Unit 2 - Identity
Idea 1: Experimenting with fabric
Concept:
- Combining Andreas Poupoutsis and Laurence Demaison
- Andreas Poupoutsis: Use of fabric and hidden identity in faces and figures
- Laurence Demaison: Use of water, hidden identity and obscured figures
Photoshoot Plan
What is my idea?
For my first final piece idea, I am going to take a series of images relating two of my identity photographers. I am going to take images which incorporate the elements of fabric, water and hidden identity faces. I am hoping to place sheer fabric on my models face and then wet it with water to make it transparent and mold to my models face without showing what she looks like.
Setting/Location
I am going to take my images on a hardwood floor as it will not be damages by the water and will be a nice background to have in my images.
Who has inspired me?
I was inspired by the photographers Laurence Demaison and Andreas Poupoutsis who have experimented with two important elements, water and fabric.
Camera angle/Position
I will take my images from a variety of angles but mainly a birds eye one.
Main challenges of shoot
I had to keep reapplying the water because it repeatedly caused the fabric to separate from the skin.
Photoshoot 1
Contact Sheet
For my first photoshoot working towards my final piece, I decided to take a shoot inspired by two of my artists; Andreas Poupoutsis and Laurence Demaison. I decided to include the main components of water and fabric taken from each artist.
I also wanted to explore the idea of hidden Identitty and what disguising your true self can also be which I explored thouroughly in my previous shoots for other artists. For this I chose to use fabric over the model which was slightly transparent. This symbolises the idea of not quite knowing who you are but being guided by glimpses of it you can see through the mask.
On of the main stuggles of the shoot was getting the water to stick to my moodels face. I used water to make the white fabric transparent and attatch it to the face. This was difficult becasue the fabric did not become wet enough with out me physically pouring water onto her face intead of simply dabbing it with a wet tissue. This was a discomfort to the model as it was not her intentions to be drenched with cold water so early in the morning! This method was however successful and had the look I was going for. Thsi was to only slightly see the models features through the fabric yt still being concealed. I used a textured fabric to clearly show the curves and features underneath. During the cource of the shoot, with the experimentation, the idea of water started to come out in the image witht the movements and organic forms and lines as the fabric falls over the face creating a sort of natturalistic landscape.
Developments
One of the main components in this series is it being black and white. I decided to do this because it makes the images more similar to both photographers I was inspired by; Andreas Poupoutsis and Laurence Demaison, with a dash of Irving Pen. As I developed the images, I started to think about water and the lines and composition of the fabric on the features. The more successful images are using the fabric as a reference back to ripples and waves in water directly. At first, I had the Idea of submerging my model's head underwater with fabric floating around her but, then abandond that idea and decided to portray the water in a different way instead.
The water acted as an adhesive to stick the fabric to the face in areas where I wanted to highlight, or found it more difficult to place. This was important because the eye sockets and mouth became a particularly important part of the composition by portraying emotion through the fabric. I like the images that are more ambiguous and the ones which are the most natural though the pattern of the fabric reflecting patterns in water. If I could change something in the shoot, I would experiment with more compositions to make my series broader and potentially explore different, unexpected outcomes.
My selected Images
