Project 2 - People - Medium Shot
In lecture 5 we were introduced to the idea of the Gaze.
In lecture 5 we were introduced to the idea of the Gaze.
-It is the relations of power and the photograph, the way we look at images.
-It is about you as the viewer looking at the image.
When we are looking at an image, there are questions we can ask about it.
-Who took the photo? Assumptions and positions
-Who is the intended viewer?
-What is the subject?
The male gaze- Laura Mulvey
In her essay, she discusses idea of Woman functioned as objects for male 'to gaze' at, more so in the Hollywood world, often seen in films and photoshoots aimed at male audiences. It is the idea of woman as the constructed object to give visual pleasure and narrative cineman. It was also interesting to see that how we have sub-consciously accepted this fact as the norm without realising it.
Even before Hollywood, in paintings in historical art, the male gaze existed.
Naked woman in historial paintings.
'Honest Art'
'Marilyn Monroe'
'Dita Von Teese' Ad for beer beverageThe Political Gaze
-It is about propaganda paintings
-Claims the truth
-Documentation, not to distort the truth
-Controlled photoshopping
-Controlled photoshopping
Napoleon Crossing the alps, Jacques-louis David 1801
Obama campaign for President of USA
Lastly it's the Photoshop Gaze
-It is a phenomena
-In this era we are aware that the tool of photoshop is being apply to almost every image that we see.
-Photo montage, becuase of it's fictional nature, it makes it okay. Whereas if we were to use photoshop to distort the truth, then it could be wrong and untruthful to our audiences.
Annie Lebowit 2007
Annie Lebowit 2007
Annie Lebowitz 2007
Annie Lebowitz 2007Annie Lebowitz 2007, in this series she captures Hollywood stars in fantastical backgrounds. In Disney Fairy tale story scenery, this was interesting to see. As the images are obviously staged but it is very powerful in a narrative sense.
From all the examples from the lecture, I can take into consideration when doing my first shots to think beyond portraiture. How people be captured in their absence.
An idea that came to my mind is capturing people in action.
I was interested in two ideas
1) Coffee Culture, capturing the atmosphere in the cafe as a place of relaxation/meeting over coffee/spot to spend time with loved ones.
2) The angle from the minorities, i.e. racism, sterotype, what you perceive of others might not be what you think they are.
Some images that I found related to those topics:
Coffee Culture_Enjoying a shot of strong caffine
conflict in a cafe_ however this image is obviously staged
Baby with tattoo, Sterotype
With the two ideas in mind, I will carry out initial shots to test which idea is the strongest. Experimenting lighting and choosing between images where people are stage and images of people 'naturally'.
As I have noticed that people often act differently when they are aware of being captured in photographs, I would need to take this into consideration on whether I want to hide when taking photos so I'm not interferring with their actions so they can be more real and at ease.
No comments:
Post a Comment