laurenjohnson1999-blog

[laurenjohnson1999-blog]

#2 shoot - second shoot located fully on my bed, still lives of what accumulates over time and expanding on the feeling of the presence of a person in the image and a self portrait

Ive printed my favourite image from this shoot, the textures of the duvet and soft colour scheme I think work for the feeling of stillness and timelessness want to create. I think the bed becomes its own little world and a stage for feeling pleasure in the staticness of not leaving the bed for ages. I think that it's also interesting that the bed has been left for this image to be taken, it's like the aftermath of something and yet the props suggest that the space has only been left momentarily.

Flash was difficult to balance with ambient light in this shoot - I didn't want the flash to over power and create a clinic white image, however the daylight changed throughout the shoot and the flash offered a consistent light and from the side (left) and slightly downward angle that I had the flash positioned, I think, appeared like a natural light source.

[laurenjohnson1999-blog]

This piece was taken as a part of a collaboration with students from textiles and fashion. I helped showcase the costumes and make-up they had created in the style of the Madam Butterfly ballet. This was my favourite image from the shoot, I think that the black studio background really highlights the boldness of the red and contrasts with the white make-up over his skin.

[laurenjohnson1999-blog]

These were a development of an image further down the portfolio, I responded to Vivian Maiers' self portrait and developed by incorporating this idea. I used shards of mirror from the previous shoot to capture my own reflection, choosing the pieces that looked sharp and aggressive which also complimented the form of my face. Camera focus was something I tried to explore by putting the eyes in and out of focus. The blurred eyes in the bottom image were my personal favourite as it mystified my appearance and by extention, identity. I also like the central composition and contrast between light and dark within this image.

[laurenjohnson1999-blog]

Flora Borsi response using painted glass held in front of the models. Borsi used orange paint in her work and always covered the faces, specifically eyes, of her models in this series. I wanted to respond to this by both putting the models in the background and paint in the foreground (like in the top image) but then making the eye a central part of the image to contrast Borsi. This made the painted glass become a barrier between the viewer and the model by them now being connected through the contact of the eye, as opposed to the paint just complimenting the model.

[laurenjohnson1999-blog]

This was an image as part of a first year project, I explored colour and within this image used a green lazar to illuminate one half of my models face. I thought that the luminous green and central composition made the image look other worldly and alien-like.

[laurenjohnson1999-blog]

These two images also came from first year and my exploration of colour, more what effect colours could have on the mood and atmosphere of image. These image are in juxtaposition, the top looking evil, dangerous and red whilst the bottom looking calm and angelic. Using the unnerving zoom and bold redness created the shocking and intruding effect that I was hoping for. Whilst the shut eyes, distant, pale pink and blue bottom image has the still sublime effect that I wanted.

[laurenjohnson1999-blog]

I created these in the first year of college, taking influence from many different artists and photographers, specifically Barbara Morgan with her more simple and effective light painting images. I have tried to highlight the female models bodies and forms by outlining their figure and therefore shadowing there faces.

[laurenjohnson1999-blog]

Man Ray - solarisation

Using Man Rays’ solarisation images with Lee Miller as inspiration, I have digitally solarised this simple portrait. More recently I have repeated this method on a range of images with models posed similarly to Lee Miller in the originals. I am still yet to try solarisation in the darkroom, but like the effect that the digital method has, specifically on the shadows within the image.

[laurenjohnson1999-blog]

This is apart of a second year Identity project. I based my work on Andre Kertzs’ ‘Distortion’ and Martha Machas’ shattered mirrored images and did this by manually shattering a mirror and positioning my model infront of it to capture her reflection. The mirror distorted and duplicated parts of the models face more subtly than Martha Machas’ work, focusing on the face as opposed to the cracks. The distorted, fragmented reflection was intended to represent how peoples perceptions of others are distorted and how we only see a small part of a person.

[laurenjohnson1999-blog]

This was another shoot from the Madam Butterfly protect, again using a black background in these two images to really show off the make-up done by the student, however I also shot with a white background when it came to displaying the headdress worn by the model.

[laurenjohnson1999-blog]

These were inspired by one of Man Rays images and his frequent use of women and romantic looking lips. Created by using the reflection of the model in the mirror.

[laurenjohnson1999-blog]

This is a part of my current Personal Investigation project which is highly influenced by Man Ray and is all surrounding Surrealism and the early Surrealist movement. These digital double exposures were specifically influenced by the work of Maurice Tapard and his dreamlike image layering.