Final Evaluation –

Overall, I find that my final outcomes, where successful In both creating something new and alternative yet sticking within the theme of ‘Union’. With the visual influences from both my artist studies being incorporated I feel as if I have expanded from their original intentions and have created multiple photoshops that adapted from their styles and applied them to the subjects of my project: Fashion, youth culture and identity. Being able to produce a variety of images within these photoshoots, I find I have achieved the diversity of content amongst my pages within my magazine which I had set out for. With each shoot, giving me an idea for another, I believe that when coming up with how I wanted an image to look in my head, I was able to go out and do it.

For my impressionist Images, I believe I had created outcomes that reflected Kyohyun Nam’s work by applying not only his technical element of how he took his images, but also his conceptual focus of having either someone or something as the subject. With this image I made, for example, I attempted to merge these two by combining the subjects to create an interesting outcome.

My Image.

Kyohyun Nam’s work – 2 subject focuses.

To Improve however, I would have produced more Images that made use of the impressionist style with the subjects being that of the youth. Needing lots of people to create variety between photos however would be difficult which is why I resorted to random members of the public.

For my Social-realist Images, I feel as If I was able to replicate Robert LeBlanc’s technical elements of using subtle motion-blur in a documentary manor to produce a similar outcome. With LeBlanc’s work focusing more on his travel, my conceptual basis was instead focused on the travel of others. Comparisons that can be drawn however is through the visual elements between the images. By converting my images into black and white, this was to direct attention to the image content rather than its colour. LeBlanc makes use of this within his series ‘Tin Lizards’ where a focus is placed on the locations within the picture. It is from this, I was inspired to try and attempt to replicate his style of images.

My Images.

LeBlanc’s work.

Like with the impressionist images, a difference I would have made would be to have a larger variety of images that focused more on youth culture through this style. With other social-realist Images I made using colour, a change I could make would be to incorporate more of a visual influence from LeBlanc by making them black and white.

From the magazines I looked at as my influences I find I have taken visual influence from their construction to produce pages that reflect their design. With WIP and Skate magazine focusing on the promotion of unity between the cultures of fashion, music and identity, these where large points of contextual influence when creating my magazine. WIP magazine took particular influence, conceptually, which I believe I have replicated well. With their magazine uniting people through various art mediums and interests – such as fashion, art, photography and music – I applied this when coming up with the idea for my project. My using it as my basis of what I wanted to centre my project to be about, I believe it made me realise the intentions behind my work and what I strived to create.

My front cover.

WIP front cover.

Further reference within my work, which I believe helped me understand my intentions and produce a successful outcome is through the influence of my study into collaging and montaging. With my pages being influenced from the fashion magazines, where pages all related to focus of usually one thing – such as shoes, clothes, or the brand, they replicated the effects of producing a montage where the images related to each other. An example of this being a Nike ad I took inspiration on for page design, where multiple images where used in it, centred around the product. For my project I attempted to replicate this through producing ‘ads’ of my own, arranging my images into montages on a page.

My Ads.

The Nike Ad.

Overall, I find I was successful in replicating the montaged style of pages within my work however more inclusion of collaging would be a change I would have made when designing the pages.

Further influence from collaging and montaging I took came from when producing art pages for the end segment of my book. Inspired by the artists of Stezaker, Marclay and Milach, I attempted to create an image that showed inspiration from their style of work. I think I was successful in making an outcome that showed influence from them, however a improvement would be to have created more images like it, as much of the magazine is focused more-so on images inspired from impressionism and social realism.

My Image.

Stezaker’s, Marclay’s and Milach’s work.

In conclusion, I believe I have produced successful outcomes for my project. With many references to my artist inspirations through the key elements of the visual, technical, contextual and conceptual appearances of my work, I find I can show direct links to my inspiration. I also find that I am confident with what I have created and have realised the intentions I wanted to create behind my work such as with how I presented the theme of union through the subjects of fashion, youth culture and identity.

In this post I will outline what my magazine will look like with all its pages, this is just to give a simplified overview of how I have designed and arranged my layout. With my other post breaking down its construction, Influences and concept this serves just to show it as a whole. After refining minor adjustments such as ensuring the pages are in the correct order I want and that images are properly aligned, this is what my final layout of my magazine will look like.

Here is my collection of Images I have produced over the course of this project. They are arranged in their individual shoots as Virtual Galleries.

Planning:

Final print layout plan:

For my project, as well as creating my magazine, I wish to create some images I can present physically. For this I will create a plan on how I wish to present them for me to create them during the exam. I plan to present my images within their own aesthetics and cut down the images I have used to make them presentable in a physical form.

Due to the amount of photoshoot images I have produced and edited, and the time constraints of the exanimated period, I have chosen to only create a few physical outcomes of some of the images I made.

Design:

Layout ideas:

The aim is to have a lot of my images presented in a physical final outcome, but condensed enough to not be to much. These physical prints will be a merge of my blurred impressionist images and my candid social realist images.

Large centre image – A3 size.

surrounding images – A4 size.

• When constructing these images as a physical presentation, I will mount the larger A3 image to a large piece of foamboard using the spray-glue, I will cut and shaped it to fit within it normally, then I will use strong tape on the under side and back of the A4 images I wish to attach on the bottom left and top right.

Larger image – A3 size.

smaller image – A5 size.

• For constructing these images, I will mount the larger A3 to some foamboard, having it bleed into its edges with the spray-glue, Then I will stick the smaller A5 onto it with double-sided tape.

A3 size – trimmed down after to the images square size – replicates the size and shape of a vinyl.

• For this image, I will have it printed out in A3 with the excess parts, chopped off. Then I will mount it to either foamboard or a thinner card to replicate a Vinyl sleeve effect.

A4 size. – Image by itself.

• For this I will cut down some foamboard to A4 size and mount it as I will with the others.
• presented together with the images below, it works as good comparison to show my influence from both of my artist studies into impressionism and social realism.

All A5. – placed in this exact layout.

• For these images I will position them as to how I have arranged them and will do the process of mounting them individually to a larger backing of either foamboard or card.

After the photos have been printed I will produce them into the psychical presentations I have planned.

For my magazine, I wanted to add some more images to create more diversity of content between the pages. Doing an additional photoshoot, I will add these to add a bit more to my final project.

Inspired from the album covers photos I made, I wanted to recreate some album covers, but set within a similar environment to their contents. To me this ties in how people associate their identity through music and by connecting to places similar to wherever they are, it shows how it can be used to create connections between people who share that same passion to the music. With music culture being a method of bringing the youth together, I thought this would fit well behind the pre-existing pages I made about music and its abilities to unite people.

With this photoshoot containing only a few images, I simply chose from the ones I had, leading to no need for a contact sheet.

Recreated Vinyl’s:

Before:

Editing:

Adding some basic adjustments, altered the image to create more a contrast in colour and tone to create some more depth within side the image.

Converting into black and white, the added depth from before allowed it to be a good canvas to then add a chosen colour through playing around with the images temperature and tint. applying the same settings to all my other vinyl based images, the only differing factor was the colour made through the temperature and tint.

After:

Vinyl box + car boot:

Before:

Editing:

For these images, I added a vintage effect through the use of a filter layer off the app snapseed. From this, I then adjusted the grain of the image.

Adding then some adjustments, I tweaked it some more to create a more old digital camera aesthetic.

After:

Planning:

Narrative, concept and design –

For my project, I wish to create a magazine centred around the subjects of Fashion, Identity and Youth Culture. Inspired by other magazines such as Carrhart WIP and other similar brands, I wish to present multiple images with unique yet similar aesthetics to present my chosen subjects. Using them as a reference I will construct my magazine to feature a similar appearance. This applies to deciding where the images will go on the page and the relation of text to images – the overall design.

Being a magazine, these images will be printed out on a glossy paper-like surface which Is a common feature amongst magazines, page sizes will be 8.5 by 11 inches (22 x 28cm). As mentioned, the concept being my magazine will be focused on a union of many subjects that I find relate to bringing young people together – such as music, fashion, Identity and the cultures and environments that relate, or surround, them.

The narrative of my magazine follows in the influence from some of my references such as with the skate magazines were each subject or ‘article’ gets its own series of photographs and information, which are then separated by an ‘advertisement’ of images inspired by my artist studies into impressionism and social realism.

Construction Process:

Front cover:

For my front cover I have created a similar image inspired by the Carhartt WIP magazine. On the WIP magazine it features articles and features, on my cover, I will replicate this by producing ‘articles’ I can then reference to that feature in my work.

Making the cover –

Choosing a fake name I decided, W.O.L – way of life. – This summarises the Youth culture and identity aspects of the project focus. Having it short and abbreviated as W.O.L this was inspired by brands such as ADWYSD – Always do what you should do and Carrhartt WIP – Work In Progress. In addition to this I also included the features from my inspiration such as issue number, barcode and article features.

Using photoshop, I was able to create this through adjusting the text positioning and where I wanted it. To create the Blurred effect of my title I used the Filter effect featured at the top of photoshop and applied a radial blur to distort the text.

page designs:

Using these types of image placements as my inspiration for my magazine, I will write brief yet related fake articles around them. The text will act as context to the images as I have selected such as being used for advertisements, art pieces, etc. All sorts of subjects that are featured in magazines I have taken reference from.

To present the theme of union through the subject matter of youth culture, identity and fashion through a magazine I produced fake articles surrounding some of my images. For the impressionist and social realist inspired images I took, I wrote these fake articles around some of the subjects and features of a magazine to go along with my images:

Fashion –

‘Shake up the scene’ – streetwear:

Fake article:

‘Streetwear’ is a home staple of the modern youth culture, being a dominating style that has risen increasingly over the past few decades and has become more varied in its appearances to conform to the niches of its sub-genres. In the history of fashion, streetwear was brought to life in the surf and skate scenes of the 80’s by brands such as Stüssy, carrying on into the 90’s other brands, like Carhartt with their embroidered workwear letterman and /Detroit jackets were soon adopted into the streetwear scene through their appearances in the mainstream media with Hip-Hop musicians such as 2Pac, Eazy-E and Nas.

Streetwear is recognisable for its Inclusivity of all genders and cultural influences, uniting people through a wide range of styles

With recent trends, such as Y2K, looking back to these eras of fashion, it can be seen as a modern reflection of a more stylistically creative and diverse time, which additionally creates a sense of identity and belonging to a specific aesthetic from a nostalgic point in time. With music additionally playing its part in this rush of nostalgia for a more innovative time, many wish to associate themselves in the styles of their favourite artists.

More fashion articles:

Branded – Fashion in photography.

What brand do you belong to?

Brands such as Nike and Adidas run the show in the fashion industry, keeping consistent to what’s new and what people want. Others such as ADWYSD, creating pieces that stand out from the norm. With many consumers finding preference other one brand to another, what brand best defines you?

The Industry, Tibstreet , Portlet and branded, and other photos – advertisement pages – inspired from skate magazines.

Music –

United by sound – Daniel Caesar remade album cover +poster of ‘United by sound’

What music defines you? How does it speak to you? What emotions does it create?

“For me I find I can be defined by a range of artists, from American classics made in the 50’s to the current British MC music scene, if I like how it sounds, I feel I can get into most music genres. Like for many, types of music can depend on emotions: something slower and calm for when your down, or something fast-paced and loud for when you’re in a good mood. Sometimes music can be for both.”  

Art/identity –

(Goes with the images of people around town – coloured and black and white images)

Wenn Sie Dies Lesen, Sind sie neugierig.

Si vous lisez Ceci, vous êtes curieux.

Jeśli to czytasz, jesteś ciekawy.

Se está a ler isto, você está curioso.

– translated: If you are reading this, you are curious. – multiple languages to represent town’s multi-cultural identity.

Social-realist photography:

Vintage to Brutalism:

See how St Helier’s skyline has changed in design. From fascinating facades of lasting remnants of the past, to the bleak blocky apartments overlooking the streets.

(Used with skyline photos).

Making the pages –

Fashion pages:

How I made my layouts:

With pages having pre-sets of image layouts already, I used these to construct some of the pages in my magazine. For more experimental page designs which included text or an image placement that was not already built in as a pre-set I would have to insert either a photo or photo-description cell to create the designs.

Pre-set page designs:

Constructing page designs:

Page designing –

To create the opening images, I wanted to merge some existing photos I took to create a visually interesting set of images which I find visually summarises my project. With Music (Fontaines D.C album), fashion (adidas hoodie) and me behind the record (identity) all resembling the subjects I chose to include to represent union.

Front cover-inside image:

Its connecting page:

With this being a re-used image from my music page, I altered its appearance through Lightroom with the following settings.

For the car park ‘Streetwear’ article, I took from the inspiration from the pages of the magazine designs in the skate magazine ‘Free’. I was particularly inspired with their image placement designs which I tried to incorporate into some of the pages of my own magazine. With the pages retaining to a set focus or aesthetic between them I applied the same for my work.

With how text is positioned on pages was another thing I coped from these magazines to create a well rounded composition of my pages that felt experimental yet, professional and well made.

For the ‘advertisement’ pages I attempted to replicate the full-bleed and 2 page spread style of adverts I saw in my magazines. With the design of this Vans ad being a really cool one, I tried to incorporate it into mine. Placing the images I made into photoshop, I then added PNG’s of the Nike Logos to each images and then merged them into one image to produce what is shown in the image below. When placing the PNG’s I also had to account for Image crop depending on how the size of the image fits into the page. For example the slogan line “Just do it.” was not intentionally meant to be cropped however I find it creates a more unique and bolder design when it overlaps the edge.

With this Nike ad, featuring another image as a backdrop for a lot more images, this was another design style I wanted to copy, as it produced an interesting composition in terms of how the similar images worked together and meant more images could be focused onto 2 pages rather than 4.

With this Nike ad design, being one that I found very visually interesting, I copied it again to present my own ‘advert’ photographs of local business’s such as ‘The Industry’ barbershop and ‘Tibstreet’ clothing store. By creating multiple image cells on the page, I would then adjust them into the positions I wanted.

Another style influenced from these magazines were the use of full bleeds on both single and double pages. Here I took influence from Carhartt WIP for example, producing my own Carrhartt ad.

Making adds for brands such as Carhartt and Nike, I chose to include another fashion brand, however this time for eyewear. For this I chose Oakley’s. To create these images, I made use of reflections and also using the glasses themselves as a make-shift filter to create the distorted image effect, which looks like over-exposed film.

How I did it:

I also copied the effect of having the front cover on its on individual double page, as this creates more of a focus to its detail which can be taken away with text on it.

To add more variety to the advertisements, and reasons to include more photographs of different aesthetical styles, I chose to create a made-up brand.

Music pages:

For this page I used the backing of my recreated album cover image to create the same colour tone for it so when I place them together they would match.

From this, I then added the edited photos of myself wearing different clothes holding album covers to display the array of music genres I listen to and find that represents my music taste.

Then I added the main image of myself holding the album cover I recreated, placed together on a page I find it will represent how I identify myself through my music tastes.

With the collage of images now made, I then added the title of the fake article, creating a poster like effect. With the font, I tried to use one similar to the one that is used on the ‘Never enough’ album I am holding.

Example –

When placed together on the page, alongside the article I find this creates an interesting display.

What inspired me to create this was was mainly recreating Daniel Caesar’s ‘Never enough’ album cover as I found it seemed an achievable one to make, additionally, this image made by the band, Fontaines D.C. was another source of inspiration for creating the poster image that went along with it. The interview style text on the image on right-hand page was inspired by the interviews of artists and individuals in both WIP and Skate magazine.

Additional Images:

Wanting to expand on the music element of my magazine further, I did so by creating more images inspired from the ones above. To see what I added this link will direct to a separate post outlining the intentions, editing process and outcomes which I will then add to the final layout.

• Additional Image post.

Art/identity pages:

Using the pages for ideas on layouts, I took to creating a sort of gallery section within my magazine which focuses less on having text to explain it but rather just have the photography be there by itself, as featured in this magazine.

People in town pages –

for the multiple identity photos of people in town, I chose to create a mix of both coloured and black white images to add some visual variety and further add to the erratic aesthetic of different display’s of work.

For this page I used the greyscale and brushstroke filter on photoshop to create the alternative image on the left which I then put the artwork title over.

Experimental self-portraits pages –

For these images, I choose to take some influence from the art style of collaging to overlay images to create a interesting effect where the colourful images clash in tone to their black and white counterparts. These images will be in the art collection of the front cover image.

I took partial inspiration from artist studies into collaging and montaging in terms of the same bright colour use of Milach, and the lighting placement of Stezaker with soft but strong light sources (LED lights inside my room).

Vintage to Brutalism:

Editing the title-image in photoshop, I used the text tool to add the title and rotate it into the positions of the 2 metal bars. I then did the same with the text on the second half of the page to add some balance.

‘Who R you’:

For this being the last page, I wanted to try and incorporate some of my research into montaging and collaging through this image. With how I arranged my images, I took inspiration from both Stezaker’s and Marclay’s style with the splitting of a headshot but also using square shapes like the vinyl sleeves to piece them together. Using photoshop on my I-pad, I cropped a singular image of myself I took on a grainy digital camera into different shapes and then merged them to create this distorted self-portrait.

Local Landscapes:

For the final pages, I wanted to include some landscapes of Jersey Just to cement the locational identity of the magazine being set within Jersey. This takes influence from Skate magazines global identity and use of geography to cement its creation.

Making the back cover –

Seeing how fashion magazines such as Carrhartt WIP magazine presented their back covers, I attempted my own version, with both images being unrelated to the front and being a stand-alone image, I find this provides a more diverse aesthetic which attracts attention.

In addition to this, with the image I chose to be my back cover, it covers much of the subjects I wish to cover within my magazine: Fashion – Globe + Palace stickers, both are clothing brands, Union – ‘Globe’ – hints at a collective demographic, with the slogan ‘strength in numbers’ of the Palace sticker adding to this, with both brands being popular amongst young people, this also ties in to youth culture. And finally identity/art – with me in the blurred background holding a camera, this also includes the aspects of photography and the representation of identity I have chosen to show within my magazine.

Magazine Influences:

To gain an idea of how I wished to construct and design my magazine, I looked towards influences from subjects I wished to cover to give me ideas on how I can piece together my images.

Carhartt WIP Magazine –

Carhartt is well-known in the fashion industry for its ‘multi-purpose street’ look and for being currently popular in appearance in the mainstream. Initially starting as a work-wear brand, it soon developed its place in fashion with the off-spring brand known as WIP – ‘Work in progress’ (A reference to its original function for builders). WIP has grown amongst the youth and pop culture scene that emerged in the 1990s, with its magazine covering an array of all things such as fashion, music, art, film, politics and ideas or messages from the people of today. Within its 200 pages are vibrant and colourful displays of different people, different hobbies and different personalities, all unified under it as a hub of creativity.

To me, WIP magazine is a largely alternative, yet manageable concept of displaying various forms of expressive, contemporary art. By giving a platform to an array of various artists, lifestyles, hobbies, cultures, and many more, I find this would be a strong influence on how to display the theme of ‘Union’ for my project. Making a collection of bold images, influenced from how they are presented in the magazine, and also created from my artist studies and movements, is how I wish to show my influence from it. With all these subjects unified into a single magazine, it creates an aesthetical representation of the modern youth culture that surrounds it.

Free Skateboard Magazine –

Free Skateboard magazine is a Pan-European skateboard magazine created by Will Harmon, Sam Ashley and Arthur Derrien that explores the vast world-wide love for skateboarding. Composed of interviews and advertisements, skaters share their travels across the world and the communities they encounter and they memories they make. Adverts from brands linked to the skate community such as Vans, HUF, Palace, ADWYSD and many others are presented in creative ways, matching in similar aesthetics to the nostalgic era of the 1990’s. With imaginative camera angles, colour grading and graphic design each page becomes its own gallery of photographs tied into peoples stories. Within similar magazines to Skate, the feature of a gallery section is included, dedicated to art, photography and music.

Free skateboard magazine is another influence on how I wish to produce my magazine as with the design aspects of how images are arranged, as well as the use of a wide array of varying aesthetics is what I wish to include within my work. An element I wish to include is the feature of a photo gallery section to display some images within a magazine setting. The use of brands as well, I find can unify young people to associate to them and represent their identity through. The global aspect of the magazine, shows ‘union’ for its wide demographic of skate enjoyers across the world, furthermore, with the representations of communities across different geography’s I find this is an interesting aspect to take influence from.

Intro:

For more exploration into art styles and movements that I could apply within my project to relate to the theme of ‘Union’ I looked into montaging and collaging. With montaging and collaging being a method of creation to bring different things together, I find they are interesting art styles to use, to present the theme of ‘Union’. Whilst looking into the art styles, I also looked into artists who have created such works of montaging and collaging, that I could then take influence from in my own work.

Definitions:

Montaging – an assembly of images that relate to each other in some way to create a single work or part of a work of art.

Collaging – the technique and the resulting work of art in which pieces of paper, photographs, fabric and other ephemera are arranged and stuck down onto a supporting surface.

Brief History:

Montaging:

El Lissitzky, The Constructor, 1924.

Montaging in photography, also known as photomontage, Is the manifestation of imaginative and artistic construction. The style seems to combine various photographic elements to create thought-provoking and impactful imagery to create challenges within the viewers mind on their perceptions of the art and reality.

Its origins trace back to the early 20th century, where the artist movement of avant-garde brought bold experimental art styles such as German impressionism and Soviet constructivism. With massive global events such as both World Wars causing mass climates of political and social change art took influence from this in its presentation. Out of this came movements such as Dadaism which photomontage is closely influenced from. Like with Dadaism, photomontage offered a rejection of traditional artistic norms and opted to choose the surreal style which promoted anti-establishment views and unconventional perspectives.

Artists of photo-montaging, are not confined in themes, but rather open to any subject they wish, however, often bound in the spectrum of dream-like imagery and surrealism.

Collaging:

Man Ray, Dora Maar, 1936.

Collage photography is the remixing and fragmenting of visual information from various sources to create a compelling narrative or produce a statement from the art piece.

Originating in France, collage came about into the modern art scene in 1911, with pioneering artists such as George Braques and Pablo Picasso bringing it into the mainstream platform. Like montage, collage is a technique to interpret reality by creating a piece of art, which in itself is a reproduction of reality. By using physical objects within a collage such as newspaper clippings it creates a precise image behind the work, as a message or reference to current events. Collaging Within photography can be found to merge into photomontage. By being able to combine things that aren’t physically possible, it creates visually impressive compositions. Examples of this within photography Include overlaying, impossible angles and rearranging objects within an image to produce surreal effects.

Methods of achieving this can be done through digital alteration such as with using tools on photoshop, or the manual process of using slow shutter-speeds to produce surreal effects within an images contents.

Montage and Collage artists:

John Stezaker:

John Stezaker, born in Worcester, 1949, is a British artist most known for his works of re-inventing classic movie stills, vintage postcards, books and illustrations to create fascinating collages with entire new meanings. By providing a new, modernistic, take on a classical image, Stezaker does this by altering its appearance through repetitive sections, or by creating a whole new image entirelt with thought-provoking juxtapositions. Stezaker’s work slices and sticks existing images to produce a creatively alternative art style, featuring influences from other styles such as Surrealism, Dadaism and found art.

His work has been featured world-wide and has earned him numerous awards for his creativity. His series ‘Dark Star’ is an example of this, being a display of his unique style and all its variations, which can be seen to blend montage and collage In a engaging way.

“John Stezaker’s work re-examines the various relationships to the photographic image: as documentation of truth, purveyor of memory, and symbol of modern culture.”

“Stezaker focuses on the concept of portraiture, both as art historical genre and public identity. Using publicity shots of classic film stars, Stezaker splices and overlaps famous faces, creating hybrid ‘icons’ that dissociate the familiar to create sensations of the uncanny. Coupling male and female identity into unified characters, Stezaker points to a disjointed harmony, where the irreconciliation of difference both complements and detracts from the whole. In his correlated images, personalities (and our idealisations of them) become ancillary and empty, rendered abject through their magnified flaws and struggle for visual dominance.”

– SAATCHI Gallery

Within his work, the theme of Union can be found through the explorations of subjects such as Identity which both Stezaker uses and what I have chosen to include and represent through my work.

Mood board:

John Stezaker, Marriage VIII, 2006.

John Stezaker, Old Mask II, 2006.

John Stezaker, Blind I, 2006.

John Stezaker, She (Film Portrait Collage) III, 2008.

Image Analysis:

Christian Marclay:

Christian Marclay, Untitled (crying),2020.

Christian Marclay, born in California but raised in Geneva, Switzerland is a London-based artist who’s innovative work surrounds visual and composing samples of fragmented aesthetics of popular culture to create new forms and meanings through methods such as photography, printmaking and collaging. Notable works of his that feature elements of montage and collage can be seen with his 1991-92 series, Body Mix. Within this series Marclay created blends of album cover sleeves by stitching them together, blending both vinyl art and artist genres of the music, mixing low and high culture.

The mixing of these vinyl covers tended to unify to resemble a human figure, which can be seen as a way of looking at how music can form someone’s identity. This was a similar concept I took when creating some of my own images such as the recreation of the album cover and the collection of images of myself holding various record covers.

like with Stezaker, Marclay’s work also explores male and female identity as both are unified through the mixing of record sleeves merging their anatomies.

“Art is all in the details.”

– Christian Marclay

Mood board:

Christian Marclay, Body Mix, 1991-92.

Christian Marclay, ‘No Heavy petting’, 1991.

various other examples from ‘Body Mix’:

Image Analysis:

Rafal Milach:

Rafal Milach, ‘Reverse’, 2024.

Rafal Milach, who was born in Poland, is a visual artist, photographer and educator who’s work focuses on tension between society and its power structures. His series ‘Reverse’ is a interesting modern art piece, making use of collaging and the aesthetic of film grain to produce a visually inviting study into the ‘standards of beauty’ and the way that the body, mainly that of women, is represented and perceived by audiences. Milach’s work criticises the strict rigor of body representation within the fashion industry and breaks down, distort and undermine the ‘ideal’ of how the body is presented. By making use of well-known art works from art and pop culture images, Milach attempts to emphasise the representations to bring to light the oppressive nature behind them. With his images made from montaging and collaging his own images and ones borrowed from popular culture, it creates both a simplistic yet contrastive art piece.

Mood Board:

Photos are from his series ‘Reverse’. Here they are presented in a large collection of images within an over-sized book in the collection of tens of thousands of books at 7L – Karl Lagerfeld’s library.

Image Analysis:

Manifesto Categories:

For my shoots they will be characterised as either Blurred or Candid in terms of how they where photographed. As mentioned in the previous post, what constitutes either category is the following:

Blurred images being inspired by my impressionist artist study, Kyohyun Nam. What classifies to this, is that the subject of the image is either motion blurred or intentionally distorted by me.

Candid images being inspired by my social realist artist study Robert LeBlanc. What classifies to this, is that subject of image is photographed regularly within an environment. This will attribute to strangers I photograph, peers who are the subjects of my images or landscapes around the Island.

Experimentation:

Examples of experimentation with my shoots can be found in shoots such as photoshoot Room 1, were I made variants to my already edited images to produce an interesting contrast from black and white to coloured (this is exampled within my magazine construction post where I show my arranging of images). Another example can also be found on my magazine construction post where I had taken a grainy black and white image of myself and experimented with it to produce work, inspired by my artist studies of collaging and montaging. Other examples include the creating of ‘advertisements’ out of some of my images where I experimented with the arrangement of text and images, this also is applicable to the front cover, the music section of the magazine too, also Is an example of experimentation within my project as I had to select and arrange what I thought would make an interesting collage of vinyl covers. Furthermore, experimentation is what led me to be able to produce my remade vinyl cover as by trying out different tools on the app – snapseed – I was then able to create an image which I find resembles it well.

Photoshoot Room 1:

Manifesto:

For these images I primarily shot on a fairly slow shutter speed to be able to produce the blur effect of my images, for ones taken in my room It averaged at around 1”6 With an F-stop of F11 and automatic ISO. These images will fit into the category of Blurred.

Before:

Editing:

For these images I applied the same process, with the only difference between them deciding the colour via white balance and temperature.

For the basic edits I made minor adjustments to the contrast and brightness, sharpening and minor tonal editing to add some depth. Once this was done then added a grainy film filter and then made my colour with the white balance and temperature.

After:

Photoshoot Carpark:

Manifesto:

For the outdoor shoot at the car park, the shutter speed for these images fluctuated between 0”5 – 1/60, with the average being around 1”, with an F-stop changing between 4.5 – 6.3 with an automatic ISO also. The aim for this shoot was to create images inspired by my impressionist artist study but also make my own take on his methods through both still backgrounds on some photographs. This shoot is apart of the Blurred category.

Before:

Editing:

For these images I applied all the same settings, due to the constant same source of lighting in all the images. Choosing black and white, I found this really brought out the detail of the photoshops with the blur as it makes it more interesting to look at and depict what is going on.

After:

Before:

Manifesto – These images fit inside to the Candid category.

Editing:

Little editing was done to these as with my camera, it has pre-built in filters, with this one being the ‘Toy’ filter. Other minor adjustments came with cropping.

After:

Photoshoot Plemont:

Manifesto:

With these images having been unintentionally glitched, they created a unique distorted image which mixed with the grainy texture of the vintage digital camera I took them on. This shoot is apart of the Candid category.

Before:

Editing:

Through Snap-seed, I added onto the glitched effects through altering their white balance and temperature making them more rich in colour.

After:

Photoshoot St Ouens + Sunrise:

Manifesto:

For this shoot, I wanted to continue with the same theme of fashion with the balaclava and merge that with depictions of youth culture. Within this I did it at a variety of locations at St Ouens Bay. Using a Shutter speed varying from between 30″ – 1/200 for images within this shoot I aimed to try and create a variety of image types with both long and short exposures. This shoot applies to both Blurred and Candid categories.

Black and white images:

Before:

Editing:

For these images, I made a it so that the camera flash was still prevalent despite being converted into black and white. To do so I made the image portions of the image less brighter and increased the contrast to create that shadowy depth that can be found with flash photos.

After:

Telephone box:

Before:

Editing:

Adjusting the image to have a more warm and vintage grainy look, I did this through he basic settings.

From that, I was then able to convert it into black and white with some grain and then adjust its tint and temperature through the white balance to recreate the yellow of the original photograph.

After:

+ Sunrise/set shoot:

Manifesto:

This small additional shoot counts towards the Candid category due to it falling under the social realist style of images I am inspired by. These images are collected from across my shoots where I would additionally get some photographs of the suns rise and fall.

Before:

Editing:

After:

Photoshoot Town:

Manifesto:

With this photoshoot being a large one around town, I edited a lot of images that were in the same style with the same settings to simplify the process and to create a matching aesthetic between images. This shoot is primarily in the Candid category with some Blurred category images.

Businesses:

Before:

Editing:

Adjusting the base layers of the image, I was able to add more depth to the subjects within the composition such as the mirror, barber and background objects. Making the image warmer, this was to create a soft blend to the lighter colours such as beige and white but also to add some contrast to darker colours such as the bookshelf and mirror.

After this, I then added a grain filter to add a vintage aesthetic to the image. This I found worked well to outline the barber in the foreground too from the background.

Adding some more warmth through the white balance, I feel this added to it again to create outlines of the subjects.

with other images taken within the same lighting conditions, as well as me wanting to create them to fit the same style, I then applied this to some other photos.

After:

As a result they turned out like this:

Union street:

Before:

Editing:

With the project centred around union, i thought I’d include some Union street images in my project. Due to the image being fairly oversaturated I aimed to distort the brightness to make it have that old digital camera effect.

adding a warmer temperature through white balance this was to create a more richer nostalgia aesthetic.

From this I then applied these settings to the other Union Street signs I photographed.

After:

Buildings:

Before:

Editing:

With these images all being of buildings and monuments around town, framed in the same way, I applied the same edits across them.

Adjusting the images with the base settings I was then able to add a vintage film filter which added grain and low saturation the images.

after:

People around town:

Before:

Editing:

For these Images I applied the following settings to create a more warmer overall appearance.

By then applying a grain filter, This helped to create a stronger contrast between the silhouettes of the subjects in the images against the strong sources of natural sunlight which produced shadows to further add some depth to the image.

After:

Black and white images of people around town:

Before:

Editing:

For these Images I applied the following settings to create more of a tonal contrast between the dark and light areas within the images. With a lot of natural light and shadows being casted within the images, I aimed to heighten their presence through the contrast and ambiance.

After:

Photoshoot Noirmont:

Album cover recreation –

Manifesto:

With this photoshoot, my attempts were to create the ‘Never Enough’ Album cover by Daniel Caesar. With the original inspiration being a blurry photograph made with a long shutter-speed on what I believe to be a vintage digital camera, this image falls into the category of Blurred. For this image in particular, I set my camera’s shutter-speed to around 1/30.

Inspiration Image:

Before:

Editing:

With this image in particular requiring a lot of editing to match the original, once I had made the initial edits, I had to repeatedly darken it through an exposure brush to replicate the original image.

Here was when I repeatedly used the exposure brush to darken certain areas ensuring to keep it as accurate to the inspiration image.

After:

David + self portrait:

Manifesto:

These images are classed as Candid. For these images, I wanted to replicate this image aesthetic of another musician, Malcolm Todd. Although not attempting to recreate his album cover, I did like the colour, texture and tone of his work.

Before:

Editing:

After:

Photoshoot Room 2:

Manifesto:

These images fall into the category of Candid. Taken in my room, I wanted to create a bright and contrasting atmosphere within these images, so in order to do this I relied on my camera flash instead of my room light, this shoot is to focus on how music can represent identity and unite people through what they enjoy.

Before:

Editing:

After:

Photoshoot Harbour:

Manifesto:

These images fall into both categories of Candid and Blurred. For these images I wanted to incorporate some more blurred images, However i did make use of some candid photographs to contribute to other parts of my project such as landscapes and self-portraits to reflect identity. These images were taken on a shutter-speed ranging from 1/30 and 1/50 to 1/200 to 1/250.

Warmer toned images:

Before:

Editing:

For these images I wanted to bring more of a focus into the reflection of the sunglasses so I aimed to achieve this through the following settings to bring darken it some more. By increasing the warmth too, this was to add more vibrancy to the rest of the images I applied these settings to.

Adding a grain filter too, this was to hopefully add some sharpness to define out my reflection more whilst also creating a vintage aesthetic.

After:

Colder toned images:

Before:

Editing:

Through these settings, the aim was to try and create images that had a cold, distorted texture. To achieve this I used contrast and saturation to bring out the images colour.

By then adding a grain filter which contained highlights of blue this was to give the images a cooler toned aesthetic.

After:

Manifesto:

For my Photoshoots, I will base how I create my images on the basis of my 2 chosen art movements of Impressionism and Social Realism and the artists I have studied, associated them, with their individual styles. To simply define the images in a photoshoot I will fit them into either a Blurred or Candid Category.

Blurred –

With the Blurred category being any images featuring:

• motion-blur
• long shutter-speed
• direct inspiration from chosen artist – Kyohyun Nam. – e.g. subject focus.

Candid –

With the Candid category being any images featuring:

• clear image clarity
• short shutter-speed
• documentative imagery – e.g. not focused on a certain individual person but instead environments and the many people within them.
• direct Inspiration from chosen artist – Robert LeBlanc. – e.g. subject focus.