Instantly, I was drawn to the topic of 'Transformation', however, I didn't want to dismiss the other titles, so I did look into them and found myself still keen on doing transformation. I started by looking at the book 'Parallel of Life and Art' which contained the image 'The head of a man' of Nigel Henderson's which I found to be of interest. I then further looked into the works of Henderson, where I found his concepts to be really helpful in my own understanding of what transformation in photography could actually mean in the literal way. For example, his series of 'Stressed Photograph' could be linked to transformation due to the way that Henderson distorted the image within the printing process. I aim to take images more that transform more conceptually rather than physically. Particularly, I would like to do a series of images taken on different cameras varying from digital, film, phone, polaroid, and pinhole of the same subject and work with these images together. I think the most significant point to note about transformation in photography is that within each photo you take, there is an underlying matter that these become transformed immediately as the subject itself is then captured within that one image. It loses its realness and becomes something you can further change, where the initial subject becomes lost in a sense.
The term 'transformation' has some very appealing synonyms which I could also play around with. I thought it was best to look up the term as I didn't want to be restricted to just my own view of transformation. The synonyms shown also are quite engaging: I particularly am drawn to the synonym 'modification' and 'variation' which to me convey meanings slightly different to that of 'transformation'. All of these words differ in the ways that they can be interpreted which I am exciting to start experiment with. To me, a main factor within transformation is highly linked with abstraction and distortion, which I haven't done much of during this course so it will be interesting to see how my outcomes turn out.
Nigel Henderson
The first image of Henderson's stood out to me due to the way it was stressed, yet didn't completely abstract the subject. There is a sense of distortion, but it doesn't completely make the image unidentifiable. Henderson quoted in Walsh, p.28 ‘stretching and distorting the printing paper while enlarging in order to stress a point or evoke an atmosphere’. This is one of several photographs Henderson took of boys on bicycles. In each case he distorted the print when enlarging it. He explained: I noticed ... that when I had an actual negative that interested me (let’s say a boy on a bicycle) I could sometimes enrich the impact of the image by slanting the paper under the enlarger projecting lens ... If I pleated the paper horizontally I could create a pattern of stress which further animated the situation by putting the wheels and frame ‘through it’ as it were and creating an identification with the boys’ efforts and the tension of the wheels and frame in a somewhat ‘Futurist’ way.(Quoted in Nigel Henderson: Photographs of Bethnal Green 1949–1952, p.5.) I also drew out that he mentioned ''‘For me this would form sometimes an “expressionistic” image giving a slightly “intoxicated” version which suggested to me a certain delirium in which a boy may fantasise and divert himself with a bike for hours on end.’ You can acknowledge the hidden means for the image. This young boy could be said to be a representation of the working class at the time that he was photographing.
John Stezaker
These two images of Stezekar's are of particular interest to me due to the composition of it. I like that there is a visible rule of thirds format going on, making the main focus of the image notable. There is a clear juxtaposition between the colour and black and white within the image, the matter of there being a male and female and the fact of it being a portrait and landscape all in one. In this first image, Stezaker has layered a painting on top of a portrait of two people who seem they are about to kiss, making it seem as though the faces of the two people are cliffs, and although this seems a simple task, there is much more work that has gone into aligning the image than it seems. There is an interesting history regarding collages/photo montage, which was traced back to the early Weimar periods where Hanna Höch was one of the first originators of this. She intended for her work to dismantle and start a new concept of the 'New Woman' who is ready to take her place as a man's equal. This could be applied to this image as both man and woman seem to be equal in this image. Both faces disrupted by an image over the top of it. Both in the same position, socially and physically. It is no secret that Stezekar's work aims to toy with the subconscious and surreal so the eye is confronted with obvious issues that it must resolve.
NOTE TO SELF
BODY, GLASS/ SCREEN / LIGHT/ SPRAY THE GLASS? BACK, DISTORTED , UNIDENTIFIABLE? GREENERY / FAYE GODWIN GLASSWORKS MAN RAY ANOTAMIES JAROSLAV ROSSLER LASLO MAHOLY NAGY SELF PORTRAIT FREDERICK SOMMRR NUDE STANDING
FIRST EXPERIMENT
As a first outcome, I wanted to take close up images of certain body parts, which I have successfully done. I am yet to edit these images and blend them/layer some on top of others. I particularly liked how close up these were, capturing each detail of the body part. Next time, I would like to make the images distorted through the lens, rather than editing it afterwards to make it abstract. I believe that first outcomes always have a tonne of things that could be better and often don't particularly like any of my first outcomes. I know the kind of vision that I have and definitely am able to refine these images in a way which I am happy with. I especially like the last image where the body is upside down.
REFINED RESPONSE TO STEZEKER
Here, I was responding to the works of Stezaker. I layered various images using the above images as a base and using a portrait on top of the image. I feel as though the image definitely responded to the works of Stezeker's ,however, due to the personal dislike of the original images, I didn't particularly feel as the experiment went too successfully. I think next time I know how I would like to actually
SECOND EXPERIMENT
As I was travelling around, I decided to take photos throughout the day which were all spontaneous. I found that the common factor which linked these images despite not being specifically of the same subject, is that they all contain a person/people in the image. Whether the figure is obvious or not, each of them contain one. I realise that the transformation aspect in each image varies. The images containing reflections, for example, are transformed in the way that the figure has been mirrored and compressed into the opposing side. The images also seem to have a high contrast within them, exaggerating the images further. Like I stated above, the way a lot of my images would transform, would be conceptually rather than physically. In this series of images, I have managed to transform the images both conceptually and physically. It is interesting that the moment you capture an image, it loses its reality. The moment becomes frozen into that one moment, condensed into a singular image which then represents that one second which it was captured in.
HARRY CALLAHAN'S ELEANOR INSPO
After looking through Callahan's 'Eleanor', I felt really passionate about the concept of photographing the same object in various different places and ways. The idea that you are essentially capturing one person within a compressed amount of time as a way of documenting their life, following them through day to day tasks. I would, though, distort these images whilst taking the image, for example, using glass with liquid on it or blocking parts of the image being seen. I would like to capture my subject both naturally and in studio with a planned set. Like I stated before, the main transformation within these images will be conceptually as the subject would be in many different spaces, and captured differently using each camera but will remain the same actual thing.
FAYE GOODWIN- GLASSWORKS
Godwin's interest in capturing the landscape of which 'men and women had left behind them' is quite an interesting concept to me which I would like to incorporate within my next set of images. I think it would be interesting to blend various different types of photography into one
MAURIZO ANZERI
Anzeri's images are very interesting in the way he questions whether a photograph is actually a photograph as an end result or if it can still be seen as a photograph whilst its used to create another process too. I quite like that he tackles this question by distorting the image by embroidering them post printing. I would like to do this within the exam by enlarging selected images, most probably a as a triptych and doing the same.
Further experiments inspo by Stezeker/Ben Thomas/Faye Godwin