Mind map & Mood board:

Here I have mapped out some ideas of what I can do with some of my final print outs, I have added a lot of borders, mainly to be able to see them properly online, but I do believe that it could a special effect to some of the photos, as some of the photos don’t have much going on in them, then the add of a border can make it stand out a lot more than rest. For the first one. I’ve decided to put 3 final photos together, I put the simpler one in the middle to make sure it gets as much recognition as the other and the more detailed ones are on the outside, the 2 photos on the side consist of 3 characters on the models head or around it. I made sure to put a border on each of the photos and then a border on top of that, this makes the photo stand out a lot more and adds dimension to the final piece. For the second final piece I’ve decided to put 4 photos together, these photos will be in the smallest print size to make sure the final piece isn’t too big. I’ve put these 4 photos together as they create a good dimension, I really like how these turned out, I also made sure it was layered it in borders to make the photos look 3D. Next, these photos were in black and white therefore I didn’t think that it needed a strong border, so I only added one instead of 3 as the colours in the photo grab enough attention and don’t need to have a big border to divert the attention somewhere else. I also wanted to have some mounts that aren’t too basic, although all of my mounts consist of just simple borders I believe that my photos don’t need big and detailed borders as that can distract the whole concept of the photo. For the last mount that I have selected I made it have loads of boarders which increased the dimension of the photograph, since the photo is in black and white and almost looks quite sketchy I thought having some dimension might make it look cooler.

My best images:

To evaluate, I believe this last shoot was the perfect end to my planning and recording aspect of my project. It effectively links to Helmut Newton and his reinforcement of women empowerment, as well as displaying a creative and more personal side to it due to me carrying out this shoot as a female and being able to incorporate my own ideas based on experience. The costumes and props used in this shoot are very similar to the second shoot, where we played similar roles and wore similar clothes to exhibit a strong narrative of the expectations surrounding women behaviour. This is a powerful element to include because I am linking my work directly to historical contexts of the 1960s, when traditional gender roles and stereotypes occurred. I think overall, this shoot conducts a raw and sentimental approach through the camera angles used, forcing the viewer to focus on specific elements such as the heels or the stockings, as this is what women were expected to wear in order to fit into society’s patriarchy.

My third photoshoot was photographed in the photography studio, which is another factor that helps my shoots blend together better. The same lighting was also used: two flashlights, one either side of the camera. The brightness of these lights was very strong, which helps give my images a more staged approach. Although the message behind my work is very raw and honest, I like the idea of my images looking slightly staged, as this follows Newton’s approach, where they look very well put together and the idea presented to the viewer is very clear.

What went well:

• I remembered to use a white backdrop only, the black is too harsh and takes away from the image itself
• Clothing – a successful recreation of what women were expected to wear in the 60s due to it being quite flashy and exposing
• Posing ideas – models look confident and powerful rather than weak, this emphasises the idea of women empowerment
• Range of camera angles – shows variety and differs images from one another

What could be improved:

• Subjects are to close to the backdrop, which allows for strong shadows. This would look more professional if there were no shadows
• Occasional blurry image – ensure camera settings are accurate and work effectively with the lighting in order to reach maximum potential

For my first photoshoot I want to focus on recreating old archived images of my family. In order to do this, I have been through my family photo albums and have taken photographs of the images I want to use in my photoshoots and recreate. I have chosen images including:

• My dad when he was younger
• My mum when she was younger
• Myself when I was younger
• My sister when she was younger
• My two uncles when they were younger
• My grandparents/ great-grandparents/ great great-grandparents

Examples of Archives

Plan

My plan for this photoshoot is to have my mum and dad recreate younger images of themselves, so I can present how they have changed and what has stayed the same/ similar during this time.

I also want to have my dad recreate photographs of his dad when he was younger and more recent images of him before he passed. I want to do this so i can present their similarities in characteristics, so I can present how family and DNA unify us together by giving us all these similarities. I also want my mum and her two brothers to recreate an image of their mum for the same reason and so I can present the similarities between my mum and her siblings as well. I also want to recreate images of my great-grandparents and great grandparents for the same reason. I also would like to recreate images of my uncles from when they were younger, myself and my sister. I also would like to recreate images of myself when I was younger, but using my sister.

Edits

For this photo I felt like the arcade game on the wall distracted too much from the subject, so I created a mask and lowered the exposure in that area. I also added another mask on the telephones, as I wanted them as a main focal point of the composition.

before/after

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before/after

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b&w/slow shutter speed photos

before/after

Plan-

1. outdoors
2. daylight/sunset
3. surroundings
4. closeup
5. different angles

Below are the photos I took over the first photoshoot day with Tommy. I took a few photos with the intention of montaging them together with landscape photography, and some as there own photograph. I started the photoshoot with some portraits of Tommy, with a focus on the eye as its a common theme in surrealism, then I went to taking photos of hands and they are often associated with the conscious mind as the unconscious usually cannot process hands. Finally, I went to taking some Images of skulls as I may use them later to add to my landscape photos.

Here I took inspiration from one of Man Ray’s famous portraits called Noire et Blanche (1926). Bellow is an edited version try try replicate the same ‘brown’ that’s in Man Ray’s image:

I kept my subjects eyes open as it means I can create a montage of images with my subject later on, all with a similar theme of the eye being in focus.

Surrealist painters and photographers often use eyes into their works to create a sense of mystery, depth and phycological exploration. It can also be used to evoke emotions and provoke thoughts. “eyes are the windows to a soul”. This is very true as a lot of emotion of a subject can be depicted from there eyes.

Above I told my subject to act like he was flying, while his belly was resting on a box. I used the same edit as the image above, and I also took the image to photoshop to try and remove the box, adding a real flying allusion. However, I found it difficult to remove the box so I opted on using the remove tool in photoshop.

Here I added two images together with different opacities to create this transformation through time, when the subject has his hands down and his hands up. I also see this kind of image very often when I’m looking for inspiration for a surrealism photograph.

Above I used the same two sets of images as before, but cut out the eyes. This has created a very eerie looking image as the viewer cannot escape the eye.

Photoshoot 4

Here I Tried to use the same method as before, but with a different subject and using reflections, I will now try to edit is arm out so I confuses the viewer.

Here I tried replicating an Image I saw while looking for inspiration of Surrealism.

Experiment 1:

Here I went to photoshop and used the Threshold filter, to make my photo look like it has a gradient effect. I also adjusted the colour to show how it can affect the mood of the image. This experiment is very similar to the pervious one I had tried except I hadn’t added colour before, these photos tend to represent a different emotion. I really like how these turned out as they aren’t just basic portraits after, at first had a different idea of what to use those portraits for, but after messing around in Photoshop I discovered the threshold filter and it made my photos have more of a design to them. As from the photos before you can see I adjusted the hue/ saturation and changed it to colour, this then allowed me to decide what colour looked best on each photograph. I had only taken a fair few photos of the model with a large gap at the top of her head, therefore I wasn’t able to edit multiple photos, if I were to do this experiment again I would simply ask my model to do different poses and make them more unusual, I would also like to get different people in my photos, as I was aimed to do a theme of sonder, the idea that everyone has a different life and everyone in the world is going through something, this makes it difficult to identify if i only use one model, however, though I’m only using one model it could represent the thoughts and fears that this person is going through and how they are different to mine, as the model is posing for the photos thinking of different things while I’m the one editing the photos, thinking of something completely different. I’ve chosen to use specific colours for each specific photo which could have been different if I had asked for the model’s opinion. I would like to get more models involved in my photoshoots to help create meaning. This experiment was inspired by Andy Warhol who also creates very similar photos like these.

Experiment 2:

This experiment was inspired by Pinterest, the model has a smaller person (herself) on top of her head. This could represent having different thoughts or different influences changing a person’s thoughts and their idea of living, I really like how this photoshoot turned out, though I did have to do a lot of editing to get rid of the shadow behind the model that was reflecting onto the background. I simply went into Lightroom Classic and used AI to crop out the background, I then changed the exposure on only the background and transformed it fully white. I then repeated this process for each individual photo I wanted to use, then I adjusted each photograph on top of the base photo. I really like how these final photos turned out. But yet again they would have turned out better if I had used different models to show how different people can influence a person’s life and how each person has things going on in their lives that we don’t know about. However, I could perceive these photos as if there are different people on top of the model’s head, these people could be perceived as a negative or positive thing. Overall, I do like ow these photos turned out as they do look very similar to my inspiration pictures. Although I said it would have looked better with a different model, from my inspiration only one model is used in the photograph. 

Experiment 3:

Lastly, I tried to use a blending filter with each of these photos, not really aiming to get a specific concept. I really like how the bottom one on the right turned out as I added all of the photos of the model standing up and doing a pose, I also changed the colour of each of the photos to make it more unique and stand out more. I made sure to make the bottom three on that photo look as if there was something behind them. Also, on the bottom left I simply overlaid each photo and turned one upside down. I also changed the colours of each photo to make it look more interesting and eye catching for the audience. For the top one on the right I added three photos on top of each other using a blending mode, each photo has a different blending mode added to make it have a different effect to it For example the pink photo of the model is quite hard and has a strong sense of colour and saturation whereas the middle blue one is struggling to seem through, the facial expression on the middle photo shows a sense of weakness and sadness, something that is wrong and the two outside photos are showing string happy emotions, there facial expressions are lot more visible, playing that the happiness if over shadowing the sadness and that is the reason people hide their emotions, this can show that this model/ person is going through something but isn’t showing it because they don’t want to be a burden to the others around them, and simply that the people around them have things going on as well. This whole sonder concept has been incorporated into my photos in a subtle way. Lastly the top left photo was purely just an experiment as I layered three photos together and slightly moved each one high or lower than the original, its slightly similar to the photo to its right. In this photograph, the eyes are the most prominent detail shown in total as they show a sense of power and dominance. As I had coloured all my other photos, I thought I would do the same for this one too but make the colour more subtle and less powering, for instance the colour I chose is a dark yellow with an orange shade. 

Overall, I was inspired by the Surrealism and Dadaism movement to try and recreate something that is dreamlike and unrealistic. I also wanted to incorporate the sonder theme inspired by union. Sonder means to reflect that everyone around you has their own life and is going through something that you aren’t aware of. It’s a way of showing that everyone is struggling some more than others and some people are better at hiding it than others, it shouldn’t make anyone feel weaker or less important due to their trauma. The main thing I was looking at was people and their emotions and how their emotions were reflected on. Each emotion has its colour but what if you were to switch the colours would the emotion still stand as strong or would I weaken. I believe that if the model shows a strong emotion, a colour won’t be able to change it and can simply only make it look overpowering to simpler. 

Laura Pannack –

Laura’s art focuses on documentation, socially, with inclusion of portraiture that looks to explore the relationship that is shown between situation and photographer. Pannack largely pinpoints shooting on analogue film which allows the process to become more organic rather then being predefined but still ideas. Laura tries to understand what she is photographing, for example while photographing an individual, she seeks to understand them, and their life, and present that creatively. Laura has a belief that trust and understanding is a very large key to portraying people truthfully, and you can see the development of this through her work over the years. This approach also allows Laura to have a genuine connection with her models, which helps enrich the intimacy between photographer and subject.

Laura’s work aims to tell and inspire peoples stories, causing connection and emotional engagement with not just her work but her subjects as well. Laura is a London based, award winning photographer. Known for her recognizable portraiture and social documentary work. Her work heavily focuses on the youth, forming connections and complex relationships. She was educated at the University of Brighton, Central Saint Martins Collage of Art and LPC. Pannack’s work has been incredibly exhibited throughout the UK and overseas, including at The National Portrait Gallery, Somerset House, The Royal Festival Hall and even the Houses of Parliament.

Laura perceives ‘time, trust and understanding’ to be key elements to achieve full understanding of her subjects and portrayment of them truthfully. This allows her to achieve a genuine connection with her ‘sitter’, which benefits through the photos as you can see the emotion, connection and common ground they share in her work. Pannack shoots with analogue film, she finds beauty in the mistakes that come from working with such unpredictable material.

Laura’s work has received much ground and won countless awards, among which are the John Kobal award, Vic Odden prize, World Photo Press Award and the HSBC Prix de la Photographie prize. As well as her own work, Laura lectures, critiques and teaches at universities, workshops and festivals around the world, and in 2015, judged the portrait category in World Photo Press Awards in Amsterdam. Pannack has also been a widely published, not just for her photography, but commercially too< with work appearing in the British Journal of photography, Hotshoe International, TIME, The Guardian weekend, The Telegraph, Sunday Times and Creative Review.

Pannack has also been widely published, both commercially and as a photographic artist, with work appearing in The British Journal of Photography, Hotshoe International, TIME, The Guardian Weekend, The Telegraph, The Sunday Times, Creative Review. Her monograph ‘Against the dying of the light’ was published by Acts de Suds in 2016 and YOUTH Vol 1 was released in 2018 by Polite company.

Her work –

In Laura’s work, The captivating use of natural light gives a sense of connection, the warmth and reality it brings to her photographs is enticing. Using the outdoors and focusing on including something that can ground you like nature can be a very powerful tool for portrait photographs. It almost brings a sense of uncleanliness or dirtiness to the photos, and since Pannack’s aim was to be truthful and show unfiltered or covered reality of individuals lives, I believe they compliment each other very well.

Her use of eye-contact in her photos is very powerful. It forces connection between her and the subject, and after that, the subject and their viewers. With her aim bring to create connection this does not just create it, but forces it, like you cant look away. You can feel the emotion the thought that went into the work when you look in someone’s eyes and I think the inclusion of this in the work is very intelligent.

The impactful inclusion of touch through her work is very important for the aspect and story she is trying to portray. Being touched is a very vulnerable thing for a lot of people, and as her work and photoshoots include a lot of touching, it backs her aim as to allowing people to get vulnerable and make a meaningful connection with other people. Being showed that you are able to have that touching connection with another person can allow a viewer to be open to having a emotional connection with not just Laura but the subjects in the photos.

Her influence –

Laura’s work is very impactful, her influence is heavy on not just the world but my work in particular, I want to include so many aspects and ideas that have come from Pannack’s work, her inclusion of touch and eye-contact being the main ones.

With the topic of Union, eye-contact can be the most emotionally tuned, way to show how someone is feeling, you can read a thousand things from someone’s eyes, emotions like empathy, sadness and joy are easily seen through how someone looks at you, and including this into my project could be very impactful with creating emotional connections through my sitters and viewers.

Touch is a very difficult thing to photograph through A level photography, due to guidelines we have to follow. However, touch is such a powerful tool to show Unity through people. The intimacy and connection you view through touch is so powerful. With touch being one of the main focal points of my topic, its importance is huge. incorporating it into my work will have to be done with caution, but through my Femininity and Masculinity topic, I was able to find loopholes very easily.