Not everything is as it seems

Felicity Bearfoot-Fallon4244

To explore the idea that not everything is always as it seems and research peoples choice of action, through the influence of mental health disorders.

Contents

• Statement of Intent• Introduction• Pinterest Page• Artist 1• Key Concepts• Artist 2• Key concepts• Artists 3• Key concepts• Test Shoot

According to mentalhealth.org, it is estimated that approximately 450 million people worldwide have a mental health problem, excluding those who have not gone to seek medical help. There have been many studies arguing that social media has had an impact on current teenage mental health. In 2012, Medical News Today reported on a study suggesting that using Facebook may feed anxiety and increase a person’s feeling of inadequacy. In a more recent study, led by social psychiatrist Ethan Cross of the University of Michigan, found that using Facebook may even make us miserable. I find this fascinating that something that should bring happiness, a sharing of values and ideas can actually be harmful or damaging to one’s health. Through different artist’s work /experiences/ perceptions, I will be able to explore the connection between mental issues and social media more thoroughly. I believe doing this will also allow other possibilities and reasons amongst society and mental health to be discovered, which I could then investigate into further. For me, mental health is a serious issue in society today, especially within teenagers, as most perceptions of mental health disorders are negative and judgmental. Through my photography, I want to also explore how this can be changed and how to promote that more attention is needed when addressing the issue. I can use different techniques, settings and effects to portray my chosen subject, and use photography to tell a story related to the subject. I could also plan candid and staged shoots to have a comparison of different emotions from different types of people, and explored these through other people’s perceptions and judgments. Through this I can combine a portfolio of different types of shoots, telling different stories to express the issues of mental health. Using social media and Facebook as an example, everything is really not what it seems.

Introduction

Mood Board

I like the idea of instalments, and then photo shopping images around the original photograph.

I want to experiment on Photoshop using foggy effects like this one.

I felt this image fits with my statement of intent.

I like portraiture and may use it to express mental health.

Gallery Visit: Tate Modern

Jannis Kounellis is a Greek painter, performance artist and sculptor, who produced work aiming at the subject of Art Informel, which is a French term for describing a range of abstract approaches to a painting. Kounellis is an artist who believes a gallery is where the real life and fiction merge within a theatrical space. This particular piece he explains that “the individual drawings are like sketches made on the surface of the water, which only last for a second”. The two crows have been seen as symbolising “the death throes of imaginative freedom”.

In 1967, Kounellis became associated with Arte Povera, a movement theorized by curator Germano Celant as a major shift from work on flat surfaces to installations. I think the work produced is very fascinating, and was actually the first thing I saw in the gallery which stood out to me. The artist brings to different techniques to one subject, creating a whole new piece of work. This piece of work stood out to me because it made me think about two opposites being combined together, in this case, flat pencil drawings with 3D crows. However, I put it in the perspective of a person who is suffering with a disorder. The flat simple pencil drawing of the houses is the person, and the aggressive 3D crows is the disorder which is attacking. Putting the artwork into this perspective can help explain how two opposite things are being forced together which may not necessarily conform.

Artist Research : Jannis Kounellis: Untitled:1936

Jannis Kounellis

ContentPerspective

Environment

Scale

Size

MoodIsolation

Emotionless

Burnt

Genre

FormTones

Proportion

Hues

Expressive

ProcessInstallation

Illustrative

Photographic

Layers

Bill Viola portrays his work through the use of video art. In this particular piece he has three projections around a completely darkened room, showing quick flashes of white figures, with continuous sounds of mumbling and faded speech. This allows the viewer to have different experiences through different senses and allow the body to take on the intensity of these reappearing images. Viola in 1992 said “ the struggles we are witnessing today is between our inner and our outer lives, and our bodies are the area where this belief is being played out.”

I believe that what Viola says and his work can be connected to mental issues and disorders. As soon as I started to go into the exhibition of his work I immediately felt this wave of uncertainness come over me as I felt uncomfortable about not knowing what I was walking into as it was pitch black. The longer I stayed there, the more I thought about how what I was feeling could be a much more mild version of how someone with a particular mental disorder could feel, for example anxiety. His work in the 1990’s show “the body as a site for physical transformations”. These transformations could be the inner emotions and feelings of an ill person, which may not necessarily be displayed on their outer appearance.

Gallery Visit: Tate ModernBill Viola: Tiny Deaths:1993

Bill Viola

ContentMid-ground

Focal point

Distance

Size

MoodIsolation

Emotion

Fear

Genre

FormTones

Hues

Soft

Expressive

ProcessInstallation

Illustrative

Photographic

Media

I found Donna j wan on lenscratch.com. Her work features much different approach from Jannis Kounellis, and one I was already fond of – landscapes. I found that Donna J Wan has a recent new series called ‘Death wooed us’, in which she talks about how her latest work connects back to about how often she had suicidal thoughts. So apart of her work was she visited places where there was a high suicide rate, and took pictures of them, however the pictures are beautiful. Wan speaks about her how photographs have a “hazy and elusive quality” which she believes “reflects the clouded state mind of the suicidal”. I thought that this perfectly fitted with my theme of how not everything is as seems, as well as relating back to mental disorders.

The pieces of work I saw from the Tate Modern are very dismal and bleak. When looking at them, I do not get a positive or happy feeling. This made me think about how a negative message could have a positive appearance. For example, Donna J. Wan speaks about how often she had suicidal thoughts. So apart of her work was she visited places where there was a high suicide rate, and took pictures of them, however the pictures are beautiful. The title of her series is called Death Wooed Us. Wan speaks about her how photographs have a “hazy and elusive quality” which she believes “reflects the clouded state mind of the suicidal”.

Donna J Wan

Donna J Wan

ContentEnvironment

Scale

Perspective

Background

MoodTranquil

Euphoria

Emotion

Genre

FormExpressive

Tones

Hues

Photographic

ProcessStatic

Illustrative

Relief

Photographic

Test Shoot

For this test shoot, I wanted to achieve a similar out come to Donna J Wans sky photos, so for the best possibility to achieve this, I took a range of photos between 7;00pm-9;00pm on a summers evening.

This group of photos shows the gradual change between late afternoon and evening, with the colours and cloud formation changing with it.

Reflection

Through this shoot, I have learnt that positioning of the camera in the correct spot for a sunset will create a better outcome.

Also, experimentation on Photoshop will help expose and create contrast within my photos.

Test shoot 2

For this shoot, I wanted to capture local, common areas and places, but create a different meaning for them.

I wanted to use Donna J Wans idea of capturing innocent looking areas, which could be deceived as actually being a possible suicide destination, or a place where could be miserable for people with mental health, and a possible escape from whatever they are suffering from.

I went to different roads and roundabouts in late afternoon/ evening, and tried to capture cars driving by and shooting long exposure.

I also experimented with flash to see how this changed the composition of the images, and if they looked better brighter or darker.

Test shoot 2

These are more shots from my first test shoot. The first couple shots are from where the sun was still setting and I included the most successful ones.

As the sun started to set, I found long path ways and roads to get a deserted and isolated, lonely affect amongst the image.

When the sunset almost finished, I went to a roundabout, which still seemed to be busy, contrasting with the lonely, isolated pathways.

As these roads seemed busier, I wanted to capture the movement from the cars driving by, and put the camera in the position of a person, as if they are ready to get run over.

Photoshop Evidence- Test Shoot 1

For my first final image, I added a new adjustment layer of curves, to change the colouring of the image and enhance the colours of the sunset. I then modified the colour balance layer and adjusted the colours to achieve stronger reds and yellows, as the blue was very dominant within the image. This created a more enhanced sunset, creating a focal point for the final image.

Photoshop Evidence- Test Shoot 2

For this image, I created a new adjustment layer and changed the image to black and white. Then I added another layer for curves, to enhance the image by adding to the blacks. I then added a new layer for exposure to correct the image. Having the photograph in black and white allows the movement of the car to stand out more, creating a focal point for the image.

Final Images – Test Shoot 2

My happy accident

Test Shoot 3

For this test shoot, I went out to take pictures in the early afternoon while it was still light. I did this because I wanted to experiment with lens flare and the possibilities that could come out of it.

As the sun was still out, I tried standing in different positions to try and capture lens flare. As it was so bright, I had to change the camera settings for it to be more successful.

As the sun started to set, I started to shoot again, and this time the flare was a lot stronger and more dominant within the framing of the shot. The colours of yellow and pink conform nicely with one another allowing the composition of the photograph to be successful.

When the sun was just about to go down, the flare started to disappear again, by the pinks slowly fading, and the yellow becoming more dominant within the image.

As the sun finally set, the main dominating colour was different shades of blue, and the flare could no longer be seen.

Photoshop Evidence- Test Shoot 3For this image, I created a new adjustment layer for curves to enhance the colours in the image. Then I added a new layer for colour balance to balance out the reds of the sun and lens flare and the pale blue of the sky, changing it to a tinted purple and orange. This created more of a sunset effect and allowed the flare around the sun to become more vivid.

Photoshop Evidence- Test Shoot 3

For this image, I added an adjustment layer for curves, and colour balance, to even out the reds and blacks. The change of curves allowed a silhouette effect to take place in the image, and the sunset to become more vivid, allowing the tree to become the focal point. The blues from the sky are then toned down so the reds dominate the image.

Final Images – Test Shoot 3

Joel Meyerowitz is a street photographer, portrait and landscape photographer. He began photographing colour in 1962 and was an early advocate of the use of colour photography in a time where there was resistance to the idea of colour photography as a serious art.

Shifting between black and white and colour film, Meyerowitz ultimately chose colour as his primary medium, and moved from the handheld 35mm camera to large-format view camera, greatly influencing his image-making technique by introducing a slower, meditative process.

Joel Meyerowitz developed a keen eye for the changing light and subtleties of his surroundings. His photographs express a delightful sense of the subtle nuances of colour that can often only be appreciated upon successive viewing. This characteristic is as true of the early work in his first book, Cape Light, as it is of his most recent photography in the new book, Tuscany inside the Light.

Joel Meyerowitz

Joel Meyerowitz

ContentStory

Foreground

Distance

Background

MoodTranquil

Euphoria

Emotion

Genre

FormColours

Hues

Tones

Expressive

ProcessStatic

Illustrative

Relief

Photographic

Shoot 1With the inspiration from Donna J Wan and my own ideas, I went out into London, to an area with bridges and the river to capture the idea of escape, and what can be seen as beautiful scenery to one person, could be seen as an opportunity to another.

I took these photographs with Donna J Wans work in mind. I wanted to have a variety of simple photographs and ones which contained more detail and seemed busier, to have a contrast.

Joel Meyerowitz also has a section of landscape photographs , some of which he captures the different colours in the sky, as the sun sets.

I also took inspiration from him when thinking about to how to compose and frame the photographs I was taking. As well as incorporating Joel Meyerowitz elements, I also included my ideas. I love silhouettes, so positioned myself and the camera so there was a subject just in front of the sun setting. For example, a bridge, wall, lamppost etc.

Final images shoot 1

Shoot 2For this shoot, I wanted it to be similar to the previous one, however in a slightly different location. I went to a different part of London, but that still had similar surroundings.

I went slightly later in the day to get darker shots which had more shadowing.

On Adobe Bridge, I selected all the photos, and changed the contrast and brightness, as I felt the photos were too grey, and needed more vibrancy.

While standing on the bridge, I held the camera over the edge and waited for a train to come past on the railway opposite. I wanted to capture the fast motion of the bridge with the still, vivid sunset behind it, to have contrast within the image.

As the sunset was disappearing, I used the last bit of light in the day to my advantage and captured reflections of buildings, bridges and the light against the water.

I also brought the camera close to a subject, for example the bridge, to have content in the background and foreground.

Final Images shoot 2

Shoot 3

For my third shoot, I wanted to capture photos which I feel reflects more of the disillusioned state of mind. I went to an abandoned airfield which was used in the war.

A lot of the runway was disguised with grass and barriers, but can still be seen. The weather was also overcast, so created a more dark and moody look for my photographs, which I think conforms to the images.

The grass was overgrown and there were barriers across the runway to stop it being used. All around the field I found piles of old tyres, various forms of equipment, and a small control tower.

I also liked that the area is completely isolated and there was no one to be seen. It created an eerie feel to my photographs which reflects what I was actually feeling when I was there.

I felt this place related back to my statement of intent, as from first look, its just a field, but if you knew the history and context behind the area, you would know what it really is.

Shoot 3 final images edit

At school

Shoot 4,contacts and final images needed.