Evaluation

For this unit I have photographed portraits and used physical manipulation to make new images. These images will be used as postcards which act as the souvenirs of my project. It is a study as to how a portrait can be used in different ways and still be distinguished as a photograph.

At first I simply wanted to use black and white images and use ink or paint to colour the image. After a visit from Luke Waller I thought that monoprinting was the method to take because I really liked the style of his image. However after giving monoprinting a go I realised that it wasn't the right method to use. It was then that I was recommended to use screen printing just like Andy Warhol.

I have used a lot of equipment to complete this project. To just take the images I used an Olympus trip 35 and Bronica ETRS; the lighting was a bowens ceiling mounted lighting set with soft boxes. Since as I was using black and white film; I was using the developer, stop and fix for black and white film. To create the mono prints I had to use a board, roller and ink. Finally to make the screen print I used the printers to print and copy onto acetate, the screen, light sensitive emulsion, the light box, paint scraper and the paint.

I think the main difficulty of this unit was the time scale I had when I was actually able to start producing physical prints with the mono printing. I don't think I had enough time to experiment with screen printing, however this is something that I will continue.

One practitioner that influenced a lot of my work is Andy Warhol. The style of image production and composition is highly influential. However I have switched the colours and the black and white the opposite way around. I have also used a similar idea to how he displays his images by using multiple images in an organised shape. Another influence is Karl Lagerfeld who uses simplistic portraits, these simplistic images allows me to work with and add colour very easily. 

I am very pleased with the outcome considering the little experimentation I was able to have with screen printing. I feel that I have created a set of very strong images and researched relevant practitioners for the techniques and style in which I have photographed.

Final Images

Due to the deadline only being a couple of days away and I dont have enough time or resources to create more screen prints I have had to try and think of a way of creating the target of ten final images.

Andy Warhol often uses the same image multiple times to create a small collection of pieces with different colours. I am considering doing a similar thing with my screen print. Instead of using full images I will only use one image that will be split up into several segments. this creates a little 'game' for the viewer and makes the souvenir that is a postcard into a collectable piece of a small set of images.

This is the complete final image that I have created which will be submitted as a final piece

These images are collected to look like this.

Third Shoot

35mm

 Here are the best images from this roll with only simply edits like crop and levels in an adjustment layer.

Medium format

All of these images show strong contrast and a lot of detail. However sometimes the shirt is blending in with the background due to being the same tone. I think if I have time to shoot again I am going to use a dark backdrop which will define the model better.

Experimentation 3

Using the black and white screen print that I made I am going to colour in specific areas of the image similar to that of the Marilyn Monroe image by Andy Warhol.

This shows how the colouring is similar however due to the style of the screen print I feel that it isn't adequate for this type of colouring. This may be unsuccessful if I was to actually screen print the colours this way.

Second Shoot

I wanted to try the same style again however I want to see how it would work if the model wore a lighter or even white shirt.

 

None of these images met my expectations. This is because I forgot to set the aperture correctly on Olympus Trip 35,  instead of being on f16 it was still on auto. Therefore the images are all too dark and there is a minimal amount of contrast; making the images look very flat. I will have to try this again however I think I may also shoot medium format film as well to see if I can get any better results.

Experimentation

I wanted to add colour to the original image that I created so I initially started with digital manipulation on Photoshop.

Using the brush shape I thought that it might look very rough and bright at the same time however as shown it simply looks desaturated and contradicting to the focus that the image has.

Therefor I am not going to continue with this method.

First Photoshoot

I am going to be shooting in black and white in a studio using a white back drop and flash units. Bowens Flash units with ceiling mounting to reduce tripping hazards of wires.

I have placed a flash unit with soft boxes on either side of the models face creating a shadow down the centre of the models face. The dark shirt creates a large contrast between the model and the very clean white background.

I am very pleased with this image. There is a lot of contrast and slightly diffrent angles of the body to face creates a very appealing aesthetic to the image.

Coloured Fabric

Since as I am going to colour specific areas of my images maybe I could try using fabric over areas of the models faces to add colour to black and white images.

This is my first attempt at using fabric. I cut out the shape I wanted from the fabric and used double sided tape to stick it to the picture. I feel that the fabric looks very messy with the sides fraying. Also the fabric sticks to the paper as soon as it touches the paper and would rip it off if I had attempted to remove it, meaning that I had to get it right the first time. This turns out to be really difficult. What if I use a Stanley or craft knife to cut into the image to make the shape I need. This means it will be more like a stencil with the fabric behind the image.

For my second attempt I have very quickly cut out the models hat and shaped some glasses on to him. using the method previously mentioned I feel that it is a lot more effective. I am going to spend a little more time on the next one so that the edges are smoother and more accurate.

This one is a lot more accurate however due to the hair fraying at the ends, I found it quite hard to cut exactly to the edge. The bright colours and the positioning of the lines to the fringe and ear of the model gives the image more shape and lines to follow through the image. 

I found some silver fabric that was reflective so I decided to take influence from Back to the Future to create some futuristic glasses. The cutting of the paper was very accurate and I followed the edges of the hair, cutting into it when it was appropriate. However the pencil marks I used to make the shape are still visible which I may need to fix.

I find this style very restrictive to what can be achieved; unless a specific goal was in mind and the colour required was accessible I would not use this method. However this is the basic idea of what I would like to do with my prints, I would like to add colour to specific areas but I would like the image to still be visible.

Using Ink and Paint

During this task I was told to create an image using images I already had, paint and ink. This is a form of physical manipulation to an image. I have chosen images from a previous fashion project.

 This is the first image that I used. I thought that I should start very basically with paint however I disliked the innitial result and decided to use my hands to blur the colours which revealed parts of the image. In particular the face of the model had become visable across the eyes and mouth. This makes the image spooky to look at because all the details are not visable; like something is being hidden from the veiwer. I think that this vould have been more effective with shades of black since as the image is already made to be quite eerie and the black could be interpretted as the aura the character is trying to display. It could also be taken as a protective shield just like the face paint that she is wearing.

The second attempt I decided that I would use black and white ink to drip onto the paper; however when this looked too boring I tipped the image to let the ink fall down the page. I think that the colour revearsal works a lot better because it seems to act like a veil which is adding to the eerie appearance of the image. The original image shows the model already wearing black and white face paint, this shows an advancement of the 'masks' depth in the image.

Using a different image I wanted to use the ink to make something like a picture card often used to evaluate phsycological sanity. However the different inks have really mixed together and not worked out how I had hoped. I feel that this method might slow my down and not create strong results so I go back to dripping the ink.

I feel that this image has potential to be stronger, although I would have to use a more viscous ink or paint like acrilic paint. The ink simply was too thin and ran down the page to fast for it to be absorbed. This image was to originally to show the fear that some people carry with them when they gamble and now it shows more of the result. this would be a following image to the original work I did to create this image.

Karl Lagerfeld

Born 1933; Lagerfeld was the son of a wealthy German businessman. The wealth his farther had allowed him to study in Paris at the age of just 14 and become an artist as well as designer. Since his 30's he has been taking part in prestigious competitions and worked for many top designer brands like Chloe and Vogue. He also used his own fashion and style to produce his own label which he eventually sold but kept all design control of.

The model in this image is Abbey Lee, one of the most sort after models of the fashion industry. With recent work being completed for the likes of Hugo Boss and Gucci. To me this image feels like Lagerfeld is trying to make Lee look fragile and delicate. A lot like a china doll. Her bleach blond hair is decorated with an array of flowers and translucent materials. Gold has been used as the main jewellery material probably to match the hair and similar pale yellow tone of her skin. The reds and purples used for the lipstick also matches other areas of the image including the cloth she is wrapping herself in and dark tones of the eyeshadow used. 

I think that Lagerfeld has used two lights to create this image. It looks like a snoot was used on the light for the background due to the gradual fading in tone outwards from the centre of the dense area. I also think that he has used a form of flash ring that has created two clear lines down the face and their reflection is visible in the models eyes.

 

            

 

Lagerfeld has made his own fashion/style into a brand. He uses his name, face and distinct blacked out glasses as the label for his designs, many know who he is and his work because of the massive amount of unique branding. All of these images shows how he would normally dress: the sunglasses, white hair in a pony tail, high white collar, dark suit, jewellery on the tie or necklace and finally the gloves. Lagerfeld has also created extra areas on his website which publicises his lifestyle. Karlism is an area where himself or assistants would post sayings/quotes from him. There is also an area called The Karl Daily which to my understanding is a newspaper that is about Lagerfeld, his latest designs and stories that is of interest to him and his brand.

This might be something that I can think about, using repetitive imagery to communicate awareness of a style or brand, maybe even create a brand. I would then have to think about typography and what the brand would be. I would also have to consider what the continuous theme would be since as I wanted to experiment with different colours and styles.

Luke Waller

Waller is a commercial illustrator in the editorial sector. Most of the time he works with pencil drawings and mono printing to put colour in his images however he will often use Photoshop if the deadline is very short and create a similar effect he would have using the physical method.

This illustration was commissioned by Highlife Magazine for the interview with Paloma Faith. The characters in the background are characters from the Wes's films. This is because during the interview she states that they were a massive influence to her work and sometimes inherit their personalities during her work. To me this image looks like it was made physically because of the very rough nature of the colour against the lines. This would match Wallers style of using monoprinting. A large variety of colours have been used, mostly cold colours like blues and greens; however a dark orange has been used which is a signature colour of Paloma's hair. This colour has then been used in other areas which enhances the importance it has to her character. I really love how the colours are so rough and raw compared to the detail that has been put into the portraits.There is also what looks like paint drippings along the bottom and left of the image which might have simply been done with a dropper and ink; this adds to how raw the image looks. I would like to learn how to use this style so that I can incorporate it into my own work.

This image is called the American dream and Waller states that it is all about how it has changed over time now that technology is so much more accessible. It also shows how we often see families on TV and social networks which has influenced how we behave and what we expect from a family. The blue tones on the flag and the family shows how cold and boring the dream has become. However the bright orange and yellows from the TV is covering up how boring it really is by making it look positive. The warm colours would make the viewer feel good about what they are watching which actually should all be a shade of blue. The warm colours is then transferred across to the family which is visible. This shows how influenced they are, it's a little like they are brainwashed.