For my piece I wanted to push my skills with studio portraiture. Narratively, my model and I wanted to combine contemporary gender expression with classical Portrait Lighting and composition. I found this project to be intimidating until I focused on the photography aspect first and foremost. For the wet plate simulation, I used a combination of free overlays, and texture from a Wet Plate I shot in the past.
Link to Library of congress: https://www.loc.gov/item/2006681063/
Royalty Free Scratch overlays: https://ahc.me.uk/downloads/scratch.jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cliffordsax/2760733943/in/photostream/
For Jackson’s work, the main subject, the woman, is placed in the middle of the composition. She is a “looming” and powerful character with the amount of space that she takes of the entire photography. She is dressed more like a tomboy and her gesture is definitely more of a defiant woman than a subservient one that one would expect in the time period that wet plates were common. The background was appropriated from a portrait of a man. Sepia tone with layering from a personal wet plate project photo.
ReplyDeleteI interpret this work as a modern rendition of a portrait of a powerful figure. In this case it’s a woman. You can infer this through her stance and the amount of space she is taking up within the work. It’s purposeful, she is not small or made to be beautiful. She simply is power stancing and commanding the viewer to see her. The meaning that Jackson explained is of playing with contemporary views of gender and portraits with older ones. I feel as though you can see that for sure.
I think the content for this work is very strong, however, I think the texture for the photograph to emulate a wet plate was a little weak. I think using a layering of several different textures to create the effect of a collodion plate would make the work better. It feels as though the texture is just layered on top of rather than blended together. That being said, the look of decay on the photo on the left side is so so nice. I really love that part. I think majorly everything else speaks to the project perfectly. Even using an old photograph as the background then to place the modern subject on, it’s so on the nose, and I think provides an accurate solution to the assignment. The subject is in a position that would allow the long exposure time that collodion plates require.
In Jackson’s work, he shows strong understanding of conceptual ideas and the skills to combine that knowledge to resolve things within his work. His approach with gender in regards to present and past was clearly “explained” through this assignment. I think some elements of adding effects on to the photo needs some work but have strong starting points. Overall a great execution of the assignment! I’m really excited to see more of his work this semester!