After 2 almost sleepless nights, thinking about my project and where it is going, I woke up with ready to do this again. I am more than confused right now with this project and my fabulous idea. So I need to start it again and sort it out as this way I am not going anywhere and I am starting to be fed up with this.
So, I want to work with women's obsessions. I am not going to have loads of models for each obsession. I will only have one who will represent the whole project. The final outcome will reflect my visions about women's obsessions and how I see this and I will combine that with my mother's experience and some research that I am going to do using Journals and books that discuss women. I want my final outcome to be more like a story than individual images.
I want to create the story of a woman who goes through different situations that become obsessions, in order to be happy. It is not a general story that every woman can go through, it is about my story and how I might see myself in the future through my mother's story and the society that influences our life.
In terms of aesthetics, I will use the research that I already did to compose my scenarios. Hannah Starkey, Gregory Crewdson and Edward Hopper will guide me through this in order to achieve what I really have in mind.
I do hope this time I will make this possible and not get lost again!!! I have to do this!!! A promise is a promise!!!!
Friday 31 January 2014
Wednesday 29 January 2014
Tutorial
Since the photo shoot in London, I have waited for my tutorial to get feedback on my new idea and images.
As I was expecting, something was not right again. I am running in a circle and I can't find the exit. As I have been told I am working backwards, doing the images and then the research.
Because I want to make this project a fashion project, that could be a drawback from me so less marks because you can't really mark fashion so fashion is not made for academic projects.
I have been told that I have to be careful not to make my ideas a cliche because everyone knows that the stages that I have got happen in a woman's life. So as a suggestion, I could try to portray details that people don't really know, small things that a lot of people don't pay attention to. Also, the location should be different. To make my series of images good, I have to shoot in locations that are not known by anyone and where people have access too, to make it more interesting. Furthermore, my images need some mystery: if I want to show the viewers that a woman wants to get married I shouldn't have a image with a woman dressed in a wedding dress as it is too obvious. The idea is to challenge the viewers as I wanted from the beginning.
First point to go back to look at is Gregory Crewdson plus Alex Prager. I need to create scenarios with a mystery.
Furthermore, I am going to have just one model who will be me. She will portray myself in all the images as it would be more logical and relevant than having 10 different models. This way, I can create a relation between her and me and then between her and the viewers.
As I was expecting, something was not right again. I am running in a circle and I can't find the exit. As I have been told I am working backwards, doing the images and then the research.
Because I want to make this project a fashion project, that could be a drawback from me so less marks because you can't really mark fashion so fashion is not made for academic projects.
I have been told that I have to be careful not to make my ideas a cliche because everyone knows that the stages that I have got happen in a woman's life. So as a suggestion, I could try to portray details that people don't really know, small things that a lot of people don't pay attention to. Also, the location should be different. To make my series of images good, I have to shoot in locations that are not known by anyone and where people have access too, to make it more interesting. Furthermore, my images need some mystery: if I want to show the viewers that a woman wants to get married I shouldn't have a image with a woman dressed in a wedding dress as it is too obvious. The idea is to challenge the viewers as I wanted from the beginning.
First point to go back to look at is Gregory Crewdson plus Alex Prager. I need to create scenarios with a mystery.
Furthermore, I am going to have just one model who will be me. She will portray myself in all the images as it would be more logical and relevant than having 10 different models. This way, I can create a relation between her and me and then between her and the viewers.
Thursday 23 January 2014
After shoot
I went to London where my friends live. It was fun and a very loong and cold day.
The final image that I have chosen is:
I do like it a lot. I received good feedback from people for this image. I want to use it for my final series of images.
Thursday 16 January 2014
Changed again
Following the last attempt to illustrate what I had in mind, I was not very happy with the outcome.
I had a chat with one of my colleagues from work who's doing a MA in Architecture.I wanted some advice from him because he a creative mind as well. After the chat, I decided to change some things again to my project. As if everything that I have changed so far was not enough. I do hope that is my final one.
So, after thinking and doing some brainstorming I have come to something else.
Every woman goes through different stages in her life that make like a cycle. In every stage, something stands out, it becomes the main thing of that stage that influences her. I have done some brainstorming and I have written on a sheet of paper all the major things that could happen in a woman's life starting from the moment when she is born to when she dies. From that list, I extracted 10 important things that are the most important in her life which are the the main 10 stages. I decided to start from the moment when she is already a grown up, the moment when she is at uni because I don't think what happens before will be relevant to my project and then the end point will be around the time when she is in her later 40s when kids already leave home.
I have been told for previous ideas that I can't just come up with things without proof or relevant evidence from other people that have gone through something. However, for this idea I am not interested to know what other women think about this cycle or what happened in their life. I don't want to know if my 10 main stages happened in other women's life.
I want to make this new idea my own and about myself. It is about how I see this cycle or how it should be, my vision in connection to that. I want to create a series of images that will represent myself because I want to make it personal and not about someone else.
the list with the stages would be:
I had a chat with one of my colleagues from work who's doing a MA in Architecture.I wanted some advice from him because he a creative mind as well. After the chat, I decided to change some things again to my project. As if everything that I have changed so far was not enough. I do hope that is my final one.
So, after thinking and doing some brainstorming I have come to something else.
Every woman goes through different stages in her life that make like a cycle. In every stage, something stands out, it becomes the main thing of that stage that influences her. I have done some brainstorming and I have written on a sheet of paper all the major things that could happen in a woman's life starting from the moment when she is born to when she dies. From that list, I extracted 10 important things that are the most important in her life which are the the main 10 stages. I decided to start from the moment when she is already a grown up, the moment when she is at uni because I don't think what happens before will be relevant to my project and then the end point will be around the time when she is in her later 40s when kids already leave home.
I have been told for previous ideas that I can't just come up with things without proof or relevant evidence from other people that have gone through something. However, for this idea I am not interested to know what other women think about this cycle or what happened in their life. I don't want to know if my 10 main stages happened in other women's life.
I want to make this new idea my own and about myself. It is about how I see this cycle or how it should be, my vision in connection to that. I want to create a series of images that will represent myself because I want to make it personal and not about someone else.
the list with the stages would be:
- developing or discovering new passions
- university life - friends and having fun, making the most of it
- first job, first money
- meeting someone, first love
- taking care of yourself
- marriage
- career, being the best, being promoted
- taking care of your family
- memories, kids
- find new activities, kids leave home
Tuesday 14 January 2014
Images
These are the images that I have taken for one of my ideas.
I like the 2nd series more. The thing is I believe the images are not as good as I want them to be. I don't believe they are right for my 3rd year project. They should be stronger than this. That is why I have decided to change my project again just a bit.
Saturday 11 January 2014
Results of survey
56 women have done my survey and the results are:
73.68% (the majority) of them are aged between 16-24
Average feeling is " happy" and "in my own world"
In terms of what obsessions they have:
- 16-24 - James Vincent Mcmorrow, tumblr, cleaning!, video games, DVDs and TV Shows, Japan, Mystery Programmes and Novels, Make-up, watching tv series, having a clean room, accesories, having my phone always in my hand, disney, decorations, Food, sweets, chocolate, pastry, food, clothes in my wardrobe must be organised into colours, shopping, tv shows and related fanart, being organized, clothing, Jewellery & Nail polish, fashion, the colour red and keeping things clean mainly the kitchen, beauty products, Visual arts and good chocolate, concert photography, Harry Potter,
- 24-35 - sweets, accessories, cleanliness, finding happiness, handbags and shoes, first love, shoes, ciggaretes, Keeping my kids happy,
- 35-46 - keeping my kit/studio tidy
- over 46 - men
From this survey I can see that a lot of young women responded to the survey and their obsessions are quite contemporary. From that list, I can see some that are on my list as well like cleaning, tv series, food, being organized. As on general overview, young women from the 21st century have a lot of superficial obsessions and they can be categorized into an obsession for food and how they look plus other examples.
For the other category of age, I can see that there is another level of understanding the idea of obsessions and women are already preoccupied with family.
Going back to Gregory Crewdson
I decided to come back to Crewdson to analyse more in depth his style and his narratives. Reading about him and looking at his work, I noticed all those stories in his images, he loves narratives and I believe he only does narratives. He is interested in that "blurred line between reality and fantasy" which I think is quite intriguing because his vision is amazing and what he can create is absolutely fantastic.
What he does, basically, he creates a narrative and he delivers the final scene and leaves the viewer to interpret the whole scene and come up with his own version of what the image might illustrate. He tries to compel the viewer to engage with the narrative and try to think about answers to be able to explain what the photograph's message is. He is that photographer that likes to create images that "ask more questions that they can answer"(GC). He wants perfection in his images and that's why he is obsessed with creating every detail to make the image and ore the world in that image perfect.
In an interview that I read online with him, he talks about his early years when he was at home and his father who is a psychoanalyst had his office in the basement of their house and Crewdson would "put his ear to the floorboard above his office and listen to his sessions, trying to imagine what was going on, creating a mental image of what was happening downstairs."
I do believe that his wish of creating scenarios in a perfect world comes from that moment when he wanted to find out what was happening in his dad's office. I believe he developed a wish for constructing this kind of scenarios, created from his own imagination and "experience". That is where everything comes from. It is fascinating to see how childhood can influence your life.
He listens and then he creates the story. He is a story teller.
He has been compared to David Lynch because Crewdson' s stills are similar to the ones in Lynch's films, separate from reality: strange scenes with o concrete narrative meaning.
Looking at David Lynch I came across one of his projects.
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Hopper's amazing paintings have always been an inspiration to me in terms of how he portrayed women in different situations. He managed to place human figures, especially women, in a balance with the environment, focusing on their body.I can also see his interest in geometrical design which I have discovered lately about myself as well.
He was also interested in the interaction between the human being and the environment. Looking at these images, I can see that his working themes were solitude, sadness, boredom or regret. What I like about his paintings is that he illustrates these feelings and emotions in other environments as well such as restaurants, in offices etc rather than focusing only on one type like bedrooms. His paintings have that cinematic style as they were created for a movie.
What he does, basically, he creates a narrative and he delivers the final scene and leaves the viewer to interpret the whole scene and come up with his own version of what the image might illustrate. He tries to compel the viewer to engage with the narrative and try to think about answers to be able to explain what the photograph's message is. He is that photographer that likes to create images that "ask more questions that they can answer"(GC). He wants perfection in his images and that's why he is obsessed with creating every detail to make the image and ore the world in that image perfect.
In an interview that I read online with him, he talks about his early years when he was at home and his father who is a psychoanalyst had his office in the basement of their house and Crewdson would "put his ear to the floorboard above his office and listen to his sessions, trying to imagine what was going on, creating a mental image of what was happening downstairs."
I do believe that his wish of creating scenarios in a perfect world comes from that moment when he wanted to find out what was happening in his dad's office. I believe he developed a wish for constructing this kind of scenarios, created from his own imagination and "experience". That is where everything comes from. It is fascinating to see how childhood can influence your life.
He listens and then he creates the story. He is a story teller.
He has been compared to David Lynch because Crewdson' s stills are similar to the ones in Lynch's films, separate from reality: strange scenes with o concrete narrative meaning.
Looking at David Lynch I came across one of his projects.
He collaborated with Christian Louboutin to create fetishist shoes for one of Lynch's exhibition. His images are extreme and visually arresting.
But looking at other work of Lynch's, I do get why Crewdson was associated with him as Lynch's photographs are quite absurd as well.
Edward Hopper was also one of the artists that Crewdson was compared to.
Hopper's amazing paintings have always been an inspiration to me in terms of how he portrayed women in different situations. He managed to place human figures, especially women, in a balance with the environment, focusing on their body.I can also see his interest in geometrical design which I have discovered lately about myself as well.
Friday 10 January 2014
The last phase
So basically, as I said in my previous post this project has been through phases and I do hope that this is the last one as it's been enough.
The list that I have with obsessions, I have gathered all those examples for small chats with female friends. I haven't recorded them or anything like that but I have done a survey to show and maybe expand my research in terms of women's obsessions.
I said in the previous posts that I want my images to illustrate those obsessions that women have. But unfortunately, those examples were too general and they might not apply to all the women and also I don't have any reasonable evidence to argue my "affirmation". As I have been told, it's too late now to go back and gather evidence for that so the best thing to do is carry on with taking pictures and try for now on to record every piece of information that will support my research and my final images.
I need to define my style so I have to research photographers such as David LaChapelle, Tim Walker etc to look at their style and what defines them as a photographer. I need to research on narratives and how famous photographers who stage their images such as Gregory Crewdson create and compose their scenarios.
Also, I have to research photographers who have work on emotions and feelings and how they illustrated that along with projects about how women are represented.
The list that I have with obsessions, I have gathered all those examples for small chats with female friends. I haven't recorded them or anything like that but I have done a survey to show and maybe expand my research in terms of women's obsessions.
I said in the previous posts that I want my images to illustrate those obsessions that women have. But unfortunately, those examples were too general and they might not apply to all the women and also I don't have any reasonable evidence to argue my "affirmation". As I have been told, it's too late now to go back and gather evidence for that so the best thing to do is carry on with taking pictures and try for now on to record every piece of information that will support my research and my final images.
I need to define my style so I have to research photographers such as David LaChapelle, Tim Walker etc to look at their style and what defines them as a photographer. I need to research on narratives and how famous photographers who stage their images such as Gregory Crewdson create and compose their scenarios.
Also, I have to research photographers who have work on emotions and feelings and how they illustrated that along with projects about how women are represented.
Monday 6 January 2014
My new plan
I have come to realize that with my new list of obsessions which are better than the previous ones they will be better photographed inside the house. All my scenarios seem to end up there. I was thinking that women's obsessions are born in their house/room because that is an intimate place where women can do whatever they want. They are born there and then they start developing anywhere else. But what makes me end up there is the fact that because the room/house is an intimate place, women are able to manifest themselves and act and show their obsessions there better than anywhere else. It is probably because they know that no one is seeing them so they can't be judged. So they can "express" themselves. They are allowed to be vulnerable because having an obsession is like having a vice and it makes you weak.
In their own home they can develop their obsession and once they get out it manifests differently: it's undercover. That is why I was considering the idea of taking the images inside their house, in their rooms bathrooms, living rooms etc.
In their own home they can develop their obsession and once they get out it manifests differently: it's undercover. That is why I was considering the idea of taking the images inside their house, in their rooms bathrooms, living rooms etc.
Saturday 4 January 2014
Survey
I have created a survey on women's obsessions. It is very short and the aim of the survey is to see how women feel about their obsessions if they have got any.
These are the 4 questions of the survey.
I am more interested in what women feel about their obsessions as I would like to show that in my images. I will be sharing this survey everywhere in order to get as many answers as possible.
Change of plans.
So I kind of reconsidered my ideas for the obsessions. I have changed the examples to make it more clear and easy to understand.
I have got a shoot booked on the 13th then 2 more after the 13th another one should be after the 19th and one on the 29th or 30th and I still have to plan the other ones. I am trying to do as many as possible this month.
What I have got so far is:
- caloric content - that will be in a restaurant, I will keep the idea of having a plate of healthy food and an unhealthy one
- no secrecy - I was thinking about a shoot in underwear or just a subtle pose which indicates the idea of undressing
- how we look - for this one I will work with a mannequin probably just the head, and I will have wigs and make up
- control - library, things in order, tensed nervous
- obsession with a person you love - being attached to a person emotionally but will be illustrated physically
- cleanliness - yellow gloves, bed lingerie
- tv series/soap operas - sofa, tv - quite dark, dark cercle under eyes
- plastic surgery
- hurting themselves - skin picking - depression, anxiety
- power from withing - strong inside, attitude
- marriage - hotel, outside, chairs with ribbons
I have got all the scenarios in my head now. Some need working a bit. I need to speak to someone from the Howfield Manor Hotel to see if I can take pictures there. that would be awesome.
I have got so far 7 girls so I need to find 3 more at least.
I have got a shoot booked on the 13th then 2 more after the 13th another one should be after the 19th and one on the 29th or 30th and I still have to plan the other ones. I am trying to do as many as possible this month.
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