catherine christofis
Catherine Christofis
personal brief
My personal brief is to look at the ways that I can take fashion/portraiture photography and make it sculptural or enhance the image with elements other than just the model on his/her own. This might include physical manipulation of photographs, photoshopping images in interesting and new ways or changing the way the model looks using props and other interesting materials that you wouldn't usually find in fashion photography.
Gordon magnin
Gordon Magnin is a Los Angeles based artist who takes 'found photos' (photos that someone else has taken) and collages them to give them a different meaning. The photos he uses are commercial photos often of celebrities and female models which are intended originally 'to direct and control public perception, consumer activity, and self image'. The way that he edits them, he removes the commercial beauty from them and makes it so their faces are unidentifiable.
I like the idea of altering and collaging a structure so that it is no longer beautiful or identifiable as what it once was.
I like the idea of altering and collaging a structure so that it is no longer beautiful or identifiable as what it once was.
I created my own pieces inspired by both of these artists, but was heavily influenced by the work of Gordon Magnin in my experimental pieces. I took some portraits of people and collaged them on Photoshop by just selecting areas, copying them onto a new layer and moving them around to imitate the work of Gordon Magnin.
I think the photos I created were really successful, but I don't have confidence in the originality of this idea. I could use elements of collage further on in my project to make it more interesting but I'm not going to continue it as an idea because I want to develop a more creative and original idea.
Mike dargas
Mike Dargas is a German artist who creates hyper-realistic paintings. He is most well known for his paintings of people with things dripping down their face, mostly honey, chocolate syrup or paint, but many of his other paintings explore the way that skin can be covered or hidden such as wrapping crumpled paper and wet frabric around the face or other body parts.
To create work inspired by Mike Dargas' artwork I bought some chocolate sauce (link on the photo) and squeezed it over my friend's forehead and let it naturally drip downwards over her face, to give the same drippy and streaky effect that Mike Dargas has in his paintings. I was interested to see how and if the chocolate sauce would alter her facial structure.
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I didn't use a background which meant that the lighting in this series of photographs was bad and the background wasn't aesthetically pleasing so I blurred the background and made the photo brighter. I found it difficult to select around her hair, especially with the texture background so if I continue this strand I will use a piece of paper behind my model to make sure that I don't run into this problem again.
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I tried to obscure the face further by applying the techniques I had learned when experimenting in Photoshop to create pieces like Gordon Magnin's work.
Out of my three strands this is my favourite and the one I am going to develop because I think that there are lots of ways that I could explore the idea of obscuring and making the face sculptural. I think that editing the photos to duplicate and layer them in an abstract collage-like way removes the structure of the face and helps to 'dissect' the face into sculptural chunks rather than one large body, although it slightly detracts from the drips because it disjoints the fluidity of them.
Blake little
Blake Little is a photographer based in Los Angeles. His series of photographs titles 'Preservation' shows people caught in movement, but trapped in viscose honey, making them look like sculptures in action or as if they are froze in time, like a beetle preserved in amber. He sought out models with a wide range of ages and different body types because he thought that the honey had a 'democratising' effect on each photograph because by transforming them into sculptures, he removes their identity which allows people to look past traditional ways of categorising people. As well as this it also presents the people as vulnerable and unprotected, because it gives a visual of a newborn fetus, covered in a nourishing substance.
I chose to look at and try to imitate the work of Blake Little because I think that the honey distorts and changes the way that the face and body looks, so I bought some honey to pour over my friends face and a black piece of A2 paper to stick on the wall behind her because the background of Little's photos are black and I like how the honey drips stand out against the dark background. We did the photoshoot in the bath to try and avoid mess and because I don't have a professional place to shoot the photos where it would be okay to make a lot of mess. This was a bit of an issue because the lighting in my bathroom isn't dim and the overhead light has a yellow colour to it, but flash made it harder to see the clearly defined streaks of honey.
I liked how this turned out because of the shape and smoothness of the drips of honey which I think look really nice but because I didn't use much honey and it is quite see through, it doesn't have the impact I would like it to have where the face is shown differently to how it actually looks and seems like more of a sculpture than a face; the model in the photographs is more predominantly the focus of the images than the honey. By editing this in a collage-like way it helps to eliminate this effect because her face becomes a completely different shape and you have to look harder at the photographs to understand what you are looking at, enhancing the honey drips somewhat.
After I tested it with honey, I tried it out with some strawberry syrup. This time I did it on my friend's hand as well as her face because I wanted to test out the effect it would have on other parts of the body, not only the face. The photos of her hands were lighter because there was less in the foreground which left the background looking quite noisy.
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Some problems I faced when trying to create photos this way were that my friends didn't want as much to be poured on them as is in Blake Little's photos, and I wouldn't have a suitable place to do it in such large volumes anyway. I am going to move away from the idea of obscuring structure with honey and other viscous substances because I want to explore other ways it can be done more effectively.
juke schoorl
Juke Schoorl is a Dutch photographer who likes to manipulate her subjects to make them look like something else. She is most well known for her fascination with the human body and the ability to manipulate the skin and flesh to make it look like something completely different. She uses simple and cheap materials such as tape and nylon fishing rope to pull and shape the skin in fascinating ways which makes it look like it's not skin at all.
I like the way that she is able to disassociate the body parts with the rest of the body by taking photos which only focus on certain parts of the body. I want to explore her techniques because it links to manipulating and obscuring the shape of the body and face and I think that it's particularly interesting that she is resourceful and uses cheap easily supplied materials, and I am going to attempt this myself because it would be easily for me to buy the things that I need to recreate it successfully.
I like the way that she is able to disassociate the body parts with the rest of the body by taking photos which only focus on certain parts of the body. I want to explore her techniques because it links to manipulating and obscuring the shape of the body and face and I think that it's particularly interesting that she is resourceful and uses cheap easily supplied materials, and I am going to attempt this myself because it would be easily for me to buy the things that I need to recreate it successfully.
I sourced some cheap materials to do a photo-shoot inspired by the work of Juke Schoorl including:
I used the materials that I had gathered and used them in different ways to manipulate my friend's face. I used the vinyl bumpers and stuck them onto different places on her face to try and make it look like growths or spots. I then used the clear straws, because I couldn't find any clear plastic rods like Juke Schoorl had, and had her hold them into her face to push it in. After this I used Sellotape and twine and wrapped these around her head in an attempt to push and squeeze the structure of her face around.Juke Schoorl used the twine to pull the skin away from the body but I couldn't find a strong enough glue which would be safe for her skin to hold the twine on. Finally I used some eyelash glue to stick mirror mosaic pieces onto her face underneath her eyes and on her forehead because I thought this would change her facial structure in the way that it would reflect other parts of her face in it and make it seem like it has more surfaces, or that you could reach into it. |
I am happy with the way that these photos turned out, I think that the ones with the fishing twine, mirrors and vinyl bumpers look the best out of them all. The natural sunlight helped me a lot in this shoot because it created some more interesting patterns and shadows on her face. I found it difficult to decide where to position things for a lot of the elements in this photo-shoot so there isn't much variation in all of the photos. It was hard to tie the fishing twine so I had to hold one side whilst my friend pulled another piece tight around her face which meant that I couldn't use as much as I wanted, but I still really like the effect because you cant see the twine very much so it gives more of an impression that the skin is doing it on its own rather than being changed. One that I didn't think worked very well was the Sellotape around her face, partially because it wasn't very sticky.
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I like the way that these photos turned out after I edited them and made them a bit brighter, especially the ones with the sticky dots because it's hard to determine what it is in the photograph (which was my aim), and I think that they are almost reminiscent of 'Glass Tears' by Man Ray which I saw in the Radical Eye exhibition at Tate. Despite this, the rest of the photos didn't turn out as abstract and sculptural as I would have liked them and think that there is more I could have done to alter the structures.
serge lutens
Serge Lutens is a photographer born in northern France who photographs, styles, and does all of the makeup for his models. He is primarily the owner of a makeup and perfume company. His fashion photography is surreal, he uses props and makeup to create 'otherworldly' looking images, planning every part meticulously and including many different themed elements that tie together into a well polished image.
I did a photo-shoot loosely inspired by the work of Serge Lutens, although I knew it would be difficult to achieve such a polished and well rounded image like he does. I wanted to channel the typical french and simple style, so I styled Elodie in a black turtleneck and gold hoop earrings. I wanted to do a more dramatic and extravagant makeup look but my makeup skills are not particularly good, so I decided on something simpler which complimented the simplicity of the theme after doing some sketches.
I had some difficulty with he lighting at the beginning, but after I turned off my lamp which was creating a yellow light in the image and pointed my spotlights at her, the lighting was much better. I created some dramatic lighting by pointing the lights at her from the side.
After making this image black and white and increasing the contrast and vibrancy I like how these images came out. The shadow is dramatic and the images have a very simple but striking look. Despite this, I think to successfully create images as complex and styled as Lutens' work I would need to have a lot more resources and props, and my makeup skills are not good enough to create a crisp and dramatic makeup look. For this reason I wont be continuing with an idea which involves making an interesting fashion portrait using makeup and props.
Julie cockburn/maurizio anzeri-
altering images
Maurizio Anzeri (left) is an Italian artist who works in London. He finds vintage images and stitches directly into them, usually in geometric, or bold and interesting patterns with striking lines and bright colours which harshly contrast the photos. He does this as a way to ' to explore the essence of signs in their physical manifestation', showing what he imagines the subjects thoughts or feelings to look like on top of the image.
Julie Cockburn (right) is a London based artist who uses found objects and 'contradicts the generic and mass produced' by stitching over photographs delicately, making what would be considered useless have importance and value.
Julie Cockburn (right) is a London based artist who uses found objects and 'contradicts the generic and mass produced' by stitching over photographs delicately, making what would be considered useless have importance and value.
I used the video here that I found on Youtube to gain an understanding of the way that Maurizio Anzeri Works before beginning to embroider into my own photos which I transferred onto some plain white cotton using transfer paper compatible with any regular inkjet printer.
I used embroidery thread and split it into one strand so that I could get the same effect as Anzeri has in his work, because a thciker piece of thread would have been to chunky and ruined the delicate appearance of the sewing.
I used embroidery thread and split it into one strand so that I could get the same effect as Anzeri has in his work, because a thciker piece of thread would have been to chunky and ruined the delicate appearance of the sewing.
These came out well, I think they are more reminiscent of Anzeri's work than Julie Cockburn's work. A challenge I faced was realising that Anzeri has to plan out his works in advance and possibly also mark out where each hole for each stitch will go, making sure they are equal distance apart, because in the piece on the right if I stitched too close/far apart then the stitches would get bunched up and I wouldn't be able to fit any more in, so I started over a few times with that piece. I think I want to carry the embroidery idea through my exam piece because it nicely exhibits my skill using textiles as an art form.
As an extra experiment I tried using an emulsion transfer, which involved me printing out my image onto paper using a regular inkjet paper, placing it face down onto a material (cardboard in my case) and covering the back of it in the emulsion. I left it to dry and then used a damp sponge to rub the paper off of the back gently, leaving behind a reverse of the image on the cardboard. This left a nice dappled and worn-paint type of effect to the image and I particularly like how some ares haven't been rubbed away or some are darker than others. This is an interesting idea and I could revisit it later on if I wanted to find an interesting way to transfer an image onto some other materials and surfaces. |
physical manipulation of the film
Next I thought it would be interesting to create some portraits where I shot on a SLR film camera and then stitched and scratched into the film. I took some simple headshots with a white background because I wanted the focus to be on the effects that I was going to impose onto them. To do this I had to go into a room that was completely black, unravel the film and then try to sew along the film without being able to see what I was doing. I used the needle and scissors to scratch the film when my thread ran out and also poked holes in the film with the needle.
In the contact sheet above you can see the different types of marks that I made. I found it particularly difficult to sew in the pitch black because if i had a knot or I dropped my needle it was hard to rectify the situation. I developed the images onto a range of different types of paper, which was quite time consuming because some papers were older and curled and they had different exposure times so I had to make lots of test strips. I exposed onto some older matte paper and some glass paper, but the gloss papers came out the best.
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These images came out very nicely, the ones with the most varied marks across them are the most effective. In particular, the images which I sewed across are interesting because you can see the shadow of the thread across the image and also really small fibres that have been magnified in the developing process. Although I like these images, they look aged and worn and are aesthetically quite pleasing to look at, I feel as though they bring me to a standstill because I want to find a more exciting way to manipulate my images. Also considering my theme, I think the effects on the film draw attention away from the subject matter a little more than I would like, instead of enhancing and complimenting it.
MELISSA ZEXTER
Melissa Zexter is an American photographer who embroiders into her photographs, in an attempt to challenge the way that modern day images have lost their own 'object status', because so many commercial images are so easily appropriated and reproduced en masse. By combining an old technique such as embroidery with a relatively modern one, photography, she can create images that are completely one off and are no longer reproducible objects. The subjects of the images are often that which hold a lot of meaning to her and relate to her memories and personal experiences.
Inspired by her work, I took some of the photos from the previous shoot where I had experimented on manipulating the film and I embroidered into them in her messy and colourful style, because I thought it would be interesting to see the two effects combined together. For this I separated some embroidery thread into single strings and started sewing straight into the original photos without thinking too much about what colours I would use or where I would make the next stitch.
These images came out very successfully, I think I captured Zexter's messy and slightly haphazard, artistic style in the images and I think the placement of the stitching looks nice, because I didn't think too hard about where I would sew so it looks natural and almost free form. Despite this, because of the thick matte paper I had the images developed on I found it difficult to get the needle through from time to time and often had to poke the hole in the paper using my needle before I started to sew. Also I think it would have been better to try this out using some new portrait photos rather than the ones I had already used because the scratches and stitches on the images combined with the embroidery is a bit too much. However, I like the contrast of the black and white image and the colourful threads. If I revisit this idea I will use this same messy style of sewing but I would print them on fabric, to save time.
milk baths
Next I decided that another interesting way to physically manipulate an image would be to manipulate the model/her surroundings by photographing them in a bath of milk, or another opaque liquid. This creates an illusion of isolated or floating body parts which gives an abstract and whimsical feel to fashion photography which could be considered reminiscent of Guy Bourdin's out-there imagery. This has been done by a few famous photographers including Annie Leibovitz's famous photograph of Whoopi Goldberg in milk and Jaques Henri Lartigue.
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To recreate this idea I filled a bath up halfway with warm water and added 4 litres of skimmed milk (each litre bottle cost 75p) which made the water cloudy and milky, although I could have used more milk to increase the opacity of it.
After brightening these images and removing anything floating in the milk to make them smoother and crisper, I like how they came out. I want to carry this idea through however I feel as though considering the fashion photographers that I have looked at who use abstract and artistic methods in their work, these images are too simple and would need an extra element in them which would make them more creative and daring. To achieve this I decided to combine the milk bath idea with the work I did previously, looking at different ways to embroider into portraits to make them unique. I used some transfer paper to print one of the images on paper and then embroidered into it in a similar style as before.
Here I decided to use a black and white photo printed onto cotton using inkjet transfer paper, and I tested out embroidering into the transfer on a small portion of the image. The embroidery is good and it was much easier to embroider onto the print than it was into paper, but I should have taken advantage of the fact that it was in black and white and used a colour that contrasted more with the background because the yellow looks washed out.
I also really like how the embroidery compliments the image, not overlapping her face or taking away the attention from her but enhancing the photograph, especially since the white of the milk acts as a sort of canvas. I think I will carry this idea over onto my final piece, using a black and white print, but with more vibrant thread colours and some more adventurous stitches and patterns. |
final piece
For my final piece I will create a more refined and planned out version of the embroidered milk bath photographs I created previously. The previous test helped me to realise that the images should be in black with bright coloured thread on top because then the colours can contrast better, and that my technique for photographing a model in a bath of milk needs to be more polished. To do this I photographed my friend in a bath of milk again, this time using more milk to make the water more opaque. I looked at the work of some photographers who's work has an ethereal dreamy look to it, particularly Deborah Turbeville's work which is really unsaturated and grainy and has a soft-focus washed out look to it. I will take inspiration from photos in this style for my final piece because the milk in the photographs can look very harsh and white and crisp and I want the photos to have a soft aesthetic to them and to give more of a narrative. The artists who I have drawn inspiration from for the embroidered elements of my final piece are Melissa Zexter and Maurizio Anzeri.
This time for my photoshoot I used more milk (6x75p semi skimmed 1 litre bottles) and slightly less water so that the water would be more opaque. I bought a top from a charity shop that I thought would help me to achieve the sort of etherial and mystical stye I was trying to achieve because it was floaty and had lace details. Finally, I got a bunch of carnations because they are quite small and delicate and the pink went with the colour of the top, which both contrasted against the white of the milk. I decided that I would take some close up photos of parts of the model which were partially submerged in milk, to abstract the body parts and make it unclear what the subjects of each photo was, and make it sculptural.
I think these images were more successful than the first time I tried shooting in milk, although I often couldn't avoid having a reflection on the surface of the milk which somewhat spoiled the effect, the milk is much more opaque and the colour of the shirt and the pink flowers, along with the lace in the shirt help to give the ethereal feel that I wanted. I also had a better idea of what poses would look good so I was able to get more successful shots out of the shoot. I think that I should have focused less on close up parts of the body because although these images came out nicely, they ignore my theme of portraiture and fashion so I can't necessarily use them. Below are the images I think were the most successful and will continue to edit in the style of Deborah Turbeville's photography.
To edit the photos I applied a filter on photoshop called watercolour which makes photos look like watercolours but because my photos are large the effect is less intense and instead it just looks grainy and noisy, which is the effect I was trying to get. Because the filter made parts of the photo which were white black, I used the clone stamp tool to remove any reflection from the milk and any shiny parts on the skin/clothes. I applied the filter twice to make it as grainy as possible. I then desaturated the photos.
I also made each photo black and white afterwards. After this I transferred the images I thought were the best onto plain white cotton using A4 inkjet transfer paper, and embroidered designs inspired by Maurizio Anzeri and Melissa Zexter into the photographs using a variety of colours of embroidery thread and an embroidery needle. |