giulialpini

[giulialpini]

FINAL EVALUATION

I am very satisfied by my project. I managed to tell a story which what my main goal and express it through a good range of subjects and pictures. If I'd have a little more time I'd definitely work on the text of my book, which I don't have at the moment. I like this version of the book, even though perhaps, a little more captions and small quotes would help. I'd definitely schedule all my shooting more in advance and create sketches of my book and exhibition way in advance, so that I can shoot according to what I wanna archive. I loved working with the archival material so I will definitely use it again in the future. Regardless the use of it in the final outcome it helps both the photographer to get to know the topic and the history of it, but also the subject to open up and talk about a topic they're passionate about.

I would print the final work in advance, just to give myself more freedom in terms of editing and allow some time in case anything goes wrong.

Overall I loved working on this project and I am looking forward to carry on doing it after uni. I realised I enjoy taking pictures of my town and explore my cultural heritage.

[giulialpini]

POINTS TO CONSIDER WHEN WORKING WITH CLIENTS

Make sure the photographer has the freedom of using their own style

Please the client

Have a brief before the shooting

Find the right client\photographer for the right job

Relationship with the client 

Right attitude

Budget 

Price upfront

Approach from the photographer

Experience

Decide whether a location scouting is needed, model, props and styling

Cove the costs and the assistant, as well as the model unless payed by agency

Post production

Time management

Work with a schedule, where everything is organised 

Licence when working with underaged models

Agree on how long the shooting is gonna be in terms of days\hours 

Model release form

Contact 

Make sure the photographer speaks their presences and “rules” before signing

Agree on the amount of images that will be sent to the client

Agree the date of the final product to be sent

Copyright on the work

Agree on where and how will be published

INSURACE! And liability 

[giulialpini]

MY PORTFOLIO SELECTION PROCESS

What do I look for? What are the most important aspects I look into?

Strong portraits

Landscape

Archive, few images mixed with my actual images

I’ve asked help to my peers on the decision making

I wanna create a story through my images

I will have 20 images of my current project

I’m gonna have 5 images of my commercial work

I’d like my images to be 10x12 

I will mix the colours of my image to create a organic flow  

[giulialpini]

LANDSCAPE AND TERRITORY 

Research related to my Major Project

All the visible features of an area of land, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.

‘The soft colours of the Northumbrian landscape’

‘a bleak urban landscape’

An area of land under the jurisdiction of a ruler or state.

‘the government was prepared to give up the nuclear weapons on its territory’

‘sorties into territory’

Georges Avetisjans - ‘Homeland. The longest village in the country’

Concept of home planned as  a book (sold on the photograd website) The artist is Latvian with Greek and Armenian background. The work is a composition of archival material, as well as landscape, portraits and text. His work is interested in history and ethnography.  Mixture of fiction and reality, with a sense of nostalgia.

  Dawin Meckel - ‘Lubicon Cree’

Paul Seawright - ‘They dropped like flakes, They dropped like stars’

The work presents the American landscape as a form of battlefield, where 20 military veterans a day commit suicide nationwide. According to new data from the Department of Veterans Affairs — In 2014, the latest year available, more than 7,400 veterans took their own lives. In many units more soldiers are lost to suicide after they return home from war than were lost in the field.

‘Volunteer’

Volunteer is a survey of sorts, photographs from today's fraying, centre less post 9-11 North American cities. Each photograph made at the location of a military recruiting station, where a different battle is being fought – to find young men and women to volunteer for service in Afghanistan. Starting in Texas, the highest recruiting state in the US, Seawright visited over 500 military recruitment offices in fifteen states.

Yakov Israel ‘The Quest For The Man On The White Donkey’ (2011)

‘Legitimacy of Landscape’ (2002-2015)

Everything he shoots its on 10x8 and hand printed for exhibitions. He photographs borders and places around the Palestine. 

Anastasia Khoroshilova - ‘Granizi’ (Borders)

‘Starie Novosti’ (Old News)

‘Die Übrigen’

Bleda Y Rosa - ‘Campos De Battalla’ Landscape marked by history

‘Origins’ 

Looking at different sciences and anthropological theories on the human development 

Paul Graham - ‘Trouble Land (1987)’

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/mar/02/paul-graham-shimmer-possibility

Alejandro Cartagena - ‘Ciudad’ Exploration of a city with a modernist approach, finding the beauty on the construction of the city, in the composition of a photograph

‘Landscape as Burocracy’ 

Landscape as bureaucracy is an exploration of the underlying structures surrounding the dream of owning a house in XXI century México. For the past 3 years he documented several aspects of this constructed dream. The natural landscape to become an urban and suburban space. 

‘Suburbia Mexicana’ 

It is a five part project that revolves around the representation of the current mexican suburban sprawl with a focus on the metropolitan area of Monterrey (mam). 

This first part of the project (Fragmented Cities) sheds light on the implemented neo-liberal economic strategies made by the mexican government since 2001 that have pushed urban growth out of the regulation of the metropolitan urban plan. 

Lost Rivers

The Other Distance

Urban Holes

People of Suburbia (3 years later)

This has created contradicting policies that have let construction firms build more than 300,000 new houses around the 9 cities of the mam. In 2008, the national housing commission (infonavit) marked Monterrey’s metro area as first place in the issuing of home loans and for the first time in mexican history, the commission has issued 497,000 loans towards buying houses in all of México. consequently, this demand has granted a green light to developers to urbanize in ways where profit is sought out for over the well being of the community, with roadways, parks and proper public transport systems standing far from becoming a reality. Amazingly even in the financial and mortgage crisis being lived in most of the world, the commission just announced in June that they will position another 500,000 loans for housing in 2009. After photographing these landscapes for the past 3 years i have now returned to many of the finished housing complexes and learned of many misfortunes the new inhabitants are facing, the ecological impact and the increasing distance being formed between the well-urbanized City and these new fragmented cities in the peripheries; a new chaotic ambient to which México is growing into.

The different aspects of Suburbia mexicana propose alternate narratives, which depict a global issue from a local perspective. i feel that my commitment as a photographer is not to denounce our need for a household, but rather to point out the struggle we face following the ideals of a capitalistic system while striving for fairer cities in which to live.

Dan Holdsworth - ‘Transmission: New Remote Hearth Views’ (2012)

Holdsworth appropriates topographical data to document the ideologically and politically loaded spaces of the American West in an entirely new way. He uses a digitally rendered laser scan of the earth appropriated from United States Geological Survey data, a ‘terrain model’ used to measure climate and land change – to measure man’s effect on the earth. Belying his empirical methodology is the fact that each of these terrains has a rich and conflicting cultural legacy.

Steve Macleod - ‘Hala’

Series photographed in the Arabic peninsula. He photographed areas where the army was being trained. Shot with large format camera, following the colour therapy chart. The landscape is based on how he felt, the mental state he felt during the day. The camera is mirrorless, the light passes through and bounce through the bellow. He splashed the inside of the bellow with a certain colour that the light with effect. It is a mediated landscape.  

[giulialpini]

This is one of my most successful shooting from my project Siamo Tutti Alpini 2019.

I was very afraid of the fact that it snowed heavily few days before, but actually the snow created a perfect prob to identify the place where the images got shot. I tried to create a variety of shots, focusing on my surroundings and utilise the available space as much as I could. I created some close ups, as well as details of the hats and the standard portraits. The variety of shots gives me more option when selecting the work for my book and my exhibition, adapting the right images for the correct context. 

[giulialpini]

EXHIBITION DISPLAY IDEAS

My final show exhibition display will be set in a corner of the room, to give the images, mainly printed on vynil material, to stick out and have a three dimensional look. The main picture will be printed on photo vynil, whereas the main portraits will be displayed on top of it with revealing frames. My main inspiration came from Steve MacLeod’s work, which used a similar technique. The frames I am gonna use though, won’t have any border, having a slight lift from the wall of about one cm. That will allow the viewer to see the work clearly form a good distance too, showing the difference between the landscape and the portraits. Ideally, I would have loved to have a frame on the floor too, but I thought that I didn’t have enough space this time for it, but I’ll definitely consider the option for another time.

The frames I am gonna use are reveal frames showed me by Print Foundry owner Renato Tavares when he came to talk about the company at our university. The frame is a great option as it allows you to interchange the prints on it as attached by a metallic sheet. The frame is reusable so that you only have to print new images. I will have my books on a table, as well as my artist statement by my work.

[giulialpini]

BOOK EXPERIMENTATIONS AND FINAL OUTCOME

I first started doing a dummy book hand making one. I chose to have a concertina look for it and divide each one of them by topic ie landscape or archive and subject. I experimented with font and text to the realise i wanted to go for a more ambitious way to do it. I started designing my own layout on indesign, choosing the sequencing of my images and text. I printed all my images and played with them to see which ones fit the book aesthetic. I initially wanted to go for a lot of text as well but for now i think i’d be too much information for now considering that I am including archive as well as 120 and 35mm images. My book has a simple cover, where the title is revealed only on the inside cover. The front shows a flower which is a typical symbol of the Alpines. I’ve them order some free sample copies from mixam to then decide the final look for my definitive version. The book has 70 sides and a postcard on the inside to thank everyone that participated and supported my project. 

[giulialpini]

MAKING MY WEBSITE

I built my website on Square Space. I wanted to go for a simple layout to highlight my work. Every body o work has an introductory title and description to help the viewer understand what the work is about. The work is split into two categories, projects and commercial. The work still has the same aesthetic throughout the two practices. I played with the layout and sizes of the images, creating a story throughout the work, especially with Laundry and Siamo Tutti Alpini. I still wanna improve it, perhaps adding videos of my subjects i’ve recored, as well as a short filming of my book.

I also left all the archive material in black and white to clarify to the viewer the different works.

https://www.giuliasimonotti.com/

[giulialpini]

DEAN CHALKLEY - Artist talk

He is a photographer, film maker, works with installations and as a DJ. Chalkley mainly works on projects he really likes, and few commission works. From the 1970s he started following the Mod subculture, as he really aspire to be a tailor fashion designer. He then followed a fourth training scheme, which really helped Chalkley with his practical knowledge. He then became really passionate about mini cross, and making cars was his primary job to make money. 

Chalkley went to Blackpool school where he met James Cant, and he grew up on South End on Sea. He started his photographic career shooting at Guardin Angels (which were protecting people on the tube back in the days). 

His interest has always been to engage with people, using his camera as a tool. 

Dean then presented two colour portraits in Amsterdam as a project from his course and he started creating his aesthetic, getting interest in edgy people and outsiders. He then did his first editorial shooting for Dazed & Confused, photographic artists for free. 

He then left Blackpool, getting his first job from The Independent and Mix. 

He got asked to go to Ibiza with a journalist, which disappeared shortly after the arrive on the small island. He then did his own project on the people on the island. He got featured with 30 pages photographic essay. He then went back over 20 times to do more shootings, which generated a fashion shooting. 

He then did a project on dancers in a room, shortly after he shot Dizzie Rascal’s first album’s cover. His work for NME started shortly after. 

He took portraits of a lot of musicians and actors, then started shooting videos, starting with Kojey Radical’s video which got showed at V&A and Photographers’ Gallery. 

Chalkley has the ability to work with people which is the main requirement. Also specifically with the subjects.

He worked over 10 years with NME, with a little backdrop stage after the awards to take pictures of the artists.

PERSONAL PROJECTS 

The New Faces - film of young mods in a contemporary world

Young Souls - film and stills

Return of the Rude Boy - with Harris Elliott (stylist and creative director) although the shooting wasn’t styled. Show at Somerset House (2014) also in Japan

Never Turn Back - exhibition to Paris

Execution - Truman’s Brewery shot on film and worked in the darkroom

Reverberation - book for the anniversary of St Pepper LHCB

Then worked for Ray-Ban (billboard in Shoreditch High St) and Levi’s

[giulialpini]

Carlo is one of the subjects I've portrayed for my personal project, Siamo Tutti Alpini. He invited my dad and I to his house, and form the very first moment we met, I got so impressed by how passionate and excited he was to be part of this project. For his portrait, I’ve been led by his stories, the memories he had of his Alpini training and the stories of his family and the war. Carlo got promoted as second lieutenant, and he proudly showed me the certificate and the hat, which differs from all the others. The gold it’s a symbol for the prestigious role, whereas the number stands for the troop he was part of.

For his portrait, my inspiration looked back at British 17th and 18th century paintings. This particular portrait, realised by Godfrey Kneller is named Portrait of John Evelyn. The portrait displays an English writer and diarist. His object portrayed is a book, possibly a collection of his writings. I got inspired by it on how he holds it fiercely, leading the viewer to look at thee object rather then the subject. The object becomes a reflection of the subject himself, which represents him even more without the necessity of writing about it. 

My portrait is pared with the hat closeup, shaping a story telling between the images. The subject is Carlo, but the viewer will look more carefully at the objects so dear to him in the close up.

[giulialpini]

These are two of my favourite landscapes I shot for my personal project. They express at their best my work because of the quietness and display the beauty of the land and my territory. I got inspired by the Romantic British paintings, following the tones and composition of the images. The aim of my landscape is to strike the viewer by the beauty of it, contemplating the nature and the deep relationship between by subjects and the nature. 

If I could photograph more for my project, I’d definitely focus on more landscapes, as the ones I’ve shot have been very successful. I’ve always thought of landscape as quite boring, but actually going back to my land, I’ve realised how much they can tell, just as much as a subject of a text.

In my landscapes, the viewer can see the human changes of it, but it’s an harmonious edit, just like the one at the very top. The land is beautifully shaped by the farmers, which love their land and wouldn't do anything to harm it.

My second landscape reminds of a painting from John Robert Cozens (1752-1797), called Peasant's hut between Naples and Portici. My images is hard to locate in time, which is an aspect I really enjoy about it. The viewer can then interact with it and make their own assumptions. Th tones are very cold, which give me a sense of nostalgia and remind me of death, although it was a really sunny day. 

[giulialpini]

DIANE ARBUS EXHIBITION AT HAYWARD GALLERY

Diane Arbus: in the beginning is a show displayed at Hayward Gallery.

I went to the exhibition with a dear friend of mine. We had to wait a very long time and the gallery space. The shop was super expensive and the  staff wasn’t very helpful. We were very excited though, after paying almost £40 overall for tickets. Its Diane Arbus, it but be good. None of that. The space was small, packed of people and the prints were very bad. Small prints Arbus did in the darkroom throughout her career. They very extremely dark and it was very hard to see what actually was going on in the picture. The exhibition display was the only good thing I’ve witnessed. Tall white columns were pigeon holed in a simple space so that the whole work could be seen. The only enjoyable room was the one with ten prints which weren’t printed from Arbus. That might be the reason why there were good. The images displayed some of her most famous work and I actually really liked them, mounted simply and displayed as a mini collection. I like Arbus work, but I am very disappointed about the quality of the prints and the cost of the ticket.  

The work and the subjects are really interesting and it’s a shame to have seen it like that as I wont pay again to see it if not from a book.  

[giulialpini]

PHOTOGRAPHERS’ GALLERY

BOOKMAKING WORKSHOP 10/03/19

NIALL MCDIARMID

Niall grew up in rural Scotland, with no art background degree in engineering. He sent pictures to a local newspaper which led to a job in the press.

He moved to London in 1990 and he spent 20 years in commercial photography. He then did a body of work that lasted between 7 and 8 years, shot in south London streets.

Niall started the project walking around Waterloo Bridge.

His work always involves colour and geometry (es: Richard). It is a distinctive work that involves the quirky nature of Britain (es: man with cats).

He then carried on outside London, where there’s no fashion sense, and looked for different ages and groups of people (builders in Liverpool).

TRAVELS

The work is ongoing from eight years, showing different characters in the UK.

Joe in Wick

Isle of Wight

North Wales (Irish sisters)

COLOUR

Mixed nationalities

Places people come from

Eccentric nation

Britain often portrayed as a grey nation, Niall wants to break the rules

HAVE A SPECIFIC STYLE

The photographer needs to highlight wha they’re good at and apply it at photography with no retouch. The photographer keeps moving and doesn’t wait. For Niall it is more about the visual rather then the stories.

JENNY LEWIS

She is a portrait photographer, which got her first photography job at Metro Imaging, with a fine art background. She publishes for magazines and she is quick to adapt at the surroundings (ie available light).

She’s been doing photography for 20 years and she meets people and have conversations with the subjects.

PUBLISHED WORK

One Day Young in Hackney

Hoxton Mini Press - which is about empowering women and to show the bigger identity you gain as a mother (through 150 portraits).

This projects led to a commission with Water Aid in Malawi.

Hackney Studios

Hoxton Mini Press - where every artist nominated another one which created a net between the subjects in the book. The project took 5 years and it featured 150 portraits.

By the time the work got published, 2/3of the artists lost their studio place (gentrification).

Jenny’s work led to commissioned work with Sotheby’s and editorial work for Grazia (6 days after Grenfell Tower tragedy)

She also entered Portrait of Britain which also led into Invisible Britain

209 female MPs shot by 209 women

ADVISES

Niall

Linked in

Tumblr

Twitter (news about what he’s up to with his work)

Facebook

IG

Jenny

Building trust through IG, giving a sense of who she is, which also helps writing about personal work

PHOTO MEET A MUST TO ATTEND FOR VISIBILITY! (East London)

[giulialpini]

I took this portrait of Gigi last week when I went back to Italy. Gigi is an Alpine at the Borgomanero association, from the village where I was raised.  What have you done?

I took this image with Gigi walking around their courtyard. The back garden of the place had a small statue of an Alpine, standing on top of the rocks. Gigi, which is usually very funny man, got very well composed. That statue is very important for him and he asked to pose in front of it. Gigi naturally turned as the statue is, which I found very powerful. 

Why have you done it?

I did take this image because the subject asked for it and I was very intrigued by the outcome of it. I was naturally attract by the statue myself and the subject and I had the same vision, which created a powerful image and pose.

What worked well?

I worked really well with all subjects, especially Gigi which was very positive and happy to pose in any way I was asking for. The snow from the day before reinfoced my scenario too, creating a very suggestive landscape.

What did I learn?

I really made the most of the landscape I was working with, using the snow as a positive and suggestive prop to add to my work.

I see this image as one of the most dramatic in my work. I really wanna highlight it, perhaps in the final display.

[giulialpini]

What have you done?

I took some images of the landscape with my Hasselblad while I was taking portraits of Alpini on January. 

Why have you done it?

I’d like to include pictures of the landscape in my work, displayed on the wall as well as in my book. I firstly thought about having them on 35mm format, but I’m very pleased with this result too. I will mixd both formats in my book.

What worked well?

I experimented even though I was sure of what I wanted. This experimentation though, gave me more options to work with and opened my view on my work.

I also love the composition of this image, which was totally a natural process and wasn’t planned at all. I interpret the landscape as a transition between past and present. A lot of Alpini died in war time but a lot of them still do an amazing job for the community. The mountain in the back is what links past and present. It is where the name Alpini take their name from, the Alps, and in general what they’re associate with.

What have you learnt?

I’ve learnt about working with the landscape with i always struggle to make look interesting. I learnt about giving a meaning to it, linked to the stories I gathered from the Alpini and the memories they shared with me.

[giulialpini]

ED SYKES - PHOTOGRAPHER TALK

Documentary projects and commissioned work

1. Insula (latin word for Island) The project is a collection of picture shot in the UK,  with some psychological and mental elements. It is a landscape documentary project,  shot with a large format camera and colour film.The pictures display structures built during second world war to protect Britain.

As a progression the photographer tried to mix the old work with a more modern concept, in relation to the EU expanding the project. The photographer shot some images at news event and protests with a political and social context. Sykes avoided photographing flags, expanding the narrative with other tools.

The most recent pictures includes symbols (ie Tree related to the Tory party in the countryside). One of the aspects highlighted was the Brexit impact and the recording crime related to it.

One of the cases dealt with a young man punching a polish old man that eventually died. The case went to court and the crime was considered by the media post-Brexit hate related.

Second aspect is travel in different places in Britain shooting (ie Dorset) landscapes were the modern was mixed with the old tradition. (Stones used in London mixed with a new prison facility). The photographer then went photograph London and the use of the stones in the city.

The bank of England (for example) is a symbol of power in the City. (ie Image with African student reminding of the colonialism of Britain) - failed attempt, the images does not reflect what happened.

The psychological element was express by taking portraits of people in a local church. What drives people and how they’re affect by media now a days.

Sykes drove to Stonehenge and got surprised by the approach of people. Instead of getting together, everyone was using mobile phones and then gathering in small groups and back to their cars.

2. Witness is the second project in relation to UFO. The project was shot in large format, displaying where significant events were encountered. The main area is a Welsh place called Broad Heaven Triangle, Pembrokeshire. (article Big UFO mystery in the Welsh Triangle).

With the use of a map the photographer went photograph the locations and landscapes. He mixed the images with a small text using quotes from the book he took as a reference.

The photographer, after gathering the drawings made by the children, took portraits of the witnesses now. Not enough satisfied by it, he went back and took more film images and non classical portraits. Black and white darkroom prints then scanned and manipulated with the  use of a light box. The work includes audio and picture of the subjects describing the event.

The photographer included some archive material , shots of old footage (Philip Reese) and multiple images.

Source: Flying Saucer Review

3. Commissioned work

Portraits after interviews

The Independent (Moon Dog portrait)

Magazines (when has few time different options like with a portable backdrop and using the enviroment)

Times, Marie Claire, I-D, Dazed, GQ style, Sunday Telegraph

Art publications

[giulialpini]