Work Dairy - Mapplethorpe

Evaluation:

In this Mapplethorpe inspired shoot I enjoyed going out and taking interesting outdoor photos that I felt replicated some of Mapplethorp's work. It was not that easy as most of Mapplethorp's work was done in a studio but I did find some backdrops which I felt worked. Mapplethorpe nearly always used models so my friend helped me here. Her serious look was to try and match many of the models Mapplethorpe used as not many were ever smiling in his work. 

In this photo I like the use of shadow and the attitude of the model. It all added up to the kind of  posed but slightly surreal feeling in some of his shots. Mapplethorpe very often used plain backgrounds which helped to through the subject forward.

In this one I like how I have part of the face that is slightly off and the background is out of focus.

Progression:

If I were to continue this I would like to try some more shoots but in some more interesting possessions and backgrounds. I would also like to make some more controversial images because that is what Mapplethorpe does. Mapplethorpe is an interesting photographer because he only really gets controversial images and doesn't really care what people think of them because it is his style of photography.

  

Here is another type of photo I would like of a white and black guy over each other. This photo shows a contrast between the two colours black and white in two ways. Th first being the black man in on a light background and the white man is on a dark background. The next section of contrast is the two men themself being so close gives a contrast because of the colour of their skin.

Another image I would like is to add props to an image to make it more interesting. In this image we can see that Mapplethorpe has decided to show the evil within him by adding horns on to him.

Straight Images - Mapplethorpe

Mapplethorpe Notes

Bellow are some facts and information about Robert Mapplethorpe:

Facts from the internet:

• Born in 1946 November 4th in Floral Park, Queens, New York, USA.
• Died March 9th 1989 at the age of 42 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, of aids.
• Known for his sometimes controversial large-scale, highly stylized black and white photography.
• His main work was celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-portraits and still-life images of flowers.
• Most controversial work is that of the underground bondage and sadomasochistic BDSM scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s of New York.
• The homoeroticism of this work fuelled a national debate over the public funding of controversial artwork.

Facts from the Mapplethorpe video:

• Mapplethorpe is one of Americas most controversial photographers.
• At the age of 16 Mapplethorpe trained at an art school.
• Mapplethorpe used his friends as models for his work.
• Most of his photography was in black and white.
• Mapplethorpe would normally take photos of his own life that he lived, that being of a gay sexual nature.
• His first portrait was of Patti Smith they use to live together and were friends. 
• Lots of Mapplethorpe's controversial photography was of gay couples and often contained nudity.   
• Some of Mapplethorpe's prints went for $15,000 and a shoot with him cost about $10,000.
• Some of his work was used for album covers.
• Lots of Mapplethorpe's work contained and made people aware of sex, violence, race discrimination and other such things.
• He would normally use soft lighting.

Straight Images - Mapplethorpe Studio

Work Diary - Mapplethorpe Studio

Evaluation:

During this shoot in the studio I tried to replicate the way Robert Mapplethorpe used tone and shadow to show off his subject. I enjoyed coming up with ideas like Mapplethorpe's work. For example I got images with subjects holding a knife, someone tied up and people looking dead and lifeless.

Not quite the menace I was hoping for but I was trying to replicate the tone and shadow of the original image. Even though this is no were near as menacing as the image Mapplethorpe did this is still fairly menacing and still would create a little bit of controversy between some partys of people.

I like the almost mannequin feeling to this shot and the feeling on the subjects face is uncomfortable and slightly manic. Which appeared in some of Mapplethorpe's work. This type of expression can be seen in many of MApplethorpes works.

Progression:

If I were to continue this I would try and use more exaggerated lighting from extreme angles with greater contrast.  Mapplethorpe appeared to do all this particularly in his Black and White work.
I would like to get some body builders in the studio and try and light them as Mapplethorpe did. Mapplethorpe had a very controversial type of taking photos which i have decided to take in to controversial and have already taken some more interesting shots that are also controversial. He liked images that lend themselves to contrast and he lit from angles that showed off the body.

Herre we see a rather menacing image of Mapplethorpe with a knife which make him look more like he is in a gang of some sorts. I like this image because to shows that Mapplethorpe isn't afraid to show people what he thinks of himself.

Here we see Mapplethorpe in front of an inverted pentagram which is the main sign used in worshiping satan and is seen as a symbol of satanic cults. We also see that he is holding a Thomapson submachine gun with a circular clip. This image implies that he is going to go out and kill lots of people in the name of satan. This would have defiantly been seen as being controversial because during American in this time we know that most of the population is Christian and have very strong views on stuff like this.

Image Bank - Mapplethorpe Portraits

Here are some images by Robert Mapplethorpe that I found on the internet. Mapplethorpe was a rather controversial photographer at the time and one of the less controversial image types he did was portraits which he did for a lot of people.

Here we see a picture of a woman which at first glance looks average but Mapplethorpe's use of focus and contrast makes the shot almost ethereal.

In this image I think Mapplethorpe is making a statement that woman should be seen not heard and the tape makes degrades the woman to no more than an object.

Here we see a self portrait of Mapplethorpe. I think this was carefully contrived to make him look cool and is reminiscent a James Dean image from the early 50's

Mapplethorpe having fun, and playing with low light to emphasise the devil theme.  

A simple but classic study of light and dark but I think the background of the black man. If I was to do this I would make the background of the Black man totally white.

Another self portrait of Mapplethorpe typical of 50's movie imagery.