#portriat photography

[willirudolphofficial]

Mayté

Have a look my Insta to stay updated: https://www.instagram.com/willi.rudolph.official/

[felicity-rose-jones]

Felicity Jones, 2016

[ripep]

iceland

[victoriapedroza]

Jewel Toned Siren, 2021

@hellcatpurrrrr

purgatorie

[theother1one]

Francesco Hayez. In love with the incredibly vivid portraits.

[old-powwow-days]

We Are Too Window Rock, Arizona, 1950 Photo by Harvey Caplin.

Caplin was commissioned by the B.I.A. during the 40's and 50's to "capture and preserve" Indigenous life. His focus during this time was New Mexico and the Four Corners, and photographed landscapes as well as Zuni, Pueblo, and Navajo communities to name a few. Complete catalogues of his work are still sold today.

[emblakaridotter]

[admiralgiggles]

The best and most underrated video game plumber ever.

[walkermakepeacejones]

cousins

[ruleof3]

[ripep]

Dave Bjorn. North Shore Oahu legendary film photographer

[intimliezon]

Vivivel a Duna-parton

[siegfriedmichaelwagner]

Chatleen Scharfe - app development / app consultant

[leximercedesdesigns]

LexiMercedes Designs Photos

[admiralgiggles]

[insidemypractise]

My year in review.

In this academic year, I feel that I have pushed myself and my practice further than I thought was initially possible. The threads of concepts and themes that run throughout my practice have been exponentially highlighted and refined. The project itself has a deeply political current pouring throughout it and has acted as a social critique by allowing me to subvert the dominant hetronormative social norms that many queer identities are subjected to.

The significant influences for this project have been Francesca Woodman’s emotive photography work, Claude Cahun’s work exploring queer identity, Paul Himmel’s photographic work within the cityscape, Spencer Tunick’s nudity within the city, Sally Mann’s love for obscurity in photography and the most significant body of work has been the book/movement ‘Performing for the Camera’ which helped me understand how artist’s used photography to explore themes of identity, and helped me understand and develop my own performance aspect within my photography work, enabling me to push myself out of my confort zone. I started this project by creating these ghostly self-portriats in more secluded/private public spaces and ended up shooting in busy, public spaces and interacting with the strangers within the city of London. 

Research questions:

How is queerness affected when entering the public sphere?

How can photography be used to explore identity?

How to reclaim a sense of lost identity due to exterior and interior repression? 

How to subvert hetronormative social norms using the nude, queer body?

All of these questions tie into the overarching themes of this body of work- I believe the political aspects of this project have created strong narratives and allowed me to think on larger scales. 

The research this year has helped me center my work and my artistic voice like never before. I knew I wanted to focus on photography, and went away and researched many different artists, thinkers, books and movements to help me understand how to develop and convey my chosen themes. In addition, I feel I have explored multiple locations, times of day, used other models within my self-portrature and interacted with the general public. Some experimentation didn’t work out as well- I preferred the images that have been created in the city (instead of a more organic landscape), and prefer the images that have a less set up and a more natural interaction with other people/bodies. 

There was a lot of planning within this project, as I had to explore the city for locations, organise help for my shoots (as I needed support when entering busier public spaces) and allow myself enough time to develop, scan and print my images in time for the degree show. I allowed myself a budget of £500, including all film, developing, printing and travel costs, which I managed to stay under.

I feel this process has allowed me to understand how to find relevant research, explore different mediums and see how they interact with my own critical thinking, allowing me to apply them to my own practice.