EXPERIMENTATION STAGE: PLANNING SHOOTS

'The Stars are Out Tonight' editorial for 'i-D' magazine. Photography by Jason Evans.

I decided that it was time I started to produce work instead of research and experimentation, so I began planning a shoot related to the new direction my project has taken. I wanted to use my research as a reference instead of using my work as a response to the artists researched, such as using Gustav Klimt's love for texture in his paintings as an inspiration to how I produce my mixed media photographs. To gather further inspiration I went to the library and looked through many 'i-D' magazines and noted down shoots I thought were relevant to my project. I wanted to use this as a further push to do something interesting with my shoots and as extra research for my research book. After browsing through several magazines I found a shoot that really inspired me in the Spring 2015 Music issue. It was an editorial named 'The Stars are Out Tonight', photography by Jason Evans.

What caught my eye immediately was the use of colours and textures in the images. I thought it went really well with my theme of capturing a moment through colour, movement and now texture. The rich colours and layering of different textures and lighting really inspired me to experiment when I do my next photoshoot, however I didn't want to over-do the layering by using a more textural, colour-based shoot with mixed media. Because of this I decided that I will do two different shoots and decide which direction my project will go into for the final product after experimenting with the images. 

The other kind of shoot I had planned was for my mixed media work, where I plan to layer the images up with various materials such as paint, embroidery, collage, and digital manipulation after the shoot. Because of this I wanted to make the shoot plain and simple and not too busy. To help me further I had a tutorial with Mark, where we discussed the use of texture and colour in mixed media photography. I mentioned to him that I wanted to make my shoot plain, such as having my model wear a nude top or be topless, natural or no make up and a plain white background. He agreed with my plans but advised that I use something to make the image more fashion-based and interesting, such as a textural garment. I decided that I would like to work with incorporating plastic into the shoot as that would create texture and also keep the image simple enough to work on top of.  After the helpful advise from Mark I got to gathering inspiration images to go into my extra research and references sketchbook, and made a few moodboards on styling and also found some inspiration from Jil Sander ad campaigns for some collage work after the shoot is done. 

My moodboard on plastic incorporated into photography

As for my model casting, I decided that I wanted to use a male model because I had already cast a female model for my shoot about texture and colour, but I didn't want to use a white model. This is because I feel that with this kind of aesthetic, photographer's tend to use white models to aid the 'blank canvas' feel of the shoot. I thought this would be a little cliché, so I wanted to use a non-white model. I also felt that their skin would work beautifully with the clear plastic and help to create even more texture than a white model might. 

I started to gather materials for my shoot, and originally planned to use bubble-wrap and the plastic that comes with electrical equipment to protect it. I did eventually find some in my house, but I didn't like the look or texture of the plastic as it wouldn't be very versatile. I also needed a lot more materials for working onto the photographs once the shoot is done and printed so I went shopping to the Pound shop and The Works to find cheap materials that I could buy in bulk. I found interesting sponge paint brushes that I wanted to use to create interesting paint texture, a lot of patterned tape, some embroidery threads for embroidering into my images but no plastic. Eventually I found wraps of cellophane in Tiger and bought three rolls: Two completely transparent and one with pink polka dots. I thought the pink plastic would be really fun to use for my texture & colour shoot. 

Planning shoot in note form

EXPERIMENTATION STAGE: BEGINNING TO EXPERIMENT WITH MATERIALS

After the progression of my idea for this project I began to experiment with materials. I started off with simple materials that I found at home such as PVC tape (black and white), bits of wood and pins. I started off by using the PVC tape to experiment with a certain emotion, so I chose anxiety.This was only to get me started as my project is not about negative emotions but is mostly focused on capturing a memory and emotion in an abstract way, as that's how memory works. As I was doing this experiment with PVC tape and notepad paper I was focusing mainly on the texture of the design than the aesthetics of it, thinking back to the question 'If I was blind and I asked you to describe an emotion to me through touch, what would it feel like?'. I made the texture rigid and bumpy to resemble spikes by bunching up the tape as I placed it on the paper and placed them in different directions. I did this to show the unpredictable nature of anxiety.

After making the two 3D experiments, I scanned them in and then began to play with the effects of the photocopier. I photocopied them in different colours that I associate with the emotion, keeping in with my original idea of using colour and movement to capture an emotion or feeling. I chose the colours red and blue: Red to show fear or panic, and blue to show the physical effects of anxiety. 

After the first experiment with PVC tape, I used wood chips, however I couldn't make it 3D as I didn't have the right resources. If I was to re-do the wood-chip images I would try to make them 3D relief by using a hot glue gun and a material that the chips could be stuck to. I will be making sure I have all the correct resources when I begin to use mixed media on my photographs so that I avoid this issue in the future. I arranged the wood in two different desigins: One where the wood-chips are laid on top of each other to show layers and texture, which is a road I definitely want to explore, and one in a more neat fashion that rather (and accidentally) represents vampire fangs. I then photocopied the scans in different colours that I thought complimented the designs. 

Lastly, I used pins from my cork board in my bedroom. I tried to arrange them in a circular pattern as if the pins are going outward, like an explosion. I originally wanted to put the pins so that the sharp points were facing upwards towards the scanner, but after attempting this several times it didn't work. Because of this the pattern went a little wrong as all the pins fell down and spread out, however I decided that I liked this new form the pins had taken as it looked purposely disorganised and random, as if to fit the emotion. I then experimented with colour photocopies once again, but this time I used a different setting of a single colour and black, and the results were better than I expected. I originally disliked the fact that all the pins were different colours, so when I discovered this setting made them all a single colour I was pleased with the results. I will be using some of these techniques when I start to layer on top of my photographs that I plan to shoot soon.

EXPERIMENTATION STAGE: ARTIST RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT OF IDEA

Acrylic paint experiments

                                                             Digital paint experiment

After researching artists like Gerhard Richter and William Klein, I decided that the first stage of my experimentation process will be to try painting over some of the photographs I collected. I used acrylic paint in various colours that I thought went well with the photos, such as green, red, pink, yellow and blue. I started by experimenting with different ways of layering the paint onto the paper, such as stipling the brush, sweeping the brush and using paper to apply the paint and add texture. I then experimented with painting over the photographs digitally in the same fashion as my previous experiment. I used overlays and colour and played with the opacity to get the right feel. I think the digitial versions came out much better and communicated the overall theme of the photos better than the paint. The paint versions could be improved next time I attempt to use the same technique possibly by using different materials and printing the photographs on different paper.


After the paint experiment I decided to research some more artists to help inspire me to develop my idea, as I felt the movement and colour theme wasn't going to lead anywhere particularly interesting or original. I started to look into mixed media artwork and found some interesting pieces by Eugina Loli and Maurizio Anzeri. I decided to research Anzeri's work as I love the emotion his artwork expresses, and it inspired me to move my idea forward into something much more interesting.
After doing some more research, I had a tutorial with one of the fashion tutors and we discussed the direction that my work was going in and I decided that my work would be going down the direction of mixed media photography. We then talked about how I could go about it to keep in with my theme, and we discussed capturing a feeling and emotion through texture and colour. He asked me a question that got me thinking and made me feel inspired to move my project forward in this direction:
'If I was blind and I asked you to describe an emotion to me through texture, what would it feel like?' 

I really like this idea of expression through feeling, which I think would make my fashion photography so much more three-dimensional instead of just a photograph. I decided to take my project down this route of mixed media and incorporating 3D relief and texture within my photography work. From this tutorial and slight change of direction I created my final concept board and started to plan my experiments with materials which will last for two weeks.

My final concept board

WEEK 4: PRIMARY RESEARCH: INTERVIEWS AND PHOTOS

As primary research to help me develop my idea, I conducted a small questionairre/interview with some of my friends and family. Originally I was going to interview members of the LGBT community, but after having a tutorial with one of my tutors I was suggested to ask more generally about people's memories of events or special occasions. I agreed with this as I didn't particularly want to restrict my idea too much, so instead I asked various people what is their best memory of an occasion or event and why, and what colours they associate with the memory they describe. 

First I asked a friend of mine from college, who had a lot of memories involving occasions and found it difficult to narrow it down. Eventually she decided to tell me about her first Karate tournament where she was injured and came in 2nd place. The colours she associates with it are red and white. I liked her story as her memory definitely reflected her as a person. Next I interviewed my mum, who told me about her trip as a child to the Royal Tournament with her dad who served in the military. She said she remembered the marching bands and military marches the most, because she enjoyed it. She also said she remembers sitting on her dad's shoulders to see, and that the colours she associates with the event are red, green and blue, like the military uniforms. The next person I interviewed was a childhood friend of mine named Megan. She told me about a drunken night out with her friends going to see a band that she then said were terrible. She mentions not remembering much, but the reason it's a memory that stuck in her head is because of the good company and laughs. The colours she associates with the event are blue and green stage lights and the colour orange. The last person interviewed was my boyfriend Dean. He spoke about going on holiday to Mauritius to see his family, and DJ-ing for them on New Year's Eve. He remembers the colour red because of the sunset and fireworks.

What I discovered from my interviews that interested me is that each person's memory of an event or occasion reflects their personality in some way.

After interviewing my friends and family, I took a trip to Brighton to see my dad and while I was there decided to go out and photograph. Unfortuneately, due to the Brighton Marathon being scheduled on the same weekend I couldn't get to St,James' street, which is where majority of the gay bars and clubs are located in Brighton. Instead I improvised and took photographs of the pier, which could come in useful when I start to experiment. I also found photographs from 2014 London Gay Pride which can be used to start off my experimenation process also. I also asked my dad to find some images of Brighton Pride when I was a child but there wasn't many that really communicated my memory of it. I chose images of Pride that I thought represented the event best: A photograph of one of the London buses that travel through the parade, a photograph of a drag queen, a photograph of me whilst on one of the parade buses with a balloon covering my face (I liked the spontaneity of the image and the composition) and a photo of a group of women & men dressed in pink taken from the bus.

EXPERIMENTING WITH COLOUR & PHOTOSHOP

Using the photographs taken at my visit to the Gabrielle de Santis exhibition at the Limoncello gallery, I used my research on abstract artists to explore painting over photographs digitally to create a sense of movement and colour. I used inspiration from various abstract artists such as Gerhard Richter, William Klein and Cy Twombly. I also was inspired by a series by Nick Knight which uses paint over photographs. I really like the abstract feel and the thought of tying memory with colour. I did these small experiments to see if it's a technique I could use in my project, however I feel that to finalise the idea I would experiment on a different set of photographs and paint directly onto the printed images. To do this I will gather images of Gay Pride, both recent and photographs from when I was a child and scan/print them to paint over. To create the digital version of this, however, I used Photoshop. 

To create this effect I started off by using a colour overlay and changing the opacity. After doing that I used the paint tool to paint strategically around the photo in bright clashing colours before changing the blending options to create an interesting abstract look. I repeated the process for every photo until I had a series. I think that the digital versions will probably look rather rushed compared to painted versions, but I definitely like the effect that digital has on the photographs. I think that repeating this process to more relevant photographs for further experimenting will help me develop and move my project forward with what materials and themes I want to work with.

WEEK 2 & 3: SECONDARY RESEARCH (ARTISTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, EVENTS)

Gerhard Richter, Painted photograph series &Sinbad series. Images found on Gerhard-Richter.com

William Klein 'Gun 1' New York, 1955. Image found on Google

After finalising my project's concept I started to research into art/subjects that inspired me. Fine art is something I like try to relate my promotion work to in every project because I have a good knowledge of it, and because it's so extensive that there is a fine artwork that can be good background research and inspiration for any kind of project. Because my concept broken down is about movement, colour and memory I decided to look into abstract art. Gerhard Richter is someone who came into my head instantly, and I thought about his painted photographs of his children. I really like the idea of using such a simple keepsake and turning it into abstract art. I also looked briefly at other artists who do this, such as painted contact sheets by William Klein.

Because my outcome will be photographs, I also researched photographers that I felt were relevant and inspiring. Nan Goldin is someone who came to my mind when thinking about memory, so I thought it was worth researching her work. What I particularly love and admire about her work is how raw and personal the photographs of her friends are, especially the series about couples and their sex life. I also really like the delivery of her photographs and the aesthetics of her images as they are shot on a film camera. Part of the charm of her work is the film camera look as it resembles disposable cameras that many families use to capture their intimate moments. I also briefly researched Nick Knight's photography as I feel they are relevant, however I don't want to emphasise his work too much as I'd rather focus on Fine Art influences.

Another important part of my project is occasions and events, as I'm focusing on Gay Pride and my memories of attending as a child. An event I was intrigued by after researching Gay Pride was the Hindu festival of Holi, where families and friends get together to celebrate the first days of Spring by throwing coloured powder at each other in the daytime and drinking, and then gathering for dinner in the evening. I really like the similarities between the two events in terms of colour, getting together and celebrating with friends and family. Unfortuneately I can't get to a Holi festival or Gay Pride before the term ends so I will have to use past photos of Pride and hopefully find someone who has attended Holi to interview. After researching such events I decided to put together a questionnaire and ask people about events, occasions or memories they have that they associate with a certain colour.

A boy at Holi festival in India. Photographer: Intellistudies. Image found on Pinterest