Illustrated Project Proposal

Ideas

• Documentary
• Theme:
• Youth/Millennial
• Romance/Love/Heartbreak
• Misery
• Rebellion
• Structure:
• Portraiture dominantly
• Potential Still life photos
• Monochromatic or selective colour

Proposal

My personal investigation is to create a documentary styled portfolio of youthful/millennial culture. I will present the aspect of romance/intimacy of this current youth in this documentary by exploring the romance of my own personal relationship.

Background

When it comes to photography I personally own a passion for portraiture and ennui photos. Photographers such as Victoria Siemer, Duane Michals, Billy Kidd, Edward Honaker, and many similar artists present cynical and bleak pieces. I find photos that have forlorn and dark compositions to be enticing because they own a mystery and always seem to have a twist in their message, the photos not only make you think, but they make you want to think.

While pursuing the romantic aspect of the youth, I plan to record/document my personal relationship with my partner to create authentic documentation. With this, I will focus on the defining features of our relationship and create a story of how we love each other. The documentary will appear as a personal tribute that I create for him. I will capture certain moments of us spending time together, and potentially present juxtaposition of moments in our relationship. I wish to do this with my personal investigation because I enjoy the documentary style of photography and gained inspiration for exploring romance from a photo by Duane Michals that I analyse further down. I plan to focus on the purity of relationships and how innocent they can be at times, as opposed to Michals' photo which had a darker presentation to it. I hope to truly present all my passions into one investigation, my passion for portraiture, documentary, and most importantly my relationship; I intend for this final outcome to reveal a lot of passion.

Photographer Research/Illustrations

Duane Michals

This piece is shot by Duane Michals, the shot is of a man and a woman sat on a bed and the woman is embracing the man from behind. This shot is framed with a thick white border and on this border is writing. The writing at the top states 'THIS PHOTOGRAPH IS MY PROOF', suggesting whoever wrote this needed this photo for evidence for something; the writing being at the top and capitalised makes it appear almost like the title of the photo, explaining what the photo stands for. The writing below states 'This photograph is my proof. There was that afternoon, when things were still good between us, and she embraced me, and we were so happy it had happened. She did love me. Look, see for yourself!'. From this short piece of writing, we can infer that the writer is the man in the photo, shown by 'she embraced me', which is presented in the photo. Before reading this piece, the photo looks simply like a sweet couple together in a room, a family portrait to hang on the wall, but after reading, the photo becomes sad and nostalgic. This is from the man saying 'when things were still good between us', and 'she did love me'. When I first saw this photo, it was the original inspiration for this personal investigation; the presentation of an unfortunate romance I saw as inspiring to create a lighter version of this photo, with a pure representation. The use of writing allows whoever writing to tell the viewer what they want them to see, and I think this could appear interesting in my personal investigation.

Edward Honaker

This piece is shot by Edward Honaker, the shot is of a man (Honaker himself) with his body rested on a chest of drawers, and not far from his head is a glass vase of a wilted flower; the photo is in black and white. You are only able to see the man's torso, concealing his identity from the viewer by having his back to the camera. The detailing of the man's spine and ribs creates a frail presentation on the man, having him appear weaker to the viewer, and suggests he is defenseless. Honaker's photos are representations of his personal depression and anxiety issues, further creating the impression of weakness and struggle in this photo. What caught my attention in this photo for my personal investigation is the wilted flowers. Flowers, typically roses are associated with romance, and the dead flowers in this photo I believed added an aspect of romance to the photo, as if the man feels lonely and desires others, but fails to satiate this. With my personal investigation, I will be presenting a purer aspect of romance compared to this, but it helps me to better understand connotations I could create in my pieces.

Billy Kidd

This piece is shot by Billy Kidd, the shot is of a group of young, model-esc people, sitting around in the corner of a studio apartment. Every person is dressed in intriguing clothing and convey an attitude lacking in care of how they are perceived. This specific portfolio Kidd has created I had interest in since I believe it presents youth culture in an accurate light. The atmosphere in the photo feels calm and almost lifeless, these people appear empty; which in this current youth is seen as desirable by most, to look beautiful and be unphased by everything. Kidd's presentation of causality in this photo I see as what is desired by the youth, but not what they truly are, creating an internal conflict for many, this conflict I think may be useful to present in my personal investigation slightly.

Victoria Siemer

This piece is created by Victoria Siemer, the piece is a polaroid framed photo of an empty bed with an Apple Mac notification over it. The notification is titled 'He broke your heart unexpectedly.'. The use of an Apple notification can suggest a modern and youthful presentation of emotional expression since this generation seems to express everything online and appear technology dependent. The empty bed and notification title suggests loneliness and heartbreak, with the connotation of having to sleep alone and the denotation that this person's heart has been broken. Like said before, my personal investigation is going to present a pure version of romance, so forlorn composition won't be used in my work, but understanding the opposing side of my work will help me to better understand what will present my side. Siemer's work is a good presentation of youthful romance in an unfortunate way.

Techniques

I am not entirely sure of all the techniques I plan to explore since the work I am planning to present I don't to be heavy edited, I want authenticity with the photos in this work. Black and white will be something I definitely explore and practice further, while also perfecting edits such as dodge and burn technique. I enjoy shallow depths of field in work so I plan to explore that setting in my work. I will also look into an editing style similar to Duane Michals' involving text since my style is documentary, but find a way to give it my own personal twist. Anything else I plan to look into in the future I will make clear in my work.