Corinne Day was a British fashion photographer, documentary photographer and model. She left school at 16 and worked in a local bank until she sorted modelling at 18. She modelled for several years in the early eighties before discovering photography and moving to Milan.
She became close with Kate Moss in the early 90s and started photographing her. She discovered her and gave her the exposure that led to her great success. Corinne Day has come under fire due to controversial 'Heroin Chic' look of her models. This craze is still debated as it is viewed as glorifying eating disorders and heavy drug use. She photographed many dangerously skinny models throughout her career, pioneering the glorification of this body type. I was inspired by her photography as it felt like a rebellion to classic model photography and displayed the truth behind the lives of models and such a huge feature of her photography was the necessity of a relationship with the subject. I have also always been interested in fashion photography so I wanted to experiment with this controversial style. |
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Larry Clark is an American photographer, director and writer. He produced films such as 'Kids' and 'Bully'. He is also known for his books 'Tulsa' and 'Teenage Lust'. His work such as 'Tulsa' and 'Teenage Lust' focused on illegal drug abuse, violence and underage sex. He mainly photographed teenagers from the cultures of punk rock and the world of skateboarding.
His experience of fighting in the 1964 Vietnam war inspired him to publish his book 'Tulsa', documenting his younger friends drug abuse. Many soldiers serving in the Vietnam war struggled with addiction, many of the commanders heavily prescribed these soldiers pills to improve their performance. He wanted to show the connection between these two experiences and the drug abuse in both groups. However the drug abuse during the Vietnam war was to escape the horrors that the soldiers had to endure whereas the drug abuse in Tulsa was to escape boredom. He photographed on film in balck in white, documenting his life. He immersed himself in different groups and displayed their lives and experiences in a documentary fashion. He has been my biggest inspiration throughout this unit as the importance of relationships and true portrayal of lives he stresses have shown me that the best photography feels real, like you know the subject. His work as taught me I need to establish a connection to the lives I want to document. |
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My edited response:To make these photos resemble the style of Hugh Holland, I edited them on my laptop. I didn't use photoshop but the preview of photos has a feature similar to photoshop so I used that to alter the settings on the photo. I increased sharpness and contrast, also altering the temperature and sepia balance to increase the warmth of the photo. I also made the photos have darker levels and increased exposure so they appeared brighter, with slightly increased saturation. On the right is a screenshot of the settings on the photo after they had been altered.
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Born in 1983, Kaupo Kikkas is an Estonian photographer. He studied photography at Finland’s Visual Arts Institute, beginning his fascination with photographing cemeteries, which in the last 15 years, has taken him all over the world to some of the most beautiful and statement cemeteries in the world. He has focused his work on fine art photograpy for twelve years. He is based in Northern Europe but he works frequently in the US, UK and in Berlin. He has photographed a number of books and album covers, his work often appearing in magazines. He was named best commercial portrait photographer at the WPPI Las Vegas print competition in 2013, and was named the best Estonian portrait photographer in 2011.
His photography features war memorials and very ancient graveyards. He believes that since he took his first photos 15 years ago, he has started a lifelong project that will grow with him. He is well known for his photography of a long lost cinema in Egypt. 'I started photographing graveyards because they stir such strong emotions, and I decided it would be interesting to look at the burial traditions of different countries.' His photographs have a very eerie and morbid energy due to the locations and memorials photographed. His work inspired me as it didnt only focus on derelict locations, but also researched the most unique cemetries worldwide. |
My edited response:To edit these photos, I used the preview tool on my laptop which has the same tools as photoshop. To the right is a screenshot of the settings used to edit all my photos. As it was such a bright day in broad daylight and so dark in the shadows, I had to keep altering the settings. I tried to edit the photos using levels making it less washed out.
These are the results of my edited photos. |
Artist response : Matthew ChristopherMatthew Christopher is a photographer and the founder of 'Abandoned America'. He was raised in Pennsylvania and taught himself photography to show what makes abandoned spaces interesting and significant. He has since received an MFA in Imaging Arts and Sciences from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
The idea for 'Abandoned America' grew from research Christopher was doing into the history of mental health care and the asylum system. He states his interest in abandoned spaces as "Shuttering schools, closing factories, demolishing churches – these all have a profound effect on our way of life. While we tend to think of all movement as progress, I don’t believe the loss of these spaces is advantageous to us." I am drawn to Christopher's work as I feel it perfectly captures the word derelict. The locations he has travelled to are so beautiful and rare, they are very special images. As they are part of 'Abandoned America' and have such a rich back story it adds depth to his photography. I want to respond to his work and find a truly abandoned location to photograph. |
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Artist researched : Martha CooperMartha Cooper is an American photographer born in the 40s in Baltimore in Maryland. During the 70s she worked for the New York Post. She is mostly known for her work on the graffiti in New York.
Cooper started photography at the age of three. She left high school at 16, earning an art degree at age 19 from Grinnel College. She went on to teach English as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand. She began her work on the New York City grafitti scene when she was working at the New York Post. During this time, she met Edwin Serrano who showed the graffiti of the city, explaining that it was an art form not the vandalism it was viewed as. He introduced her to the graffiti 'king', Dondi. Dondi was the first to allow her to accompany him, she would photograph him as he worked. After meeting Dondi, Cooper became fascinated with the subculture that these artists had cultivated in New York City. In 1984, she created a book of photographs illustrating the graffiti of the city, which would later become known as "The Bible of Street Art", called 'Subway Art'. I am inspired by Cooper's work as I love the bright colours and designs juxtaposed on the grey background and city scene. Although it doesnt necessarily come under the derlict theme, I think it is a very intruiging feature of society. |
My edited response:To edit these photos, I used the preview tool on my laptop which has the same tools as photoshop. To the right is a screenshot of the settings used to edit all my photos. I used the levels tool to reduce the washed out look of the colours. I then decreased the exposure for the same reason and increased contrast and saturation to make the graffiti stand out. I increased the green tones of the photos to emphasise the plants and overgrown shrubbery to frame the artwork on the walls.
These are the results of my edited photos. |
Nadav Kander was born on the 1st of December 1961 in Tel Aviv, Israel. His family wanted to restart when he was two so they moved to Johannesburg, South Africa. He began to take photos when he was 13 on a pentax camera which he bought with his bar mitzvah money. He was drafted into the South African Air Force during the 80s. In 1986 he moved to London, where he still lives with his wife and three children. On the 18th of January 2009 he had 52 full colour portraits published in an issue of ‘The New York Times Magazine’. These portraits were of people surrounding the US president Barack Obama. During 2010-2012 he photographed a series of nude portraits called ‘Bodies, 6 Women, 1 Man’. These are from Kander's series 'Dust'. Kander photographed these abandoned towns, exploring ruins caused by the nuclear testing. While researching cities in Russia, Kander found Kurchatov and Priozersk. These towns on the Russian border weren’t documented on any maps until Google Earth ‘discovered’ them.
‘Ruins conjure paradoxical emotions. We are at the same time frightened and mesmerised by destruction, as we are by death. And without being fully aware of what is pulling me, I am continually drawn to explore this theme; the darker side of our nature, of mankind.’ I am inspired by Kander's work as his photographs are so simple but so powerful. Due to the often barren landscape these buildings sit in, they become a real focus for the picture, emphasising the ruins. To respond to his work I would like to photograph. if possible, an isolated building that has become ruins to attempt to capture the same isolation Kander does. |
During half term, I went on a walking holiday on the south west coast path in Cornwall. I walked around 14 miles a day from town to town and had to carry all of my stuff so I couldn't bring my camera. When walking the coast path, I passed an abandoned factory on the edge of a town called Par. It had trees growing all around the perimeter and moss and lichen growing on the tops of the buildings.
To photograph my fourth development on this strand and to respond to the work of Nadav Kander's series 'Dust', I photographed this abandoned power plant in Cornwall. I enjoyed exploring this plant as I'd never photographed a landscape like this. The overgrown shrubbery and plants also added to the abandoned look and added some lovely colour to the harsh stone. Having researched the work of Nadav Kander in my curatorship book, this work reminded me of his series 'Dust'. To further my photography as a response to Kander's series, I later altered the photos colouring and saturation to create more washed out and faded images than my phone camera captured. I liked responding to his work on abandoned locations however his work featured more isolated locations, which led to photographs with more character than this plant. I would love to travel to a more unique location for my next shoot. I didn't use any special tools such as studio lights as I shot with my phone camera. I feel that a film camera would have created more atmospheric photos but as I didn't know I'd come acroos this, i wasn't very prepared. Below is my contact sheet and some edited versions. |
My edited response:To edit these photos, I used the preview tool on my laptop which has the same tools as photoshop. To the right is a screenshot of the settings used to edit all my photos. I used the levels tool to reduce the washed out look of the colours due to high light intensity. I then increased the warmth for the same reason. I increased the green tones of the photos to emphasise the plants and overgrown shrubbery to frame the buildings.
These are the results of my edited photos. |
Artist researched : Ben WattsBen Watts is a British photographer based in New York. He was born in London in 1967 and studied at the Sydney College of Arts, starting his photographic career in Australia, first working as a photographer's assistant but soon started working on his own, shooting for Australian Elle and Vogue.
He was intrigued by American hip hop culture so he came to New York in 1990 and started documenting the young generation, travelling all over the city trying to photograph his subjects on film. He has since shot for several fashion brands and magazines. His work has inspired my study of the individual. Photographing them with there board and their clothing choices and how big skate brands have affected their self expression. This is a shoot of Mack Gotellier. |
My edited response:To edit these photos, I used the colour change tool in the preview of photos has a feature similar to photoshop so I used that to alter the settings on the photo. I increased softness and contrast, also altering the temperature and sepia balance to increase the warmth of the photo.
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Artist research : Andy SimmonsAndy Simmons is a London based photographer. He started skating in the late 80s and skated at Southbank up until 2006 but he started photographing it in the late 90s. As he used to photograph skaters he says it was a natural progression.
There has been lots of push to shut down the Southbank, maybe to build it up into more shops and restaurants but there has been a lot of pushing back from the community. When asked in an interview about the battle to save the Southbank, he said "Yeah. To be honest, I haven’t been too involved with the campaign, but it’s strange that an arts council wanted to get rid of it in the first place. It’s a place that’s so culturally significant and as important as anything that’s happened inside the festival hall. So many artists, photographers and filmmakers have come through there as skateboarders. I myself learned to skate and take photos there". I am inspired by simmon's work as it has such a strong position in the community, capturing the time when the Southbank was nearly closed. His photographs have a similar style to the photos I took earlier in this unit so I wanted to further develop this style. In my last skating shoot, I responded to the work of Hugh Holland, a photographer who photographed the LA skate scene, capturing similar photos. Simmon's work differs as his photography captures the much more gritty atmosphere of London in comparison to LA. To best respond to his photography I am going to photograph his favourite place, The Southbank. |
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My edited response:To make these photos resemble the style of Andy Simmons, I edited them on my laptop. I didn't use photoshop but the preview of photos has a feature similar to photoshop so I used that to alter the settings on the photos. I increased softness and contrast, also altering the temperature and lowering the saturation balance to zero to make the photo black and white. In future I will use my film camera to capture the atmosphere much easier, using black and white film. On the right is a screenshot of the settings on the photo after they had been altered.
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Artist research : David Paul LarsonDavid Paul Larson is a New York based photographer and director. These photos are from his series photographing skateboarders on the Lower East Side of New York City. He has created a new portfolio on his website devoted to documenting the skaters of the Lower East Side.
This is a quote from Pape magazine describing his work "His black-and-white images have a timeless quality that wonderfully underlines the scrappy punk spirit of any skate scene, in any neighbourhood". Larson grew up skating said "I've always loved the culture, diversity and the rebellious nature of the sport -- it's never been mainstream. These people skate because they love the sport. Its dirty, raw and dangerous. I wanted to portray this community as a raw, un-retouched, document of this culture." For this project, he found the most popular skating spot on the Lower East Side of New York, taping up a piece of white card to capture isolated portraits. He would photograph on black and white film. I am inspired by his work as it is so raw and genuine. It doesn't feel like he's trying to portray a certain look. He grew up within this culture so he is aiming to display it in its true nature. |
My edited response:To make these photos resemble the style of David Paul Larson, I edited it on my laptop. I didn't use photoshop but the preview of photos has a feature similar to photoshop so I used that to alter the settings on the photo. I increased sharpness and contrast, also altering the temperature and lowered the saturation balance to zero to make the photo black and white. In future I will use my film camera to capture the atmosphere much easier, using black and white film. On the right is a screenshot of the settings on the photo after they had been altered.
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Lewis Khan is a London-based photographer and filmmaker who mainly focuses on documentary photography. Since graduating from the Univerty of the West of England where he studied photography, he won the 2014 Shuffle Film Festival Short Film Prize for his short film 'George', a film about a man living in South London. Khan’s photograph of subject 'Gina' was taken after she performed surgery in an operating theatre was chosen for Portrait of Britain 2017. This phot was taken when Khan was living as an Artist in Residence at the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital. During this time, he created a photographic series called ‘Our NHS’, focusing on the activity within the hospital and all the people living and working within it. The images aim to show the emotional impact of working in the NHS. Gina’s portrait is particularly insightfull of the experiences of these doctors and nurses working within this environment and political age.
Lewis Khan also photographs his subjects and their environment, often presenting them as duos or trios pf photos. I was particularly inspired by these photos and they displayed the relationship between an individual and their environment. This type of relationship is very prevolent in the world of skateboarding as communtities and groups can have very distinct connections to the area they choose to skate in, a feeling of community and almost a second home. |
My edited response :To first edit it, I cropped the location photo so the portrait would fit neatly. I used the program keynote so I could layer the photos properly. I had also altered the temperature when initially editing the photos so I tried to reduce the temperature, making them a more similar tone as each other. As stated above, I used a powerpoint application to order them and resize them. They are a compilation of photos from my shoots. I then wanted to print these photos onto the deck of the skateboard to have a physical representation of my work. Below are the photo triads.
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To make these photos resemble the style of Jessica Fulford-Dobson, I edited them on my laptop. I didn't use photoshop but the preview of photos has a feature similar to photoshop so I used that to alter the settings on the photo. I increased softness and contrast, also altering the temperature and sepia balance to increase the warmth of the photo. In future I will use my film camera to capture the atmosphere much easier. On the right is a screenshot of the settings on the photo after they had been altered.
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My edited response:To make these photos resemble the style of Jessica Fulford-Dobson, I edited them on my laptop. I didn't use photoshop but the preview of photos has a feature similar to photoshop so I used that to alter the settings on the photo. I increased softness and contrast, also altering the temperature and sepia balance to increase the warmth of the photo. In future I will use my film camera to capture the atmosphere much easier. On the right is a screenshot of the settings on the photo after they had been altered.
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Artist research : Vicky GroutOriginally born in Poland, Grout and her family moved to London when she was three and have stayed here since. Although she’s become a huge part of grime photography, the more familiar you become with her work, you realise her focus is portraying the real London culture right now, rather than just documenting musicians.
Grout says she's always liked taking photos. The moment she realised she really wanted to pursue something with photography was when she was 14 and she began shooting non-stop on her parents’ old family camera, an Olympus MJU 2. She began taking photos at grime events when she was 17, she says around the time she started raving. She says she didnt consider it a project, she just wanted to document these times for herself. "I tend to have a lot of energy and so does grime music so I think the two of us go together quite nicely." She particularly favours shooting on film as "It’s really satisfying when you capture an artist in the right moment." I am inspired by her work because she emphasises the importance of having a relationship with your subject. She began photographing these artists as she loved the scene and through becoing such close friends with them, she has become one of the biggest current grime photographers. I want to photograph in this similar style, capturing details of the subject. |
To make these photos resemble the style of David Paul Larson, I edited them on my laptop. I didn't use photoshop but the preview of photos has a feature similar to photoshop so I used that to alter the settings on the photo. I increased sharpness and contrast, also altering the temperature and increased the sepia balance to make the photo look warmer. In future I will use my film camera to capture the atmosphere much easier, using coloured film.
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Artist researched : Joseph SzaboJoseph Szabo is an American photographer, born in 1944 in Toledo, Ohio.
Szabo is also a teacher and author, he began his photographic journey at Pratt Institute where he graduated with an MFA degree in 1968. He also taught photography at Malverne High School in Long Island from 1972-1999 and the International Center of Photography in New York from 1978. Szabo has been photographing his students for the past twenty five years. He captured the true culture of that time of life. As a high school teacher of photography, he takes seriously their passions, and journies, and he knows personally how students behave and misbehave. I am inspired by the connection he had to his subjects. Despite their social differences and positions in society, being teacher and student, he documented them so naturally, it is clear there weren't many barriers between them. Being a teacher, you learn the behaviours and emotions of teenagers which allows this photography to understand them and photograph them honestly. I am inspired to respond to this work as shows the imporance of having a relationship with your subject. I will respond within my skateboarding strand and respond with a similar style of photography. |