wed 6:10

Today I went to my Women in Literature class and was confronted with an inner dilema. After listening to my animated teacher discuss feministic views on beauty pageants and reality TV. Talking about how women "needed to be escorted" and about female's in themedia being objectified, I found myself torn on my opinion of the matter. As a woman I am on the side of what shes saying, but I feel like as an artist attempting to be in the fashion photography business I should be more open minded about it. I feel like its hard to discern where the line is drawn of where a woman using her sexuality for herself or to show her strength is different than the woman being told to be suggestive and is being objectified. I have no desire to bring women back after coming so far in equality in society between men and women, however I also believe that if a woman wants to pose suggstively or passively then it should be her decision and not some angry feminist. Where is the line between objectiying and haveing someone use their body to their advantage, thus ojectifying the viewer's own weaknesses?

1st Assignment

The photography that I am most influenced and inspired by is looked down upon by many professionals. I view fashion photography as a medium that allows a photographer to mix art, fashion, drama and commercialism. I want to create work that includes it all in an interesting and inspiring way to even the most ordinary person who views it. One photographer whose work I enjoy looking at is Patrick Demarchelier. I find his images to be strong and involved. I am certainly more of a fan of his narrative fashion work such as the image seen above than his more commercial, typical straight on fashion images. When I first saw these two pictures I was automatically drawn to how dramatic it was. It seems to me that it coud be possible to write story after story describing what happened before or what will happen directly after the shot was taken. I am interested in the desaturated look with only one color popping. It makes the red all that more impressive.
Another photographer that has always been a favorite of mine is Annie Leibovitz. It seems an easy choice, she's very well known and has been making amazing images for years. My attraction to her work is localized on her large set narratives often relating to fairy tales and old stories. My favorite was in Vogue and it invloved the story The Wizard Of Oz as its focal point and concept. Keira Knightley was the celebrity model and many other artists were invloved as characters in the shoot, for example Chuck Close, Francesco Clemente, Jasper Johns and Jeff Koons. Her work with celebrity's is not something that I am striving to accomplish but her work with sets, lighting, color, posing and overall apperance I find for lack of a better word magical. Her work evokes a dreamy feeling in me that only gets stronger the more I learn about photography and the more I look at the images. I would love to be able to use old narratives sucessfully in a non cheesy way very artistically while at the same time promoting a specific fashion trend. I find the challenge of pushing typical fashion portraiture to a higher art form as intruging as anything else. I want to create a portfolio that can work with art and fashion and beauty and drama and be viewed as a high art form


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