Evaluation

Photography and the self, I really enjoyed this project. For me it was experimenting and learning things about myself, digging deeper to see how I wanted to present myself to everyone photographically. At first it was a bit of a struggle, I had to try a lot of different techniques before I found the right outcome that suited me. That’s another reason why I enjoyed this project, because its personal and reflects myself I didn't feel as much pressure on making my project 'likeable', all that mattered is that I was happy with it. I started off by continuing to look at and explore things that we had briefly covered in lectures, begging with shadow. I found it really interesting learning about shadow, its origin and the steps you take as a child learning about it. But I wasn’t convinced enough to produce my own shadow work, I felt like it was something that I did want to read more about, but practically didn’t want to pursue, mainly because I didn’t feel like it was right for this particular project. Next I looked at Sally Mann’s self-portrait, I have always been a fan of her work and I have not come across that image before. I produced a rough photograph of myself in my bedroom mirror, the quality of the image isn’t great but I like the idea of having photographs within a photograph. I continued this technique with my faceless image and was starting to think it was a theme I could use in my final photographs. However I wanted to experiment more with up close and personal pictures of myself, so after a lecture on narcissism and ‘performance of the self’ I decided to get creative with makeup. I knew that the idea itself was a little cliché but I wanted to give it a try. The instead task I think was my most successful up to that point. I was finding it hard to think of one object to photograph to represent me, and then realised that it was my messy, cluttered room with numerous random objects that reflected me the most. After a bit of background research I had my final idea. I took my Polaroid out and just walked around thinking what places reflect me or mean the most. The fact that it was an instant camera was really important to me, as somehow I thought it was a really effective, personal way to produce images about myself. However looking back now I do with I had taken some similar photographs on digital, just to compare results. My other piece started of just messing around and a bit of fun, but I actually really liked the wacky outcome and decided to mount it as well. Looking back on the project as a whole I feel like I could have improved by doing a bit more contextual research, as it might have helped me develop my ideas further. I also think I should have experimented more on my final piece by taking a wider range of photographs. Unfortunately the downside of using a Polaroid camera is that the film is extremely expensive and only comes in packs of ten, however unlike any other film cameras you can re-load it in the light. Overall I really enjoyed this project, nevertheless yet again if I had managed my time better I might have gotten a lot more research done and produced more outcomes.

My images

Heres a photograph of my final images. I used a Fuji Mini instant camera. The camera produces smaller images than a generic polaroid, each photograph being around the size of a credit card. On the top is a line of photographS I have taken on location in places that are important to me, mainly around my own area holding memories of when I was growing up. I have included a small body part of mine in every photo, to keep them under the genre of self portrait and not just landscape/location shots. The body of polaroids bellow is a montage of different images of my face, 5 photographs in total. It represents the many different sides, shapes there are to my personality. I like it because it looks a little abstract and different, and thats what I was aiming for in both my pieces, something thats not conventional 'self portrait'.

Polaroids

When searching the internet, more precisely flickr, I came across this self portrait by an ammeter photographer. I really liked the idea again of having photographs within a photograph and more specifically I really liked the idea of using a Polaroid. I think this is the equipment I want to use when taking my final images as there is nothing more instant than a polaroid photograph and therefore nothing more personal as it is created right there and then in the moment. Photograph by Ryan Berry

Location in Self portrait

In Ansel Adams's self portrait he uses a background or location which relates to his work and personality. I think I want to think about location when taking my final images. I want my self portrait to be as personal as possible and the idea of taking images of myself in locations that mean something to me or are of importance seems like a good idea to start with. Here is another self portrait of Ansel Adams, photographed only in front of a tree but automatically the audience can link this location to his other work.

Richard Avedon

I have chosen to look at Richard Avedon's portraits because I found the models he uses very interesting. As a famous portrait photographer through the 60s, 70s & 80s he did shoots for stars such as Twiggy, Marilyn Monroe, The Beatles and more. He started off photographing for major magazines and brands like Vogue, Life, Bazar and Calvin Klein but then went to focus more on portraiture, he was interested in how it captures the 'personality and soul' of the subject. And I completely agree, not only is personality reflected in his photographers but culture as well, as you can see below you can clearly interpret the differences in social class and wealth. On the top is a man dressed in dungarees, with dirt on his face and can presumed to work on farmland or something similar. While on the bottom is Elizabeth Taylor, dressed only in her pearls to emphasise her fortune and importance.

When taking my photographs I want to use some of these more personal ideas, whether its the location that reflects my culture, or my costume, body language, facial expression I want it to represent something personal about me.

Instead

We were set a task to take an image of something that represents yourself, without have you in the photograph. I really like this idea, the thought of objects reflecting personality it interesting. I chose to take a photograph of my desk as I feel it reflects me the most. Its not only where I work but also where I dump random objects if they don't have a home. Its messy and cluttered but it represents a lot about me. I did not set this photograph up, it is generally how my desk looks on a day to day basis. The objects consist of breakfast debris, books, a framed family photograph, hairbrush, cigarettes, an empty bottle, a camera, stationary, film, clutch bags, a purse and headphones. All pretty personal things, some of which I cannot live without. I took both colour and black and white photographs to compare and see which I preferred. I like the diverse many colours in the bottom image however I think it draws attention away from the objects.

Narcissism

The word narcissism comes from the greek myth about the man Narcissus. It is a story about how he stumbled upon his reflection in a pool of water, not knowing that is was himself he was seeing he fell in love with the figure in the water and being unable to leave it, he died. The word is now used to describe those with excessive selfishness or obsessed with their own looks. It can be used lightly about a person who for example, wears to much makeup. Which is where I got the idea for this photograph. Nothing serious with these images, I was just having a play around to see what sort of outcome I could produce. Self portrait: one side of my face covered in make up and the other side totally bare. Representing the selfishness and selflessness side of a myself.

Faceless

Its non conventional to photograph yourself without your face, as it generally hides your identity. However some photographers have explored this option within self portrait. John Coplans is known for his series of black and white self portraits of his naked body. He captured detailed images of specific body parts but never his face, focusing on the physical and human qualities of the body and nothing more. The interesting things were the shapes his made with his body, twisting it in ways to experiment with composition.

I wanted to take a different approach to a faceless image, and make it still personal but also still hiding identity. I took a photo of myself covering my face with another photograph, technically I am not showing my physical face but a photograph of my younger face. I didn't like the outcome, I think the photograph I was holding wasn't big enough to make a good image. It started out as a decent idea but I won't be continuing with it.

Mirror

Lots of photographers use mirrors to take their self portraits. Using a mirror enables you to set up the shot as apposed to trail and error using self timer. It also however means that the camera will be in the photograph as well. Photographers chose to do this in order to show off their equipment, but also to use a different perspective. Playing around with refection can sometimes confuse the audience and make you have to look twice about where the mirror is in relation to the photographer/ camera. Here is a self portrait by Sally Mann, I like it because she has made the large camera and equipment the main point of focus in the image.

Using mirrors in self portrait is used everyday on social networking sites. People are constantly taking images of themselves for profile uses, in some ways this can be seen as a form of vanity, yet it is still a form of self portrait. The difference is they are not as personal, often edited and displayed to show you at your best.

Heres a quick one I took of myself in the mirror. My mirror is surrounded in photographs which makes it more interesting as I'm not only in it once. It also takes the main attention away from me, like in the Sally Mann self portrait, my physical self is not where the eye is drawn to straight away.

Shadow

This project focuses on the relationship between the photographer and their images. Reflecting personal experiences, responses or opinions within the photographs. This can be conveyed in a simple self portrait or a more in depth series of images. I am going to first be reflecting on lectures and doing research into how different photographers approach self portrait. Im going to start with a painting by Joseph Wright. He painted this scenario while in greece. The image shows a woman drawing the outline of her lovers shadow before he goes off to war. This image arguably dictates the creation of portrait. She is drawing his shadow as representation; she wants part of him to be left behind. To me it makes sense for a shadow to represent a portrait as its personal and unique to everyone. More recently photographers have used shadow to represent their self-portrait. Looking at a range of different shadow work I think it’s not only the shadow itself that makes the photograph personal, but also what it is cast on. Ansel Adams is iconic for his landscape photography, which he reflects in his self-portrait. Here he has cast a shadow over what could be a desert floor, or a mountainside. Wherever it is, its different and its because of the location that you still get the sense who he is. I will remember this when creating my own self-portrait work, that the location is just as important and the context.

A Short History of the Shadow by Victor I. Stoichita After reading a couple of passages from this book I have taken down some memorable and interesting points and quotes. "At the age of five a child can already understand that the shadow is the shadow of an object (the hand) and that this is attributable to the hands opaqueness (to the bones)" "However from around the age of eight the child can even predict where a shadow will fall, going as far as to state that the shadow is produced when light is absent" "Children as young as six months can recognise themselves in the mirror" "The mirror stage involves primarily the identification if the I, whereas the shadow stage involves mainly the identification of the other"

Photography and the self brief

Part B of the Themed Project Unit focuses on issued of identity and introduces Psychoanalytic Theory (Freud, Lecan) in the context of visual artists' self-representations. Through exploration of a range of techniques and approaches such as photo therapy, role-play, dream recording, story telling and auto-biographical writing, students develop creative work on the theme of self-representation.