JR: chronicles
Introduction to JR
In France 2005, 2 teenagers Bound Traoré and Zyed Benna were electrocuted in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-bois in October after police had chased the two boys on their way home from a football match. It was said that the officers had done nothing to help, despite knowing the boys were in danger when seen heading towards the EDF power facility. Due to this the 2005 French riots occurred, lasting 3 weeks causing authorities to loose control for several days. The media (e.g TV and Newspapers) portrayed the people living in this area in a certain way and the government targeted mainly young people, blaming them for the riots.
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At the time a French photographer named JR knew many youths who were his friends or every day people not involved in the riots, living normal life's but being portrayed in the media as criminals and thugs. To show this was no the case, JR wanted to take back the stories and identities of the people that lived in Les Bosquets. To do so, he took 6-8 photos of friends and locals making menacing, silly, and funny faces. He used a 28mm lens meaning he had to be very close to them. He then printed a contact sheet and asked the models which one they wanted him to use so they themselves could choose how they wanted to be seen. After this JR enlarged the photos, printed them out and pasted them on the walls around Les Bosquets, Paris. going from images in the media of people you can't recognise to someone who's door you could walk right up to.
JR's first exhibition was 'Expo de rue'. He and his friends were previously graffiti artists in Paris and when JR found a camera, he started taking photos of his friends.
His exibition was in the streets of Paris and bordered with graffiti lines. This was so even when the pastes fell away, the lines stayed there.
His exibition was in the streets of Paris and bordered with graffiti lines. This was so even when the pastes fell away, the lines stayed there.
For JR's second exhibition, he was inspired by the 2005 riots in Paris. It was taking over the news and JR even personally knew some of the rioters. He wanted to show that these people weren't evil and wanted to show the city another side of them. He pasted his images in the fancy areas of Paris which was a big statement.
Portrait of a generation
Gordon Magnin
Gordon Magnin creates work that's a perfect response to his environment his art work creates a new perspective of a very familiar subject matter in an extremely refreshing way, he imposes geometric systems on the high fashion faces, either by cutting them out of the images and replacing them on a new angle, or simply by removing the shapes completely. He wants us to consider a new perspective of a very new subject matter. Gordon Magnin is considering
My attempt (unedited)
My edits
WWW: I managed to capture a range of facial expressions and lighting, also editing the pictures into photoshop.
EBI: I need to improve my editing skills on photoshop, navigating the different tools on there and following the steps on the tutorial
EBI: I need to improve my editing skills on photoshop, navigating the different tools on there and following the steps on the tutorial
Kehinde Wiley
Kehinde Wiley is an American portrait photographer that is widely known for his naturalistic paintings of African Americans. The main subject of his paintings focus on young black men and women in the traditional settings of classic old master paintings. Wiley was born on February 28th 1977 in Los Angeles, California. The artists childhood experiences were enriched by his mother's passion for education. By age 11, Kehinde started art classes at California State University, and just one year later attended a six week art program. In 1999 he earned a bachelors degree in Fine arts and at the School Of Art. Some other accomplishments Wiley has made in his career include collaborating with Brooklyn Museum of Art to organize his personal exhibition reflecting on his journey called ' Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic'. Furthermore in 2014 was the recipient of the 2014 National Medal of Arts. It eventually led to president Barack Obama selecting Wiley to paint his official portrait for the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.
Kehinde Wiley's work
My attempt at recreating a classic photo
Lady Lidith, by Danielle Gabriel Rosetti
My edit inspired by Kehinde Wiley
Patrick Corneillet, Fragments of a building
Patrick Cornillet (b. 1968) graduated from École Pivaut in Nantes. Cornillet works with painting where the detailed realism of photography is united with sensuous brush strokes. His works investigate both issues concerning picturing and urbanity.
In this series, he has painted architectural elements isolated from their environment and reconstituted in the form of objects on a white background. The concrete makes us aware of the material and of the remains left by the humans and of time passing by. Even if the architectures seem austere, spaces seeming uninhabited, dehumanised, Cornillet creates a particular poetry and a mesmerising mysticism.
In this series, he has painted architectural elements isolated from their environment and reconstituted in the form of objects on a white background. The concrete makes us aware of the material and of the remains left by the humans and of time passing by. Even if the architectures seem austere, spaces seeming uninhabited, dehumanised, Cornillet creates a particular poetry and a mesmerising mysticism.
Patrick's work
My photos (unedited)
The process of my edits
WWW: i captured the building in a similar way to Patrick and then edited out the background smoothly and chose a background which complimented the dull colours by contrasting.
EBI: if i could have got the building more centred in the frame and possibly taken the images at a different time of day so that they aren't so shadowed.
EBI: if i could have got the building more centred in the frame and possibly taken the images at a different time of day so that they aren't so shadowed.
Strand 1
Petra Collins
Petra Colins is a talented artist who's photography set the stylistic tone for lots of the 2010s. She's been shooting since she was 15. Collins speeds through the world of art, fashion, music and film. Her inspiration for work comes from self discovery and contemporary femininity exploring the complex intersection of life as a young woman. These are some of Petra's photos from her work '24hr psycho', which is the module I will be recreating.
In order to re create Petra's photos, I'm going to get some photography gel lights and put them over my phone flash, to create the different colours reflecting on Petra's models. I'm going to photograph my friends in different ways, some of them smiling, laughing, crying and then some with glittery, euphoria style makeup, I think it would really represent Petra's photography style. I also think that the gel sheets will make the photos very eye catching and pretty.
First attempt
In order to prepare for these photos I had to make sure the room was completely dark so that the coloured light would have the best impact. Then I set up my sunset lamp, which has many different colour settings, and put the light directly on my models face and put my camera on ISO 400. I then took a few photos and messed around with the ISO and shutter speed to see what looked best but then I settled with ISO 400 and 1/50.
WWW: for some of the photos I really like how they came out and how the sunset lamp contrasts with the dark room. I also think my images closely resemble Petra Collin's photographs. The ISO is perfect for most photos once I got the hang of which settings suited me best.
EBI: I could've taken more photos and gotten my model to switch positions and do different poses. I am going to do a second development of these photos and I will make sure I improve on those things to get the best outcome.
EBI: I could've taken more photos and gotten my model to switch positions and do different poses. I am going to do a second development of these photos and I will make sure I improve on those things to get the best outcome.
Strand 2
Gordon Magnin
Gordon Magnin is a Nevada based artist who works in photography, scans, collage, and altered found image. He was born in 1978 in Nevada. Magnins interest lies in the inventive use of geometry, pattern, repetition, form, perspective, composition, and systematic operations as methods to distort and challenge the intended objective, interpretation, and significance of consumer based images. I really love Gordons work as its unusual and interesting. I really like how he takes a normal portrait photo and turns it into a geometric masterpiece, which is why I've chosen to recreate his photos for my strand 3.
To recreate Magnin's photos, I'm going to take portrait photos of my friends with good lighting and then edit them in photoshop.
First attempt
These are my unedited images, to take these I used a white backdrop and a light and then set my ISO on 800 and shutter speed 1/60. I got my model to do a number of different facial expressions. Next I'm going to edit these on photoshop to match them with Gordon's images.
Best edits
How i edited my photos
For this strand, first of all I photographed my model using a white backdrop for my background, and then used studio lighting to capture a clear image of her. I then took multiple photos of her and selected the best ones to therefore edit in photoshop. When editing in photoshop I firstly copied and pasted my image to have 2 layers. I then used the elliptical marquee tool to make a circle stencil on her face, then I; 1. selected, 2. modify, 3.contrast, 4. chose whatever size i wanted it to be (every time making the circle smaller and smaller to create a fragmented effect) and then did edit transform and rotated it slightly. I then repeated these steps numerous times and then i was done. For some of my images I either made them black and white or switched up the style by creating triangles on her face as well. I really enjoyed this strand as Gordons work is especially eye catching and has an affect on the person viewing it, I feel my work had a similar effect. To improve I would like to take more photos and make more edits.
Second attempt
Unedited images
The process
Edits
Development 1
Petra Collins
I chose the Petra Collins strand as my favourite strand as I really liked how my last images turned out, and I was eager to have another go at them to improve my faults from my last images and make these ones better. I wanted to think more about the pose and include more of the figure whilst continuing with the coloured light.
I like that these images are different to my first set, due to the intensity of my model's facial expressions and her makeup; she put a few gems on both sides of her eyes which I got her to do as it is inspired by the TV drama, 'Euphoria'. The cinematography of the show closely resembles Collin's photography style.
These images would have been better if I had used a plain backdrop or was closer to her face so that you couldn't see my bedroom in the background, this would allow for negative space around the composition allowing the viewer to focus on the portrait. I also originally wanted to show emotions through these images, as although my model appears to pose in a passive way, she is making direct eye contact with the camera which puts her in a position of power.
These images would have been better if I had used a plain backdrop or was closer to her face so that you couldn't see my bedroom in the background, this would allow for negative space around the composition allowing the viewer to focus on the portrait. I also originally wanted to show emotions through these images, as although my model appears to pose in a passive way, she is making direct eye contact with the camera which puts her in a position of power.
Examples of photos from Euphoria that I'm referencing
Favourite images
For these images I set up my projector and projected flames onto my models face and turned off all all the other lights in my room. I was inspired by collins use of high contrast colours and shadows and chose to use an image of flames that would give different tones and hues to the subjects face. I really like these images as they're different to the rest that I've taken and the lighting and focus on these images is amazing. I focused on using the colours red and pink as they are harmonious colours that compliment my meaning in the photo. A lot of my work, like Collin's focusses on high intensity feelings and the pink flames symbolises how bold and dominant her personality is, unlike how women are expected to be in a patriarchal society . I also like that her nails contrast with the flames that are being projected onto her face contrasting the delicate, soft side to her confident and forthright nature. I think these images resemble Petra Collin's images in many ways for example the lighting and the poses and the facial expressions but I also think that they differ to hers with the intensity and the projected flames which I really like.
Development 2
My second development is inspired by Daniele Buetti while still using Petra Collins as my base.
Daniele Buetti is a contemporary swiss artist, his work incorperates light installations which closely links to Petra's work as her work is based on light as well. His work has been described as, "an expression of world-weariness and the individuals precarious existential orientation." He used to get images of high-fashioned consumer products and models from magazines and pierce them with a ballpoint pen.
Daniele Buetti is a contemporary swiss artist, his work incorperates light installations which closely links to Petra's work as her work is based on light as well. His work has been described as, "an expression of world-weariness and the individuals precarious existential orientation." He used to get images of high-fashioned consumer products and models from magazines and pierce them with a ballpoint pen.
"Dreams result in more dreams"
Buetti takes photographs away from their original context and he speaks about the emotional relationship between appearance and reality
Daniele Buetti's work
My response
In order to edit these images I printed out my images and then drew an outline of the design I wanted and then traced the outline with a pin (poking the image), I then got a plain white screen and stuck my photos to it to get the effect of the light coming through the holes. I tried to give an empowering effect by using stronger colours such as red, I made the red more vibrant on photoshop to represent anger, the two red photos give the illusion that women are starting to become more powerful and independent. The way that my model is staring straight at the camera comes across as confrontational and intimidating. Danielle Buetti's work has been described as an 'expression of world weariness and the individuals precarious existential orientation', conveying that raises awareness and draws attention to emotions that aren't said out loud.
Development 3
For my final piece I carried on taking images inspired by Daniele Buetti and Petra Collins (focussing mainly on her '24 hour psycho' project) I love Petras Collins work as she explores how women can be represented through the medium of photography . Her project '24 hour psycho' depicts young women whose faces are illuminated by vibrant hues of yellow, blue and red. Their features are captured from close up, making each shot feel intimate to the viewer. She empowers women by making them the centre of attention in her photography and in her photos she has the women staring straight ahead at the camera, creating an intimidating and powerful piece. Collins focuses on the female gaze. The girls in Collins' images take control, everything is on their terms. They are vulnerable and emotional but willing to share that side of themselves.
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Daniele Buetti takes photographs away from their original context, he speaks about the emotional relationship between appearance and reality and reveals the omnipotence of the media in our society. Buetti uses light to magnetize the viewer in the same way that mass media use beauty. Buetti and Collins are similar artists, who have similar intentions as they take the subject of the image and use aspects of them and their emotions and put them into the images and put onto paper what cannot be said out loud.
My photos (unedited)
I liked how I approached my final piece by using the sunset lamp again and getting my model to do different facial expressions and different hand gestures. But it isn't the outcome i wanted- I need the room to be darker and possibly a darker backdrop so i can avoid shadows and have only her face as my main subject, whereas in the first attempt I feel there's too much going on and the light isn't intense enough. I am going to retake these images to try get the best outcome possible.
Development 4
I photographed the next set in the studio with a black back drop to solve the issues from the last two sets of observations.
I really like this set of photos as they're a little different to my previous photos. In order to get the blurred effect I put my camera on long exposure and used pairs of complementary coloured lights from either side of the model. I found that using this method to light my portraits created a more effective outcome. These images are similar to Collins' two-toned series '24 hour psycho' in which she uses two different colours from both sides to create the two-toned effect.
Final piece
For my final piece I decided to carry on taking close intimate portraits of my model as I found they were the most successful in my previous developments. In order to create the holes in my photos to make the holding light illusion I put my printed and edited photo against cardboard and then used a pin and stabbed many holes tracing my outline. I then put my images against a lightbox to get light flowing through the holes. Then I took some photos on my camera and edited them on photoshop (I cropped them and made them darker).
For my final piece I wanted to focus on the female gaze, which I feel I did very well; my model takes control and everything is on her terms, she is in charge. My photos are close up and personal making them intimate and confrontational. I also wanted to represent hope towards bettering what girls think and see themselves as, young girls often mask their feelings, and can be anxious and scared to stand up for themselves, but I feel by creating a sense of dominance and intimacy with my model, I have shown that there are ways to be heard without speaking- thought the art of photography. The light coming through the photographs shows how there is strength in every weakness and always 'light at the end of the tunnel'. |