2nd to last tutorial - Martin Pover

I feel pretty positive after my tutorial today as I kind of knew that these images from my final shoot were what I wanted to get out of this project. But what was suggested really surprised me; the shots from my first shoot on this project were saying the same thing as my final shoot was. Plus they were strong images to start with. So I've taken the advice and have planned to incorperate and produce more of these images. Maybe in black and white or maybe in the same colour schemes I've been working with my final pictures.

These are six of the images from the first shoot that I want to include :

And I wish to do six more to make it up to twelve images all together expressing the way celebrities have to choose and decide what persona or identity they are to sell to the public.

And then this image will create that feeling of how celebrities sell their image to us for us to idolize and also represent ourselves as well.

I might actually have two big prints of the colour images and then the 12 images in a grid format or a narrative format by the two big prints.

I have a clear vision on how I want to present my work now as well as what I need to do to start printing. Unfortunately this blog to book has to be sent off soon so I can have it in time for my review. But I will follow my presentation research as well as any other quandaries about printing in my work book.

Final Shoot

I found this shoot a huge learning process with how to shoot with my flash gun and how to capture detail perfectly focused. I also learned to trust myself as I am fully capable with capturing what I have in my head - I just never think I'm good enough technically to push myself this far. But I am! So that's nice to know.

I started out using just spotlighting and then progressed to using flash in a dark room. All were shot on my canon 40d (manual setting!) with a slightly wider lens than standard. 

Here are my favourites from the shoot:

Barbara Kruger

Kruger works with mainly black & white images and then overlays them with black, white or red text mainly referring to political issues like capitalism, gender issues and so on. Her canvas for these  phrases are appropriated or altered images. 

As I know the message of Kruger's work is still incredibly relevant and important, the images she uses don't really speak to me as a person. I feel more of a connection with the words that she has over-layed onto the images than the images themselves. I think this must be because I feel like they're not the main message, the images are just a back drop to these phrases and statements.

None the less, I feel that her work is relevant to where my project is at the moment.

Experiments with Kruger-esk manipulation

To do list

I'm so glad that I attended my second mid-review as it made it clear that my project wasn't finely resolved as of yet and it also made me think of how I can make it into a polished piece.

So this is my TO DO list (roughly!)

1. experiment with the images I've already shot with inspiration from Barbara Krugar. 
2. Copy all of my relevant research into my work book to show a full and proper account of my research on this project
3. When my new ink cartridges turn up - print out all the images so far and collage them on my wall for the shoot - document
4. Shoot both with me in the frame and without.
5. Go to the tutorial booked on Tuesday to show progress and get feedback from my new spin on the project.

2nd Mid-Review

I had my second mid-review two days ago now and I feel like I've had enough time to think about the feedback I received and how to tackle the issues so they're fully resolved for my final hand in.
My feedback from my peer group was mainly all positive:

• Using glossy magazine paper would suit the project more than using plain paper.
• Maybe stick to just creating the covers instead of trying to make a whole magazine.
• Try covering a wall with images so it's as if it's a teenagers bedroom 
• Put the covers on the wall and then photograph them, Maybe put yourself infront of the images again. Being the teenager. 
• Magazine layout is good.  

I know how to tackle all of these issues in my head:

• Do a shoot with my bedroom walls plastered with the images I've already shot to create the teenagers bedroom feel.
• Experiment with me in front of the camera as well and then me not in front of the camera - see which works
• Forget about the idea of the magazine covers - Not working - not saying what I want it to say! 
• Therefore not using magazine paper but thinking about one huge print instead of many. 

Feedback from tutors: (the hardest bit was reading the writing on my sheet...)

• Design element of the magazine cover is too distracting from the actual images. 
• Experiment more with self-portraiture in relation to magazine imagery
• Suggested reading - Auto Focus - Susan Bright (Read for dissertation, notes in work book) The Beauty Myth and No Logo, Germaine Greer (Read for previous project, notes in work book).
• Suggested artist - Barbara Krugar - Take on one element from 'the layout' rather than a whole cover. 

Again, I know how to answer and resolve all the above issues:

• Experiment with the images I've shot with elements inspired by Barbara Krugar (text and image, outlining, boxing images etc) 
• Copy all relevant research I've all ready done and taken inspiration from for this project subconciously and display in my work book
•  Experiment with the images on my wall, and the ones I've already shot, shoot more etc.
• Scrap the magazine cover! 

Sharif Hamza - Azealia Banks for Dazed & Confused magazine

I was talking to someone about having this idea of a teenage bedroom as a shrine to idols as well as using this feel to critique celebrity culture and they pointed me in the direction of the September issue of Dazed & Confused magazine which featured Azealia Banks. But the props were all to create this feel of a teenagers bedroom. Magazine rip outs plastering the walls all featured her idols and inspirations as well as herself.

  I absolutely adore this shoot and I feel it says a lot about Banks as an individual as well as relating heavily to my project. I really feel inspired to plaster my own walls with the pictures I've shot for this project and then do a shoot with me in front of the images. And then maybe I can experiment with elements from the magazine layout etc.

I just love the simple layout of Dazed & Confused's website also! Might be inspiration for the way this blog/book is heading...

Experiments with printing

I was sat there after I'd finished the first front cover thinking about how it's lacking in something that I can't put my finger on. I was surrounded by magazine pages and covers and I was thinking about what kind of paper I could print these front covers on.

So I thought I'd ruin my brand new wireless printer by running thin magazine sheets through it! (The most logical move)
But I kind of like how they turned out -

I feel like these two prints are the most successful as the ink took to the empty spaces on the sheet as well as some of the adverts and stories. I also feel like these two prints really embody that scrap book feel of how teenagers react with these materials, like plastering their walls in magazine scraps or making scrapbooks or online mood boards etc. 

I feel like these two are the unsuccessful outcomes from this experiment. The ink from the magazine blocks out too much of my print over the top that you cannot decipher what exactly you are looking at and I think it's that balance that works really well with the top two prints. I think this feeling of mystery works to benefit my idea and I just need to figure out my final presentation of that idea and the concepts I've looked at that works for this critique.... Tricky.

Front Cover

I'm really quite proud of this front cover as I think it looks nearly the same as a cover of a magazine but with not too much distraction of too many images and words so the images that are on their can speak for themselves. I really like the subtitles I've given the fake news stories as well since they're just the right amount of outrageous and I'm pretty proud of the layout I made since I closely followed a recent layout from a similar magazine. 

On the critical side of things, I'm not sure if this piece actually says what I want it to say... It feels like it's lacking in something and I'm not sure what that is.... It's a very underwhelming feeling since I worked so hard on this piece. Maybe this isn't the way to go after all of that.

Photoshop...

I haven't properly used Photoshop in about three years (since I prefer to use adobe lightroom for my images as it's simple and quick and made for photographers and not graphic designers.) So using Photoshop for this project is quite daunting as well as exciting.

I thought I'd take my old A level teachers advice from years ago and follow some relevant tutorials on making magazine covers and Photoshopping people.

I followed this tutorial -

http://www.tutorialstraining.com/cstutorials/advertisingdesign/magazine/twistrcodedtutorial.htm

I found it very helpful as well as using relevant techniques to edit the look of smoother skin, shinier hair, bigger eyes etc. that are all used in magazines.

After three hours of perfecting this image as well as adding the red banners I gave up and went to bed. I found it frustrating not knowing what I was doing as well as not having a clear idea of what I wanted it to look like.
I vowed that I'd get up the next morning and finish the job, no matter how frustrating or how long it took me.

And this is the final outcome of that day. I'll blog about it on it's own in the next post.

Front Cover

I've been toying with the idea in my head of having a front cover of a celebrity magazine, but instead of different celebrities in different photographic situations (Shoot, paparazzi etc) It'll just be me in those situations.
I thought that this would critique the fact that anyone can be a celebrity these days as well as reiterate that these 'celebrities' are just normal people like myself and who are we to judge and maybe care about what they get up to?

I see these magazine covers as a sign of what people who read these publications actually want to read about and find them quite humorous as well as severely depressing (Since most of them are about celebrities and misfortune, infidelity, drug and alcohol abuse, depression etc)

I think I'll experiment with the images that I've already shot and see. I'm a little dubious on getting the layout completely correct and not distracting from the actual images themselves. After all people only notice bad design!

Something

I've failed to point out in this project is that I am simultaneously writing my dissertation on female self-portraiture, so naturally all my research for that has subconsciously fed into this project and vice verse. 

As my dissertation is a piece of writing and all my research is written (either in note format or long hand) I'll include copies of the relevant research in my physical work book and not in this research journal.

Because of this similarity of projects, I've had a tough time keeping them separate and not contaminating my practical project with political, psycho-analytical and social issues to confuse the finale outcome, but it is incredibly hard to let the relevant information come through that way. So I'll just spiel out everything then pin point what it actually is I was to define at the end of this project.... I guess?

Shoot 5 - Hotel Room (2)

I shot another few images whilst in the hotel room. I wanted a kind of 'hidden camera' but not paparazzi feel to the images. A little bit x-rated, infrared kind of image.

I shot a lot of these images and I think these two are probably the best ones from the bunch.
Again, I'm not sure how to display these yet but I'm please with the results.

Shoot 4 - Hotel Room (1)

I recently did a shoot situated in a very plain hotel room:

I wanted to get the feel of being spied on by the paparazzi so I hid the camera on the windowsill and let some of the curtain drift in front of the lens. I placed the camera on the windowsill as that's where the paparazzi would be shooting from if the hotel room was on the ground floor. I also wanted the curtain to interact with the lens as the paparazzi wouldn't be able to move it out of the way of the shot.

These three shots are what I would pick for the edit. Plus I think they go well together as a sequence. I imagine something like 'Superstar caught binge eating in hotel room with friends' Or something along those lines...

I'm pretty pleased with these shots!

Rut

I guess I've hit a kind of rut with this project. Dissertation work and my personal life have taken over for a while and I just have no motivation to actually shoot images anymore. I guess this is a common thing, you research your way out of a passion. Because all the magic and visual appeal is ruined once you know all the tricks and the depressive theories behind the images we see every day. I feel entirely disenchanted. It's ruined a hobby but in the process I've learned a lot.
Tomorrow I'm going to write for 3 hours on my dissertation then shoot for the rest of the day. It has to happen.

Alison Jackson

Alison Jackson's work has been relevant for some time, both in the art world and in popular culture. Her work embodies the cult of celebrity as well as the bombardment of imagery in the media. Jackson makes work using people and actors who look like celebrities, politicians and other people in the public eye otherwise known as lookalikes. She creates images and scenes with the lookalikes that we've all imagined but the paparazzi have never managed to capture such as the Queen on the toilet or Tony Blair in a sex shop.
Jackson also questions the truth of the image and how we cannot believe all that is printed in the press. There is also an element of voyeurism in most of Alison's work as she recreates the blurry effect you get from a zoom lens and the obstacles that may get in the way of the perfect shot.

Her website is jam packed with work and is constantly being updated to reflect the constant churning out of celebrity images both online and in print. 

I think her website will be the main inspiration for my magazine cover as it's not too in in-the-face and subtle but still has the same feeling I get from Hello magazine.com or any other celeb websites.

Mid review feedback

Not a lot of different feedback was received when I participated in our first mid-review. I just received comments reiterating my initial ideas that I presented to the group.

• To portray a stereotype of celebrity instead of specific people. This will remove the 'lookalikey' element and enhance the fact that anyone can be a celebrity in their own right these days which takes the project into a satirical concept. 

• A magazine type of presentation would be key. Again, enhancing the satirical element targetting the 'cheapness' of the media and the obsession of the celebrity that has some how become newsworthy. 

There was also a suggestion of exaggerating a personal scandal. Maybe set in the university bar or at home. Blowing things way out of proportion like the media does may give the magazine an element of 'reality' but I'm not sure how to present the scandal in a believable way.

Blank City

Blank City(Celine Danhier, 2011) is an oral history of No-Wave cinema. No-Wave was a boom in underground filming on the Lower East Side of 1970's New York. The main concentration of these films was enhanced moods and textures of the time. It was highly influenced by the current music scene and poverty of the time. Because of the wide spread poverty, the film makers(John Lurie, Nick Zedd, Amos Poe etc) partaking in the scene would make a film on an incredible budget of $100 or less.

I've watched this film twice in two days after being recommended it by a friend. I am so inspired by this generation of film makers, musicians actors and writers that it makes me feel this kind of regret for not being present (twenty years before I was born...). It also makes me wonder whether this type of scene can happen in todays modern world. Since the widespread use of the internet, I feel like there's a very small chance of these kinds of scenes (punkrock, new romantics etc) being able to thrive before being packaged and sold back to us by the media. And it depresses the hell out of me. 

I really want to take inspiration from the energy and inventiveness in this film and mix it into my project by enhancing the DiY authenticity elements of the finished product.

'Leaked' photoshoot

In reference to my last post, I went through my own library of phone photos from my private life and edited down to the ones people would want to see if I was a celebrity.

 'Sally Harris' behind the scenes on a weekend bender leaked cell phone photos'

 'Leaked cell phone photos of no-make up Sally Harris!'

'Steamy leaked cell phone photos of Sally Harris wearing a bra!'


It helped to imagine overblown magazine headlines when picking these three images. I feel like they need to be framed in the garish graphics that you would find in 'trashy' magazines to work. This exercise has inspired me to do a shoot using my mobile phone camera and emulating celebrity leaked photos. Maybe these can be the first 'genre' of photography found in these types of magazines that I can polish and use for the actual fake magazine.

Leaked celebrity photos

You can't go a week these days without hearing about some celebrity getting their phone hacked into and private photographs leaked on to the web. There's also a tonne of fake imagery that is churned out containing celebrities heads terribly Photoshopped onto stock imagery of naked bodies. I find this the most bizarre but curious thing about the celebrity in the world of the media.
Most of the time, these photographs contain nudity. What I want to know is;
-Why, if you're famous, would you take naked photographs of yourself on a mobile phone if you knew that people would be able to sell these images for profit?
-Why is society so wrapped up in knowing the celebrity is just a 'normal person'; that a photograph proving the fact they're human turns everyone on so much?

There are lists and lists of google search finds of websites dedicated to leaked celebrity photographs. Is this a new way of self promotion? Creating a drama around a certain celebrity when coincidentally, the said celebrity has a new book or film or album out to sell?

Trish Morrissey - Seven Years

Artist statement   -

"Seven Years (2001-2004) aims to deconstruct the trope of family photography by meticulously mimicking it. In the series, the title of which refers to the age gap between the artist and her elder sister, Morrissey functions as director, author and actor, staging herself and her sibling in tightly controlled, fictional mis en scene based on the conventions of family snapshots.
In order to construct images that appear to be authentic family photographs from the 1970s and 1980s, Morrissey uses period clothing and props, both her own and others, and the setting of her family's house in Dublin. They assume different characters and roles in each image, utilizing body language to reveal the subtext of psychological tensions inherent in all family relations. The resulting photographs isolate telling moments in which the unconscious leaks out from behind the façade of the face and into the minute gestures of the body."

 Quote taken from trishmorrissey.com/works

This work was suggested to me in my second tutorial on this unit. I was aware of referencing Morrissey's other series called 'Front' where she impersonates a mother in found families on a beach and has the family portrait taken, but I feel this series resonates with me a lot more, especially for this project.

I love how she uses the props and the location (her family's house) to echo the feel of 70's and 80's family snapshots. The clothes and the poses also help a lot and make me think of my own family's album (photos of my mum and dad in the 70's) which will always invoke a sense of affection and reminiscence. The ability to tap in to that mindset of an audience is something very inspiring to me.

I want to take pointers from this work of how a certain style of shooting and direction can alter the feel of an image. With their being so many parts of a celebrity magazine, photography wise, I feel like I can adequately explore all different styles of shooting with the correct location, camera and props.
 

Work book progress;

I hadn't really found a clear direction to go in after these two initial first shoots. I just wanted to shoot and see what I'd get from the images, but I didn't anticipate not getting anything at all from them both.
So I created a mind map of what I linked to celebrities and photography and began coming up with ideas and finally being able to visualize a final piece. 

 (Mind map from workbook)

(Mood board from mind map, in my workbook)