Life can seem so fragmented and disordered at times. These images attempt to explore the idea of mental health and that we all have multiple identities. My images show, as a species we are always flying around and can never rest; hence the aeroplane and bench photographs.
I have included a self-portrait, this is how I see myself, part artist, part photographer and also in a way disembodied. I’ve used photoshop to create these images, using multiple layers to build on the original shot and create a story of daily activities people may go through and also to represent myself as said previously part artist and part photographer.
My project called ‘Projections’ shows high contrast black and white images made using a projector. Throughout this project, I was inspired by 1960’s black and white pop art as well as high contrast black and white photographers such as Irving Penn.
My work explores beauty in an abstract form as people’s faces and bodies are hidden in patterns yet we still find them beautiful. It reflects on how our own views on how we look are often distorted because of the society we grow up in (with idealised beauty in media). My images show beauty is definitive as each person, has different things that they believe make a person beautiful.
We look at other peoples insecurities and find them beautiful but we are harsh on ourselves, so this project invites you to challenge your own perception on yourself. The images also have a focus on femininity as I wanted to capture women who felt empowered by their own feminine energy so that the images give off an edgy, powerful feel to them. I hope this set of work makes people, especially women, reflect on how they see themselves and work more towards body acceptance and self love.
In addition to this, I created a large darkroom print of Ellie Avison to celebrate her individuality. The print is made from lots of smaller pieces of paper for us to piece together like a jigsaw. This illustrates how complicated we all are as people as we all have lots of different things that make up who we are as a person. A big part of Ellie’s individualism is her style which she expresses through her clothes, jewellery and hair. For the print, I deliberately had the hair and jewellery in a sharper focus compared to the rest of her as it brings attention to her style and individuality.
The image of Sophia Evans represents a confident clarity as her headphones drown out the negative noises we encounter as young women. Women have lots of outside pressure from several outlets telling us how be and look and by choosing to not listen to this we can find a better understanding of who we really are. My image of Caitlin Barham also shows a confident and glamorous pose however the deliberate blur comments on attempts to subvert the male gaze
For my FMP I chose to showcase, in an artistic format, the five stages of grief. My aim throughout this project was to bring attention to grief, as it is something that everyone will experience within their lifetime, that I believe, society largely disregards. In an extreme work and economy-oriented society, subjects like grief are heavily neglected and pushed aside. Despite this issue being a universal experience, I believe that workplaces fail to give people adequate amounts of time to healthily process the loss of family and friends.
When coming up with my idea, I decided that I would create a single piece for each stage, so that I could have each image exist on their own or within the set of five. I chose to use an art mannequin as a representation of the person mourning as it leaves a basic and blank reference model of a person that the audience can reflect themselves onto, this then results in making the entire project more relatable.
As well as this, I also took into consideration how complicated I made each piece, as my intention was to leave each image slightly simplistic or ambiguous, so that the viewer may make their own interpretation from the sequence of photos.
During researching different photographers and artists, I found considerable amounts of inspiration for my images. For example, two of the people that inspired me the most throughout my project were Elicia Edijanto and Alex Da Corte. Elicia Edijanto explores themes of loneliness and isolation using black and white watercolour. Edijanto’s pieces are very simplistic, but the viewer can draw a wide variety of meanings from each painting, and this is something that inspired the minimalism of my images.
On the other hand, Alex Da Corte mostly works with creating sets and physical experiences, which is something that inspired my idea to build a stage, to support the idea of my final images being a narrative. Completing this project has allowed me to explore my creativity, while using artistic symbolism to discuss a serious topic, which is something I would like to express more when I progress onto university.
For my FMP, I decided to create photographs that are related to song lyrics. The main reason I chose this theme was to show the personal importance of music. All the artists I chose have helped me overcome hard times within my life through their lyrics, especially during lockdown. I also wanted to incorporate graphic design to draw in the connection between the words and images.
The song lyrics allowed me to be more experimental and explore more unfamiliar aspects within my photography. I believe every song lyric ever made has a different meaning depending on who you have a conversation with, which is the sincere beauty of music; I wanted each viewer to experience and feel something different with each piece.
This truly tested my ability to capture the emotions in my photography and I really enjoyed the challenge that has been presented to me throughout the project. I had to adapt to new aesthetics, new equipment, and new edits for each image, all in an attempt to capture the meaning and feeling that the song lyrics intend to evoke.
My FMP is a collection of images I shot on the theme of growth, I wanted this to be my final project as I feel I’ve not only grown as a person in the last couple of years but very much grown as a photographer in terms of skill and preferred styles/ aesthetics in my work.
My main aim behind this project was to really explore how people form emotional attachments to places, how they can act as triggers and how well you get to know a person through a series of images.
My inspiration for this project was mainly inspired by Geloy Conception and his work for Vogue titled “Things you wanted to say but never did’’. The editing of the image to leave only a silhouette is something that really captivated me and is something I decided to put into this work. I did this because I think removing the subject of your image is a very bold thing to do; I also decided on this style of work as I don’t usually heavily edit my work in this way and wanted to explore something new.
I wanted to show the rich texture in my images and the depth of nature growing within the empty, destructed buildings. This is because I wanted to incorporate the life of nature in my work, which is shown in my images by seeing the gradual growth of plants surrounding the buildings inside and out.
The abstraction and texture used in my images is the result of experimenting with techniques and colours around this idea – the colours popping out of these images wanting to catch the eyes of viewers, allowing you to place yourself in the environment as you are exploring it yourself in the beauty of nature taking its space back.
Abandoned buildings are a feature of our urban landscape which represent a post-industrial era of abandoned factories. These buildings have a history and a story behind them. It’s like I’m showing an historic landmark that has been standing for years, where the communication has been made accustomed to this and has allowed nature to grow and die around inside and out, year after year. The beauty of this can shout at you.
For my FMP, I wanted to create pieces which looked like they were created on a professional level. Bringing out as much detail and making the item as attractive as I could. Exploration was key to this as colours, backdrops, focal length, and aperture all change the appearance of the items that I photographed.
I felt that it was important to stick to tech as well, that way I could keep some consistency between my shots. It is also because everything important now seems to revolve around tech, so it’s important to keep with the times.
With my final project, like most others, I wanted to raise feminist issues within my images. Although aesthetically pleasing photographs are enjoyable, often based on their superficial beauty, I aim to create photographs with meaning behind them. From the title, I have created contemporary art-based photographs.
In the image with Megan, I wanted to convey the censorship of the female chest compared to that of a male. To explore irony, I intentionally censored a woman’s nipples, replacing them with a man’s to show how differently they are “viewed” in society.
In the image with Mia, I created a narrative, of a woman who has run away or escaped her wedding to show that people are whole on their own. That they do not require another person to be seen as complete. I wanted to show people as art in their own right.
In the image with Caitlin, I wanted to showcase how women in particular can embrace their natural bodies, without it being sexualised.
In the image with Emily, I collated all my ideas within the theme of “Don’t Touch the Art” because I wanted to show a person as a natural art form. I really wanted to display my love for the individuality of people.
The final image idea was created very late into the project and is related to the recent American law system trying to dictate what women do with their bodies. This photograph is in protest of that, I wanted to use this last photograph to really empower female identity.
A main inspiration for this series is Ellen Von Unworth and how she captures women, through a female gaze, as opposed to viewing them as objects to consume. Unworth’s photographs are full of empowerment, which she evokes within the audience seamlessly.
This project has aided me in my preparation for university and extended my photographic study to a new style. I want my work to be empowering and expressive, but also allow people to understand me more as a photographer, and as a person.
Automotive photography is all about showing the subject’s variation and character through the image, by visiting numerous car shows I was able to piece together a project that displays both my passion and skill.
Ranging from Bicester all the way to Donnington, I have travelled the country finding people who share my passion and so I am able to show my love to fellow students, staff, friends and family. After many long, hard and stressful months of planning, booking, organising, shooting, editing, uploading and printing, this is my Final Major Project.
