Social Commentary

At first my mind was blank as to what I was going to pursue for my Location assignment. I came up with a few ideas, which all took place back home in Cootamundra: One, to photograph my friend who works at a local child care centre and also tecahes dancing at one of the studios in his spare time. Two, my Grandfather and his friends playing in a lawn bowls tournament at the local Country Club. Three, to photograph those who play Bingo at the Country Club each Friday. I eventually came up with a final idea, and settled on it.

I chose to photograph my Dad who is an aircraft engineer. He works at the local airport, Masling Industries. I intended on following him and displaying what he does there. Maslings specialises in aviation turbine engine component maintenance and overhaul. Although they are a small organisation in the town they are a leading component overhaul facility, and have customers throughout Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific

Throughout his office and the hanger, this is what I came up with.

Products

I went with the first idea that popped in my head for the product assignment - Barbies! Excitement central, going through all my old Barbie stuff and coming up with interesting ideas... well that was the beginning. Now I'm glad I don't have to touch another Barbie again. I have plenty of Barbies from when I was a little kid, so ideas weren't a problem and ranged from Beach Barbie, Doctor Barbie, Workout Barbie, Ballerina Barbie, and even Shopping Barbie (complete with the trolley and miniature food items). The final ideas I ran with ended up being Dorothy, Ballerina, Esmerelda, Winter Wonderland, Bathtime Kelly and the Birthday "party". When setting up, I used fishing wire and trusty blu tac to help hold them up, which at times was frustrating...(especially with the little Kelly dolls and their big heads). So the only photoshopping done was to remove the wire and blu tac.

My first shoot was with Dorothy, which went smoothly. I had painted the background and foreground myself, and she came with a little basket and dog Toto, so the setup was simple. To capture her glittery red shoes lit up, I had all the room's lights off and set the shutter speed to 5 seconds.

Next came Ballerina Barbie. I wanted to try and create a stage-looking scene, which is why I set up the coloured fairy lights in the background behind some soft white material. This shoot took longer because I couldn't get the right lighting to make the fairy lights appear nice and soft in the background, while keeping the doll sharp. Finally with Julian's help, we used a constant light and there you go.

Originally my third shoot involved a Beach theme. I had set up the scene with real sand and sea shells (thanks Chi!), a beach buggy, and Barbie lazing beneath an umbrella. However I didn't like it in the end and ditched it. Sadness. So the next shoot was with Bathtime Kelly. She came with the little pink bathtub, bathmat, soap and the foam duck. I used one of the glass blocks from the studio as my background, and a tile as the foreground. The lighting turned out a little warm, and even though it was meant to be a bathroom setting it was a bit flat.I got sticky bubbles, which compared to normal bubbles last alot longer. But we soon found out that the downside to this was that they leave white stuff everywhere...

For Winter Wonderland Barbie, I got some white tulle material which had these little glittery bits scattered all over it. Along with the white glittery foreground, it appeared like snow (almost!). This shoot went well, with the only problem being a harsh shadow on her right side which was easily removed with a reflector.

Next came the Birthday Party. The two Kelly dolls came wearing their part dress and hats, and also with presents and balloons. The pink bunny added a girly childlike touch, while also hiding the blu tac that held up the balloons. I also used blu tac on the bottom of both doll's feet, lots of blu tac... The lighting caused shadow on their left side, which was fixed with a reflector.

Finally, I ended my Barbie shoot with Esmerelda, who comes from the Hunchback of Notredam story. As she is a performer, I made her appear as though she was in mid-dance. I used the deep purple material for the background, which makes her appear more prominent. For the foreground, the gold glomesh type material was used to add more colour.

Portraits

HEAD TO WAIST - I wanted to use one of the crochet blankets my Grandmother made as the background. I have a bit of a weird liking (maybe an obsession...) towards crochet blankets, so thats mainly why it was my first thought for a background. I love the different colours of wool used and the way it appears so intricately held together. To fit in with the background I went with a hippie theme, dressing Nikki in a cheesecloth shirt, bright headscarf and beads. What I didn't think about before shooting, was the length of the blanket. So I ended up having some trouble with its length, and in the end the portraits ended up being quite square.

After experimenting with incense sticks and hearts drawn on her palm, I decided I liked the images with the daisies the best, choosing the last photo above as my head to waist portrait.

MULTIPLE EXPOSURE - I asked my friend Francine who plays soccer, to come into the studio. I wanted to get 3 exposures of her juggling the ball with her feet at first. Then I decided to have some variety, an have one of her juggling the ball on her knees, one juggling the ball on her head and the third of her simply holding the ball. After she'd kitted up in her gear we started. It all went fairly easily, with the main problem being Fran trying to juggle in complete darkness and not loose the ball halfway down the studio. The final image I chose has ghosting around the bottom, which I didn't crop or try to remove, because I like the effect and I wanted the boots and socks to be shown.

Final Folio Presentation

For my final folio, I decided to concentrate on the song response from week three. The song I chose for this was "Ending Start" by Metric. To me the words of the song depict a picture in my mind of someone who feels trapped, vulnerable and basically like a possession.

In the assignment I only presented two photos, to fit in with the cd cover topic, but for the final presentation I added three more photos. To fit in with the feeling of being trapped and vulnerable, I used a blindfold on my subject in the first photo. The next three photos are made to replicate the subject's thoughts and memories, and finally what has become of her. The last photo also gives a sense of breaking free.

The final photos have been cropped to a square shape, keeping with the cd cover size and because they look best viewed at that size. Instead of placing them in a cd case or framing them, I decided to pin them together with safety pins, with the intention that the pins symbolize the person's thoughts being penetrated and broken down. I then pinned them to a blindfold, fitting in with the first image.

Untitled

The creative writing piece I got was "Untitled" by Jane Pettit. (The poem is alongside the printed photo in the visual arts hallway).

Polly

Polly wants a cracker

I think I should get off her first

Think she wants some water

To put out the blow torch

Isn't me

Have a seed

Let me clip

Dirty wings

Let me take a ride

Hurt yourself

Want some help

Help myself
Got some rope

Have been told

I promise you

Have been true

Let me take a ride

Hurt yourself

Want some help

Help myself

Lyrics by Nirvana

NPG - Construction of Identity

Ok so this is a little late, but here it is... Unfortunately I couldn't find the images on the Internet, but the portraits I chose were Drew Barrymore by George Hurrell, taken July 1981, and La Nijinska, Two Studies by Man Ray, taken November 1922.

Hurrell's portrait of Drew was taken when she was just six years old. The photographer has captured a part of her innocence, and this is evident through the bright pink puffy sleeved dress she wears, with her blonde hair gathered into a bun. She is seated and stares straight into the camera, her gaze rather subdued and serious for a person so young. Her facial expression seems to give nothing away and leaves her appearing closed up.

The two portraits of Russian choreographer La Nijinska reveal a more open side. She is photographed wearing heavy black and white makeup, and her hair is a lovely mess with a large comb stuck through the middle.
In the first photograph she gazes into the camera, her eyes wide and full of sadness. The makeup adds to this, making her mouth seem upturned. In the second photograph La Nijinska has her head thrown upwards and her eyes closed. This appearance again gives the sense of unhappiness.

Both photographers have contributed to the construction of their subject's identities, through clothing, makeup and positioning (e.g. seated/standing, looking at or away from the camera). Drew is constructed to appear childlike by use of the pink girly dress and her soft features. However the serious gaze she has makes her seem older than she actually is, seeing as how it appears strong and sombre, compared to the usual smiling face of a typical child's portrait. In both of La Nijinska's portraits she appears unhappy, and also somewhat frightened.

As viewers we do not really know what these people are like in real life. Was Drew really a serious child? Did she really want to wear a bright pink dress, or was she forced into it? Was La Nijinska a depressed woman?

I don't think a person's true self can be captured a second. No one knows what goes on before the photograph is shot, unless they are actually there. The subject could easily be told to force a smile, when really they don't feel like what the forced smile is suggesting. Without even being asked, the subject could automatically put up a wall and hide who they really are as soon as they are placed in front of a camera.