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