What is beauty image analysis.
Victoria Baldwin Image Analysis FASH20031
the age of beauty.
The subject of true beauty is one that has been discussed throughout history and many generations have varied thoughts of what true beauty is. While it can be fairly debated that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder� (Anon), is it accurate to say when personal health is threatened striving to achieve perfection, that it becomes no longer just a matter of opinion? I believe the concept of real beauty is part of a much larger issue, such as the ever-present problem of discrimination, especially when it comes to race, religion and different cultures around the world. What westernized countries perceive to be beauty is exceedingly different from eastern and less developed cultures. Discrimination is also very prominent when it comes to the ever-widening generation gap. Is it fair to say the majority of today’s society appear to have an incredibly warped view of real beauty and if so why are those opinions of real beauty so extreme and constricted? Why is our outlook on beauty so limited and why do we not celebrate diversity more?
A great deal of thought went into how we visualized the final piece in its finished form. We considered the appearance of the editorial bearing in mind the aesthetic tone and standard of the magazine we desired the editorial to be published in. We knew we wanted to produce something original, something that wasn’t generic and done countless times before. Our idea was to create a Images which juxtaposed generations against each other. This initial idea in turn generated the idea of using our grandparents and ourselves in the photographs. This is meant that the project then become even more personal to us.
In an attempt to make our own small difference and tackle these questions, we attached ourselves to the social issue of ‘ageism.’ Our initiative was to understand the fear of ageing and why so many try to turn back the time on their looks. Furthermore we sought to understand why ageing is more than often seen as something negative instead of what it is in it’s sincerest form, a naturally beautiful process of life. By producing these editorial style photographs we hope to break the generation barrier and make others aware beauty doesn’t necessarily fade with age.
Understanding the prominent generation cap in today’s society was a key part of this project. We needed to appreciate the older generation, their values and how they perceived real beauty in contrast to our generation now. Back when our grandparents were young, programs such as Photoshop didn’t exist. Images couldn’t be edited and changed using clever computer software, which meant their generation didnt have access to the kind of advertising we do in this day and age. This therefore meant they would have had a clearer vision of real beauty and real woman, as models couldnt me edited into the perfectionist ideals they are today.
‘Our Initiative was to understand the fear of ageing and why so many try to turn back the time on their looks.’
Instead their generation praised woman like Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor. Perfection was less of an issue and womans bodies were more natural and healthy, which is a far cry from models and brand ambassadors used in the industry now. Through thorough research we found great contextual and artist references including artists such as Jonathon Stezaker whose work reflected a similar use of composition and layout we wanted to produce in our photographs. During the postproduction stage we played with the idea of editing our images like our grandparents, using grain, noise and sepia tools on Adobe Photoshop. We were pleasantly surprised when collaging the images together taking inspiration from John Stezaker that we found how truly similar we are to our grandparents. It was humbling to see how although our generations are worlds apart in terms of technology, politics and religious views, that our looks are still the same, our facial features and character have been carried through generations. Although our grandparents may not look exactly how they did in these photographs, as their skin might be wrinkled, their hair may have grayed, however they still have their nose, their same eyes, mouth, and cheekbones. We believe the images we have produced capture beauty as something timeless.
John Stezaker Stezaker is a conceptual artist. He uses pre existing photographs collaging them with other images to create a surreal tone in his work. By using this technique, he produces a new face out of two different ones. This is an idea that as a group we thought would look very affective for our final editorial. Therefore we decided to take old images of our grandparents and juxtapose them against our own faces.
Through the use of collage, ripping and scanning techniques we created a new image of ourselves and our grandparents as one. We liked the roughness of the rip across the face and thought it helped towards the aged and dusty aestetic we wanted to produce in the editorial.
Our publication of choice? Well the gentlewoman of course.
Choosing a publication for our editorial was one of the best parts of the project and as soon as we had our idea the choice became so simple. The tone of the editorial we feel fits perfectly into the gentlewoman. ‘Like the woman of today, the magazine is made of substance, is practical and fearless, and respects womanhood.’ (unique magazines, 2013) which is exactly how we feel about this project! our aim was to celebrate diversity, generations, being fearless and standing up to decrimination.
We’d like to think the gentlewoman holds a lot of similar values as our grandparents which is why our kind of editorial would fit in. We feel although the magazine is modern, it’s values and ethics are traditional, the magazine celebrates real hard working self made woman. The compostion and aestetic of our editorial also fits very well into the tone of the magazine, simple but affective we believe we have created images that speak volumes, they show a story of generations and true beauty.
xx A Man of the Age. The rarest individuals depend on their age. It is not every one that finds the age he deserves, and even when he finds it he does not always know how to utilise it. Some men have been worthy of a better century, for every species of good does not always triumph. Things have their period; even excellences are subject to fashion. The sage has one advantage: he is immortal, if this is not his century many other will be.
Referencing Quote 1 - Anon, Ancient Greece Quote 2 - Unique magazine, 2013, http://www.uniquemagazines.co.uk/ magazine-subscriptions-349164/Subscribe-To-The-Gentle-Woman-MagazineMagazine-Subscription Quote 3 - The Age of Man, Anon, http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/aww/ aww10.htm