Group work

I think that our final display and the way that our project has come together is a real testament to the way that we have worked so well together as a group. Having not worked together before and not knowing each others different ways of working we have been able to identify each others key strengths and draw on these to make our final outcome a real success. It has been great to see how other people in the team work in different ways to be able to evaluate your own styles of working and take on different ideas to potentially develop in the future. Having come from a point where we were all researching completely different areas and topics it has been great to see this project come together in a way that clearly shows the message that we were trying to portray but still allows people to have their own thoughts by not spelling out the meaning within our presentation as it'll mean different things to different people.

Jessie

Final Display

This is our final display for our work. We have printed the two main photographs off as A1. These are the main focus of our presentation so we wanted to make them as big as possible. We have kept these in the centre. We have then put the smaller images on either side to support the larger ones. 

We have decided not to include a summary of our work and instead have just included the title which we have given our work: Crafted Conformity, Morphed Identity. This allows the audience to decide for themselves what the work is about. 

Jennifer

Making Final Work

Here are a few pictures of us making the final pieces for our work.

First we pasted the photos we had taken of people onto different types of fabric using image maker.

We then had to leave them to dry over night. 

The next day we rubbed off the remaining paper using a wet cloth.

Once dry we cut each paper out separately.

Although this seemed to be a very lengthy process. and it was irritating to see a lot of the white paper show up again once dried, I really like the overall effect this technique has given to the images.

Tammi

Final Merged Images

As part of our final piece, we decided to create a male and female image of peoples photos merged together on photoshop by changing the opacity.

The idea behind these images is to show that if we were to become more and more like each other, our identities will be morphed and personalities would be lost.

Tammi

Jen's merged photographs

We have decided to use merged photographs as the main focus of our presentation. I have created my own images to try and experiment with this and to create some alternatives for us to choose from.

 

I think the first image has worked better than the second. I got the faces more aligned so it looks more effective than the second where it os more of a blur.

Jennifer

Barbara Kruger

When researching identity, I came across Barbara Krugers work, 'Who do you think you are?' I then decided to look further at her work and found that a lot of the statements in her work seem to be related to identity.
http://www.barbarakruger.com/art.shtml

 







I think Barbara Krugers work links in well to our project as she seems to question how we look and act and if we really are unique or just constantly influenced by eachother.

Tammi

Learning how to make a video

Today an animation student taught me some basic techniques of how to use After Effects to make a video.

 

Although the video drags on and I've only used 5 images, it gave me an idea of what to do when making the video for our presentation. I think with more time spent on it and a larger amount of different images used, this could be very effective to have in the background when presenting our work.

Tammi

Visualisations

Whilst looking into different ways to display the photographs that we have taken, I put them all together into what looked like a gallery collection of miniature photos so that you could clearly see the individual people within the over all display but not their faces clearly within each image. I liked the repetition that this showed as it looked effective when each of the photos was placed together to show that it was part of something on a larger scale. I also liked the way that it had the sense of all the individual elements coming together to create something that when merged you couldn't identify the individual parts however I feel that we could be more creative with our presentation.

The second visusalisation that I looked in to was putting all the photos together on a very small scale and then deleting section of them to spell out the title of our piece 'crafted repetition'. This worked well to a certain extent showing a clear message, however as a group we have come up with the title 'Crafted conformity, merged identity' to display on our final presentation on the wall giving a hint towards what our project is about but leaving enough to the imagination so that people can ultimately decide for themselves what the project means to them. Therefore I would need to change this visualisation, however I think it would be nice for there to be a certain element of textiles within the display to make it more textual and unique and not purely a photography project.

Jessie

Line Up visualisation

This is a visualisation where I have lined up a selection of the images in the style of a police line up. I have included black lines in the background of different thicknesses and spacing. I think this could be interesting if we were to have a continuous line of a large number of photographs, however I am not sure that this is our strongest piece, as I feel some of our other ideas are better.

Jennifer

Trial Merging Faces



 

Here I tried out a couple of ways to merge the phtos of people together on photshop. I don't think the second image worked well but the first image gives off a very nice ghostly look to it.

 

Tammi

Jen's trial of images onto fabric

 

I have tried to transfer some of the images onto fabric. I thought that this was an interesting way of showing and presenting our photographs. I like that I didn't remove all of the paper, and that some remains on the image. I means that it is not perfect and that they will all have some differences because of the way in which it transfered.
This could be something which we could take further and use for our presentation.

Jennifer

Flip Book

For one of my practices with presentation I created a Flip book. I used mall contact images to create the book and layered these on top of each other between a card binding.

I think that this looks interesting, especially when it is flipped to see all the images. However I'm not sure whether this is the best method for displaying it as a final piece.

Jennifer

Mike Larremore - Portrait Photography

These portraits by Mike Larremore capture people's different expressions and emotions. Each image is a collection of 16 photographs of the same person. The difference is that they all convey a different emotion. This is a similar idea to what we have been looking at, as we have also taken photographs of people displaying different ideas, such as: happy, sad, confused, and angry. 

I like the way that Larremore has gone about this. he has displayed the images in a grid layout, so they are all of equal size. This gives it a clear and structured appearance. The images are all taken against a plain background, but the lighting means they are different colours at the edges, so the joins in the photographs can still be seen. I think this works so that it looks more like a collection rather than one image. 

We need to think about the display for our pieces, so this is something which could help to give us more ideas on how to go about this.

Larremore, M. (N.D.). Mike Larremore. Retrieved from: http://www.mikelarremore.com/

  

Jennifer

1000 Face Photography Project

This is a project which I have found by the photographer Gavin King. He took photographs of people within his town with the aim of showing how diverse the area is. I think that this is a really interesting collection, and is similar to the ideas which we have for our own work.

His conclusion, is different to ours however. He is looking at how different people are; whereas we are looking at how society actually makes us the same.

I think this is a useful project to look at because of its similarities; we can look at inspiration for display. He has displayed his images in quite an organised way. They have all been made into the same size, and lined up into even rows and columns. This is quite a regimented display, and therefore sends a different message to if they had been placed in a collage.

 I like that he has managed to get an identical backdrop for all his images. However this was not possible for us, so this is something which we have to consider.

(N.A.) (2014, February 10). Ipswich 1000 Face Photography Project Going On Display. BBC. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-26116699

Jennifer

Choosing to use photography

We have decided to use photography to explore our ideas for this project. We want to capture lots of people looking the same, and photography is the best method for doing this. We want people to look the same to represent how society is making them conform. 

We chose to get people to wear black bottoms and a white top. This is something which most people will have, so it will help us to get as many photographs as possible. It also allows for some choice, so that it is not completly restricted. 

We have also decided  to take photographs of the people showing different emotions.

This will show that despite conformity, people are still different and still have their own feelings, opinions and emotions, and that we are in fact still all different.

The words we used were:

• blank
• happy
• sad
• scared
• confused
• angry

Jennifer

Uniformity and Feminism

As I was researching, I found a couple of articles highlighting the pros and cons of uniformity and the relation it has to feminism.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10721791/Nuclear-Security-Summit-Why-the-hell-have-women-been-banned-from-serving-lunch-to-world-leaders.html

This article talks about how women (particularly if they're blonde) have been banned from serving the world leaders and instead have been replaced by 'more sober-looking men'. The man in charge of this decision 'wanted a uniformity to waiting staff'. 'Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad quotes the director of the catering company, Hans van der Linde, saying: "If 20 gentlemen are serving and three platinum blonde ladies, then that spoils the image. The personnel needs to act in as reserved a manner as possible, and you can't achieve that by adding a couple of pretty, conspicuous ladies to the mix."' And it seems even more people agree. 'Jean-Paul Weijers, director of the Protocolbureau, justified the all-male line-up, warning that women - whether in little Delft Blue dresses or a more respectable get-up - would distract all those blokes running the world and debating how to save us all from nuclear Armageddon.'

Author Colin Joyce, Tokyo, Publication title The Daily Telegraph, Publication date Sep 16, 2004,Place of publication London (UK)

'Japanese women took a small step forward yesterday when it was announced that imperial courtiers would be given uniforms, like their male counterparts.'

I find it interesting how these articles are on opposite sides as to whether uniformity is good, yet both articles are very good examples of how uniformity can be seen and used as a way to single out people, and in both these cases a whole gender.

Tammi

What is Fashion?

We have thought about uniformity through people, and how people can look the same. There may be reasons for this such as:

• To be smarter
• To fit in - to conform
• To provide equality
• To give a professional image

However there are also similarities through fashion, such as wanting to get the celebrity image. I have researched into what can be defined as fashion.

• a popular or latest style of clothing
• expressing your identity
• what someone else is wearing
• style and custom prevalent at a given time

This is something which we could explore through this project. We have thought about uniformity and uniformity, but fashion is also something which could relate to this.

Jennifer 

Uniform ideas

I have thought about repetition in relation to uniform and uniformity. Uniform is something which is worn by many people and so therefore creates repetition among a group.

When you wear a uniform you are no longer seen as an individual, but as part of a group, so you become part of a shared identity. This means that you become a representative, and your actions. I feel that this is an interesting concept to explore.

From this I have thought about the different types of uniform which we could look into:

• Nurses/hospital
• Firemen
• Guard
• Soldier
• Work
• Office
• School
• Scouts/Guides
• Police

Some of these have more functional properties, such as that of the fireman, as these protect the wearers from the extreme temperatures. Others are more aesthetic such as school uniform.

Image: BBC. (2010). Guide to Public Sector Pension Schemes. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11446831

Jennifer

Conformity through the media

After looking through a few magazines I noticed just how much the media influences what we wear, eat, act and generally feel about ourselves and other people.

 

We constantly judge how celebrities act, yet still feel the need to find out what they're wearing, the make-up they use and the food they eat. Why? So we can be more like them?
I think this will be interesting for our project as it makes you think about how the opinions from the media can craft us to think and act the same.

Tammi

Crafted By Society

We have thought about the idea that people have actually been crafted in themselves, and also the influence of society upon them. We have brought this together as the idea, that people have been crafted by society.

We have then looked into people's spaces and rooms. This links into the idea of the animals which craft their homes.
We have now moved on to explore fashion, and clothing, and also uniforms. This is something which I feel could be an interesting area for us to explore. 

I have also thought about how this means there are differences which could be according to:

• location - and the views and values which are considered important within that area
• religion, this has a strong influence upon people.

We have thought about fashion and clothing, and how there are limited in individuality.
Morals could have an influence on this, particularly looking at what people think or feel is acceptable to wear. 

Jennifer

Conformity

Interesting thoughts about conformity...

• The Japanese having a saying 'The nail that sticks up gets hammered down...' This is often very true in the culture that we live in with people that 'don't fit in' trying to conform by doing things like the  people around them to fit in

• Pressures to conform are a universal feature of culture... with the very idea of culture being that people think, feel and act similarly.

• Because we as humans are social animals who live in groups and are constantly interacting with people, subconsciously we are being shaped and molded by the world and the people around us in different ways...

• Ideas about why people conform- to try and shape a certain identity, to feel 'belonged' and part of something, a desire for security and acceptance a longing to be liked and the same as others. Sometimes its just easier than going 'against the flow'

Jessie

Uniformity Definition

Since the group decided to focus this project more on uniformity, I decided to do some research into the dictionary definition. I found it interesting how the same word can come up with different definitions in different dictionaries.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/uniform_2?q=uniformity

uniform

adjective

the same; not changing or different in any way:

As in so many offices that you see, the walls and furniture are a uniform grey.

Small businesses are demanding that they receive uniform treatment from the banks.

Publication Title:
 Oxford Paperback Thesaurus

Date:
 01/2012

Edition:
 4

Genre:
 English Dictionary

Uniformity

noun – antonyms variation, variety.

1. uniformity in tax law: constancy, consistency, conformity, invariability, stability, regularity, evenness, homogeneity, homogeneousness, equality.

2. a dull uniformity: monotony, tedium, tediousness, dullness, dreariness, flatness, sameness.

Publication Title: 
The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins

Date:
 01/2009

Edition: 
2

Genre:
 Subject Reference

uniformity

[LME]

This is from Latin uniformis ‘of one form’. Uniform [M16th] had the same meaning, until the modern sense of clothing of a fixed style worn by each member of a group developed in the mid 18th century.

Tammi