Artist Research - Julia Margaret Cameron

Artist Research - Julia Margaret Cameron - Influence and Intimacy Exhibition

During Thursday's session, we went up to London to go to some photography exhibitions which were on display in the Science Museum in South Kensington. One of the photographers who had an exhibition there was Julia Margaret Cameron. She was born in 1815 in India and was a English photographer who was well known at the time for her portraits of celebrities. The exhibition centred around the Herschel Album (1864) which was a sequence of 94 images which she considered to be her best work to date. The images consisted of expressive portraits of influential friends and family members.

Three of Julia Margaret Cameron's Images from the Exhibition -

Below are three images which were featured in the exhibition.

I liked this image from the exhibition as I thought it showed a different and original element of portraiture as I had never, until now, thought of getting an individual to look down when photographing them for portraiture. I feel that this shows a different perspective of the face and in this case looks extremely effective and thought provoking. I like the image as we are only able to see the mans face and therefore can make no assumptions of his lifestyle through looking at his surroundings or clothing. I think that this makes the audience analyse the man's feelings more deeply as there are no clues about his lifestyle or mood in the surroundings and therefore one has to look at his facial expressions. I like this image and thought it was a very effective portrait.

This image was also one which caught my eye in the exhibition. Although this image is not usually the type of photography which I like, I think it is very effective and makes you want to know or find out about the individuals lifestyle.  I like the way you are unable to see the girls setting as this makes the audience have to make an assumption about her lifestyle and feelings based on just the facial expressions and clothing. In this way, I think the image is very effective at making the audience think more carefully about the images.

This photograph was also part of the Julia Margaret Cameron exhibition. This was another of the images which caught my eye as I feel that is thought provoking as it makes you wonder what the woman in the image is both thinking and feeling. I like the composition of the image by means of the individual not looking directly into the camera and instead looking towards the bottom left corner. This ambiguous direction of the eyes makes the viewer wonder what she is looking at and as a result, start to wonder about what she is feeling and thinking about. When I examine the image, I believe that the woman is possibly in thought and is thinking about perhaps something tragic or upsetting due to the fact that she has such a solemn look on her face. Like the other images, I also like how you are unable to see the background as this forces the audience to consider deeper analysis of the individual by taking into account her clothing as well as her facial expressions and what you can see as her body language.

Evaluation

Overall, I think that Julia Margaret Cameron's images are effective and thought provoking but do not feel they are very inspirational for me personally and find them to all be quite similar to each other which for me, makes them become boring. However, I do like the natural positioning of the subjects in the photographs and also like the brown colour schemes as this would help to make some of my own images appear old like her images.

Artist Research - Alec Soth

Artist Research - Alec Soth - Gathered Leaves Exhibition

On our Thursday session, we went up to London to go to an Alec Soth (born 1969) exhibition at the Science Museum in South Kensington. The exhibition showed four of his major works - Sleeping by the Missisippi (2004), Niagara (2006), Broken Manual (2010) and Songbook (2014).

Soth is a fine artist, photojournalist, blogger and self-publisher who explores many different forms of photography. The exhibition attempted to reflect the evolution of Soth's work over the years and many of his photographs reflect the American way of life. 

Three of Alec Soth's Images from the Exhibition -

Below are three images featured in the exhibition.

This image is from Soth's series called Broken Manual. Broken Manual is a series in which Soth explores the desire to run away. Soth became interested in the world of those who are detached from civilisation and soon discovered communications with hermits, monks and survivalists. Soth chose to photograph many of these individuals in their solitude and in many of his images, creates an unnerving feeling which helps to emphasise the separation between us and them. I liked this image when I was looking round at the exhibition as it presents exactly what the series is trying to portray. I like how the individual is far away as it means that the audience cannot source his identity which makes the whole photograph have an unnerving and slightly ambiguous feel to it. I like how the man appears very insignificant in size in comparison to the trees as this helps to present the connection between him and the nature. I like the colours within the image as again, they help to convey an unnerving, mysterious feel and as a result, present the difference between us and the people in the images. I also like the way that the image and the distance between us and the subject makes the audience wonder what has happened to the individual in the image to have made them have that chosen life of solitude. 

This image is from one of Soth's series called 'Niagara' and the image is called 'Misty 2005'. In the Niagara series, Soth explored the area around Niagara falls which has long been associated with love. The series is formed by images of the area, the falls, wedding venues and portraits. With his series, he attempted to juxtapose the idea of the almighty falls with the idea of fragile love. Although I do not feel this image is the best at portraying the overall intention of the series, it is still part of it, and was the one in which I found most appealing and striking during the exhibition. I like the simplicity of the image and especially like how the dark background draws the eye to the individual. The eye is drawn even more to the individual as she appears to be wearing a bright blue swimming cap. This then makes the audience puzzle about how the individual is feeling as she appears very solemn and gloomy in the photograph. When looking at the image at the exhibition, I wondered what it had to do with the idea of fragile love but as you think about the image and meaning more, I have come to wonder if the whole reason for the subject looking so solemn is due to perhaps 'failed love'.

This image is taken from Soth's 'Sleeping by the Mississippi' series and the image is known as 'Peter's Houseboat'. This series was based not far from Soth's birth place and within it, Soth travels a 2000mile course southwards towards the Gulf of Mexico, taking photographs at each location on his journey. The series includes photographs of the boyhood homes of the likes of Johnny Cash and Charles Lindbergh. The series attempts to capture a sense of imagination and dreams, something which Soth managed to capture in many of the photographs in the series. This was the image from the series which caught my eye in the exhibition and although simplistic in comparison to some of the others, I thought it was very effective and captured the mood and ideas of the series very well. Firstly, I like the composition of the photograph by means of the fact that the house is positioned to the right hand side of the image which allows a very blank space on the opposite side. I think this looks effective and in my opinion, the white of the snow captures the sense of imagination which Soth was attempting to portray in the images in the series. I feel the image may be trying to suggest the dreams of the person living in the house as well as capturing the idealistic and striking area around it. 

Evaluation

Overall, I like the images which were featured in Alec Soth's exhibition called 'Gathered Leaves'. I think they are all effective and each show a different and unique story. I also like how each of the images are thought provoking and each present a different type of lifestyle or show a different concept or idea. I found the photographs in the exhibition very inspirational and will use them to inspire my own photography. I especially liked Soth's landscape photos as well as portraits as I like both the compositions of them and the stories which they suggest and present.