Project 1 finals

I'm going to print these a little bigger than A3, at 12" x 18" on gloss. The reason for the gloss is to mimic the shine on the original photos held my the models, I want to replicate that original asthetic (without resorting to the nostalgia of 'retro' stylising), Irena Werning style.
The order will go from Grandma, to Mum, to Me. I considered displaying them vertically (like below) to imply a family tree format, but this symbolism would perhaps be a little obvious and I'm so pleased with the identical complosition of the three shots that I'd really like to bring this out by lining them up horizontally - when I do all the models heads, shou;lders and hands line up beautifully!

Angela and Ithyle

 

I found this image by Angela and Ithyle after I'd taken my project 1 photos, but I love the way it plays with depth of field and the fogginess of memory. My photographs have been focused in reverse to this image, on the face in the background with the photograph and hand in front a little blurred, however not as obviously as here. Although I love this photograph, I think such a shallow depth of field would perhaps add another element of obvious 'symbolism' to my portraits which I had not intended. My primary themes are that of age and generation, whereas this technique also brings the authority of the photograph to question, which is not my intent (though i find it fascinating). Another, separate idea for a series could be images like that above, with childhood photographs, but not necesarily shot in the studio or within the same family group. This might make room for new themes about the photographic medium to come through. I love art which is self reflective, which comments on its own medium from within, and find this is very popular in photography and cinematography (for example La Jetee, below).

La Jetée

Watching this famous film in photographic theory, brings up some fascinating theories about photography and cinematography, and the problems in freezing reality, the assumed truth of a photograph, the death of time etc. beautiful imagery and a rich storyline as well.

Project 1

looking at age, change, memory and generation. These are from a shoot with my Grandmother, aged 78, holding a photo of herself, aged 50. I should have reflected light onto her back to pop her forward a little: I will also be doing a similar shoot with my mum and a self-portrait, so I'll keep this in mind for those sessions. I was planning on shooting on a white background but it was a little too crisp, and lacked the nostalgia I was after. The black is much more dramatic and I like the way the subject emerges out of the darkness, like a memory from the past. I like both shots, and will know after photographing my other models (mum, myself) how they work within a series. I think the photo below has a lot of conceptual potential!

Gregory Crewdson

Jeff Wall

"I begin by not photographing"

Large scale light boxes for presentation are just beautiful and make a strong reference to advertising billboards/historical paintings.

Everynone

WORDS from Everynone on Vimeo.
 beautiful, simple art videos by Everynone - I especially appreciate the combo of music and real recorded sounds - the clips selected are genius, too!

Breakdown

Final video piece for digital audio/video project

An exploration of social pressures and expectation, freedom and self realisation.

Special thanks to Kate Haysom and my other helpers/support!

audio track by Frou Frou

Elizabeth Gilbert

Thank you Elizabeth Gilbert, every creative person needs to see this, right now. Spirituality (of which I have no time for) aside, the pressures put on artists to produce, produce, produce, are ridiculous. This isn't to say that a beautiful piece of writing is not born of a clever, incredible creative mind; only that creative ideas are not 'products' which can be stamped out on a production line. An artist is not a machine!

William Eggleston

Hans Bellmer

Totally creepy, intriguing, and in a way really beautiful in form and composition. The black and white is really effective - and the dolls themselves of course are sculpturally magnificent - Though subject matter is quite confronting, there's a lovely level of abstracted form in these images, and I understand why Bellmer chose to photograph his dolls rather than just present them as sculpture - the flattening and earie stillness is really what drives these shots for me.

Marian Drew

These are just beautiful. I'm not a massive sucker for still life but the fragility in both the subject matter and photographic technique of Drew's work is hypnotising - and so much more than a straight shot. Her commentary on Australian colonisation is gentle, but clear - and the mood of these endearing images reminds me of illustrator Shaun Tan, who I also love to pieces.

 

Joel Peter Witkins

Witkins appropriated Las Maninas by Diego Velázquez, revealing an incredible fascination for the morbid and deterioration. He labelled his appropriation as a self portrait, and uses picasso-like characters to represent the high court - so the cultural and personal meaning behind this photograph is huge. Aside from concept and context, the image is intriguing in its own right and without reliance on the original!

Wrapping up Kate

In the filming studio for my first ever short film - which involved way more mess than had been anticipated but which was also a lot of fun! Pictured is Kate Haysom, my lovely, mess-friendly performer, who's tolerance was outstanding as we wrapped her up in layer upon layer of glue, glitter, paint, paper, fluorescent netting, gutter guard, cellophane and the like.

Studio Portraits

Playing around with lighting in the uni studio - we were trying to really bring out bold colours and rembrandt lighting: however I think perhaps we went a little overboard on the shadows! an interesting effect but only if it's conceptually relavent! 

here, Hannah was trying to capture the inbetween, unco moments of speech - I was telling a story about my childhood and the nostalgia really opened up my face.

Hiroshi Sugimoto

" I'm a habitual self-interlocutor. Around the time I started photographing at the Natural History Museum, one evening I had a near-hallucinatory vision. The question-and-answer session that led up to this vision went something like this: Suppose you shoot a whole movie in a single frame? And the answer: You get a shining screen. Immediately I sprang into action, experimenting toward realizing this vision. Dressed up as a tourist, I walked into a cheap cinema in the East Village with a large-format camera. As soon as the movie started, I fixed the shutter at a wide-open aperture, and two hours later when the movie finished, I clicked the shutter closed. That evening, I developed the film, and the vision exploded behind my eyes."

Shaun Gladwell

Just went to see Shaun Gladwell's exhibition at ACMI - loved it to pieces, the common thread which tied all the works together was really simple and consistent - basically a recurring theme of reflection and duality, parallels and pairs etc. Though his works are standalone brilliant, the show also made me aware of how important presentation is in video art: in presenting his dual videos in pairs, one on each wall facing each other, the viewer had to choose which to look at, and couldn't view them both side by side, which was interesting in inviting audience participation on some level, though also keeping control.