Contemporary Portrait Photography
While researching Avedon I did take a look at more contemporary portrait photographers such as Chris Floyd, Pauline Darley, Alma Haser, Nerhol, Aliki Braine, and Maurizio Anzeri. Many of the photographers and artists that I have just mentioned use alteration as a creative process in their work. Originally I was going to look at each individual photographer / artist and mimic their methods to understand why they alter portraits in the first place and to help create my own unique method and style of alteration through trial and error.
This unfortunately lead to confusion as my project motives where unclear and in the end there wasn’t much sense in copying other artists methods due to a lack of originality. So I moved away from all this and thought of new and different ways I can alter my own passport portraits.
This however I will cover in my next blog but for now I still feel its relevant and necessary to briefly mention the photographers and artists above who inspired me. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve immersed myself in other artists work to see if I can find the weak link to a new exciting method, and although there styles and ideas don’t feature directly into my work they are a constant source of inspiration. Below I’ve written about each artist and photographer, how I found them, why they inspire me, as well as answering other questions such as why they did, and how!
Chris Floyd
The first photographer I came across second to Avedon was contemporary portrait photographer Chris Floyd and his series titled “140 Characters.”
“In July 2010 I decided to begin photographing people that I follow on Twitter. The idea for this came at a moment when I realised I had not seen or spoken to any of my best half a dozen real and actual friends for over a month. Some of those people on Twitter I communicate with several times a week, in bursts of 140 characters or less, and yet I had never met any of them. As we are now well and truly living in a digital age I am aware that this state of being is only going to deepen and the traditional forms of friendship, although they will not go away anytime soon, are going to have to make more room for the new way of doing things. Where Facebook might be considered as the place in which you tell lies to all the people you went to school with, I had begun to think of Twitter as the place where you tell the truth to all those that you wish you’d gone to school with. The project rolled on indefinitely for almost a year but when, one day, I counted up the number of subjects to date and came to a number in the mid one hundred and thirties, I immediately knew where this had to end. So here they are. My new friends. 140 characters. No more and no less.”
http://chrisfloyduk.wordpress.com/2011/06/29/one-hundred-forty-characters/
As a contemporary to Avedon I discovered Chris Floyd when I picked up the book for “140 Characters” in the Foto8 gallery. What grabbed me was the similar high key style which I see in Avedon’s work and even Bailey’s. Whats more the current nature of the project and how it works as a series of banal portraits in todays social network society. I guess in a way Chris Floyd does feature within my own work, especially in the way I’m photographing friends of friends of friends, so in a sense I’m building my own social network. Ironically in my first group crit I was told to look at the world of social networking and how that relates to my project. Although I’m aware of this imprecation I’m definitely not going to base my project on Facebook etc as it would simply be a rehash of Floyd’s work. All in all a great source of inspiration especially his website which features some lovely portraiture. Floyd I feel is quickly becoming one of my favorite contemporary portrait photographers of today, a photographer I would love to assist in the future!
Pauline Darley
I discovered Pauline Darley a while back whilst studying deconstruction in my second year of university. Darley I can only described as a mystery. Fashion and portrait photographer by trade I can’t find any information on how she created these images or even why. A project of her own? A fashion commission? What ever the case I do love the weaving technique as it gives the portrait I feel another dimension. Yet what this obsession with altering the face and covering the eyes? Mysterious, graphic, and eye catching its hardly surprised it grabs my attention. Whats important to note unlike the other artist photographers Darley style is rather formal which does gives her portraits a commissioned look. Whether this is intentional or not I still the portraits exciting and inspiring in how you alter and change an individuals appearance using a simple artistic technique. Food for thought?
Alma Haser
Introducing Alma Haser a recent new comer into the world of portrait photography. Recently discovered at a Foto8 exhibition in London I’ve been drawn to her work ever since. Compelled by her series titled “Cosmic Surgery” was taken by the ways Alma incorporated origami into each portrait, distorted the face in such a way it reminds me of a kaleidoscope. Indulging themes of disconcertion and unease, the origami becomes an essential part to the transformation of the photograph into a unique creation filled with uncertainty.
“There is something quite alien about the manipulated faces, as if they belong to some futuristic next generation. In these portraits the children become uncanny, while their parents are seen in a more familiar moment.”
Whats attracts me to the series of photographs is the obvious graphic alteration and the ambiguity of the portrait. They are left open, full of detail, yet void of answers. No clear definition or understanding is present:
“I want all my work to be able to be interpreted by people in different ways, so try not give too much away about what they actually mean.”
It’s the mysterious nature that attracts me to Alma’s portraits, a underlying curiosity that has made me take notice of a lot of alteration being used in portraiture today. Instead of mimicking I will draw upon this curiosity and incorporate it into my own portraits, leave them void of information and open to observation and definition.
Recently having had the pleasure to speak to Alma personally and have her describe and explain her work teamed with looking at her website it has made me realise the possibilities I have to create and manipulate. The photo can be only part of an intricate process whereas the paper and material now takes the forefront something that is both prevalent and evident in her work.
Katie, 2012
http://www.haser.org
Nerhol
During a recent trip to The Photographers Gallery I came across the Japanese duo Yoshihisa Tanakaol and Ryuta Iida known as Nerhol in the Contemporary Japanese Photobooks exhibition. Discovered by my tutor, yet later forgotten I tracked down Nerhol on the Photographers Gallery website as their work kept resonating within my head. In a similar style to my own Nerhol capture their portraits in a passport photo manner. However similarities stop there as Yoshihisa Tanakaol and Ryuta Iida take these 2D images and make them into 3D pieces of art.
“According to Tanaka, artwork ‘linkage’ and tactile together, lead to interaction, which is essential in visual language. By reconstructing and transforming 2D art into 3D he encourages audiences to touch and explore new possibilities.”
These portrait like sculptures then take upon a new meaning which I find fascinating. The process in which Tanakaol and Iida transform their banal portraits into 3D forms is by placing segments of the portrait multiple of times which creates layered effect. The way they create anomalies is by shifting the layers like waves to millimeters apart to cause the perspective to alter and distort. To view more of their work, visit their website which allows you to zoom into great depths into each individual portrait, however don’t try to zoom out as you will receive a message from the duo themselves…
Aliki Braine
I first saw Aliki Braine photography when I went to the Photo 50 exhibition in London earlier this year. Unlike the rest of the photographers I’ve mentioned Braine isn’t a portrait photographer, instead she takes pictures of landscapes on her medium format camera. Then once in her darkroom she physically alters the negatives which in turn alters the perspective and style of the image. Instead of natural landscapes of tress, woods, rolling hills. circular patterns, shapes fill the photo in which Braine see as a “stylish landscapes.” Using a hole punch to create the circular holes Braine aims to turn her photos into objects. I personally find this interesting as it gives her landscapes a dynamic visual element. The hole punch essentially becomes her artists brush, she sees herself painting the landscapes and in turn leaving her mark. The rough mark the different size hole punch leaves on the negative adds texture to the photograph which in turn gives it its object status. Braine discovered early on that the curve worked well in landscapes, as you see curves in rolling hills, and clouds. So by using the hole punch she could mimic the same visual element into her landscape own images yet alter them at the same time. In the end I chose to look at Aliki Braine as I was wondering if I could use the same technique within portraiture, and create new interesting perspectives as curves feature quite predominately in the face.
Draw me a tree, Black and White Photograph, 2006.
http://www.alikibraine.com
Maurizio Anzeri
Last but not least I came across Maurizio Anzeri by chance in a back issue of Dazed and Confused. Familiar with his work while I was at college studying my foundation degree I haven’t taken much notice of his work until now. Due to his distinctive style and extreme form of alteration Maurizio Anzeri is an inspirational artist who uses found images to create his embroidered photo-sculptures. By creating different characters Anzeri forms narratives that intertwined and weave. Passionate about portraiture and people Anzeri is also interested in everything a photograph represents.
“When we all look at a photograph, we somehow believe that we look at the truth or at some kind of reality but we know that it’s not, It’s just a moment…We all still look at it as if it’s real. It’s trapped in there and it’s like you managed to cast some kind of magic spell on that piece of paper to entrap some kind of reality to use and reuse every time you look at it.”
Interested in the photograph as an object Anzeri collects the found photographs from flea markets where he then later works into them by embroiding fixed points into the portrait using different coloured thread. By going back and forth the criss crossing threads start to take shape, a form sometimes rudimental geometric shapes that remind me of a spirograph that I used to have as a kid. What I found fascinating is the idea of the photograph as an object and how old snapshots and family photos have become objects in their own right. So by working into them like Anzeri does the photo raises its status and gains an aura it once lost.
“It’s about feeding another dimension… I don’t want to be nostalgic. When I work on them, to me they become very present. The catch is that at some point these photographs were to some people really important and suddenly they ended up in a box”
Found in Dazed & Confused, June 2011.
http://www.yatzer.com/The-embroidered-secrets-of-Maurizio-Anzeri
Aesthetically pleasing, Maurizio Anzeri embroidered photo-sculptures are definialtly unique. Inspired by the patterns and shapes he makes I made my own version using a spirograph kit I found off the internet. It might not be on the same level as Anzeri’s portraits but I confess nostalgia got the better of me…
Spirograph, 2012
What I’ve learn’t by looking at these established photographers and artists it’s their obsession to make the 2D photograph in to a 3D object. Giving it an aura and underlying meaning that wasn’t apparent in the original form. In some ways I’m glad I didn’t individual pursue each photographer and artists as time isn’t on my side. Although in some ways I would like to for my own personal gratification. Instead I’ve saved time by brainstorming ideas, techniques, and methods which would be original and relevant. This however has taken many hours of research and constant looking. Although I’ve listed the main sources of inspiration, you have to understand that these are established photographers. As you can see below I’ve found inspiration from some lesser known sources:
A photo I found whilst searching google images. It’s the graphic shapes and block colours that appeal to me in this photo.
Found this image from a weekly Indie music news email.
Although I would love to try my hand at these techniques in the end I came up with a method so extremely different that it doesn’t tie in with any of my the photographers and artists I found to date. The best thing is it ties within my original idea, stay tuned all will be revealed soon!
Stuart Matthews Photography 