Narrative Image Making (written work)

Narative Image Making

(includes research, evaluation and proposal)

Proposal

This specific project is called Narative Image Making. Narrative means a making a set of images that tell a story, the images can be about anything aslong as they link together.

My idea for this assignment is to produce two different sets of images about the same subject. The first story will be about lego characters doing normal day life things in a house for example: (getting washed, eating, sleeping) and that series will consume of 5 images and then the second story will be about two of my family members reacting the scenes the lego characters do like sleeping and eating etc. The idea is to have the same story but shown in two different ways. The equipment I will need to produce this is a Canon 60D camera so get good quality shots and to make sure every detail of both stories are visable.

Research

Artist: Slinkachu

Slinkachu was born in London, England and exceeds to live there.

Slinkachu is most famoud for his “little people� project which started in 2006 and finished in 2013.

The style of photography that Slinkachu creates is images of miniature Illustration models which are all inspired from train set characters. He is an Illustrator and Photographer in one and has grown in britain as a top photographer.

About the Artist

This is my first analysis of a Slinkachu image.

This piece is very unique as it is brought to you by miniature models. The image is a remake from the image of the builders on top of the empire state building chatting away. I really like this image as the photographer tries to make the image seem normal and try reanact another image by using parts of the environment just like here he is using a normal pole and focuses on the little builders. This image is a top image and a good inspirational piece.

Image 1 Analysis

This is my second example of my research Slinkachu.

This is another piece of Slinkachu’s work that is very well put together.

This image is very clever it impersonates a man in a boat across the sea or a river but Slinkachu has re acted this piece by using a 20 Euro note and laying it ontop of a puddle full of rain, he has then added a miniature model to act as the boats captain. I really like this piece as it is very well made and quite clever but also adds some humour as well.

Image 2 Analysis

Image 3 Analysis

This is my final example of Slinkachu’s work and this is my favourite piece. He has impersonated Superman but using this miniature model and balancing him off of a bench to create the scene that he’s about to fly. Not only is the piece brilliant but it is well photographed as he has the model as the main focus point and has the background as a blur. It is a very clever piece and would like to try something like this as it is very artistic photography and shows the combination from Illustration of the models to photography.

Artist: Duane Michals

My second artist I will be analysing is Duane Michals an American Photographer who was born in 1932. Michals is a famous photographer and has produced work for Vogue France. He is most remembered for his unique narrative images he produces in sets of images. He used emotion and philosophy in his images to have a darker effect on the audience.

He has had exhibitions globally and his last ever exhibition was held in Switzerland in 2004.

About the Artist

Image 1 Analysis

This is image 1 I have chosen from Duane Michals work. As you can see already it is a lot more dsrker and indepth than Slinkachu’s work but Michals work is very interesting. In this set of narrative images he has a little girl on a rocking chair next to a coat, but as she falls asleep a figure comes out of the coat to watch her. It is a dark piece but Michals makes this miniature story very interesting to look at and makes you want to see what happens next. I do find this piece disturbing but quite strong and interesting.

Image 2 Analysis

This is my second example of my research.

This piece is very interesting and unique and you can tell just by looking at it that is is very weird. The piece is of a normal man stood still ad all of a sudden has a high exposure on his own body and all of a sudden changes into a star in the universe.

At first it’s confusing but Michals is just using surrealism to create this story of a man turning into a star in space. I do really like this piece as it is different but makes me want to see a more images surrounding it.

Image 3 Analysis

This is my final analysis on Michals narrative images. This image is my favourite that Duane has produced as it is very interesting and unique.

The image is of a woman stood holding a mirror up to her face and as she looks in it doubles the size of her face but also shows two images of her in the same mirror. This narrative is quite dark as one of the images is of her looking stsight at the camera (the fourth image). I think this is my favourite as it shows surrealism in the mirror but also has quite a dark look to it in some of the images chosen.

Evaluation

This project was called Narrative Image Making and the assignment was to produce two different sets of images with a story behind each one. What I chose to do for my idea was to link the two sets of images together and have both the stories similiar but shown in a different way. My first idea was to photograph Lego characters doing day to day activities in a household.

For my second set of images my idea was to get images of my family members doing the exact same activities as the Lego pieces so it links together but with lego people re making what humans do but try make it seem as normal as it would be.

I created 5 sets of images for both pieces. The activities each image are doing are Eating,Sleeping, Cooking food, brushing teeth and watching television just like normal day routines.

What I like about the images are that I feel I have chosen a good routine that people do everyday and the initial idea was very strong. I also like the human photos as I feel they tell more of a story and without them people wouldn’t get the lego ones. I also like that they look well presented next to each other and

definatly compliment each other.

The negatives about the finished pieces are that the quality aren’t the best as I left the piece last minute so used a compact camera which didn’t only had 8 migapixles camera which is nothing compared to the DSLR cameras and that was the biggest fail of this assignment. If I didn’t leave it last minute I could have produced a lot more images for this assignmnent and better quality images and that’s why what I would change if I was given this assignmnent again is to tackle the research and production plan first and then plan in advance what I was going to do so I could give myself more time to produce more images.

Overall I am happy with the outcome of the final images and very pleased that I stuck to the theme and what my initial plan was.