Print Name: SUZI RAE SLOUGH
Blog URL: suzi-rae.blogspot.co.uk
Provisional Working Title: Dance
Portraits
For this assignment being my
Major Project in my final year I knew I wanted to carry on a genre and subject
than I have always been interested in. I would ideally like to be working into
fashion/portrait photography in the future and would like to work towards it
but for this to happen I need a lot more practice of location lighting to get
my technical skill to the right place it needs to be. My original idea came from a series of images
that I created in my first year but did not submit to any assignments, which
are my black and white location nude portraits.
I used natural lighting for these and they worked really well. Because these worked really well I have had
many projects come to mind to extend on these, I have always had a fascination
with the human body and working with the different shapes than it can
make. Nude photography has always
interested me, and even more so after I had done this series. I first started looking into nude photography
for this assignment but my ideas all changed once I decided to mix in a similar
idea to my mixed media assignment to make it a little easier for me. For my mixed media assignment I started
looking at movement and dance to create a short photographic film and it
started me looking at dance portraits and from this research I have decided to
go down a fashion, location, dance portrait route to create a series that shows
elegance and maybe movement.
I have researched into the body
and how the different shapes of the body can be photographed and this has
really interested me, I think dance is the perfect way of showing how the body
can be captured in different ways. I
think ballet is the most elegant form of dance and can be very beautiful in a
photograph but any contemporary dance can show a great form of movements and
shapes whilst in the air. The first
photographer that really interested me was Klaus Kampert who has a huge
selection of series on Nude photography and looking at his stunning images some
of the images are hard to believe that it is a body, which I think is
fascinating. When I was originally working with nude this was the standard I
would be aiming for but I now have been looking at many different photographers
and their dance portraits and it has sparked of ideas on how I can make them
interesting and my own.
One other idea that came to my
mind also links the dance theme and location dance portraiture but including my
brief from professional practice which is Elements. The four elements of Fire, Water, Earth and
Air can be included into my emotive dance portraits in a way using location to
determine which element it is, i.e. a dancer in position in a river or stream
to signify ‘Water’ or a dancer on a cliff top with a material blowing in the
wind to signify ‘Air’. I would still use
the same ideas and techniques to create a dance image but include a subtle hit
of each element within the image. This
would challenge me to use props and experiment with the movements to a theme.
What fascinates me the most is
how the mind works whilst dancing and the movements we can make with our bodies. One of my most recent ideas for my series of
dance portraits is working with movement and blur. This is something that I have only worked
with a couple of times but I have taken a few images of blurred people and they
really make you intrigued and leave you thinking about the emotion of the
person. I propose to link the mind with
my dance portraits and within my research to show an emotive dance location
portrait.
The movements and blur within
dance can be very effective and will be a challenge to show emotions and body
shapes. It makes dance portraits more
interesting and keeps a viewer intrigued, especially if there is a story behind
the dancer that can show the emotion they receive whilst dancing. This is now what I would like to propose as
my final idea but I will also try to produce some still dance location
portraiture that also show elegance and emotion.
Identify the RESOURCES you will
require to undertake the project.
The resources I will require
are my Nikon D80 and a location lighting kit.
I have some lights, softboxes, reflectors, umbrellas and trigger at home
and all I need is a battery pack so that I will be able to use my kit on
location. I will also require some model
release forms for every model I will use. I may require a Canon 5.50D from the
University so that I can film the movements to help me in choosing a still
image. Resources such as books, journals,
articles and short films, I can get from the University Library or another
Library.
BIBLIOGRAPHY / INFLUENCES:
My main influences towards the
original idea of nude photography is photographer Klaus Kampert, whose work I
love to look at but my main inspiration for the dance portraits comes from a
photographer called Ella Ruth, I look at her work a lot and really admire the
style she has throughout her fashion and dance work. Lois Greenfield is a very professional dance photographer
and had stunning and brilliantly captured dance images in big studios. Bill Wadman is also an inspiration of mine for this idea, after seeing
him dance portraits it has made me want to work with movement even more. Here
below is a small bibliography of some websites that I have used for research
and have used for my blog. I will have a
lot more and a more in depth and strong bibliography by the end of this
assignment, as I really am interested in this topic and genre.
http://www.bertil.co.uk/naturally
- The Body in Movement: Degas, Dance and
Photography, Degas
Symposium
OUTPUT / ARTIFACT:
The output of this assignment
will leave me with more location lighting experience and techniques that I will
be able to use in all-future projects.
It will also give me a stronger portfolio of a style that will be
recognisable to me. The artefact at the end of this assignment will be a final
series of dance portraits aimed at 10-20 images to fit the brief.
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