one side. Bright, dim, cloudy, directional, diffused, and flash are some terms used to describe lighting. This photo that was captured by Gillian wearing is part of a collection called Signs that Say What You Want Them to Say and Not Signs that Say What Someone Else Wants You to Say. The reason that I decided to study this particular photo is because it drew my attention more than the rest mainly based on its short but direct. In terms of light this photo is being light by natural sunlight. The light in the photo is coming from the right side of the model and even though I don’t think it was planned, because you can’t control the sun, it works in her favour because the light coming from the side eliminates any shadows on the paper.
Colour
Artists use colour to achieve many effects. Colour gives viewers a sense of mood, place, and time of year.
Colour can also move your eye around a composition and create a sense of space on a flat surface. Some artists achieve very saturated (strong, intense) colour in their images, while others intentionally use subdued or muted colours in their subject matter. Questions to Consider
I can tell that the photographer has thought a lot about the colours in the photo especially the colours of his clothes. I noticed that he is wearing a very dark suit, I think this is because she wanted to create the most amount of contrast to the white paper in order for it to stand out. There are also a lot of shades of orange in the photo, his skin tone is slightly orange and this automatically draws my eye to the bricks after as it is a similar colour. I don’t think that this photo would have been as effective is the photo was done in black and white purely because it would create more shades of grey, black and white which would draw some of the attention away from the sign as there wouldn’t be that contrasting element. If the photo was in black and white then it would also change the mood of the photo dramatically, it would give it a much darker, colder feel.
Focus
Focus is the sharpness or clarity of subjects in the photographic image. Soft focus is created when a photographer manipulates the camera to achieve blurry, gentle edges. Photographers use the aperture (lens opening) and limitations of the lens to create sharp detail, soft edges, or both; this is called selective focus. In this photo the thing that was in sharpest focus was the man and the sign he is holding. What’s also in sharp focus but just not as much is the wall to the left of him with the texture that I had described previously. The photographer has kept only certain points of the photo in focus and I think this is very effective. The reason why she has done this is because the things that are in sharp focus are more significant to the photo and decreasing the focus of the rest of the photo increases the attention on the focal points. By using sharp focus on the majority of the photo she has created a serious mood but I think that works with the message that she is trying to get across
Angle of view Angle of view is the position from where the photographer took the picture. A photographer can point the camera from below, above, or straight at an object. In other artistic media, this is often called point of view. When looking for subjects, especially in nature, a photographer often shifts the angle of view to make interesting images. Angle of view can also express emotion or mood. It can give the viewer a sense of being small if looking up, or a sense of being big if looking down. the photographer used a head on angle, which is eye level, in this photo and I think this was essential in order to get her message across because if the photo was taken from any other angle such as from below then the viewer wouldn’t be able to read the sign in his hand clearly and the message that she is trying to get across in this photo would get corrupted. the model in this photo is also looking straight forward into the camera and this gives me the feeling that Gillian wanted to the model to have a close relationship with the viewer and it will then link the words on the paper more personally to him, it’s almost like the models looking at the viewer confidently and holding the sign up as if he doesn’t care if people know what he thinks.
Framing composition Framing is how a photographer carefully presents a subject. Unlike painters, who usually begin with a blank canvas, photographers begin with everything in front of them. Once a subject is found, a photographer decides what to include in the picture frame. The photographer then composes the image to draw a viewer’s attention to the subject in a way that best expresses the artist’s idea of it. In this photo I believe that the photographer deliberately excluded a few thing in order to draw the viewers’ attention to the focal point which is the centre of the photo. One of the things that she didn’t frame in the photo is the sky, I can tell that just above the trees the sky would have been in this photo but she deliberately didn’t include it and I think that this is because the light colours in the sky would detract attention away from the piece of paper. another thing that she didn’t include are his legs, I think this was because she didn’t feel that they added anything to the photo and if the legs were in then the photo would have to of been taken slightly further away making the writing smaller with is supposed to be the main focal point.
Texture Texture is how the surface of an object appears to feel or actually feels to the touch.Texture can be described as rough, smooth, soft, etc.Texture is shown in photographs by the way the light falls on an object and through value changes. The paper on which the photograph is made also determines texture. In this photograph there isn’t any obvious texture on the main focal point which is the piece of paper as paper in smooth but in the background there are some interesting textures on the wall. The texture on the wall looks quite rough and brittle, I also noticed that there are signs of erosion on the wall as well and this will create more of a crumbly texture. the texture of the wall really isn’t the first thing you see in the photo, it took a while before I actually noticed it, I think the reason for this is because the wall in the background isn’t the main focal point which means the viewer would never see the texture first.
HISTORICAL EVENTS OF 2012 Jan 7th - Hot air balloon crashes in Carterton, New Zealand, killing 11 Jan 9th - Lionel Messi wins the FIFA Ballon d’Or for the second consecutive year Jan 14th - Suicide bomber kills 53 and injures 130 in Basra, Iraq Jan 18th - Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) blackout becomes the largest protest in the history of the internet Jan 28th - Death toll from coordinated bombing attacks in Kano, Nigeria, reaches 185 Feb 1st - At least 73 people are killed in the Egyptian football riots in Port Said Feb 12th - Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow is re-elected president of Turkmenistan with 97% of the vote Feb 17th - Approximately 70 ancient Olympic artefacts are stolen from the Archaeological Museum of Greece Feb 23rd - A series of bomb attacks across 12 Iraqi cities kills 60 and injures 200 Mar 11th - US soldier kills 16 civilians in Afghanistan Apr 3rd - US President Barack Obama officially secures Democratic presidential nomination Jul 25th - The 2012 Summer Olympics begin (Opening ceremony 27th Aug 9th - Usain Bolt becomes the first person to win the 100m and 200m sprint in back to back
GLOSSARY Contrast- the biggest contrast of colours in this photo is between the white paper and the models black blazer, using contrasting colours gives the paper more attention from the viewer. Focal point- the main focal point in this photo is the piece of paper with the writing on it and i know this because it is the central point in the photo with the most amount of contrast from the rest of the photo. JPEG- if you have created a collage or a poster on InDesign and you want to use it in different programs then you can convert the file into a JPEG and then you can transfer it onto other programs. Macro- i like to use macro in my photos because I like to present a lot of detail in my photos, macro works best on texture photos. Shadows- shadows create depth in this photo as it gives you a sense of light direction. Shutter speed- if I have to capture an object that is moving very fast then I would increase the shutter speed in order for the camera to capture objects.
Viewfinder- when taking photos then I prefer to use the viewfinder of the camera rather than looking on the screen because I feel it is a more interesting way of taking the photos because I won’t know exactly what the photo will look like. Grayscale- a greyscale filter is put on photos that are mainly texture based, this is because the viewer doesn’t become distracted by the colour and just focuses on the texture. Also it increases the shadows and deepens the lines. Brightness- the brightness of a shot is very important as it can determine the mood. When the brightness is low then it portrays a darker, colder feel. Tripod- tripods can be used in landscape photos in order to steady the shot, if a tripod wasn’t used then the shot could be slanted and landscape photos are more effective when straight.
COMPARISON
level 2G
Gillian Wearing Self portrait as my father Brian Wearing 2003
Cindy Sherman
Untitled #400
The literal differences between these two photos are that the Gillian wearing photo is shot in black and white and the Cindy Sherman photo is in colour. Another difference is that the model in the photo on the left id posing as a women and the model on the right is posing as a man. There are more similarities than differences in this case as they are both remaking a famous photograph, also they are both dressed in formal clothing. Another similarity is that both of the models are actually women even know the one on the right is dressed as a man. One of the technical di9fferences that I have noticed is that they used different lighting. Cindy Sherman used very harsh light that emphasises all of the highlights in the skin
CHAPTER 3 PERSONAL IDEAS AND PRACTICAL WORK
CHAPTER 3 PERSONAL IDEAS AND PRACTICAL WORK
CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 4 BIBLIOGRAPHY Gillian Wearing Me Wearing Mask of Lily Cole, 2012, https://paddle8.com/artists/gillian-wearing/ Clyde butcher Via Escencia 3, 2002, http://visual.org/ClydeButcherhome.html ian ruhter http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/ian-ruhter-the-wet-plate-project Diane Arbus https://www.blendspace.com/lessons/OVJOuj2qyxeMxQ/urban-documentary-diane-arbus
http://www.luhringaugustine.com/artists/joel-sternfeld
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/cindy-sherman-1938 https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=eadweard+muybridge+horse&biw=1684&bih=1164&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMItpTEhJn2xwIVi28UCh0XNQAI&dpr=0.95