Broomberg and Chanarin - SCARTI
Broomberg and Chanarin's photobook 'SCARTI' was named after the technical term 'Scarti di avviamento', which is Italian for the paper that is fed through a printing press in order to clean the drums of ink between each time that it is used ('scary' meaning 'scraps'). Typically, this by-product is discarded of and destroyed as it no longer has any use, however this photobook is filled with these 'scarti' that were produced (hence the title). Although at first the images seem to be layered on top of each other purposely, they were all produced and paired by chance. These images were initially for a photobook titled 'Ghetto', which was produced over a three year time period, although now, it is out of print. In 'Scarti', the images seem almost deliberate and artistic in a way.
|
Personally, I love images that are paired together by chance as it's simply unplanned and when you create something unintentional and it isn't typically something you would do, it allows you to discover a whole different way of presenting photos and your style of photography in general. It allows you to discover more likes and dislikes which you wouldn't have been exposed to if it were not for the element of chance. With the images in 'SCARTI', I am quite fond of a few, however there are some I personally dislike because they seem too random, however that allows me to figure out why I dislike it and allows me to realise that I wouldn't myself take images as such. Although I would initially dislike the fact that there is the possibility that I dislike everything I produce due to chance, I need to realise that there is an equal chance of me liking all of the things I unintentionally create.
Hicham Benohoud - La Salle de Classe
Benohoud's series 'La Salle de Classe' was inspired by his years of being a teacher which developed a photographic approach towards staging. In all of his images in this specific series, there are individuals (most likely his students), performing in some way in front of the class with different objects. However, despite the absurdity of some of these actions, the other students in the back remain focused on their studies and seem to simply ignore what is occurring, completely. This could reflect the discipline that Benohoud has imposed on his students as well done, as they continue to stay composed.
|
Here are my images inspired by Hicham Benohoud:
Initially, when I began to photograph my images, I was unsure as to how to develop and include Benohoud's style of photos. However, during this series of photos, I decided to focus on the element of showing different parts of the body and the ambiguity which was displayed in many of his photos. I also decided to experiment with colour, even though his images are black and white, as I thought that would be the aspect which makes my images intriguing. However, I am not happy about the photographs that I produced as they lack the humour Benohoud includes throughout his ' La Salle de Classe' series. The outcome was not what I previously imagined as I was unsure how to present my ideas effectively.
My second attempt:
With this set of images, I had a slightly clearer idea as to what I wanted to achieve, and I also felt slightly more confident with my use of props. Although the first few images do not correlate with the last, I prioritised the subject and the actions that were occurring in the images. With the fourth one, I wanted the logs to replace her arms, however, it was difficult to put them through her sleeves so we settled with her holding them. For me, I interpret the subject as attempting to play the drums that are not there or fishing in an area with nowhere to genuinely do so. My favourite photograph in this series, is the final one, where a piece of wood is being used to 'write' with and the word being written is 'Mental'. I feel as this relates the most to Benohoud's photographs as it is essentially black and white, as well as a pen which would be used, is being replaced with a piece of wood. I feel as if this shoot was more successful than the previous one.
Layering two images
I have chosen to layer these two images and I feel as if they will work will together. In the photograph from the previous shoot, it has a plainer background so the wording from the book (How You See It) will be more visible on the image when they're merged. We chose a book randomly and had to go to page 17, which gave us the element of chance in our images. Mine happened to be only text, however I enjoy pairing images with words as it intrigues me.
Though I would have preferred an image to overlay on top instead of words, I still like the idea of chance involved (Threshold Concept #6). Additionally, I do not know what the words mean, so it adds an aspect of uncertainty to the image and therefore, makes me look and analyse it a lot more. I plan to experiment with more types of doubles exposures or experiment with pairing two or more images together to see their correlation.