For my copy image I focused mainly on the work of Haris Nukem my favourite photographer. I wanted to copy some of the work he has done with his recurring model Polly Ellens, because I like the way in which he has photographed her in an adoring way. The relationship between the photographer and sitter is always something I enjoy looking into further within anyones work. I wanted to recreate an image of Haris Nukem’s that shows the relationship that comes through the image. For the series I wanted to build on the relationship of the photographer and the viewer by looking at the works of Terry Richardson and how sexualise this images are. From this I started to think about how women are sexualised in photography and how they were perceived in the 60’s. From having lectures on Pop Art and the history behind it, I was introduced to the ‘gendering of mass culture’ at the time and how women were only drawn artistically with blonde hair, blue eyes and red lips and the sexist advertisements that they were portrayed in. So for my series I want to photograph a 60’s style shoot with my model being shown in a rebellious way to how females were viewed in the 60’s. I want to photograph a woman with fashion and style from that era, combining that with the more free willed nature that exists today.
Visual artists I have drawn inspiration on for my series is predominantly from the Pop Art era. The work of Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselman, Roy Lichtenstein, and Richard Hamilton made me think about the gender roles within the art world and how they manipulate the consumer. They made my approach change because I wanted to show how I disagree with the gender boundaries that formerly existed, but also how they are still present in some form. Richard Hamilton created collages to show gender stereotypes which made me consider the use of materials for my series. I could also show how women are objectified and sometimes seen as ‘a piece of meat’, this is an idea I have considered when thinking of my photoshoot plans. Andy Warhol made things that were simplistic into a more meaningful piece of art, which inspires me to not try and over complicate things, and not to create the ideas for my photoshoot in too much of an obvious way.
For the copy I approached my ideas in a specific way, once I had my idea it never changed. My initial thoughts for the copy project was to do portraiture and to research the ways in which I can do it effectively. Having worked with large format before, I knew portraiture would best fit my style and how my original image is captured. I wanted the lighting to be soft on one side, and hard shadows on the opposite side to frame the face as the main focal point, I wanted there to be harsh shadows on the right side seeing as my model was topless on this side, and I wanted to create an alluring approach. This stems from the idea of not showing too much of the body, as it is more about showing the relationship between the photographer and the sitter, I wanted to give it a more romanticised feel instead of showing any nudity.
My approach to the series was to photograph the female form and the ways in which it can be objectifying. Looking at the works of Tom Wessellmann and the way he painted the female form impacted my direction of work. Wessellmann’s nude series illustrates a woman painted naked with still life objects incorporated. He often pays more attention to detail with the everyday objects, making the female form inferior, and shows her in a way that makes her in fact the banal object in the room. I wanted to photograph women in a more positive way, this gave me the idea to photograph the female form away from the male gaze and objectification, and to portray the woman as a piece of art. I wanted to break it away from misogynist portrayals, and to make it purely about the beauty of the female form. Alongside this, Michelangelo’s marble sculptures of the female form, and sculptures similar to this, inspired me to use this when photographing. The statues have structured, feminine poses, which I want to strengthen my series. It gave me the idea to show the beauty of the female form in a natural environment, and decided to do Michelangelo poses in a forest, flowery scene. These two artists that I drew ideas from, helped me join the two together to create my series.
My project as a whole fits into the category of still life, compared to my use of portraiture in my copy image. Instead of producing more portraiture, I changed my way of photographing my model into a more objective role. Using my research from Michelangelo and similar artists, this helped me to consider the composition I would use and why. Photographing the female form from this sculpture viewpoint, I needed my composition to be focused on the subject, but was also important for me to accurately use my background. I decided to feature a forest background in all of my images, so that they would be coherent in my natural environment plan. It was also important to use daylight effectively, to try and get my forest background to be similar in colour and tone. For this I had to shoot back to back days at the same time, to try and achieve the same amount of sunlight in all my photos. My models were only wearing subtle colours, I opted for white and blue because I think they compliment greenery and sunlight well and I did not want bright colours, so that it would be strong in my natural environment idea.
My strengths within the copy image was my efficiency, I chose my image from the beginning and did not play around with many ideas so that I could get started quickly. I found a model that was similar in skin tone and hair colour, to achieve as much similarity as possible. My weaknesses form the copy was not having complete attention to detail when I shot my image in the studio. I have a shadow at the back of my copy image, which could be rectified by just moving the sitter forwards, so I should have focused on my original image more closely. For my series I think my strength was the execution of my idea when shooting, I had planned the clothing, lighting and posing correctly and in doing so I had complete control when colour printing. I do think I could have worked within my time frame in a more organised way, it took to long for me to have a solid plan to begin working on. Time management could have improved my series by having time to shoot more rolls of film, and having more images to choose from when reaching the selection process. But I do think my copy image and my series are clearly developed from each other, and could work well if the project was done on a bigger scale.
