Assignment 3 commentary

For assignment 3 we were asked to produce 'about 4 photographs' for each of the following:

Colour harmony through complimentary colours

Colour harmony through similar colours

Colour contrast through contrasting colours

Colour accent using any of the above

In addition to the four objectives listed above we were also instructed to 'vary the subject matter, including both arrangements and found situations'.

"We know the original relation of the theatre and the cult of the Dead:  the first actors separated themselves from the community by playing the role of the Dead: to make oneself up was to designate oneself as a body simutaneously living and dead: the whitened bust of the totemic theatre, the man with the painted face in the Chinese theatre, the rice-paste makeup of the Indian Kathakali, the Japanese No mask... now it is the same relation which I find in the Photograph; however "lifelike" we strive to make it (and this frenzy to be lifelike can only be mythic denial of an apprehension of death), Photography is a kind of primitive theatre, a kind of Tableau Vivant, a figuration of the motionless and made up face beneath which we see the dead."

Roland Barthes, Camera Lucida (1)

Images - please view slideshow on a full screen.  Exif data can be found behind the 'i' under each image after you exit the slide show
Colour maps and specific image notes
Rejected images and early ideas

Working with Colour - Colour has been difficult to get my head round.  However, having spent quite a lot of time doing and redoing shots for this assignment I am now pretty clear about the primary and secondary colours and which ones contrast with which, etc. I am also very aware of how the texture and quality of different cloth works under different light, how some objects and materials change colour entirely depending on light, aperture and speed; and of how some coloured items are more inclined to loose all their structure under certain conditions and just become a blob of colour with little definition.

When I first started to think about "Colour" I wasn't thinking about all the technical aspects but was instead reminded of powerful memories from my childhood, which I discussed in an earlier post.  At that time, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do but I knew colour triggered strong sense memories in the same way smell or sound might.

I also recalled productions I have seen by Robert Wilson and Robert Lepage where colour and other simple theatrical techniques were used in an evocative way to transport their audience into a different realm; one that seems to go beyond the conscious world and explores inner landscapes.

In part the work may also be a response to images of women I have seen specifically in the last few months and which I have discussed in my blog.

To sum up, I think these images explore what it is to be female in our society, about some of the confusion and difficulties that surround us.  I am also very aware, however, they evoke aspects of how my own life has felt over the last several years and perhaps where I am now.   I have taken Barthes’ quote in a very literal way and played with notions of death whilst trying to instil a sense of life, using motion blur and contrasting it with the "motionless" nature of a photograph.
I hope I have conveyed something evocative using colour, and which goes beyond the parameters of producing a number of coloured images which fit neatly under the headings of contrasting, harmonious, similar and accent.

I should say I was (am) quite conflicted about the images I have used and worried about the criteria which states we should vary the subject matter.  I know I haven't done this but instead opted to create a set of images that hold together.  I do believe I have 'found' lots in the images but rather than wandering around to find them I have found them in the confines of my little makeshift studio/bedroom.  (Too much liberty with language?) For many reasons I am somewhat worried about posting these images, I have to say.  I know they won't be everyone's cup of tea!  And I am worried again that I've gone completely off in the wrong direction.

(1) Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes, published by Vantage Books 200, Originally published in French as La Chambre Claire by Editions du Seuil 1980, first published by Vantage in 1993