Intimate Stills
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- PART 1, ISSUE 1 -
”Don’t need prophets or preachers to make sense of the signs, when the buried and hidden can be seen by the blind”. From Eclipse , by one of my musical icons: Robyn. Extract from Robyn was here.
I ntimate S tills
Created by Thomas C. Stevens All photography made during the minor: Visual Culture, unless specifically mentioned. To find out more about the author of this Personal Book, visit:
www.issuu.com/thomascoulier.
Image above, courtesy of Another Magazine Issue 17
Introduction
An insight as to why & how this book was made.
Boy meets lens
This first chapter focuses on Photography Week& the accompanying end-photo. It shows you how I got to know the camera and where I’ve drawn my inspiration from.
A case of chlamedia
During these weeks I’ve decided to investigate Occultism as my Fashion Fascination and started to realize I didn’t have to take the term too literal.
Things get personal
By this time I’ve started to get more acquainted to my camera’s features, as well as to take a more personal approach to the images I’m producing. By trying to find the right balance between ‘random’and ‘staged’, I tried to create images with a meaning.
Over before you know it
This final chapter contains an essay as well as photographic experiments, all leading up to the last assignment; the Storybook.
This Personal Book is not only intended as an opportunity to present all the work I made during this Minor: Visual Culture. To me, it has always been of vital importance to create something personal; a sneak peak behind my slightly deranged brain. Something that instantly gives off a whiff of who I am, and thus of what I can bring to the table as a Fashion Professional. The challenge of creating this book, is to not only show pieces I’m proud of, or things that aesthetically look amazing, but to be able to show some of the process I went through. To visualise how I exactly came to my final results. NOTE: If you take a closer look at the wallpaper I used to have in my bedroom when I was about 12, you will recognize it´s significant inspiration further along this book.
This part will feature as much of my own work as possible. Hence, this book is called Intimate Stills, since part two will focus on film. Should you get the feeling the author of this book was somewhat schizophrenic, then my mission is accomplished. The idea was to incorporate my messy, chaotic nature into a sleek, professional-looking product , clearly in line with my chosen Fashion Fascination.
i
ntroduction A wee boy in size, but with deep & dark thoughts. All scary scenario´s, and thickening plots. Fear as a mentor, a teacher, a friend. For when darkness has faded, has come to an end. This wee boy shall rise up, immune to all pain. Knowing one day, dear reader, my name shall remain.
B
oy meets lens
This first chapter consists of imagery shot during photography week, the initial orientation of this semester. You will see that in this process I started off taking slightly generic images; pictures that look pretty when assembled together. For me, it was a way of getting to know the camera’s tricks, though I was TAKING pictures, not MAKING them. We also hadn’t chosen our Fashion Fascination yet, though I was already thinking about taking a somewhat sinister route.
I came upon this text on some bladdered wall and it became one of my favorites. Not only could I relate to it because of my sexuality as well as an amateur-photographer. I wanted to experiment but didn’t really know how to.
This is exactly what I mean when I say an assembly of generic images can look aesthetically pleasing, yet leave you rather empty. They’re not exactly evoking something, though I can think of multiple stories and scenario’s behind them. Bottom left and right image shot in Berlin, the rest in and around Amsterdam.
U
- Being a rock star is like being a cult leader, you really have to be in your own religion Courtney Love
Image left, courtesy of INDIE Magazine Issue 23
I´ve always preferred thrillers, whether in movies or in literature. Naturally, that is where my visual references are drawn from. In this spread, I was obviously inspired by the Master of Suspense: Alfred Hitchcock. A few of my favorite movies include Psycho, Vertigo, Dial M for Murder & Rear Window.
Inspiration
Inspiration
Alfred H itchcock Claude C habrol Jean-P ierre J eunet Guy B ourdin Michael Haneke
Brian de P alma Gaspar NoĂŠ
l
´ivresse du pouvoir And so the final end-result for photography week, here on your left, is called L’ivresse du Pouvoir; a name I ‘borrowed’ from one of my favorite films by Claude Chabrol. Translated, it means something along the lines of The Rush of Power. Somehow I found the name appropriate, since the image is a mixture of accidental and deliberate. It almost appears as if someone is stuck under thawing ice, or is the hand reaching out from the other side? This unnerving and confusing feeling is something that I find endlessly fascinating.
A
case of chlamedia
After photo week I started contemplating my fashion fascination. I started with skin, went on to leather and got stuck at morbidity. What is it that really intrigues me? I’ve always been fascinated with occultism, yet didn’t want to end up with an historical overview of cults and accompanying rules and rituals. When I found this old, broken television it suddenly hit me. I’m fascinated with popular culture, I AM popular culture. A created identity, a fusion of high and low-brow, pastiche meets bricolage. And, more importantly, the influence media has on this process. “TV as a modern day prophet.” This became the staring point for the first assignment; creating an emotions-poster.
{ Medea meets Media }
A ll tangled Up
The Experiment
Despite everything seeming to be wire-less these days, we’re still drowning in wires, plugs etc. With this notion I started taking pictures. The images above and left were inspired by those Indian snake charmers. On the next few pages you’ll find some examples of the experiments I did with the wires.
Image this page, courtesy of ZOO Magazine Issue 23
The Attack of the Evil Glowing Toilet. - Inspired by Requiem of a Dream -
My aim with this experiment was to visualize the invasion and/or intrusion of all this wired machinery through intimate everyday activities.
*No homosexuals were burnt, electrocuted or hurt in any other way but voluntary.
E
motions poster The aim of the emotions poster was to portray six different emotions. Painting a happy face on the TV wouldn’t suffice. I also tried to avoid using black & white images because it is much easier to create cohesion on a whole that way, and I wanted each image to stand on its own.
T
hings get personal
And a little bit dirty. My challenge for the next assignment, the photo sequence, was to focus on doing something less literal. To play with clichÊ’s, not use them point blank. To avoid getting stuck, I got rid of the tv and tried creating meaningful images myself. Again, I didn’t want to approach this rationally, or even structurally for that matter. I decided to just play around and to have fun with the camera. By pairing images up later, it added some random element without losing their own style.
chlamedia
”Stockholm Syndrom & Misery is your penalty for love crimes”. From Love Kills , by Sweden’s first lady of Pop: Robyn. Extract from Body Talk Pt.2
P
hoto sequence
The aim of this second assignment was to create a short sequence that consists of 3 to 5 images. The personal challenge lies in picking the best 3 out of over a hundred random pictures. The result, here on your left, shows three different photographic subjects that tell a story.
O
ver before you know it.
So by now, everyone is getting accustomed to taking and/or making pictures, pairing them together to create a story will be the next objective. Which is harder than it initially sounds; there have to be at least 25. Now, of course you don’t want to create a tiny comic book; going from A to B, ending up at Z. Furthermore, with the previous assignment I started developing my own style of photography. They might not be ‘aesthetically pretty ‘, but at least I have made an effort in creating meaningful images by experimenting and researching. But above all, they’re very me.
NOTE: Since this book had to go to print before the essay and Story book had to be handed in, I´ve put in a substitute.
--- Ugh, I don´t know why I suggested this place. Joy recommended it. ---
--- Well, at least we are together. I never get to see you. --You are so busy. --- You´re so busy! No really, you are. No, you are. ---
--- No,you are. I guess I am. ---
--- Me too.
2 ( out of 3 ) sisters having dinner in Todd Solondz’s brilliant movie: Happiness
C L ult
ogic
We are wicked men, looking for a proper solution. By the count of ten, I wanna see somebody human. And I lost what it was, in a teenage dust, of a downtown Romeo. In a couple of weeks, you can tell all the freaks, how you carried my body home.
Title from a song of another one of my Swedish musical heroes: Miike Snow. Extract from Somebody to love me, part of Mark Ronson´s new album featuring Boy George.
Intimate Stills `Sick & Perverted`
- Ravishing reviews from the author´s mother `Uhmm..` - Best friend A. -
`EW!` - Best friend B. -
`I thought he studied something
with fashion?` - A whispering best friend A. to best friend B. Featuring photographic work made during the minor: Visual Culture 2010-2011. Visit www.issuu.com/thomascoulier for more information.
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- PART 1, ISSUE 1 -