Francesca Woodman is a photographer who explores themes such as mental illness through various different photography devices such as a slow shutter speed and long exposure times. She often uses self-portraiture with herself nude and her face blurred out, creating simple but striking black and white images. Her photos often depict the movement of surrealism, a time in which many of her photographs were taken. Most of Francesca Woodman's photographs were taken with a medium format camera. which produced square negatives. I chose to research and draw inspiration from Francesca Woodman's work the movement she creates within her work through a combination of slow shutter speeds, long exposure times and movement, is something which I wish to explore within my own photographs and then develop throughout my project. She uses derelict and abandoned rooms to create simple but striking images, something which I want to experiment with in my work.
Objectively this image shows a door which is propped up between the wall and the floor with the legs of a nude woman showing from underneath the door. On the far wall there is a window with a large amount of light shining through. The image is black and white, subsequently creating a large amount of contrast within the image, further aided by the natural light coming through the window. The viewers focus immediately moves towards the door in the middle of the room as it is the centre focus of the image, allowing the viewers focus to then take in the legs under the door afterwards.
Subjectively, I believe that this image is quite abstract without a clear meaning making itself known. However, when the context behind the image is made clear, this image could be read as one that explores the topic of mental illness. The black and white colouring allows the image to become a powerful one that grabs my attention in a way it may not have been if it was in colour.
Objectively this image shows a woman on top of a mirror with a blurred face. Then blurred face and body has been created through a long shutter speed and movement of the model. What is assumed to be her skirt lays to the side of her, half discarded over the mirror, with the other half on the wooden floor. The image is black and white creating a high contrast between the dark panelled edge of the mirror and the white wall that creates part of the background to the image. Subjectively, I think the blurriness of the face and part of the body creates a powerful impact on the image. It creates a vulnerable side to both the picture and the model whom doesn't want to make herself known to the camera. However, this vulnerable side is contrasted with a confidence that the woman must feel to be able to be photographed half naked, something which is then reflected in the mirror.
Objectively this image shows a doorway with a radiator to the side of it. In the doorway there appears to be part of an arm holding a piece of fabric that is blurred. This effect has been executed using a slow shutter speed and movement of the fabric. Despite the image being black and white, there is minimal contrast due to most of the objects being either white or of a lighter colour. This makes the image both desaturated and one dimensional. The image is off balance creating a slight tilt within the image.
Subjectively, I think this is a very ambiguous image that doesn't directly make the viewer aware of both what it is and what it is portraying. When I first viewed this image, I believed that the doorway was actually a mirror in which the picture of the arm and the fabric had been reflected. However, on closer inspection I noticed that the pattern of the floor was slightly different. Furthermore, I struggled to understand what the blurred fabric represented, however I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't represent anything in particular. The image is purposefully abstract so that each viewer can come to their own conclusion about the image and what the meaning behind it. The confusion which is raised when viewing this image distorts the viewers reality, I feel, something which may have paralleled the photographers own mental state and mind.
My Responses
For these responses I wanted to incorporate a mixture of self-portraiture and movement to create simple but striking images just as Francesca Woodman does in her work. I used black and white in this series to achieve an eerie tone within my work. Overall, I think the series have been a success as I managed to get the same kind of props used in Woodman's work, such as mirrors and doors that have been taken off the hinges. Furthermore, I was successful in getting a similar location to that used in Francesca Woodman's work, a derelict house.
Objectively, this image shows a girl situated on top of a mirror with a blurred face. She has one hand on the mirror and the other hand behind her back. The girl is wearing a black top, creating a large amount of contrast between that and the rest of the image, which has more grey and white tones. The black and white used within the image highlights the grittiness of the room around the girl. It is clear that the floor and walls have been stripped bare, suggesting the house has been abandoned for a long period of time.
Subjectively, I think this image has been an overall success. The movement that has been used throughout the face has created a similar effect as the one Woodman created in her image. Whereas Francesca Woodman's image was taken from a side angle. I decided to take my image from a front angle to maximise the use of derelict floor in the picture. Furthermore, I think the black and white tones of the image create a good amount of contrast whilst highlighting certain areas of the image, for example the patchy floor and walls.
Objectively, this image shows part of someone's body peeking out from a door that is lying on the floor. There is part of both a window and a radiator in the image. The window is letting through a large amount of light, creating subsequent highlights and shadows within the image. There is a good amount of contrast as a result of the black and white tones of the picture.
Subjectively, I think this has been a successful response to Francesca Woodman's image as the concept is very similar. There is a graininess to my image just as there is in Francesca Woodman's image furthermore, I managed to incorporate a door that has been taken of its hinges and lie underneath on the floor. Just as Woodman does in her image, I have used part of a window in the image using the natural light to highlight certain areas of the image.
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