Catherine Hickey
Unit 2 - Identity
Maisie Cousins
Maisie Cousins's work is mainly focused on the more repulsive yet
intriguing. Compared to other photographer her style is quite distinctive and, in a way, redefines femininity. What I find to be quite inspiration is that after leaving Brighton University, she was frustrated with the rules that had been made for traditional photography, so she has incorporated different elements into her work; that would naturally compared to any traditional photographer would seem taboo. What I have found to be her main focus on the more feminine part of her work is that she mainly focuses on the colorful and overly saturated side of it. By creating overly saturated images it creates more of a contrast between the other objects around them, which emphasis the differences and possibly similarities in colors.
To me what she does is very interesting because all of her images cohesively works well together. The fact that what she does is slightly repulsive it is also quite beautiful as well. Especially when there are different people and objects to contrast but also blend together.
Her work is generally just made of foods, flowers and random small objects. Through her work she has broken the simple rules of photography like Slinkachu, by using other seemingly unconventional. Another similar artist would be John Baldessari, because of the way that they have both chosen to go explicitly out side the supposed box of photography.
She does not use much photoshop because the images are meant to be more candid and do not need to be altered or changed. The flowers and other images are very saturated in color. Also by adding a textured/ colored background gives depth to the image as well. Cousins is able to uses such average objects and is able to transform them into these beautiful images without having to change to much about them which show how they really and truly understand what her style is and how to take a picture in her own unique style.
In conclusion I have found Maisie Cousins to be a very interesting artist because she is able capture several images that do not need to be altered. With the other factors that she also to out her frustrations on the limitations of photography and used it to her advantage.
Photoshoot Plan:
Contact sheet (raw images)
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Too bland
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Too much negative space
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Too much open space
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Too cluttered
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Too messy
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Cluttered
Throughout the photo shoot I was trying to focus on capturing images that are both repulsive but are also interesting. What I have done is use a mixture of wet and dry substances to create different images and adding more of a contrast between them. Too improve on them I would have probably used more colors and more of a variety of objects rather than using mostly the same things. However I have found that what I have made of the composition of the photos is actually very successful because the randomness of it is que similar to the way that Maisie Cousins has done hers.
Process log:
To start with editing the photos I change the hue so that the dark color that it once was is now brighter and warmer
Finally I increase the brightness which amplifies the change in hue and also put a color layer of magenta so that there is a bit of contrast overall. It also overall adds a tone that complements the image
Developments - experimenting with saturation and contrast
For my developments I have changed them only slightly by increasing the brightness so that there is not much of a gloomy atmosphere around it. It also emphasizes the use of natural and using high-key lighting. By adding a slight tint of red to some of the photos it also emphasizes the warmer tones of the picture and also blends well with the background. Also with the messy composition of the images it allows the edits to really accent what is very successful about it, with also creating more of a candid feeling to them. By having a mixture of dry an wet substances really changes the actual view of the images because it shows the contrast of the two and the transformation that it has gone through.
What I could do to improve them farther, for the next photoshoot is to add some completely submerged objects. Or another thing that I could do is I could add dye to change the color, or even changing the hue of the images when editing them. Possibly mirroring them should also ad more depth to the image.
Further Developments - Exploring colour and gradients
For these further developments I have decided to experiment with both color and also composition. I have decided to change the composition of the image so that there is a slight contrast within a few images and also that you can compare the two. What I have done to change the composition is to frame another image with a similar color to the original color. In some cases I have decided to not change the composition on a few so that I have more of a variety in these developments. The reason why I have had a variety of different composition is so I don't have too many colors clashing with each other and creating a confusing composition with no relation to each other.
In my opinion I think that my developments are quite successful because of the change in color that still stays with the theme that Maisie Cousins has. There are still in more warm tone colors, however they are mainly within the colors of red and blue which includes yellow. In my opinion I find that I have successfully experimented with color and composition.
Redraft photoshoot - reconsidering props options
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Too Bland
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Too Cluttered
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Water is dripping too much
Throughout the photo shoot my main goal has been to make sure that I capture more of the feminine side to Maisie Cousins work. Through that I have used more color and especially more contrast in colors so that there is more of a drastic change between the variety of colors. What I would like to do to improve these is that I would have just added more colors as well as having a stronger light source. However I have found that my choice of objects are very successful as well as the composition that they were put in, although I would have liked to have had something adding more vibrancy to the image as a whole.
If I were to take the photoshoot again I would have preferred to have had used more of a verity of objects or to have taken more angled photo's that could have exclude more of surrounding and brought more of the color in.
In comparison to my previous photoshoot I would like to have used a different background or a layered background. But over all I am quite pleased with the result of my photoshoot.
Redraft Developments - refining contrast, saturation and cropping techniques
For the development of these photos I have decided to focus more on the on the colors and adding different overtones of different colors. One of the main troubles with focusing on color is the potential of having oversaturated some colors witch would not complement the image at all. If there is a color that is too vibrant although it will create a focus point it is not very helpful if the colors around it are of a similar color because the colors could possibly blend together. I have also brightened the image altogether and added some contrast so that there is more of a focal point to the image. In some cases I had to crop some of the images to make sure that there were not to much blank space overall and that there is still a substantial amount of objects that land within the whole entirety of the image. Over all I think that I have successfully edited the images to the point that there is enough done to it that it is relevantly similar to the original but is elevated in terms of appearance.
Exploring composition
What I have done here is I have used the edited images and have used what seems to be the main color of the larger image and used that to frame the second image. In some cases it was more successful because there are more compatible colors in different images than some that were used. However, I believe that by framing them in a different, but slightly similar, color it makes the image standout more that it would have if it was the same color throughout. Over all I think that I have successfully famed and displayed the images.