My Artist Statement
I am inspired by images that force you to ask question, like why did you take this image? or, what were you thinking when you took this? I think that I have only taken a successful image when I have people taking a second look at my image, when people want to know what the picture is about and to me, that is a happy picture. I was inspired by E.J Bellocq because I would always wonder why he took pictures of the people he did, and why he picked that certain person to be in that image. He left me wondering and then I discovered Edward Weston who takes some awfully weird images but somehow are so interesting that you’re forced to take that second look when flicking through. Weston took a lot of images of fruit, flowers, landscapes and nature which I took a huge interest in. He was able to capture the images in such a way that makes you wonder what you’re actually looking at which is what I try to achieve in all of my images. With these properties in mind I wanted to develop images that contained the idea of life and death but show them through a period of time. When I take my pictures I want to take it in a way that isn’t too structured. I would like to create a plan, but not stick to it fully just as a rough idea if I get lost along the way. Following a strict plan would mean I would end up a little too stressed on getting everything on time and making sure everything is merely perfect. In comparison to this, if I was to make small notes and bullet points on what I could or couldn’t do would mean I then have various options on tasks for me to follow. I think that doing this means I can easily flow while doing my work as I would be able to do what comes into mind meaning that i'm not restricted to anything.
My Project Proposal
I am interested in pursuing the following ideas:
- Life and death - I want to show the contrast between life and death in nature. I wanted to show contrast between life and death in nature because it meant that the colours would also contrast as there would be a lot of browns and also bright colours. I was inspired by Karl Blossfeldt and Robert Mapplethropes flowers as they are able to capture the beauty of the flower and clearly show the features to them.
- Flowers - After looking at Edward Westons flowers I wanted to create something similar but with more elements to it such as life and death. I then turned to Imogen Cunningham who took colourless images of flowers to show the beauty of them clearly bringing out the shape of them.
Robert Mapplethorpe
I then done some research on Robert Mapplethorpe who took images of flowers in black and white with a dark background which is often a gradient of grey and black. Blossfeldt made many of his photographs with a homemade camera that could magnify the subject up to thirty times its size, which meant he could clearly see the details within a plant's natural structure. Blossfeldt never received formal training in photography this is reflected in his work as the repetitive patterns found in nature's textures and forms.