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

My Top 40 Photos

Print Technique - Soft Focus

Work Diary - Multi Imagery

Evaluation:
In this section I took a range of images of foliage and then using a checkerboard layout, I gave what was a very simple series of images the illusion of one large image that had sections removed. This give a kind of trick of the eye and turns a dull image to an intriguing image, as the eye fills in missing section.

Again a similar subject matter of some foliage. But by increasing the amount of squares the image becomes much more abstract to the point where you need to look very hard to see what the image is made up from. Both the texture of the foliage and the repetition of squares appear to become more equally important as the frequency of repetition increases. Where as in the first image the foliage is the most important factor.

By taking the multiple imagery to more extreme lengths and overlaying in photoshop the patterns created become ever more textural and repetitious and the focal point of the image and the fact that each square is foliage is almost of no importance as below.

Progression:
If I were to continue this I would like to add different layers of photos to create a more complex image which would be more interesting. I would need to take multiple images from the same point of view and by moving the elements around such as a persons limbs and by combining these in photoshop the image could become very surreal. The repetition of the ladies becomes the intriguing part of the images.

This is a good example of what I could achieve in photoshop. But it would take a lot of retouching and a lot of layers work to achieve. Here the photographer has used a dark dress so making it easy to blend the image seamlessly.

This is the type of image I would like to do because it is made of lots of layers and has a duplicated person in it. The repetition of the person and the fact the in each pose she is dressed differently ads a new element to the shot.In this way a timeline is presented in a single shot as each images add a further activities and dimension to the character. The brain starts interpreting and creating a story of contexts of the events.

Pre-completion Evaluation

As we reach the end of this project I feel fairly confident in my work because as far as I can tell I have been on target and my work is up to a high standard which will give me a good mark. Even though we haven't reached the end i have more work to do because I am missing the last 3 lessons of this project which means I have some work to catch up on or to do before the end of the project hand in. I still enjoy the work and am finding it even easier then I did before we started the newer section.

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.