Date: Friday 18th March 2016
Camera: Canon EOS 450D
Editing Software: N/A
Settings: F/11, ISO 200, 1/125
Plans For Shoot: My first plan for today's shoot is to photograph a variety of subjects under the field of portraiture who represent different genders, ethnicities and conformity to gender stereotypes.
What I Hope to Achieve: My first hope for this series of photographs is to ensure I photograph more than one gender so that I can create a contrast between the male and female stereotypes as I have been doing with my other series'.
I would also like to create a series of photographs in which the difference between subject and background is extremely stark so that when I physically manipulate the images the idea is not lost due to the removal the facial area.
I hope that I can achieve at least four photographs which are well exposed and will withstand cutting, gluing and scanning without becoming white-washed at any point.
I also hope to achieve a series of final outcomes in which an audience would be able to witness my inspiration from the artist Matthieu Bourel; however, I hope, an audience should also understand that his work was simply a starting point for my own development and that there are both similarities and differences in the work.
What I Actually Achieved: I was able to photograph a large part of my friendship group which allowed me document, through portraiture, a large variation in social sub-groups such as genders, ethnicities and conformity to the masculine and feminine stereotypes.
I also mostly achieved my second hope as the subjects were standing out from the plain background quite well. Although this could have been improved and I will further explain this in the progression section.
Furthermore, I was successful in achieving four best images which were printed on a sturdy paper which improved the quality during the process of cutting, the paper did not fray, and gluing. Again, improvements could have been made during the scanning process and I will elaborate upon this in the progression segment.
I believe, in my opinion and after showing the work to peers who agreed, that my work did show a progression from the original starting point inspirational artist Matthieu Bourel. The similarities between the work include the removal of facial sections and the replacement of them with vibrant multi-media cut-outs. Although some differences include Matthieu Bourel's borrowed use of vintage and retro photographs and the use of various filters such as black and white, sepia and high saturation.
What I Am Going To Do Next/ Progression: To improve, I would employ my Photoshop CC 2014 knowledge and edit the images using levels and curves to establish more of a contrast between the portrait subjects and backdrops.
To advance further, I had limited access to scanners to scan the final physical experiment photoshoot outcomes back in digitally and thus the quality of the images were somewhat diminished as I could only use my home scanner. In the future if I was to re-shoot I would search for a better scanner to use in cohesion with the physical experiments.
If I was to further compare my work to that of Matthieu Bourel then I could possibly work in Photoshop to use selective colourisation, black and white filters and or reduce the saturation to more closely link the final outcomes.
Next, I shall be completing my first non-studio photoshoot where I will juxtapose two images, one associated with femininity and the other with masculinity, by using a similar composition but a different subject image. This will help me to explore both the similarities and differences between males and females and how masculinity and femininity are social constructs created to enforce people to conform to society.
Least and Favourite Image Evaluation -
Least Favourite:
Favourite:
The reasoning behind the above pictures being my favourite and least favourite are for a multitude of reasons.
My least favourite is so because the scanning process after completing the physical manipulation threw out the white-balance of the photograph and made the exposure appear to bright. Additionally, the removed section could have been more accurately measured before I used a scalpel to remove it. If I had been more skilled with the knife I could have shaped the segment to reflect the accepted cartoon-style of a brain although this was relatively difficult to do. If I was to complete this final outcome again then I would increase the vibrancy before printing so that after the scanning the computer copy would not be too pale and lacking in saturation and vibrance.
The second photograph is my favourite of the series as it conforms more directly to the inspirational artist Mathhieu Bourel in that it completely removes significant factors of the facial region. This final outcome is a study not only in gender stereotyping but also in how it influences our identity which is explored through the removal of the face in my work. I was also more pleased with this image as it did not become as lacking in vibrancy as the much as the one above it after scanning. For the female brain dissections I was also able to find more fitting and gender stereotype challenging clipping materials within magazines and therefore the subject matter is more powerful than my least favourite image.
Meaning -
Denotation: Brain, mind, newspapers, media, collage.
Connotation: The mind, specifically on matters such as gender, is largely shaped by those around us for instance the media, the gender marketed products discuss inequality but in doing so also help to reinforce some of its ideals, some audiences are brainwashed by society into blindly accepting its norms and values without thought to how it will cause them to lose their identity and become just another casualty of societal beliefs.
Context: This photoshoot displays the ideas that society through its institutes will attempt to create a uniform conformist culture that disregards differences as outside of the norm and therefore should be ridiculed, I wanted to challenge the media and state that we are not merely addicts as mentioned in the hypodermic syringe model but we can understand out own beliefs through the decoding approach.
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