Project Outline

This is a dictionary definition of Identity:

1. The fact of being who or what a person or thing is.
2. The characteristics.

For the ‘identity’ photography project, I will be focusing on creating my own personal identity of Brighton. Having lived here forever, I have my own favourite places and have an idea of what makes Brighton, Brighton. Instead of taking an ordinary picture and leaving it, Photoshop is what will be used in the way of editing.

The Nikon D7000 will be used to take the photographs and use a normal lens because of editing the photo after. Experimentation using a tripod for some of the photography may be complementary to the pictures and give them a higher quality picture.

Natural lighting will be used instead of studio lighting, as it wouldn’t be appropriate for the pictures that will be taken.

In Photoshop, the photos will be edited by using adjustments and changing, brightness, colour, curves and size. She thinks by having an open mind as to what you want to have as the final image allows her to be creative and be able to get the perfect image because she doesn’t have any boundaries.

In Genius of Photography Episode 4, the book, ‘The Americans’, by Robert Frank is shown and he creates a narrative structure through his photos, of which can only be made sense to be personal to him. Upon describing the story behind the pictures they have an identity of their own in a unique way to their artist, but provide entertainment for others. I like the idea of creating a story through my own photos, which will then be put onto screen and hope to achieve the right story! Also, William Klein talks about his photography and talks about his mistakes and accidents and how they make the photo perfect. He also, likes editing the photo and arranging it rather than the actual picture itself that in a way is interesting to me and to see how you can develop a photo further from how it was originally took. To further personal knowledge on the two photographers, their work and their techniques, in the future I’ll take out their books and research.

Lomo Kev, a famous Brighton photographer, is inspirational because he changes the effects of his pictures to create a more interesting and defined picture, much to his own taste, but to entertain too. He uses different cameras and effects including fish eye lenses and the iPhone app, Instagram.

Also, the work of Trey Ratcliff is inspiring who uses HDR effects in his photographic work. His work has inspired me as well in using different effects in my own photography work.

I want to create my own spin on my photos, creating a personal style, giving my own different views on Brighton. The city is such a lively and vibrant place that the ideas of lighting up my pictures in the same way I view Brighton. I will take a varied range of different shots to hopefully create diverse meanings and atmospheres in her photos.

2nd Best

 

These are copies of my photos that were in the run-up to be in the final 8 pictures.

2nd Best

 

These are copies of my photos that were in the run-up to be in the final 8 pictures.

Diane Arbus Presentaion Notes

Slide One

SIAN

·      Diane Arbus, originally Diane Nemerov, was bought up in a wealthy family environment.

·      She is said to have felt alienated from “real life” as a child

·      This led to her becoming involved at the early age of 14 with Allan Arbus who she ended up marrying at 18, and who played a large part in her photographic career

·      Together they developed an interest in photography- Diane modeled for Allan in some fashion photography shoots before the birth of their first child

·      They then set up their own fashion business where Allan does most of the camera work with Diane fulfilling the role of artistic director.

·      After their second child however, Diane felt her role within the business was too inferior so in 1956 she ended her partnership with Allan in the business

CHLOE

·      Around 1962, Diane switched to square format from the 35mm she’d always used

·      Allan divorced her in 1969 and moved to Hollywood to become an actor, leaving Diane fully in control over the technical side of her photography

·      As this was quite new to her, Diane started photographing her family and friends as she was chronically shy

·      Not long after this, she gained access to the New Jersey clinic for mentally retarded patients to start the project Untitled

·      Due to a lack of financial security, she was forced into jobs which she had no interest in, for example, magazine work and teaching

·      She was unfortunately found dead in her bathtub at the age of 48 after a long battle with depression. Diane is rumored to have set up a camera to picture her death, however, no film was found in the camera.

Slide 2

LAUREN

·      Arbus has a very dark edge to her work, which makes it so intriguing- this may be due to the abstract subjects she choses

·      It is obvious that Arbus had a fascination with the underside of society she even admits, “they made me feel a mixture of shame and awe” when talking about ‘freaks’. Because of this abstract love for the abstract, she was often mistaken for a voyeur, which we will discuss later on.

·      Lisette Model, who taught Diane Arbus, believed Arbus to be a schizophrenic, “as all artists are schizophrenic. Diane suffered from a kind of madness caused by ‘obsessive demands that cannot be satisfied’.”

·      It is known that Arbus had trouble with depression, which isn’t a surprise when looking at her work

Slide 3

SIAN

·      As NPR's Madeleine Brand describes the Diane Arbus' famous photo, it's "a portrait of two little girls -- maybe they're seven or eight years old. They're wearing matching outfits: white tights, corduroy dresses, and thick white headbands in their dark hair. The girls stand shoulder-to-shoulder, their light eyes looking straight into the camera -- straight at us. And the more you look back at them -- the more you stare -- the more you realize how different they are from each other."

·      Arbus biographer Patricia Bosworth says the photo encapsulates the photographer's vision. "She was involved in the question of identity. Who am I and who are you? The twin image expresses the crux of that vision: normality in freakishness and the freakishness in normality."

Slide 4

CHLOE

·      Untitled is the third volume of Diane Arbus’s work- the photographs were taken at residences for the mentally retarded between 1969 and 1971 in the last years of her life. The photograph are described as showing an emotional purity which sets them apart from all her other works. At the time, she wrote “finally what I’ve been searching for”.

·      It is believed that Arbus often had sexual relationships with some of her ‘freak’ subjects.

·      “I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do - that was one of my favourite things about it, and when I first did it, I felt very perverse.”

Slide 5

LAUREN

·      In 2006,  ‘Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus’ directed by Steven Shainberg was released portraying a relationship between Arbus and one of her freak subjects

·      Here is a clip from the film…. From this clip you can see that even from a young age, Arbus remembers admiring peoples abnormalities and flaws

Slide 6

·      Arbus clearly had some deep issues, Nancy Grossman’s take on her suicide was that: (read presentation)

·      One of our ideas is that maybe, she felt so strange inside her own body, and not ‘normal’ that she surrounded herself with people that she felt she could connect with

·      She seemed to be an extremely vulnerable person and suffered badly

from depression. Also, her voyeurism towards the strange, is seen as

weird in itself because she got special enjoyment out of it, possibly

questions whether she has psychological problems her (on top of the depression.)