Ian Breakwell: The Elusive State of Happiness

"Ian Breakwell was an artist and writer; a man with an eye for seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary."

He was best known of his diary project which he kept up throughout the entirety of his career. He was recognised through a wide audience due to his diverse range of artistic mediums, including:

• Film
• Video
• Television
• Photography
• Writing 

I picked out Breakwells work to look at because it inspired me on two different levels. Concept and presentation. In my project proposal I stated that I wanted to take 10 - 15 final photographs which worked alongside text in order to portray meaning. Breakwells work is interesting because it combines anywhere from 15 to 150 images together. The repetition is extraordinary and makes your eye go a little funny, darting from image to image with not one face that draws you in initially. 

Not only does he do this but he uses text in a multitude of ways so that despite the continuity between ideologies of his pieces everything is different. For instance in one set, the text could be the pièce de résistance, a small box of words. Whereas in another it could be the basis of the entire piece, a photograph being the little eye catcher. 

Breakwells approach of combining text and imagery is inspiring and definitely something I am going to consider when I start brainstorming presentation idea's.

Le Jettee

"Time travel, still images, a past, present and future and the aftermath of World War III. The tale of a man, a slave, sent back and forth, in and out of time, to find a solution to the world's fate. To replenish its decreasing stocks of food, medicine and energies, and in doing so, resulting in a perpetual memory of a lone female, life, death and past events that are recreated on an airports jetée."

I'm quite familiar with moving image and film however I'm not very confident with it and don't feel like it highlights photographic skills very well. After my attempts at creating a digital film for this project and them not going to plan, I wanted to find a way in which I could incorporate my still photography into a movie. La Jettee is a movie based entirely of film stills (not to be mistaken with stop-motion) and added voiceover and sound effects. The overall movie is a performance unlike something you have seen before. It encapsulated mood and emotion similarly to moving image with specific use of shots which highlight what the voiceover is talking about.

It is very important for the images to be interesting whilst have an accurate representation of what the voice over saying. This is to keep the audience interested as they stay on screen for quite a long time.

I would like to attempt to create a movie based around the idea's of La Jettee as I feel like with the correct voice over and imagery the movie could be quite powerful without being a documentary.

Kalliope Amorphous

Kalliope Amorphous is a photographer that experiments with lighting and the use of partially or completely blocking the lens when releasing the shutter in order to distort the image. All her image are self portraits and encompass a range of techniques in order to project her idea.

1. Glass Houses

"Exploring the malleability of identity through the use of flexible mirrors."

In this set, Kalliope Amorphous has produced a range of self-portraits that show her as completely different personalities. Whilst we know they are the same person the use of the mirror helps us to associate the ideology of how easy it is for us to transform ourselves into someone else through means of distortion and fragmentation.

Amorphous doesn't make it a secret that it's a false idea. In some frames she touches the mirror which allows us to look upon the restraints of our gullibility. I like the use of colour as it adds to the day-dreamy, hazy effect that is given, however I think it would be interesting to experiment with the use of black and white because it can draw more attention to what is happening in the image. I think that this idea would work well in reference to the mental illness Body Dismorphia. 

2. Natsukashii

"These image visually explore the themes of hope, loss, regret, love and the sometimes romanticised reflections of pivotal life experiences."

For these self-portraits, Amorphous placed herself between frosted glass and other sheer material in order to blur the face and other features. What I find most interesting is the way this has created a hazy effect, transforming it into something that could relate back to my project. These images have a sense of relation to dream states and surrealism which is why I think they will work well in reference to my work. I would like to experiment with this way of production, particularly in order to portray that depersonalised mental disorder

"White several of the images have had mirroring effects added in post-production, the majority of the effects were created through the use of long exposures and a muted stroboscopic technique to create motion and doubling of the figure."

3. Saint Celluloid

"The effects for this series were created by making several short moving portraits on video which were then looped on a movie screen. The screen was then covered with sheer veils which were manipulated at the moving portraits were captured in long exposures."

This is an effect that I would never have thought of, the idea of layering and having a lot of time and hard graft to get one image is very appealing and the outcome is very interesting. However it is very reminiscent of an out of focus long exposure and stroboscopic effect. I would like to experiment with this technique and if time permits do the entire thing so that I can see the difference in one of my own images. Again it will also work well within my theme. 

Kalliope Amorphous is a favourite photographer of mine and I know her works quite well. However I think it was important for me to visit her photography with a theoretical mind for this project because it has helped me to think about the process of taking the photograph as I have overlooked that before. Kalliope's images are reminiscent of the process which is why I think they are so encapsulating and unlike anything i've seen before. Therefore I will plan to experiment with materials, movement and lighting in order to see produce an outcome different to what I may have produced before. 

Diane Arbus "Photographer of Freaks"

"[Photography was] a little bit cold, a little bit harsh but its scrutiny revealed the truth; the difference between what people wanted others to see and what they really did see, the flaws"

Diane Arbus' photography was revolutionary of it's time, not that it was realised as this until after she has committed suicide. She effected the way in which photography was viewed. The majority of Arbus' photography was of people and the trust between herself and the subject and how much they were willing to show. The subject were scrutinised in society as being so individual it made them freaks. And this is existent in Arbus' photographs. She photographs them in a way that encapsulates you and asks for you to read further into their story and discover their truth. 

What I find most interesting about Arbus' work is the simplicity in the images. More often than not, it's just a photograph. No set, no direction. It's all candid. Nothing like Dr. Hugh Diamond, Cindy Sherman or Ian Breakwells work. It's like she has just taken a photograph for photographs sake, no meaning in it what so ever than her interest in the unique. If this is true it provides a whole, more interesting concept on her photography and makes you think more about the subjects. They're more than just a subject. 

I think this is what I need to consider next when taking photographs. I'm not longer sure whether I want to use text alongside my images because it might make what i'm trying to get across too obvious. I think I want the consumer to think more about the person in the subject, particularly what was my reason for pressing the shutter at that moment. In that way I think it will be more effective if the shots are more candid. 

Portraits of the Insane: The Case of Dr. Diamond

by Adrienne Burrows and Iwan Schumacher. 

Background

Dr. Hugh Diamond worked at mental asylums in and around London and was fascinated by the idea that photography could be used in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. At this time, photography was a new art and the conventional photographs housed people in their best attire with unsmiling faces. The exposures were long hence the lack of a smile that is conventional to photographs today. There were ostentatious backgrounds such as potted plants, draped sheets and so on.

The patients that Dr. Diamond photographed were quite the opposite. They were dressed in the hospital clothes and dawned faces of utter honesty and bored distress.

I find Dr. Diamonds photographs particularly moving, whilst arguably they are reminiscent of the portraits produced by those in higher classes the house and encapsulating feeling of narrative. The way that the patients are sat, their posture, facial expressions, presentation and props say a lot about who they are. 

Looking down at the camera could suggest a hostility. Dishevelled presentation could suggest a not quite with it patient, whereas someone wearing a cross shows them as religious. It links back to Todorovs theories of symbolism and Propps ideologies on characters in a narrative. 

Furthermore, although not customisable and present in most photographs at the time, the lighting and setup are - to me - very important in Dr. Diamonds photographs. Obviously the development process of his images changes hence the alternate tones (black and white, argyrotype etc.) set apart some of his images, but I believe this helps too. The more contrasting black and white images work together to provide the hostile, uninviting personality of some patients. Where as the washed out photo's suggest the innocence of some on the younger patients, in particularly the children. The lighter photo's, taken at more  distance add's a spacier, discerning feel.

Cindy Sherman: Untitled Film Stills

"Cindy Sherman (American, b. 1954) is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential artists in contemporary art. Throughout her career, she has presented a sustained, eloquent, and provocative exploration of the construction of contemporary identity and the nature of representation, drawn from the unlimited supply of images from movies, TV, magazines, the Internet, and art history."

As the quote above says, Cindy Sherman is most well known for her representation of contemporary identity which is why I wanted to research her within my project. Before recently I was looking a older representations of identity through portraiture but since have come into the idea of postmodernity, mass consumerism and it's effects on representation I thought Sherman would be interesting to look at. 

Cindy Sherman isn't one to stick to the 'rules' per say, she pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in consumer culture and broadened our minds to more varied ideologies based around representation.

Self Portraits

The self-portraits that Sherman did were revolutionary of the time, her use of props and setting played a key part in her representations. In the image below Sherman used a high contrast and lack of colour to make the image to dirty and gritty. The woman pictured in animal print clothing, cigarette in hand and tears rolling down her face don't help to paint the picture of the perfect housewife. 

Further more in the next image Sherman uses a pop of colour to help set the scene. Red is often a signifier of love or danger. This idea is contrasted with the strong shadows and the emotion on the woman's face in order to make her look uncomfortable. The shadow seems to be swallowing her, theoretically speaking and the way she is holding the sheet across her chest make her look vulnerable. In addition to this the subject is make direct eye contact with the camera making the consumer feel like the predator. In this way Cindy Sherman has managed to turn the technologies of the media around to make them look like the bad guys. 

Bus Riders

A different look at Sherman's work, still in keeping with the theme of representation lead me to look at her group titled 'Bus Riders'. The pieces include various people sat on a chair in front of a white wall and wooden floor. What I find most interesting about the images are the way that the subjects are presenting themselves. For example in the first image below, the lady looks quite vulnerable by the way her legs a together and she is holding her hands on her lap. The clothes she is wearing look to me like she as just go out of bed which contradicts the idea of why she would be at a bus stop. To me this then links back to the theme of my project, mental illness'. 

The man however in the picture below has a completely different ora about him. The way in which he has his legs spread apart, arms crossed against his chest and head bowed down suggest that he's bored, uncaring. 

Moreover, what I like about the images is the use of negative space, the white walls seem very daunting next to the photograph subjects. Even the shadows look as if they are being consumed by the whiteness of the walls. What's more is the relation of white to the dream-like state and surreal, this then links back to the idea that the shadows may be there own entity, suggesting multi personality disorders within the subjects. 

Fear of Being Mentally Ill (2012)

This video was particularly interesting to be because it was unlike anything i'd seen before in relation to my project and 100% out of the box. The use of the silhouette - like the previous video - made reference to a person but didn't give away any hint of identity. The overlaying eye and mouth are very surreal and make links to mental illness through the idea's of body dismorphia. 

The video is very linear and the visuals don't change much apart from the puzzle pieces deteriorating from the head. However the voiceover adds insight to the mental illness and gives the whole video another dimension.