Jennifer Pattison - In Sight of My Skin

These images a series of women nude in their own environment. I think like Rineke Dijkstra's 'Julie, Den Haag, Netherlands, February 29 1994' this has been a successful way of showing people in just being themselves. However this is  people being themselves - with a personality, not just unemotional forms. I think the environment plays a big factor in this as it gives a sense of who they are as people to the audience as this is an environment they have created - showing their personality. 

This shows to me just how important it is to think about the backdrop to a portrait and the context it gives an audience and making sure it doesn't imply unintentionally a far fetched meaning from my original concept. I want to make my portraits as communicatively obvious as possible whilst still being intriguing and thought provoking so therefore not having to spell it out straight away.

Jennifer Pattison - In Sight of My Skin

Andreas Gursky - Rückblick

I really like the composition of this print. I saw it at the the white cube gallery and I thought it was an interesting version of a portrait - a portrait from behind. This as well as the block colour composition beyond the figures could be an interesting way to approach a new way to take a portrait. 

I could take this inspiration as they view the white space and then take a portrait from behind - having a portrait of someone in the white space but without  distracting them. 

Andreas Gursky - Rückblick

Bettina von Zwehl

I think Bettina von Zwehls' photography not only is visually connected to my concept and how I could bring people into it but also the conditions she creates to capture these pictures are also very relevant. 

The use of white as a background literally puts the person into white space and graphically communicates them in the white space but it is not also their surroundings but the subjects themselves. They seems to be very mellow and subdued and that is because this is part of a series where they have woken up at 5am to have the portrait taken.

The fact that the artist has not only captured an aesthetic that seems to portray that the photograph is pure and authentic due to the white but she has also captured a particular mood and moment which is very relevant to my project. 

I think I could adopt this as it could be very relevant to how I can bring the human element and view them as forms into my own work. I need to document them in the white space so by imposing a condition like Bettina von zwehl did I can capture them 'just being'. I also like the series of portraits as a whole also. They work very well together as a series especially as they are so comparable due to the similar ratios of the portraits 

 

https://repimogenmurphy.wordpress.com/tag/bettina-von-zwehl/

Thomas Ruff Portrait 1986 (Stoya) 1986

This piece is representative of the series portraits by Thomas Ruff. They all show images of the same size with a subject facing the camera with a blank expression. It is said that they act as a documentation of he individual but also a standardised record of faces and bodies and how therefore they are considered a reflection of the truth. 

I think this is particularly relevant to my project as I want literally just view the bodies as forms in themselves. The series of images of the same size i think lends to this as it emphasises the idea of every form of the human body and doesn't give meaning to the subject 

Thomas Ruff Portrait 1986 (Stoya) 1986

Bettina von Zwei portrait photography

Bettina von Zwehl

 As her practice has developed, she has continued to seek out different ways of exploring the form; from her early works, most often defined by the exacting conditions she imposed on her subjects

 

http://www.purdyhicks.com/display.php?aID=17#19

Melanie Manchot - 11/18

This is an extensive 9 part series capturing the growth of the artists daughter over 9 nears. She is just filmed in front of the camera. She looks at the camera and is filmed acting in no particular way. Over the years she changes her reaction with no specific actions taken; she is filmed just being. I think this is an interesting concept as the subject has no direction and is just reacting to her own thoughts. 

The concept of filming portraits is quite interesting as its almost like a moving portrait- its an extensive moment. It documents even more of the subject allowing an audience to view her full interaction with the camera and general natural reaction. 

It could be an interesting development for my project to look into filming people in white space. Ideally however they wouldn't know the camera is there so they are fully 'just being' with no subconscious idea about how they want or think they should act in front of the camera. 

Melanie Manchot - 11/18

Jennifer Pattison - Flower Boys

This series is an interesting portrait series which takes into account meaning and reasoning to provoke thought.

She has photographed men holding flowers to almost question toxic masculinity and celebrate the ability of femininity in the male life style. It is interesting that even the subtle yet very obvious subject and prop of the photograph doesn't have to be loud or spelt out to be explicit in portraying the concept and to allow the audience to understand and think about a particular subject.

I also like the fact that she has spoken about the flowers being linked to victorian cryptic cryptic communication. This is interesting to me because it shows how an environment for a portrait not just helps explicitly communicate your idea but also can also have a deeper reasoning and meaning to add depth the the photograph. 

In my case I think I could potentially use this to explore not just explicitly showing human forms in white space but using white obviously to support that idea with the theory that its an unemotional colour.

 

Jennifer Pattison - Flower Boys

Rineke Dijkstra Julie, Den Haag, Netherlands, February 29 1994 1994

This was a series of three similar portraits taken by Rineke Dijkstra of women shortly after they had given birth. 

I think even though the idea behind the portraits are inspired due to her capturing a moment when people do not have everything under control and she wants to be linked with the emotional connotations and intensity of that time and this is almost the opposite of what I want to create, it still reminds me very much of my portraits. It shows someone in the moment just as they are. The fact that the woman and her baby are basically nude I think is something that really contributes to this aspect. Its the ultimate view of the human form just as it is. 

This also shows how the surroundings and environment inform the context of the photograph but also the feeling of the photograph. Without the baby being held in this photo this unless read up on wouldn't be explicitly obvious and intriguing as to what the photograph is about. 

Rineke Dijkstra Julie, Den Haag, Netherlands, February 29 1994 1994

Tony Takitani (2004)DirectorJun Ichikawa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL48aOyK5cg

 

I like the effect that this film has on it. It almost has like a white washed effect on it that I can apply to my photography to exaggerate the concept of my idea even more. Having the white washed effect over an image could exaggerate the fact that the person is in white space really making it obvious that this is a main element to the communication and not just a white background. It shows that the white is an important part to the concept not just for the subject to be able to experience nothingness but to make it even more graphically obvious what I am trying to convey.