Series: Is it because I'm ugly

(Soho#1)

(soho#2)

(camden)

These are the three images in my series; Is it because I'm ugly

The few reasons I have named my series 'Is it because I'm ugly' is because it makes me think why I have the need to look at others or why is it these people dress in the manner that they dress in, may be it's to cover who they are, who and what they see them selves as.

The first image is my main image, as you may be able to see it is a little blurry which was an accident however I believe that it was the blur that made the image look good and made the image look more important which is why I have made this my main image. I say this because I feel the blur shows and explains her emotions about how she feels, it shows that her personality isn't sure about her self, her fashion, this shows a glimpse of her personality. When I asked the lady if I could take a picture of her the fist thing she said was "is it because I'm ugly" after telling her what my image was for she agreed but still didn't look to bothered about taking the picture. She kept moving finally she stopped moving and when she knew I was ready to take a picture she quickly turned her head away from the camera. Although there was nothing wrong with the way she dressed I think the skirt and the pretty broach on her jacket was what made her feel more confident and the sun glasses allowed her to stop any contact being made and revealing her identity as it wasn't really the weather to wear sunglasses...there was no sun!

The strangers in the second and third image came across to me as confident and really nice people when I spoke to them. They didn't mind what the image was for and they didn't really ask. When I asked them if I could take a picture of them they instantly replied "yeah sure!" When I started my sentence to explain what the image was for they both interrupted and said that I didn't need to explain what the image was for and it was perfectly fine that I was taking a picture of them. When I was editing these images it then came to me and made me think that if the two peoples personality in the second and third image came across confident, happy and cherry then why did the lady in the second image have her eyes covered with her hair and why did she colour her hair that colour was it to draw attention away from herself and being in contact to others and why did she have her hood on her head when the picture was taken.

Although I said that when I spoke to the stranger in the third image they came across confident, happy and cherry why did they have the need to cover up who they really are? When I approached the third stranger I thought I was approaching a lady but when they turned around and started speaking to me that when I realised it was a man. So it made me think why he was dressed and speaking in the way he was as if he was trying to hide his real identity or was that his identity?

My idea

As I have to combine my ideas and own interests with my photographers work, approach to work or method of work, I have chosen to focus on fashion and personality and combine this with my photographers method and in the style my photographer works. I have chosen to focus on fashion and personality because everyday I go out I come across people that dress different. I always look at the way they are dressed, the way they look, I try to figure out what type of person they are and see if I can improve in the way I dress. I have decided to put this interest of mine into a practical approach.

These are some of the approaches my photographer has to her work and which I will be following; my photographer approaches strangers, her introduction to the the person is "can I make a picture of you?", she doesn't say anything about the pictures she has made allowing the audience to think about the picture and think about the meaning for themselves. Another thing I will follow is my photographer first used a 35mm film camera to take her images and then moved over to using digital.

So I decided that when I go out to take pictures I should use both my film and digital cameras. I used my 35mm film camera using a reversal colour film. Experimenting with two cameras was a good idea as it gave me two different results one on which I could see my results straight away and one on which I had to wait and expected for great results.

I approached strangers asking them if I could take a photo of them and explaining to them that it was for a photography project and who would see these pictures. Approaching people that I didn't know did scare me about what they were going to say to me and how they would react but I decided to make an approach to strangers as in reality I wouldn't really find it comfortable even having a 10 minute conversation with a stranger, the longest conversation I have had with a stranger would be 3 minutes, jumping from that to asking and taking pictures of someone you don't know it's just so different. To approach a stranger and ask if I can take a picture of them gave me a reason to gain confidence in approaching people and talking to them.

In my process of editing I didn't edit much in my images. I only adjusted a little contrast to make the images a little stronger, sharpened and de-speckled one of the images as it was a little blurry and to gain some detail back into the image and cropped one of my images as the background gave away a little too much information about my stranger model in that image.

Initially I was going to have my images laid out like in a fashion magazine like the image below cropping images to waist line like many of Strauss's images.

But then I thought that as I am focusing on personality as well the viewers need a bit more about the person to make a judgement therefore decided to do a full length image involving some background again like in fashion magazine like the image below.

But I changed my mind again and decided to illustrate these images on their own as it makes each image much stronger as I am looking at them as an individual and not comparing them to one another.

Approach of work

All the people Strauss photographs are strangers and her introduction to someone is always "can I make your photo?" she has also approached strangers in bizarre manners like inviting herself into strangers homes. Strauss gets into a conversation with the subject, records the moment with a photo and she's off again in search of another subject but still appreciates the "...beauty and thrill of the meeting..." but with a very few of them does stay in contact.

In the interview I mentioned about before Strauss mentioned that her aim to when ever she approaches someone is to take a photograph but doesn't really know what quiet attracts her to the person but later on in the editing process the reason for taking the picture approaches her and so come together as a project. The images with the greatest importance and satisfaction are the people with who she connected with better. "a sense of pride and joy of being in the world...both happy to be alive..." Some of Strauss's images look as if the subject have had a tough life and respect that fight and where they are in life now.

I see Strauss's work as a political government view which she fights against trying to show her audience the reality, the truth. For example a picture that Strauss took; a picture of a lady named LaTonya in Cabrini Green, which apparently has a large population of rough and poor black community in chicago. Strauss was drawn to her ear lobe which looked as if the earring had been pulled out during a fight. After sometime Strauss received an email from someone stating that they were LaTonya's cousin and mentioned that LaTonya was once a singer but it was a quick rise and fall situation. Although LaTonya lives in such an area and appearance wise may come across as a rough person, when Strauss talks about her in her book America she mentions how they get on very well even though she didn't know her and in the second by chance meeting they embraced although in the first meeting they had only spent a few minutes together.

The Brief

In this brief 'please follow me' I have been provided with a name list of 35 photographers. I am to choose one of these photographers and carry a portrait of them for a period of 6 weeks which is the duration of this project. The project asks of me to research that one photographer learning more about their personal lives, personality and their work.

Focusing on the urban enviroment and the people that live in it, I will produce a series of images collaborating my ideas and interest with the photographers work; this could reflect their method of working, their subject matter or their style of photography.

As a result one of the photos from the series will be exhibited.

I have chosen to focus my research on Zoe strauss

Image: Zoe Strauss

I chose to study Zoe Strauss because as I looked at her images I realised that her images seemed to be about the truth and reality and I my self am a down to earth person, thinking about and speaking about reality. I also realised that the subject of Strauss's images are strangers and in order for her to take pictures of these strangers she would need to get involved in a conversation between the stranger and her self, this gave me an excuse to try and do something I wouldn't usually do and gain some confidence in talking to people that I come across and don't know.

Zoe Strauss

Zoe Strauss born in Philadelphia 1970, became a photographer and installation artist at the age of 30. In high school Strauss studied photography and took up a class in Philadelphia community college at the age of 17 and that's all the knowledge she has about photography. Strauss started working as a baby sitter and turned to benefits for 15 years, but being interested in art and especially photography and has now followed through to success. "none of the work I make would be possible without Lynn Bloom" Lyn Bloom is Zoe Strauss's wife who financially and emotionally supports her and rewards her for her own success.

Zoe Strauss's two favourite artists are Liz Bonaventura and Michael. A. Macfeat.

At the age of 30 Zoe Strauss showed enthusiasm in wanting to work with a camera. So her supporting family (wife, mum and siblings) had given 200 bucks in support to buy a camera and that's when her first project begun, she started with a 35mm and then moved to a digital camera. In 2005, 5 years after she started taking photos she received Pew fellowship; "...provides flexible support and encourages creative, interdisciplinary approaches to the preservation of marine systems."

Her first project took place over the span of 10 years and finished in 2010 and had her final exhibition took place on 2nd May, 2010 under the I-95 from 1pm to 4pm. She held an exhibition for this project every May under the I-95 to show how she has progressed and developed in the project. She hangs her work on the concrete pilasters that hold up the interstate highway which "...runs through the heart of Philadelphia", near her house. Strauss does not edition her work like many other photographers do, instead she shares her work with others and at the end of each show she allows viewers to take down the images to take away with them stating very clearly one photo per viewer, she also sells 7 x 9 laser printed copies of the her work for 5 bucks.

While researching I came across an interview in between Will Steacy and Zoe Strauss which I read through. Strauss stated that her work is part of her everyday life which may mean that Strauss carried her camera with her most of the time as she captured strangers. But portraiture is not the only kind of images Strauss would approach to take, she would also approach architectural shots "...recording the human mark of the unseen human hands that created these things..." and text shots which sometimes helps the meaning of the image to become stronger.

Text Image: A memorial to soldiers and next to it a board the says good luck! Yet this board had no connection to the memorial and had been placed there to let people know the time to which the lottery was going to be drawn at.

Architectural Image

Looking at a number of her portraiture work I have noticed that Strauss captures most of her subjects from the knee and above a very few of her pictures include the whole of the subjects. Below are some of her portraiture pictures:

(head to shoulder shot)

(head to waist shot)

(just above the knee)

(head to toe)