Sandy Skoglund inspired work- Object misplacement

Whilst researching my work I found this photographer and was really interested in her work. She uses sculptures to create these amazing images that are far from realistic. I was inspired by this and wanted to create something similar. I also felt I needed to refresh myself with Photoshop and use this as a basis. I used Photoshop to edit the images individually then use a highlighting tool to ad the images together. This created the illusion that the image contained lots of small mannequins rather than them being edited together. Overall I am not impressed with this image as it took me a while to create and I don't believe they are of the highest quality as they could be. It did not give me the desired effect and so I am disappointing with this. I know to improve it next time I will use an object that is more realistic and an environment that is more suited. Overall I am not impressed with my result and would try harder and think about it more next time. Here is my final result:

I feel like you can tell the image is inspired by Sandy Skolund yet I feel it looks amateur and unprofessional. I know what I need to do to imrpove. 

Photographer #13 Marcela Paniak

Marcela Paniak

I take English Literature as an A-level and one of the texts we are studying is a play named 'A Streetcar named Desire. This play's story does not relate to my photography work and I wont try and force it, but the setting in the play is named Elysian Fields. When I was browsing on the lensculture.com website I came across this. This photographer had explored Elysian Fields in more depth. Elysian Fields is a mythological place where blessed souls of the dead stay. The photographer explained it like this:

"In the underground land of eternal peace and after death happiness the souls which are devoid of all suffering and desires stroll through the pale meadows surrounded by invisible lira music, poplars and asphodels; flowers which symbolize death, grief, sadness, melancholy, sentimentality and eternity. 
These works are carte-de-visite photographs decorated with dried flowers and they show the issue of human mortality, immortality of the images and time passing" 

I really like the idea of taking old picture and using physical objects such as flowers to distort them and recreate the image. Its like we are continuously adding to the persons life and in some way we are linked.

Below I have added a few that I like and want to recreate:



https://www.lensculture.com/search/projects?q=sadness&modal=true&modal_type=project&modal_project_id=42465

 

Photographer #12 Toni Meneguzzo- Holy Cows

Similar to Michael Somoroff and August Sander who I looked at. Both have removed their backgrounds and then created another within this frame. The way these images have been cropped shows how the same frame can create such a different and strange image. These look very effective and show you how strange things can be once you stand back and analyse the situation,

Here is a quote from the photographer himself about the project and what it includes:

!After making the photograph,  the animals were cropped, making them float on the milky white, to emphasize the artistic work done by the locals on the cows because the surrounding rural and bucolic scenery is so imbued with Indian folk icon to mitigate the stylistic and artistic contributions used to celebrate the perpetual ritual of life and the sanctity of the animal"
.....
"This research led to produce 92 images of holy cows, exploring several Indian states —Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Uttar, Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Rajasthan — visiting their high-density rural villages to find the cows dressed up for the celebration of Pongal, Wangala, Holi festivals"

Update - Iara Di Stefano Inspired

Iara Di Stefano

Previously I looked at the idea of freezing some text and re-photographing the ice, This creates a really interesting effect and gives you the chance to use text but physically in the image. I wanted to try and freeze some text from on of the most recent books that inspired me. The book is called
  A Million Little Pieces by James Frey 

The book was a random find but I randomly got hold of it and really liked it. The book itself was intended as an autobiographical graphic story of a man who has a very bad drug and alcohol abuse issue and he wanted to get better. He signed up for a trip to a rehabilitation center and the story follows his daily life. In the book he talks about how drug and alcohol abuse is something you chose to do and that it is controlled by you and no-one else.

“Addiction is a decision. An individual wants something, whatever that something is, and makes a decision to get it. Once they have it, they make a decision to take it. If they take it too often, that process of decision making gets out of control, and if it gets far out of control, it becomes an addiction. At that point the decision is a difficult one to make, but it is still a decision. Do I or don't I. Am I going to take or am I not going to waste my life or am I going to say no and try and stay sober and be a decent person. It is a decision. 

This really sparked a thought with me as a concept the thought of alcoholism and drug abuse seems like something that sections you from society and that leads to you feeling misplaced in the world. I continued to read the book with a different mind set and had this photographer in mind. The way the photographer has used text in this way almost explains the book in a picture.

For the photograph I used this quote from the book and simply placed it in a tub in which I had previously frozen some water. Then placing the quote on top I  simply added more water and froze again. The results of my first try didn't come out exactly as I wanted but it has helped me improve my work if I was to repeat it again,

“Unlike most of the other crayons, Black has hardly been used. People probably avoid Black because it isn't considered a happy color [...] I, however, like Black. It is a color that makes me comfortable and the color with which I have the most experience [...] I like Black, goddamnit, and I am going to give it its due.” 
― James Frey

Photographer #11 Ashley Whitt

I was conducting research for another project in one of my other current A-Levels and came across Ashley Whitt. I, at first ,thought I recognized the images but when I looked closer I realized hey were just similar in some way.
This collection of images is called : Sculptural Bookmaking 2010
The images look at books and have shaped them and added things to them to create these images. They have quite a haunting effect about them and I think this is due to the lighting. It creates an eerie atmosphere as some of the book themselves are burnt and frayed. It almost reminds me of the photographer Heidi Kirkpatrick which I looked at HERE 
These photographers are similar in a way that both have the creepy atmosphere that reminds me of haunting memories. I like the way they gives this effect even though the images themselves are quite innocent and don't have any specific scary elements.

I interpret these images as a look into someones mind and a look at their thoughts. This looks like inside someones head as it is quite specific. The way they have been burnt or ripped is in a certain way as if someone has seen it previously. This gives me the idea that the images could represent my word of MISPLACED as they fit nicely with the idea that I had a while ago about misplaced memories and trying to repress them.

This project explores depression and anxiety and here the photographer talks about this project in relation to that:

"The Haunted Mind is a body of work that addresses themes of duality, anxiety, and mortality. When my mother passed away five years ago, I became consumed by depression and anxiety. These images are visual representations of the fears and anxieties that exist within myself. Multiple figures inhabit the frame to depict internal conflicts and the duality that exists within the self. Inspiration for the series comes from literature, film noir, nightmares, and an obsession with death. The images are primarily created in wooded areas and isolated landscapes in order to visually depict the unconscious mind"

The images have a eerie feel similar to the images that I have looked at previously.The black and white effect adds scary effect these images have. Here are a few of my favorite: 

Photographers #8/9- Michael Somoroff and August Sander

I am really getting stuck into the Misplace theme and looking online I found this really interesting set of images. I have come across something similar in the past and really enjoyed it.
These photographers Michael Somoroff and August Sander have used photography in a strange but very effective way. They have taken images of a subject and either doing something or posing for the camera and then simply removed the background to have a plain image. I like the way they look as they really do say a lot even without much in the frame. The lack of subject makes it really interesting and almost quite eerie. The following images are the ones that really caught my eye.

Linking with my theme of Misplaced: I feel these images link as they show a history to whoever is in the images. For example the man in the images may have a story or past and the fact he is not in the images or has disappeared from the images is showing him as a misplaced character . I want to try and recreate these images and see what the outcome is like for experimental purposes:

Photographer #7- Sandy Skoglund

Research brought me to the photographer Sandy Skoglund who is a artist and sculptor and has create these quite abstract and vivid images. She create these bright and colorful images by reproducing an object multiple times within a frame.  This creates the illusion that all the objects are real and altogether create a fascinating image.
I want to try and recreate something similar just to experiment with the camera and see if the results are similar.
I like the way there are people sometimes in the frame as it makes them look like the odd ones out, appose to the strange object that is repeated. I love the idea of these images as they are so unrealistic yet make the people in them look like the ones out of place.

Misplaced memories- THRICE UPON A TIME

Odette England- 2012

  "The resulting images mythologise my holy land, an inheritance I ache for."

I was inspired by Odette England to create a more conceptual idea of misplacement. Odette used old negatives she had taken on her family farm and attached them to the soles of her families feet. This meant the negatives were scratched, ruined, ripped and all together broken apart, Odette says some "were so ruined they had to be pieced back together with tweezers" Odette used the phrase "The dominant motive for this work is my longing for an idealized vision of home" She wanted to look at the idealist family life and compare to hers and her home.

I am inspired by her work as I like the idea of memories and the past being misplaced. This technique can allow us to try and keep hold of the past in a more materialistic way but also showing how truly daily life can be affected by our actions. This links with how the negatives are ruined by our footsteps and our daily tasks. It could be a representation of the way we are affected by our surroundings and how people can be surrounded with people who are not always what they think they are. 

Here are some of Odette's images and the ones that I really think I have taken inspiration from; 

I love the way the images are completely different from each other yet both show wear and tear and how we are effect so much from our surroundings. 

http://www.bu.edu/prc/exposure/exposure2012/exposure2012_england.htm

Misplaced Memories

ODETTE ENGLAND- PHOTOS OF ME WITHOUT ME

I was browsing on Odette England's website and came across another series of images she had completed. She has taken old family photos and cut physically into the image and removed her and put the image back together again. This shows an image of the background just without her. 

I really like this idea for misplacement as she is taken out of the images, almost as a misplaced character of her past. 

It's like the images tell a story of her past without her even being recognized.

Here are the images that caught my attention:

Dark room development PRACTICE

I wanted to create a physical image that represented misplacement so I decided to work in the dark room to create something. I feel I don't use the dark room that often so when I was using it, I struggled to get the routine back but once I started it came naturally.

I used some old negatives left over from another class room to start practicing. I used an image of a boy I found and then used a collection of objects over the top to act as a misplaced item. Here are the results: I am not impressed with the results as I know I can re-do them with better quality. I feel like with them being test sheets I has allowed me to explore experimentation and practice with these images.