The idea I had for my final photos was to photograph everything over the course of a week back at my parents house to show what being back in Nottingham made it home to me. But out of all the photos I took none of them kind of felt like home. My house, the local area, they weren’t really home to me anymore. But then I followed my brother around the garden and realised that what made it home was spending time with him. The fact that I’d come back and the first thing he’d want to do is show me something or play something or just sit and hang out.
The images show a form of innocence in a way but also a feel of wanting acceptance. ‘Look at me on the monkey bars, I bet I can get across them’ ‘I’ve never climbed that tree on my own but I can do it’. This is my favourite set of images I’ve taken in this module just because of how happy it makes me seeing my brother enjoy his childhood and be completely care free and in his own little world of enjoyment and play.
Over the space of 5 years Jesses Burke went on several road trips with his daughter and photographed their journey and her experiences with nature for his series ‘Wild & Precious’. He states on his website:
‘Wild & Precious brings together treasures from a series of road trips traveled with my daughter to explore the natural world. I use these adventures to encourage a connection between my child and nature and to give her an education that I consider essential—one that develops appreciation, respect, conservation, and self-confidence. On the road we talk about the vastness of nature and try to get more in touch with the earth. Together we document the routes we drive, the landscapes we discover, the creatures we encounter, even the roadside motels where we sleep. Wild & Precious reveals the fragile, complicated relationship that humans share with nature and attempts to strengthen those bonds.’
A lot of his images from their road trips are so striking with such crisp and harrowing back drops and his young daughter, exploring and learning, being swallowed up by the vast landscapes in which she’s surrounded by. It’s a beautiful insight into the relationship between Father, Daughter and nature, demonstrated throughout the 134 images in the series. It’s also interesting to see his daughter grow as she explores and climbs, yet how she returns to her childhood innocence through his images of her sleeping in the various cheap motels they stayed in on their journeys.
My favourite image from the series. The setting is incredible and should be the main focus of the image, but your eye is drawn to this small figure hunched over inspecting something on the pile of rocks she has ventured on to.
He also created what can only be described as one of the most beautiful short films I’ve ever seen, adding to the documentation of their journey and showcasing his love for his daughter and for her to experience everything the natural world has to offer.
I really like the idea of creating a series for the home brief in a similar way in which Jesse Burke created ‘Wild & Precious’ in the sense that I’d like to document over the course of 7-10 days what home means to me by photographing a rare week back in Nottingham with my family.
A person I know: The lighting on Joe’s face makes his features stand out and makes the image very crisp. This is my favourite of the 3 images.
Someone I don’t know: It’s not the most incredible image but I really like the guy in the photo, he’s got crazy hair, odd looking eyes and multi coloured braces. I wish I’d photographed him against a more interesting background though.
Self portrait: The head on lighting really enhances my facial features and makes my teeth stand out. I wanted to do something a bit different for my self portrait which I think I’ve achieved.
Between 2002 and 2013 Jen Davis, a Brooklyn based photographer, has worked on a series of self portraits documenting her various stages of weight with the final intention of portraying positive connotations around body image, beauty and identity. The collection was published in her book, 11 Years.
When Jen started the series of images in the early 2000’s she was more focused on achieving great photography than the meaning the series had developed over the years. As she starting taking more risks with her photography, by showing more skin, she began to feel more uncomfortable with her body and what she was photographing. In order to continue with the series she had to emotionally disconnect herself from the images. 9 years into the series Jen underwent lap-band surgery.
‘It was a health thing and also a physical thing – I wanted to know what it feels like to not carry this weight around and to live in a world that’s not judging me for my size’
After losing 7 stone she decided she didn’t want to focus her photography on her body anymore and finished the series.
‘I don’t want to be photographing this anymore. I want to be living this!’
Pressure Point, 2002. The first image in the series. It depicts her on spring break surrounded by her slimmer and ‘more attractive’ friends.Push-up bra, 2003. The image that caused her to emotionally detach herself from the series.Untitled No.55, 2013. The final image in the series.
Her imagery is bold and brave. Some may argue that by having surgery she is not as inspiring as she could have been if she had lost the weight herself but I disagree. It takes a huge amount of bravery to be able to photograph your own body in it’s whole natural and rawest form, especially when it’s a body you feel some what ashamed of, and that in itself is inspiring.
Like I said in my research, I wanted to create a set of 3 images in the style of some of Stephanie Gonot’s work with the use of contrasting items and background colours.
I shot against coloured card with the only light being a high powered LED panel with a pink gel filter. Aimed head on at the items to make sure the they were clearly defined and stood out. In terms of post-editing I did very little as my original images looked how I wanted them to. I fiddled about with the vibrance slightly but that was it.
