Julie Cockburn Portrait In-depth Analysis

This photo was created by Julie Cockburn, a modern artist who creates a link between the past and present with her photography. She does this by embroidering, cutting and collaging existing pictures and makes them her own. The pictures she uses range from Hollywood actors to American high school pictures that were taken in the 50s. As she was very obssessed with photo's from an early age she aimed to bring them back to life by altering them in her own way. When deciding a way to change the image she considers all aspects of the photo, such as: the photographer who chose the position, the models and the actual final printed image. 

Whilst living and working in London Julie studied at Chelsea College of Art and Central ST Martins College of Art and Design. Her work has been exhibited in a variety of places such as: the UK, United States and Europe.

She has simply brought this photo 'back to life' by adding colour to it. This image was originally a black and white photo of side view of a man and woman who appear to be a couple. Julie Cockburn has simply brought this photo 'back to life' by adding colour to it. I like the way she has created two circles using two specific colours; pink (a feminine colour) and blue (a masculine colour), and blended them inbetween the man and woman. The blend of colours is relly effective because it visually creates a link between the two models, possibly enthasising the fact that they're together, as a couple.

More work made by Julie Cockburn:

In the two portraits above, Julie Cockburn has altered old photos to make them look more modern. She has done this simply by changing this face using a repetitive pattern of a particular shape; in the first on she has used triangles whereas in the second photo she has used ovals. I like the way she has done this as she obscures their face hiding the models identity, but not all of it as the eyes and parts of the lips are still visible. 

Norm Magnusson Landscape In-Depth Analysis

This art piece was created by and photographed by a contempary New York based painter and sculpturer named Norm Magnusson. He is a New York based and political activist who was born on March 20th 1960. He is also the founder of the art movement 'funism' that begun in 1991. He started his career by making allegorical animal paintings including social commentaries, and realised his interest in political art in particular and how it could be used as persuasion.

This directed him into the public community where he made a variety of short videos, viral emails and roadside historical markers which led him to being on the U.S national television.

Through his work he tries to bring across messages to the public. For example: the signs presented at the top of this page which were a part of his project named '1-75'. This projectconsisted of of signs with a historical content written on them which he placed in 50 different placeson the Interstate 75 highway. he did this to inform the public about a specific person, and their beliefs who stood in the spot where the sign has been placed, as well as to inspire others along the route of which the markers were placed. I like the way that he has used two bright primary colours for the signs: yellow and blue which stand out. I think that the reason for his choice of colours is to catch the publics attention to understand the importance of the message.

After he did this project he created another one in 2009 which was called 'Decorating Nature'. Throughout this project he decorated 100 pieces of nature by using various colours of paint to add patterns on different types of vegetation/nature for example: leaves, rocks, trees, pine cones etc. Norm Magnusson said that this project is 'art that is aesthetically and intellectually accessible and deals with important themes'. The purpose of this second project was for Norm Magnusson to express the connection he believes he has with nature, by taking it out of nature to 'edit'/ alter it, and place it back in nature with his own 'touch' to it. 

I like the second picture where Norm Magnusson has painted circles onto a brown leaf because he has made it stand out from the rest of nature it is surrounded by. This is due to the fact that the leaf is brown as well as the nature around it, therefore blended in as a part of nature, but now that it has a colourful pattern on it (done by Norm Magnusson himself), that specific piece of nature visually shows a connection between Norm Magnusson and nature.

Henrik Bonnevier Still Life In-depth Analysis

This picture was done by a man named Henrik Bonnevier, born in 1972 who at first aspired to be a skiing photographer and is now a photographer that managed to create a CD cover, which he did not dream of doing. I believe that this picture is something you'd find in a magazine, for example: Vogue magazine. This is due to the fact that Henrik Bonnevier is clearly advertising one of the objects in the picture: Chanel perfume. The fact that he is advertising a perfume shows that the picture has a social context. 

I think that the theme of this picture is fashion and music. This is because he has used a variety of fashionable objects; a purse (which I think is the main focus); jewelery; and a shoe, as well as three pianos. The reason why I think that the main focus is the purse is because the Prada badge/logo is clearly shown, therefore that must be the brand Henrik is advertising. 
 
Henrik has used two very vibrant colours; red and blue which both stand out from each other. I think that this technique makes the image very eye catching. Henrik has created a surreal theme by playing with the size of the objects and making each object either smaller or bigger than the real life size version. He has done this with every object, except the purse that's being advertised. I think that he used a life size version of the purse because it's the main focus of the picture, therefore he allowed it to look large compared to some of the objects. 

I have also noticed that the compostition of the objects seems very random, that could have possibly been done on purpose which makes the image look very interesting. He has clearly thought about the colours he uses as they are both very bold and vibrant which creates a 'striking' effect.

I think that this picture is visually attractive due to the use of bright colour, random composition and glossy effect on the objects. I think that the colours used can allow the person looking at the picture to feel very energetic due to the fact that they are very bright/vibrant. When I first saw it, it reminded me of a surrealist picture that Rene Magritte made due to the different sizes of objects that were unrealistic.

The picture by Rene Magritte:

More work made by Henrik Bonnevier:

In the two photos Henrik Bonnevier has created the same type of composition; using objects that (could be someones belongings) are of a range of sizes placed around and on top of each other. I like the way that he always uses bold colours, and only two; on for some of the objects, and another for the background and other objects. I have noticed that he has used a background colour and then a shade of that colour for the furniture, this creates a 'base' for the photos. Whereas for the persons belongings, he has used another colour to make them stand out from the other colour used. I think this was his intentions as he wanted the objects (belongings) to be the main aspects of the art work.

Jan Von Holleben Inspired Photoshoot

 In today's lesson my class and I created our own Jan Von Holleben inspired experiments. We thought of some ideas to stick to theme of Jan Von Holleben's 'Dreams of Flying'. In the previous lesson we thought of basing our experimentation on one of our class members birthday (Shaniece). We all liked the idea of having a large cake as the main focus with all of us popping out of it, whilst Sheniece was floating above it holding birthday balloons. (The section with the balloons was inspired by the image below created by Jan Von Holleben).

Once we tried to think of materials to use to make the cake, we realised that it would be too difficult to make a cake out of materials, e.g:sugar paper, large enough to be visible when taking the picture from a birds eye view angle. We then decided to change the idea and have four different characters in one photo. The four characters we thought of were: one person with rocket shoes; another with angel wings; a third inside a balloon and the fourth person would be holding balloons. Throughout the proccess of creating these images we ensured that each person looked as if they were flying in the sky, so that it relates to the theme of: 'Dreams of Flying'.

These are images of some the students in our class preparing the props for the photoshoot:

The photo on the right shows Sheniece making the angel wings and me cutting out fire flames from card.










The photo on the left shows Dee-Kay tying balloons together.


















Overall, the props that we used were:            - balloons
                                                                 - string to tie the balloons together
                                                                 - orange and yellow card for the fire
                                                                 - large sheets of clear plastic for the bubble
                                                                 - white card for the angel wings 
                                                                 - a large blue sheet for the sky
                                                                 - white cotton wool for the clouds 

To begin with, we spread the blue sheet out, as the sky.

We then placed the objects for the first photo onto the sheet in the composition we thought looked the best.

Three of us; Dee-Kay, Toni and I instructed our two models; Ben and Shaniece on where would like them to lie down and what positions they should be in. This picture was unsuccessfull because it is visually unclear that Ben, on the right is in a bubble, however the way that Shaniece is holding the bubble is obvious that she is supposedly flying in the sky with balloons. Another aspect to this picture that made it fail is the layout of the cotton wool; it doesn't look like clouds.

As a result of the unsuccessful image above, we decided to change the model inside the balloon to Dee-Kay as he would embrace the role more, we also changed the character that Shaniece was; instead of holding the balloons she was an angel. We decided that Shaniece should be an angel because we thought about the aesthetics of the picture; rather than using pink balloons we decided to create a colour theme using; blue, white and a semi-transparent piece of plastic. This theme creates a calm mood which ties in with the other theme involved; flying which is also 'calm'. 

This picture was created using guidance and instructions from Ben and Shaniece.

This picture is the development of the picture. In this photo we have three characters; a boy flying with rocket shoes (Dee-Kay), me as an angel flying with wings, and lastly, Toni flying with balloons. Also, in this picture Shaniece is fixing the props in a way she thought looked best.

This is the final photo of Dee-Kay, Toni and I, which I believe turned out to be very successful as our characters are visually clear & I think we actually look as if we are flying in the sky. The only negative side to  this photo is the layout of the clouds; as the balloons have been placed ontop of some of the clouds, it is hard to realise what the cotton wool is supposed to be.

Jan Von Holleben In-depth Analysis

This image was created by Jan Von Holleben, a man who was born in 1997, Cologne and spent her childhood in the southern German countryside and is currently a cinematographer and child therapist. When he was 13 years old, he went in his father's career in photography and begun experimentation with 'magical tricks'. After teaching children with disabilities at a school in Freiburg, he moved to London and achieved a degree in the Theory and History of Photography at Surrey Institute of Art and Design and became well known in the photographic scene within London. Throughout his recognition in London, he worked as an art and photographic director as well as a picture editor.

In a previous interview Jan Von Holleben spoke about what he most likes about photography, and said that he likes the fact that he has 'total freedom to switch between vision and reality or to combine both to whatever levels'. He also mentioned that 'people are so dramatically receptive to photography' which links to the photo above of a boy laying on the floor holding balloons pretending to fly in the sky. I believe that the phrase and the photo relate because the model in the picture is clearly being 'receptive' to the idea presented by Jan; the way he is lying down is quite dramatic and makes it seem as if the balloons are pulling him across the sky (which is actually the floor) which is what I believe was Jan's intentions for the image.

I think that Jan Von Holleben has carefully thought about the aesthetics of the image as all of the colours blend together well; he has focused on using red/orange/brown/cream and yellow mostly. This is my favourite picture from his collection of 'Dreams of Flying' because the positioning of the model and the balloons makes it very effective.

Meaning:

In an interview Jan Von Holleben said: 

'One has to take into consideration that I am a critical child of my own generation.
I saw bits of the 80s, the 90s and the change of the century. Visual culture has done ANYTHING possible within those years. Everything has been retro-ed or emerged from its own potential. Digital photography got invented and created full democracy amongst the medium. For myself and my photography, I try not to fall into any styles or trendy features. I am a purist and probably rather a visual communicator or illustrator than a professional photographer in the common sense.
Most of the work I do is based on text or theory which I translate into images. I try to use a neutral and timeless style and my grammar is based on a fun and easy approach to the subject matter.

My procedure would be:
Fully understanding the subject matter (research), then walking with the idea for some days, starting with some sketches on paper (for myself as memory of ideas but also to explain my team and possible models how my idea works), starting production (which can be a 10 minute shoot in the studio or a two week project or split into various individual shoots depending on project) I am extremely pragmatic about my time and efforts. No fuzz and most of the times my team and I look like some funny immature photo-students when doing projects (which gives us usually access to all areas as I am hardly ever taken serious by outsiders)

Question: Hidden meanings? Are there any?
If at all: Life is factual very easy and photography is a piece of cake (if you take it serious)!
The best feedback I get from people on a regular basis is, that I make them very happy. Maybe that is a hidden meaning? Maybe that I truly enjoy what I do as a job and see no boundaries. Photography has not many boundaries.

I can work on a book with Steidl one day, can shoot advertising the next, work with various magazines and make a fine art exhibition at the same time. All in one week. Freedom.
I can switch between studio, outside location, business center and shopping mall or black and white, snap shot style or colourful pseudo lifestyle photography. More freedom.'

United Colours Of Benetton

At the beginning of the lesson we looked at the picture above and briefly analysed it for approximately 10 seconds. Our thoughts of the picture were: it may have a multicultural subject; it has a very explicit context and the faces of the two models are obscured as we cannot see them. Also, due to the fact that we cannot see their faces it seems as if their identity is hidden. 

However, when we observed it again for approximately 5 minutes our views on the image changed as we were then able to thing in-depth the purpose for the composition, colours and  objects (models) used, as well as the clothing. We noticed that there was a high contrast in the two main colours used as a black woman was used and a white baby being breast-fed by her, which is unusual as they are clearly are different races. This concept of the picture made me feel quite confused as I didn't understand the subjective points of the image straight away. 

As we all spoke about the picture as a class I begun to understand that the colour of the woman's clothing was a main aspect of the image as it represents the united colours of Benetton. The use of the colour red symbolising united colours links to the composition of the models; representing support, and a strong connection between the woman and child, and two different races. 

AS-A2 Introduction

1. What goals can you set yourself for this project?
I intend to complete all set work by the deadline and research the variety of photographers to gain my knowledge on the subject. 

2. What are you going to do to meet the requirements of this project?
I will complete work by the deadline date set, and experiment with techniques and materials inspired by the artists shown in the brief.