Vlogging

Hello,
it has been a long while since i have placed an entry in my blog, this due to the fact that blogging is not my thing.
Sat here writing about my work when i already have it mentaly noted and writen in my sketchbook, seems like im repeating myself lots and lots.
So over the christmas break i have come across 2 individuals on youtube who have opened my eyes to Vlogging. Filming yourself talking about what it is you would be blogging about.
So from now i think i will create a short video or an image of my blog piece in a visual format.
I think that this may help to motivate me more to blog about my work and also will underline the key areas in my work that are important.
As i dispise writing and dont quite understand how to write creativly or write in general i think this may be the only way to keep me interested in keeping this blog up to date.
so i will get onto creating something visual for this blog so i no longer have to write EVERY little detail and slowly loose my mind.

Microcosm (a small world)

Over the summer holidays i have found myself takeing photographs of the small things in life, Simply sitting in my garden taking photographs of a dandelion a bluebottle  going on walks at the back of my new home with my camera at hand.

While walking there are certain things that catch my eye and stand out a mile away to me.
In Janes meeting on monday she mentioned how the simplest of things can be the most effective. And to stick with the idea of simplicity in work.
Less is more.

So i am going back to my very first project of college the concentration on microcosm and macrocosm.

"Macrocosm and microcosm is an ancient Greek Neo-Platonic schema of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of the cosmos, from the largest scale (macrocosm or universe-level) all the way down to the smallest scale" -quote wikipedia.com

"a complex structure, such as the universe or society, regarded as an entirety, as opposed to microcosms, which have a similar structure and are contained within it" -quote the free dictonary.com


this subject is very broad but i wish to explore this in the form of photography, taking photographs of the mundane, exploring the meanings of the words microcosm and macrocosm.

Here are the photographs i have taken so far to explore the theme.

Embodiment

After the holocaust exhibition i sat and had a thought about what it is i realy enjoy in art. I enojoy my photography and i enjoy takeing photographs that look unusual or that would even scare the viewer. there is a certain type of mood in my work that i have noticed i seem to use a lot, it is this on edge creepy mood. i enjoy creating characters and situtations in my photographs. i had a thought and embodiement came into mind, embodying a character through a pose, makeup clothign accesories ect. becomeing someone else, someone who isnt me like a secret persona.
cindy sherman was an nfluence seeing hoe she becomes this entirly new character, this new persona infront of the camera. in one of my photo shoot with gemma i film myself takeing her photographs and looking back i found myself watching her become this new person who was confident giggly and over time she just became this entierly new person she became a model an actress performing to a camera.
When i was a teenager i was always the one behind the camera even if it was our hundenth time walking in the park doing the same thing i would take my camera out and straight away we would pull faces and become these giddy teenagers, i find myself even infront of the camera becomeing this new person i feel like i am on an emotional high. not only infront of the camera am i becoming this new person but even the slightest change in makeup or clothing i find my mod and attitude change to how i feel because of the makeup the clothes ect.
embodyment can come naturaly or it can come purposfully. i think it is a  fantastic subject and somehting of which i can have some fun with and study.

here are some makeup photos of my friend emma, gemma and myself embodying characters through thatrical makeup and outfits.

Quda ehxhibition.

i submitted work to quda an art group who provide exhibition space for artists, i applyed to get my work displayed i n teh shmuchs theatre production at vicoroia baths in manchester. he location was beautful. the theme that we choice (i collaborted with a makeup artist who is a close friend of mine and another close friend whokindly modeled for us.) we chose to create some destressing images that reflected the emotions of the prisoners of war, we wanted to demonstrate how slent the tears were as the strenghth of the prisoners was so strong that you can see there pian but still they hide behind it.
Gemma Louise Schofield a friend and relative of mine modeled fo the photographs, Emma Louise Royal created the makeup effects and i took and edited the photographs in the studio at university.

i had the images printed onto canvas and they were displayed in a little room in the waiting area for the show.

the friday project

the friday projectwas launched on march 4th, me and bex left our hand prints around manchester met and at the subway under the mancunian way, we watered down paint so its simple for it to be removed.

we left our traces as almost a sign of claiming a space.

the aim is to each week add soemthing new in and around campus and slowly get people to recognise this is a reoccuring thing.

next week we are planning on hitting all saints library with our hand made objects hideing them around the library. this time tho to retrace our steps we are kindly seeking some assistance and asking someone to film us =].

zombie photoshoot with emma and gemma

My friend emma royle studys makeup effects in collage and she asked me if i could kindly take some portfolio photos for her, so i had a chat with her and we both agreed on teaming up and working on some projects together, so we both can use the images for portfolio and the work is great practice for us both.

We set out to daisey nook emma and gemma both in full makeup walking down amain road, we got quite a few strange stairs and scared a school boy who was running late for school, when cheeky drivers bipped there horns like they do to young women they would sharpley turn there heads to scare the driver, and emma shouted out to one of the drivers bet you didnt expect that.

 they realy got into character and you could see how just a change of makeup made them embody this other self. we went back to the first place i did a phot shoot with them and found the house had collapd even more, but to be safe we used a different location which was across the bridge and in a field filled with old burnt shipping creats, on first glance you could see teh creats had been slept in, so approaching the crates was very cautiouse and felt almost dangerous.

In and around the area the girls explored and would suggest shots, they were fantastic. below are edits of the shoot i did that day, i edited them to look very dark and creep.

I had an idea to go round to our local super market and ask the security guard if i could take photographs of them in there shopping like normaly but i thought takeing it into comedy would defeat the object of the sence of fear i want to povoke to my audience.

Like my ectoplasm project i findmyself getting lost in creating these strange haunting images, it fasinates me and i cant take my eyes away from shots like these, the fear of looking at them pumps adrenilin through my veins liek watching a scary film.

I also find that this brings something new to my photography which is what jon had mentioned beforehand. 

I endjoy creating images like this and it amazes me how moody the images become after editing.