Self Evaluation

I believe I am well aware by the issues raised within my Environment Unit, that the concept of litter on the streets can symbolise human interaction on the landscape and something that’s seen as ugly in the environment, can create an interesting image by the way it’s randomly placed. My object unit is seen as more of a personal issue, but is widely common and the research that took place during my project enabled me to be well aware about the issues behind the theme of Child Abuse. For the object, the reasons behind my photographic choices were basically dependant on how I want the viewer to feel when looking at my final photograph, I wanted the photo to be hard-hitting as the topic I chose is quite deep and moving. I therefore decided on using a dark background and have the objects lit from the side, creating shadows and making the image darker. I believe the china doll in the photo is particularly moving and completely represents the theme of Child Abuse. I think my visual choices translate the theme of child abuse successfully, as the contrast between the wine, doll and broken glass symbolise a child that’s obviously broken by alcohol, and the way in which I chose to photograph the objects also translate the theme by being quite dark and eerie. For The Environment, my photographic choices weren’t as obvious as I wanted the photos to be more random and I didn’t want to plan what to photograph before the shoot as I wanted the litter I found to be obviously random. I think my visual choices translate the theme of litter well because the rubbish seen in the photographs look randomly placed, they completely change the way the environment is viewed. I have managed my studies for these projects by trying to do a lot of research from the very beginning to inspire me with an idea from an early stage. The most significant challenge I found was trying to find the balance of work for both units and doing equal amounts of work, which I definitely found difficult as my idea for The Object unit came to me a lot quicker than my idea for The Environment. Another problem I found was the actual shooting and printing of the projects as this is where I really struggled, but have learnt for next time to do more testing and shooting early on so it wasn’t done as last minute.

The Environment: Critical Appraisal

‘The Environment’

I came up with my idea for The Environment project, simply by walking round the Chatham and Rochester area, trying to see if anything interested/inspired/annoyed me. Especially in the Chatham area, I noticed a lot of littering, especially the dumping of random items such as trolleys, sofa's and all sorts. I decided it would be interesting to maybe photograph objects in the environment, positioned in interesting ways. I thought the concept of 'human intervention on the landscape' could be something to work on. To look at, and experiment how humans can change the way the environment is perceived without really noticing. I plan on photographing dumped items exactly how they were left, that way the idea of human intervention is evident.

First of all I looked at the photographer Richard Wentworth:

Richard Wentworth creates a series of photographs, based on the litter he finds placed down Caledonian Road in London. When researching this series I was completely inspired by the way a random object placed in an interesting way can change completely what the environment. Usually, litters seen as something disgusting and accidental. Wentworth photographs the objects in a way that they are interesting for the viewer and are the main focus rather than the environment.

  In comparison to the work of Richard Wentworth, Roger Mears' photographs of litter in the environment are on a much larger scale, I believe he's trying to show in his photograph how litter can ruin a landscape, the human intervention turns something that’s stereotypically beautiful into something abstract. I find this concept fascinating, how something so ordinary like rubbish found on the street can look completely different when added to a beautiful landscape.

Development: Comparing these two photographers enabled me to develop my idea, the two photographs inspired me to create a final image including litter that had been placed in a landscape and to therefore create an interesting final image.

The Object: Critical Appraisal

‘The Object’

For ‘The Object’ project, the concept behind my idea was based on a personal story, something I feel passionate about. I wanted to be able to connect with the project to hopefully have a more successful outcome as the objects in the photograph represented something important to me. The story behind the project was based on a friend of mine who had a rough childhood, who was abused by her mother who was an alcoholic. I began my research by not only looking into her story, but doing some research on other people’s abuse stories, hoping to inspire me with ideas for objects to use for the final image. I did some research by looking at some shocking statistics online about child abuse:

After this research I decided to do some brainstorming on what sort of objects I wanted to include in my final image. My initial thought was to obviously use some sort of alcohol, representing the main concept behind the idea. Then wanted to have another object that completely contrasted what the alcohol represented. My immediate reaction was to use something that stereotypically represented a child; therefore, I decided to experiment with toys.

I did some test photos with a teddy bear, basically experimenting with the way you can manipulate the toy to look abandoned and alone but changing the composition, lighting and positioning. I then looked at a couple of photographers who also took photos of toys and represented them in different ways.

 

I first of all looked at a photographer called Brian McCarty, who specialised in taking photographs of toys. What I found interesting was the way Brian tried to represent the toys as having personality, and creating a story around them. An idea which inspired me to create a story around a toy, creating the sense for the viewer that the toy symbolises the child behind the image.

Another Photographer I looked at was Louise Daddona who photographed a broken china doll. This photograph completely inspired me and let to my decision of using a china doll for my final photograph. A doll’s much more delicate and child-like, therefore its hard hitting for the viewer when the doll’s deformed and to me completely symbolises the theme of child abuse.

Research on China Dolls then led me to the surrealist photographer Hans Bellmer, his photographs represent mutilated pubescent dolls, creating an eerie effect. The dismantling of the dolls has an effect on the viewer, the kind of effect I want to achieve from my final image.

Roger Mear

In comparison to the work of Richard Wentworth, Roger Mears' photographs of litter in the environment are on a much larger scale, I believe he's trying to show in his photograph how litter can ruin a landscape, the human intervention turns something thats stereotypically beautiful into something abstract. I find this concept fascinating, how something so ordinary like rubbish found on the street can look completely different when added to a beautiful landscape.

This photograph has definately inspired me for this project, it's intresting how he can make an image still be captivating even though the contexts isn't stereotypically attractive. A decision I now need to make is whether I want to represent litter on the streets to be something attractive or the complete opposite? Personally, I find litter on the streets frustrating and an issue I'm definately passionate about. However, in terms of art, theres something captivating about how litter can be randomly placed, yet transformed into an interesting photograph..

Richard Wentworth

'View of streets we never see'....

Richard Wentworth creates a series of photographs, based on the litter he finds placed down Caledonian Road in London. When researching this series I was completely inspired by the way a random object placed in an interesting way can change completely what the environment. Usually, litters seen as something disgusting and accidentle. Wentworth photographs the objects in a way that they are

interesting for the viewer and are the main focus rather than the environment.

'Here is a London you have never seen before, an aerial panorama that moves from the graceful arches of King's Cross Station (that elegant, under-appreciated classical gem) to the wasteland north of the terminal, where thundering cranes, derricks and earth-movers are carving out the new channel tunnel link - revealing, as they do so, a row of splendidly Dickensian warehouses, blackened hulks left over from the age of the railways that I, for one, never realised were there.' Richard Dorment - The Telegraph

Environment Idea.

I came up with my idea for The Environment project, simply by walking round the Chatham and Rochester area, trying to see if anything interested/inspired/annoyed me. Especially in the Chatham area, I noticed a lot of littering, especially the dumping of random items such as trolleys, sofa's and all sorts. I decided it would be interesting to maybe photograph objects in the environment, positioned in interesting ways.

I thought the concept of 'human intervention on the landscape' could be something to work on. To look at, and experiment how humans can change the way the environment is perceived without really noticing. I plan on photographing dumped items exactly how they were left, that way the idea of human intervention is evident.

I plan on doing some research on photographers that have taken photographs of litter or something similar to my idea, to maybe be further inspired and to gain more knowledge on how to plan my shoot.

Hans Bellmer

Hans Bellmer is a well known german artist who made life-size pubescent female dolls, he was considered a surrealist photographer. Bellmer's doll project is also said to have been catalysed by a series of events in his personal life, including meeting a beautiful teenage cousin in 1932 (and perhaps other unattainable beauties), attending a performance of Jacques Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann (in which a man falls tragically in love with an automaton), and receiving a box of his old toys. After these events, he began to actually construct his first dolls. In his works, Bellmer explicitly sexualized the doll as a young girl. The dolls incorporated the principle of "ball joint" , which was inspired by a pair of sixteenth-century articulated wooden dolls in the Kaiser Friedrich museum.

I found Bellmer's work extremely interesting and very relevant to my project. He experiments in ways to manipulate how a doll can be representing, by changing the composition and theme of the image the doll is seen as something more eerie and sexualised, something that cause alot of controversy in the time of his work. Bellmer created dolls with fragmented bodies that could be dismantled in different ways. His images usually portrayed death and decay, and more interestingly, abuse and longing. 


"The fetishising of body parts and fragmentation of the sexual form ignored the constraints of physical actuality. ...Bellmer's sense of taboo lay not in what convention condemned but what was hidden in the darkness of the psyche (where it is far from safe). Bellmer's psychological confrontation and violence may constitute a spiritual jolt that liberates from habit and known codings. He dragged terrible desires out of the darkness and into cognition so that we could assimilate the full reality of our passions and the content of evil in them. How else were we to transcend them (in whatever way we ought) if not by first knowing them?"

Shooting

Final Idea

After researching different artist, toys and stories. My final idea is using the objects: China doll, Bottle of Red wine and a glass. The three objects are to represent the child and the reason behind the abuse. I want to image to have an eerie haunting feel about it yet also for the viewer to feel sympathetic towards the doll. In order to create the theme of child abuse, I want the image to include the glass broken and the doll cracked and dirty, as if portraying the child. I want the background to be matte black, to create a dark effect and also so that the only focus is on the objects. During the shoot I will experiment with composition to try and find the best way for the doll to look child like and dependant on the bottle of wine, maybe leaning or laying on it. I want the broken glass to represent 'a broken home' and the china doll to represent 'the china doll of the family.'

China Dolls

Photography by Louise Daddona

I found this image of a china doll immediately very disturbing. The dead-pan expression on the dolls face is particularly moving as the massive crack down her face is clearly obvious. The clear pale texture of the doll in comparison to the matte black background is very effective as the doll is in complete focus and
the only thing the viewer is made to look at, making the image quite uncomfortable and full-on.

I think using a china doll is perfect sybolism of child abuse. The doll represents something very innocent and calming and when broken and taken out of context theres something very eerie and sad about the whole image.

Deeper research into the story behind my idea.

I decided to talk to my friend more about her personal experience, the more I knew about her childhood, the more I could put myself in her position and hopefully have a more believabe outcome. She spoke about how her mother used to abuse her due to alcohol and she'd had this sort of childhood every since she was born so never knew any different, it wasn't until she grew up she realised out wrong it was. Something intresting which she said was 'I was the china doll in my family....'
     This was the exact inspiration I needed without even asking her about my idea about toys, the term china doll, to her, meant that she was treated like a doll and not like a child. The china doll idea immediately inspired me with lots of ideas in which I could do further research into.

Brian McCarty - toy photographer.

Brian McCarty is a Memphis-born toy photographer and director/producer. Working with toys for over 15 years, McCarty’s unique and innovative vision has attracted a huge international following. His postmodern integration of concept and character has earned McCarty’s photography a prominent position in the growing Urban Vinyl / Art-Toy movement, popularized by fellow artists such as Takashi Murakami and Brian "KAWS" Donnelly. McCarty is featured in several books chronicling the artistic movement such as Vinyl Will Kill, Dot Dot Dash, and Toys: New Designs from the Art-Toy Revolution.

In Brian McCarty's toy photographs, he aims to give each toy a personality, create an image around that toys story and make the story obvious within how his composes his image. As part of my research I think it would help alot in the process of my own project to analyse some of his images and try to understand how he created each story, in able for me to create my own beleivable child abuse story using a toy.



In this image it's clear the photographer used the weather to create a story around the toy. There is life created for the toy with how the scarf is moving in the wind, giving a sense of movement in the photograph creating a life for the toy. The dark grey colours in the sky relates to the grey tones of shadow on the toy, giving the toy a personality which links with the weather. The angle of the camera creates a sense that the toy is more superior than the viewer by using visual hierarchy, also making the toy look taller than the mountains creating a powerful image, however the grass around the toy shows reality and that the toy is actually very small.



This photograph is slightly different to the first one as there are also humans in this photograph. Again, the low angle of the photograph creates the impression the toy is the same height as the humans, creating a more realistic feel. The positioning of the toy and the expression on her face creates sympathy towards her from the viewer. The dark clothing of the humans aroung her and the bright white sky creates and overall sadness about the image, mirroring the emotions of the toy.

Abandoned Toys Research

I've decided to do some more research into how toys can be represented in photographs. In particular, I want to look at abandoned toys and how photographers create an image with the toy creating a feeling of being lost and abandoned, a feeling I want my viewer to feel when looking at my own final image...


In this photograph it shows an abandoned teddy bear sitting alone on a step. The simplicity within the composition and positioning of the bear instantly creates the feeling of being lost and alone, the bear in my opinion is instantly given a personality and to me looks sad, making the image quite powerful yet in a simple way. The burnt orange colour of the bear in contrast to the dirty white step is very effective and the composition using the rule of thirds is simple and effective also.

 

In the first image, the hard grainy surface of the pavement in contrast to the fluffy toy creates an intresting juxtoposition of both textures in the image. The black and white effect immediately makes the image more dull, the grey relates to the dirt on the animal and makes it more visable. The placing of the animal in contrast to the open space around it makes it have a more abandoned feel about it and again creates a sad image.

The second image is different in comparison to the first two as there are other objects in the image. The toy seems to blend in with the leaves in contrast to the dark ground, given the sense that the toy no longer has a personality yet is just decoration on a pavement.

Notes from The Object review tutorial.

• Need to make a decision whether I want the teddy bear to be symbolism of the child, therefore the teddy itself is abused like a child would be, Or is the teddy representing the comfort a child needs?
• Maybe try focussing on the story more and maybe include some sort of alcohol in the photograph, experiment with how it can relate to the teddy in terms of composition.
• Research more into child abuse stories for inspiration.
• Experiment with types of lighting.
• Maybe experiment with more toys other than a teddy bear. Research into how different toys are represented in the media.
• Be more specific to the personal story I'm basing the image on, speak to her about her childhood toys and see if any ideas come from that.
• Decide what effect I want on the viewer from the image. Do I want it to be Disturbing? Uncomfortable? or Sad?

The Environment: Brief

 1. Submit a photograph that pastiches one of below images. You must imitate the photographic language of the image by researching and reproducing compositional form, camera setting, lighting conditions, depth-of-field, scale. Your work should recreate the aesthetic and feeling/mood of your chosen image. Your image is a reconstruction of the visual style of the chosen reference image.

2. You are also required to submit a set of images (minimum of three) based upon your personal conceptual approach to representing the landscape. Drawing upon the knowledge of your references, you must formulate your own visual choices to best reflect how you wish to represent the landscape. There may be political aspects you may wish to consider, or investigate the relationship between human intervention upon nature, or there may be ideas of the 'cultured' landscape that interest you. Whatever are you wish to work, it is paramount to consider the relationship between your visual strategy and how that affects the representation of the landscape.

Environment: Deconstructing Photographers.

We were set a task to select one contemporary environmental photography and closely analyse and compare 3 of thier images. When researching each photographer given, I came to the final decision of looking at Elina Brotherus to do my research on, simply because I personally found her images the most interesting and were drawn to them, therefore eager to do further research into her concepts.



Model Study 9, 2004

To start with, I looked at a self-portrait Elina did of herself. It appears she is sitting on wooden decking looking over a lake as the sun is setting. Theres something about the bright white sky reflecting off the lake which makes this photograph very pure, which I believe is how she's trying to represent herself. Elina is naked in the photograph, again creating a naturalistic pure portrayal of herself as the detail in her spine and her posture creates a sense of fragility. The trees in the background are out of focus, putting even more attention on Elina herself in the centre of the image.



Green Lake, 2007

Its the colours in this image that strike me at first in comparison to the first image. The green in the photo creates a completely different tone to the bright white in the first one. It seems the boy in the foreground of the image is much younger than the man in the background, showing that Elina here had focussed on a visual hierarchy as the young boy looks larger than the older man. The reflections in the water create a sort of 'dream-like' setting, making the environment un-clear at first glance.



Der Wanderer III, 2004

Last but not least, I researched another self-portrait by Elina. Similar to the first image, she has put herself in the centre, putting all the viewers attention on her figure straight away. However, I believe Elina has tryed to portray herself in a different way here, here the visual hierarchy is evident and her strong figure and dark clothing makes her look more of a strong woman rather than pure and fragile. The coat in contrast to the white back ground adds even more attention to her figure, and the height of where she is standing gives her a heroic sense.

Further Research - Objects for still-life.

The next step I decided to take was to look into what objects I want to use for the still life photograph. As I'm doing the theme of Child abuse, I don't want the photograph to be obvious and cliche, I want the viewer to be engaged by the photograph yet the message not be clear at first.

When thinking about my personal childhood and memories, I became attatched to certain things such as personal toys and teddys. The beauty of children is the way there imagination can turn any object into something so different and how a simple toy can become something so real and with it's own story. A teddy bear is an obvious representation of children so i decided to experiment with that idea:

I did a simple experiment with my camera and a teddy bear, I've tried to show how a simple object can be manipulated by the surroundings, lighting and angle. The first photo is a simple shot, brightly lit with vibrant surroundings. The teddy is therefore veiwed as it was intended to be, a fun cuddly toy used by children in a bedroom. However, when the settings taken away, the lightings more harsh and a visual hierarchy is obvious like in the second photograph, the teddy bear takes on a different persona and the perspective is completely different.

Obviously this was only a quick experiment but it's basically some simple trial and error to try and work out how my still-life's eventually going to look. My idea is basically to create a still life of childrens toys yet to manipulate that with the lighting and angle to create a deeper more frightening veiw on the objects.

Further Research (Child Abuse)

• It's estimated that at least one child dies every week in England and Wales as a result of physical abuse. Babies are particularly vulnerable and are five times more likely to be killed than all other ages.
• Approximately 30,000 children are currently on child protection registers. A child's name is placed on the register when health or social services staff are concerned that the child's at risk of abuse.
• Eight out of ten young people who've experienced physical abuse have also seen violence between their parents and carers.

Taken from the BBC news.

Thoughts...

When first given The Object brief, I was worried about the fact the actual idea of presenting a political message through an image was such a wide prospect that it would be difficult for me to simply pick one topic that interests me. I decided to start by reading newspapers and watching the news, simply so I could take note about what most engaged me and hopefully flicker some sort of inspiration. Of course, hard-hitting stories in the paper immediately caught my attention yet none of the topics felt right for me. I decided to do something more personal, the only way I'd be able to deliver a succesful political message through an image is if that I was able to relate to it in some how. I decided to stop looking at such wide media and focus more on my own personal ideas, a story thats personal to me would hopefully create a more succesful outcome...

The story I decided to look into and do more research on was based on a friend of mine who had a tough childhood. The story basically involves a single mum turning to alcohol and drugs and mistreating her child. Although I can't relate to my friends story, I've seen the damage its done to her which makes me feel so strongly about the subject that it feels right to base my project on the issue of abused children..

The Object: Research 2

William Eggleston, Tricycle, Memphis 1969-71

In comparison to the photography by Laura Letinsky, this still-life photograph has a clear visual hierarchy creating the impression that the viewer is looking uo and the tricycle, giving it a more herioc symbol. Also the setting gives the scene a more urban vibe rather than Laura's photographs which are more studio based with a white background. William Eggleston choice this still-life as part of a them of putting something uncommon in a common place - something intresting to think about when doing my own still-life. The photography particularly caught my eye as it's in colour, which is what my still-life also needs to be on so with further research into the photograph hopefully can build up more ideas of my final image.

The Object: Research

Laura Letinsky, from Hardly More Than Ever, 2002

This photographer was an example given when we first recieved our project, I was immediately drawn the unknown message in this photograph so thought I'd do some research on the whole series. Laura Letinsky's intrested in the subject of 'home', and how the particular space in constructed. She focusses on how 'the home' is supposed to represent who you are, yet also shows decisions you unconsciously make.

“The camera contextualizes visual information through a monocular lens; we ourselves do not really see photographically. Photographic space is a creation, a transcription. When you exclude information, reframing what you’re seeing through the camera, you see it in ways you couldn’t see without the camera.”

“Home seems a normal place, but look at all the work that goes into it. It’s not a natural space. I’m interested in that paradox about this home that’s supposedly organic and natural, that ‘just happens’ to be there, as opposed to all the work that goes into sustaining that idea in reality. It’s an uneasy space. If it’s true that the personal is political, rather than dealing with overtly political concerns, I’m seeing the home as a very politicized space.”

The Object: Brief

"Taking inspiration from the history of art and using a visual approach, employed in traditional still-life painting, construct a photograph based upon a current social issue. It is your chance to produce an individual comment or opinion through the objects in your still life. Construct a meaningful phototgraph through research and careful use of objects."

- Format must be 5x4 Large-Format.
- Final Colour - 'C-Type' analogue print.
- Contact sheets from the shoot.

Summer Project.

So after all my rambling, finally a real entry thats not just me chatting away. This is my Summer Project, the first of many I'm guessing, the process was a lot harder and time-consuming that I originally thought when reading the project. Anyway, Hi, I'm Alex..

The image as a whole, represents my love for clothes. A passion thats been with me from a young age, fashion has always played a major part in my life, through working in retail and through my photography, it always pops up somehow. As well as the fact my life is based around buying too many clothes, it's an unhealthy addiction.

The three pairs of shoes in the photograph not only show the obvious fact that I love shoes, but represent three different sides to my personality I suppose. Converse; the laid back side to me. I suppose I'm one of those people 'without a care in the world.' Heels; the 'party girl' side, I love any opportunity to get dolled up with friends, I suppose they're symbolic to the more daring and out-going side. And last of all, the ballet shoes. Ballet's been a part of me since a young child, the shoes represent a passionate side to me and also maybe me trying to keep hold of my innocence?

The three bottles in the photograph represent my age. As I've only just turned 18, the alcohol represents me growing up and being given new opportunites. The candle represents the love I feel towards my friends and family, me being the 'light' in there lives. A candle, in order to fulfill itself, must burn itself out. If a candle is never lit, it never fulfills it's purpose.

Research.

Jeff Wall - 'The Destroyed Room'



Inspired by The Death of Sardanapalus (1827) by Eugène Delacroix, which depicts the Assyrian monarch on his deathbed, commanding the destruction of his possessions and slaughter of his concubines in a last act of defiance against invading armies.
       There is an obvious sense that the photograph has been staged,  'Through the door you can see that it's only a set held up by supports, that this is not a real space, this is no-one's house,' he has commented. It's evident that the photograph shows a womens bedroom, but the reason as to why it's in the state it's in is un-clear, leaving the viewer wondering how the situation came about. The photograph is obviously constructed with a synthetic ordering, creating an almost theatrical feel.

Sophie Calle - 'The Birthday Ceremony'



'The Birthday Ceremony is her first major sculptural installation and it has been conceived especially for Art Now 14. Although made in 1998 the work has its origins in the years 1980 to 1993 when Calle invented and sustained a series of private and shared rituals around her birthday. These are now manifest as art, demonstrating how closely her life and her art are intertwined. Over this fourteen-year period, aside from the occasional year of disruption, Calle held an annual dinner party on the evening (or around the time) of her birthday. To each celebration she invited a group of friends and relatives, the precise number of invitees corresponding to the number of years of her age, with one additional, anonymous guest nominated by a chosen guest, in order to symbolise the unknown of her future. Calle initiated these dinner parties to ensure that her birthday was remembered each year. They were the most ambitious of a series of rituals Calle had invented to override an obsessive insecurity she experienced in early adulthood. The guests brought gifts, tokens of love and affection, and these Calle displayed in a glass-fronted cabinet, as a constant reminder of this affection. At the end of the year the objects were boxed up and put away, their places taken by the gifts of another birthday dinner party. At stressful moments over the years Calle was able to unpack the boxes and reassure herself of her networks of support.'

Further thoughts....

Ok, So I think I'm over-thinking this summer project. As much as I've tried to stay away from the cliche image of sticking aload of my things together and taking a photo, If I can find a way to create a deeper meaning within the photo and use the objects as symbolism to not only show my hobbies and intrests but also what kind of person I am, then I'm surely going in the right direction to creating a succesful still life image? Just a thought.....

Summer Project thoughts..

So, when first recieving the Summer Project, what first came to mind was to create a stereotypical still life image of things that represent me - the standard camera, ipod, favourite book, favourite shoes etc. Not only is this such an obvious choice, when thinking about it, it didn't really show what kind of person I am, just showed my favourite things. I wanted my image to have more of a deeper meaning, show the kind of person I am in a less obvious way. Of course, this is easier said than done.
         I decided to go back to basics with the term 'still life' which to me simply meant, 'capturing your life in a still image.' When looking at still-life by artists such as Anne Vallayer-Coster and Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, it's clear that when doing still-life, the main focus is on symbolism. I needed to find a way to represent myself through an object by using symbolism. Again, this is easier said than done.