The second week was all about editing and selecting the right images from our contact sheets but seeing as I didn't have the images it was difficult to complete that task.
Instead of focusing on my images I tried to fill out my book with research and pages of photography research so it 'seemed' like i had done some work. One photographer I focused on was Duane Michals. Michals is a photographer who is known to use sequences in his work, these sequences tend to create a narrative in which a story can be interpreted.
This was a piece that I analysed, its a very notable piece mainly because of who it was made for. The piece in question is called 'Dr Heisenberg's Magic Mirror of Uncertainty' which he created for Vogue Magazine.
The subject is seen staring into the mirror in an innocent attempt to see her reflection, only to be surprised by what she sees. Her reflection is seems morphed beyond human proportions, becoming unnatural and borderline monstrous. What is striking is the fact that there doesn't seem to be anything remotely wrong with the mirror, usually a crack or a bend would create such a distortion, yet the mirror seems in perfect condition. This then leaves you to wonder if it is the woman creating these reflections. The reflections arent accurate and therefore hint at a more metaphorical meaning, perhaps the many faces the subject has, seeing as, in a few she has one or more faces however abstract they may be. Could she be discovering herself?
Duane Michal's use of narrative was a very prominent aspect of the photography topic of our course. A large part of our brief was to create a series of images that tell a story and of course what is a story without a narrative?
I did actually try to respond to him, which may be a surprise... I managed to take a number of photographs whilst out with some friends.
After annotating my contact sheet I had to try and link a couple so that it would at least seem like there was a narrative to it. A lot of them were just quick snaps but when I took them I made sure to take a few shots in quick succession so that, if by chance, I would capture some motions and movements that could suggest certain things.
The four images I ended up choosing were in fact the first four photographs I took during my day out. They weren't of anything special but a pair of feet. Two of the images have a large amount of motion blur considering the size of the frame. The composition across the series of images was also very similar which makes it a lot easier for the images to be linked. What I most liked about the four images is how they do not seem to represent much yet they hold a lot of potential for interpretation. Is this a positive series or a negative series? Is the subject dancing? Is the subject running? If so, running from what? There are a lot of questions that need answers when it comes to figuring out what this series depicts.
I made sure to include my editing process in my book, this has always been something I've aimed to do as it shows my ability to use editing software such as Adobe Photoshop. It also helps to evidence how I got from the raw files to and edited series.
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