Acerca de
Final Outcome
Idea:
For my final piece, I am going to incorporate an umbrella into my work. The centre of this piece will be based of my grandmother's university photographs. She was part of a girl's sorority at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands. In the images I have selected an umbrella repetitively appears with the letters of their group 'Okuiaoe', that's definition is unknown, on each face. I drew inspiration from this and have decided to mix Nathan Beard, Maurizio Anzeri and Lisa Kokin's work to create this final piece. From my first artist, I will use jems to stick around the edges of the umbrella. From Anzeri, I will take his use of legs and from my last artist, Lisa Kokin, I would like to use silhouettes such as what I created with my final outcome for Kokin's work. I want this piece to include all parts of this unit in one large outcome. I could perhaps create a gif or stop motion to present the product.
Gallery of images from my family:
Gallery of Inspiration from artists:
Creative Process:
Using a plain black umbrella and silver jewel stickers to outline each face of the umbrella. The umbrella idea originates from my grandma's university photographs and the bejeweling it came from my Nathan Beard developments, where I stuck them on both my face and on printed images. This represents how my study on my first artist ties into my final project.
I then used the jeweled umbrella over a white background and dressed in black took images of my legs in poses from under the umbrella. I struggled to keep all the jems on the umbrella as I had to move it around frequently. By the end of the shoot, I had taken over one hundred images, however before uploading them to my computer I filtered through them choosing which images were worth editing.
Experiment:
These are placed as my experimentation because I felt that they only represented Nathan Beard's work and did not convey family heritage, which has been a recurring theme within my projects. These images were taken with an f-stop of 1.8, which helps to blur the background and allow the image to focus on specific parts of the photo rather than the whole composition. This is achieved through the wider lens which then can let more light in the lens and allow better focus. To heighten this affect I use an ISO of 32.I took these images using an iPhone camera and have uploaded them to photoshop. There, I cropped each image using the rule of thirds, the centre third containing the majority of the composition. Originally I had intended to transform these images into a gif however I now realise that I would not have enough images to make this gif seem natural. To develop this work, I am going to print legs and instead attach them to the umbrella. However, I will keep the umbrella bejewelled.
Highlighting Success:
The main issue with the images from the edits gallery was that in many of them, the umbrella cropped out the legs and the person's hips were not visible. This made their legs seem distorted and disproportionate. Therefore, these two images have been selected to feature in my highlighting success. Furthermore, each pair of legs possess more character because of the specific pose of the figure. The images appear graceful and elegant in the stance of the umbrella and the positioning of the legs.
Creative Process:
The umbrella was already jeweled, however I still had to attach both the legs and create a collage. For this, I printed out the images in the gallery of family pictures of my grandma at university. I carved around each figure so the outline of all the images were different. In total there were seven pictures. Next, I printed images which I have previously used in this project and cut out the people from each one.
I selected which images would fit together and then using the back of each image, traced the outline of the cut out people on the back of the university photographs. I made sure to align them so that each person fit with the background it was aligned to. Next, I used a scalpel to cut around the pencil markings. This left a cut out which was the exact same shape as the person. Some images had two carvings, whilst others only had one. This depended on the size of the photos.
To begin the sewing process, I set the umbrella on a stand to then fix the photos on. The larger image was sewn on first using a thick thread for strength. Behind, I joined the figures, so that looking through the first image's cut outs, you could see the person.
The image to the left, shows how the underside of the umbrella looks with each picture hanging. In terms of length, I made sure to vary the length of each thread, so that each edit hung at different levels. This reflected how a family tree has several tiers. The images on both the right and underneath the image of the umbrella illustrate how looking through one image shows another.
In this creative process, I chose to include an image of me attaching the photos. On the floor to my right, I laid out in order which one's to attach. On the right, is an edit where I decided to place the figure in front of the bigger picture, mainly to add change to the edits and partly because I thought it would reflect how a person grows older.
For the last part, I printed off the photographs of legs from my second artist, third developments, when I included Guy Bourdin's work within my Maurizio Anzeri edits. After turning each leg upside down, I used toothpicks and a glue gun to pierce the umbrella and stick the legs through. I put either two or three pair of legs on each jeweled line.
Overall, this final piece took 7 hours to create and two hours to photograph. These images like for most of this project did not need editing except from cropping to centre the composition in the centre third.
Contact Sheet:
In photography, a contact sheet can be a useful way of displaying which images where well taken, whether that be that the exposure is balanced or that the composition is not cropped. It can also be an easier way to compare photographs. This contact sheet shows the images I took of my final piece. Some images included a person holding the umbrella whereas others were taken using a close up angle, of a part of my composition. The red circles illustrate which images I will include in my portfolio.
Outcome:
My final piece was a blend of all four artist I looked at in unit two, Identity. My first artist, explored identity through culture, to carry that through into this development, I used silver gems, which were a reoccurring feature in my developments, on the rims of the umbrella. The idea of using an umbrella did not originate from any artist, but represents my own take on identity. The symbolism of the object, lies within the images of my grandma's university group. Upon asking her what she would consider a part of her identity, she mentioned the people and memories from this time. I view identity as something individual yet translated through generations. Part of my identity is from her and her identity. From my second artist, I chose the use of legs. I decided to attach them to the top of the umbrella. Next, from my last artist, Lisa Kokin, I was inspired by her use of collage and decided to extend this by adding depth to a gallery and have it hanging rather than two dimensional. To extend the presentation of this work, I could create a gif or include a person underneath it. These images were taken with an f-stop of 1.8, which helps to blur the background and allow the image to focus on specific parts of the photo rather than the whole composition. This is achieved through the wider lens which then can let more light in the lens and allow better focus. To heighten this affect I use an ISO of 32.
Highlighting Success:
I used these images in my highlighting success, because of the way they help demonstrate the different elements of my work. In the two right hand images, the camera was on a lower f-stop setting. A narrow aperture limits the amount of light allowed through the lens and allows the camera to focus on a specific part of the image, blurring the background. On the other hand, the left images were taken with a higher, wider aperture which does not blur the background.
Presentation Experimentation:
I went on to take another shoot, but this time using a person below the umbrella holding it. I did this to transform my composition and make it more realistic. I then took a video and used gifmaker to make a gif showing me walking below it. This added the concept of unrevealed identity and shows that my identity can be represented through my final piece and does not have to be explained or seen.
Gifs Experimentation::
These gifs do not include a person and instead show the umbrella being held from different positions. The first gif illustrates the piece being suspended by thread from above, whereas the second gif includes a person holding the umbrella shaking it subtly. I created gifs because I felt that the images did not capture how the piece naturally sat and moved. I would like to reshoot these gifs to improve the quality as in the process of making a gif, they have been stretched. These videos were taken with an f-stop of 1.8, which helps to blur the background and allow the image to focus on specific parts of the photo rather than the whole composition. This is achieved through the wider lens which then can let more light in the lens and allow better focus. To heighten this affect I use an ISO of 32.
Reshoot:
Contact Sheet:
These images were shot with a camera that had an aperture of 1.8 and an ISO of 132. The exposure is lower meaning less light enters the camera lens due to the lower ISO. Furthermore, the f-stop blurs the background and makes the centre of the images the main focus of the image. This contact sheet shows the images from my photoshoot. I made two, one of a street and one on my roof terrace. This gives me the opportunity to choose which photographs I like the most and would like to edit, which I have shown through crosses and circles.
Edits:
I chose a series of galleries to present my work as there where different focuses in my edits and my photoshoot. The images show my final piece in a street, on steps, on a roof. Throughout these images, I have incorporated elements from Guy Bourdin, a fourth artist I looked at, and Maurizio Anzeri. Both of them used legs in photographs to capture movement. Furthermore, I have taken these images against bright coloured houses. The colours are reflective of those used in Bourdin's images. These edits did not require editing just cropping them using the rule of thirds, which makes the centre of the photo the umbrella. I wanted to show how the umbrella photographed with wind, and in a more casual setting. To expand this work, I could create gifs.
Highlighting Success:
I chose these images for the highlighting success as they present my final piece in a unique way to show character and depth. Furthermore, the angles used, close-up, medium shot, or a low angle, add dimensions to the umbrella and emphasise the legs underneath, a reference to Bourdin.
Gifs:
I have created gifs to present my work, the gifs are composed of up to thirty images per gif to create a moving picture. I set the animation speed to 75-150, making the action smooth. To improve on my previous gifs, I did not use videos and convert them to a gif, because otherwise the quality and frame becomes distorted. By making these edits, I can show the movement and also make the photographs more realistic. The images used in these gifs, are taken using an aperture of 1.8, which blurs the background, so that the centre of the images feature the umbrella.
Highlighting Success:
I have created a highlighting success for my gifs to show my most successful gifs. I chose these because the action ran the smoothest and does not appear jittery, which is a risk of creating gifs out of multiple images. This reshoot, has helped develop my work and incorporate other elements explored in my identity project such as Guy Bourdin's use of colours.