final images and artist statement.

This series of images is about the vagueness of the unconscious. Each images is to represent dreams, which are entirely irrational. My body of work illustrates themes by Sigmund Freud. One of the themes I focused on was identity. From Freud I learned that the mind does what it wants and that we have no control over it. One of the artists I emulated was Claude Cahun. Her images were all about identity and trying to figure out who you are. Since these images are representational of dreams, there isn’t a clear narrative because dreams never have a clear narrative. When we wake up, we usually don’t clearly remember anything and we try to piece together a story, and that is what my photo essay is representing.

To get a dreamlike quality I took pictures on my digital camera. After editing, I inverted my images in photoshop, and then printed them on acetate paper, therefore creating my own negatives. I took these negatives in the darkroom and printed them as I normally would with 35mm film. This process gave it a very blurred, dreamy feeling. The images have a lot of contrast and grainy due to the process I used.

shot list for weekend.

1. dreams reveal sexual repression:

horses represent sexual repression in dreams

i want to photograph chloe laying on the floor and have little toy horses crawling up her body

her hair will be laid out all over the floor, she will be wearing moderate make up, and wearing a bandeau top

2. dreams reveal repressed wishes and desires:

perfect:

most people want to be perfect, and to represent being perfect i will use a barbie. barbies are seen as nearly perfect. they have perfect hair, skin, bodies and faces.

i want to have a barbie in all different scenes doing different things and have chloe do the same things. she will have a lot of make up on and be dressed similarly to the barbie doll.

love:

for this i want to have a close up on chloes face and totally light up her mouth. i will put an "x" on it. the letter x represents a kiss and love is one of those things that most people desire and wish for.

3. dreams reveal the self:

4.

5.

first shoot...

so this weekend i tried to shoot with a pinhole camera and it didn't go well at all. my pictures ended not coming out right because i overexposed them...

i'll try again and experiment more over break once i have my narratives all ready to go.

as for my modernity project, i've been researching a lot on freud and reading a lot about him and his beliefs. now i just need my narratives. :)

project update.

i have decided for my modernity project to work with the idea of surreal photography and i will be using that in my photo essay as well. i watched a bit of a movie this morning on surreal photography and decided that i really like the work of man ray. alexis gave me the idea to try and play with dolls and toys to create a scene instead of using people. tomorrow i will be making a shot list for this weekend.

brainstorming.

after a while of thinking i think i finally know what i want to do.

i was on photo eye and came across these pictures.

these images have a very dream like quality to them. the dreamy feel makes the simple images more complex. they are blurry, which i really like. so after looking at these i decided i want to do something experimental. i want to play around with a few different cameras to see the different effects that i can get. i will definitely use a toy camera and a pinhole camera, and as i go i will see if there are other cool cameras to use.

my story will be based around fantasies and my pictures will be more on the surreal side.

to me fantasy is something that isn't necessarily true, but it is something that you want to be true and real. i will portray my own fantasies, as well as fantasies of others in my photo essay.

three goals.

1. convey fantasy

2. have a cohesive body of work that flows

3. start on a strong note so that it is easy to keep up instead of struggling towards the end