Thursday 2 December 2010

Essay #2

Contextual studies task 2: Conceptualising my own work
Name: Adrianna Keczmerska
Tutor name: Matt Moseley           Group 3
Word count: 583 words

For one of my workshops this year I have chosen sketchbook with Malcolm Moseley. During the 3 weeks rotation I was to complete a sketchbook using a chosen theme. My biggest interest and hobby is photography therefore I have chosen this particular subject as my sketchbook theme.

The idea was to do a research on a photographer that has inspired me the most and show the influence they had on me and particularly my work. The photographer of my choice was Annette Phersson, a 22 year old girl from Sweden. I discoreved her photographs about a year ago when I signed into a website for amateur photographers. The main idea behind Annette’s photographs is to take artistic self portraits, photos of her boyfriend and casual landscapes or other pretty things in order to keep the simple moments forever. She always uses analogue and polaroid cameras because, as she says in a lot of virtual interviews, the process of developing a film roll is more appealing to her. The thing I most adore about her work is the delicacy, intimacy, emotions, passion, mood and the natural light. I also like how with simple shots she creates a story about her and the things she loves the most.

Influenced by Annette’s photographs of couples, I began to think of how I could improve my photos in order to make them more interesting and intimate and I discovered that it doesnt take much more than a tripod and a bit of imaginery. Seeing as I have only started using film photography a few months ago and still learning, I feel more strongly with digital photography for now, therefore the photos I used in my sketchbook workshops are mostly digital.

Choosing one particular photograph that has inspired me hugely is the one I’m attatching to this essay. Annette has used a polaroid camera and a tripod. Her boyfriend is turned to the side looking in one direction so we can only see the left hand side of his body. On his back, Annette is resting her head, facing the camera but looking somewhere far away. Her facial expression says that she’s calm and perhaps worried or upset about something. There is no connection between them what so ever in this photograph. The mood they are creating is almost nostalgic. If it wasn’t for the lovely natural light that sits on their silhouettes, shining up the photograph a bit, the mood could almost be mysterious and miserable.

Wanting to make a contrast between mine and Annette’s work, I have chosen a photograph of mine that could respose to her photograph in a slightly different way. Using a digital camera, I tried to create a mood suitable for what me and my boyfriend were both feeling at the time. The boyfriend is sitting on a bed, with his eyes closed and what it looks to be kissing my cheek. In front of him, there is my face facing the left hand side of the room with my eyes slightly closed and a slight smile of my face. The natural light brightens up the photograph. We are both making a connection together by putting our faces closely and joining in a slight kiss. The mood seems to be much happier and cheerful comparing to the one in Annette’s photograph.

Looking at Annette Pehrsson’s work I have learnt quite a lot about creating the perfect mood and working with the natural light in order to come up with some successful results.

Annette Pehrsson's photograph
My photograph

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