Edward Weston

Edward Weston

(March 24, 1886- January 1, 1958.) A 20th century American photographer known as "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers." His 40 year career consisted of works such as landscapes, still lifes, nudes, portraits, genre scenes and even whimsical parodies. Initially a pictorialist, creating soft focus photographs looking at impressionist paintings, he had a moment of transformation in which he realised that the photographic image could be celebrated just as much for its own inherent qualities for example sharp details and fine shades of tone. The piece called pepper, he established representing beauty that was 'true'. The picture shows that a pepper is not just a pepper but conveys others meanings and allows the viewer to think of what else the object looks like. 

Edward Weston

I have experimented with the peppers, using the lights and positioning them in different positions for shadowing, creating depth. I found this photoshoot successful as I liked the depth that the shadows created on the pepper. I then took the photo into photoshop, turning it into black and white, like Weston's version.  

Irving Penn

Irving Penn

(June 16, 1917 – October 7, 2009) was an American photographer  Penn's repertoire also includes portraits of creative greats; ethnographic photographs from around the world; modernist still lifes of food, bones, bottles, metal, and found objects; and photographic travel essays. His work has been exhibited internationally and continues to inform the art of photography. Born into a Russian Jewish family, in which he attended Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts) from 1934 to 1938, where he studied drawing, painting, graphics, and industrial arts under Alexey Brodovitch.  Penn was among the first photographers to pose subjects against a simple grey or white backdrop and he effectively used this simplicity. Expanding his austere studio surroundings, Penn constructed a set of upright angled backdrops, to form a stark, acute corner.      




Contract Sheet

This photoshoot I did was inspired by the artist Irving Penn. The shoot was portrait, only focusing on the models face. The main focus of this shoot was to capture the imperfections such as freckles which are characteristics women often cover up as they are seen as ''flaws'' This lead me to go down the route of looking into women's makeup and their ''imperfections.'' 

To edit this, firstly I adjusted the levels and changed it to black and white; seen in the first picture. The next photo I did the previous steps and then adjusted the shadows and highlights, creating tone and depth within the photo. For this photo, the model already had freckles, but I added more to replicate the artists picture. I liked how the freckles became more prominent with the black and white effect and the increase of shadows which create lighter and darker aspects to the image. 

Pinterest board

As my theme given was truth, fantasy and fiction. I chose to look into the lives of women and how makeup is used; in my opinion is very much opposed by society in order for women to be perceived as ''beautiful.'' Makeup is initially a ''mask'' worn to cover up who we actually are. I wanted to capture the truth of how some women may be having to ''hide'' their true identity to perhaps fit in with the world.
I have started with a pinterest board gathering various pictures, to help me gain inspiration.