Personal Project Proposal

Proposal:

To investigate and explore different types of portraiture ranging from beauty, fashion and people portraiture to animal portraiture.

Evaluation:

Over the years while I have been interested in the creative medium that is photography portraiture and its values have always stood out to me. In my first year of photography I focused heavily on makeup and beauty and how this changes people and why we change ourselves the way we do whether it is to fit into societies norms or to individualise ourselves and show our rebellious side against everyone else. Thus this has lead me to focus on portraiture for my second year personal project. the types of portraiture I am hoping to explore are as follows…

B E A U T Y 

I have chosen to focus on beauty within this project to show continuity from my studies last year, I love the way with beauty products and cosmetics you can transform yourself and other people into completely opposite beings from themselves. Mediums such as SFX makeup have brought the beauty industry and media makeup profession to such a forefront and now photographers are able to create dramatic un realistic fantasy shoots using makeup. However beauty can be shown in anyway, whether it is completely natural or incredibly fake. Here are some images which have inspired me to focus on beauty within this project…

These images both show beauty being exhibited in different ways, one uses SFX beauty products and makeup to create a forced horrific scene and the other is known as body beauty, the models tattoos create art within another artistic medium.

Some photographers I have planned to research in the beauty photography field are Jamie Nelson, Claire Harrison, Jack Eames, Michael David Adams and Iain Crawford.

T R A D I T I O N A L   P O R T R A I T U R E

As portraiture is my main theme it is important to focus on straight up traditional portraiture and the effects its pure simplicity it still has and why it is important. Some of the best photography I have ever seen is simply a model staring down a lens, sometimes you can tell 1000 emotions from one glance down a camera lens and sometimes the intricate ideas and huge sets sometimes used in modern photography overshadow the beauty of the classic portraiture style, however within this project I am to remember its importance and prove how special it really is. Here are some images which inspired me to focus on traditional portraiture within this project…

These images are both examples of traditional photographic portraiture, one of Marilyn Monroe and one of Carman Duncan. Traditional portraiture has helped to preserve the memories of these beauties over times. 

Some photographers I have planned to research in the traditional portraiture field are Annie Leibovitz, Angus Mcbean, Richard Avedon, Phillipe Halsman and Herb Ritts.

F A S H I O N

The theme of portraiture allows me to focus on multiple areas therefore the third area of photography I am planning to study for this shoot is fashion photography. Many people consider fashion itself a form of art as it allows people to express their identities in a visual way. Fashion photography and the media has been a way to project these feelings on to the world and show how important it is to be yourself. The expression of clothing through photography is something incredible which is over looked by many people and this is why I am fascinated by it and excited with the chance to study it. 

Both of these images are an example of the freedom that fashion can make one feel, they are artist photographs that show the models being free.
Some photographers that I have planned to research in-depth about fashion portraiture are Horst Diekgerdes, Ben Dunbar-Brunton, Emma Summerton, Giampaolo Sgura and Greg Kadel.

A N I M A L

The final type of portraiture I am planning to study within this unit is animal portraiture, from pet portraiture to studies on wild animals I am fascinated by the way photographers attempt to connect with a completely different species. The dedication to work with animals must come from deep within as the impossibility to control what the animals do remains and has been since the dawn of time. However, this does not mean that photographs of animals are always chaotic, many photographers manage to capture naturally beautiful shots of wild animals which have stunned audiences and won awards over time. 

Both of these  images show two very different types of animals however both shots are beautiful, this inquisitive kitten may listen when told to come indoors but it won't pose for a photo.
Some photographers I am planning to study for this section of my unit 3 are Andrew Collier, Ed Hetherington, Brad Wilson, Robert Ashton and Tim Flach.