nathanpltts-cop2-blog

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Conclusion/Reflection

Over the course of this module I have managed to get a better understanding of the “Selfie”, where it has came from and what it has done for the photographic industry. I have also learnt about using tools such as JSTOR and Google Scholar which has allowed me in turn to find texts that I more than likely would not have found prior to this module. I have also pushed myself to use re-appropriated images which is something that I have always struggled with in the past so I feel that being able to now use them effectively has allowed me to grow as a photographer. My essay writing skills have also improved drastically which is something that I am proud of myself for. Overall I feel like this module is has been successful for me and with hope I’ll have done enough to show my knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.

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Blog Task 6 - Theory

Another thing in which I could explore could be looking at fashion and models in other countries and see how things are different depending on where you are in the world. After seeing a publication called “FASHION AND STYLE IN PHOTOGRAPHY, MOSCOW” by Michael Famighetti of Aperture it got me thinking, unfortunately I cannot find a copy of the publication but the title was enough to stimulate an idea so hopefully with some further searching Ill be able to find out more information.

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Blog Task 6 - Visual & Theory

I decided too look at front magazines models and the photography they are using, from memory the model where modern Heroin Chic however when I went to there website things have changed somewhat drastically. They use to follow a much more bright and in your face style however now they seem to be combining a mix of modern art, heroin chic and a more clean style of photography. In regards to the models they have changed a lot too, they are not sticks anymore but beginning to look like models from the 60′s and 70′s a more “real woman” look with minimal touch ups and a lovely use of lighting to bring out there natural beauty. 

This could be something I look into as well, the way in which all manner of things are changing within the fashion industry.

http://www.frontmagazine.co/greici-rosa-lets-skate/

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Final Prints

Below are my final prints from the module. I will be placing a (--) between images to clearly separate them.

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Blog Task 6 - Visual Follow up// Theory

“What is fashion?” In November 1993, marketing consultant Estelle Ellis posed this “deceivingly simple question” in a speech at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York.”

Rethinking Fashion. (2008). In Blaszczyk R. & Blaszczyk R. (Eds.), Producing Fashion: Commerce, Culture, and Consumers (pp. 1-18). University of Pennsylvania Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt3fhbbd.3

The change in fashion, not only the way that we photograph it has changed substantially other the years and after reading segments of the above paper it has drawn me into looking into fashion in third year more so. The paper although looking at fashion would allow me to understand the trends at different times, mainly the early years of major photography in advertising and fashion but could still be a very useful tool for me. 

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Blog Task 6 - Visual Follow up// Theory

Another Piece of text that isn’t really overly relevant however I did find a very interesting statement in amongst it. “Is anyone out there pro-ana?” This minute hail of graffiti calls out from the dingy walls of a women’s bathroom stall, escaping from its origins in the Internet-based pro-anorexia movement.” BELL, M. (2014). “Virtual” Autobiography?: Anorexia, Obsession, and Calvin Klein. In BROPHY S. & HLADKI J. (Eds.), Embodied Politics in Visual Autobiography (pp. 48-63). University of Toronto Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3138/j.ctt9qh9zr.6 The way that the look upon fashion is changing and how a pro anorexia movement is something that is a source for something so used in a modern society that is so culturally conscious and self aware.

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Blog Task 6 - Visual Follow up// Theory

“A thin, semi-dressed young woman kneels awkwardly, her body twisted and bent forward over the side of an armchair in what appears to be a fairly dingy lounge-room. Surrounding her, and taking up most of the photograph, is a grimy red carpet, marked with what seem to be cigarette burns. The woman’s exposed feet are covered in dirt and her face is shiny, as though coated in a fine layer of sweat. The photo’s strange angle creates a sense that the room is spinning, and accentuates the gravitational weight of her thin, unsteady body as she tries unsuccessfully to push...”

Malins, P. (2011). An Ethico-Aesthetics of Heroin Chic: Art, Cliché and Capitalism. In Guillaume L. & Hughes J. (Eds.), Deleuze and the Body (pp. 165-187). Edinburgh University Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1r218r.11

An interesting paper from what I’ve read, most of it isn't relevant to me but this paragraph stood out too me and was something I did find very interesting to read, I don’t think I’d ever read anything about Heroin Chic that had been written so well and so descriptive, 

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Blog Task 6 - Terry Richardson//Visual

Terry Richardson is probably one of the most interesting photographers within the industry shooting fashion. his wacky style is something that people are drawn to as he has very clinical style yet somehow manages to have a very grungy feel to the images, more commonly known as “Heroin Chic”  His mother gave Richardson his first camera in 1982. He used the camera to document his life and the punk rock scene in Ojai.  In 1992, Richardson quit music and moved to the East Village neighbourhood of New York City, where he began shooting scenes of young people partying and New York City’s night-life. It was in New York City that Richardson had his first “big break." His first published fashion photos appeared in Vibe. His Vibe spread was shown at Paris’s International Festival de la Mode later that year. Richardson went on to shoot a advertising campaign for fashion designer Katharine Hamnett’s in 1995. The campaign was noted for images of young women wearing short skirts with their pubic hair showing, It was this that sparked his career.

His work is a constant inspiration to me, unfortunately I don’t get the chance to shoot with a similar ascetic very often so when I do I relish in it. Maybe looking at something in regards to fashion could be something worth looking at, I like the idea of looking at something maybe to do with how different styles of photography affect the same image/ same style. Richardson being known as “ fashion’s shameful secret” is something that I find really interesting so I could follow this up. 

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Blog Task 6 - Matthew Finn// Visual

I find Finn’s work to be fractionating, the work that he is most well known for “Mother” is some of my favourite work of his also “Uncle is a stunning body of work. The project stems from him documenting his mother over the past 29 years. I spoke with Finn online and he is an incredible photographer with an amazing in-site into the photographic world. In his lecture from last year (2016) he spoke about his work and the ethics surrounding it, he made some incredibly good points about what you can and can’t do in the photographic world and it is for this I respect him and his work. 

His work for a number of years has not been catalogued or dated due to the fact that he didn’t want to, it’s this that also inspires me in regards to his visual work, the fact that he just didn’t want to date them or catalogue them so he didn’t. As time went on with the project “Mother” he started dating and ordering them for more personal reasons than anything else. Finn also doesn’t like to say that he documented his mother but he prefers to say he collaborated with her over the years as he feels that this is more appropriate.

“Since 1987 Matthew has been collaborating with his Mother, Jean in a series of portraits that depict her everyday rituals set within her home in Leeds. Documenting everyday ordinary moments, normally passed over for special events such as Birthdays, Christmas, Christenings and Holidays. Matthew has focused to show his mother as a woman going about her daily routine, using the family home as a backdrop this extraordinary project now in its 29th year lets viewers into a home reminiscent to how we all live.Following his mother from middle age to elderly woman now suffering from mixed dementia and leaving the family home into a residential care home, these images serve to show the warmth and fragility of life.” http://www.mattfinn.com/g-28-mother.html?p=7  

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Blog Task 6

In regards to Idea’s for my CoP 3 proposal there hasn’t been anything that has massively inspired me, I have some visual ideas that I would like to follow up and experiment with that would give me the possibility of something to do within photographic theory. But again as I have said there isn’t any thing that has inspired me enough to follow up on it. More post will follow with visual research.

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Blog Task 2

Harvard Reference: Daniel Rubinstein. (2015). The gift of selfis/ Gift of the selfie. Available: http://non.copyriot.com/das-geschenk-des-selfiesgift-of-the-selfie/. Last accessed 10th Dec 2016. Key Concepts: Key concepts of this essay include things such as the way in how we view Selfies and whether or not they are a good form of artwork or just another time wasting task. Selfies don’t hold the same artistic integrity as a more formal or traditional self portrait, although not said as plain as that it is hinted in areas of the paper. Another thing touched upon in the paper is how there is a fundamental difference between Self Portraiture and Selfie Culture. This in turn leads onto the phenomenon of “work” being shown online and how it doesn’t hold the same presence as a piece of work being hung/ displayed in a gallery does.

Comments: Fundamental points are made that support my essay and lots of points that I can link into it, allowing me to progress with making my essay. Respected writer meaning that it's a trusted source, again being something I can utilise. Not only does the paper follow the same view as my essay but also shares very similar principal that I want to myself follow with this work and essay. Application and Questions:  Can I use this in more than just tying it in with the essay? Is selfie culture what it’s made out to be in this paper or is it more of a bias opinion? Can I use this to communicate a point in my visual work as well as my essay? Is this something that will truly be beneficial or just something I am reading to feel like I’m busy? How beneficial can this be to the work that I am producing and how can I implement using it?  Does Rubinstein have a full understanding of the culture or will I be able to make better points having grown up in this generation?

Summary: I feel that using this essay will be massively beneficial to me in the essay writing process due to the subject matter and how it is put across, not only this but the statements made in the paper such as “... selfies are the lowest form of artis-tic expression...” allow me to explore my question further by looking at what photographers think of it possibly.

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Google Scholar

Google Scholar was a similar situation to using JSTOR for the first time, although daunting it was again, incredibly easy to use and very user friendly making it easier to find references and citations that have again pushed and helped me with my essay and developing my visual work also.

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Blog task 3 - “...turn 2 of your references into a literature review...” Continued.

Harvard Reference: Giroux, H. (2016). Terrorizing the Self: Selfie Culture in the Age of Corporate and State Surveillance. In America's Addiction to Terrorism  Last Accessed: 20/3/17

Key Concepts: Discusses the morals of modern society (america). Looks at Selfie Culture in this age of constant surveillance. Comments: Some relevance to my work regarding selfies. The text also looks at modern society which could be worthwhile looking at for referencing. Also takes a look at morals.

Application and Questions: Would I be able to use lots/any of it? Will the text be something that I can draw quotes from? Would it be better looking for other works?

Date Accessed/Page Numbers: (pp. 63-78). NYU Press. Available: http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt15zc676.7

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Blog task 3 - “...turn 2 of your references into a literature review...”

Harvard Reference: Daniel Rubinstein. (2015). The gift of selfis/ Gift of the selfie.Available: http://non.copyriot.com/das-geschenk-des-selfiesgift-of-the-selfie/. Last accessed 10th Dec 2016.

Key Concepts: That selfies are the lowest form of artwork.  Self portraits are different to Selfies. Standards of work online are very different to actual work.

Comments: Lots of point that I can link to my essay, allowing me to progress with making my essay.Respected writer meaning that it's a trusted source that not only follows the same view as my essay but also shares very similar principal that I want to myself follow with this work and my essay. 

Application and Questions: Can I use this in more than just tying it in with the essay?  Can I use this to communicate a point in my visual work? How beneficial can this be to the work that I am producing and how can I implement using it?

Date Accessed/Page Numbers: p1-5 Last accessed 10th Dec 2016.

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JSTOR

Using JSTOR for the first time was something I found very daunting however after an explore of the website I managed to get to grips with it very easily. I began looking for work with relevance to “selfie” and “self portrait” and found a number of pieces of literature that have massive helped me in progressing with my search for relevant information about my essay and visual subject matter.   

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Kim Kardashian

Kim Kardashian's book “Selfish” I find the book to be genuinely offensive to see how someone who is famous for little more than a bad sex tape and the sake of being famous is being glorified within the art world for her own narcissism and the ability to operate a smartphone. It’s not only the praise that she is receiving that is found annoying but it is the way in which her rabble of uneducated followers will defend her in a heartbeat claiming that it is art without having any justification or reasoning as to why it is an art form and it is things such as this that have ruined selfies as an art form for myself. The book displays very little of an artistic merit and has clearly been done as a marketing ploy, as you can see from the two below images (the cover and a image pulled from her campaign for the book) are basically just advertising that she has breasts and it is this that infuriates me even more so due to the age of her fans that buy her merchandise, all it does it promote that taking selfies in your underwear and sharing them publicly is okay, when it clearly is. This reason alone could be why I hate the book so much but there is a list that goes on far too long. The only positive I can say about it is the chronological ordering and layout of the book is very pleasing but that isn't the point I’m making.

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Nicolas Bruno

Nicolas Bruno, a photographer that was brought to my attention after a feature on VICE via Snapchat, his work is a perfect example showing what surrealism is through self portraiture, his work is extremely dream like and this is due to him having chronic night terrors which give him crazy dreams which he documents (writes them down) so he can later go on to photograph them. His work has a dark and very gritty look to the images that communicates the fear associated with his night terrors, although the images are dark he saturates perfectly to enhance the colours allowing him to also create a really rich contrasting pallet communicating the vividness of the dreams which he is having. Looking at the images you really being to understand what the dreams are the he is having, Bruno normally shoots multiple exposures for his work, he does this through a continuous shutter allowing him to become all the characters he wants to within his works. During post he will commonly stitch the images together creating the stunning work he publishes. Within the photographs he mainly uses himself as a model due to him wanting to not only keep the work personal but to also connect with the audience showing which shows the value of self portraiture within the arts community. His work is a prime example of what can be done with self portraiture in a modern society and stunning it can look when time and effort is taken when taking the images.

“My creative process generally begins with in depth planning, but the shoot often begins to dovetail with a bit of sporadic experimentation. The setting for my photograph is often the catalyst for change in my original ideas and aspirations for the final photo. A location may change due to weather patterns and unexpected alteration by nature or humans (abandoned buildings in particular) so I always give myself a generalized plan for the image I will attempt to execute without depending on too many specific details of the location itself.”  House, P. (2014). Interview With Nicolas Bruno The Sleepless Photographer. Available: https://fstoppers.com/originals/interview-nicolas-bruno-sleepless-photographer-7958. Last accessed 14/1/17.