Updated folio proposal

Since my last post my idea has changed significantly, i have now almost completed a series of photos on girl guides in their bedrooms... Attempting to show the different ways bedrooms change and grow throughout the life of a young girl and that guides in non derogitry so it doesn't matter where you come from or what house hold you live in when you come to guides you become a girl guide... (i havebeen involved i girl guides as a member and leader for a  number of years)
I approached my local guiding community and talked to them about getting the photos and then people offered there help...
i simply asked the girls to show me what they regularly do in their bedrooms and as they showed me things or talked to me i photographed them...
i have attched my first artist statement draft to see what people think... and also explain it a bit further...

Who are you? Where do you feel safe? What is your ‘personal identity’? For most people you meet in your life they have a safe place, a personal place where no matter the day they’ve had, they know their ‘space’ is home, is welcoming and understanding. This space is where they portray themselves, where they have the freedom to show who they are and to be themselves. This space shows their personal or private identity. This is not usually an identity that is perceived by the public, but one that is subjective to their emotions, thoughts, feelings and creativity.

This folio displays a series of images which portray girls in their bedrooms, through these images you can see the progression girls take personally and how their rooms change over time, from something strongly influenced by their parents and or guardians to something which displays the personality of the subject. Each of these subjects is a Girl Guide, and each regularly participates in guiding activities. For me this folio also shows that no matter who you are at home, and where you come from  behind the scenes, when you step into your ‘guiding space’ everyone is a guide, home and identity are not a factor to your inclusion in Girl Guides.

Each of these girls is letting you into their ‘space’, their ‘personal identity’, they are allowing you as an observer into their identity and giving you the opportunity to delve into their uniqueness,

Folio Proposal

Visual Culture – Folio        10-04-2012

Sean Davey                                    Week Nine                                     Semester One

Folio Proposal

After preparing a folio on hands previously and looking at what different peoples hands bring to the mood of a shot, I wanted to continue with this series, but as my class mates and teacher pointed out I don’t want to be caught up repeating a previous idea, and not extending myself further. My class found out about my strong dislike towards feet, and suggested I use this folio as an opportunity to address this ‘fear’. I could not bring myself to do a study of feet, but am however interested in a study of shoes, as different people treat and care for their shoes in different ways, and this is another way of telling a lot about a person. I would like to title my folio something along the lines of ‘in my shoes’ ‘in their shoes’ or ‘put yourself in my shoes’ and I have begun photographing peoples shoes from their perspective down. Almost as if the viewer has put themselves into someone else’s body or ‘shoes’ and is looking down at their shoes. The different locations that peoples shoes are photographed and the different shoes that are worn can suggest a lot about the person, someone with well looked after shoes obviously cares about their appearance, more than someone with very old and tattered shoes. So far each of my photos has had the contrast and clarity bumped up, with the Saturation bumped down and the Vibrance bumped up to give the images a really moody look; I have also added a slight vignette, for personal preference. I am interested to see how my idea is accepted.

03-04-2012

Visual Culture – Folio        03-04-2012

Sean Davey                                   Week Eight                                    Semester One

·         Shoes and Character of shoes detail of shoes age of shoes ect

·         Hands, palms of hands, details, nails, skin, hair, look at hands in a different light or different environment

·         Use studio style background but natural light

·         Not shoes in action

Inspiration

I have a couple of inspirational photographers who i love their work and all for very different reasons, not many of these relate to my idea at all, but i love their pure talent and ability and the style.

1. Ben Adams
http://www.benadams.com.au/

My apologies for the very poor quality images. I love Ben's ability to capture this almost eerie but beautiful moment where this model has had her face cropped out of the image and all you see is her lips slightly apart, almost setting the idea that she is mid way through a comment or story of some sort. I love the depth of field and the way the whole background is out of focus with a lovely strong colour, which adds to leading us in to the picture. I think leaving the eyes of this subject has really added to the mood and allows us as the viewer to place our own story onto this image. Similar to my idea with hands, as long as the face is not included in the image i am up ofr anything.

 This portrait quite similar with the depth of field, strong background colour and even the way the subjects lips are just slightly apart. I feel as though this girl is looking into our souls her eyes seem to have so much to say. Another version of this hands idea could be the focus on eyes. As there is so much that could be said and is being subtley portrayed for this girls eyes alone.

 This portrait one Ben took on a documentary style project is very different to the rest of his pictures and i love the moment and mood created, this was amongst the devastation of the Haiti earthquake, this young boy is so oblivious to the fact or the damage that has happened and is happening around him, his innocence and vulnerability can almost be felt in this image. I again love his use of depth of field with bright colours in the background and a large amount of whit or high key colours remaining in the image.

2. Brooke Holm
http://www.brooke-holm.com/
Brooke Holm has this lovely de saturated but vibrant collection of images, she has a very set style of images and i love the mood and moment that they set, throughout her collection. This is an advertisment for kiki.K a staionary company, and i love the almost fairy tale she tells throughout the series, borrowing key symbols from a number of well known stories and fairy tales sub conciously allow us as the viewer to further add our twist on the story and portray it to ourselves the way we have been brough up almost.

 A number of Brooke's pictures lack the models face which i LOVE it again allows us to wonder who where what ad when, i love the angle of view from this image, as we could almost certainly be standing there ourselves seeing this exact view, she portrays the there and now very well, and controls her depth of field amazingly (in my opinion)

Although i hate feet i had to include this shot, because i tihnk it has alot of character, the way one sock is slightly higher than the other, the way the light is falling on the legs and the way the whole shot has been framed again leaving the models face out of the shot. The symmetrical aspects from within the image are very pleasing to our eyes and create a very balanced well structured image for us to look at.
 This shot from one of her weddings which she had done, is a very interesting view on the wedding and although it is something i wouldn't be looking at or really being interested in, it is a very interesting view on the day showing the little intricate details, something i should be weary of capturing in the future, as although i hate feet, my customers could have some strange foot fettish i need to account for. In this shot Brooke has again enhanced some colours but also really de saturated the background and surrounding areas of the image.

 Finally a cute and quirky image by Brooke which i love the moment frozen in time so well as the model catches or throws some confetti in the air or even is just passing it between her hands. Brookes strong themes are again present with some strong saturated bold colours against a de saturated background.

3. Adele Enersen
http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com.au/
Adele has a very interesting view on life and in this series has photographed her baby as it sleeps posing it in different poses and using household items as props to create scenes. I love her creativity and style used in these shots and it is something i would love to try myself if i ever had the oppurtunity. To be able to see the world like this would be a real skill, not only pphotography, art, sculpting but seeing the world also as a mother.

Idea

I have chosen to continue on with a similar project from my major year 12 photography assignment, which was to photograph hands and shoe a character and tell a story through a photograph from their hands.
These are the photos from my folio last year.

Life’s Journey – Depicted through Hands

By Rachel Crampton Smith

As a student studying photography for three years, I have photographed many different things, all of which I believe have had an impact on my photographic journey. One of these things are hands, in 2010 I was set a narrative assignment, where the challenge was to take a photograph that told a story, not only to the photographer or the model, but to the viewer. This was the photograph that I took

I feel that hands tell a story, sometimes more so than a person’s face. Hands have wrinkles, creases, cuts, scars, lumps and dents. Every different aspect and detail, there for a different reason, and every different detail meaning something different to the viewer. Some people are proud of their hands, have cared and nourished their hands their entire life, whereas others, this model for example, have certain stories and reasons to hide their hands, and do not intentionally put their hands out on show.

This sparked a fire for me, and made me begin observing life in a different light, looking at people’s hands, what they did with their hands, how they held their hands and what they held within their hands.

Earlier this year I was presented with the challenge, to create my own self-directed media assignment. This lead me to an avenue, a possibility to further broaden my interest with hands. Being a keen photographer I had worked in our school studio and in a commercial studio and had learnt about different lighting techniques. I used these skills to create a range of different photographs. Both within the studio and on location with the aim to have the photos depicting the journey of life through hands. I compiled these images together, and then shortlisted them into my top ten. Although this is the culmination of my assignment I feel my journey has just begun.

these are the pictures









I would love to continue along these lines and showing the amazing character hands really have. As i feel they have a lot to say...

this is my idea so far.

20-03-12 notes

Visual Culture – Folio              20-03-12

Sean Davey                                   Week Six                                        Semester One

·         Personal – WHO ARE YOU!

·         What are you interested in

·         Personal identity – who are you

·         Honesty

·         Where are you?

·         What do you have access to that no one else does

·         Every week you need prints

·         Make pictures to impress your self not others

·         Use your own environment

·         Touch into who you are

·         What is your view on the world

·         Next week have a firm idea of where you want to go

·         Bring quick prints – work prints

·         Normal paper or photo paper

·         12-15 prints for the final folio not smaller than 8x10

·         Find three photographers for inspiration of what you are interested in

·         Brainstorm 3 ideas for your folio

·         Hands

·         Sunsets everyday

·         Dinner everyday

·         Look at martin parr

·         Next week you need a set of 3 prints

·         3 photographers

Sean@pidgin.com.au