17.10.12 LIPIN

Trying to decifer my own methoods of photography, I had looked at the causes of bruising and how they change on different people. I chose to create it on myself. in these images I used watercolours and ink on my lips. 

I did this is keep my project up to date and wanted to inks to run freely across my face like bruise would. I was in control of where i placed the ink but once i pressed my lips together I simply photographed what occured. From this experiement I think I have provided myself with very strong imagery which i can work from an take into other mediums, such as recreating the lips by embroidery  onto fabric. Using sections of the images in photoshop to layer to create new patterns. 

These images are very strong because they are relatively simple but are powerful in colour and black and white. The difference the quantity of ink i used also make a large difference to the final image. 

I think where you are able to see the cracks of my lips provides a more shocking image. It looks as though they have been damaged, however where the ink is hearvier and in colour it looks as though it is bleeding. I do not want to work to be provoked by violence or emotion but see the beauty in it which i think has been captured in these images. 

I could further this work by bringing it onto other parts of the body and seeing how the inks create patterns depending on how i position my body. 

15.10.12 MANIPULATION

Manipulating imagery and trying to further my work.

Using simple methods to manipulate an image to develop ideas, previously used a paint brush to manipulate what I saw I am now using methods that i am less in control of. You are not sure of how the final image will turn out but i feel these work well. 

I do not think this is a method that I want to carry on with through out the project, but it has been good to see where i can take an image and whether it brings emotion to it. 

Going to Manchester University library i began looking at abuse, however this is not a route I want to look further into, i found the imagery very distressing and did not want to address that topic in my work. I decided to focus my main attention at bruising, i did this because I there can be an image behind every bruise which was first triggered after seeing the builders bruise. From the images I have collected I have found my colour scheme. I will look further at Garment awareness and ensure I capture the correct trends for Autumn Winter 13/14.

Another path I had begun thinking about moving my work down was to look at galaxies, this idea came from looking at the patterns created from the bruising.

Using bruising as the main focus I think i could get stuck just looking at the colour, an idea was to look at galaxies 

11.10.12 TUTORIAL NOTES

Tutorial notes -

Captured something in the paintings, found my own style

Not there yet when addressing patterns - still early

Zoom into the images, make them unrecognizable

Think o what other methods i could use to take the images further

drawing, laser cutter, embroidery

Play with the scanners - don't go onto photoshop yet, need more stuff to work with

I have been able to find imagery but at the moment only my own face and eye are my own photography. Keep working to get my own amount of photographs, I have worked out what to do with them to develop.

The week coming -

Capturing my own photographs to work with, what can be done with them.

Look at bruising - what does bruising me. How does it effect us all.

Look at injuries, we are all effected by injury and can create the story behind it.

Get collection of my own images of bruises - understand what bruises are and why they occur.

Go to Man Uni library for further information.

10.10.12 EMOTIVE PAINTINGS

This week I worked from my own photos and photos that i found triggered an emotion from myself. I want to provoke a feeling of uncomfortableness that i first felt when i looked at the Hussaidn Chalayan image.
I started by choosing imagery that has become famous through media coverage. I chose to use gouche paints to soften the images, from the results I am now interested in other methods to change an image but keep the message within them. I could try zooming into th eimage to make it unrecognisable but keep elements of the most important parts to allow you to refer back to. For example, In the above image red could be the main colour going throughout the pattern but the statement green eye could be centered in the middle.
I am beginning to build up a group of images that i can begin to work on to experiment on, I want to take my experimentation further and use other methods to manipulate, this may be through embroidery or the laser cutter.
These images are strong because i have been able to develop my own way of working, I was inspired by Jenny Saville and her method of painting freely and capturing emotion but from my development I am able to see how i want these images to progress.

5.10.12 IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM

I visited the Imperial War Museum, at this early stage of my project I am going to research into as many different areas of the project that I can. In this exhibition there were some large, bent, rusted steel shards. I began photographing the marks made from the rust and damage caused to them, i went on to read where they were from and found out they were window sills from the World Trade Center.
I looked closer and was able to see markings written on the window sills.
I was surprised by how much colour is in the steel shards. The letters sprayed onto them makes me think of people that worked to build the trade center and the journey that has happened since and effected us all.

Photography could be a very powerful tool in my development of this project. It will make the prints more lifelike and relate able rather than a drawn image of my own interpretation.
The images are very textured so i have tried to recreate this to make my work more 3 dimensional to bring it to life. I will edit these photographs further and play with different colour ways and how it could be put into repeat to make it unrecognisable and see where this takes me. The strengths are in the scratch marks, only once you know the story behind the shards do you see them as violent or upsetting. But to everyone else it is simply markings of the ware and tear to the building and nothing else. I really like this idea of an untold story.

There was also a car from Bagdad that has been destroyed in a carbomb. The metal had twisted and bent out of shape due to the power put against it. It looked like fabric drapped over itself, uncontrolled and natural. This juxteposition against what had really happened to the car made me think about controlling what the viewer thought they saw and what was actually there.
I could try and recreate this with drawings and fabric. Looking at how fabrics fall on the body and distort figures.

3.10.12 EMOTIVE PHOTOGRAPHY

This week I have been thinking about how to manipulate imagery or drawings to distort what you think you see with what is really there. 

I zoomed in really close to images to capture detail and fine print that would be missed by the naked eye. 

I took photos of the body after being inspired by my life drawing classes. 

Some of the imagery looks sinister, this can be achieved by playing with filters and lighting. The images worked well but I do not think there is enough information to work from to allow my ideas to develop into print design. This could be a idea to develop for a look book. I shall contiune practicing with the camera I have hired from the AV Store. They were pretty helpful so I think I'll go back and see what they recommend I do to achieve even more detail. 

LIFE DRAWING 1.10.12

I went to life drawing classes at Victoria Baths today and found the classes really helpful.
We were a small group which really aided my learning because I have only done life drawing once before so this was quite nerve racking. We began by doing 30 second quick drawings, this was to understand the body and recognize what your brain tells you is in front of you is sometimes very different to what is actually in front of you.
I think after a few more visits I will get a better grip on getting the full benefit of this exercise, you should look at the shapes of the body and the shading and not at the outline which I began drawing immediately.

This exercise is useful to ensure that I really look at what I see infront of me and not distort what I think I see by trying to use my memory.

We then moved onto two twenty minute drawings, I initially picked up a pencil to begin drawing but my tutor said to use charcoal, you can be a lot free-er with the lines and develop shading and texture.
I feel my first drawing went very well. I need to commit more time to looking at the body, sizing is very important, a method to help understand the lengths of the arms against the body is by holding a pencil at arms length and hold the nib at the shoulder and mark with your finger on the pencil where the end of the arm is.

From this class I now understand the importance of shading and taking the time to look at what you are trying to capture and stepping away from the aisle and observing.

In my project I want to capture moments in time that provoke an emotions. This can only be achieved if i look in depth at the imagery myself and am able to see in an image or on a body what are the most vital pieces of information that will make it recognizable but still beautiful.

I want to continue drawing and using different mediums to bring texture and colour into my work.