Project conclusion

I have to say, as projects go, this has been the most fun I could probably get away with. The idea stemmed from my teen years of dressing up inspired by female musicians that I loved and taking my portrait. If I was sad or not feeling to good about myself, I'd sit and listen to the band or singer and spend hours doing my make up and hair, picking outfits and posing like them to the camera. It always distracted me from the thing that was getting me down and funnily enough that was usually my reflection. The photos of myself taking on these women's persona's and self confidence made me realise that I could be them, easily.
I wanted to convey that feeling to a wider audience with this series of images. To me, it relates to the use of imagery in media campaigns in magazines and newspapers and how that is taking affect on all of us, the younger generations especially. It relates to the lack of self confidence in nearly all teenage and pre-teen girls because of the use of image manipulation on the images we see in the media and how through the ages women have been portrayed in these campaign photographs.
I honed in on female musicians because of their clear talent and as a homage to their presence still being felt in the music industry today. I felt that if I didn't concentrate on one talent, the project wouldn't be as direct and the people I portrayed not as recognisable as in this series, if you recognise one musician, you can gather that the rest are also musicians too.
I also wanted to make the images look like they were from the era of the musician. As if they were taken for a record sleeve or tour poster. I used the medium itself to create these different affects.

Over all, this project is really dear to my heart. I am really excited to see it presented properly for reviewing. There is no doubt that I will continue this project in the future. I want to expand to different work groups of women such as politicians or writers. I would also want to experiment in photographing myself as famous and notorious men.

Final presentation

For the final presentation of my series, I have a lot of options to work through.

• newspaper cut outs in frames on the wall and then the spare newspapers turned into a zine
• newspaper cut outs in frames on the wall and then spare newspapers with workbooks
• newspaper cut outs in frames on the wall and then spare newspapers turned into a zine as well as videos looped on a screen
• newspapers turned into a scrap book and videos looped on a screen
• newspaper cut outs in frames on the wall and videos looped on a screen 

I'll have to see when the newspapers are delivered what the final presentation will look like. I'm thinking my videos will just go towards the research as they're not as polished as the final images and I don't feel as confident in them holding their own.

My first idea was newspaper cut outs in frames on the wall and then a zine made from the spare newspapers and I think that's what I'll end up doing.

Ordered finished prints from the newspaper club

I've ordered five copies of the 12 page newspaper I created using their website. The sample paper I got the other day was really high quality so I decided to just go for it! I'm really excited to see the final result. £27.00 well spent

Cyndi Lauper shoot

For some reason I kept putting off this shoot. I have no idea why, it was so much fun! I blasted some Cyndi Lauper tunes whilst setting up and during the shoot to get in the mood. I have so many images to choose from for this ! Here are the choices:

I think it's down to the two images in the middle. But I love all four of these! I've added a lot of grain because the photos I was working from were quite grainy but very saturated. I love the effect that gives to the images.

Patti Smith shoot!

I was dreading the Patti Smith shoot. I look absolutely nothing like her, plus she never wore make up and her hair was never anything iconic, but her look as a whole was very iconic of the beat era. Anyway, I'm quite pleased with these photos!

The first image will probably be the image I send to be printed! I feel like the grain and the lighting echoes a lot of Patti Smith photos, many of which were taken by Mapplethorpe.

Scrapbooks - Archives of American Art

I've been looking at a collection of scrapbooks, held online by the Archives of American Art. The scrapbooks themselves are collections of newspaper and magazine cuttings about the Macbeth Gallery that was open in New York from 1892 - 1952. The scrapbooks range from the date of opening to the date the gallery closed.

I find these old scrapbooks of great inspiration. I love the fact that someone has taken the time to cut every newspaper column and magazine clipping out and stick it into a completely new book. I used to make small scrapbooks when I was little but I think it's another thing we may have lost to make way for the internet and word processing. I really find it inspiring that just from cutting and saving all of the information from a newspaper, someone has single handedly produced a completely new and original publication.
In that single crude movement of cutting and sticking, the author/artist has made the gallery of new and high importance, not only to them personally, but to anyone looking at these documents in years to come. By putting something in print, you enhance its properties; but by having a huge amount of print about a subject together, it creates volume and vastness to the subject, thus raising its importance.

I really want to create a scrapbook effect for my final piece. I think it will give a really good conversation with the images themselves as well as with the audience.

Slater Bradley

When I found this work, I was impressed that someone had already explored my idea but not with female icons, with male musical icons instead. Bradley slightly confuses this notion of someone playing the role of someone else by drafting in an artist to play the role of himself. The artist plays the role of Bradley playing the role of Kurt Cobain or Ian Curtis. This is where the title 'doppelganger' comes in, forming a complex layer of masquerade and male identity.
Bradley also works with the aura of the preexisting images by layering them on top of a gold back ground, linking the male icons with icons of religious value.
'The photographs reveal the intense obsession that teenagers might place upon their idols, and the yearning to not only emulate them but to actually be them'. - Auto-focus - the self portrait in contemporary photography.

I think adding the background in works really well to emulate a new kind of religious icon as well as give a scrap book feel to the image. It feels as if a fan has taken this image and physically made a religious icon out of it, instead of it being given to the fan as it was.

I am already exploring this idea of the fan scrap book as well as taking influence from people who frame newspaper clippings as I think this is the way I wish to present my work. Maybe just framed newspaper clippings or a small scrap book or both. Maybe the scrap books can be handed out and I can create a new celebratory following?!