Pathway Project Ideas

-Opposites

-freedom

-rebirth/reinvention

-Stigma and Ignorance. Probably do something around disability, maybe Mental Health.

-Experimenting with surrealism would suit the stigma and ignorance idea.


"To be a surrealist . . . means barring from your mind all remembrance of what you have seen, and being always on the lookout for what has never been." —Rene Magritte
“Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.” —Salvador Dali


- I want to do some experimenting with multiple exposures.

-I'm going to stick with the conceptual route my photos are taking.

-I'm not too sure whether I should steer away from portraiture.

-I also need to be more confident in my abilities to shoot in colour. I don't know why it seems like such a daunting task when i'm able to see in colour every day, however, when I take pictures in colour it's like some kind of sensory overload and my mind can not cope.

-I looked at some of the work by Edward Weston and thought photographing nudes would be a path I could take (It's just an option at the moment). It seem odd, but after looking more into the story surrounding Aron Ralston, the man who had his arm crushed by a bolder for 6 days, I thought it was fascinating how he went on such a meaning full journey over such a short amount of time. It was obviously an emotional roller-coaster for him and during that time he was able to develop a great emotional perspective on his life. I think he also said that he was "reborn" after he freed himself .

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The Chain-Ingrid Michaelson Images to Music project

A must watch youtube video. Really beautiful way to tell a story.

Trip to Shropshire

Some of the digital images I took when we went om a trip to Shropshire. I was panicking because I thought my other photo that I took on the film and medium format camera would not come out. So these images are not that great, really rushed, because these were taking on our way back to the coach.

I eddied this one down in photo shop. Increased the saturation, changed the hue and contrast to bring out the detail. Becaise I took this in a rush I also tried to reduce the blur.

Introspection: part 2

http://picasaweb.google.com/107117356931581378530/UntitledAlbum#5551284646660168114

Part 1
...the image with the jar follows with the fantasy feel and this idea of perception. I did two of these images where the jar is in front of my face, blocking and distorting my view and looking at the picture, it blockers the viewers view and helps to add to understand of the skewed perception of self (myself). I like this one more because it reminded me of the hunchback of Notre dame, in away, but this wasn't what I thought of when I first made this image. In the Disney film, you usually see 3/4 of his face, what I remember of the film, that angle stands out more as you see how "grotesque" he is, his hunch and face are the focus. Because I wanted this part of my project to be more about a skewed, distorted vision, out of the two images with the jar, this one is more suited. There is something quite unsettling about how the shadows hide part of the face and the hand is creeping around the jar, and the one eye is larger and focused in the centre of the photo looking out at you.

My next image after this, of me holding two pairs of glasses follows the perception idea. As the one with the jar was more about the perception of self, as the focus was more obviously around the face (because the jar was encompassing it), This one was more about the perceptions you have within yourself and the ones outside of your head. So it is basically the way you look at things in the real world and in an artificial world- "A Double Vision". I had a slight Jekyll and Hyde idea with this, you can see me in the reflection and me with the smirk on my face. When you are out in the every day world you act differently than when you are by yourself, alone and isolated with your own thoughts. The angle of the second pair of glasses was used to show a different angle to the whole idea of this image, and the capturing of my reflection was my accident, but I think it helps the image.
After thinking of ways to focus on my self, I looked at focusing on others, I took pictures of my friends, and my family and I went back and took pictures of myself, but as a younger character. Cindy Sherman influenced   the idea of me dressing up, and becoming a different character. These next two images where I added text are about my memories. I thought adding the text would be crucial because I didn't want people to read too much into these images, unlike my others where self-interpretation was key, these images are relaying past events, memories that are factual. One reason why I did not shoot these images in a a documentary type setting- like how Jim Goldberg takes to the streets- was because I wanted to keep within the themes of how I took my other photos and keep the scenes within a conceptualized setting- not having them seem like they were reflecting "reality".

The image of my Nan and the light infront of her head and the text add to the bottom was looking at how I think of her. My nan if very important to me, and in this photo I took of her she stands bold and headstrong, central in the photo and the light highlighting and outlining her character and form. I think the text and the photo work together and show how stubborn and independent she is. With the text, I looked at Lorna Simpson and I also thought about spoken poetry where certain words are said with intensity to stand out. The word are about how my nan come and goes to help me out and look after me, but she stays as a background figure. The "Night Traveller" part was to stand on its own like the start of a letter to someone. The next two lines where the "come back" is louder and bigger than the other words is because those where the times I felt I needed her to hear me and come back and help me when I felt I was on my own. The last part I left a gap, as to say I taking a pause and reflecting and I made the text smaller almost like a whisper because I did not want her to know I couldn't cope being left alone at times.

The other image I took influence from Jim Goldberg's work where he asks the people he photo graphs to write something on the photo to help people understand more about them. This image where I am walking through the woods holding my teddy bear, central in the frame looking quite small in comparison to the trees standing tall around me, is a good image on its own in terms of how the scene is set you can understand that the character is young or child- like quality about her. However, I wanted the text there so people didn't read too much into the image and create their own interpretation. I wrote the text quite scrawly and added part of it at the top and bottom to show the changing of thought on the situation. I created this idea of a memory I had from when I was younger thinking that I wanted to escape the situation I was in, but also thinking about what would happen If I was too far away from it- would I regret that decision; so I created this scenario.

The images after that where about the many faces of fear. The way it marks us, takes us over and changes us. In these images I was not trying to be myself, but I was trying to be the "fear". I experimented with shutter speed to show the transformation process when the fear consumes you. It's very frantic, and you're almost in a daze or a blur when that fear is there. The fact that the images are black and white is to show that contrast, and how much it strips you back and reveals so much about you. Because of how alot of my images are focused on the face, making the photos more closed in and focused, I think this helps to bring out more of the emotion and meaning in the images.

I chose these images to put forward as my final images because of the way they tell a story individually, but together they show a progression of events- almost like a timeline. In the animation I think it becomes more obvious.

Childhood memories continued...

Following the idea of basing this series on a 'storytale' theme, I did this one based on Red Ridding Hood. I stood my camera on a tripod and reduced the shutter speed. I really wanted to have the shutter speed high so I could freeze the motion and the action, but because of how dull the lighting was in the park I couldn't do that, but I think this works just as well. Even though the i'm not completely visible in this photo (which adds to the mystery) and i'm blurred in a way that gives a sense that I do not want to be in this place. The way the trees are standing firm in their place at either side of the character gives a sense of entrapment and contains the scene.

With these images I thought I would get more into the role i'm wanted to portray. I ditched the lollipop, as I thought the teddy bear would hold more meaning and threw on a blanket, pyjamas and my hair in pigtails. I was trying to make myself  to be this stereotypical image of a child. This photo made me really think about the movie A.I. where David is roaming through the woods with Teddy after everyone else had abandoned him. The character in this is meant to be: curious about what is out there, quite self -centered/naive and I think that comes across by positioning the character in the middle of the shot, but in need of something to hold onto to keep her company and to keep her safe. I think this series where I dress up more for the character worked out better than the photos with me in the black coat. I went back to it and added the text to the to it, to make it more personal and like it was written by a child.

Memories

I wanted this one to be personal like the childhood Stories, but like how Lorna Simpson structures her text along side of the images they seem like stanzas in  a poem. I looked at layering the words across the image, while highlighting certain words that I wanted to stand out as they are the most important clues to what the image is about. This photo is one I took of my Nan on a previous shoot. She looks out me alot, especially when I was younger, when my mum would come and go out of hospital, but because she is old, stubborn, always travels around Birmingham with her heavy bags I worry about her. The light was supposed to outline her shilouette, and act like a lighthouse light that guide the Shipmen ashore. I wasn't too fond with the text across the photo, so I shifted it to the side, Catherine gave me the idea of making it like pieces of spoken Poetry, so certain words stand out more and create more of an impact.

Childhood memories continued...

Thinking of how Cindy Sherman gets in the role for when she portrays her characters, I decided to look into ways I could portray myself as a child, and also creating a scene. I though about stories from when I was younger, stories like Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Alice in Wonderland or even Artificial Intelligence. I remember being kind of jealous of them when they went on their adventures, but there was always a apart in these stories that made you worry for the characters and their journeys they take on their own as they are only children. This image was more of a test shot I like the dark contrast in the image the way the trees encase the character in the scene and loom over me. There is that sense of panic and worry as the scene is so empty and in the middle of know where and the character is holding her teddy and her lolipop, walking through without any direction or path to guide me.