'D U O'
Finnian Croy This portrait created by Finnian Croy has many visual elements that all work together very well to create a cold, well composed, thoughtful yet desolate image. This is why I like it so much, as for me it has so much feeling yet also so much emptiness to it at the same time. Croy has managed to create an image which is both very contemplative and vacant simultaneously. There is so much space here which creates this emptiness, yet Croy looks as if he may be in exsitential thought. This makes the image both small and big, as the visuals are very gentle and sparse, yet the idea behind the image is left very largely open. Even though it is a portrait the subject is not directly in the middle of the image, this is something that I first noticed when I saw this piece at the Saatchi. He is slighthly to the left and the middle of the image remains empty. This could suggest an almost dismissive feeling towards the subject, maybe he feels he does not deserve or want to be in the middle, maybe he does not like the attention or focus being directly on him, so instead he replaced his spot with an inanimate object. |
'T H E H O N E Y M O O N S U I T E' Juno Calypso Calypso's 'The Honeymoon Suite' is a performance piece created in a very typical tacky looking honeymoon motel suite. The video shows her looking at herself in several mirrors, she is alone even though she is in a honeymoon suite. This to me says self love and self approval, as if she is married to and in love with herself in this piece. The artist herself has said he uses her character 'Joyce' to 'reenact the private underlife of a woman consumed by the laboured construct of femininity, carried out to the point of ritualized absurdity.' |
This piece by Samuel Fosso is a series in which he took six hundred and sixty six large format polaroid self portraits in quick succession. A selection of these were displayed around one room when I saw this piece at the National Portrait gallery. The photographs had a whole room of their own. When I first saw these pictures I thought that they were all prints of the same picture. However, as I got closer and began to analyse the images more, I started to see his expression change overtime very slightly as if I was flicking through a flipbook and watching an animation. It kind of felt as if the pictures were moving. I also loved how rich and detailed the prints were and the fact that they were done with film, as I really like the colour and look of polaroid pictures.
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I M A G E A N A L Y S I S
This image feels very soft to me, everything about it seems so gentle and special. Her hair, the suede car seat, the way that she is gently touching the other person's face and their noses are both gently brushing, is all so soft. The glow of the lighting around them also adds an ethereal feel to the image, it seems innocent to me. Both people in this image feel as if they are holding back in a way, as if this is new for them or the first time kissing the other person. Collins has captured these few seconds just before they kiss and portray their feelings visually at such an emotional and intimate time. This moment could have been very short and she managed to capture it perfectly. Timing here is also seems to be another huge and crucial element.
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The images that I took using flash came out a lot more sharp, contrasted, detailed and vibrant. I liked the look of some of them, however this was not what I was aiming to create. I had ideas for softer, more dreamy and hazy looking photos that were not so harsh. Originally I started off using flash as I thought it would be more suitable due to us being in an environment with low lighting. After the first few images were taken and I didn't really like them, I decided to start shooting without flash as I thought it might create the effect I had in mind. Not using flash made my images so much softer and gave them the opportunity to blur more and create a more abstract image that was not so clear as to what it was of. I like creating photos that take some time to figure out what they are, as I find the camera's
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Here you can see how the camera lightens the image slightly and fades out the colours as it tries to compensate for the light missing when the photo was shot. This creates a slightly less saturated image and makes the colours appear more ghostly and less rich than they are in real life. Even though you are advised to use flash in environments that do not have a lot of light in them to keep detail and colour, I actually preferred shooting without flash. I think this was because I liked how the image appeared when it was softer and faded, it resembles an image shot on film and I really like the look of film photography. I also liked how the colours blended into each other more and were less harsh. This made it easier for them to merge and |
After I had exhibited my work and finished creating my images, I decided to scan them in to create better quality images which would be much better for editing. I also prefer having my work in different forms and making different variations of my pieces to explore different outcomes. I think that creating various different outcomes, writing and explaining my ideas and thought processes allows me to explore my own thoughts in depth and make sure that I keep track of all of my ideas. It also allows me to refine my ideas more so that I can choose the outcome that I like the most and use the best possible one. Using different resources and materials to create these outcomes builds my knowledge and understanding of different methods and techniques within photography and art. |