Ideas for Photographic Shoot

After both photographic shoots I have decided that for the next photographic shoot I am going to incorporate both of them into one. For example I am going to pick two or three settings from the 1st photographic shoot and the idea of the moving images from the 2nd photographic shoot and bind them together. The photographs below are the settings that I am going to use.

'Social Types and Representation' - Photomedia Reader (Second Year)

I have been looking at an article from our second year module Photomedia called “Social Types and Representation.”  This article stood out to me because it discusses how identities are socially constructed.  For example it made me think of the Youtube video I uploaded to my blog earlier called “How to trick people into thinking you are good looking.”  This is because in the video she is altering her image to what she believes is represented as beautiful that has been social constructed by the media.  “We experience our lives and present ourselves to others in ways which have been shaped by our knowledge of films and photos we have seen, stories we have read and so on” (pg 5).  It is reiterating that we believe what we see and what we are taught, but it does not necessarily represent reality, but are representations of what the media believes it to be.  This is what I am trying to portray in my photographs that representation of women (in the media) is not necessarily reality, for example all people don’t look like certain images of women that are produced, but feel pressured to change their appearance to achieve what they see in front of them.

I want to show through my images how powerful the media’s representation is, “No representation is simply a representation of reality: it is always a reality sense from a particular perspective or subject positions” (pg 7). For example shown through media images such as television, magazines and photographs. Stereotypes’ are another form of representation, they define people for example women’s appearance and how they act in society. Relating back to the film ‘Miss Representation’ is just shows how hard it is to escape from certain stereotypes of women which are represented in society though the media.

Photographic Shoot 2

“Since femininity is associated with matter, the symbol of femininity is the female body. In contemporary culture, the body, especially the female one, is regarded as an object that can be shaped and modelled to match the promoted beauty standards” (Damean, 90).  After Reading “Media and Gender: Constructing feminine identities in a postmodern culture’ by Diana Damean it made me realise how the media portray certain beauty standards for women, showing them that they can change their appearance to achieve this level of beauty.  However images of women portrayed in the media can influence women to feel suffocated by the representation of these beautiful idealised women. The “Media sets standards for the shape and the dimensions of the “beautiful” body, according to a series of binary oppositions” (Damean 91).  It can be said that the media defines and shows women what ‘beauty’ is supposed to looks like, through women’s appearances in magazines, television, etcetera.  This may leave some women feeling the pressure to conform to these standards; and feeling smothered by the media’s representation of ‘beauty’.  This influenced me for my next photographic shoot, where the images smother her face, losing her identity, shown through the magazine cuttings covering her face.

For this photographic shoot I stuck the images on the girls face and then got two people to peel the images off. I reversed the images so that it looks as though they are placing the photographs on her face. I did this as I wanted to show that she was not making the decision but was being influenced by other people and the media. I then used video software to create the moving image. A tripod was essential for this photographic shoot so that the camera stayed in a stable position throughout the process.

Photographic Shoot 1

For this photographic shoot I was experimenting with the idea that even in our home which is supposed to be a safe place we are still being ‘policed’ by the media in the everyday, without subconsciously knowing it. I tried to portray this by placing the camera high up like a CCTV camera view, watching the girl, but in my tutorial with Michelle though we decided that this was not as affective.  However we did like the shots of the girl in front of the laptop and when she is lying on the bed watching the television because of the lighting and composition. This is something that I will take into consideration for the next photographic shoot and experiment with.

For this photographic shoot I got the idea of the CCTV camera view reading, “Media and gender: Constructing feminine identities in a postmodern culture” by Diana Damean. I found it really interesting how she relates to Michel Foucault that women have ‘surveillance’ and ‘control’ over their bodies and image because of the way the media portrays stereotypes of beautiful women and they fell the need to change and alter themselves in order to fit into these stereotypes. This relates to what I have been exploring that women feel pressurized by the media to conform to what society see as ‘beautiful’. Below are extracts from her book which stood out to me:

“Since the femininity standards are difficult to reach, women are compelled to live most of their lives with a feeling of deficiency, of not being good enough, which means that a severe control over the body can also affect the mind. As it appears, the key-concepts the media discourse operates with are "surveillance" and "control" over the female body, both external and internal. Media use this strategy so as to shape women's bodies as well as to fashion their social roles” (Damean, 2006, p.91). This is where my initial idea grew from.

“Women are prisoners in this virtual panopticon as, once aware they are being objects of the gaze, they apply to themselves the normalizing politics of control and self-surveillance” (Damean, 2006, p.91). – This gave me an idea for my next photographic shoot where images (magazine cuttings) are forced on a women’s face, but she is powerless to object.

Composition

This week’s lecture discussed composition and how important it is to a photograph. An image that was used as an example was of a woman who took a photograph every day for four and a half years and then created it into a moving image. This video worked extremely well because of the composition of all the photographs, as they were almost exactly in the same position every time. Thinking ahead for my photographic shoot I want the composition of the close up of the women’s face to be framed well. I also like the stuttering of the images which I hope to incorporate into my images.

 

Edward Mybridge

During my tutorial with Michelle, she said that I should produce images that are more challenging and extreme because last term they were rather simple, which I completely agree with.  I want to draw on the idea of ‘cinemagraphs’ and how a photograph almost becomes a video, with the images coming alive.  I will photograph in continuous shooting mode to achieve this, thefore producing hundreds of photographs that when put together collaborate into a moving image.  This made me think of Eadweard Mybridge photographs where his images communicate and capture time and how "still images are not really motionless."  This gave me an idea to make my photographs come to live and move.

Edweard Mybridge famously proved that when a horse gallops all four legs lift of the ground. This was impossible to prove before because the human eye could not see this. His photographs clearly show movement which I want to portray in my photographs. Photographs show something in the past but I want my photographs to represent the present because they are moving images. Below are some images that Eadweard Mybridge produced:

Izabella Damavlys Photography and Dolce & Gabbana Advert

After what Jim Steyer said in ‘Miss Representation’ I thought of looking up violent, sexualized and demining images of women.

I found a photographer called Izabella Demavlys who was a fashion photographer but now focuses on documentary work. These photographs are from her latest series ‘Without a Face’ which “illustrate a deeper definition of beauty, I photograph women whose pictorial beauty radiates from their accomplishment, character and personal struggles” (quoted in Schmelzer, 2010). These are portraits of Pakistani women who have been attacked by men with kerosene oil or battery acid. The portraits depict a different kind of beauty that normal portraits of women may not show, which I think portrays a strong message of what ‘beauty’ really is.

After reading “Photography: A Critical Introduction” Michelle Henning’s section ‘Objects of desire’ stood out to me. This is because it describes how: “Advertising and publicity images as well as erotica were criticised for eroticising the female body in a way in which turned women into more objects for a male gaze, a process usually termed objectification…We need to consider not only how photographs present women’s bodies for a male viewer but also how this process spills over into everyday life and into how men view actual women, and how women view themselves” (Henning, 1997, p.226). This made me think of how adverts show women not only to be gazed at by men, but how the women looking idealised and almost ‘perfect’ for the male gaze. Therefore leaving some women feeling suffocated, not only by the pressure to look beautiful for themselves but also for men. In order to achieve the high standard of beauty that is put forward in front of women through the media, such as magazines, it may leave some women feeling the need to alter their appearance. After reading this I decided to try and find an advert that was criticised for eroticising the female body.

Violent images of women being sexualized has also been a problem within the media. When researching adverts of women, Dolce & Gabbana frequently was being criticized for the way they have depicted women in their adverts and have been under scrutiny over many adverts. Like what Jim Steyer said how people are trying to do more and more shocking images to get attention. For example the Dolce & Gabbana adverts below were banned in several countries around the world for glorifying rape as it was labeled as degrading to women.

Miss Representation film - 2011

The film Miss Representation, ‘explores how the media’s misrepresentation of women has led to the underrepresentation of women in positions of power and influence.’ The short film interviews politicians, journalists, entertainers, activists and academic, high school teenagers, etcetera, about the way the media represents women. It also discusses how there are less women in power for example, only 17 percent is in Congress in America. It is an interesting film because it talks to all different ages and positions of women in power, for example a high school student says, ‘There is no appreciations for women intellectuals, it’s all about the body and not about the brain.’ Even from a young age women are conscious of the media’s influence around them. Another student says that she was worried about her weight in the 5th Grade and is still worried about her weight in 8th grade showing nothing has changed over the years.


The quotes below really stood out to me from the film:

Pat Mitchell the President and CEO of “The Paley Centre for Media’ says how ‘the media is the message and the messenger, a powerful one.” – This is exactly what I want to show in my photography; that the media is a powerful influence on women, leaving some feeling the need to change their appearance to become more ‘beautiful’.

Jim Steyer the CEO of Common Sense Media says, “People try to do more and more shocking things to break through the clutter, they resort to violent images or sexual offensive images or demining images.”

Margaret Cho a comedienne, actor and activist says, “The media treats women like shit, and it’s horrible, and it’s like I don’t know how we survive it, I don’t know how we rise above it.”

It is evident that the majority of us are aware of the media’s influence and the impact it has on us, but we are stuck in a rut and don’t know how to break away from it because the media has such a powerful hold over some of us. This is also affecting the women in political and high powered positions within the world, being dominated by men, for example Congress. The link below it to the trailer of the short clip.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gkIiV6konY

Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck - Photography 'Cinemagraphs'

I researched Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck's work and have added some of my favourite images below. I think their photography is new and different and really brings the images to life giving an illusion that it is a movie. I also think it gives the images an eerie feeling, because only one part is moving. Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck say that their work is a little more than a photograph and a little less than a video.

Cinemagraph

Recently in my tutorial we were discussing how a form of photography has only one part of the image moving.  I had personally never heard of these or seen any, so I decided to research this and try and find some photographs.

I found out that they are called Cinemagraphs which consist of still photographs where a certain movement is repeated, which is commonly publishes in an animated GIF format. The photograph can give an illusion that you are watching a video. I establish through my research that the term ‘CInemagraph’ was created by Kevin Burg and Jamie Beck who used this technique in their fashion and news photography. This was done at the beginning of 2011 which shows that Cinemargraphs is quite a new technique drawing on old techniques of animated photography. Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg joined up together using both their expertise to create their ‘Cinemagraphs.’ Kevin Burg is a visual graphic artist and Jamie Beck is a photographer who wanted to bring their photographs to life.  This is what I would like also to achieve in my project using stop motion animation photography and bringing my images to life.  

Jamie was asked in an interview:

 How did you come up with the concept of ‘cinemagraphs’ with Kevin Burg? Was there a particular need to create animated images for a particular project?

Jamie: “Cinemagraphs capture a delicate part of life and capture the fleeting moments of time, the beat of a city or the breath of a human. It is alive and lives forever whereas a photo is frozen and a video is a linear description of time and can only be engaged through the act of pressing play. A picture says a thousand words but a Cinemagraph takes you there. Visual Graphics Artist Kevin Burg began experimenting with the .gif format in this style in 2009 but it wasn’t until we partnered to cover New York Fashion Week in Feb 2011 that Cinemagraphs were born. Marrying original content photography with the desire to communicate more to the viewer birthed the cinemagraph process” (quoted in Alexander, 2011).

How to Trick People Into Thinking You're Good Looking - Youtube

Michelle sent me this link at the beginning of term. The video is of a girl who is changing her appearance to ‘trick people into thinking she is good looking’. The irony is that she is already a good looking girl, but she feels the need to apply a lot of makeup and change her appearance.  During the film it is funny because whish she is talking the audience through the step by step moves to looking good she is being sarcastic about how things such as contact lenses and fake tan will make her better looking.  She also swears a lot to emphasise her point and takes the Mickey out of her own looks and faults she has.  This made me realise that some women may change their appearance to become more beautiful, because there are stereotypes produced by the media and society, to what is seen as ‘beautiful’ and what is not.

SECOND TERM