Commission idea - Wasteful Water

When on the subject waste i automaticly think of rubbish and recycling, however i dont want to base this project on this theme. Instaed ive been thinking of waste in the houshold, for example i come from a rather large family who use a lot of water every day. Focusing on water i think of the amount that i myself and others waste. For example half drunk galsses of squash is a common thing to see, it doesnt sound like much but it goes to waste every day and is one theme that seems quite relevant to research into..
Also i myslef have many showers and some family members prefer a baths, however this again can waste water as baths use more water to fill and can also be overfilled easily. Washing up can also be a pain, our dish washer uses a lot of water also and sometimes the washing up water goes to waste which could be used to water the plants or for another purpose, as well as the amount the washing machine uses also.
The point im trying to make is that my household generally uses a lot of water but it seems like half of it is wasted, it makes me wonder how much water gets wasted in my area in other houses. It must be a considerable amount.
If i could represent wasting water in some way it could be quite interesting. Ive found this artist who is a 'Liquid Sculpture' Martin Waugh captures digitally the moments when a drop of water hits water. Ive found it quite interesting and beautiful to look at. An example of his work is below, it's not the theme i am looking for but it caught my eye when researching.

Martin Waugh Photography

Martin Waugh Photography

Martin Waugh Photography

The reason why i picked this photograpgher top look at was because of the way in which he captures the water droplets and the colours and experimentations that go with each image. They look not only beautiful but each unique. Another photographer who takes very similar images is Markus Reugels, famous for capturing the world in a droplet of water and his other water based images.

Markus Reugels Photography

Markus Reugels Photography

Markus Reugels Photography

When looking at this photographer im obessed with the complabiltiy of the image as well as the amazing colours of substances he uses. He is very similar with to the previous photographer Martin Waugh. Because I am using film for this project i cant take images like this or after researching them do i think they resemble waste in anyway so I'm moving on from this photography.

My Idea
Just as a simple idea i have in mind, i could represent wasteful water by having many half filled glasses as a focus point of the camera. Maybe the camera angle could be directly above or straight so the curved glasses and the magnifying of water will emphasise the amount being represented.
Maybe i could use just one glass frosted or brittle, all representing wasteful water. 

Task Two - Commission - My partners Research

Thank you for your research for my idea, I think you have done a good job and I really find them very useful to move on with my Project.
What concerns your idea I looked at few artists that can be related with food waste, also I can advise you to look into food waste statistics globally and just in UK if you want to compare it daily, weekly and monthly. Moreover, researching your idea I saw a lot of comparisons made upon food wasting in EU or USA and starvation in Africa, some Asian countries. Maybe you can compare these things as well for your Project development.

Here are some references I found for you:

 http://www.tristramstuart.co.uk/photography.html Images of daily food waste from supermarkets, found on streets, in bins, how it can be converted and how people sort food in valid and useless. You can use it for your research process and look up for more sites of food waste problems.

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/beautiful-house#!/photos/122529/2 Very interesting images by SIAN BONELL. He has made house series of images house covered in food. Maybe you can get inspired by how he has located and placed the food for your images.

Thought I can look for some food sculptural art images that can also inspire you in a way how food is used to make something of it, how it can be arranged and creatively made in something else. So you can possibly use wasted food and convert it into something creatively beautiful and interesting.

http://www.wackyarchives.com/offbeat/creative-food-sculptures.html

http://www.fropki.com/creative-food-art-vt23337-8.html

http://www.dailypics.co.cc/2011/06/creative-food-arts.html

http://davidtopia.stazer.com/post/1602543250/creative-food-typography

Watse - brainstorm

A quick brainstorm of what comes to mind on the topic, Waste:

-Recycling -
 paper, card, rubber, plastic, metals, Recycling collection bins

-Wasteful food -
Breakfast, Lunches, Dinner, snacks, Restaurants, café's, fast food, compost

-Water -
Drinking water, half full glasses, tap running water, dripping pipes, baths, showers, rain water, washing up water, watering plants


-General household waste-
Food, water, boxes, food packaging, plastics

-Clothes-
Charity's, clothe collection, hand me downs

-Places-
Dustbin truck, Dumps, wasteland, sink holes,

-Plants-
Recycling collection bins, compost

Our first Group meeting

For our first meeting we decided to finalise our concept. The powerpoint presentation we did have was very helpful with our research and put us on the right track, however we did have a little trouble with what to focus our concept on. Within the group we decided to start by doing a 'Spider Diagram' to brainstorm our ideas from what we have collected from our additional research.

Brainstorms 1

 With this first brainstorm we found ourselves summing up what the well known Snow White tale was about and compared it to the Grimm version. Many things stood out to us 'Beauty' as one of the strongest factors that rules the story and also plays an important part in many of the other Grimm tales.
   We found and dissucssed how the story of Snow White relies strongly on the help from the male characters, the prince, to come to her rescue and save her and the male Dwarves are also another group of helpers who also come to her aid. In some ways we belived this to be prejudice against woman, that Snow Whites Beauty overalls her capability of saving herself. Instead she is almost portrayed as using her beauty to draw in the prince and Dwarves by using her sexual power and have her beauty spell cast upon them.
However, we disscussed that in the time the tale was written we found that woman had not yet gained any rights, which shows through these fairy tales. The females play a huge part in all fairy tales all described with being beautiful and in a way this is used as a weapon which harms themselves and the others around them.
We as a group have decided to base our final constructed image on how beauty is used as a weapon against men and how the sexulization of the female characters in Snow White are weak compared to the men.

Idea one

After discussing our theme we talked more on ideas for Snow White which resulted in myself putting one forward. I came up with the idea that Snow White should be placed on top of a glass coffin, glass as a reference to the old Snow White film, and have her sitting powerfully on the coffin, with the Prince inside and expression to emphasis the fact that snow white has placed him in there herself. We talked more on the idea, discussing possible compositions and decided to develop the idea further.

With set ideas we began to discuss different scenarios and ways in which we could present Snow Whites strength and the Male characters weaknesses. For example, Snow White defending herself against the huntsman, and him giving up on his feelings for her.

'The Commission' - The Portrait Issue - Seminar task 1

This task was given to us by Steffi and we have been told to study the three images and list the simalartiys and disimalritys between the images and compare them with asthetics and concepts. Research the photographers way in which he has taken the image and find out what his/her visual stratogry was. I need to disscuss the photograpghers choice in camera position, lighting, focus, depth of feild and tonal range.

  

Toby Glanville, 'Actual Life', 2002

This is my favourite of the three images we were given, because of its composition and colour. Looking at this series of work Glanville has taken photos representing 'actual life' but focuses mainly on the way in which we react when we are children and photographed. It is said that he neither expected or asked anything from his subjects and let them experiment in positions rather than him tell them and organise them into the composition of his choice.

This image is beautifully balanced with neutral colours, the subtle green wall balances the paleness of the woman's jumper which also corresponds with the colours on the cupboard on the far right. It seems as though the location is very simplistic maybe she works in an education sector, the green board behind her could be representing her writing board. The simple cupboards around the image compact her to the centre of the image but also the shape of the green board gives a sense of space.

The subject being in the centre draws the viewer in, her gaze is slightly higher than the camera angle which could represent the hierarchy of who normally views her, for example children, maybe for educational purposes which reflects also on the rest of this series of images. The composure of the model herself is very relaxed, her clothes are smart and could reflect on her personality as well as her teaching quality. Her facial expression seems happy, a slight smile could insist she is happy to be there in her working environment.

Finlay MacKay, 'Changing Pace, David Weir' for 'The Road 2012'

Finlay MacKay was born and raised in Scotland and studied photography at the Glasgow school of art in 1988. He began working professionally in 2003 in which he was well known for his unique style in portraiture and the way in which his style of taking photos expanded. He waits commissioned by 'Diesel' to exucute the 'Work Hard' campaign and excelled leaving him with a successful career ahead of him. .

Finlay is known to photograph today's athletes and celebs working for company's as big as Sky, British Telecom, Adidas, and Nike etc...

This photograph in particular is one of a series representing David Weir in the Olympics. This photo is very simplistic making the subject (David Weir), the main focus of the image. Because of the body posture of the subject he has captured a sense of the strength and effort needed from the subject to propel himself down this particular track, which helps expand the viewers imagination of what the Olympic player has gone through to get to this result. 

Finlay's work is known to be a very simplistic way of photographing, keeping the subject on one side of the frame gives the sense of space. It being a colour image creates a realistic sense as the strong colours reflect the strength of David Weir also. The depth of field is quite high, and the entire photograph is in focus which would have taken much skill from Finlay as David Weir his subject would have been moving at fast speeds. I think the overall photograph is very skilful on Finlay's side and reflects the strength effort and skill needed form his subject David Weir.

Ulrich Gebert, 'Freischneider', 2004

Ulrich Gebert was born in 1976 in Munich and graduated in 2006 in Photography. Gebert has a conceptual style of photography. He is known for his environmental related images and his style in which he combines both human nature and the environment.

This image in particluar is a close up of who seems to be a construction worker, the scowl Gebert's subject is making gives the impression of the hard work the subject is involved with.  As it is a close up it makes it hard to determine the sense of direction and location of the subject which is why the subjects clothing and protective gear is important as it encourages the viewer to imagine the subject as a construction worker. It being a colour image makes it quite a hard image to look at, the bright yellow ear protectors clashing against the red helmet and white jacket. It looks as if the day in which this image was taken it was sunny and bright which casts a reflection over the eye protector's on the helmet. The camera angle is quite low giving the model a power over the viewer. It is a strong image and is composed well and could reflect the strength of the work the man is hired for.

All three images have a similar outlook on the subjects themselves, for example each model has been photographed doing something that may reflect their job placement. Each image is strong in its own way, the Finlay MacKay 'Changing Pace' image represents the strength and struggle David Weir has gone through to reach the Olympics. Ulrich Gebert has represented his subject as a strong figure overlooking what i assume to be his workplace which is similar to Toby Glanville's image as the woman is looking down to the camera making the viewer look up to her as we perceive her to be strong and educational.

Although each photographer has a different background these three images seem to come across with a similar message. Each image is also quite simplistic in terms of props and placement and location, the composition and locations may be different however the underlying message is the same.

Time machine Unit - Task 1 -

Unfortunately we were given this task based on a lecture that was cancelled due to the amount of snow that had fallen. For this task, we have been asked to compare and contrast the two paintings in at least 500 words. Comment on the content and relationship of the images on idealised and realism.

Giorgione - The Sleeping Venus 1510

The first image painted in 1510 is a beautiful paining of a woman 'Venus' known to be painted by Giorgione which was finished by the artist Titian after Giorgione died. The painting was considered a modern piece of art in its time and Giorgione was known to take a great deal of time to create this painting.
The woman is nude in a sexual manner with her arm above her head and hand on her groin. The dark colours creating a dark mood gives the painting a mystical feel to it, the detail of the background seems not to overpower the nude woman herself either. The landscape and background curves and lines seem to represent the woman's nude body herself linking it back to the simplistic power of the natural body itself.

Manet - Olympia 1863

Looking at this image taken by Manet in 1863, this painting seemed to have been inspired by other artists of its time. The painting was hated and was known to create an uproar for its simple nature. The black woman a servant portraying flowers seems to be being ignore by the lady, another nude painting with one arm covering her groin she seems to be resting her other arm keeping her upright and in eye line with the viewer. The flower in her hair could represent her youth, virginity which contrasts with the fair skin and pale sheets.

The dark colours of the background brings the viewers attention to the nude woman herself and the servant seeming as an extra in this painting. 

Comparing both of these images they both seem similar in body language and position. Both nude and seem to be covering their groin area showing only their breast's could represent the female's dominance in body posture. A very sexual take on the painting, however in  Manet's painting the woman seems to be being served by a black servant. Olympia seems distracted and ignoring her by looking at the viewer which could be a racist judgement take on the painting and also linked to female dominance and class.

The sleeping Venus also similar has more detail in the background of the painting than the woman herself. The colours in both paintings are dark and dull that could represent the sexuality and female class of struggle that females were going through at that point in time.