Over the past 11 weeks I have been working on this FMP exploring the idea that sex is used in fashion photography to sell the product. Ive chosen 10 photographers to draft initial responses and say what I think their work is trying to say. Two of which I have done more in depth research into, Terry Richardson and Helmut Newton. I then shot 4 test shoots and a final shoot. My first test shoot I shot in the style of Helmut Newton, then the others were purely experimental ideas of mine such as maybe using pin hole cameras or using ascetate to print a digital image onto photographic film paper. My final photographs were shot with inspiration from Terry Richardson.
What have I learnt in the past 11 weeks?
In the most recent weeks I have learnt a lot, in terms of research I have found out a lot about lots of different photographers. And I have taken a lot of inspiration from almost all these photographers. In terms of practical work I have learnt that some certain methods weren't as successful as others. The ascetate printing wasn't successful because when printing out of the printer it would always scratch the print as it came out. The pinhole cameras didn't work because the quality was so low because of how long the exposure had to be.
How is it useful to me?
In terms of research, it was useful to me because I learnt how, the photographers I have chosen to research, they work and what they use and I then could adopt the techniques that they use. For example, Helmut Newton would often use a medium format camera, on location. This is what I did for my first shoot, I borrowed a Bronica medium format camera from Amy, the technician, and went to a friends house and shot provocative photos of my friend.
In terms of practical work, I learnt to not use certain techniques because it was not suitable for the work i was hoping to do. For example, when using ascetate to print my images, not only would the printer scratch the ascetate as it came out, but some quality was lost through printing it and therefore had an effect on the final outcome.
How are the images similar to the photographers I have researched?
I feel that in my first shoot, I have done quite well to replicate Newtons work. I used a medium format camera, on location, a lot like how Newton did his work. I also feel I have retained a similar level of elegance seen in my photography and his. I've done this by using black and white, because it is often asociated with elegance and glamour. I've also done this by being particular in what I made my models wear. The male model, I made wear a suit and tie for I felt it enforces that idea of a higher class. The female model, I made wear lingerie for the same reason.
In my final images I used my knowledge of how Terry Richardson shoots his models to shoot mine. However I realised something about his work after I shot the images. That he often makes his models do something that is iconic to him. If I would have know this I would have made the model do something iconic to me.
No comments:
Post a Comment