Contact Sheet:

Flagged images:

Experimentation:

Edit 1:

Edit 2:

Edit 3:

Edit 4:

Edit 5:

Edit 6:

Edit 7:

Edit 8:

Edit 9:

Edit 10:

Here are some of the inspiration photos that I came across, I really like these photos as they are quite unusual and unrealistic, this goes well with the surrealism theme. I also believe that this goes well with the sonder theme that I decided to look at, the idea that everyone has a life and everyone is going through something shows that we are all human. Most of these photos consists of one model doing different poses with different angles of the camera directed towards them. Most of these Inspiration photos are made-up of face portraits and full body length portraits. They are the added together to create the final piece. I really like how these photos have a sense of surrealism as there are smaller characters/ people standing on the model.

If I were to recreate these photos I would like to use the same model just like inspiration photos, although it could look quite cool to have multiple people involved in the photoshoot. First I’m going to be taking portraits up close of the models face, making sure to leave a big gap on top of the models head so that I can place things on top. I could also take photos of the model with the technique of normal portraits and add the smaller people around the models face to make the photos more unique and original to me. I would really like to recreate the top photo on the left as it seems to be a really interesting photo to take. It helps to show the emotions and the sassiness of the model, as the model is then flipping her hair.

Usually, I do tend to make my photos black and white but for this photoshoot I would like to keep my photos in colour as it helps to add emotions and shows how each colour represents a different feeling, it’s almost as if you were to capture each photograph with different colours it would give the photo a whole new perspective. I personally believe that this photoshoot is quite doable as taking these photos wont be hard to capture, though it may be more difficult to edit the photos together to have the smaller model sit right on top of the models head. I also believe that I were to have the smaller model flipping her hair in the air, it would be harder to edit in as there would be bits of the background stuck in the models hair, this could be avoided if I were to use the same background for each portrait but it also depends on how I edit the saturation/ hue to each photo.

For example, where taking the phot there might be a bit of a shadow left behind and I will therefore have to edit the saturation to full brightness to get rid the shadow, this will then affect the pieces of the background that is stuck in the models hair.

Here is an example:

Also turning the saturation all the way up to the brightest might affect the models body depending on how much light was originally used in the process of taking the photo. Here the models legs tend to blend in with the white background which makes the photo look quite unrealistic and not the best quality.

Overall, I believe that this photoshoot will be fun and challenging to complete alongside all the editing that I will have to do to match my final photos to my inspiration. I will have to do the basic editing like controlling the levelling and lighting in the photo. I would then have to merge the two photos of the smaller model and the portrait of the model together. This should be quite straightforward if the background are the same colour I should be able to just put them on top of each other and then possibly add a blending effect on top to help properly merge the photos together. If the background were to be different I would then to outline the smaller model and try and avoid capturing any of the background using the selection tool, this can be seen as quite tricky to be able to get all f the model and none of the background, I would ten place it on top of the models head and mess around with it until I’m happy with the way it looks. I do like how all of the photos are placed on a white background but possibly having theses photos placed on a different coloured background could change the whole mood of the photo, though the white does seem to keep the photo quite clean and neat, it helps to get rid of any distracting around or in the photo and therefore white is a better fit for these types of photographs.

I started by going into the studio with a bag full of Union Jack flags, England flags, Wales flags and other objects that involve the Union Jack flag on, such as a mug/cup, door stand bag, red guard outfit with a black top-hat and more bunting of flags.

I wanted to do an idea where I create a silhouette of someone in front of each flag. So, I got my friend to stand in front of the flags with another person stood on a box behind holding the flags out, then went into photoshop and edited him to be a silhouette in front of each flag ending with the Union Jack flag.

I then wanted to edit this photo of my friend dressed up as a royal guard with the flag overlaying on top of him, which I created by taking a photograph of just the flag and just him and then merging them with the ‘Luminosity’ effect on Photoshop.

I then didn’t want the shadows from the first image, so I used the brush tool and set it to a similar colour as the grey on the left side with no shade, used low opacity so I can blend it in, looking realistic, then covering the shade until it was looking like what I had envisioned, resulting in this.

My second photoshoot, I drove to Gorey Castle, had a bag of different mugs, cups and plates that looked very British. I sat down on this bench in front of the castle and did different angles aiming up towards the castle but focusing on the cups and plates with the castle behind in blur. I selected the white balance to be cloudy and I also experimented in shade mode, this is because half of the castle was in shade but half of it was in the cloudy-sunny day.

These are the camera specs I chose to use to take the photographs.

I did a Low ISO of 100 which allowed my camera to not take in much light whilst also making the photograph less grainy. I made the F-stop, f/13, which allowed the background to be blurry but I didn’t have to do a very high f-stop because the background was so far away it already blurred it.

These effects on the camera, allowed my images to come out like these, which is what I was aiming for.

Contact sheet:

Once I had uploaded my images I started by labelling images yellow or green, yellow being for images that I felt I could use however there could’ve been better versions of it or green for images I thought were more successful. I flagged these images after so it would be easier for me to export them all at once, and rejected the ones where I didn’t like the composition.

I did this photoshoot using Hannah Altman’s ‘And Everything Nice’ work as inspiration, looking into the impacts and repercussions of the pressures of the beauty standard, specifically against young girls. However, I think that my images have multiple wider interpretations within the feminist movement.

My images:

For these images here, I actually used the flash on the camera but covered it with my hand to create this red glow on the subjects face. I did this because I felt that the image alone would look quite bland as it is only the upper half of her face, and this also emphasized the blue iridescent tone of the glitter underneath her eyes. I got my subject to look in different directions in order to make it appear as if she is looking around bewildered.

I used a short depth of field so that the only area in focus would be her face rather than including the background because this meant that the viewer wouldn’t get distracted and start looking at areas that aren’t contributing to the meaning behind the image. My personal favourite is the first image because the background blends with the side of her face to make it appear feathered, adding a soft focus to the left side of her face. I think this contributes extremely well to the topic of feminism as this can be seen to symbolise the stereotype that women should be soft, gentle and nurturing. This becomes juxtaposed by the red light across her face as this is commonly associated with feelings of rage and anger, feelings that are arisen by misogyny. This is a implicit way of challenging the traditional stereotypes against women as it becomes a metaphor for the anger that is felt by millions of women and girls when they are told they should be quieter or more soft-spoken.

Whilst Hannah Altman predominantly uses a pink glitter in her images, I used a blue in this set as this is the colour that is traditionally associated with the male sex, for example in children’s advertising the colour scheme is typically shades of blue due to the stereotype that girls should wear pink and boys should wear blue. By using this blue, it enables me to make a clearer establishment of what my images are about. When this is associated with the colour red to symbolise rage, this could also be representative of male violence against women, hence why the subject communicates her fear with her eyes instead of her entire face.

I incorporated 3 versions of my set-up using an eyelash curler and the same glitter used in the previous images because they were shot from different angles and I wasn’t sure which way I would prefer when it came down to creating my photobook. Also, in my previous photobook I used quite a low exposure as the topic of my personal study was quite intense and dark, so I included two images using a low exposure as I may want to utilise this again to highlight how much of a pressing matter this is.

In all 3 images I have used a short and soft depth of field to create a blur on the other beauty products scattered around in the background because I wanted to ensure the eyelash curler was the focal point of the image, however I also did this to make sure that the context of the image was still consistent in the background rather than it just being blank and empty. For these images, I grabbed a handful of different makeup products and spread them out in a chaotic, random way as if they had just been discarded for and chucked around. My intention behind this was to make it appear as if someone had erratically been putting on makeup in a frenzy, because this can demonstrate the pressures of the beauty standard specifically on teenage girls. With the pressure of wanting to look like the girls on covers of airbrushed magazines, it is highly likely that these young girls are damaging their skin barriers on their faces by applying thick layers and layers of makeup over and over again in order to feel comfortable in their own skin. This is really important to demonstrate as it highlights the impact of these falsified magazines on young girls, how this develops insecurities over even the smallest things and builds up to break down their self esteem before they even reach the age of 18.

I used a brush to tap the glitter onto the eyelash curler and the pillow of the curler in order to make it fall by itself instead of looking manipulated, I wanted the glitter to look as if it was ‘real’ rather than being something abnormal and that it had been placed there purposefully. I also then did use my finger to create two marks by the handle of the eyelash curler as if someone had just used it before the image was shot. I tapped it over the eyelash curler quite a lot to make it look more dramatic and emphasized, harder to miss. Because of this, it means that I was able to create mountains of glitter which then allow me to incorporate texture into the image to make it more visually pleasing.

I didn’t want to have all of my images directly reference Altman’s, so I tried to find other beauty products that can be linked to the ‘beauty is pain’ motif that can be seen in ‘And Everything Nice’. I feel that these images were very successful in doing this and I think the use of a soft focus is really helpful because it is the most appropriate to the topic as it is sensitive.

I have chosen to include three variations of my idea of a pile of cotton pads with thick makeup smeared across them for the same reasons as my previous three with the eyelash curler. I feel that by creating three similar images using different angles, this will allow me to experiment more with my photobook when I begin organising the layout as I will be able to be more flexible in my placement.

My idea behind this was to show how young girls may struggle with their self-esteem when it comes to their appearance, leading them to use a high amount of foundation every day in order to cover up their insecurities and feel more confident. This tends to happen with extremely young girls, for example 12 year olds when they begin secondary school. I wanted to highlight this as it is such an absurd idea that a 11-12 year old would be feeling so uncomfortable in their own skin, so I felt that by showing a large amount of cotton pads covered in foundation, this would allow me to show how ridiculous this concept actually is in a visual way. The tower of cotton pads looks strange and abnormal, allowing me to associate this thought with the meaning behind the image.

Also, by doing this I include the formal elements into the image, specifically line and texture, as the roughness of the cotton pad can be seen to juxtapose the liquidity of the foundation. Whilst this doesn’t contribute to the conceptual side of the image or actually contribute to the topic of my study, this makes the image more appealing to the viewer as it means that there is greater detail and depth in the photograph. As this is paired with my short depth of field, this means that the image has a large contrast between the foreground and background to make the cotton pads stand out even further.

This was one of my yellow images as I am still unsure whether I will be including this in my photobook, this depends on the quality of my other images in other photoshoots. I wanted to compose the cotton pads in a different way, whilst still using a soft focus on the image so that there is consistency across my work. I toppled over the tower, making it look more natural, and then lined up some foundation tubes behind.

I chose to use three foundation tubes in the background to try and demonstrate the high amount of foundation being used to cover up foolish insecurities that many young girls face. I wanted to do this because the other images implicitly suggest this whilst this image is able to visually communicate this.

This image is used as a detail shot to incorporate makeup into my photoshoots as this is a key factor in explaining what my photobook represents. This image uses a short depth of field in order to gain the viewers complete focus on the drip of lipgloss.

I wanted to create an image like this in order to show how makeup may be frantically put on out of distress due to the high pressure of having a low self-esteem, and how this pressure is significant to a young girls life and may be consuming. I kept the image at quite a low-exposure as otherwise I feel that the concept may not come across as unfortunate, as the use of a high-exposure may cause the viewer to assume that this has a positive meaning behind it. This way, the pink of the applicator is still the most predominant and eye-catching factor of the image without being vibrant.

This is one of my favourite images because I think that the entire composition has been extremely successful. The soft focus means that the viewer’s focus is solely on the nail and clusters of glitter, making this extremely defined.

I tapped glitter onto the broken nail to symbolise blood being on it as if a girls acrylic nail had snapped off.

My initial idea when trying to figure out how I would shoot this image is to reinforce my references to this ‘beauty is pain’ ideology surrounding the need to fit into the perceived beauty standard. Of course, having a nail snap off would be incredibly painful, however this pain has stemmed from wanting to feel beautiful. I then began thinking of other ways this could be relevant to my work, with this being able to be interpreted in the terms of male violence, for example a girl experiencing this for getting her nails done as her partner believes she is having these treatments done in order to ‘impress other people’ when it’s sole purpose is for the feelings of the woman and feeling beautiful in herself. I think that this is a very important way to look at the image as this is an aspect of being in a controlled and toxic relationship, where a woman may feel unable to get these beauty treatments done for herself out of the fear of her significant other believing that she is trying to impress others.

Here, there is a direct comparison of the colours blue and pink which is a clear notion towards gender stereotypes as blue is commonly associated with the male gender, and pink with female. This means I can create a direct reference to critiquing gender roles that are created in society. I think that this image has a clear link to those belonging to Altman, however it uses a short depth of field instead to create a distinct focus on the nail, removing any chance of the background overpowering the object.

I wanted to also include this image and add my friends childhood picture into the background to add a sense of vulnerability into the image. By using a short depth of field again, I have made the childhood image stay slightly out of focus so that it is still visible. I did this because I wanted to get the viewer to reflect how a young girl’s priorities should be going outside and having fun with her friends, rather than the way she looks. I think that this image is really important in getting the viewer to question the value that the beauty standard has in society, and actually evaluate how damaging this is in the media, especially against impressionable girls who can easily be influenced.

I created two fingerprints onto a bottle of wine for these two photos, and took up-close shots to get a clear shot of the ridges of my fingerprint to make deep detail.

I did this onto a wine bottle to highlight how the pressures to fit into the beauty standard are so incredibly damaging that this can result in the dependency on things such as alcohol or drugs in order to create an outlet for coping with the crushing manner of a low self-esteem. I also did this because it is can also be interpreted towards domestic abuse, being that around 40-60% of reported domestic abuse situations involved alcohol or drugs use. Addiction is a large factor in coercive and controlling behaviour, and can lead to the person displaying erratic and toxic behaviour. This can not only result in being emotionally and psychologically damaging to the woman due to fear of their husband/ boyfriend having an active role in addiction, but also physical damage may be incurred which is extremely dangerous especially when the abuser has less control over their impulsivity.

This can also be a link to how women in an abusive relationship have a higher likelihood of building a reliance on drugs or alcohol in order to feel numb to their trauma or pain that they are experiencing by feeling entrapped in the relationship. This is very dangerous because it would cause that woman or young girl to feel even more out of control of their life, meaning that their partners awful behaviour can continue without any restriction.

For these two images, I created a lipstick mark on the mirror and then smeared it downwards after. I tried to do this using glitter, however it wasn’t as effective as the glitter wouldn’t sit in place making it hard to tell what was actually on the mirror.

I did this as a nod to the beauty standard, with my plan being to make this into a diptych in my photobook, showing that makeup shouldn’t hold such a high significance in society and needs to stop being normalised towards young girls who should not be concerned with the way they look without makeup.

I smeared the lipstick down the mirror to show that its importance should be wiped away, and that makeup should be perceived as an enjoyable thing to be used rather than a defence from insecure thoughts and feelings. I would like to experiment with this set of images in photoshop and try turn the lipstick into glitter as this will make my image more relevant to the work of Hannah Altman.

Finally, this image is to also create that sense of vulnerability again in the same way that I intended with my image of the acrylic nail with a childhood photo out of focus in the background. This time, I made the mirror have a soft focus, and create detail on another archived image. I wanted to use the mirror as it has a similar aesthetic to old Hollywood mirrors, which is relevant to the beauty standard as this has altered from then to now.

My intention behind this image is to highlight once again that appearance should not be a priority at such a young age, which is why the childhood image is placed above the reflection of the mirror to serve as a reminder that every time the girl judges or insults her own appearance, she is also saying that to her younger self. This causes the viewer to reflect on their own actions, and how they would feel if someone said those awful things that they say about themselves to their younger self. This adds emotionality to the image that can be provoking in minimising how young girls and women think about themselves due to the comments made by the media, men and even other women in reference to the beauty standard.

I started off by making a mock-up again on Powerpoint. After finishing this mock-up, I decided that I wanted to make the final image a square as the photos matched up at the edges.

I then selected the images I used and cropped them in Lightroom.

After this, I opened them in Photoshop and formed my joiner.

I then added a Gaussian Blur to some of the image fragments.

After this, I altered the brightness, contrast and exposure of each of the images to get my final result.

This is my final joiner:

Before I started mounting up my final prints, I decided to use Photoshop to make digital mock ups of how I wanted to arrange my images. This meant that I could experiment with using diptychs or triptychs, for example, before I actually started to stick the images down so that I would be prepared.

I made sure to print images in A3, A4 and A5 so that I would have a range of different options of layouts to go with and I could also have variety in my work.

First:

The first mount up that I was going to do was my A3 one because I already had a brief idea of how I wanted to arrange these two images:

I decided to go with the layout on the right because the image with a lower-exposure was placed on top which I preferred as its darker, whereas the other way around I think that the board looks emptier.

I decided to double mount these, so I first sprayed them onto their own pieces of foam board and cut them out to look like the plan above. However, I then separated them in half so that I could place them on black card as I think that the black emphasized the features of each image more whereas if I kept the images on white, this could have washed them out.

Second:

I decided to go with the second option because the key of the door would be in the centre, whereas if I chose the first layout then this leaves a large empty space between the two images as the photo of the door is quite sparse on the left side.

I doubled mounted these onto white card as the images use quite a light colour palette of silvers and baby blues which I think goes better with white, whereas if I used the black then this doesn’t particularly match the aesthetic of the two.

Third:

I wanted to place these images onto a black piece of card because I feel that the black made these images look more mysterious and depressing because these were taken during a photoshoot that was to represent the intangible feelings that there are when growing up with someone who is mentally unwell.

I was going to double mount these images but without the white border of the board because I wanted them to be raised above the page and made to be 3D as I feel that this brings the images to life and are become more appealing. Because they aren’t flat on the page, I really prefer this method too because you can see the images being displayed more sophisticated.

However, I had already done two diptychs so I wanted to include another image into this, being one of my archived edits of me and my brother so I experimented with this physically on the page during my layout process.

Fourth:

I already knew I was going to do a diptych of these two images as this was my intention during this photoshoot. I wanted to use a black background because the images use a low-exposure so I thought that this would complement the aesthetic of them. I picked the second layout also because this means that the viewer gets a brief overview of the surroundings, however the focus then becomes concentrated and zooms into the fluffy teddy which is something that I think works really well, acting like a process.

Fifth:

For my fifth mount, I decided that I wanted to display just one image in A3 as I really liked this specific image however it didn’t link with any of my other prints in the way I wanted it to. However, I didn’t want it to just be a plain image because I didn’t want to risk it coming across as quite simplistic, so I began to think about the ways I could distort the photo by cutting it up.

I eventually thought about slicing the image into six sections, as I measured the image to be 42 cm I was able to make each section even by cutting it at 7cm. As the image is showing a diagonal reflection, I thought it would be interesting if I added vertical straight lines to juxtapose this angle seen. I got this idea from initially thinking about slitting it down the middle, however I think that this is quite effective.

I mounted the image onto white foam board as I think that this adds to the illusion of the image and reinforces the distortion that I did as it is raised up off the page instead.

I experimented with both black and white to see which one would be the most suitable. I chose to use the black card because it means the separation lines in the image look more exaggerated and obvious which I think is more effective that if I had used the white.

Sixth:

For my final print, I decided to make a similar diptych to before where I use two images that share the same tonal range and colour, and pair them using solely foamboard to keep it bright I like using this method because it means that the images can become 3D and off of the page so that they can properly be engaged with rather than just looked at.

I chose the first layout because I liked the way that the footprints in the right image led towards the dog’s head. I also chose this design because the side of the curtain is caught on the edge of the left image, meaning that this divides the two images more whereas this may have looked strange if I did it the opposite way round.

I didn’t end up using all of my prints because I didn’t think that they were all necessary or particularly linked as I experimented with which went with which at the beginning of the mock exam, meaning that some were exchanged out for better options and left by themselves. I think my mounting went really well as I have ended up with 6 different boards that all represent different tones and storylines. For example, my double-A3 board is very explicit in its storytelling as it includes words such as ‘hospital’ and ‘tablets’, meaning that the viewer can make a clear connection between the two photographs and understand the meaning entirely. However, some of my other boards aren’t as obvious, for example my second more is more ambiguous and conceptual, trying to represent an intangible emotion. I also think my planning was very effective in contributing to my final outcomes as it allowed me to really be considerate about my placement of my images. I think this was really beneficial because it means that the process can run smoothly and I can prevent mistakes from happening.

If I were to mount this personal study again, I think that I would like to also include some black and white variations of my work and experiment with them, whether that may be solely black and white or a combination with coloured images too. I would have liked to do this because all of my images are in colour, so it could have been nice to see black and white versions of my images too. I would also have liked to have done a ‘storyboard’, where I would’ve scattered a large combination of images across a big board. This is because it means that the viewer can gather a large insight into what the work is about really easily, for example I could have added detail shots alongside still-life images.

Relating words-

Community, alliance, agreement, marriage, partnership, joining, merging, combining, harmony, club, brotherhood, organisation, coupling, gathering, grouping, combination, assemble, reunion, coalition, conjugation, trade union, pairing, connection, uniting 

Potential ideas:

• Union between people- ​

People coming from different locations, upbringings, backgrounds, cultures etc…​

(as a society we are good at creeating theses communties dispite these differneces)​

​

• Union within nature -​

How nature relies on its collaboration within itself in order to survive​

(flowers need rain, sun, nutrients in order to grow and survive)​

​

• Generational union-​

Bonds between grandparents, parents, children family trees ​

(this genration wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for previous generations ​

​

• Opposites​

The idea that union doesn’t purely mean harmony but rather coming togther dispite differences ​

(fire and water, Feminine vs masculine, Humanity vs technology, Hero vs villain

My intention for this study is to explore my family, including my extended family, by using archives and at home films that we own. I am using archives similarly to Larry Sultan, so that I can present my family tree and how we are all unified together. I am also using archives, so that I can take inspiration from them and recreate some of the photographs. To recreate some of these photos, I am going to be taking photographs of my mum and my dad, similarly to Larry Sultan, but I am also going to be taking images of my sister, dog and maybe even myself. I am going to be taking staged photographs, as well as some documentary photographs, which is also what Larry Sultan did, so that I can show a range images during this project.

I also would like to explore my mum and dad’s marriage, so that I can present how their marriage has unified there two families and how they have extended the family tree, by bringing my sister and I into the world. I also want to explore my mum and dad’s lives before they were married, or met, so that I can present how the union of marriage can alter the people in the union and their extended family. In order to discover what their lives were like I am going to be asking them questions each and using archives to do so.

I would also like to experiment with collages throughout this project, so that I am able to blend together my photographs and the archive images that I am using. I am going to experiment with lots of different types of collages, including joiners, which I have taken inspiration from David Hockney and more ordinary collages similarly to Larry Sultan. In order to create the joiners, I am going to take multiple images of my chosen subject, but from multiple different angles and at slightly different times, so that I can then print them off and lay them out on the table in whatever unique layout I desire. While exploring with these joiners I am also going to explore the theme of time while doing so, because these joiners take a lot of time to do, which symbolises the time it takes to create a union and how they change over time. I am going to be using archives and my own photographs to present this when making my joiners, as the historical archives and current images can present how time has altered and created more unions.

I would also like to be more creative in this topic and take inspiration from Carolle Benitah. I want to display how our DNA and blood links us together, as we are all a part of each other and share similar characteristics. In order to do this, I want to explore my family tree and create a stitched image that links us all together, similarly to how Carolle Benitah has used stitching in her work. In order to do this, I am going to experiment with creating stitching on photoshop, as well as actually printing off my images and actually stitching them. I also want to create a collage of certain family members faces, so that I can present the huge similarities we all have.

For my second photoshoot, I, again, explored the theme of unity between humans and nature by taking photographs of people around different features of nature. However, this second photoshoot took place at the beach where the model was interacting with the sand, sea and rocks. I was able to get some good images from this photoshoot, although the interactions from the model to the nature didn’t turn out as I had hope but despite this, I was able to shoot some good images. For this photoshoot, the images were taken as the sun was setting making the photographs turn out to be darker. However, this caused a blue hue which I find fits with the location of the beach so even though the shoot wasn’t in the day like I had hoped, I feel it still worked out.

After this photoshoot, it again helped me to figure out more specific types of images I wanted to capture. As well as this, I was able to compare these photographs to the ones from my first shoot and figure out which location worked better for the images and narrative that I was trying to portray.

Some unedited photos: