(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)
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)
7thMarch2014 After the first peer crit I managed to take a lot of useful notes and turn them into potential ideas. It was made clear to me that my starting point had not excelled quick enough and I was realistically still at my research stage. I was advised to start looking at artists and photographers that interested me, and to start watching films that were boxing related to hopefully gain ideas for interesting imagery. There were suggestions of 'The fighter' starring Christian Bale, 'When we were Kings' directed by Leon Gast. These were all fantastic suggestions, and i went home to watch some of them straight away. It took about a week in total to watch all these suggested films, some interested me more than others based on story line and plot. But the two films that had the most interest to me where the older films such as 'Rocky1', 'When we were Kings' and 'Raging Bull'. Raging Bull took a particular interest to me, due to the alternative approach to the way it was filmed. I took loads of notes during this film based mainly on camera angles, composition, portrayal of characters, contrast and fashion. These are important aspects to me because I aim to produce my own film as a final outcome, so gaining stimulating and thought-provoking ideas is really key to help me produce a successful piece.
(Youtube, Clip from Ranging Bull)
I have recently watched the film Raging Bull which is about an emotionally self -destructive boxer's journey though life as the violence and temper leads him to the top of the ring, it meanwhile destroys his life outside it. Director, Scorsese made it clear during filming that he did not appreciate the traditional way in which fight films show fights from a spectators' view.He insisted that one camera operated by the Director of Photography, Michael Chapman, would be placed inside the ring and he would play the role of an opponent keeping out of the way of other fighters so that viewers could see the emotions of the fighters, including those of Jake LaMotta. I like the reasoning behind the way in which the scenes are directed but what I was mostly interested in was the extremely high contrast black and white filter the film is shot in. The really dark black shades really emphasise the harsh and gritty reality of boxing by highlighting muscle structure or wounds and darkening the brow area creating a really intense gaze. I took loads of notes about camera angle, personas, stereotypes, fashion etc… But it really overwhelmed me with ideas which brought my creative thought process to a stand still, I had no idea where I wanted to take my project. It took me a while to work out what it was I really liked about the film, although the camera angles were interesting and unique, I think using them in my own work would come across quite cheesy and obvious. What Ive noticed while looking into boxing is that most imagery based around it is in black and white with a really strong contrast. I decided that this idea would be ideal to experiment with, which brought me onto researching artists that worked in high contrast, and are focused on capturing lifestyle and personality.
10thMarch2014
(Adekokan, Adde. Collection of Triptychs)
I came across the Germany-based street photographer Adde Adesokan, his photos series ’Triptychs of Strangers’ depicts photographs of strangers that capture wonderful images including the portrayal of the stranger’s personality… The black and white images depict the subjects features using a cropped frame and fairly high contrast filter. The background is very out of focus which draws your attention entirely to the model. I think the images are beautifully thought out and put together, revealing subtle amounts of a personality. The main aspect of these images that I like is the composition of the portraits, I think that the unusual framing of them intensifies the eyes and if blown up to a big scale the images would be really captivating. Because my project is about boxing I feel like the use of a triptych in this way would not be necessary to experiment with.
(Enriquez, Sebastian. Collage of photographers imagery from series Postcard from Perut)
Sebastiån Enriquez is a freelance documentary photographer and storyteller based in Lima, Peru. One of his most famous series of images link perfectly to my project - Postcard from Peru; Boxing for a dream. The series consists of images taken in Rojitas boxing gym in Peru. When Enriquez began this project on boxers he was curious about what motivated so many young people to get into a ring and get punched. "Why not play soccer or dance?" In the ghettos of Callao - the main port and one of the most dangerous places in Peru - has a special niche for boxing. This sport has always been a window of opportunity for young people, especially in a place where many of them must learn how to leave their problems in a ring and find a future by the gloves. Most of the children are disadvantaged and fighting to get out of poverty, drugs and crime. The ring becomes a subliminal space where the violence they face every day is tamed. Enriques series of photographs shows the workouts and training sessions in "Rojita" boxing school, the most important generator of boxing talent in Peru, which brings together teenage parents, young workers, colleagues and above all children.
