nico froelich
' I recognise the pace of change in my area in particular; my work serves as a a reminder of the importance of variety and celebrates the optimism and perseverance of people and communicates who are often disregarded and disempowered'.
https://www.creativeboom.com/inspiration/nico-froehlich/
Nico Froelich is a British photographer, born in 1990. He was raised in south-east London where his work is also based. His photographs focus on working-class life and socio-political conditions. His work chooses to draw attention and capture the beauty and diversity within working-class life. He also focuses on the treatment and displacement of people who originally lived in the area.
Gentrification levels have increased rapidly across South East London, specifically in areas such as Deptford, Peckham, Brixton and Catford. Nico tried to show the negative side affects that this has. Including the affects on a community's culture as well as their own history. The rising problem also plays a huge part in the rapid changes forced to happen in terms of different neighbourhoods.
However, Nico's work is not there to spread feelings of negativity and upset. He wants to spread light on the rich streets of working-class communities. Froelich chooses to celebrate the diverse groups that are in South-East London.
Gentrification levels have increased rapidly across South East London, specifically in areas such as Deptford, Peckham, Brixton and Catford. Nico tried to show the negative side affects that this has. Including the affects on a community's culture as well as their own history. The rising problem also plays a huge part in the rapid changes forced to happen in terms of different neighbourhoods.
However, Nico's work is not there to spread feelings of negativity and upset. He wants to spread light on the rich streets of working-class communities. Froelich chooses to celebrate the diverse groups that are in South-East London.
This is one of my favourite photos that Nico has taken. The red background of the chicken shop brings warmth and comfort in the photo. Red is usually a colour associated with danger or aggression. However, others see it as a colour of love. I personally see it as a way of representing comfort and togetherness in this image. Across London there are over 8000 chicken shops and are a place that most people between the ages of 12 and 25 will be familiar with. The setting of this photograph will provide a sense of familiarity and comfort to many Londoners. Another important aspect to this photo is the lighting that is striking across the two teenagers. The thought behind the lighting is shown through the way it only covers half the person on the left's face. Interestingly, the high quality lighting reminds me of a photo you would expect to see in a high end fashion shoot rather than in a chicken shop setting. Another interesting feature is the juxtaposition of the two. One is entirely straight faced with a downwards glance whilst the other has a slight smile with a higher gaze. However, both are wearing a black jumper with what appears to be the same school uniform underneath.
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hicham benohoud
Hicham Benohoud is a visual artist as well as an art teacher in Marrakech. This inspired a collection of photos he named 'The Classroom'. Hicham decided to involve the children in a performative project. When taking these photos he chose to physically constrain the children in different ways including accessories, poses and gestures. In the background of the photos Benohoud leaves the remaining of the class sat behind their desks as a way of acting as puppets. The accessories that were used included boxes, wire, broken mirrors and rolls of fabric. Benohoud said that he chose to use those as a way of experimenting with the strain between the psychology behind childish games and symbolic violence. The photos are carefully staged so that no windows are in sight meaning that the use of light is extremely important.
This is my favourite photo taken from Benohoud's collection as it creates an extremely unsettling atmosphere. The legs hanging make me feel like they reflect torture and comfortability even though they may simply be children sat on a table. I think the black and white filter creates a sinister feel to this image. As well as this, the children in the background appear to be entirely unbothered by whatever is happening infront of them.
Travel and capture
The task I chose was to take public transport from outside school and then travel to a destination that I have not visited before. I had to take over 20 images and document the psychogeography of the area. I worked with another student doing the same activity as me and we travelled around Peckham, Bank and London Bridge. Overall, I think Peckham had the most interesting things to photograph because of the bright colours and busy streets. However, I believe we should have planned this task more to help myself produce even more interesting images.
portraits
I am not very pleased with how these portraits came out but I think improvements can be made simply by spending more time on the task. Next time I think it would be even better if I had more time to experiment with different lighting in the studio as the yellow and slightly pink tones weren't strong enough to have a clear effect on the picture. I would also like to experiment with more props other than just a camera as I think it could make the portraits more interesting. However, I do like the way that I chose to use different things, such as the cage and the sculpture, to interrupt the simplicity of the image. I think it adds an interesting texture and different levels to the photo.
I personally do not like how these portraits came out. I think it is because of the environment i chose to photograph in. Although the school is large i often feel that photographing in it is limited and repetitive because of the same designs across the building. Another issue i faced was the weather, it was raining outside meaning that there wasn't as many accessible areas I could photograph in.
12 portraits
My task was too create a series of 12 portraits inspired by Nico Froehlich. I decided to use the idea of community and familiarity within my photos. Although these portraits may appear simple I decided to make the meaning behind it the more important part. I decided to take these photos in my local park that I used to spend a lot of my time in. It holds many memories such as school sports events, learning to ride a bike, being allowed out with a friend and without an adult for the first time and so many more. I then thought it was important to use a model who also has a personal connection to the environment we shot in. The model I chose to use was my close friend who also lives nearby. She went to my primary as well as my secondary and we have remained close throughout all these years. We both have grown up with this park and have created our own memories there as well as memories together so I believed she would be the perfect way to make this shoot personal to me in a way that was inspired by Nico who followed the idea of his community.
digital camera practice
Today we looked into the different settings and the way to use the settings for different types of photos. We learnt about the way the aperture should be effected in terms of the time of day it is. There are different speeds including 150, 200, 400, 800 and 1600. The lower numbers from between 150 and 400 are suited for daylight, 800 is good for the early evening where there is slightly less light and then 1600 is the suited speed for taking photos in the night. The task we were set was to take a series of images all in the manual setting to help us practice using a camera. I personally don't like the photos I took because of the environment we were in. I don't often like how my photos in school turn out because there is only a limited area, most of which I will have already photographed in. The sun was also too bright making it difficult to see the camera screen so I found it hard to adapt to taking good images.
deanna lawson
In this photograph you can see two young men sitting on a brown leather sofa, both are topless and directly looking into the camera. They both are sat in different positions, one imitating a gun facing at the camera and the other sat with a mouth brace of some description and holding what appears to be spliff or a cigarette. There is also a man standing in the background but his face has been covered with a picture of decaying dentures. In this photograph i recognise the mix of emotions and the feelings within the environment. The man holding his finger like a gun feels intimidating and slightly scary. As well as the mouth brace being petrifying for someone who doesn't have any background or insight into the actual image. This picture doesn't strike me as something entirely new and looks as if it has been staged and gathered from different photos and things that are familiar. The photograph reminds me of a male rapper's instagram posts or perhaps an album cover. There are many squares and rectangles repeated across the photograph, including, the rectangular sofa, the art hanging on the wall and the arrangement of the wooden panels on the floor.these repeated shapes feel intentional but could also just be how the house is already set up. Most of the colours in the house are quite dark, the floor and the sofa but there is one piece of artwork behind the two men that stands out and almost feels out of place because of its bright colours and calming design. the light in this photo seems to not be set up but more the normal, regular lighting that the room always has. To me, in this photo there are a few things that stand out to me as a viewer. The main ones being; the object in the man on the rights mouth, the photo in the top right corner, the painting on the wall behind them and the man on the right's hair. I find the old fashioned hairstyle interesting as it isn't one we would regularly see on a day-to-day modern setting. Personally, I think the large amount of space surrounding the two men on the sofa has been composed purposefully. Perhaps it is metaphorical for the distance between the preconceived ideas about African American men and the actual truth and stories behind these three people. I think this photo brings in elements of reality but the photo only allows us to see what the models and the photographer wants to show. So there is only so much we will know ever know and there may be an extended story behind the image.
Deana Lawson was born in 1979 in Rochester, New York. She describes her process of photography as 'messy', she experimented with different techniques. One being having her partner sketch out her ideas to get a physical representation of how she wanted to stage her photographs. However, she explains that sometimes her work us purely inspired by the subject themself. As she continued photographing she realised that her natural instinct as a black photographer was to take photos of people who resemble the people she grew up around. She says, 'I didn't make a political choice, but it was a political choice at the same time'.
After researching the artist and this specific photograph I began to uncover the story behind this stages photograph that Lawson composed. Deana describes a dream that she had where a man with a moth piece in appeared, it haunted her and she quickly became obsessed with this idea. Deana then heard about the interesting story behind George Washington, the first American presidents, denture's. She had learned from a documentary that throughout George's life, he had severe mouth issues so much so that when he was inaugurated (sworn into office) he only had one tooth in his mouth. George's dentures were made from ivory, gold wire and human teeth that either were the teeth of slaves or purchased from slaves. This captured Deana Lawsons attention and she decided that she wanted to 'repurpose this in a quest to reveal the majesty and richly layered history of black life'. She talks of the months she spent with the photo of the dentures stuck to her wall and then moved into her studio until she remembered the dream she had had of the man with the mouth guard. Deana decided to mention this vision for a photograph to a friend who then continued to help her find three males to act as her subjects. They were not models but instead hip-hop artists. Lawson was deeply interested in the colour gold, but particularly the way it is 'displayed beautifully on black skin'. She thinks that gold has been appropriated in hip-hop and that hip-hop channels ancient kingdoms. On the day of the shoot, Deana picked up a dental apparatus that is typically used to hold open the mouth, this would be the mouthpiece used in the image. She decided to take these photos in the friend's house who he shared with his Grandma. This is shown through the artwork in the back, belonging to him and the baby picture of him shown on the right hand wall. When she arrived she laid the mouth piece out amongst all of the other jewellery. All three men were looking and choosing the pieces they wanted to where until they noticed the mouthpiece and asked Deanna what it was. She told them that it was a mouthpiece and one of them would wear it, at first there was silence but then Ruben, the man who ended up wearing it, said that he would. The photo was one of the last shot sthat Deanna took and she describes it as a shot that she 'knew when I had it.'
Deana Lawson was born in 1979 in Rochester, New York. She describes her process of photography as 'messy', she experimented with different techniques. One being having her partner sketch out her ideas to get a physical representation of how she wanted to stage her photographs. However, she explains that sometimes her work us purely inspired by the subject themself. As she continued photographing she realised that her natural instinct as a black photographer was to take photos of people who resemble the people she grew up around. She says, 'I didn't make a political choice, but it was a political choice at the same time'.
After researching the artist and this specific photograph I began to uncover the story behind this stages photograph that Lawson composed. Deana describes a dream that she had where a man with a moth piece in appeared, it haunted her and she quickly became obsessed with this idea. Deana then heard about the interesting story behind George Washington, the first American presidents, denture's. She had learned from a documentary that throughout George's life, he had severe mouth issues so much so that when he was inaugurated (sworn into office) he only had one tooth in his mouth. George's dentures were made from ivory, gold wire and human teeth that either were the teeth of slaves or purchased from slaves. This captured Deana Lawsons attention and she decided that she wanted to 'repurpose this in a quest to reveal the majesty and richly layered history of black life'. She talks of the months she spent with the photo of the dentures stuck to her wall and then moved into her studio until she remembered the dream she had had of the man with the mouth guard. Deana decided to mention this vision for a photograph to a friend who then continued to help her find three males to act as her subjects. They were not models but instead hip-hop artists. Lawson was deeply interested in the colour gold, but particularly the way it is 'displayed beautifully on black skin'. She thinks that gold has been appropriated in hip-hop and that hip-hop channels ancient kingdoms. On the day of the shoot, Deana picked up a dental apparatus that is typically used to hold open the mouth, this would be the mouthpiece used in the image. She decided to take these photos in the friend's house who he shared with his Grandma. This is shown through the artwork in the back, belonging to him and the baby picture of him shown on the right hand wall. When she arrived she laid the mouth piece out amongst all of the other jewellery. All three men were looking and choosing the pieces they wanted to where until they noticed the mouthpiece and asked Deanna what it was. She told them that it was a mouthpiece and one of them would wear it, at first there was silence but then Ruben, the man who ended up wearing it, said that he would. The photo was one of the last shot sthat Deanna took and she describes it as a shot that she 'knew when I had it.'
'The body is present, but then you have this cut to George Washington's teeth, which to me mimics or is a metaphor for this immediate clash of history in the present moment'.
inspired photo shoot
For this photo shoot I decided to incorporate Lawson’s style of candid yet staged photography. I did this by setting up the background in the way I wanted and continued to move the lights and props until I was happy with the way they looked on camera. I also made the decision to shoot a few with the subjects looking directly into the camera just as Deanna did in her phot ‘Nation’. In some of the photos I made one of the models a background subject to replicate the man stood in the back right. I think overall these photos were successful in capturing the naturalistic side of my friends. I also decided to let them take the lead in some of the poses and positions they put themselves in. This helped make the photo look more natural as both models were comfortable. If I were to do this shoot again I would want to experiment with photographing outside and exploring the different lightings. These were my overall favourite four as I think they capture Deanna’s style of work the most.
cindy sherman
This photo is a portrait of a woman covered by a red jacket with a messy blonde wig and bright blue piercing eyes. In this image the composure is recognisable. Cindy uses a regular layout where the model is placed in the middle with her face in the centre of the portrait. However, she is leant to the image's right side, with her face slightly facing the other way. The use of low lighting and only certain highlighted areas are new to me. I haven't seen a photographer do this before and I think it's a really interesting way of composing a portrait. All lines in this photo are soft and curved, the hair slightly brushed with a curve one way, her shoulder relaxed and the red cover is placed in a gentle way over her body. There are only a few colours that stand out in this photo, the red jacket and her blue eyes. These contrast with the dark background where it is difficult to distinguish what is actually there. The first thing I noticed in this photo is the interesting use of lighting. the light hasn't been used in the same way that a lot of photographers do. it is spaced out over her face a body as if something is disrupting it.
Cindy Sherman is known for her self portraits where she alters her appearance beyond recognition using makeup, prosthetics and costumes. She uses different personas from ideas that include fairytales, art history, the fashion world and film noir. This photograph for me resembles the different stories behind humanity, I think the decision to use disguises in her portraits is extremely interesting. |
questionnaire about my personal investigation
What is it within your photography that you're really interested in?
In photography I'm interested in the different ways that people use it to tell their own stories. Portraiture and documentary photography interest me the most as I feel as if the photos have the ability to move me emotionally. Each photographer capture the image in the way that they intend to tell a story, but each viewer will interpret it in their own way. When looking at photography with a story behind it I tend to try and connect to it in my own personal way. In my own photography I'm interested in the colours that are used. These may be the clothing that a subject is wearing or the colours within the environment that the photo is shot in. I also find the idea of dynamics within an image really interesting. In my own photos I try and indicate the relationship between me as the photographer and the subject. I often use my own friends as it makes me more comfortable when trying to explain and fulfil my own original ideas. I find that having a close relationship with the subject helps them also feel more comfortable during a shoot. It helps them feel able to put forward their own ideas that can then be incorporated into the photos I take. I personally think that through some of my photography you can see this comfortability as well as ideas inputted by the subjects themselves. I also find that the dynamic between the subjects when there is more than one person is really intriguing. I think that a photo can tell a viewer a lot and the relationship between then people involved with the photograph. However, I'm interested to find out how different people misinterpret the real story behind a picture. |
What is it that you want to document?
In my photography I want to document the essence of humanity. I have left the topic quite broad as I think it will be interesting to explore the different areas of people. My ideas involve looking 'Beyond skin deep' to try and express the reality of life for people through my work. I think mental health and seeing people for their true selves but also accepting and showing the way they wish to present themselves really interests me and I would love to try and capture this throughout my investigation. After looking on Pinterest, I have found some inspiration of ways I could work with this idea. Including, black and white portraits, collages, edited photographs, up close and personal images, experiments with different lightings.
What is it about your project you want to know?
In my project I want to know more about how I can distort how someone interprets my photos. I also want to think about different ways of bringing in the subject/models own ideas and fulfil their wishes of how they want to be seen. I want to know about different techniques to help the people I decide to work with feel more comfortable and safe as I think this is so important for taking successful pictures as well as for the environment of the shoot. I also would like to discover and find out more about different settings, environments and lightings that I can experiment with. I think it would be helpful to work in the studio and become familiar with the different lights that can be used for portraits.
What kind of emotions/experience do you want the viewer to have?
When looking at my project I want viewers to have a strong emotional reaction. I think my investigation could produce lots of different emotions some where it's a melancholy personal relation to photograph, perhaps to a photo that looks at humans well being. However, I also think a lot of my photos will be extremely positive and moving, just in a different way.
What do you want to share with your viewer?
I want viewers to understand the relationship and the importance behind the model being comfortable. I also want to share the blend of reality and staged photos. I think in photography it is really important to experiment with both and I hope that during my project I am successful in doing this. I would like to work with the people close with me and explore the different ways that they can present themself. This may be through their personal choice or my own ideas related to the theme of 'Beyond skin deep'. I want to share natural human emotions but also the way that people wish to change themselves. I would like to capture honest and sometimes simplistic photos to share feelings of the unknown to allow viewers to explore their own individual emotions.
Have you documented in great detail a photographer of groups of photographers that have also photographed a similar theme/story/subject?
One photographer who I believe will play a big part in my work is Cindy Sherman. She is a female American artist who explores the concept of identity through self portraiture. Sherman is interested with the different identities she is able to play around with. She dresses up using different themes, stories, genders, characters, visual art and so much more. I think her work is so interesting as to why she enjoys displaying herself so differently in each project. These are a few of her famous portraits.
In my project I want to know more about how I can distort how someone interprets my photos. I also want to think about different ways of bringing in the subject/models own ideas and fulfil their wishes of how they want to be seen. I want to know about different techniques to help the people I decide to work with feel more comfortable and safe as I think this is so important for taking successful pictures as well as for the environment of the shoot. I also would like to discover and find out more about different settings, environments and lightings that I can experiment with. I think it would be helpful to work in the studio and become familiar with the different lights that can be used for portraits.
What kind of emotions/experience do you want the viewer to have?
When looking at my project I want viewers to have a strong emotional reaction. I think my investigation could produce lots of different emotions some where it's a melancholy personal relation to photograph, perhaps to a photo that looks at humans well being. However, I also think a lot of my photos will be extremely positive and moving, just in a different way.
What do you want to share with your viewer?
I want viewers to understand the relationship and the importance behind the model being comfortable. I also want to share the blend of reality and staged photos. I think in photography it is really important to experiment with both and I hope that during my project I am successful in doing this. I would like to work with the people close with me and explore the different ways that they can present themself. This may be through their personal choice or my own ideas related to the theme of 'Beyond skin deep'. I want to share natural human emotions but also the way that people wish to change themselves. I would like to capture honest and sometimes simplistic photos to share feelings of the unknown to allow viewers to explore their own individual emotions.
Have you documented in great detail a photographer of groups of photographers that have also photographed a similar theme/story/subject?
One photographer who I believe will play a big part in my work is Cindy Sherman. She is a female American artist who explores the concept of identity through self portraiture. Sherman is interested with the different identities she is able to play around with. She dresses up using different themes, stories, genders, characters, visual art and so much more. I think her work is so interesting as to why she enjoys displaying herself so differently in each project. These are a few of her famous portraits.
Gregory john turner
After going to the Taylor Wessing portrait competition in the National Portrait Gallery I found a collection of photographers that really fascinated me. The first being Gregory John Turner. Gregory is a portrait photographer who takes amazing photos that express different peoples stories. He looks into individuals lives and collaborates with them to create a collection of images that explore the feelings and struggles that the subject experiences.
The first person that Gregory worked with that I decided to research was a man called Ivan who suffers from psychosis. He struggles to work because of the voices that he constantly hears. John has been working with him since March 2020 and has created many portraits that try and tell his story. Whilst composing the photos, Gregory says that he began noticing his own presence in the photos from the abuse he experienced at school. He 'began identifying specific memories from that times and used these vignettes to influence the direction and composition of the images'. He titled the series 'The Divided Self' and these are some of my favourites from the collection. I captioned all images with the same captions that Gregory used to help explain his ideas and the meanings behind the photos.
The first person that Gregory worked with that I decided to research was a man called Ivan who suffers from psychosis. He struggles to work because of the voices that he constantly hears. John has been working with him since March 2020 and has created many portraits that try and tell his story. Whilst composing the photos, Gregory says that he began noticing his own presence in the photos from the abuse he experienced at school. He 'began identifying specific memories from that times and used these vignettes to influence the direction and composition of the images'. He titled the series 'The Divided Self' and these are some of my favourites from the collection. I captioned all images with the same captions that Gregory used to help explain his ideas and the meanings behind the photos.
the history of portraiture
Portraiture is an extremely old form of art. Some of the first pieces of work related to portraits were