Everybody Loves a Drama - Part Two

Roger Dekker, continued...

Cindy Sherman is another inspirational photographer for her compelling compositions, she is not a high fashion photographer however, but works by artists like Roger Dekker and Tung Walsh, which transmit a hidden story or a deeper message remind me of her. 

She takes conceptual portraits, lots of the time of herself and creates a frame within a frame using props, the composition itself or lighting techniq

ues. She tells a story through her untitled film stills and raises political, feminist related questions through her art.

Her film stills are untitled, possibly because she is raising  political questions but she wants us to draw our own conclusions.

Tung Walsh is probably my favourite of all these glorious photographers, he goes that one extra mile into the theatre of photography, pushing the limits of his characters and the story behind their being there. There is something forlorn but simultaneously strong about his female characters. They are placed in bizarre settings, in peculiar positions, making them look awkward but also in control. I find his coloured photographs tend to have 

one or two strong colours against a neutral background. Like Cindy Sherman he creates frames within frames using lighting techniques and props.

Everybody Love a Drama - part One

High fashion photography cannot fail to make you feel like there is a whole world of glamour out there that you're missing out on. This is probably because of the high drama, high gloss and luxury that it exudes.Tim brett Day for example with his Agent Provocateur and Harvey Nichols advertising campaign creates scenes with high drama. He creates clever compositions, the figures appear to come out from the darkness and entice you in. He dresses the location like a studio in these purposeful compositions.

Mario Testino is another highly celebrated photographer who I  love. His photographs emit power and glamour and "I want to be her....." type emotion.

His work is known as "luxury realism" which is very apt, and what I love most about him. Every shot has an underlying drama and grit all of its own, whether it is the eye line of the subject or the carefully crafted composition, he manages to convince me every time. 

Another Luxury Realist and favorite fashion photographer of mine is Roger Dekker. His subjects are shot in more surreal settings which give each frame a story of its own. I am most partial to his black and white images, with high contra

st and chiaroscuro. He seems to focus on movement in still frames and strong female position making the models almost amazonian and powerful. 

His upclose shots have an unspoken power, almost intimidating.

Don't Panic

There is a definite leap involved in the move from school to university and I have to say I felt somewhat overwhelmed by the whole thing initially. It wasn't until i was set a project I could really get my teeth into that i started to feel more confident.In my first year I was set the task to visually create the feeling of an Agoraphobic panic attack. At first there was the pressure of an exciting brief and need to do it justice, but as i began to find out more about agoraphobia the brief seemed more feasible and ideas began to come to me. 

I spoke to a lady who has agoraphobia who said it was like being in a prison in your own mind, and all the more frustrating because you know it is only you creating that prison. She told me sometimes she would go outside and feel totally exposed, her legs would go weak, her breathe would shorten and her heart beat would increase as she began to panic.

"Don't Panic, don't panic, don't panic" she would tell herself in an attempt to calm her self down and keep the feeling of impending doom at bay.

These words really struck me as we all have had moments in life where panic has begun and that feeling of blood rush has taken over...."don't panic, don't panic" are the words  tell my self in an attempt to keep rationality.

For the project i decided to use those two words as my only copy, but write them out of household objects such as aprons, tv remote controls, door stops etc. I decided to write them outside in an ominous looking place that would surely intall panic to any true agoraphobic.

In one instance I used an old battle field which holds an oppressive feeling in its very air. It is a very ominous place which always seems to be grey.

I then wrote the words in ribbons, tape, tape measures a

nd old fabrics on to a wire mesh which is meant to represent the "prison in your mind." Again the photographs are taken out in the open.

My feed back positive but there was a general consensus that the images in fact looked too pretty and not intimidating enough, so I decided to use a setting which held more intimidation and rather than use coloured calligraphic components I would stick to one neutral colour. My thoughts were either masking tape or loo paper and seeing as masking tape doesn't fill you with homely nostalgia I went for loo paper as it is a necessity and a given in every household and in a way holds it own comforts.

I was really pleased with the outcome, I think the setting is more ominous and the lack of colour in the writing unifies the whole piece.

Photographs of Leeds

Photographs of Nature

People always say, look to nature for inspiration and it is true.I find nature can be overwhelming if you catch it on a bright enough day or find a beautiful enough spot. Here are some photos I have taken of moments that are just in need of capturing. I find nature an incredible source of inspiration; its colours, shapes, sinuous lines and detail are unbelievable and never to be underestimated, here are a few snaps.....  

Seven Deadly Sins

I am a 20 year old Graphic and Communication Design Student at the University of Leeds. I have always had an interest in the visual arts and believe they are really important to people and life. If there were no creativity, life would be grey. I have a passion for photography and although I didn't take it as a subject at A-level (always wished i had) It is probably my favorite discipline. 

I do love drawings/paintings etc but there is something about a photograph that draws me in and evokes emotion.  Is there anything more powerful than a visually impacting photograph that illustrates a poignant message? 

As I said in my last post, I am a sucker for drama.In my first year at Leeds I took a photography module as an elective. We have the option to use lots of photography within particular projects on the course, but I wanted to learn more about the fundamentals of it as a subject, in order to understand the way it works and go off and do my own thing. We were set a project to create a series of photographs which emulate the Seven Deadly Sins in any way we wanted but, "try to think out of the box."

I decided I wanted black and white images with high contrast and high visual drama. The thinking behind my series of photos was that most, if not all sin is carried out by the mouth; saying jealous things, shouting with averice, demanding more, and talking with lust etc. Therefore i decided to photograph only the mouth in a scene that depicts the particular sin in question.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.....

I am a bit of a sucker for drama. I love dramatic moments in life, they are what make you feel really alive and moments you always remember. It is the same with photography, art and design, the dramatic compositions that grab me the most. 

Whether it is Tim Brett Days fashion photography or Nan Goldin's documentary photography, it is the power in the composition that draws me in, more so than the colour or the aesthetics of the people within the picture. I would almost rather look at something ugly if it were more interesting than something beautiful, it isn't the prettiness of something that makes me want to look at it, it is what it is and why it is? 

It probably all comes down to nosiness, I just want to know what is going on in that scene, and why.

Here are some examples of Nan Goldin's documentary photography which tend to revolve 

around issues of sex, gender, love relationships, pain , desolation and desertion. This is actually a photograph she took of herself after being beaten by her partner.

Her work revolves around the gritty, and her subjects are always portrayed in a very real and raw way. Her compositions tend to be neutral in colour making the subjects more of a contrast and heightening the level of drama. looking at her photos is almost like looking in on something you know you shouldn't. They are intimate scenes that should be observed but they also have their own purpose and story.

Richard Billingham is another of my favourite realist photographers, unlike Goldin and her portrayal of the pain of relationships, Richard records his family life in a series of photographs entiltled "Ray's a laugh"  which was turned into a book in 1996. 

The pictures are set in his families west midland council flat and document the behaviour of Ray his alcoholic father, his overweight mother and his unruly brother. They offset the typical family photos of ceremonious moments such as weddings, birthdays, christmas etc. They are everyday photos, of nothing in particular, just his observations, like snapshots of a moments 

in time. 

It is as though he is looking on from an external perspective. The subject is very personal but he is almost turning "personal" on its head making the private very public, you now know what goes on behind closed doors. 

There is something confessional about these images, with no explanation or justification, they are simply as they are. 

Billingham aspired to be painter, using his father as the subject matter, but because of  Ray's alcoholic tendencies, it was difficult to get him to stay still for long enough to be painted, so Billingham took these photos as a basis for his painting and is now a celebrate photographer.

Billingham isn't ridiculing his family in these photos but merely documenting them and their situation in working class Britain. 

I don't know what it is about them, but I am transfixed. There is a level of the grotesque within each very "real" composition, with no exaggeration or pretense these photos are purely a fascinating depiction of a certain part of society. Like Goldin each photograph evokes the feeling that you are looking upon something you shouldn't, which is in itself completely captivating.