Continued subject- scary children - around the Easter time happened to capture my son with such a look that I thought that I saw it before and there it is...same as Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance from The Shining.:))
Tuesday 24 April 2012
Heeere's Johnny!
Continued subject- scary children - around the Easter time happened to capture my son with such a look that I thought that I saw it before and there it is...same as Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance from The Shining.:))
Mersedes vs Samara
Just before Easter holidays I went to studio to practise some my ideas. My daughter suits the role of Samara perfectly as I hoped as she can be really scary and really sad in the same time, what looks very impressive on photographs as whether alive or dead though, creepy little girls have become iconic within the horror genre. With sunken eyes, perfect hair, and always the same style of going-to-church dress, the image of the creepy little girl has become standardized, but the fact that it still remains creepy while being so familiar is a testament to its ability to strike a deep psychological chord with the audience. In many ways the creepy little girl is the flip side of the silent witness character. Both imply that young children know more about their surroundings than they let on, but where as the silent witness can’t communicate... the silent witness represents the purity and innocence of childhood, the creepy little kid represents all the cruelty and selfishness that children are capable of.
The horror genre has become popular amongst its audiences throughout decades. This phenomenon of evil child phobia has dominated the horror cinema landscape since the beginning. A phobia which can be traced back to the movie “The Bad Seed”, where a seemingly innocent and friendly little girl perpetrates a series of murders. The release of this and further projects into the 70‘s like “The Exorcist” (1973) struck fear into the hearts of audiences around the world, the most frightening factor being the lead role of the child, possessed by the devil shocked and stunned but left audiences wanting more and so Samara from The Ring.The role of the child as the demonic figure in a horror film has become increasingly popular that's why I probably wanted to create something similar and familiar into photographs of my daughter.
I'll start my story from the chair fallowing images of my daughter as Samara still living...to be continued...
Loretta Lux
There’s always been an unsettling connection between children and the genre of horror in culture. The number one goal of the horror genre is produce fear in the audience - children suit that kind of role perfectly. Looking at the artist-photographer - Loretta Lux, surreal portraits of young children moment of fear is captured perfectly by combination of still life painting and digital manipulation.
Lux’s main subject matter is children of various ages in choreographed poses and with accentuated features. Provoking questions about our views on childhood and ideals of beauty, Lux’s images create scenarios of isolation and distance.Loretta Lux was born in 1969 in Dresden, Germany, and was introduced to art at an early age. Her childhood museum visits made a profound impression on her, and, not surprisingly, it was the images of children that especially caught her interest. She trained as a painter at the Munich Academy, and her time-consuming technique is more related to painting than to photography. Like a painter, she arranges forms and colours in her images, digitally creating cohesive compositions from staged photographs with carefully selected models, costumes, props and backdrops. A single image can take several months to produce.
Loretta Lux’s photographs are not portraits in the traditional sense.
Lux is a former painter who brings an understanding and passion for form, shape, and colour to her current work. Her strange and magical portraits of children have turned into a signature work.
With digital technology Lux has been able to recreate such portraits over and over again, making the process of construction:
- First arranging the model in real life, choosing her clothes and posture, and then taking a photograph of the child.
- After taking a photograph, Lux transfers the data to her computer.
- On the computer she strips away the background and replaces it with quiet settings- grassy fields, abandoned buildings, indiscriminate sky- from her personal stack of paintings and pictures. - Then, she erases any objects that crowd the picture; thereby, making the child appears part of the work.
- Finally, Lux digitally manipulates the appearance of the model and the background, changing colour scheme, enlarging the model's eyes and hands.
So it’s not surprise it’s could take a while to produce such a work.
My own photographs won’t be involving that amount of manipulation, for a very simple reason…I’m not to skilled for that kind of art yet. But it’s very helpful to gain some ideas of this kind to help me realise my own.
As you can see in mine it’s no much about art as more about portraits, even manipulated it’s hardly the same as Loretta’s. But getting closer that’s was my idea to get at least same impression.Research on Loretta Lux was really interesting she seems like a really talented and creative artist especially because she takes both new and old media and combines them to produce her work - photos of children producing something really ordinary - really unique. It reflects her style, because it seems like once she's done with a piece, it is not just any photo of a child. Her style has something about it that set her pieces apart from other ordinary photos of children. |
http://trendland.com/portraits-by-loretta-lux/#
http://www.lorettalux.de/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretta_Lux
http://www.yossimilo.com/artists/lore_lux/
http://www.mocp.org/collections/permanent/lux_loretta.php
Monday 16 April 2012
William Claxton
Born and raised in Southern California, William Claxton holds a special place in the history of American photography. Since his earliest pictures in the 1950s, he has been creating photographs that have garnered attention for their intimate yet soulful feel.
Always noted for his sensitive and poetic style Claxton has long been considered the preeminent photographer of the jazz music. His jazz imaginary has graced the covers of countless albums and magazines for over five decades....he has become a favourite in galleries and among a young generation of photographers who admired the stylish realism of his work.
During my research for portrait photographers I came across of one of the W.Claxton`s books dedicated to last century, one of the brightest Hollywood stars - Steve McQueen. What do you get when you combine a great American actor with a great American photographer? Arguably the coolest celebrity photo book ever published. Which is only fitting when the actor happens to be Steve McQueen, the cinematic icon who redefined the word “cool” during the 1960s, and the photographer is William Claxton? As my main theme involves only one person – my daughter it’s good take some inspiration from great masters.Claxton frequented McQueen throughout his many incarnations (dirt bike rider, movie actor, sports car driver, ladies’ man, family man, etc.), capturing at every turn another side of McQueen's enigmatic tough-guy/nice-guy personality. As this photo album demonstrates, Claxton's photographic talent and sensibilities were perfectly attuned to the actor's multifaceted character. This is the real Steve McQueen, Immortalized by Claxton's empathetic lens. I think that William Claxton has captured all sides of the great star, his passion for speed, McQueen relaxed at home, in his swimming pool, on location all over the USA, and Claxton had obviously gained McQueen's trust, and some of the images are a testament to this.
That kind of access would be impossible today, when a movie star’s contact with the media is meted out in small, rigidly controlled portions showing off wearing the masks. That kind of photographs is good only for yellow press unfortunately. Where come`s Claxton who made on the sets of early McQueen films. Naturally, Claxton also focused on McQueen’s trademark intensity: An electric image sequence of the actor participating in a cross-country motorcycle race in the Mojave Desert recalls McQueen’s breakout. The photographs underscore how much the actor’s on-screen cool was rooted in his physical being.
That kind of access would be impossible today, when a movie star’s contact with the media is meted out in small, rigidly controlled portions showing off wearing the masks. That kind of photographs is good only for yellow press unfortunately. Where come`s Claxton who made on the sets of early McQueen films. Naturally, Claxton also focused on McQueen’s trademark intensity: An electric image sequence of the actor participating in a cross-country motorcycle race in the Mojave Desert recalls McQueen’s breakout. The photographs underscore how much the actor’s on-screen cool was rooted in his physical being. 
William Claxton's warm and spontaneous pictures tellingly capture Steve McQueen’s rugged individualism and unassailable self-assurance during the heady years of the actor’s nascent stardom. But perhaps more important, they convey the sheer, unadulterated joy McQueen took in the art of living life to the full, and there’s nothing cooler than that.
http://www.williamclaxton.com/movie.html
http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0103/claxton_intro.htm
http://www.wwd.com/eye/people/photographer-william-claxton-dies-1833923
Photoshop
Photo shop is an immense program and can be quite daunting at first. Being only beginner in this area, I don't understand much and as a part of my research for Digital Manipulation unit I wanted to look more closer on Software, what photographers use every day discovering time saving techniques that will help to create fantastic images time after time.
Adobe Photoshop's first version was realised in 1990 and it has been updated and improved regularly ever since along with useful side programs like Photoshop Elements and Lightroom as part of the family.
Adobe Photoshop's first version was realised in 1990 and it has been updated and improved regularly ever since along with useful side programs like Photoshop Elements and Lightroom as part of the family.
Adobe Photoshop Elements is a scaled-down version of the full Photoshop package and costs a fraction of the price, but because it doesn't include many of Photoshop's more advanced, professional-level features, it is more suitable for domestic user than the serious photographer.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom is, in many ways, the perfect complement to Photoshop, making it even easier to edit, sort and adjust a large volume of digital photographs. Is marked as "the professional photographers essential toolbox".
Photoshop is the essential tool for anyone who's serious about photography. But Photoshop is a vast, powerful and often daunting program- and thees days you don't even get a manual. So in that case you have several options...you can buy a books - read trough and not understand anything, take a course in local collage which usually is quite expensive or search in old friend network for tips and ideas. The last is probably the best option as you get thousands of tutorials all over the Internet... I tried to find some of the best what can be useful for anyones taste and search for useful knowledge.
http://qanitazakir.blogspot.com/2012/02/250-photoshop-tutorials-tips-and-tricks.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)