Coursework Project One

“Juxtaposing vintage fashion styles with very contemporary photographic techniques to create the perfect sense of Juxtaposition in fashion photographs.”

Why Did Choose This Project? The concept of this project was the juxtaposition of vintage fashion with modern techniques. This is something that interested me as vintage styles are always coming back into fashion; with this project I could show how these fashions intercept and influence the modern fashion world. Additionally fashion photography is a genre, I personally believe, not considered to be as skillful and creative as others, as the purpose of fashion photography is considered solely to advertise; this is a belief in which through this project I would like to be able to disprove. Lastly I selected this project because I personally have a great interest in fashion photography and vintage clothing, and so with the two together this is a most exciting brief for me, as I will be given the chance to experiment creatively in areas that interest me. 

Idea 1 Within my first idea I was looking to achieve a strong juxtaposition within the photograph without taking away from it and losing the purpose of it being a fashion photograph. Rather than juxtaposing the the technique with the fashion I wanted to contrast the models fashion with a contemporary modern looking background.

Steven Meisel Steven Meisel is an American photographer, who became known with his work in US and Italian Vogue and his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book ‘Sex’. He is now considered one of the most successful

fashion photographers in the industry.  

This photograph is from a set Steven Meisel took entitled ‘State Of Emergency’.  He created an artful War on Terror-themed fashion spread for the September 2006 issue of Vogue Italia. Juxtaposing high fashion with the theme of war on terror, Steven Meisel takes the approach of

juxtaposing the scene and posing of the model with the actual clothing.   

The photograph does not instantly appear to be of the fashion genre, the violent nature and idea of the scene contrasts drastically with the beauty and class of the model and the clothing, resulting in a rather striking and strong image. Meisel has kept the model the main focus of

the photograph, the aim of a successful fashion photograph, but has exceeded himself in creating a photograph with a story.

  Meisel exploration of juxtaposition has most definitely given his

photographs meaning and highlighted controversial issues. The title of his collection and nature of his powerful photographs suggests a

reference to the American September 11 terrorist attacks. The date the collection was taken, 2006 5 years after the attacks, perhaps

suggesting Meisel’s attempt to put forward his opinion of extreme precaution measures taken since the attacks through this collection of

photographs; consideration of this certainly highlights Meisel’s photographs as important.

  Meisel’s collection is a very drastic interpretation of exploring

juxtaposition in fashion photography, however within my photographs I do not intend to represent a contrast this extreme. However the fact

that Meisel, a world-renowned fashion photographer, has utilized elements of juxtaposition so well in his work is a great inspiration

for my photographs. The use of juxtaposition to highlight fashion garments or frequently to depict controversial issues appears to be a

trade mark in many of Meisel’s collections; his collection ‘The A Train’ from November 2011 Vogue Italia, another striking example of his

use of juxtaposition in fashion photography. This collection of Meisel’s is closer related to what I wish to explore within my first

idea.

Steven Meisel ‘State Of Emergency’

Steven Meisel ‘The A Train’

Evaluation Of Idea One   My initial intention in taking these photographs was to explore juxtaposition within fashion photography through contrasting my models vintage styling with modern background scenery.   The initial set of photographs I took for this idea is pleasing. I believe that my choice of clothing was elegant, feminine and very vintage and was appropriately contrasted with the harsh, grey and black angular lines of the building behind for what I was trying to achieve. Although technically my initial photographs were very pleasing: well lit, composed, in focus and with appropriate subject matter, I would have to admit that they did not yet have the strikingly juxtaposed impact that I desired.   However, the set I then went on to develop come much closer to what my initial intentions were. I cut out my model from my initial set of photographs and placed her into a new surrounding scene (a new set of monochrome modern city scape photographs I took) and then re-photographed these collages of photographs. In addition to this, I decided to raise the model cut outs to create a shadow; I believe this idea was very successful as it produced a stronger sense of juxtaposition within the photographs. As another element of contrast I decided to keep my model cut out in colour and again I believe this works well as it produced a stronger sense of juxtaposition. The only unfortunate feature of these photographs is the decreased quality, due to the fact that they were printed and re-photographed, particularly on some close up photographs. Although this decrease in quality is disappointing I do not feel it takes too much away from the final photographs.   Though not as drastic as my photographic inspiration of Steven Meisel’s ‘State Of Emergency’ collection I definitely consider my photographs to be ‘juxtaposed’ while remaining to be part of the fashion genre. These elements of juxtaposition also ensure my photographs visual impact, as they are unique as fashion photographs. Therefore in my opinion I have achieved what I initially intended to do with my collection of photographs.     

Idea Two Within my second idea I wanted to explore a different style of vintage fashion, more of 60’s look rather than the previous 20’s/30’s look in my last idea. Also rather than having an obvious contrast within the photographs themselves like in my last idea, I wanted to contrast a modern technique/idea with the vintage fashion.    

Jan Švankmajer  Jan Švankmajer was born in born 4 September 1934. He is a Czech filmmaker and artist whose work spans several media.   Švankmajer is unusual in that he used people to create his stop motions, where many stop motion creations are typically an animation of drawings, objects or clay models. This is the main reason as to why I have used him as my artist inspiration.   Švankmajer’s work does present controversial issues; this abstract animation for example may provoke numerous possible interpretations. The short animation is entitled ‘Breakfast’ and I believe has possible symbolic representations of how the world runs on systems and unbreakable cycles leading to nowhere however the film may just as well present attitudes to eating disorders. Švankmajer has a another famous piece of work entitled ‘Alice’ this piece is more filmed based but perhaps closer connected symbolically to my project in that it is a representation of the ‘obscure’ something that I can definitely connect my interpretation of fashion photography to; although, as I intend to create fashion pieces I aim to take more technical inspiration from Švankmajer’s work. I aim to take Švankmajer’s work as inspiration to produce catwalk like the jumpy style of stop motion animation. Švankmajer’s work may not be related to fashion but looking at his work has allowed me to see how a well-executed stop motion made with people is created. Stop motion itself can be seen as well connected to the typical photo montages related to fashion shows, where photographers are given the job of photographing live movement.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AMTBW7MMTW4

 

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http://vt.tumblr.com/tumblr_mn1s4m8v221rgpq5d.mp4#_=_

Evaluation of Idea 2 My initial intention when taking these photographs was, again, to explore juxtaposition in fashion photography. But for this idea I wanted to juxtapose the photographic technique I used with the vintage fashion by taking several photographs and create small Jan Švankmajer technically inspired stop motions.   In my opinion technically my initial photographs I took to create these stop motions were well executed. Although taken outside on a rather dull day I believe all six sets of photographs were rather well lit and I ensured that all were well composed. There is some variation in some sets of photographs particularly the last two sets in which the saturation and exposure of the photographs alters slightly. This was rather disappointing, as I knew these photographs would show up when made into a stop motion. However I knew that attempting to edit multiple photographs identically would be difficult and therefore I believe that I have edited each set well and these unavoidably errors were not majorly impacting on my developed idea. I changed the clothing style and the model from my previous idea, to explore a new area of vintage fashion and the many of the locations are rather old and abandoned looking which I think works well and gives yet another element of contrast.   When looked at as an initial set my photographs do not instantly have a massive visual impact; however, once I had turned these photographs into miniature stop motion videos, the contrast in technique to the typical fashion shoot holds the attention of a viewer. The slight jumps in-between the images gives the stop motions a catwalk like look to them making them more so like fashion photographs without being stereotypical.   Overall I believe the stop motions I have produced are unique and attention grabbing as fashion pieces and meet the aim of the fashion photography genre in advertising my models clothing.

(Photographs used to

create my final piece

for this project.)

http://vt.tumblr.com/tumblr_mn47khu08i1rgpq5d.mp4#_=_

(This clip has sound)

Project Evaluation On the whole I am rather pleased with my initial photographs for this project, as I believe they were of a good quality and effective for their purpose. My initial photographs for my first idea were technically very well executed: well lit and composed. My choice of model, clothing and location were also considered carefully and therefore I believe appropriate and effective choices. My initial photographs for this idea however were slightly ‘samey’, each photograph having a similar composition and shot from a similar angle. However I believe as I altered my models pose and styling for each photograph I took, these similar aspect of the photographs were not a drastic issue. It was also necessary for my photographs to be shot at similar straight on angles due to the nature of my developmental idea. My initial photographs for the second idea were, I believe, well considered and technically well executed, particularly due to the weather on the day I took them being not ideal. The only disappointment I had with these photographs was that they were not yet fit for purpose. In saying this I mean that with my initial set of photographs for this second idea, I do not believe that they yet met my project title in exploring juxtaposition. However I did then resolve this with development of these sets.   Simply due to the nature of my project title, ‘exploring juxtaposition in fashion photography’, I do believe that within this project I have pushed myself creatively. I struggled in pushing an element of creativity when taking initial photographs as the genre of photography I was exploring (fashion) is one in which certain criteria must be met, as these photographs are intended for a purpose; therefore I did not want to overpower the photographs initial purpose with creative license. However I believe I have excelled with my developmental photographs for this project, as I have explored unique and diverse development ideas for the genre of the photographs I was exploring and have not overpowered their fashion purpose.  

Looking back, my choice of photographer (Steven Meisel) and artist (Jan Švankmajer) could arguably not relate very well to my outcomes. However, I believe I looked at these two more so for technical inspiration and I am glad that I have done this within this project rather than attempting to duplicate a photographer’s work. Meisels photography was a big influence on my work as his dramatic take on exploration of juxtaposition in fashion photography made it apparent to me that it was possible to create a successful fashion photograph that met the criteria of a fashion photograph whilst exploring juxtaposition creatively. Similarly Jan Švankmajer’s stop motion animations were an inspiration for my work as it is not typically to use real people in stop motion as he did. His work allowed me to see his technique and the obscure creative effect it had.   I believe my final outcome is reflective of my development throughout the project as I essentially combined the two big development ideas that I had had. I feel this combination of ideas effectively meets my theme of exploration of juxtaposition in vintage fashion photography, as I have explored modern and creative techniques of displaying vintage fashion items. If I had more time however I would have liked to continued to look at artists such as Jan Švankmajer and create a much longer and smoother stop motion animation with my fashion photographs.   If I were to continue to develop this project as well as a continuation of experimentation with stop motion, as I previous mentioned, I would also like to explore the idea of adding a level of symbolism to my photographs. Steven Meisel’s ‘State Of Emergency’ collection has a symbolic nature due to its subject matter whilst remaining to be a fashion photograph; this level of symbolism is something I was not able to replicate within my photographs. Photographers such as Mario Torres and Tim Walker would also be an inspiration to my project if I were to continue, offering fashion photographs that again present symbolism as well as being high fashion photographs.