Beginning my Personal Investigation
Within the first step of my personal investigation we were given the option for 13 exercises, after thoroughly looking through each of the exercises I had three tasks that really stood out for me. Close to home, hidden beauty and that someone special. After doing some thinking of what exercise I would enjoy to do the most and would be most meaningful to me I ended up deciding on exercise 5. Below I have put a screenshot on this exercise explaining how I are to go about doing this task. I found that this task would put me outside my comfort zone due to how many beautiful things I will walk past in my everyday life and completely ignore.If I am able to take time to look around me in different places and find hidden beauty in them I will of pushed myself to do something that not only have I never done before but also something I might struggle with.
Exercise #5: Hidden beauty
Choose an object that is not interesting in itself - something mundane and everyday, neither ugly nor beautiful. Study the object carefully. Think of a way to photograph it that will make it interesting. Take the object out of its normal environment, or change its colour, or make it look like something else. Perform with it, move it, light it.
Think about how you can add the extra element that will raise the status of this ordinary thing, and how you can use your photography to document the transformation.
Think about how you can add the extra element that will raise the status of this ordinary thing, and how you can use your photography to document the transformation.
My response:
In these pictures i tried to not plan and think about each of them to much i knew that i did not want to plan on day just for taking my photos and that i wanted to take different photos over the course of the two week holiday.Each of these images were taken on a different day in a completely different location.The first image i have presented is close to home and i took when i was sitting on a park bench after a walk, the sun was just beginning the set and it felt completely delicate as I was the only person near by.I would of not thought anything of this photo as i walk past it regularly and it always feels boring and plain however on this day i knew that this would work well for this project and the more I look at it the more i find there is something quite beautiful about the photo.The second and third photos were taken when I was going into central London the first photo is in Greenwich and again i pass it regularly and always though this building was and out of place in greenwich however when i took the photo i do think there is hidden beauty in it.The third photograph was in a small park within London where i had never been before i thought the building in the background made this image look slightly 'clumsy' almost, I find that the buildings are so different and they don't blend well together and not pleasing to look at however i now find that even though this monument might look like this now at some point this would of been beautiful and unique.The last three images i find all link into each other even though they were all taken in completely different locations.As it is December and most plants and flowers are dead i wanted to incorporate that somehow into this task.When going on walks in the countryside i found certain aspects in each of the three photos that i thought were unpleasing to look at or had some kind hidden beauty in it.
Photoshoot #1
Photoshoot #2
Research: Marysa Dowling:
Marysa Dowling is a London based artist who principally does the majority of her work in photography.She focuses her work on people and human behaviour and relationships, she tries to build relationships through the community and her photography.She will set simple rules so she can try to encourage people of different decent, backgrounds and heritages to participate, Dowling observes how how people co-exist, relate and interact with each other in different environments that she may not be familiar with.Dowling tries to cultivate the same themes in different countries so she is creating communities cross the world.She tries to create carful, creative and playful photos that can come into being through social interactions.Dowling has also worked on many projects and commissions within the UK and across the world she shares different experiences with different people and have won several awards for her creative and original idea of her project.
My photographic practice is focused on portraiture and concerned with humanity, behaviour, interconnected relationships, interaction and communication. My focus in on building community through shared photographic experiences; participation is key. I set simple rules and parameters to encourage people to explore how they communicate and relate to each other and the places they live.
Analysis of a photo:
One similarity i have seen in each of these photographs is the blue that is featured within ever photograph.The first photograph is a more abstract photo as it gives us a sence of confusion within what is going on.We can see a man sitting in a more vunerable position but also looking intimidating at the same time.We can see that he has got a bag over his face so we are only able to see a strip of his face and his eyes.The blue denim and the blue that is covering his face works really well along with his black top and the off black door in the background.The fact that he is sitting in the centre of the camera frame it makes the photo more pleasing to the eye to look at.
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Research: Fischli and Weiss:
Peter Fischli and David Weiss are a Swiss artist duo who also do photography, they create subtle interactions with everyday objects, materials and symbols with using illusion to create change.Since the 1970s they have amused the audience with there transformations and work across and wide range of media as there exhibition creates sculptor and moving images.They say that creating this type of work is underlying there child like sprit when discovering everyday objects that they can use for these sculptures.
photo evaluation:
Within this photograph by Fishli and Weiss we can see one of their abstract art installation. The shadow in the background reflecting onto the wall perfectly really adds to the abstract non naturalistic art work. As a viewer i am not really sure what i am looking at there are several objects you would not think go together being placed in a form that makes something rather beautiful and i think these artistic being in the hidden beauty section really represents there work well.
Close to home:
Exercise #2: Close to homeWork within a 10 minute walk radius of your home. Explore the area for 30 minutes from a distance of 5 metres. Repeat the exercise focussing your camera at 4 metres and so on until you are photographing everything from 0.5 metres away.
Think about how distance and proximity change your relationship to things.
Think about how distance and proximity change your relationship to things.
photoshoot #1
I took these pitchure DSLR camera and used a range of focal lengths ranging from 18-55mm.
I took about 30 minutes to walk abound the area outside of school whcih was where i started photographing unusal places and objects that i have walked past many times however not taken the time to look at them and explore what they really are.These were taken in the early afternoon at around 12pm and the sunlight was creating any shadows again these objects and places which i have not been able to capture in a while due to the cloudy days.I had to change the appeture to control the amount of light that was coming in the photo due to the sunlight shining on each object.
Pictures within pictures:
Why do i currently take photographs/why would i like to take photographs in the future:
I take photographs so i have the power to freeze time, look back at the moment and analyse within the moment so i am able to look back on frozen time.Being able to look back on a moment that i would of simply not noticed or forgotten about intrigues me.Also holding the power to being the only person that has captured that specific moment at that time really makes me want to make more photos and analyse each different moment.This leads onto the next question being why would i like to take photographs in the future and this is so i can capture new moments, new people and new things that i will most likely never see again and just miss.This makes me curious to explore new places and meet new people so i can begin to explore this.
Dream city:
Within this project I began by going into central London as this was what I originally thought of when I heard dream city,I thought of bright colours, lots of people and a different atmosphere compared to what I am used to with my previous. photos. While walking around SOHO and Covent Garden I saw lots of lights and bright colours and this was what I was drawn to when taking my photos.I wanted to take a series of photos not knowing if I was going to be happy with them or not but just take my photos to what I could see.Some of my photos are out of focus and some in focus and I find them very busy and new.As I was in a busy place with many people I found it hard to take pitchers that felt still and zen as it was such a busy place, however I did manage to take some of my photos with this in mind.I found that the quieter my photos felt the higher up I was tilting my camera and this intrigued me. Overall, next time when I try this mini project again I will take more time to take more photographs and take my time when taking each photos and think really about what I am capturing.
photoshoot#1
Developing an idea
I decided to make a collage
I began to find ways of creating college D When we got given the task of making something I decided that I wanted to create a collage out of my photos I created I wanted to layer them in a way each image overlapped tower it does not look like they are over capping with each other. 1 printed of some of my images that I was most happy with
My final project:
In my final project I knew that I wanted to create a collage of photos that was very visible and pleasing for people to look at. I decided that I wanted to overlap my photos however keeping some gaps on the black canvas in the background so nothing felt to cramped.When I planned what I wanted to do for my final project I originally thought I wanted to incorporate pieces of wood and my photos somehow however with trial and error I found out this would not work and look how I wanted it to.I ended up deciding on something more simple however still effective, this is how I came up with creating a collage.I knew that I would be able to successfully present my photos in a effective way that I liked instead of doing something more complex and not being as happy with the outcome.
The process of creating my final project:
The process of creating my final projects was trying to find photos I had taken that had some sort of link to each other, I wanted my photos to look aesthetically pleasing when layered next to and over each other so they do not look out of place when all the photos had been put on top of each other.Once I began to layer some of the photos with each other I began to get a sense of what works and what does not work.As I had changed all my photos into black and white I did not have this problem as I would if I kept all the photos in colour.Once I had found an arrangement of what I liked and what I think worked for me I started to glue each photo down double checking each time that they were glued straightly and each photo look aesthetically pleasing next to each other.
Making photos:
In this mini project "making something" we were instructed to take a photo of a mood, something you love, something you hate,a photo you don't understand and a photo that asks a question.
My photos:
Photoshoot #1
Within this project I began by going into central London as this was what I originally thought of when I heard dream city,I thought of bright colours, lots of people and a different atmosphere compared to what I am used to with my previous. photos. While walking around SOHO and Covent Garden I saw lots of lights and bright colours and this was what I was drawn to when taking my photos.I wanted to take a series of photos not knowing if I was going to be happy with them or not but just take my photos to what I could see.Some of my photos are out of focus and some in focus and I find them very busy and new.As I was in a busy place with many people I found it hard to take pitchers that felt still and zen as it was such a busy place, however I did manage to take some of my photos with this in mind.I found that the quieter my photos felt the higher up I was tilting my camera and this intrigued me. Overall, next time when I try this mini project again I will take more time to take more photographs and take my time when taking each photos and think really about what I am capturing.
Shoot first think later:
Photoshoot #1
In this series of photographs i thought it woukld be appropiate to do the shoot first think later project as i was going to be away for 5 days.I wanted to focus on
The public stage:
Photoshoot #1
Photoshoot #2
In this photo shoot i have placed it seperate to my different photos that are also taken apart of the same project however i took them with complete differnt intention.Ia focused this series of photos on the artectectuar in geneva instread of the people i wanted to capture differnt places while walking around the city.i have taken the same photos from differnt angles and heights within the city.I found this experience very differnt compared to anything i was used to doing before and i enjoyed walking around a place i wasd unfamiliar with.I take photographs so i have the power to freeze time, look back at the moment and analyse within the moment so i am able to look back on frozen time.Being able to look back on a moment that i would of simply not noticed or forgotten about intrigues me.Also holding the power to being the only person that has captured that specific moment at that time really makes me want to make more photos and analyse each different moment.This leads onto the next question being why would i like to take photographs in the future and this is so i can capture new moments, new people and new things that i will most likely never see again and just miss.This makes me curious to explore new places and meet new people so i can begin to explore this.
Mirrors and Windows:
Within this project John Szarkowski has found ways of putting photographs into the catagorty of mirrors or windows.He has created an exibition around this topic and has backed up his disisions on his thought process.His thought process is that mirrors reflect something you have seen whether this is yourself or something you reconise and windows shows into somthing that you might have never seen and is new.
It isn't what a picture is of, it is what it is about. Pure photography is a system of picture-making that describes more or less faithfully what might be seen through a rectangular frame from a particular vantage point at a given moment. |
Within todays lesson we looked at the book Mirrors and Windows by John Szarkowski. He had created a project which he later turned into a book where he organised different photographs into either mirrors or windows.These photos were not as simple to seperate as it might seem due to the photos not having any clear signs of what catagory they would be in. In a in class disccussion we found that taking the photographs and seeing whether they show us something or show us something about the world is a efficient way to organise the photos.We layed down a peice of tape and were given 20 photographs from his book not knowing whether John Szarkowski had put them as Mirror or Windows, we were given the task of trying to get these 20 photos in the same catagory that Szarkowski had placed them in. With this we also had to give reasoning to why we believe they should be represented as a Mirror or a Window.This task was new to me and the class and allowed us to answer questions that we would of never thought of and think into the deeper meaning or simple words such as mirrors and windows and what this reallly means.Overall, this book was something that we had never explored before and it really got me thinking into what photographs mean,why they are taken and why we organise photos before we create an end project, this will deffintly help me in the future when i need to think deeper into meanings of words and what photos with no back story to me means.
exhibition photos:mirrors and windows
Mirrors Windows
subjective objective
generalised subjective
reflective observered
artistic documentary
synthetic real
psychological. optical
manipulative. straight
personal public
suggestive descriptive
subjective objective
generalised subjective
reflective observered
artistic documentary
synthetic real
psychological. optical
manipulative. straight
personal public
suggestive descriptive
a concept we looked at that could be related to the exhibition
Alfred Hitchcock-Rear Window:
Alfred Hitchcock's film Rear Window is a film about a photographer who has broken his leg and is now forced to make differnt types of photos that he is used to, he believes that a murder has happened and he has seen it through his window and the film begins to take a turn.This film relates to the concept mirrors and windows in many ways and this film was very helpful to look at when thinking about the concepts of voyerism and mirrors and windows.
“Revenge is sweet and not fattening.” —Alfred Hitchcock
Jiro Takamatsu:
This artist Jiro Takamatsu has done some projects within photography and argubaly can be compared to the mirrors and windows project by John Szarskowski. His work within photography is taking photos of already made photographs from his family album with reflections of light bouncing of them. He takes a range of these types of photographs some someones hand holding the images and some places on differnt surfaces. Takamatsu's photos show the relationship he has with photography and his family comapred to his other art projects. By having light bouncing off the photos it creates an illusion that would not of been seen otherwise. This compares to the mirrors and windows project as you are seeing through what can be thought as a window to someone elses past and current family life which is a concept of John Szarskowski's project. Takamatsu's project can been seen as a whole metaphor for Szarskowski's project they are very alike in many ways.
My response:
responce#1
In this responce i am not happy with the way my photos turned out and how little of them i took immeditatly i know that i want to try again taking my insperation of Jiro Takamatsu instead of John Starskowski's mirrors and windows. I enjoy them being in black and white however i feel that i cannot see anything that would relate to mirrors and windows that i enitially wanted when planning how i am going to take my photos around school.
responce#2
For my responce to this project i found the project that would interest me the most is taking insperating off of Jiro Takamatsu project taking pitchures or pitchers. I decided to go around my house find pitchures that had meaning to me and my family and photograph them with the insperatation of Takamatsu's project in mind. Like him i wanted to have some of my photos with my hand holding the photographs and some on a range of surfaces around my house. I found this project very inbtersting and enjoyable as it had personal meaning to me which no one else would realise like how Takamatsu would of felt. I tried to create the effect that Takamatsu created by having the light bounce of off the photos however due to a cloudy day this was not possible. Lastly,i decided that like Takamatsu i wanted my photographs to be in black and white as although these pitchures are already in colour as it adds mystery to the photos that no one but me would realise.
Alejandra Carles Tolra:
Alejandra Carles Tolra is a artist from Barcelona however based in London and focuses her work in photography. She also is a lectuer and has been doing that is schools and univercitys since 2010.Her most recent exebition is called The Bear and she based that where she is from in Barcelona.She has worked with many artists and talks to people about her work in univercitys and schools. She is said to have a stong commitment towards photography and works very well with people and her photographyt skills. Her works has also been published several times in places such as the National Portraite Gallery in the UK, Photo Miyota Japan and Fotofever Paris.Below are several photographs from her book Where We Belong.
Photos from her book-where we belong:
words for photos:
Within these photos i began to take them when i went on a day out to Notting Hill with my family we walked through the streets and saw architecture that i would not be able to see when i am closer to home. I wrote down the series of words miss told us to take photos of and put them on my notes so i could easy access them, throughout the day i would look at the words i as i walked around try and take photos that correlate to the words for me. Some on my photos are more. busy and chaotic but some are calmer and more put together. The next set of photos that i took were at school as i wanted to see if i could relate to any of the words set within school, this was more difficult as i had less creative freedom and nothing felt special to me as what i was taking photos of i saw everyday. I still decided to incorporate those photos onto my website as i felt it was necessary to show the photos even if i was less proud of them. During the week i also went out with my friends on a walk and decided to try and finish of the words here i felt that this was the easiest for me as i knew the area i was in well but it also didn’t feel to repetitive. Overall , i am happy with my phtos however i still think there is room for improvement next time.
Portraiture:
Photoshoot #1
Within these photos me and Scarlett started of at school and had a route our head we knew we wanted to walk. We went to go visit many local business and take pictures in there. Firstly we went and walked to dover patrol and saw some graffiti that intrigued us so we wanted to take some portraits there, i wanted to take a range of photos some with Scarlet's full body showing and a lot of the background and then some that would be her closer up and with less of the background.Next we walked down the road to a local shop and asked if we were able to take some photos in there we walked down the isle and took a range of photos in different sections. After we had finished within the shop we walked over to a local cafe bought a drink and decided to sit in and try to take some photos there this is where we took some of my favourate photos as even though they are very staged i like to think it almost looks like Scarlett isn’t aware i am there. The final place we decided to go was about 5 minutes away from the cafe and was a bridge that goes over the motorway here we were able to sit down and take some more portraits style pictures
Within this photoshoot which is where we repeated the portraits task that we had done a couple of days prior, we were not able to leave the school grounds so me and Scarlett walked around different parts of the school and explored with props and things we could see around us to take the portrait photos. I tried to make my photos to look less staged so i made some close ups of Scarlett and told her to act normally and i would photograph around her instead of her feeling like she had to look at the camera all the time. The lighting was not the best today so we took most of our photographs inside as it was raining and there was not much sun witch we could incorperate. Overall, i do prefer my photos i took in my last photoshoot eg the background and the way they look but i would like them to be less posed and possibly taken closer up so next time i want to revisit the places i did in my first photoshoot but just with
Making day activity:
What type of photographer am i?
We started today's lesson with a activity making us to think what type of photographers are we. We were given a sheet with two colums of words both with oposit words to each other. We were told to find a way to present on the sheet what words we are most drawn to on each side, i decided to draw a line in pencil from each word on either side and then draw a dot on the line depending on how much i think i relate to the words given towards my photography. Seeing all the words on either side made me think about how i can incorperate new ideas towards my photography as i am still experimenting on what type of photographer i am.
We were also given the task to create a mind map of some words above that my photos most relate to and the type of photographer that i want to be going on in the future. I chose four word People, distant, darkroom and logical and chose three words i think best describe that main word.
Nico Froehlich:
Nico Froehlich is a British photographer who is based in south east London. He creates portraits photography of his local community unity within South East London, within his photographs there tends to be a lot of photos of people within the local community and of buildings he walks past within the community. His photos are all in colour never in black and white and tends to have bright colours that make his photos stand out such as greens, blues, red and orange. He wants to celebrate diversity, and the beauty of where he calls home and wants to draw attention to the the original communities where he lives. He has a very strong creative outlook and sees the world with much more colour than there really is and can capture this through the lighting and type of film he uses.Overall, his photos are unique to anything i have seen before and really captures the beauty and community of his local area.
"I recognise the pace of change in my area in particular; my work serves as a reminder of the importance of variety and celebrates the optimism and perseverance of people and communities who are often disregarded and disempowered."
Within this photo taken by Nico it shows us a swimming pool in his local area and he has managed to capture what would be such a simple photo with such beauty. He has managed to capture the light at a specific time of day and it makes this particular photo unique to any other than would be taken.
Hicham Benohoud:
Hicham Benohoud is a art teacher in Marakash and has created a project that has incorperated the Morocan strict school sysmtem and the creativity of the students within his class that they would never normally be able to show. Within this project he got most of his class to carry on working as if they would normally do but in pairs get certain students to create some kind of invention together and then Hicham Benohoud would take photos of them with a film camera. This for a school in Moroco with a very strick school system on not much creative freendom is very rare and something no one would of ever seen before in such a restricted school system. His photos have so many aspects to them that make them such unique photos for example the childen wearing wear creations they have made but all of the sudents in the background working as if they would on any other day. The students do not seem to be phased by what is going on infront of them at all and they are carrying on working when in a school as i know it many people would be chatting and laughing due to the project that they are taking place in. Below there is a quote from a photography critic talking about Hichem's photos and below that there is some of his most famous photographs.
Running through the images in this series is the idea of Moroccan society being in limbo; a society out of kilter
My take on photos inspired by Nico Fromhlich:
12 portraits:
I started with my portraits being inspired by Nico Froehlich and i wanted to capture differnt moments around london without having to use people within my portrates as i have done that several times before i found that i prefer taking portrates with people in my pictures as they ask more questions when these pictures do not really excite me in anyway. When i was looking through my portraites i found that the last two portrates do not really make me think of Nico Froehlich but of Hicham so i changed them in black and white and decided to put them on here anyway. Overall, i prefer taking photos with people in them and that is what i will do next time.
Experimenting with the camera:
Sally Man:
Enviromental portraits:
Portraits:
Within the photos I went to the 02 in Greenwich and walked around the area going into the 02 itself and walking by the river. I was not comfortable enough to go up and ask people to take there photos so I tried to take more naturalistic photos of people walking, sitting and talking to each other. The photos have more of an interesting background in some of them as the architecture within the 02 and around it is very colourful and unique. Some of these photos have people within them and some of them are just environmental portraits so there are a mix between the two. Overall, I do not mind these photos however next time I want to go up and ask people to take there photos so I can get a mix between posed and naturalistic photos.
Nico Fröhlich:
Analysis of photos:
Within todays lesson we focused on portraight photography and worked with Nico Frohlich who these photos took insperation off. We walked around the area near school and were instructed to go up to members of the public and ask if we were able to take there photograph. We wanted these photos to represnt our local area around school and find what personatities and type of people we could meet. In the photographs on the top row we took them behind the row of shops that we later went and explored.We were told that the colour red is one of the best to be used within photos as it is most likely to stand out clearly so when we saw some red graffiti and red painted garages we found a angle that we wanted our photos to be taken at and took a range of the photos. Personally even though i think the red stands out in the photo very well there is not as much to talk about. The writting that the graffiti has sprayed on however can be talked about as why this area behind a row of shops would you want to protate sometjing however i do think overall these photos stand out very well. Underneath the first row is a range of photographs taken in and around the row of shops that we explored, we spoke to some shop owners and took some more posed photographs as well as taking some more natural shots of the shop owners doing there job. My personal favourate pictures i took are the posed photos from the local shop owner. I think there is always something to talk about as the way he has chosen to pose as well as what facial expression.In my opion the pose he is standing in shows pride aa well as joy amd i think this is very interesting to look at. The man above him wanted us to take photos of him cutting his clients hair and i think capturing his job in action also adds a lot of personality to the photo and leads a lot to say about it.
Deanna Lawson:
Within this photograph i see two African American Men who are sitting on a brown leather sofa with one other man in the background who does not want to be fully seen so is coved by a image of rotting dentures.Within this photograph is immediatly reconize is the bright coloures that are shown, as there is limited bright colours the very few colours that are shown stand out much more.The colours have a lot of browns,whites and black clothing items,wall colours and furniture. The colures and tones within this picture are interesting as the contrast is not what is expected everything is very sudden and not subtle.The play of light within this photo is very natural what you would expect to see within a living room,it is very white and bright and looks artifical not natural.The space in the photo looks very confined and could be metaphorical for other aspects within the photo.I think the photo has been made and has been made in the posed structure is due to the expectations that this is what African American Men are typically like. I think the one thging that is worth remembering about this photo is that it is so posed that you dont really believe it. Lastly i think this photo reminds me of something that i have seen however not very commonly so i think a album cover or a instagram of a teenage boy or rapper.
Photo Analysis:
Within this photograph there is a French woman in the streets of Paris looking into a mirror on the side of the street. There can be several things that are reconisable within this photo such as the look of sorrow she has on her face as well as something as simple as the mirror she is looking into. As well as the things i find reconisable within this photograph there are several things that are new to me within the photo such as the person
Staged photos:
Questionair response:
What is it within you photography that you are really interested in?
Within photography i am intested in portraiture more specifically of my friends.I would like to photograph more staged photographs that still look natural and unstaged.Ihave also got a interest in more fashion photography so would enjoy taking photos of my friends doing there makeup and hair etc.
What is it about your project that you want to know?
Within my project i want to know how photographs that have taken time to stage them to look a certain way look natural and will give the same look as if i had not taken the time to set up the photographs just the way i want them.I also would want to know how differnt people who are in the same photos radient differnt energy and give differnt moods when looking back onto the photos.
What is it that you want to document?
I want to document a range of photographs in differnt settings that each of my frineds who i plan to photograph feel comfortable in and are familiar in. I also want to photograph people in a natual setting as i want then to feel comftable and safe.
How much do you want to documney what you see?
Within photography i am intested in portraiture more specifically of my friends.I would like to photograph more staged photographs that still look natural and unstaged.Ihave also got a interest in more fashion photography so would enjoy taking photos of my friends doing there makeup and hair etc.
What is it about your project that you want to know?
Within my project i want to know how photographs that have taken time to stage them to look a certain way look natural and will give the same look as if i had not taken the time to set up the photographs just the way i want them.I also would want to know how differnt people who are in the same photos radient differnt energy and give differnt moods when looking back onto the photos.
What is it that you want to document?
I want to document a range of photographs in differnt settings that each of my frineds who i plan to photograph feel comfortable in and are familiar in. I also want to photograph people in a natual setting as i want then to feel comftable and safe.
How much do you want to documney what you see?
Sian Davey
When talking to my teacher she recommended two photographers to me Sian Davey and Justine Kurland,when doing some further research into the two photographers I found that I took an immediate interest in Sian Davey and the story behind her project ‘Martha’.As there were no photo books at school with any of her photos in i decided to carry on the rest of my research online,when looking at Davey’s website i found her short biography talking about her work and the reasoning behind this project. She explains that she had a 15 year old career as a psychotherapist in private practice and then decided to launch her photography career in 2014 where she began to investigate the physiological landscape of her and the people around her which focused on her close family.The project Martha comes from a comment her daughter said saying ‘Why don't you photograph me anymore’ this comment originated from the fact that the camera was always so focused on her sister Alice.This project began when Martha was 16 years old and Davey said “A complex and potentially confusing time, when for a brief period you are both a young woman and a child in the same body.” the main focus of this project was having the focus on her daughter Martha as well as herself,this project followed every aspect of Martha’s life up until she was 18 years old.As Martha got older Davey said ’However, who I am and where I place myself in the story becomes a more questioning issue as she grows and moves further away from her childhood. The exchange of looks between us, that complex reflected gaze, begins to shift as she tries to define her own sense of self.’
36 pictures- Inspired by Sian Davey
Visual Questionnaire:
What is it within your photography that you are interested in?
Within my photography personal project along the side of researching Sian Davey and her project Martha i decided to take insperation of that and create a series of images on my close friend group. I want to experiment with having the camera out whenever i am with them and see how they react when i am about to take there photo. Within the series of images above i took a range of photos and i found that they all reacted in differnt ways. I found that Scarlett who has the camera on her more often reacted less suprised when i took her picture and carried on acting how she did before, however some of my other friends would either pose for the camera or hide there faces and feel embarresed. I want to create a series of images inspired by Sian Davey's series Martha where wherever i can i will take the photos of them and try to capture how they are just as if the camera wansnt there.
What is it about your project that you want to know?
Within my project i want to know/explore how differnt people react when a camera is being held up towards them. I gave this a go in my last photo shoot and i do think that further on in the night the more relaxed people got to a camera being faced in there direction, however by the end of this project i want to create a sence of comfort that when a camera is being held towards them that it will not faze them and they willl carry on acting the same way they woudl normally. Also within this project i want to experiment working with colored film and hopefully have my end product being in film. But until then i am going to be shooting my photos on a digital camera.
What do you want to shoot in your personal project?
Within my personal project i want to take photos of people who i am surounded by within my life and i see everyday within and out of school. One thing i do not want to shoot is my friends within school even though this is where i see my friends the most, this is due to the fact that i do not feel like they are fully thereselves in school and they are being surounded by rules and stresses that they do not have to think of when they are not at school. There is not a specific thing or place that i want to shoot within my project i just want to create a series of images that can really recipriate what i see within my friends and how they are within differnt environments. One thing that i do want to copy however when i comes down to the projec that Sian Davey did is that i do not want to have any say when it comes down to what tehy do i want to take there photographs without asking them to put something down or sstand closer or further away from the camera i want to make them feel comfatable in the way the are acting as if the camera was invisible.
How much do you want to document what you see?
I want my whole project to evolve around documenting exactly what i see when it comes down to my friend group. I do not want to stage any phtographs in any way even if some of them could possibly seem posed, i want it to be down to them on how they react to the camera whether this is posing,hiding or just ignoring it and carrying on how they were. I think that within this project it is very important for me to document what i see as that is what i am trying to create when it comes down to this series of images.
What do you want to share with the viewers?
I want to share with the viewers the experience of showing peoples lives from another perspective and to create a sence of comfort for the people who i am photographing so it gets to the point where they will not even think twice when they see the camera and they will soon ignore it like the people in Sian Davey's photographs did in her Martha poject.
What do you want to viewers to experience?
I want the viewers to experience
What kind of emotions/experience do you want the viewers to have?
They emotions/feelings that i want the viewers to experience is
Have you documented in great detail a photographer or groups of photographers that have also photographed simular theme/story/subject?
Yes i documented Sian Davey's project Martha where i am taking the comsept of her project and basing mine of it. The project Martha is a very relaxed project in my opinion and even though i do not know anything about the people know Sian has photographed you can tell that they do not fear the camera or see it as something they are so used to it by now that they are not fazed in the slighted when Sian Davey is taking pictures of Martha and this also applies to Martha's friends who are a big part in Sian's project.
What were you findings within there work?
I found that there was was