#bap1

[alessandracardenas]

Working in progress

[alessandracardenas]

Fourth shoot.

2 guys, opposite personalities and opposite between each other.

Feelings. 

[alessandracardenas]

Third Shoot.

Three People.

I had fun taking pictures of them. Was very difficult as they didn't know how to pose so the hard work for myself was not technically (fixing lights or the background) but talking with them. I was doing my best to put them more comfortable as possible. I know every single of them, I tried to talk and made them acting more spontaneous as possible.

I learnt a lot that day.

My project is getting closer and my idea of it as well.

[alessandracardenas]

Second shoot.

For these pictures I got inspired by one of the photographers I follow at this moment on Instagram. His name is Damon Baker.

He does portraits of celebrities and non, with strong colours and mostly are black and white. The expressions he shows on the pictures are unbelievable.

[alessandracardenas]

First shooting for my project.

I will stick with black and white pictures.

My idea is taking portraits of people, my friends, who dont know each other.

These two guys don’t know each other and they are not models, what I thought meanwhile I was taking pictures was curiosity. 

How far can they go? Will both of them be shy?

I took many pictures either single portraits either both of them together.

[jack-stalker]

Idea Development

In our second meeting/discussion we wanted to develop on our initial concept. Firstly in terms of the theory of the image and secondly in terms of the technicalities in production.

So the final idea for idea was to show two young adults who can clearly be seen to be coping with depression in very different ways. One will be clearly destressed by their body language and will be shown to be suffering with alcohol or substance abuse as half of young adults with drug dependence were receiving mental health treatment in 2014.  So we feel that this addition is very relevant and much be displayed in our work. The other person will also be suffering with metal health problems however will be seen to be in much better physical condition in comparison the other however will be depicted to be in deep troubled thought which will focus on the large amount of people who suffer with mental illness but try to cope with it internally and often go unnoticed and undealt with so the problem often only grows.

The technicalities of the work will be based on the set and lighting. For the set we were thinking of using a small room which will be in a messy bear condition reflecting poor living conditions showing the consuming nature of mental illness. The room is very important as the confined space and messiness will be a metaphor for the mind of the people with in the scene so will be cluttered and confused. The lighting we feel should be quite warm and soft to represent the subjects in the best was as we are not wanting distracting sharp shades and textures of the room as it is not the aesthetic of the objects that is the focus in the image but the meaning behind them. So our lighting methodology is that we could use one soft box or honey combed light to light the majority of the room and have snooted lights focusing on the subjects faces as the general picture will on the darker side so that it works with the theme.

[jack-stalker]

Today we had a discussion about our possible ideas for our semester two group project. For this project we are working a group of three and the only constraints are that the project must be shot using either studio lighting or location lighting. After concluding today’s discussion we have as a collective come up with three ideas for this project.

1.       This was about the falseness of modern day marketing and the implications it has on today’s society. For this we thought that a good way of expressing this thought through photography was to take a shot similar to the stereotypical studio lighting that you would often find on an advert but change the product so that the product its self would present to the viewer the negative social implications that the product causes. Which is the complete opposite to the one that would be seen before by the user which would make this technique particularly striking to the viewer.  

 2.       The second idea that we came up with was that we could look into the rising problem of mental health in young adults. Most of our discussions was on whether we should focus onto the cause or the effects that it has on young adults. But at this current point we were deciding on using location lighting and constructing a scene which would depict a young adult in a situation displaying mental illness whether this shows it directly or non-directly to the viewer is currently undecided.

 3.       The third idea was to focus on the stereotyping of genders in today’s society. This is a very broad idea with many different paths that we could have chosen and after long discussion we decided that the best would to look at stereo typed jobs and present this by having the other gender take the place of the stereotyped one which would create an image which would challenge the viewer’s thoughts and opinions. As this would only be striking if the viewer agreed with or knew of the stereotype in question however despite if it is conscious or subconscious the picture will still attract the viewers’ attention. Between us we decided that on the best and most achievable example is that we could rent out a launderette and replace the stereotyped female workers with the contrasting male workers.

[knightviii]

Throwback

During the earlier months of 2017, we visited a total of three Exhibitions, two free and one where you would have to pay. Unfortunately I was unable to view the third. 

However I did view the first and the second. The first was Dzhangal by Gideon Mendel at Autograph in Shoreditch and following that we went to the second exhibition Oblivion by Sheida Soleimani, situated at the Edel Assanti Gallery. 

Though both of the exhibition were challenging, and albeit interesting, there was a beauty to the second exhibition. The presentation of which had influenced the way I presented my series. It was a confusing presentation at first, however this was soon cleared up after we were informed of the composition and the reason to as why it was presented as such. The Soleimani exhibit was a bit more controlled, having the statuettes placed accordingly with their own story does really put the viewer within a different sphere. Soleimani’s exhibition showcased the in-equality and cruelty and execution of women within Iran who unlawfully imprisoned. She undertook research in order to create the photographic works presented, she unearthed the backstory of these women, the power of the exhibition when the backstory is added was a spectacle. The work was a balance between physical prints and statuettes placed around a rectangular room. 

Whereas the Mendel exhibition was of contrasting composition. What I personally saw was a controlled chaos, the Mendel exhibit was a representation of the impact of disaster, therefore what we saw was a visual recollection. The way of which both artists presented the work explores the conflict and the cruelty that goes on in the world today. The work that Mendel presented was a physical collection of torn and burnt and destroyed clothes, personal belonging and items he had found in a refugee camp, in Calais, where he, Mendel, had found that the refugees were aggressive towards the camera and therefore, he turned to using the discarded objects, or even the lost objects. 

The exhibitions, in their own right try to help find equality, they try and aid the world. The work is a recollection, a presentation and representation of the cruelty, and the depravity. It highlights how this world, thought mostly free, still sees vile lockdown from an invisible hand.