My Idea
Documentary style photography:
Atmospheric- colours used to represent the stereotypical association with the kind of person they are- e.g. neon red, gritty nightlife.
I recently went on a trip to Amsterdam and was immediately intrigued with the red light district, it baffled me how these women could do this as a job; saying this prostitution is one of the oldest professions, it goes back to the beginning of time; There was not such thing as social assistance, it was every person for themselves. So, since men have always been at the mercy of their urges, women learned they could sell the use of their bodies to get food, shelter and clothing. In some places it was even considered an honest trade.
But In modern society that survival necessity has been largely removed. At least in the western world there's really no reason someone has to do this to survive. However, men are still paying, so now it's become a way for quick cash for addicts or women that have no real belief in their ability to earn a decent living legitimately. With this in mind I wanted to convey the gritty reality associated with prostitution, and the evocative colours that draws in the clients. When in the red light district you are bombarded by a sea of neon lights, reds, greens oranges, drawing people in; I find that red represents passion, hunger and lust.
Colour proposal
Colour plays a large part in our daily lives and seasons are depicted often influenced in large part by the use of colour. For example, muted pastel colors at Easter; orange and autumnal colours make us think of Halloween and rich greens, reds and gold evoke the feeling of Christmas within us.
Advertising, marketing companies and stores take full advantage of these often subliminal prompts, using another example, a well known airline need only use the colour orange in their marketing campaign without using their brand name; so ingrained within the public psyche is the association with this colour to the airline.
This leads me to think of how colour influences other emotions and feelings for example of how fast food establishments tend to use primary colours such as red to encourage people to feel hungry and similarly the colour red is most emotionally stimulating.
This pop artist proves that certain shades of red in combination with black create an ambiance of mystery and elegance.
The colour red made me think of the red light district and all of the imagery that goes with the notorious brothels include the colour red. I was looking at The Harlots Progress, by William Hogarth the series of images that show the life of a prostitute names Moll. Inspired by the series of images, Hardy Pictures made a film with the same title. It focuses on the painter's and the prostitute's relationship and emphasizes the grime and horror of both seventeenth century London and its inhabitants.
The opening scene is of a tiny boy lying on the ground dead and people just walking over his starved body. It shows none of the glamour of most period dramas. The costumes are dark and dirty and Moll's face gradually deteriorates and decays throughout the film with age and disease and sin. None of the characters are portrayed as good. The film does not follow Hogarth's images exactly, but it is ordered in the same way. All of the little symbols in the pictures that give the audience clues about the harlot's future are present in the film.
Hogarth's six images of the life of the harlot are filled with these little hints and clues about what is happening in the picture and what might befall Moll later. I would like to experiment with imagery and symbolism and tell a story in my three photographs in a sequence. However, I would like my sequential images to be subtle so that the viewer can really get absorbed in the story I am telling. In this way, people who view my piece may come up with their own narrative.
This gave me an idea of creating a series of images which consist of full body shots, accentuating the colour red, to create a seductive and enticing image. When I think of 'Lady's of the night' I begin to think of glamorous girls dressed up, sequins and a big show as in the film 'Moulin Rouge' but I want to show how this is not always how its seems. In reality things were and are likely to be more like the film 'The Harlot's Progress': dingy, dark and vulnerable. Perhaps I could show the contrast between the 'Hollywood' illusion - staged and sparkly glamour and the harsh reality of what 'working women' really live like, in today’s society.
Hogarth's pictures are beautifully etched in black and white. I would like to experiment with echoing this style, but then introducing colour, perhaps just red, to help tell the story. The musical film 'Chicago' uses light and silhouette brilliantly. In the 'Cell Block Tango' for example, the dancers are backlit with red and white lights for a dramatic theatrical effect. It made them seductive but at the same time a little frightening, as we know they are all murderers and we cannot see their faces. This kind of theatricality is something I would like to experiment with.
I would also like to look at artists and painters such as Toulouse Lautrec and Degas. These artists lived and worked surrounded by these women and captured them on paper in such a beautiful and vulnerable light. They are both impressionists, experimenting with light and colour. Lautrec was most interested in women with bright red hair - this ties in with my theme and could be a way to introduce the colour red.
Toulouse Lautrec
Between 1891 and 1899, Toulouse-Lautrec released a total of thirty posters advertising Montmartre’s people, places, publications, and performances. May Belfort, Aristide Bruant, and Jane Avril were only a few of the performers portrayed in his works. Toulouse's talents for commercial and the traditional art fuse in this large work series; His lines are simple and strong; his images are less detailed but more daring. For Toulouse, you can tell that he didn't necessarily want everything to be pretty.The two excellent examples of his advertising that I find fit to my project are Jane Avril au Jardin de Paris (1893) and Divan Japonais (1893). The solid blocks of flat color highlight his skill for catching the eyes of passersby. The bright oranges and yellows contrasted with, Harsh solid black and are difficult to ignore.
I find the colour draws you into the image, at the same point you can see Toulouse-Lautrec’s comedic details firmly hook her attention. Within Divan Japonais, the questionable body language and smirking leer of the
Blonde-bearded man interacts with the text by either pointing toward it or touching it directly. The combination and arrangement of artistic factors in each poster ensures that Toulouse-Lautrec’s message will be clearly conveyed; in a brief span of time, he manages to identify for his viewers the event, its participants, and its very nature.Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de. Jane Avril au Jardin de Paris. 1893. The Posters of Toulouse-Lautrec. Andre Sauret. Monte-Carlo, France: Andre Sauret, 1966. Plate VIII.
Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de. Divan Japonais. 1893. The Posters of Toulouse-Lautrec. Andre Sauret. Monte-Carlo, France: Andre Sauret, 1966. Plate VII.
This short introduction to the Exhibition, 'Toulouse-Lautrec and Jane Avril Beyond The Moulin Rouge'
In this exhibition you are able to see the relationship between the artist and dancer; his paintings of her reflected her personality, flamboyant and daring in the colours and clothes Avril wore at the time. These images below capture Avril in the way that Toulouse saw her; I love the brushstrokes and how she is being pulled out of the crowd and presented in lush colours. In the top right, this painting I find intrigued me the most, the way she is propositioned, facing the viewer looking right at you, you feel a connection; the detail in her clothing and face is beautiful, the way the light falls and casts a eerie atmosphere around her.
The way Toulouse's painting fit into my project I find is the use of lush seductive colours and the way he composes his subjects; they feel raw and true to reality. Also the way he uses the lighting, creating atmospheric images that I find tell a story when looking deep enough.
Paolo Patrizi
"The phenomenon of foreign women, who line the roadsides of Italy, has become a notorious fact of Italian life. These women work in sub-human conditions; they are sent out without any hope of regularizing their legal status and can be easily transferred into criminal networks."
2010
Paolo Patrizi is a documentary photographer, whose recent stories explore a theme, common to many of us in the so-called developed world: the contradictions between traditions and modernity and cultural disconnections produced from too rapid economic growth.
Across the spectrum of Patriziʼs work, we can see an approach to visual storytelling that is marked by an intellectual and artistic strength, at the heart of which is a compassion and feeling for the people and cultures.
Paolo Patrizi's images help convey the reality of prostitution; they are overwhelming and I find that they made me feel how grateful I am for my life. Patrizi sets you on a journey into these women’s lives, never showing their faces, letting the viewer create a story, but not have a real connection, to say if they where portraits, having the eye contact creates a relationship between the two, but with these series you are just catching a glimpse of the women and the harsh and brutal conditions they live in.
I feel these images influenced me by the way they are all connected, interjecting a story, which for the viewer becomes absorbed into and even worse a real story. I also find the way he can make the viewers feelings change towards theses women, giving a different light on their life choices, or in cases the life they have to live to live. The uses of colours are lush and vivid, which contrasts to the story it’s telling, (dark and uninviting).
Influential Films/ Expressive Colours
• The Fall
• Moulin rouge
• The Lumière brothers
Firstly, 'The Fall' the cinema photography within this film is astonishing; I found out that they went to exotic locations to shoot, which I find does the film justice. These six images I think influenced me the most, by the pure lushness of colour; bursting out onto the viewer, drawing you into another world. When I saw the vivid colours of its opening, a dream-like sequence set on an island in the middle of a rich blue sea, it was like entering a clearer world, the saying 'I was blind, but now I see' came to mind, everything is full of dazzling colour.
Each of these images contrast within the frame, the blue building again the man dressed in blood red, the man dresses in vibrant green again a rough red background and my favorite, the giant white sheet, blood red, staining it slowly etching from bottom to top, and contrasting against the dark blue sky. This film influenced me on how rich I will have the colour in my images, either the rich vivid colours or dull.
The Moulin rouge
Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge is a rigorously accurate historical account of events that occurred during the period between 1899 and 1900 in Paris' infamous Moulin Rouge nightclub. Cinematographer Donald McAlpine transcend with the work on "Moulin Rouge." The film is striking to behold, with miles of deep reds and glimmering gold’s, "Moulin Rouge" is constructed for optimal extravagance. The lush visuals go a long way to help swallow the overblown theatrics.
Each of these screen shots are full of the seductive red, I find the bottom two are my favorites because the dark reds are more alluring, and incising for the viewer.
The Lumière brothers
This stunning short film but the The Lumière brothers was shot and then coloured in frame by frame, it gives it a quality unlike anything; soft pastel colours flow as she moves the giant sheet around her body and space.
The lumber brothers breakthrough in 1895, films pro lifted and opened up new possibilities for the arts; Edgar Degas for example.
Edgar Degas
I recently went to the exhibition at the British art academy of London, and saw the works of Edgar Degas; The use of colour he uses in his art works is astonishing, and even more so when you see them in real life. His wonderful studies of dancers show his obsession with capturing movement, a marvel that he believed photography could not possibly capture.
When he started taking photographs, in 1895, Edgar Degas was 61 and long established as one of the great French painters.
The animated figures appear to move in consonance with each other within the unfolding choreography.
Degas, particularly in his later work, did share with the Impressionists the use of bold, painterly
brushwork and vivid colours; and this, as well as his compositional innovations, carried over into his intensely expressive pastel drawings, which may be the most recognizable of his works today.
brushwork and vivid colours; and this, as well as his compositional innovations, carried over into his intensely expressive pastel drawings, which may be the most recognizable of his works today.
With their familiar subjects of ballet rehearsals, horse racing and women at the bath, Degas’ pastels are beautifully drawn, innovatively realized and striking in their graphic power.
Degas also drew beautifully in other media, and was accomplished at etching, lithography and sculpture.
I think Degas influenced me the most by his pastel drawings, the use of the bright colours give it a life like affect, especially in the top left, the rich greens and blues, really feel like you are on the stance with them; I hope to convoy in my final images this affect, to draw the viewer into my images.
From this link you, and screen shots you can see how prostitutes looked like in the 1900's, compared to the images you see of modern prostitutes there is a extravagant difference; To look at these images and think they look 'sexy' is far from what we consider 'sexy' now.3
In this Video you get to see the harsh lives these women lead, and how it wasn't always there choice; it creates great sympathy for the viewers to know that she's in such distress and pain. On the other hand in the link below you can see the complete opposite; these women 'Love' there 'jobs' and get paid vast amounts of money; to see this contrast between the two really does get you thinking, and debating weather this is to be considered a job.
Richard Burbridge
When going to Summer set house, London, I came across Richard Burbridge, instantly I fell in love with the way he presents his portraits, of which he has sewn into; the complementary colours all work well side by side; it brings an atmospheric and excitement to the images, instead of being plain black and white portraits. I find that Burbridge lets colour explode into his images to give a sense of surrealism and a dream like quality.
I came across a tribute video that Burbridge created for Guy Bourdin. I came across 'NOWNESS' tribute video, commissioned by celebrated fashion photographer Richard Burbridge to create a short film, inspired by Bourdin's color palette and wicked eye for composition. "It was a challenge to say the least...for the models," says Burbridge of his subjects, who were suspended from gymnastics rings dressed in Eres swimsuits and towering Givenchy wedges. Within this surreal video you catch glimpses of bright, vivid colours, I find it draws you into this strange world where everything is the same, three suspended girls, same outfits, physique and headrests, but when the colour becomes involved you break away from the repetitive nature.
'We are animals' campaign- Colour Influence.
Screen shots from video I found that influenced my theme of red and the sexual movements of the women's body. The top two are suffocated in this blood red light.
Sam Taylor Wood
With Sam Taylor Woods’s images they have a sense of age, the colours are tinted, reddened in a way. The shapes she creates with the body’s are intriguing and sexual. The bottom image has a beautiful light that falls across the mans lower back and creates light shadows on the sheets.
Soliloquy III, 1998
Soliloquy III, 1998
Soliloquy III shows the model Suzie Bick in the pose of Velásquez's Rokeby Venus. The 'predella' below conveys the protagonist's fantasy world. I find this image influenced me, just by the composition, the way your eyes fall across her body and her face in the mirror; expressionless, you wonder what she is thinking. The lush colours of the room and duvet set frame her as she lies on the bed. The sequence along the bottom helps define her story, and you get the idea of her relationships.
William Eggleston
William Eggleston, took up colour photography in the late 60's, and used a 35mm camera. I adore his documentary style photography; with his colour and composition and simultaneously feel a pang for the quietness of each image, whether it’s a doorway or a roll of printed fabric. The way he can relate nearly every picture with a colour to represent, for example red (which he most commonly uses) for death:
He has a knack for capturing mundane, everyday objects; he also creates his images to have a cinematic quality, each photo is polished and technically perfect, but still in a way undone I find myself imagining what comes before and after. In each one of these images there is a hint of red, starkness and to me the atmosphere is (in the bottom image) intense, with each of the subjects staring straight at you; darkness with the heart of the American dream/ culture. The top to images, for me, feel lonely, for example in the far right, the table is set for one, empty chair the red of the food in the foreground contrasts to the rich blues in the background. One of his most famous images in the top left, a lone kids push bike, low intriguing angle and a hint of red on the handle; the background almost looks barren.
Many of Eggleston's photographs emphasise on particular fragments of reality that might otherwise go ignored. One photograph, (seen below) taken somewhere in California, shows a page of windblown newspaper among dry grasses and lumps of concrete. What he finds there is a parched image, a sun bleached page of the LA Times trapped in a tangle of pale shadows. The newspaper presents an 'image-within-an-image': a couple of girls looking over a bay towards the city, with its far-off skyline of towers.
What also influence me, and strikes me about his photographs is the composition, its symmetries and balance, its sense of random fixation. That's the thing I love about Eggleston's work, he tunes your eyes and makes you notice things, weather its just a red dumpster against an orange wall in Memphis, a rivulet of water on a dirt road. They feel like memories caught in a freeze-frame.
Helmut Newton
Helmut Newton’s work is mostly black and white photography, but I find he influenced me by the way he presents his women; seductive expressions, costumes and compositions.
The full body, partly nude shots, captivates the viewer. His use of hash contrast adds texture, depth, rawness to the gritty images. The images I find captivated me below, to the left; her body is enticing, and offering pleasure to the viewer, the gun held in her hand makes the image intimidating/ violent.
The full body, partly nude shots, captivates the viewer. His use of hash contrast adds texture, depth, rawness to the gritty images. The images I find captivated me below, to the left; her body is enticing, and offering pleasure to the viewer, the gun held in her hand makes the image intimidating/ violent.
To the right the low angle, having shallow depth of field of the women's legs and bottoms and the man in the background idolizing over them.
With this seductive nature, I wanted to convey this in my images, low angles, or front of and compose their bodies in that way as well.
Philip Lorca Dicorcia
With Phillip Lorca Dicorcia he consciously aims to build and communicate an alternative kind of photographic truth, and helps the viewer create a story.
http://www.thecollectiveshift.com/show/portfolio/diCorcia/151
Philip Lorca Dicorcia, uses harsh lighting in his images, which I don’t like at all, it makes them look too set up, and far to cinematic, which is his style. I did choose him though because of these images, they are unbelievable in the composition, and harsh shadows falling across their bodies. All of them are my favorite, the way your eyes follow their bodies around the poll.
http://www.thecollectiveshift.com/show/portfolio/diCorcia/151
My Shoots
Test Shoot:
Here are a couple of shots from my test shoot; i found that the grain was too much and that i didn't like the way it was staged but it helped me lead up into my next idea for a shoot. The ones highlighted in red are the ones i found suited the project more, and the unhighlighted images i found too dark, grainy/ too much noise!
My first shoot went well, i had planned it to be outside,( opposite to my test shoot) and at night; with it being so dark and i had very little lighting (by car lights) i did struggle to get the ISO and Aperture perfect, but after a gurling hour of images coming out blurred, over exposed and under exposed, a few images came out as i had wanted! which i can now use. By having the car lights instead of studio lighting, i find it gave it a rawness and edge to them, which is exactly as i wanted.
The highlighted ones are the images i have chosen to maybe my final images.
My Last shoot- i went to Soho in london; i wanted to show the gritty nightlife it has there i managed to get a lady who worked at the strip joint to be my model; i find that using someone who actually works there gave it the feel of being real not posed. The one in red are the ones i have chosen are ones i will consider for my final images- they all show the bright neon lights, which i find the viewer will find intriguing and evocative.
Therefore i have chosen two from each shoot; so two of my images are posed and so the mystery, two are the real deal.
Editing
This was one of the original shots i was going to use but i decided to go with the neon lights instead; i kept the screen shot to show how i got it to have the hint of red instead of blue.
You can see the real change, and the impact and story it tells when its red.
When i was editing i changed the levels and i had to create an image out of two as you can see in the very bottom right hand corner. this was a challenge but it came out just how i needed in the end!
I did have to change the image sizes to get them all the same and perfect!
These where going to be my final four but i decided that the two 'bookend' images didn't fit the stronger ones in the middle; i then had to choose a third image to fit with the gritty neon images, so these are now the final three!
My Evaluation
When looking over my images I find that I have changed my process quite a bit. I started out going along the lines of prostitution, and having the idea of capturing the raw gritty reality that comes along side it; I ended up doing a set up shoot which, when compared to the ones I took on the street of London's Soho/'red light district', where much weaker and didn't match, they where too soft compared. It therefore became more about the lights that I find associate with the dark hash nightlife. So in the end I decided to choose three of my strongest shots from the street shoot, (as seen above). If you see below at the sequence I was going to use, you can see what I mean, when I say they don't match.
Within my first image, 'Soho's Book Shop' I wanted to convey the feel of being a flaneur overlooking the seedy nightlife that we aren't always used too. I chose this shot out of the rest because it made me laugh that on the outside it says 'Original Book Shop' but within the windows there are rows upon rows of pornography, and neon signs saying 'Preview Booths', having the obvious contrast on the building I think sets the scene; onlookers casually window shopping, to me this is out of the ordinary. The colours within the image are exactly as I wanted them bright, and fit the concept perfectly, drawing in the gaze of the viewer. The silhouettes of the people looking into the windows, for me create a mysterious atmosphere.
In my second image, which I feel is my strongest, is because the way she is framed within the arch, the lights falling over her body; the composition of her body and legs spread in a incising manner. Before taking the image I managed to talk to the woman and asked her if she would allow me to photograph her, she did hesitate and asked to not photograph her face, I find that she felt ashamed, but didn't mind her body being the subject.
My last image is of the front of a strip club, imitating the woman in the second image, by having her legs spread; the harsh gritty light fills the frame. The only light coming from the image is from the signs lighting up the darkness; darkness is associated with negatives atmospheres, and the only light coming from the image conveys a negative perception.
Overall I do find my images convey the gritty nightlife I was aiming for but I do wish I could have gone in deeper, meaning, I wish I went into the club and asked to take pictures, or even chatted longer to the lady find out why or if she enjoyed her job; I think if I had done this I could have had a better understanding for my images, and to make them see the real/ reality of prostitution, instead I have changed my concept to being more of a flaneur, walking the street and looking in, seeing what the night life is to a passer by. I do wish I could have got stronger images from my set up shoot, because they did fit the concept of prostitution.
All in all I found this project went well, I looked deep into the concept and found out a lot about the extravagant history that falls beside it; I would love to continue this project in the near future.
