My Tribute Band Project

So going back to my Tribute Band Project, since talking about the X Factor contestants that went on as tribute acts, I have since researched alot more into artists and bands that I could gain ideas from and contacted bands that I could photograph.

I have looked into the work of Alison Jackson who brings stories that you wish you could see in the papers, to life. She uses lookalikes to pose as celebrities doing funny things, which I think is genius and some of the lookalikes, you couldnt tell apart from the real celebrities!

I love how she positions the lookalikes in these unrealistic situations, making celebrity abit more down to earth and funny.








Another photographer I have been looking at is Cindy Sherman. Cindy dresses up as different characters and takes photographs of her doing this. She portrays different roles that women take up in life, displaying that all women are different and have hidden characters within themselves that they don't always display to everyone.

 These artists/photographers display something within their work that I find very interesting; Masquerade. The idea of becoming someone else, that thought that we all have at one point in our lives 'What would it be like to become someone else for a day?'. They both have managed to portray characters in their work and as in Alison's work, she has given work for the lookalikes, making them famous for being 'someone else'. Whereas in Cindy's work she portrays different characters that aren't famous but she feels comfortable becoming them. She talks about how the characters she played actually mimicked the ways she has portrayed herself at some point in her own life.

I have taken from their work that you need to be clever with your ideas if you are portraying 'someone else' through a real ordinary person. In my work, I want to portray tribute bands as dressing up as the real band. I want to ask them why they do it and what they get out of it. Why do you want to become someone else?

Tim Walker: Story Teller Exhibition

I went up to London on Saturday to have a little look around London and to Photograph the Tribute Band Oasish in Watford in the evening. So I had a look on websites etc to see what exhibitions were going on in London that I could go and see, but most of them weren't anything to do with my project and I find some of their subject matters a bit dull. 

So when I saw a tweet on facebook by Topshop saying about the Tim Walker exhibition on at Somerset House, I was so excited! Tim Walker has always been my favourite photographer and his work is thoughtful and beautiful and really does tell a story.

So me and my boyfriend went to see the exhibition on Saturday, and although my boyfriend doesn't do photography, he was as amazed as I was at the creativeness of Tim's work.

The way Tim's exhibition was set out, truley told a story. The walls were white but the images rich in pastel colours. The images each were creative, displaying a beautiful model in an old, delicate room with massive, wonderfully made props. The rooms would have the props that were used in the photograph so you could see the size and detail of them. One room was painted a dark grey and had huge bug props in the middle of the room, which looked creepy but beautiful. 

My favourite room was the room with the huge doll inside it as I have a fascination with dolls, I love how beautiful they are, frozen in there youthful state. 

The room was painted white and had the images of the model and doll around the room. The images looked eery but amazing as you wonder how long it took to take the doll to the location and get it in the right position! You also wonder how long it took to make the doll!

Overall, I came out of the exhibiton in complete awe. Tim Walker's work truley told a story and you always wonder what he will come up with next. 

Ex Student Talks...

Last week we had a talk from Ex Students who talked to us about what they did at Uni and what they did straight after Uni and what they are doing now. We had five ex students come in, all who had achieved alot since leaving. I took in everything they said as its always so interesting to here about other photographers work and especially people that were once in your exact same position. So I took notes from every photographers talk and have put them in order in this blog...

Tim Bowditch

First of all we had Tim Bowditch. He explained how he was from Guernsey and after University he couldn't stand being back in Guernsey and moved to London shortly after. He talked about how he runs the Roof Unit, which also consists of other photographs. I was really fascinated how he seemed to just push himself into photography within London and has succeeded so well.

He went on to show us his website http://timbowditch.com/ . I found his style of Photography very basic but beautifully shot, every detail thought about. I particularly liked his work Leaf Peeper as it told a story and had a sense of humour about it.

Vicky Chiswell

Vicky had gone down a very different approach to all of the other photographs we had a talk from. Vicky explained how she enjoyed taking photographs of museums and galleries and used photography to get closer to these places. She said she had always been interested in these places and always knew she wanted to work in one after Uni. Vicky had done her work experience at Aspex Gallery in Portsmouth and photographed childrens workshops. After University she became deeply involved within childrens workshops and Aspex Gallery hired her full time.

Vicky was very inspiring as she had a way about her that could teach people how to be within the art industry, calm and caring. I thought it was brilliant how rewarding her job is as she is helping children of all abilities to explore art in different ways.

Chris Butler

Chris gave a very interesting and detailed talk first about what his main interest at Uni was. He explained that he used to photograph aeroplanes, going up to the London airports and photographing the Concord (The year it was stopped). His photographs of the aeroplanes were extraordinary and pieces of artwork in themselves. He was amazed by the movement of plains and used blur alot within his photography to show this.

It was then interesting that he then said he went on to do Portrait photography after University, something completely different from photographing planes! He explained he worked for Venture, then The Hayward Studio and then went on to open his own studio 'The Photography Lounge'. I felt he gave some very good advice during the speech, explaining how he took a large format camera to a wedding, put it at the side and didn't even use it, he just took it to look professional!

He also explained that the bad thing about working for a studio and himself was that it was alot of hours, some days you'd be working all day and some days you'd have no work. He also said that it is 25 % Photographs and 75% Marketing, if your 'brand' isn't profession, people won't think you are professional. But overall, he loved his job as he gets to meet new people and personalities everyday.

Here is his website, http://www.thephotographylounge.co.uk/

 Georgie Gillard

Georgie also gave a really good speech about her work and seemed like a really 'get up and go' person. She talked about how she always wanted to be a press photographer and did projects at University that she knew would be good for her portfolio. Whilst she was at Uni, she did work experience at The Times and got a few good shots for her portfolio from it. After Uni she went onto apply from a job at The Daily Mail as a press photographer and she got the job.

She showed us some of her work and had a really good sense of humour when telling us her stories about the job working at The Daily Mail. Her most amazing work I found was how she photographed all the members of the 2012 British Olympic Team, the photographers that would of killed for that job!

Nicholas Adams

In my first year, Nick came in and gave us a talk and I found him very truthful and honest about photography. He talked about how difficult it was and that you'd wait ages to get emails and replies from people. Two years later, he still talked about the difficulties in photography but he explained more about his successes. Nicks work intrigues me as I am very interested in Architecture and Interiors myself, and Nick is a very successful Architectural and Interior Photographer.

Nicks work is very clean and he likes his lines to be straight and precise within the images. This style is shown throughout all of his work. I was very impressed with his work on the Old Leather Works Factory, I found it beautiful and eery, it was just my cup of tea!

Overall, I was very impressed by the achievements of the ex students as they really had pushed themselves within their careers to achieve the best they can. It made me think alot about after University and how I was going to go about in the Photography world but they gave us the very best of advice; To be yourself, to be Patient and to work extremely hard because you need to grab every opportunity, they won't just turn up on your doorstep.

Brad Pitt in Chanel No 5 Advert

Working around Perfume advertisements, you can see where my interest in Celebrity and the image comes from. Every time I'm at work I am selling a dream to someone, I am telling them that this brand is good, this celebrity perfume is good. And most of the time, they only buy the perfume because they are huge fans of the Celebrity who has 'created' the product.

I was so interested in this concept that I wrote my two last essays on it and for my dissertation, I am looking into Celebrity power further (and I am also doing my Set Brief project on Celebrity). To me, Celebrity brings a weakness to people. We give our money, our hopes and dreams to be near our chosen Celebrities by buying what has their face on it and going to see them in Concerts. If I sold perfume with a normal bottle, no shape or design, just wrapped in a plain white box with just the ingredients on the front, no advertisements; I think the industry wouldn't be rolling in billions of pounds!

Unfortunately that would never happen as Brands and Celebrities sell so much! A recent addition to perfumes is Lady Gaga's 'Fame' which has been selling alot as people love Lady Gaga and will have something weird and wonderful of hers, even if it was toilet roll with her face printed on it! But the one that still gets sold incredibly well is Justin Biebers fragrances (he now has two), every single little girl and teenage girl that comes in wants to have Justin Bieber's 'Girlfriend' Fragrance. They think, if I buy his fragrance, I will be more respected by my friends and it will take them that one bit closer to Justin.

Another interesting advertisement that has came out is the new Chanel No 5 advert. Normally Women's fragrances have women advertising them and Men's fragrances have men advertising them. But Chanel had to be different. Women from Nicole Kidman to Audrey Tautou have been the face of Chanel No 5 but now the new face is Brad Pitt - The first man to advertise a Women's perfume.

Although Chanel No 5 has been the best seller ever since it was released, it didn't need a boost in the market. However, Chanel have been very clever here and have gained even more publicity as people will see the advert and talk about how Brad is advertising and we will have debates on it therefore, it will be even more well known. And then people will come into the shop to see what all the fuss is about Chanel No 5, gaining more profit and more recognition.

I think this is also a turn in advertising as the debate of men always overpowering women in perfume adverts always comes about. So in this advert is man taking over woman because they are telling women what perfume to wear?

My Set Brief idea

For my Set Brief project, I am looking at why people hide behind the persona of someone famous (tribute bands, acts and lookalikes). I have always been fascinated with why people are fascinated with celebrity. Growing up looking at magazines and wanting to copy Jennifer Aniston's hair style or be one of the spice girls, I have been there and wanted to be a celebrity myself or be the idea of a celebrity. We have all wanted to be a celebrity, be friends with one or look like one. Whoever denies it is lying.

I continually look around me while I'm walking around through town or am on the bus and at least every 10 seconds I am reminded of celebrity. Perfume adverts, Make up adverts, Clothing lines by Celebrities, films etc. They are everywhere. Switch on the teley and they are there. A program that I find is obsessed with celebrity or the idea of being ridiculously famous is X Factor. I was watching the auditions earlier last month and a Pink Tribute act came onto the stage Zoe Alexander. She looked like pink and had the stage attitude pink had. She claimed she was told to sing Pink. Another tribute act was on a few episodes later, Lorna Bliss, Britney Spears impersonator. She looked exactly like Britney but instead went completely over the top and she claimed that 'I just love being on TV, I just want to be on TV all the time you know'. Was she in it for the joy of becoming someone else to be able to achieve her own musical career or just in it for the fame and money?

 

It came to me whilst watching these two women striving for fame and fortune as impersonators, that I wanted to find out why they wanted to become someone else on stage, why they wanted to not use their own personalities. Therefore my project is going to be dedicated to finding this out. I will contact tribute bands, artists, lookalikes and photograph them whilst also asking them a few questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First session of Professional Practice

For our first lecture on Professional Practice, we were asked to bring along our current portfolio and also bring examples of our two favourite photographers. My portfolio was an online one so here is a link to my website...

http://laurenwhatling.wix.com/laurenwhatlingphotography

I will have to get used to showing my people portfolios as I was abit nervous showing a group of seven it! My portfolio consists of still life, architecture, landscape, portrait photography and fashion photography. As a photographer, I like to show that I can do a variety of photography and not just one genre. I had some good feedback from the group and my lecturer Judy Harrison saying it was a good start to showing my portfolio. However, some bits needed tweaking.

I also showed my two favourite photographs. My first one being Tim Walker. Tim Walker has been my favourite photographer since school. His work is not only photography but is art and is very creative and dreamy. Here is his website http://timwalkerphotography.com/ and here are a few of my favourite of his photographs...

My second favourite photographer is David Lachapelle. His work is so bold and artistic. He really tells a story within his images and even uses religious referencing. Here are a few of my favourite of his photographs...

In the best possible taste by Grayson Perry

 In the best possible taste by Grayson Perry

For 'homework' we were asked to watch a program called 'In the best possible taste by Grayson Perry' (I know, I love my degree!). This 'homework' really opened my eyes to more of Grayson Perry's artwork and really taught me a thing or two about how I can further and better my own work. Grayson Perry, a very brave man who walks proudly dressed as a woman, delves into the lives of the working class, middle class and upper class all in the name of art.

Grayson would follow around the different type of class for a while, recording with his little camera whilst also recording everything at the end of the day with drawings of what he had witnessed. My favourite program of the three was the working class one. This is because it was the most interesting and eye opening of all of them. I think it made people see that the working class are not as bad as they seem. They were more interesting and most relaxed out of all the classes. Although poorer in money, they were richer in happiness.

I found the middle class episode quite uncomfortable to watch. As it seemed that they were very careful with what they said and very stiff in the way they acted, like every action was planned. The middle class looked clueless and thought that buying certain things would put them into a more middle class 'accepted' category.

The upper class I found very intriguing as some of them felt that it was a burden upon them, that they should live up to what they're family had achieved for them. However, they felt that they didn't need to buy flashy cars and brand spanking new house items because they kept the rustic look and were comfortable in the way they were.

Overall, I found that all of the class programs were amazing to watch as we all know about lower, middle and upper class but society today refuses to talk about it. Grayson Perry really delved into each of the classes and discovered alot and certainly has caused alot of debate on how each of the classes are judged.