Exam Preparation Project.
Mind map of ideas.
5 Possible Starting points. ๏ Photographing smashed windows, glass, piggy banks. (The idea of being inside, or something being inside and breaking through the middle obstacle to get outside.) ๏ Landscapes - Layers of landscapes, mountains, hills, certain things like trees, windows acting as a frame (inside) looking out on the main picture. Collage, layers. ๏ Emotions - Portraying the inside, outside. Personality portrayed on the outside, collage. Looking through eyes. (Eyes-inside, Water/Tears - In between, Out on a loved one, mixed emotions - outside) ๏ Crop/ Leftovers - Between the blank space. Looking at what is normally never seen. The picture between the main subject and the empty space. ๏ Skin - Shadows, silhouettes, the absent space between the camera and the subject. Outside of the skin (muscles) photoshopped image, showing the inside of half the body. Showing the Heart, Linking with emotions? Collage words coming from the heart, Skin peeling? showing the process of before, in between and after?
Artist’s 1 comparison – Davis Ayer This photo was taken by Davis Ayers from a set of photographs called ‘Time Travel’ taken of light projection body art. He used vintage photos of landscapes and projected them onto the female body. I found this photograph particularly appealing as it shows great skill in blending projections with the human body which interests me and inspires me to use this in my own work. In my own coursework based project ‘Inside, Outside and In between’ this technique can be used greatly by experimenting with the different prepositions, each giving a certain texture or meaning in the photograph. The projections contrast against the skin making the body a sort of framework that surrounds the actual photograph highlighting it. I feel this is very important as the effect is prominent and makes an impact on the viewer. I think that Davis used this for that reason so the body accentuated the vintage images that were projected. I believe the artist was inspired by body art and tried to find a way of imposing certain photographs onto the body to give it that effect. Davis Ayer may have wanted to portray the idea of old and new. This shows that the photograph has strong digital use and therefore is contemporary with the high definition. The title ‘Time Travel’ gives the idea of going back in time and with the use of contemporary digital effects they contrast and express the idea that the body is showing ‘Time travel’ and places back in time. The photograph has a high contrast and clarity within it which shows slight texture in the skin as well as the detail of the buildings in the photograph that has been projected. This photograph has inspired me to use projection in the development of my photographs as I believe there will be a great outcome. The use of close up imagery accentuates both images and blends them perfectly. This gives me more of an idea of how to overlay photographs without using Photoshop. This has given me more of an insight on physical development and I can now experiment using projection to discover different textures, it will also help me capture some details which may be lost with other techniques, as I want to keep detail and clarity within my photographs.
Artist 1’s comparison -Eva Mueller Eva Mueller also creates projection imagery in her work. Her photographs are also mainly studio based likewise to Davis Ayer and she explores many unique and surreal ideas within her work. With these photographs Eva Mueller uses initial landscape photographs of the outside world and overlays them onto specific body parts on a model, in a studio. Many of Eva Mueller’s ideas seem to focus on the idea of surrealism. Her photographs merge the two images to create the illusion that they are a part of each other. Her images are mainly photo-shopped the give the clean finished affect in contrast to Davis Ayer. The projections completely cover the body parts that she photographed which I feel makes it look a lot more real and affective. I think that the artist’s intentions were to make the human body appear in a different form contrasting to David Ayer where it makes it clear that the body and the projection are two separate things.
Developed.
Katie Heine Heine’s was inspired herself by an artist which unfortunately I couldn’t find. However I feel that her use of patterns and Photoshop skills prove to be really effective and has inspired me to use it within my own work. By the use of overly in particular areas it enhances the colors and has highlighted certain aspects and picked out certain details making them stand out a lot more. The pattern is also very affective as it creates an extra image over the top of her own. There is also a high contrast used within the photograph bringing out the branches in the trees and finding all the little details, giving a strong quality within the photograph.
Landscapes.
Developed.
In my exam preparation I started by making a big mind map of ideas that I could use to prepare for my exam. I then narrowed these down and collected ‘5 starting points’ if I chose to do certain ideas. I was extremely interested in the idea of glass and researched a few artists however I didn’t really find there was much I could do and I didn’t have the right safety materials to use for the project. My next idea was skin, I felt this would’ve been a really good idea as I could link it easily with the theme of inside, outside and in between. My initial idea was to take photographs of a male friend and use then as my model. I asked my model to pose in different ways and used a spotlight to capture the different ones in his skin. I felt this was really effective as the light caught the muscles and created really nice shadows and highlighted certain aspects of the body. I felt this was quite challenging as although I have taken many portrait photographs I was a little out of my comfort zone photographing my model half-naked, although it was a really good experience and made me a lot more confident in taking those sort of photographs. I chose to do a range of different angles and I also took a close up to see the textures in the skin.
To develop these photographs further and portray the theme of ‘Inside, outside and in between’ I wanted to show the inside of the body. I took another set of photographs of a pluck that I had bought form the butchers and using them photographs I use my Photoshop skills to overlay images of the pluck, onto my male model’s body. I felt this was really affective and where the light hit the skin, the overlay images showed a lot of detail and link really well with the initial photographs. My idea 2 for my exam prep I wanted to look at landscapes. I felt this could also really fit in really well with the theme of inside, outside and in between as I could look at the outside environment and look between the objects to find all the details. My initial set of photographs were ones that I took from all different locations that I had visited. Some were from my holiday, a few others were taken from the back of my house and the rest were taken from a nearby park. I chose to take my photographs at these locations as they were all very scenic and had bold bright colours. I felt these were extremely affective and the ones from my holiday contrasted the ones from my area back home as the holiday photographs were very clear and didnt have much things going on within the photographs however the ones I took from from the park and my house were very busy and had a lot of details and objects.
To develop these initial photographs I was inspired by photography student Katie Heine who was inspired by an artist herself. She use Photoshop to create different shapes within the image, distorting it and giving it the look of looking through a kaleidoscope. I felt this was really affective so I used all different shapes and overlays to re- create my photographs in a creative way. I felt that the different overlays enhanced a lot of aspects and details within the photographs making them stand out a lot more. The different symmetrical patterns I felt worked really well and gave a surreal effect. I felt I challenged myself doing this as I had never done it before in my work, I found it interesting using different tools on Photoshop and designing my own patterns to overlay on top of my initial photographs. I believe that this improved my Photoshop skills further for my exam, where I can hopefully use these skills for my exam in the future.
Exam artist This Is Laura Hughes a photography student at the Milwaukee institute of Art and Design. I was really inspired by her work as it shows a lot of technical features that I would like to use within my own work. For my Exam I want to focus on the idea of skin. This photograph I felt fit perfectly with the theme of inside, outside and in between as it shows the outside of the body and what looks like a skeletal x-ray of herself merged within the photograph. The image displays an anatomy of the body while also keeping a really glamorous image with the image of herself. I feel that this is a really good contrast. Also Hughes has edited her photo into black and white which I feel accentuates the skeleton even more so making it stand out as the white contrasts with the black background and features. This has inspired me to use black and white in some of my photographs, especially when I use projection as I feel then it doesn’t look too over powering with all the details and it makes the image more appealing to the eye. I believe this image the artist could have tried to symbolise a persons inner beauty, by showing herself really glammed up and having the inner skeleton appearing out vaguely. I find this particular photograph visually pleasing however it does indicate some fort of symbolism which has inspired me to also use within my Exam.