The Cathouse by Baldovino Barani

I will be updating this post within the next few hours. Below is a link to the remainder of work in this series.

http://ananasamiami.blogspot.com/2009/06/cathouse-by-baldovino-barani.html

Cardboard Ladies

There is something about the formality of traditional portraiture which seems to invite parody. Swiss photographer Christian Tagliavini obliges by abandoning fully 3-dimensional human subjects altogether. In his series Dame di Cartone (Cardboard Ladies), he takes fancy dress to a rather strange and illogical conclusion by replacing his sitters' bodies with cardboard costumes from various eras. They seem to be an affectionate and slight;y teasing tribute to both fashion photography and art history. I find this imagery to be both imaginative and of course completely crazy. The purpose is not to earnestly portray these individuals, who dont even seem to have names, instead he toys with the idea of making fun of early portrait photography.

I find this body of work to be both captivating but also slightly annoying, however this is possibly only due to the makeup and the facial expression of the models or sitters. The very concept behind this imagery is gleefully bizarre, when I decide to do a photoshoot I find cardboard doesnt possess the qualities I want in a fabric. There isnt necessarily a narrative more just an underlying theme. I would like to go out on a limb and try to do a photoshoot of this calibre however I dont feel it is necessarily my style. I still feel this work is captivating and despite not being completely to my taste, I feel there is a lot that can be learned from his work.

Baldovino Barani

I stumbled across this photographer when searching for cinematic photography. I do feel he possesses a number of elements present in cinematic photography such as the dramatic scenery perhaps only surpassed by the extreme use of makeup and special effects such as the examples above.

I feel this 3-D effect was perhaps achieved through the use of photoshop and after examining the series I feel this effect could be emulated. In comparison to my last posts, this series of photographs is much more fashion based and narrative seems to play a much smaller role than the last. It is rather clear that Baldovino Barani has had an extensive list of people helping him and this level of professionalism is present in his imagery.

I have been inspired by the use of strong vibrant colours present in his imagery, and the rather qwarky clothes and makeup. His style is instantly recognisable and this is something that I feel I shoud be working on, as I found alot of my imagery last year was too bland and plain.

Diary of a Victorian Dandy

Yinka Shonibare,
The Diary of a Victorian
Dandy Series. 19 hours.

Yinka Shonibare,
The Diary of a Victorian
Dandy Series. 11 hours.

Yinka Shonibare,
The Diary of a Victorian
Dandy Series. 14 hours.

Above is a number of photographs taken from Yinka Shonibare.s Diary of a Victorian Dandy. This series of photographs were inspired by the 19th bourgeoisie society and the colonial based mixture of different cultures. Yinka Shonibare plays the main character in the photographs, a dandy,a young well-dressed society gentleman who is admired by friends and doted on by servants. Shonibare uses the dandy figure to look at the relationship betweenrace and class in Victorian society, creating a fantasy social setting that explores power relationships and societal roles.

Shonibare stages a day in the life of such a gent, starting with a pampered wake-up call and - via billiards and an evening's entertainment .I find this use of grand narrative allows the photographs to fluently communicate concepts that are socially important in this day and age. I find the use of a black model in a Victorian based snobbery setting to be extremely symbolic and this juxtaposition of colliding cultures is truely what makes this image so captivating. I feel this series of photographs is relevant to my own work through the use of narrative and the theaterical style of the setting and imagery. I also feel that a social concept would play an important role in my imagery or polytych.

More Inspiration

Keira Knightley by Annie Leibovitz for Vogue US December 2005

I found a number of fashion photographs based on the Wizard of Oz, these are only a few from the series, the rest can be found at:

http://community.livejournal.com/foto_decadent/1978122.html#cutid1

The setup and work behind these images are obviously extensive, however a lot can be learn through them and I would like to emulate certain details into my theme. I particularly like the way in which Keira Knightley is always the center of attention and this is achieved through composition and colour, she appears very vibrant compared to the drab backdrops. These photographs have a rather obvious and straightfoward concept and it is flently communicated through a series of scenes.

A grand narrative could be an option. Telling a story through a number of images, however in my experience this can prove to be problematic. I feel perhaps a number of photographs that relate to each other would be a much better idea. Perhaps a number of dyptichs (two accompanying photographs that relate to eachother), a tryptich (three) or a polytych (multiple).

I feel I should perhaps do some more research before I decide.

Editorial: Enemy
Magazine: Catalogue
Photographer: Andres Castel
Stylist: Maru Cabrera
Make up & hair: Priscila Bureau
Models: ?

I found these images to be inspirational due to the theatrical nature of the clothing and the rather exaggerated posture of the models. I particularly like the narrative, although fairly simply it fluently communicates the concept behind the imagery. I would like to do a number of fashion shoots based upon a theatrical style, which was one the reasons I felt a masquerade would be quite captivating. Indeed a winter night masquerade would be extensively planned and there would require a lot of thought into lighting and set up however something as simple as this would perhaps be a good starting point.