My project
Inspiration sport photographer:
“Continuous effort — not strength or intelligence — is the key to unlocking our potential.”
Naomi is a UK based Photographer specialising in sport and portraiture. She graduated from Canterbury Christchurch University with an upper 2:1 Bachelor of Arts Degree in Photography. Alongside University Naomi worked as an assistant for sport photographers and also as a photographer for Rowing & Regatta magazine. Naomi Baker is also a well known photographer, because of her photographs of many sporting activities, competitions and events. Such as the Olympics and Premier league football teams.
I am inspired by Naomi's photography due to her high focus in her photos and fantastic contrast in her backgrounds. If I were to base part of my identity project on sport I would definitely base my photographs on rowing (my hobby/sport) because it interests me and I have a lot of passion for sport. I believe if I am to photograph my personal sport, it would give me an advantage, as I would know the purposes of my photographs, explain my intentions a lot easier and also explain what's happening in the photos.
I am inspired by Naomi's photography due to her high focus in her photos and fantastic contrast in her backgrounds. If I were to base part of my identity project on sport I would definitely base my photographs on rowing (my hobby/sport) because it interests me and I have a lot of passion for sport. I believe if I am to photograph my personal sport, it would give me an advantage, as I would know the purposes of my photographs, explain my intentions a lot easier and also explain what's happening in the photos.
Disguise and revealing identity
Both animals and humans use basic methods of disguise to conceal themselves in nature. With special resemblances both humans and animals use a combination of colour, shape and behaviour to help them appear like something else. When disguising in today's society many people change there appearance and there behaviour to fit in, this is mainly so an individual does not stand out against society's stubborn expectations and judgements. Because of this, many people feel as if they have to pretend and disguise themselves to be something they are not.
An identity photographer I have researched is Matthew Barney. Matthew was born on March the 25 in 196, he is an American artist who works in sculpture, photography and film. Just like any well known artist Matthew started small and worked his way up til eventually he produced 'The Cremaster Cycle' between 1994 and 2002, in which the project that took place produced a total of five full feature films in which showed and explored the process of creation.
skulls and sugar skulls
Sugar skulls were developed out of over 2,500 years of indigenous ritual celebrating death and paying respects to loved ones who have passed away. This event is celebrated November 1st and 2nd. In Mexico, November the 1st is dedicated as Dia De Los Inocentes, is the first day in which the Mexicans honour and respect children and infants. November the 2nd is Dia De Los Muertos, which the day to honor deceased adults. Over the last few years sugar skulls have gained a lot of popularity, With so many color options the only limit is the imagination. Many people celebrating Halloween use sugar skull makeup to add a twist to the usual Halloween costume. I previously used sugar skull inspired make up when taking photos for Akatry. However, if I was to use the real sugar skull makeup and personally create new looks for this project I would definitely decorate the face a lot more than my previous attempt in Akatry. I would also experiment with possibly working my designs on to hands and upper body.
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YouTube offers millions of videos world wide, with multiple purposes. When researching sugar skull makeup, I found thousands of YouTube videos with lots of fantastic inspiration and information on different designs and makeup. YouTube provided me with plenty ideas for my project and also costume ideas to develop my photography further. I believe if use the costume inspiration, I can not only take photos of the facial area, but also take full body shots i can show how I can transfer from makeup to disguise and costume. When I complete this task for my project I will use the inspiration I have found online .
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For this homework I decided to trial my first idea, which was sporting photography. I decided to trial sport photography because I am personally very passionate about sport and rowing is my hoppy and one of my best interests. I intentionally took photos based around rowing and different photographs based on rowing including regattas, boat houses, my rowing club and people I train with. For my first experience in taking photos for my project I wasn't very keen on the idea of photographing sport, I realised while taking photos that this topic would be particularly difficult and because it requires a lot of people in order to be successful and it may be hard to take lots of photos for this topic in the future. In response to this, for my next homework task I am going to go with my second idea, which is makeup and disguise.
SUGAR SKULL HOMEWORK
When researching sugar skull base photographers I found it very difficult to find a photographer that specifically takes photos on 'Mexican day of the dead'. I found that the majority of the photos I had found where from trips to Mexico during the festival season. However I did find that many make up artists create sugar skull looks to advertise make up products and by taking photos to show what the makeup is capable of as well as photographers who take day of the dead photos for Halloween magazines. In addition, I have used the inspiration from the makeup artists and magazine photographers. One of the artist I found most inspiring is Erwin Domingo. Erwin in his work has both created the makeup design on his models and customised his looks with clothing and props including the symbolic roses for day of the dead. Not only does Erwin use his own makeup designs, but he also arranges the composition of his photos before taking them. I found this photographer particularly more inspiring than just a simple makeup artist because Erwin both does makeup and photography ,which is why for my photos I decided to paint the face of my model, and use props and costumes (including the roses) to show how I am inspired by Erwin Domingo and his choice of disguise.
After experimenting for my project and the different topics I could use, i discovered that the sugar skull makeup was the best idea for me. This is because i knew that personally the more creative option was the most appropriate choice, because it was more hands on and had more idea development and involvement than most of the other project options. I also got this idea when i had previously used the sugar skull design for my Akatre inspired photographs - which was a major success for the topic. Also, when decorating my models face I decided to get my make up designs and inspiration from the internet, and in result to this I combined the make up styles i viewed to create the final variety of clothe options (as shown above) and eventually the makeup design used the for the photographs which was also inspired by my photographer Erwin Domingo.
Planning my projectfor my project I plan to use the Akatry images I took previously, and the images I took in the style of Erwin Domingo and put them all inside skull as a collage. I like the idea of using all the images I have taken in inspiration of sugar skulls (Mexican Day of the Dead) because it allows me to choose a selection of my favourite images without losing out on showing off a majority of my edits. I believe that for the frame of my photos I should use a skull as it ties in with both Mexican day of the dead and disguise. For this particular collage I put the photographs in the mind of the skull by gradually editing each photograph and dragging it using the move tool to the skull image, in which I decreased the overall size of each image to fit them inside. Then I used the polygonal lasso tool to remove any unnecessary parts of the image to insure it fitted in the skull. Lastly I applied each layer individually, and flattened the image to merge all of the layers together on the skull.
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