INSPIRED PHOTS
Analysis
Petra Collins Inpire shoot plus edits
ed
Lily Brown
Contact Sheet
Analysis
Contact Sheet
Evaluation of Concept 2
OBJECTS AND POSSESSIONS AFTER DOING MY FIRST AND SECOND CONCEPTS I DISCUSSED HOW I WANTED TO SHOW HOW WOMEN CAN HAVE POWER AND A STRONG IDENTITY FROM OBJECTS LINKING TO THEM. I HAVE DONE A MIXTURE OF PERSONALITIES AND IDENTITIES OF THE WOMEN THAT I WANTED TO SHOW. FOR EXAMPLE THE IMAGE TO THE LEFT I HAVE REPRESNTED THE ONWER OF THESE POSSESSIONS TO BE A VERY CLASSY AND SOPHICATED WOMEN. THIS IS SHOWN FROM THE WHITE AND PINK COLOUR TONES AS THEY PORTRAY PURITY AND THE ‘GIRLY’ FEMALE. HOWEVER MY OTHER IMAGES I HAVE SHOWN MORE DARKR AND AN EDGY WOMAN. THE NEWSPAPER OF A MODERN FASHION BRAND, SHOWS A CRAZINESS ABOUT WHAT YOU WOULD THINK THE OWNER WOULD WEAR. I LIKE HOW THIS CONCEPT MAKE THE VIEWERS WONDER WHAT THAT WOMEN WOULD BE LIKE. MY AIM IS SO THAT IT MAKES IT EASY TO WORK OUT WHO THAT FEMALE IS AND WHAT SHE’S LIKE. WHAT DOES SHE WEAR? WHAT’S HER PERSONALITY? LOUD? QUIET? IS SHE WITH ANYONE? OR IS SHE INDEPENDANT?
Evaluation of Concept 3
Action Plan
Sketches of final idea
Sketches of final idea
EXHIBITION LAYOUT
AFTER SKETCHING MY IDEAS FOR GRAPHICS AND TYPOGRAPHY I DEVELOPED AND REFINED THESE IDEAS USING PHOTOSHOP AND ILLUSTRATOR. I TRIED TO DEVELOP THE NEON SIGN FONT AS THIS STYLE WILL WORK BEST FOR THE LASER CUTTING AND IS SUCCESSFUL ASETHETICALLY FOR MY FINAL PIECE. I AGAIN TRIED TO DEVELOP SYMBOLS FOR THE IMAGES, ALMOST LIKE IDEOGRAMS AGAIN THIS SIMPLICITY WITH WORK FOR MY AESTHETIC.
Sketches of photo boxes in more detail
LASER CUT CARD TEMPLATES
LASER CUT LIGHT BOX MAQUETTE
HERE I HAVE LASER CUT MY STENCILS FOR MY LIGHT BOXES AND THEN PLACED ONE OF THE IMAGE BEHIND TO GIVE THE EFFECT AND IDEA THAT I WANTED FOR MY LIGHT BOXES. HOWEVER FOR MY ACTUAL IMAGE PRINTS THAT IW ILL USE, I NEED TO PRINT THEM ON TO DIFFERENT PAPER. THIS WAY IT WILL ALLOW THE LIGHT TO COME THROUGH TO SEE THE IMAGES. OVERALL I AM VERY HAPPY WITH HOW THE BOXES LOOK. THE ACTUAL BOXES AROUND THE EDGE WILL BE PAINTED IN A BABY PINK COLOUR.
final evaluatio
on
Can women be empowered through photographic image?
Maddie Stickland
In photography there can be many different scenarios’ where women can have different views put on them. Whether it heightens or lowers people’s opinions on women in general. In this personal study I will be exploring how women have been portrayed by varied photographer’s images. This can be done by many different aspects. For example, body language, props, emotion, body appearance etc. People can be very affected by what they see in photographs but can women be empowered and their status lifted by the characteristics that are shown through photography. As a term, empowering, to me means that an individual, women in this case, makes someone truly feel and look powerful, strong and confident in their appearance, lifestyle and their own rights; in their skin. Diane Arbus – Circus Performer In the media photography of women is very often portraying women to be the stereotypical female. Where girls are skinny, toned, tanned, and always have the look of beauty. Diane Arbus was a photographer in the 1920’s who specified her photography on transgender, nudists and circus performers. This image here is called ‘Circus Performer’. This is representing women in a conflicted way to what people are used to be seeing in photography representing women. The photograph shows a curvy woman with a performing uniform on that shows her stomach, legs and arms. She also has a cape on with suggest the type of performance she would be doing. The whole image is definitely not the stereotypical view of a women, however this is doesn’t’t make her any less strong and independent. The strength that is needed during circus performance is very high and also her facial expression shows the pride in what she does and how she looks. She looks comfortable and confident in her own skin. This altogether empowers her as a female of the non-stereotypical identity. Quoted from Arbus herself she wanted to ‘challenge the ideas of normal’. This I believe she has definitely portrayed through a strong, powerful and proud woman, who has not been represented using the traditional methods of photographing woman.
An aspect in today’s society is the developing ideas of the body image and how there is the stereotyped way to look. As I said previously, in the media girls are automatically wanting the ‘perfect body’ and to look ‘beautiful’ from this. The ‘Lonely Body Campaign’ promotes the real
women to be any size or shape. Their model Paloma Elsesser is a curve model that promotes high status fashion company ASOS. In these images she portrays a power over the stereotypical female and becomes a new empowered female that has more authority and self-confidence. The image to the right is very dominant photograph. The curvy model is holding a stern body position where her hand is ‘sassily’ placed upon her hip looking down at the skinny model who looks fragile and who hasn’t been given an identity as her face hasn’t been shown. The curve model as purposely been given attitude with power that is comes from the pride in her body. There is confidence shown through her facial expression, and a powerful look in her eyes. There is no flattering lighting present, no Photoshop or Gloss that has been applied to these images, this adds to the ‘raw’ and ‘real’ aspect of the real woman. These images in the campaign are similar to Arbus’s ‘Circus Performer’ image. In both images we see the ‘curvy’ woman. It’s only in ‘The lonely body campaign’ that the curvy female is next to a skinny female. In both images the curvy woman shows a sense of pride and honour in their body. These two woman are both standing with strong body language that suggest dominance and confidence. It’s only the campaign that uses other women in the image. This as I have said represents the curvy woman to be over powering the skinny female. The eye contact between the two woman here, the larger female is looking down at the other female, this represents domination over her. This isn't because ‘larger females are better’ its shows how they have power because they feel good within themselves, no matter what their size is. Cindy Sherman – In the kitchen with Cindy Cindy Sherman is an American photographer who is very renowned within her industry. She changes the identity of the woman in every shoot she’s done. This image her replicates the stereotypical ‘housewife’ but is it really the traditional stereotype that we usually assume to be? The photograph shows the model surrounding objects like a sink, washing up liquid and then also wearing an apron. This would pair together with the stereotype. However, she also has elements that is shown as a different narrative to what it actually appears to be. She is standing at the sink but her focus is elsewhere. This is accentuated by her eye makeup that gives the impression of doll-eyes, wide and bold. This attract the emotions from her eyes to the viewers of the suspicion in what she’s looking at. Looking at a distance, away from her chores. This suggests a ‘naughtiness’, mystery and even a sinister feeling from the photograph. It makes the viewer wonder what has caught her attention and what has sub sided her duties/role. It also appears that she is stubborn and won’t give in the stereotypical female role of the washing up. These ideologies give her a contrasting identity to what society at the time would give all women; and makes her stand out from a crowd. There is also attention towards her breasts area. This is from the sauce pan handle that has a soft blurred focus so the attention isn’t on that but in the direction it’s pointing to, her breasts. This adds a sexual connotation to the image. As we’ve said previous, she looks taken back by something that she’s look at that the viewer can’t see. This is supported by her hand resting on her stomach. This adds the connotations that someone is intruding on the scene. Creating tension. As we can see who this is, it feels as if it us, the viewers who are intruding and interposing.
To me, this image certainly looks like it is a representation of an American housewife from the mid 50’s. It reminds me of a Hitchcock film with the traditional blonde actress. This character is always seen as the ditzy and weak character. This contradicts to the connotations that are in the image of the attentions subsided, sexual imagery and suspicious emotions. So, is she really the stereotypical housewife? Ellen Von Unwerth This image here shows a women taking charge and control over a man with strong body language and pointing a whip looking object at the males face. The woman is definitely the more dominating figure in this image. Her posture has very stern and fierce look about it. The hands on her hip and the pointing of the whip represent that she is the master addressing her servant. The way that the female also has her leg up on a tree stump, suggests further that she is in control This body position is strong and powerful, and would often be assumed by the male. Looking at the clothing that they are both wearing, it is a huge factor to what determines who has the authoritative figure and who doesn’t. The male has very rugged clothes on where his top is tied around his waist and trousers tucked into his shoes. This looks as if he has the lifestyle of a working man, he appears to be dirty so it would likely be wouldn’t be earning that much. Along with this, he also seems to be quite muscly and tanned. This images have a certain atmosphere about it where it could be set around the 50’s, being tanned and muscly was nearly frowned upon as they wouldn’t be the wealthy business man who is inside doing his work instead of manual work. With these connotations it immediately gives him a lower status already. The female’s underwear is obviously very provocative and sexual. This shows she has confidence is showing skin, which women were never seen to do. With her breasts, stomach and legs showing suggests the sexual nature she has over the male, and he already has a no authoritative power at all. These ideologies challenge and power over the stereotypical female roles in society. Even though she has these characteristics of power and strength, she is still shown to care about looks and the ‘femininity’ role. This is shown from the high heels stilettos. However, this still supports the fact that she has confidence with her appearance, as if everything about her is a self-weapon. Unwerth has very cohesive. As a feminist, she portrays women to be powerful and always the dominant figure/role and challenges the stereotype. This image has been captured for the female gaze, not the male. Which has similarities to other photographers found later in this personal study. There is no aim for the woman to please a male or be directed by a male to construct the image for their own pleasures.
Collier Schorr - Jodie Foster Collier Schorr’s Jodie Foster has a number of similarities to Ellen Von Unwerth’s work, challenging the stereotype of femininity. This image is a very simple capturing of Jodie Foster. There are aspects that people would immediately associate with males. Starting with the muscles that are very defined. This gives the strength into the image as her arms are up near her head with muscles tensed. The stereotypical female would have her arms low, and hands touching her face to bring across a seductive mood, here she is portraying a strong woman. Also the wet looking hair represents a more rugged mood about her, as if she has used hair wax, again only stereotypically associated with males, or she has just showered which is very likely as there is a shower head in the background. Looking at her clothing, it looks very plain and simple. This with the wet hair shows that she isn't doing anything fancy, or going out, dressing up that females ‘love’ and are ‘always doing’ stereotypically. I have also noticed that her facial features follow the stern look about her. The chiseled jaw structure and darker eye makeup looks more rough and intense rather than the natural pretty look that females usually have. The eye makeup shows a lot of emotion and suggest the more intense mood in this image. This is also seen in Cindy Sherman’s image. These image both go again traditional female roles, but in very contrasting ways, yet they show empowerment through different personalities in females. In the modern society in specifically the younger generation social media is taking its turn on feminism. There are many ‘instagrammers’ that can gain a lot of attention to their blog. With a lot of followers, they are really starting to make a point that is getting across to a lot of people. A statement from a website saying, ‘There’s something really exciting happening on Instagram right now, whereby a new guard of progressive female photographers are totally taking charge and shaking up the landscape. These women are reclaiming the female gaze in a really accessible and democratic way online.’ this gather more importance and gives a larger potential for people to recognise the how females are currently being portrayed.
Me & You x Bang NYC collaboration, shot by Petra Collins. In this photo shot by Petra Collins, there are three women with quite a contrasting, three different appearances; they all have different races, make-up, hair, body shape, height and possibly ages. She’s done this to show a society where it doesn’t matter what characteristics or general appearance women have. All three seem to be wearing some type of child looking type underwear combined with ‘their age’ bras. This makes us, the viewers, question if it’s because the photographer is trying to say, have they grown up to quickly and are they old enough to be wearing more ‘mature’ underwear. The women in relation to each other are all very close and are all leaning on one another. The emotion in this is quite blank and simple, yet they all seem like they are looking at something of side of the camera. However, the woman on the far left of the image is staring directly at the camera lens. This immediately brings our attention to the woman that is looking at us. It looks as if she was interrupted by another’s presence, and the other woman are too focused on what they are looking at. This gives an outlook that women are determined. There is also a reflection, possibly of a window, on the women’s body. This photograph was taken from a couple meters away from the models, so this lets us see just about all the women’s figures from their thighs and upwards. Collins has also zoomed in and crammed the women in so the composition of the image is completely filled and only focuses on just the three women, not any background is included. Collins is known very well for using film cameras and she has obviously used one here which gives a natural, soft and blown out effect. As I mentioned previously, there is a reflection going across their bodies. This would be created by the models standing directly in front of a window of some sort with the natural light coming through. Collin’s clearly has always represented empowerment of women. Here is a precise example of portraying and representing power through photography and women together. The fact that the grown women are wearing a piece of clothing of a much younger generation (the underwear) gives a sense of liberty and freedom that a younger person would have. It has the connotations that no matter what age a woman has, they can always have the characteristics of a liberated life and infantilism. Making the women seem like they can do whatever pleases them, and doesn’t get affected by media, or anyone that has a large effect on the modern day society where women can feel downgraded by. To me in this image, having a diverse range in the women and their characteristics makes this point valid for any women. It doesn’t single out any ‘perfect woman’ it views women as all the same authority and power, yet still let’s all women have their own style, personality and confidence which makes the all individual and unique. When I mentioned the society, this is about women standing up as a community this is shown in this image when the girls are close together and are leaning against each other. This shows quite a tight and personal relationship between these women. It makes them seem very comfortable with each other.
In comparison to Arbus’s ‘Circus Performer’ both images represent women to have a courage and poise through showing their body. All the female has a straight, and confident body language that suggests they own their body and are happy with it. These images also relate well to ‘The Lonely Body’ campaign. The larger female in these images show her true power over one who clearly looks sad and uncomfortable in her body appearance. Here that is conflicting with these images.
Madelyne Beckles and Kalale Dalton shot in Brooklyn By Mayan Tolano.
In this image here there are two mixed raced girls (not visible or obvious to see) with different body sizes, in white underwear with red lipstick prints on, lying behind one another. They are lying on a silk looking bed sheet; on this there is an older Apple Mac with children’s stickers on the back. There is also a sweet, pen, pearl jewellery and also headphones. These objects are all pink so they blend in to the pink bed sheets. This image relates to a number of previous photographers in this study. This is because both images show women who don’t have the ideology that the only way females can be confident if they are skinny. These two image show women that have confident body language that does show they are comfortable in their body. Their body language of arms leaning on one another and his the ‘circus performer’ image she has her hand stern on her hips. These show power and confidence. Immediately I notice that the overall image is very light which could have partly achieved on digital editing, however this was probably done with artificial lighting to be able to get that bright overall look. The photograph was taken just above the same level as the two women. This allows us to be able to see the second woman behind the one in the foreground. The photographer has done between a mid and long shot directly at the models, but she has only focused on their bodies, hips in particular, so we cannot see the models faces. Mayan Tolano is very well known for having her models wear underwear with ‘girly’ or feminism type iconography. The bright white bases colour of the underwear contrasts a lot to the darker tones of the women skin. This makes their race stand out which gives an impression of pride and confidence is their own skin and identity. Also having the red lipstick prints brings unity to woman as it’s the ideology that only woman wear lipstick and can kiss whatever and whoever the like. The pink colours that are used in this are stereotypically viewed as ‘girly’ and ‘cute’ however this juxtaposes to another feminine stereotypical view of the women’s bodies. Women are always affected by the world’s views that thy should have skinny bodies as it’s seen as ‘perfect’ however
in this image the women have curvier body shapes which I think makes all the stereotypical aspects of this photo turn into women owning everything they want and empowering woman as a unit. Another thing about the pink colours have the connotations of love and lust. A common theme I’m noticing in this section of photographer research, is the connotations of youth and sometimes children type objects that are being used. Here in this image the stickers that are on the back of the laptop are small animated pictures of rainbows, crowns, cherries, stars and hearts. These types of images immediately reflect the appearance of children’s childhood, but here the women are clearly older and have fully developed. So even though they’ve got the body of an adult. They have small aspects of youth which represents them with a fun and excitement self-image. Also looking more specifically to the sticker of a cherry. This can be seen as something quite sexual and a meaning for something else that only ‘grown ups’ would only know. Associating these two together makes the women in this photo be young and wild at heart sill while being an adult. On the woman in the foreground on her leg you can see a bruise this adds an impression that she has been in a violent situation and as you can’t see her face it’s hard to see the emotion she is feeling at that current moment which leaves the viewers wondering. However, this could also mean how the photographer wanted to show imperfections and that it does effect or define someone. This personal study has given my personal investigation the allowance to explore ways in which women have been portrayed in the past. This have shown how I could incorporate new techniques and aspect of how other photographers have shown women in a certain light. In conclusion, female photography has definitely explored way that women have been portrayed in a variety of ways. From what I have discovered, photographers have specifically shown women in their own skin. This is their real skin. Not the one that society creates for them, being a body shape that isn’t natural for them, a skin colour that is theirs and so on. The images that these women are showing is their real identity, they look confident and liberated. This doesn’t categorise the female popularity into one, of a heterosexual and the stereotypical woman that society has created. They represent an individual that has power by having their own beliefs, gender, race, size, shape, age, sexuality and personality. Their persona is unique and empowered. The images I have researched challenge the stereotypical female that has been built up to be. This is challenged by how the image is only captured for the female gaze, and how women look up to them. Not aiming to please any male but themselves. Overall, I think women have gradually been seen to be empowered by photographic image, through being themselves and aiming to please and empower only for them and not anyone else.
Bibliography: Lonely’s Body Positive Campaign, [20th October] https://www.cataloguemagazine.com.au/feature/lonelys-body-positive-campaign-proves-why-weneed-more-fashion-imagery-like-it The Creative Class | Ellen Von Unwerth, Photographer, [7thth October] https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/creative-class/the-creative-class-ellen-von-unwerth Sichy I., Ellen Von Unwerth: Couples, Schirmer/Mosel Verlag, 15th May 2011
Instagram empowering women. [10th November] https://www.cataloguemagazine.com.au/feature/these-are-the-most-progressive-femalephotographers-on-instagram-right-now Page that references my feature photographers, [12th November] https://www.cataloguemagazine.com.au/feature/these-are-the-most-progressive-femalephotographers-on-instagram-right-now Me & You x Bing Bang NY shot by Petra Collins, [1st December] http://www.nssmag.com/en/fashion/8040/me-you-x-bing-bang-ny-shot-by-petra-collins In Conversation with Collier Schorr, [7th December] https://i-d.vice.com/en_gb/article/in-conversation-with-collier-schorr Diane Arbus, 3 Images, [21st October] http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/diane-arbus-three-images Master Profiles: Diane Arbus, [21st October] http://shooterfiles.com/2015/05/master-profiles-diane-arbus/ In the Kitchen with Cindy, [26th October] https://imageobjecttext.com/2012/01/19/in-the-kitchen-with-cindy/ E. A. T. Smith and A Cruz, Cindy Sherman, A Retrospective, Thames and Hudson Ltd, 10 November 1997 Julia Baylis and Mayan Toledano, [7th December] http://www.doubleor.com/julia-baylis-and-mayan-toledano/ Emily by Tatya – Sukeban, [7th December] sukeban.squarespace.com/emily-by-tatya/ Kate Moss, That’s my Bitch, [12thDecember] fineartamerica.com