Day 80: Studio and Presentation

Today I have spent the day in the studio exploring ideas for a new project. I have not done a studio shoot using studio lighting so I hope to make the most out of that. I have found inspiration from photography blogs which showcase artists work.
Artists I have found which I really respond to are Iain Crawford, Frederique Daubal, Luis Sanchis and Till Rabus.
Some initial ideas for shoots are:

• cloud drawing- take pictures of the clouds and draw shapes ontop
• sex sells- comic response to the power of sex in advertising
• glass sheet- use a piece of glass to photograph a figure behind condensation
• scarf on head- how a scarf can disform a face
• splattered paint- making the body a canvas
• balloon dress- fun, comical shoot with a dress made from balloons

In the afternoon six of my colleagues presented their artist inspiration and recent work to the class. I found this really interesting because I hadn't seen their work before. It was encouraging to see that other people are working hard and motivated me to continue working to my best.

Day 77: Contextual Lecture

Beauty
Modernism- new and shiny, it must be good!

"Form and Function"
"beauty lies in its purity"

• early 1900's
• Mies Van Der Rohe, Seagram Building, NY uses function of building up tall, use golden sections, modernist buildings disintegrate between the outside and inside using new materials, glass
• De Styl- The Style Jounrlas became was to display work
• Piet Mondrian- sqyares, primary colours, abstraction reduced to bare essentials, reflected in Gerrit Rietveld, Red and Blue chair 

All artists head towards BAUHAUS 1919

• Hajo Rose, Textile Design, 1932, used a new technology, a typewriter 
• Oskar Shlemmer- designs for triadic ballet- references to machines (above right)
• Giacomo Balla, Fururist suit 1920, horrifying, aggressive, fractured, explosion (right)
• Jan Tschihold, The New Typography, 1928, asymetric future
• Henry Beck new sketch for underground map 1931, modernising using straight lines, simplicity
• Dieter Rams- design principles "a good design is as little design as possible"

Day 76: Futher Editing Beach Shoot

I have used a photograph I took from the shoot on Thursday at the beach and manipulated the scene into an advertising billboard. or magazine spread. I think the subtle hint of purple in the photo compliments the product but also the high contrast in the corner makes theproduct stand out. The advertisement fits into the 'Venus goddess' campaign. 

Day 75: Falmouth Fashion Film Preview

 

I have edited a preview of the film I am producing using clips I shot at the Fashion and Sportswear department at Falmouth University.

Day 74: Beach Photoshoot

 Below are the final photographs from the beach fashion shoot which took place yesterday. I arranged the shoot as a way of exploring the environment around me and experimenting with a range of concepts. My friend posed for me as the model in a dress I made. I designed and made the dress to compliment the environment in which it was being shot, with light fabric and subtle tones. When uploading the photographs today they had a soft beauty, which I have tried to highlight in the editing process. I found it challenging to decide between the final 20 edited photos to cut down to 6 photos. I thought this was necessary as in the commercial business it is vital to be able to select the strongest shots, as if for a magazine spread or advertising.

Click image to enlarge.

Day 73: Preparation for beach shoot

Today I have been designing and making the dress for the beach shoot tomorrow. I used light material hoping that there will be wind to add movement to the photos. I understand that this project I have undertaken is a huge project to work alone and I have enlisted the help of my friend to model the dress. Not only will I be the photographer tomorrow, I will also play the roles of fashion designer, fashion stylist, creative director, make up artist,

Day 72: Contextual Lecture and Student Council

Lecture- Beauty
Neoclassicism

• Columns- aesthetics, beauty, no structural reasoning, architecture joke
• Golden Rectangle- mathematical ratio, shape of credit cards, representation of sequence of numbers (nature,petals etc), Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin- basic structure of huge golden rectangles.
• Vivienne Westwood- "fashion is about eventually being naked", erotic effect of garments imprinted on clothing, first altered body shape- armour underwear was padded chest.

Art Nouveau

• Aubrey Beardsley- the peacock skirt- flamboyant, highly decorative, refined and modern
• stretched, travelling lines
• Gaudi architecture shows stretched lines

Art Deco

• sharper, harder, go faster lines
• decoration has relationship with building
• opposite of form and function

After the lecture I travelled to Tremough Campus for my first student council meeting. This was really successful and enjoyed listening to how money within FXU is being spent and upcoming events. This morning before the lecture started I stood up in front of the entire foundation course and introduced myself as student council and what my role is. I also encouraged them to take part in the upcoming FXU elections.

Day 71: Tutorial

Today I had another weekly tutorial with Lawrence, discussing recent work and future projects. He commented that my fashion shoot was striking and I was a very powerful photographer. I am pleased I can show the wide variety of my skills. We also discussed how I am wanting to study Public Relations in the future and briefly covered PR in the Art sector. Some artists included Joseph Beuys, a German artist which I had seen in mt recent visit to Berlin and how he involves people within his artwork (for example planting 1000 trees). We covered the term Institutional Critique "is an art term that describes the systematic inquiry into the workings of art institutions, for instance galleries and museums, and is most associated with the work of artists" (Wikipedia). Hans Haacke is one of the most well known for his conceptual artwork as an institutional critique. His artwork (right) reminded me of my similar conceptual idea(below). I used myself as the model and dripped chocolate down me and cigarettes to represent the tar within cigarettes and the negative effect upon health.

Day 70: Photoshop and Fashion Film

Photoshop

Today I learnt a new technique of editing photos on Photoshop using layers in a new way. All my own photos, the first picture is of one bird in three photos. The second are pictures of flowers from The Eden Project, third are pictures of a fair in Berlin and the final one is from the fashion shoot the other day. Its interesting to be able to go back through photos I have previously taken in Falmouth and edit them in a different way.

Fashion Film

I spent the afternoon in the Fashion Studios at Woodlane Campus, interviewing students studying Fashion and Sportswear degree level. I am currently exploring areas of fashion promotion through film and photography and will edit the footage over the next few days to create a short film.

Day 69: Interior Sculpture Photography

Interior Sculpture Photography

My colleague Amy Turner has recently finished a interior design project and produced a prototype. For her final presentation she wanted to have high quality photographs of the prototype, therefore I have spent the afternoon working with her, as if a client, to produce her desired outcome. Below are afew of the photographs I captured and edited.

Day 68: Fashion Shoot

After looking at the upcoming trends for Spring/Summer 2011 I was inspired to see what I already have which fits into the trend. As the studio was being used today, I created a make shift studio in my room at the university halls using a section of the wall and desk lamps. The main problem this caused was there was not enough room to do full length shots.

The first shoot (below) was using one model in clothes which fitted into the trends of, biker jackets, denim and embellishment (feathers). I have edited the pictures twice, one is a beauty shot with soft lighting whereas the opposite one is striking, bold and high contrast.By placing them side by side I ca easily compare and evaluate the differences.

On the same day I set up another shoot in my room with a different model. I did her make up using eye glue, glitter and lipstick. I designed the make up to be both beautiful but also striking so when I edited the photographs I was able to experiment with a variety of techniques on Photoshop.

Day 67: Contextual Lecture

Beauty

Timeline 1550-2010
Baroque
Rococo
Neoclassicism
Art Nouveau
Art Deco
Modernism
Post-Modernism

This first lecture in a series of three explored the art movements of Baroque and Rococo. By the end of the lecture I was able to successfully identify that Baroque art reflected the religious tensions of the age, with strong lighting and a dramatic and dark theme. Rococo on the other hand was more playful but still with drama expect more about wealth.
Some artists I really like included...

Caravaggio- David with the head of Goliath- I responded to his illuminating lighting which added drama and the story behind the artwork. The head in the painting is his own head and the boy is his assistant which were rumoured to be in a relationship. Some connotations include the position of the sword.

Bill Viola- Ocean without a shore- Video in a chapel of dead coming back to life. Three huge plasma screens within chapels showing the videos but the main aspect I found amazing is the actual filming. He used a machine to create a translucent wall of water which the subject walks towards and is filmed using the oldest camera in black and white. When stepping through the water the images are beautiful which is then filmed with the latest camera therefore bringing a HD colour as if they are alive.

Velazquez- Queen Dona Margarita of Austria- This portrays how Baroque influenced fashion with its embellishment, curvature, expressive and overpowering nature.








Vogue - Spring/ Summer 11 Catwalk Report

• bright/ bold colours
• smart sportswear
• modern craft- fringe, crochet (texture)
• a sea of blue- high pigment blue
• gathering- texture and movement
• maxi gowns- flowing, pastels
• white spirit- crisp clinical elegance
• fiesta- full skirts, frilled blouses, latin passion
• denim- structured
• tangerine dream- vibrant youthful flair
• go east- kimono jackets and obi belts
• layer on layer- soft, flowing lines and sheer fabrics, light and breezy
• nude- fluid, figure hugging fabrics, elegance
• natural selection- decorative flora and fauna
• over the top- trenches to biker jackets

Accessories

• belts- multi buckle, waist clinching, bow tied
• gym pants- big knickers
• hats- dressing up box charm
• sunglasses- bright frames and exaggerated shapes, quirky retro
• headscarves- versatile accessory
• bags- animal magic, patriotic pieces
• shoes- white light, flat out, sculptural styles

Day 66: Tutorial

Today I had my first tutorial with my new tutor and found it really helpful. After showing him some of my recent work and explaining why I was doing an art foundation but going on to do Public Relations we started brainstorming my next project.
I needed to start building up a portfolio of work for when I am called to interviews for degrees. I explained I have a passion for Fashion and we discussed ways in which I could develop my portfolio to demonstrate this whilst incorporating my film and photography skills.
One idea was inspired from a previous short film I made of a man walking across a beach. The timing inspired an idea of 'The speed of Fashion'. A shot film which shows a garment restricting movement in an environment which is fast moving and the opposite, a garment which allows movement and flow in a still environment. I will have to explore this idea in terms of the garments and find the locations.

Day 65: First Day Back

Today was the first day back after the Christmas break and I was rather nervous about meeting my new tutor after getting along really well with Dave. We had a seminar in the afternoon with our new tutor and it was really nice to hear everyone's thoughts on the Berlin trip.
I have a tutorial tomorrow which I look forward to.

Day 64: Berlin Day 4

Martin Gropious Museum

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Kunst des Lichts

'Art can change people'

• experimented with light and photography
•  Impression von alten marseille hafen- A video for senses, constantly moving, range of fast past shots and angles (abstraction within reality). Different view on history and what is important. A documentary film to capture the steady hum of commerce, people and neighborhoods.
• included geometric shapes in photos as a geometric drawing you can see things differently. 
• Die Tanzerin Gret Palucca 1930- dance is one important aspect of art, never made photograph of her dancing, always static. 
• created artwork for a light prop on an electric stage to represent movement
• photogram- image made by placing items between paper and light source- no camera
• reproduction- essence of his aesthetics, took photographs of photogram's to reproduce. 
• particular way of hanging- no order as no hierarchy
• worked as stage and costume designer
• experimented with painting through plexi glass and light
• didn't like coloured photography but still showcased it
• "Art is the most complex, vitalizing and civilizing of human actions. Thus it is of biological necessity. Art sensitizes man to the best that is immanent in him through an intensified expression involving many layers of experience (Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, form Vision in Motion, published 1947)
• Pacmac 1943- oil on plexiglass, not visible on glass but when light projection it forms a textural print
• Photography-'used as an instrument to reproduce reality, is now considered as an autonomous medium, the potentials of which are still to be discovered'.
• 'creative photography is that which puts emphasis on the autonomy of the medium, that which doesn't reproduce reality but rather which creates something new from its own methods'.

Pierre Soulages
Whilst I spent most of my time in the exhibition above I briefly looked at Soulages. At first glance I didn't understand the amazing reviews I had read, but after a closer look it was obvious. Only using Black Pierre Soulages creates a variety of textures, strokes and thickness of the paint. His reason for doing so 'BECAUSE'. He believes the art has a three way relationship, 1) the thing it is, 2) the painter who made it, 3)the viewer who sees it. "It's what I do that teaches me what I'm looking for".

Welt Wissen
On the lower level I visited another exhibition. It's large scale dwarf's the observer. From one side the abstract silhouettes bring beauty to an unknown object, which the viewer sub-consciously tries to identify. The view from the front is a vast array of objects from all across the world and time. They are ordered as if in the periodic table with each object representing something different. Innovative ways of displaying artwork descriptions, through looking in a telescope each item has its own description popping up digitally. 

Jewish Museum
When entering the museum, the viewer must travel through various corridors and alleyways to get to the exhibition. Once inside the viewer is made to feel out of their comfort and disorientated made the architecture of the building. This feeling of being out of place is created as if you were a Jew living in Germany and not welcome. The exhibition itself, I didn't find personally interesting but the architecture was the main wow factor. In one of the memory void's is the installation by Menashe Kadishman, "Shalechet" (falling leaves). It includes roughly 10,000 round steel plates that have been fashioned into human faces which cover the entire floor. Viewers are confronted by thousands of mutely screaming faces that are reminiscent of the harrowing photographs from the concentration and extermination camps. Below is a video of me walking over the faces, when seeing videos on the internet it looks simple, but when actual there, in a quiet empty room having to walk over screaming faces it is very disturbing.
The other video is of one method they used in the exhibition to showcase old photographs. I not only liked the various speed of turning it but also the sound made.

In the evening we visited one of the many German Christmas markets. On one side was the traditional German market with lights and Christmas themes whereas on the other was a modern roller-coaster and rides. Below are my edited photographs which show the contrast.