Graded Unit (Inspirations)
Apart from the fashion photographers which I draw influence from, there are a few contemporary photographers which helped refine my concept. The idea of the dialogue the models and I had, making the way into the images via text was brought about by a few I found through my searches of instagram, personally taking part in their projects for some.
California based artist Geloy Conception operates through the mantra of #thingsyouwantedtosaybutneverdid, taking the medium of portraits and turning it into a project which is very profound. He works in a way where it can be done remotely, via a google forms you can submit a note and answer a few other questions. Further, the note will follow the photographer to search personally through his archives for a picture which fits and then go through the process of making the photo anonymous, it looks like he writes down the note on his own choice of paper and then using masking, puts the note into the image.
This was the main influence for my project, in terms of the layout. I’d have the text that I had the models write down on the shoot overlaid on the image, although instead of anonymity I’d display the images with the model’s answers, in addition to their face and the content of the answers themselves, it’d also be in their handwriting. I feel this adds a sense of intimacy to the work, a level of trust and also far more personality than just having an interview style zine.
Greg Hall is a mental health and illness content creator, he has been shooting his mental health project prolifically, since following him for a couple of years on my own instagram I finally got involved as the 127th person to be involved in his project. He will soon be having an exhibition for his work in Edinburgh, in late May.
His process is location based much like my own, which made it appeal to me right away. He does a number of shots in said locations, often chatting away to the models with some coffee, then forwarding the questions after the shoot to reply. Once the answers are given he then puts together the shots in a collage format, placing the text over them on his instagram stories, then further in the text of his instagram post.
He keeps things short and sweet asking only 2 questions:
“What does mental health mean to you?”
“Why is it important to look after yourself emotionally, like we do physically?”
This creates a really interesting insight into the subject’s headspace. Especially in a climate where it is becoming less and less taboo to be open about mental illness and speaking up about it. The format and the questions paired with Geloyconception’s method of overlaying the text is what inspired my concept of asking models questions, then overlaying answers on the images themselves.
https://linktr.ee/geloyconcepcion
https://www.instagram.com/geloyconcepcion/?hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/tofeelhealed/
https://www.greghall.photography/contact