Final Major Project Evaluation

26thMay2014

(Authors Own, Steps demonstrating how I achieved my final film)

                             (Authors own, Final Film contrasting Boxing & Ballet)

Evaluation.

For the Final Major Project, we were required to gather together our skills, knowledge and understanding to carry out our own confirmatory study. We were responsible for managing our own learning and personal development that will ultimately enhance our creative and technical skills in our chosen subject area. We had to identify a series of personal project aims and creative objectives to achieve a final outcome. Being a self-directed project, it was vital that the chosen subject area was important and interesting enough to me to ensure continuous momentum and enthusiasm. With gradual progress and careful consideration, I believe I managed to achieve a well-rounded and thought provoking concept within the seven-week time frame. For my Final Major Project I decided to study the art of boxing. With a personal family link to this contact profession, I thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to explore and document the lifestyle and atmosphere created around it.

Boxing was extremely popular around the early 20th century - especially in the east end of London, but the sport had become much less so by the late 1960's by the peace and love protests against the Vietnam war. Current media attention such as the London Olympic games 2012 has helped to bring boxing back to its original admired status, and thanks to the likes of Nicola Adams receiving a gold medal for Great Britain, the sport has caught the attention of a new generation of men and women, who are discovering that boxing has little to do with violence and everything to do with a search for self-knowledge. The majority of people will argue that boxing is a dominantly male sport, which requires aggression and strength, but this is not the case. My project started to develop with the idea that the art of boxing obviously requires a lot of skill and stamina, but the secret behind the profession lies in agility and balance, self-discipline and motivation.

I have always been interested in the idea of comparing and contrasting two contradictory concepts. I feel that this notion always produces really interesting visuals. At the primary stage of this project, I began with concept boards and collages and at first they didn't seem to make any sense or show my intention. I felt unsure of where my project would take me, but this collage making process is what eventually motivated my final piece. When creating a collage of collected newspaper clippings on Adobe Photoshop, I accidentally reduced the opacity in one of the layers, creating a combination of overlapping text and images merging into one. There was very little skill involved in this process as it happened completely by accident, but the product of my accident now enabled my sporty project to evolve into something a lot more interesting and experimental. Recording this observation in a note-taking sketchbook, I moved onto comparing and contrasting boxing fashion from early 1960's to the current day. I acquired the information to create these trend reports from the newspaper clippings my family had collected over the years, and current boxing journals and magazines such as "Boxing News" and "The Ring".

I then started looking at documenting the life of boxing in detail. I researched a few photographers like Daron Bailey and Sebastian Enriquez, who have touched on photographing and documenting boxers, but I also gained inspiration from general photographers such as Adde Adesokan who is a German street photographer. I had initially planned to produce stylised photography at Repton Boxing Gym in Bethnal Green, due to its prestigious reputation as a boxing club and its amazing historical visuals. Unfortunately, because of its renowned popularity, it has become increasingly difficult to access the gym for creative pursuits and would only be available at a considerable financial cost. I initially regarded this as a major set back as I had prepared lots of ideas to generate shoots at the club. I was determined, however, not to allow this set back to interrupt my creative flow, so I started to watch boxing related movies and search the Internet for inspiration for my film. Youtube was a main stimulus source, allowing me to access interviews, unseen movie clips, and old footage that included my own family connections. While scanning Youtube I came across an interview with amateur boxer, Philip Bowes who represents Repton Boxing Club. I searched Bowes name on the Internet and contacted him via Twitter, only to discover that he had now become professional and was no longer boxing for Repton. Although I had planned on using him as a way into the club, I put the contact to good use and asked if I could come along to one of his training sessions. He was happy to help, and invited me to film one of his training sessions at Street-Wise Boxing gym in Loughton. On arrival I intended to shoot video footage only, but the atmosphere motivated me to represent the surroundings more conceptually through the medium of photography. I was thrilled with the results produced from the visit, I obtained several shoots and gathered enough video footage to start putting together a short film.

As a designer and creator, I am motivated by trying new things, so making a film to capture the art of boxing, was perfect for my final project. The main focus of making a penultimate mini-film, was for me to have an understanding of equipment and editing software. I felt that this learning curve was compulsory to producing a final film of a satisfactory standard. Having quite a high standard of skills using Adobe creative suite, made it a lot easier for me to understand the editing program Adobe Premier Pro. Although I was not entirely satisfied with the final outcome of this film, it wasn't completely useless as I collected footage that was eventually to be used in the final film. I felt that the film was not conceptual enough for a final piece, as clips were repetitive and sometimes ran for too long. I did, however, think it would work really well for an Adidas logo (mostly present throughout) or a promotional boxing advertisement. I then noticed a billboard in the street featuring an album cover of the band "Warpaint." The image depicted was interestingly difficult to define due to an overlapping effect and I thought that the imagery created was elegant and feminine and echoed some of my primary research of overlapping transparency. It provoked ideas of an alternative photo shoot and I started looking at the two artists Nir ArielI and Ho-Ryon Lee, who also both create beautiful overlapping imagery. Both artists work depict angelic figures with a contradictory sense of structured chaos. The sensation of uncertainty that the images produced interested me and eventually led to my creating something completely abstract. It became my intention to capture movement in one photographic composition.

After experimenting with many different methods of presenting interesting visuals, I also decided that a mandatory subject to cover would be to create a fashion editorial shoot. I wanted the outcome of the editorial shoot to be clean and natural, unlike the images I had produced before. Boxer, and Olympic 2012 Gold Medalist, Luke Campbell was a big inspiration for this body of work. The images produced prior to him being scouted for Select model agency was perfect and exactly what I was looking for, for inspiration. As my initial idea was to demonstrate and challenge people's pre-conceptions of fighters, I thought it would be perfect to play with the idea of a "pretty" boxer. I wanted to produce an interview or style editorial but my model was not a real boxer so I just decided to piece together snippets from Luke Campbell's existing interviews and change the name. I am more focused on the creative and visual side of editorial spreads and not journalism, so I wasn't too worried that my 'interview' piece was not genuine. The two editorial shoots produced turned out exactly as planned, they were slick, informative and accompanied by carefully selected layouts and styles. I feel that these two shoots successfully represent my initial proposal idea of contrast.

I continued to portray the concept of boxing, movement and elegance all in one composition, and in order to produce these final images I had to take around 100 photographs of a single movement e.g. skipping or punching… Potentially I wanted to capture one movement at different angles, but each photograph seemed to capture the same position every time. Embarrassingly, to resolve this problem I had to ask my model to slowly skip one at a time and I would then try to calculate by eye when I would have to release the shutter button next. This was an extremely slow process but the results produced were definitely worth the effort. Once I had collected all the photos I needed, I transferred my images into one document on Adobe Photoshop and simply altered the opacity of each layer until I was satisfied. The final result of this experimentation had a subtle dance element to it and I realised that boxers and ballet dancers both require the stamina, agility, grace and self-discipline to perform successfully. I watched the film Billy Elliot and the idea of a would be boxer becoming a beautiful dancer appealed to me and as a result I produced the shoot that was to result in my final imagery. The connection with dance was vital to my final piece and enabled me to create multiple photo shoots, designs for advertising campaigns and ideas for producing a new film.

For my final imagery, I thought of combining the two ideas of dance and boxing by creating a 3D image that had an element of sculpture and projection. Considering aesthetically pleasing ways of doing this, I began by printing my final imagery onto fabric. I thought of photographing the material and gathering it on top of the image, creating a second overlap. But then I came up with the idea of strategically pinning the fabric onto the image to create a more 3D, waterfall-like aesthetic, but this concept proved difficult to achieve. I mounted my image onto MDF board and placed my fabric over the top. Of course when lying down, the fabric has a very different quality to when lifted up horizontally. So after pinning my fabric down once, I had to then remove the pins, stand the board up and start again. I also photographed this progression of pinning the fabric to produce a simple GIF file that demonstrates the process. I continued with the idea of movement and still wanted to achieve a more three dimensional appearance. The Jean Paul Gaultier Exhibition at the Barbican had a major impact on how my project was finally concluded. At the start of the show, a series of mannequins dressed in Gaultier's dazzling apparel, had faces projected onto their heads, disconcertingly bringing the figures to life. Since creating my final imagery, visiting this exhibition gave me fantastic ideas of creating an extra dimension of movement. Although inspired by the moving projections of the exhibition, this idea proved to be too ambitious for the time I had left to achieve it. To demonstrate my idea I made a short film on Adobe Premier Pro showing the printed fabric blowing in the wind and overlapped with the still final image. After looking at the work of Mathew Stone, I incorporated this third dimension, and found an alternative use for the printed fabric. Although this forms part of the conclusion of my project, it has given me ideas of the possibilities and potential of showing imagery in the future.

Over the course of the Final Major Project, I have learnt how to think progressively and laterally with any idea and to create something aesthetic and intelligent. I feel that my extensive research gained strength and momentum because of my commitment and genuine interest in my self-directed study subject. I have been highly organised throughout and learned to over-come any obstacles by thinking outside the box, being pragmatic and not being deterred when something didn't work out according to plan. I was lucky enough to find Phillip Bowes and have access to a real gym but also planned and achieved the studio shoots as an alternative. I also contacted The Royal London School of Contemporary Dance but a visit there proved too difficult to organise so I had to use existing film clips. I did investigate any potential copyright issues and was advised that I could include this footage as long as it was used in a unique way and strictly for creative, but non-professional purposes. I used Billy Elliot and solo dance performers and edited them in with my own film to produce something conceptual and unique

Other than a few minor problems with creating the final presentation, I am really happy with the final outcome. I think that I have successfully achieved my initial idea of contrasting masculinity in boxing and the not so obvious feminine and elegant side to it. I have visualized this concept by producing  sketchbook research, film, photography, and a book illustrating the Art of Boxing

Final Presentation Ideas

21stMay2014
Matthew stone is an artist that I came across when researching magazine styles for my editorial shoot, I saw some of his photography demonstrated in Dazed and Confused magazine and found it really interesting. produces objects, photographs, exhibitions, performances and social events advancing the proposition, quoted in a gallery news release, that optimism is “the vital force that entangles itself with and then shapes the future.” His photographic-sculptural hybrids illustrate that thought literally. They consist of muted photographs of entangled, youthful, nude bodies printed on plywood panels, which have been cut into triangular sections, reassembled with hinges and displayed as folded constructions. Stone takes 2D images and translates them into “3D photographic sculptural forms”, He uses his prints in an unusual way by transferring them onto fabric and geometric sculptures. In his series of work that interests me greatly “Optimism as cultural rebellion” he demonstrates experimenting with abstracting the human form “I like the idea of trying to make something that has some solid ground, but then has the potential to move. I like the idea that it is almost impossible to re-install the work in exactly the same way.” 

(Imagery taken from art shaman blog, post about Matthew Stone, Series of work Optimism as cultural rebellion)

25thMay2014

I am really interested in displaying my work in an unconventional way so that the idea is turned into something completely different, I want my final piece to not only be beautiful, but I want it to intrigue people and have a thought provoking sense to it. Ive enquired about using a projector for my final piece, but it seems that my idea is too time consuming and ambitious for the time and space we have. Now that the projection idea isn't possible the combination of the projections and Stone's work seems more achievable. Before moving on to a final idea I tried experimenting with alternative ways of displaying some sort of projection. I filmed a piece of fabric on my washing line blowing in the wind. The fabric had an identical image of my final photography on it, so in order to demonstrate how the projection would look I edited the film and the still image together at a 50% opacity. The imagery and film works really beautifully together once slowed down, it has an angelic elegance to it. I initially used ballet music with the moving image but soon after realised it didn't have much relevance to my initial concept of contrast. In order to relate it to my work with more relevance I added a personal touch to it. I edited together snippets of  audio from one of John L Gardners fights. This soundtrack seemed to work much better in my opinion due to the obvious contrast between elegance and masculinity. It also added an obscure nature to the film, beautiful, floaty, angel-like imagery accompanied by the sounds of cheers and punches, which I think is a unconventional and  less obvious choice. Although the idea of projecting the moving fabric onto a still image is not possible for my final presentation, I am still really interested in capturing movement in one more dimension other than the overlapping photography. After looking at the work of Mathew Stone and adamant I incorporate this third dimension, I came up with an idea that could potentially work. I decided to put the fabric used in the film to good use. Instead of solely creating a sculpture or creating a projection of movement, I thought of combining the two ideas and creating a 3D image that had an element of sculpture and projection. I began to think of aesthetically pleasing ways of doing this. I thought of photographing the material gathered on top of the image creating a second overlap. But then I came up with the idea of strategically pinning the fabric onto the image to create a more 3D, waterfall-like aesthetic. As you can probably imagine this concept proved difficult to achieve. I mounted my image onto MDF board and began to place my fabric over the top. Of course when lying down the fabric has a very different quality to when lifted up horizontally. So after pinning my fabric down once, I had to then remove the pins, stand the board up and start again. I managed to cover up the majority of the holes created by my first attempt. Other than a few minor problems with creating the final presentation, I am really happy with the final outcome. I think that it translates my initial idea of contrasting masculinity in boxing and the not so obvious feminine/elegant side to it.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           (Authors Own, Small films representing idea for presentation) 

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk

20thMay2014

(Authors Own, GIFF of rotating catwalk at the Jean Paul Gaultier Exhibition)

This is the first major exhibition devoted to the French designer, Jean Paul Gaultier . With his avant-garde fashion creations and cutting-edge designs, Gaultier has shaped the look of fashion over the last 40 years. His reputation for witty and daring designs and a ceaseless interest in society, identity and a beauty borne of difference has earned him a place in fashion history.  Gaultier is fascinated by world cultures and countercultures, conceiving a new kind of fashion in both the way it is made and worn. Through twists, transformations, transgressions and reinterpretations, he not only erases the boundaries between cultures but also the sexes, redefining the idea of androgyny or subverting fashion codes. This theatrically-staged exhibition brings together more than 165 cutting-edge couture and ready-to-wear garments including iconic costumes for film and performance from the early 1970s to the present day. The infamous conical bra and corsets Madonna wore during her 1990 Blonde Ambition World Tour are showcased alongside stage costumes designed for Kylie Minogue as well as pieces created for the films of Pedro Almodóvar, among others. 

(http://www.agentofstyle.com, Jean Paul Gaultier Exhibition Talking Mannequins)

Everything about the exhibition was mesmerising, the fabrics and materials are extremely luxurious, and the way there are fabricated is so captivating.  But what really grabbed my attention when visiting the Jean Gaultier exhibition was the way the garments where displayed. A series of mannequins dressed in Gaultier's dazzling apparel, have faces projected onto their heads, unnervingly bringing the figures to life, as they blink, sing, chat and appear to make eye contact with visitors. This gave me loads of ideas on how I can display my final pieces. The exhibit itself was really fun.  Since creating my final imagery I have always wanted to give them a really 3D appearance. Visiting this exhibition has given me fantastic ideas of creating an extra dimension of movement in my final imagery. The idea of projecting something moving onto a still image will really emphasise my concept. Im planning on printing my series of overlapping imagery onto fabric and then film it moving in the wind. This can then be projected onto an identical still image. I think that it should work well, the two combined methods of capturing movement will hopefully create an interesting and slightly distorted outcome.

(Authors Own, Imagery at Jean Paul Gaultier Exhibition)

Final Editorial Outcomes

The two editorial shoots required  a lot more thought than I expected. When writing my proposal I did start off with the ambition to create some sort of boxing themed editorial, but I wasn't sure how I could make it fashion based. Coming across Luke Campbell's VOGUE story inspired me to create something similar. As my initial idea was to demonstrate and challenge peoples pre conceptions of fighters,I thought it would be perfect to play on the idea of a "pretty" boxer. Casting the model for this shoot was difficult, I wanted someone who didn't have the obvious boxers broken nose but someone who still had an element of aggression and intensity In their eyes. The model I ended up using did work really well for the plan I started with, he has a few scars on his face which brings the element of fighting into it, but he also has very good cheek and brow bone structures, which ties in the model element I was looking for. A problem I faced with this shoot is choosing what to do with it and how to display it, I already had a masthead in mind [Complex magazine] that I wanted to base it on but I wasn't entirely sure about layout and purpose. With a little more research into Luke Campbell's debut as a model for select, I came across many interviews accompanied by photo shoots (not all fashion based). It became obvious that this shoot would be perfect as an interview/feature editorial, so I started to plan out a layout that could accompany text, it was all going smoothly and to plan, but then I realised I would have to find text to go with it. The more appropriate option would have been to create my own interview with a boxer [but my model was just an ordinary boy, not a boxer]. In the end I just decided to piece together snippets from Luke Campbell's existing interviews and change the name. Although this sounds like a cheaters way out, I am more focused on the creative and visual side of editorial spreads and not journalism. As for the second photoshoot, I already had a model in mind. I wanted someone that looked the complete opposite to a boxer, pretty, well groomed and slim. With his experience of modelling the shots were perfect, they related to boxing through the styling, but the style of the magazine was perfectly demonstrated through his professional understanding of modelling. This shoot is probably the best and easiest I have done so far. The poses are fierce but at the same time beautiful, and this is exactly what I was hopping for.

23rdApril2014

(Authors own, Editorial based on Complex Magazine)

30thApril2014

(Authors own, Editorial based on Sharp Magazine)

Editorial Research

19thApril2014

(Lindbergh, Peter. shoot for VOGUE, Model Luke Campbell)

After experimenting with many different methods of presenting interesting visuals, I decided that a mandatory subject to cover would be to create a fashion editorial shoot. I wanted the outcome of the editorial shoot to be clean and natural, unlike the images I have produced previously. To start off this body of work I researched Boxing editorials and the first images to come up were ones of Luke Campbell, Olympic 2012 Gold Medalist who has recently been scouted for Select Model Agency. The images where perfect and exactly what I was looking for, for inspiration. I didn't want to copy these images so I continued to scour the internet for a combination of Boxing images, editorials and Ballet imagery. Once I had found a range of imagery I started to look at specific fashion magazines to base my shoots on. I discovered two called Sharp and Complex, which depict clean and uncontrived editorial shoots. 

(Complex magazine. Collection of covers and editorials)

(Authors own. Collection of imagery)

Complex is a New York-based bi-monthly magazine which reports on trends in fashion, music, art and design, technology, sports and video games with a focus of niche cultures such as street wear sneaker culture, hip-hop and graphic art.  I was quite interested in the way that they're photo shoots were set up, simple, stripped back and focusing on the subject entirely, accentuating character and personality. Unlike most of my previous work - which has been shot on location - I thought I'd experiment with some sleek and sharp studio style photography. I wanted to produce two photo shoots; one portraying more boxing related lifestyle and characteristics, and the other simply fashion based. Complex magazine did not meet the requirements of my second photo shoot concept, and this is when I came across Sharp magazine.

Sharp is a Canadian Men's lifestyle magazine which publicises style, cars, technology, food & drink, culture, street style, sport and up and coming events. The difference between Complex magazine and Sharp is the target audience. While Complex looks at the younger generation  - 16-29 years - and up and coming young talents, Sharp takes a more mature approach, depicting men in later life with established careers. Coming across this magazine has inspired me to take a new approach to my second shoot. Rather than having a typical-boxer-looking model, I think that it would strengthen my proposals initial concept to use a more feminine-fashion-like-model dressed in sportswear. 
The images shown on the right are ones that I have been collecting since the start of the project in a folder on my computer. When starting the project I knew I wanted to focus on boxing showing the male form and some how try to incorporate fashion into it, but I was completely blind to where I could take it. 

(Sharp magazine. Collection of covers and editorials)

Red Bull gives you wings Campaign

10thApril2014

(Red Bull advertisements)

The production of the short test film and initial photo shoots really inspired me to try and create something from scratch. I had already gained some inspiration from from the soundtrack used in my short film, focusing on the elegance of dancers, but researching deeper into this concept I decided to narrow the idea down to Ballet. Ballet  is a perfect contrast to Boxing, but the two opposing sports contrast mirroring stereotypes. Ballet is seen as gentle and feminine whereas boxing is often viewed and macho and brutal, but when delving deeper into the lifestyles the participants of each sport endure, the hidden side is revealed. Based on my proposal I started to look for clever advertising campaigns related to sport or more generally related to boxing. I came across loads of protein shake related campaigns, but one that really linked closely with my new idea of wings was the "Red Bull gives you wings" campaign. Producing something for Red Bull using my concept seems ideal.  Red Bulls international marketing campaign targets mostly young men partaking in extreme sports. The slogan "Red Bull gives you wings" is a metaphor of the fact that it gives you energy to tackle anything. Meaning that any task you attempt will be much easier since you feel like you have wings, increasing confidence. Alongside boxers much preferred strength product - protein shakes - I thought that creating my own Red Bull advertisement based on boxing would be perfect.

11thApril2014

(Authors Own, RedBull Illustration)

When looking at previous Red Bull advertisements I noticed that the majority of the imagery used were simple and cartoon-like with a hint of colour. I decided it would be appropriate to alter Red Bulls initial approach to illustration and create something a little more life-like to appeal to my target audience [Boxers / Athletes]. I started off by taking more photographs of male boxers in all the legitimate boxing gear, but with angel-like wings on. I then transferred these images into Adobe Illustrator, made a template and started to trace around the outline of the male model. In some cases the outline was really hard to make realistic due to the angle of the model, but with a bit of trial and error I came up with 3 final outlines for my final product. After I had finished with the imagery in Adobe Illustrator, I edited the wings in the original composition on Adobe Photoshop. I then brought the two images together to create a final illustration. I created a simple but  relevant logo and then started looking into finding an appropriate quote to go with it. After hours of locating the perfect words to suit my imagery, I came across 3 perfect boxing related quotes in the "Boxing News - Annual" magazine. Two of the quotes were by the legendary fighter Muhammad Ali and the other by famous novelist Joyce Carol Oats [who often wrote about boxing] 

I wanted the wings to maintain their light and feathery quality so I chose not to reproduce those in Adobe Illustrator. I did so in Adobe Photoshop, but finding the right filter proved extremely difficult. I had to carefully edit out the model and the white background -which was the trickiest part because of the identical colour of the wings and the background - and then really intensify the contrast of the remaining image, this helped to ensure all detail stood out. Following on from this, I had to continuously experiment with different filters and tones. Each set of wings for each of the three advertisements were actually produced in slightly differently, using the same filters and techniques but in a different order. The main filters used were the OIL COLOUR, STAMP and CRAQUELURE effects. I wanted the colouring to be just right, and to look natural and organic, so I've decided to print these samples out onto watercolour paper and experiment with painting onto them by hand rather than on a creative Adobe programme.

(Authors Own, RedBull Illustration)

Here are the examples of my ad-campaign "RedBull gives you wings" that have had watercolour incorporated into them. I am fairly happy with the finished product for this section, but cannot decide weather they look more sleek and stylish without the water colour. It took me a few attempts to get the water colour just how I had planned, due to my inexperience with watercolour paints. I wanted the colour to be sporadic and subtle. I decided to paint the gloves red - opposed to the white colour they demonstrate in the primary photography imagery - so that it stood out stronger as a boxing related advertisement rather than just another RedBull advert. Something that was really difficult during this process was getting the wings just right. I forgot to record how I achieved the final appearance of the first set of wings, and so the second and third set of wings did not match up. I had to start again and record how I got to the final outcome. Another difficulty was actually editing the wings. Because the images were taken on a white background it was hard to trace around the edges to cut them out because of the colour similarity. I had to be really careful to maintain the featherlike quality, something I'm not very happy with is the colour of the wings in the final prints. I wanted to print onto watercolour paper which is a creamier colour than ordinary photo paper, but the wings did not show up on this paper, so I had to make them slightly grey. Other than the slight issue with the wings I am happy with each individual image.

15thApril2014

(Authors Own, RedBull Illustration, worked into with watercolours)

Photo Shoots & Editing

25thMarch2014

These are the final images produced from the overlapping inspired photo shoot. I feel that I have achieved exactly what I intended to, the imagery really speaks for itself, the concept of boxing, movement and elegance is all portrayed through one composition. In order to produce these final images I had to take about 100 photographs of a single movement e.g. skipping or punching… As simple as this may sound - clicking away while my model skips/punches - it certainly was not. I used a pop up studio for this shoot, which consisted of a flash and a soft box, so repeatedly clicking away at the shutter button will only deactivate the flash producing pitch black photos. Potentially I wanted capture the rope at different positions as it moved, but it seemed to be getting it at the same position every time.  Embarrassingly, to resolve this problem I had to ask my model to slowly do one skip at a time and I would then calculate by eye when I would have to release the shutter button. This was an extremely slow process but the results produced were definitely worth it. Once I had collected all the photos I needed, I transferred my images into one document on Adobe Photoshop and simply altered the opacity of each layer until I was satisfied.

(Authors Own, Experimenting with photoshop skills - Skipping&Boxing)

27thMarch2014

(Authors Own, Experimenting with photoshop skills - Masculine vs. Feminine)

Unlike the previous shoot this one proved to be much simpler due to the movements required. As I previously mentioned, dance is becoming a new inspiration for my project. Before the shoot I researched ballet poses by watching clips on youtube and googling images. I converted these ideas into a visual mood board to show my model and then I let him move freely while I photographed him. The casting for this particular model was easy, this is a friend of mine who previously attended gymnastic classes, his physique is slim but muscly, not too big and not too small. The poses that he was performing accentuated his muscles greatly which worked really well when creating the double exposure. The only difference concerning editing this shoot was that I felt the images needed more contrast, so that the shadows created by his muscles were accentuated. The positioning of the overlapping muscles reminded me of wings which motivated the next idea [see below]. I decided to really play on the idea of masculinity and femininity. So I then styled my model in all white boxing gear; white hand wraps, white boxing gloves and white shorts with a pair of handmade angel wings. The angel wings really exaggerate the feminine aspect of my idea, so to counter balance this I decided to super impose tattoos all over my models back and arms. I shot with and without wings. I am really happy with the results produced from this shoot, it spurted from a random creative visual and its transpired into another interesting visual. If I were to reproduce these images at any stage and build upon them, I think I'd give a lot more thought into tattoo design and placement, but for this idea I think its worked well.

2ndApril2014

(Authors Own, Experimenting with photoshop skills - Boxing vs. Ballet)

Development

20thMarch2014

(Warpaint, Bands Album Cover)

After producing the short film more ideas started to flow based on some of the effects that were available to play with and the sound track I used. I found a piece by Rob Dougan called Clubbed to Death, it starts off quite sweet and soft - which reminded me of swan lake - I thought this concept was perfect, referring back to my  initial proposal, my main idea was to contrast the obvious masculine side of boxing and the hidden feminine side to it, based on agility and balance. I also gained ideas due to an accidental error when producing some mood boards in the primary stages of the project, this idea was then strengthened by a billboard that interested me. The billboard featured an album cover of the band "warpaint," the image depicted was interestingly difficult to define due to an overlapping effect, I thought that the imagery created was elegant and feminine and this may help me to produce an alternative photo shoot. 


Overlapping images is a series of work by Ho-Ryon Lee which consists of several awe-inspiring oil paintings that resemble double exposure photographs. They are based on actual photos taken by the South Korean artist and explore themes such as sensuality, lust and desire. He paint on canvas but the previous process includes the artist taking several photos of the model in specific poses and composing them together via photoshop. The suggestive and dynamic nature of his overlapping images - especially in this case - was highly erotic and competent to make them visually delightful and there seduction and voyeurism revealing the hiding object of desire. 

(Lee, Ho-Ryon. Collection of series of paintings)

(Ariell, Nir. Collection of images from the series "tension")

Nir Ariell is an American photographer who has an iPhone motion capturing breathtaking snapshots of male dancers as they perform arabesques allongé across ethereal spaces. His series entitled, "Tension" combines the intimacy of portraiture with the artful airing of digital photography producing, dizzying images that really celebrate the beauty of the male form. Ariell began his career in one of the most unlikely places - as a photographer for the Israel military, but after his stint in combat he turned to the performing arts focusing on the graceful and bizarre aspects of dancers in motion. Ariell find particular inspiration in movement in male dancers using digital manipulation techniques to turn several contortions into one stunning movement. "In my project I function as a visual choreographer making up certain movement language that is the outcome of a verbal dialogue between photographed dancer and I" he stated to street anatomy. "Working with dances is much more about collaboration. They bring so much into the process. And you know I'm not a dancer and Ive never danced or choreographed, so a lot of instructions that I give a very vague and kind of abstract. I give them descriptions of feelings or atmospheres or just visual descriptions of how I want the movement to be  and they translate it into an actual movement, so their part in the processes is huge. And that's the reason I can't use any dancer, I'm using highly trained and intelligent dancers that are able to do this kind of translation. There are a lot of things that don't need to be said, they understand what I'm trying to get at and they appreciate my work. Photography is all about this one moment, it's all about that decisive glorifying moment and dance is kind of the complete opposite: it has to be about a series of moments. Thinking about how we can create an image that holds the qualities of these two mediums. And that's how we started experimenting with double exposures, because we wanted to bring several mediums into one picture."