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WEEK2

Additional Task: 36 photos self-portraits / another person

Notes: This week, focus on controlling the focal length and focus as well as lighting

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Ans Westra

Ans Westra is one of New Zealand’s best-known social documentary photographers. Westra was photographing Whaiora, she was becoming a controversial figure amongst Māoridom. Some recognised that her images added up to a unique and sympathetic portrait of a people and valued them as the only visual record of certain individuals and events. 

collections.tepapa.govt.nz. (n.d.). Loading... | Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. [online] Available at: https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/topic/953.

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Rosanna Jones

Rosanna Jones is a photographer and mixed media image-maker based in London. She is a graduate of Fashion Photography from Falmouth University. Her work specialises in an experimental blend of art and photography, celebrating the physical possibilities of an image rather than simply its two-dimensional form. Her trademark aesthetic has been built through years of painting over, ripping up, burning and otherwise distressing her photography to create tactile portraits that defy the flat images they once were.

Jones, R. (2020). ABOUT - ROSANNA JONES. [online] ROSANNA JONES. Available at: https://www.rosannajones.co.uk/about.

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Edith amituanai

Edith Amituanai’s work draws on documentary and constructed photographic traditions. Intimacy with the world she photographs is important to her, along with an ongoing contemplation of the idea of home. Edith is most drawn to portraiture, which typically falls outside of documentary photography. She also photographs interiors with no people present and then uses this interior as the setting for a portrait.

Arts Foundation. (n.d.). Edith Amituanai | Arts Foundation Marti Friedlander Photographic Award. [online] Available at: https://www.thearts.co.nz/artists/edith-amituanai 

PhotoForum. (n.d.). Edith Amituanai - essay. [online] Available at: https://www.photoforum-nz.org/blog/2019/7/5/edith-amituanai-essay.

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Steve Mccurry – Afghan Girl, Pakistan, 1984

As a young refugee in Afghanistan, Sharbat Gula, the green-eyed girl, came to be the face of the Afghanistan tragedy. Steve McCurry was commissioned by National Geographic to take photographs of refugee camps along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Where he took the opportunity when he saw Sharbat's eyes as a story. "In her eyes, one can see the suffering of children during war and, to a larger extent, the negative side of conflict. "

Public Delivery. (2019). The story of Steve McCurry & Sharbat Gula, the Afghan Girl. [online] Available at: https://publicdelivery.org/steve-mccurry-afghan-girl/.

However, the Afghan Girl photo has a disturbing true story. The story of suffering children in the war in her eyes was the fear and anger Sharbat Gula felt when a strange man told her to remove her hands covering her face so he could photograph her. Steve McCurry overstepped her personal boundaries, turning her into the face of the Afghanistan tragedy. Steve was so focused on getting a good shot that he turned one situation into another.

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Teju cole

TEJU COLE is a novelist, photographer, critic, curator, and author of several books. He was the photography critic of the New York Times Magazine from 2015 until 2019. He is currently the Gore Vidal Professor of the Practice of Creative Writing at Harvard.

I like how Teju photographs people and their "blind spots". Cole thinks of Blind Spot as a multi-media diary—a deeply personal account of space and place that blurs the traditional distinction between the literary text and photography as two completely different aesthetic modes.

OBI-YOUNG, O. (2017). Teju Cole’s Blind Spot Features an Unusual Blend of Text and Images. [online] brittlepaper.com. Available at: https://brittlepaper.com/2017/08/teju-coles-blind-spot-features-unusual-blend-text-images/

When I think of someone's blind spot, I think of the area just behind your shoulders that isn't visible until you turn your head. It's similar to Teju Cole's practice of photographing people from behind while they are unaware. It's a blind spot for them. You can't see the person's face, but you can see their direction, what they're doing, and what they're looking at. Teju Cole's subtle and simplistic view of photographs and the use of shadows and lighting to contrast everyday life to capture what he sees through his eyes/camera is a refreshing take on street portraits, in my opinion.

I could use his style and take photographs of my subject matter walking within the city, following their direction from behind.

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WEEK 1 Photographic practice

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WEEK 1:

During class, we went into pairs taking photographs of each other. Looking at different lighting, locations, close-up, mid, and wide shots.

(Giving main character energy )

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mirror self-portrait

I'm not quite certain I'm comfortable taking self-portraits. I enjoy being behind the camera and having control over what you see through the lens,  so this will be a new challenge for me on my photography journey.

I intend to combine my Self-Directed Learning and photographic practice self-portraits into a single photoshoot. I will use my longest day at university to spend walking around and listening to two different songs to see and test the moods I could achieve ( in between lectures). While using window and mirror reflections, similar to Vivian Maier's self-portraits. I also like the idea of using car mirrors and may find a way to incorporate them.

I plan to combine my Self-Directed Learning and Photographic practice self-portraits into one. Using my longest day at uni to walk around and listen to two different songs to see and test the moods I could achieve. While using reflections of windows and mirrors similar to Vivian Maier's self-portraits. I also like the idea of using car mirrors and might find a way to use those.

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Areas of technical practice to improve on, such as using a DSLR camera on manual settings

Shooting in Manual, I would have to adjust the three key exposure variables ISO, Aperture and Shutter speed. Understanding them more when it comes to my camera would better help me to improve when it comes to getting the shots Im aiming for.

I need to keep practising more with shooting manual, so bringing my camera and practising the techniques while I'm in the city could be beneficial.

Lighting. When photographing, I should look around the environment more to see where the light is coming from, what direction the artificial lighting is going, what angle I can shoot from, what is the best spot for my subject to face, and so on.

https://www.facebook.com/LondonSchoolofPhotography (2017). How to Shoot in Manual Mode Cheat Sheet for Beginners. [online] Digital Photography School. Available at: https://digital-photography-school.com/shoot-manual-mode-cheat-sheet-beginners/.

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Cindy Sherman

I like how Cindy Sherman has put her own spin on self-portraiture, turning it into an art form that emphasises how we use and view photography. Even though self-portraiture appears to be a way to use a camera to showcase your true self-images.

Cindy Sherman is known for her “self-portrait” images in which she takes on different guises to transform herself into specific characters, historical and fictional. Though these may not be explorations of her own identity, Sherman’s photographs explore and emphasize how we use images, poses, and costumes to construct identity and convey certain aspects of ourselves to the outside world. Sherman mimics the poses, makeup and style of the 1950s star in her self-portrait as Lucille Ball0. By transforming herself into Lucille Ball visually, the image becomes a portrait of another person rather than an expected self-portrait, revealing how identity can be altered and manipulated. 

News, S. (2021). Self-Portrait Photography. [online] Swann Galleries News. Available at: https://www.swanngalleries.com/news/photographs-and-photobooks/2021/04/self-portrait-photography/ [Accessed 7 Mar. 2023].

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Vivian Maier

Last year, I learned about Vivian Maier's story and how she was only discovered after her death. She is a well-known photographer majoring in self-portraiture and portraiture, where the photograph was more for her eyes only. She never developed her films, but a majority of her films are of herself in reflections of mirrors, store windows, and street portraits of others staring at the camera.

American street photographer Vivian Maier’s work was largely unknown until after her death in 2009. Using photography as a mode of expression away from her day job as a nanny, she shot over 150,000 photos, many of which are self-portraits. Maier’s self-portraits show her in her role as a photographer, something that was otherwise hidden during her lifetime. Often inserted in reflections in mirrors and windows, they show her as the silent observer she was of life in Chicago. Her self-portraits tell us about how this mysterious woman wished to be portrayed, rather than how she was known in her daily life. 

Kennedy, R. (2014). The Heir’s Not Apparent. The New York Times. [online] 5 Sep. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/06/arts/design/a-legal-battle-over-vivian-maiers-work.html.

O’Hagan, S. (2022). Vivian Maier: Anthology review – the attentive, intimate images behind the myth. The Observer. [online] 19 Jun. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/jun/19/vivian-maier-anthology-review-the-attentive-intimate-images-behind-the-myth.

Stewart, J. (2017). 10 Famous Photographers Whose Self-Portraits Are Much More Than Just a Selfie. [online] My Modern Met. Available at: https://mymodernmet.com/famous-self-portrait-photographers/.

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A selfie is a photograph that you take of yourself spontaneously, usually taken with a cell phone camera or a webcam for the purpose of sharing on social media, like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, or Twitter. A self portrait  is a portrait made of one self using a camera or artist's brush in an artistic way, with more thoughtful planning.

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Identify and distinguish between the self-portrait and the 'selfie' (critical thinking)

Alli Burness seconded the notion that technology is not the defining factor. “Both selfies and self-portraits are forms of self-representation using technology,” she pointed out. “Smartphones and cameras are types of technology, mirrors and painting are other types.” To her thinking, though, the key difference is not ephemerality, but context and interpretation. 

Self-portraits are created to be read as art, are displayed in museums or galleries, and we are granted permission to view them as texts, functioning independently from the intent of the artist.

Selfies are borne of vernacular photography practices and are brought into museums and galleries by visitors. It is perilous to read selfies in the same way as art, to ignore the context of their social interaction and the intent of the selfie-taker.

https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/whats-the-difference-between-a-selfie-and-a-self-portrait/#:~:text=Self%2Dportraits%20are%20created%20to,museums%20and%20galleries%20by%20visitors.