Six Photos/Photographers

Blake Little-Preservation

The concept of Little’s collection ‘Preservation’ was to create photographs of models looking as if they were preserved in amber, like many fossilised bugs. He poured honey over the models which turned them into dripping, golden statues and uses light to illuminates them.In his collection this is my favourite image because the ballerina looks more like a fantasy creature than a statue like the rest of his work. The way the honey has connected the arms to the body looks almost like fairy wings. This matched with the hair style and the dress is similar to the Disney character Tinkerbell who was a strong character relating back to the theme of the collection. The subject is centred in frame as she is the main attraction and placed against a dark background so the amber colour can stand out in contrast. The honey makes the model look as if she was coated in a protective barrier and her calm relaxed expression gives the image that she feels safe, which was the point of the collection.

-Lindsey, Front, 2013

Alex Prager -The Big Valley

To construct her pictures, Prager disguises her friends in wigs and outfits and creates a scene that at first glance seems quirky with a 60’s cinematic feel, much alike Cindy Sherman. Prager’s work however has more of a sinister feel, its like she covers the uncomfortableness with bright colours and pretty girls. She describes her work as being ‘on the edge of beauty and disaster’. She creates images in such a way that you can imagine a whole story just by analysing the mise-en-scene. The images in this collection all look as if something is right about to happen. As she grew up in California I think ‘The Big Valley refers to the stereotype of valley girls. The use of these valley girl characters could be a comment on her views of girls who fit the stereotype. I think the use of 60’s fashion/style give the impression of timeless beauty.

-Susie and friends

Nick Knight

-Hauteur Space, 2012

Nick knight is known as a very influential fashion photographer, collaborating with designers such as Alexander McQueen, Calvin Klein and Christian Dior. These images were produced, along with a short fashion film, for W Magazine in 2012. You can see from the clothing styles that Knight is playing around with fashion elements from different time periods like the flared cuffs, 18th century inspired hair and 1950’s flapper girls but mixing them with modern styles to create a futuristic look to fit with the theme of space. The high exposer and use of black and white make the girls look quite ghostly with a mist around them as if these were older more worn out pictures. The girl on the left however has no mist, instead it looks as if he has put a plastic sheet behind her so he can create a background using light. Knight uses a diversity of different compositions to get a variety of different pictures for each look.

Alexander Semenov

-Cyanea Capillata

Semenov is a marine biologist/photographer, he and his team often dive in tough and adverse conditions in order to study under water life. His main goal is to take photographs of sea life like never seen before and boost peoples interest in marine biology. I chose his picture because of my interest in marine life, Semenov’s work stood out due to his surreal approach to photography. The image looks almost alien-esque because of the starry looking background and how the fish glows. His use of colour against the dark background gives an impression of finding beauty in the darkness. The image is aesthetically pleasing due to its use of the golden section. The picture, although taken of a dangerous fish, is calming and very serene, the way the tentacles are spread and the wisps of light are quite hypnotic and a reminder of how it feels to be underwater.

Jane Long

-Underneath

-Dancing with Costică

Jane Long is a photographer/digital artist who found pictures taken by Costică Acsinte, a Romanian war photographer, and transformed them into a dreamlike portraits. She took these images from WWI and wanted to bring life to them using colour and adding surreal features. The idea behind using these pictures was that the people in them look sad and lifeless but during there life they would’ve felt happiness and she wanted to bring that to the picture. The pictures she creates are reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland and Studio Ghibli character with there unusual elements. The colours she has used are bright but slightly muted which give the feeling of a darker story behind the picture, and the title ‘Underneath’ gives me the impression that something is being hidden, like the children's bird legs under the water. To me this picture makes me think of themes like don’t judge a book by its cover.

Jose Romussi

-Untitled

Romussi is a Chilean artist raised from an artistic background. His style consists of taking fashion images and using embroidery to alter the look. Romussi challenges the expectations of fashion photography and rejects the concept of ‘face value’. Western culture almost dictates what's beautiful and what isn’t. The artist has used features that would usually be seen as less attractive for his picture, almost like saying he doesn’t agree and won’t conform to mainstream beauty standards. He re-construes what represents beauty by adding a bizarre twist to fashion photography. ‘#ANTI-SERIE’ also makes me think that the collection could be a comment on a previous series of his called ‘New Serie’ which was much more conservative in comparison. The new version seems much less editorial and almost like it had been doodled on due to the scribbled writing at the bottom and the zig zag shape at the top. The image also seems much more comical because of the strange facial features and brighter colours.

-#ANTI-SERIE