Organised.

For the five different identities it has taken a while to style the clothes to fit the character.

I started off with the usual - a list of what would fit that particular identity.

After researching into the different identities also I was able to come up a range of ideas for what I could get my model to wear in the photo shoot.

Normal.

This is the only outfit that I have asked Leanne to style herself. I want her to wear in this picture what she would wear on a day-to-day basis.

Chav.

I have styled a black polo shirt, with a stripey cardigan to be worn over the top. I am going to have the collar on the polo shirt turned up. She is also wearing a big gold heart necklace. The makeup is going to be very heavy - maybe so she looks a little 'tango'ed', along with heavy eye makeup and the hair in a particular way, this will all link together to give the look that I want to create in this frame. 

House wife.

A spotty, puffy, white shirt underneath a sailor type blue dress. Along with a pearl necklace. The hair is going to be in curlers underneath a hair net along with a scarf. The makeup is going to be quite soft and natural but the model is going to have a reddish colour lipstick on.

Goth. 

A black dress with a black half jacket. Hair straight. Heavy dark black eye makeup and black/purple lipstick. Pale skin. Maybe an element on colour in the eye makeup - such as a green colour. 

Glamorous.

Black dress with big shoulders. Elegant look. Hair pinned to one side, with a messy elegant element to it. Golden, fresh look to the face, with shiny lips - done by lip gloss. darkish gold eyes to link to the fresh look.

Each look I believe is what is seen as that particular identity. Where the identity can be viewed and straight away the viewer knows what character that person is. 

Chosen Identities.

I wanted a range of different identities that were so different from each other.

The last I changed Leanne's identity, the 'chav' and 'goth' look worked so well that I am going to do those two identities again but style the model in a different way to last time. 

The five identities that I have chosen to produce are:

• Normal Leanne
• Chav Leanne
• Glamorous Leanne
• Goth Leanne
• House wife Leanne

I have chosen these different identities because they are all different and all have different clothes, makeup & accessories that are needed to produce the five different looks.

I am going to be styling the clothes and the makeup myself, inspired from research into the different characteristics.

Leanne.

In this project I am using Leanne again, as my model. I found that she was very easy to change and she has aspects of her that seem to fit into many a different identities. Because I have used her before as a model I have a good relationship with her, which I think is key, to being able to produce successful photographs. 

She is not your 'standard' model, but I did not want that for the model that I am using in my images. I wanted a girl who was quite quirky and was up for doing anything that I was going to make her do. She has her own personality and identity which I find really interesting and as one of the photographs that I am capturing is going to be 'normal leanne' then I wanted that look for that, this again will make the image of normal leanne more interesting as she is a bit different in her style.!!! 

Previously.

I have already produced a series of photographs that are linked to identity.

My project was all on a girl called Leanne.

When she was little she was adopted and is always changing her identity.

I spent many days with Leanne, getting to know her, which lead me to producing a project along with photographic work all based on her personalitiy.

Creative.

I enjoy the creative side behind the photographs, so I am looking forward to making the model into the different identities in the photographs.

Similar to Thomas Ruff's photographs, mine are going to be head portraits, similar to passport pictures & the images below by Thomas Ruff, however in each image I will be using the same model. This is obvious as I am going to be changing the identity of the model, therefore I have to use the same model otherwise there is no point to my photo shoot!!!!

I will be asking my model to just pull a normal face in the photographs, like when you have your passport picture taken. 

I will be taking my photographs in the studio and I want the background to be solid white, with no shadow. Having a white background will give the viewer nothing else to focus on apart from the model & that chosen identity within the frame. 

I always use Cindy Sherman in my research, she is a very big influence in my work when I am researching and coming up with ideas. Even though this work is nothing like the work that Cindy Sherman produces I feel there is some link. Cindy Sherman changes her own identity into different characters and photographs herself. I am changing someone elses identity and photographing them. I am not using anything to change the models face - only makeup and also with the use of clothes. I want to express that using different makeup and different clothes how an identity can change. 

Like Cindy Sherman, the only photograph that I have put myself in over the three years was to do with fear, my fear of the dentist. Even though I really like Cindy Sherman's work, and Nikki S Lee I don't feel the need to put myself in the photographs, however I do enjoying changing someone elses identity to connect to my love of their work.

Thomas Ruff.

"But 'accepting a picture as a picture' neutrally, dispassionately and without passing judgment – that is no easy matter. Thomas Ruff's portraits are unsettling simply on account of their immense scale. Every detail, every pore, every pimple on these large-size faces is visible. We would never stare so brashly at a living person. Ruff's photographs dispense with this barrier of modesty. We stare at the persons photographed – and they stare right back. However, their distanced gaze in the pictures does not infest us. On the contrary, it awakens our emotions. We like or dislike the characters. Some faces appeal to us, others less so. And then we begin to think about who these people could be. What are their occupations? Where do they come from? What is the story behind them?"

http://deutsche-boerse.com/dbag/dispatch/en/kir/gdb_navigation/about_us/30_Art_Collection/40_artists/58_ruff

Tutorial.

After a number of tutorials throwing ideas down to come up with an idea that would be interesting and showed the message that I am trying to produce, the idea of portraits came up.

This idea was developed from my projections idea, that the same model would be in the same position in every photograph but her identity would change from frame to frame. 

It was very much like what I wanted to do in my projections idea, but this idea would lead me to having 5 photographs up on the wall & not just one. 

The photographer who was mentioned the most was a photographer called Thomas Ruff. I had already seen his photographic work previously when researching into the theme to come up with a range of ideas for my final project.

5 identities were to be chosen and I was to conduct more research into portrait photographers.

This idea reminded me of passport photographs and also a little of mug shots. So I am going to do some research into that area too.

Ideas.

I have had a lot of ideas to what I could produce in this project. 

Ranging from:

• Projections 
• Time lines 
• Hidden identity
• Gender

Projections.

My idea was to have a simple portrait of my model, and using a projector, project different characteristics upon the photograph. The projections would change over and over again - changing from a 'chav' to a 'goth' etc etc.

This was one of my favourite ideas, but the draw back was that I would have only one image on the wall, and even though I would have taken the images that the projection would be showing, there would be no hard copy of the image. Also the projections of the images might not be strong enough against the image on the wall.

This idea was to show how a persons identity changes fast. 

The Time Line

This was another idea that I liked and I could see it working well. The time line would consist of having the same model in every photograph but as a different identity - due to the clothes that the model would be wearing. The idea was to show how your identity that you show people with your clothes changes from when you were little, all the way to the current day. I wanted to have a date under every photograph to show the change of a person over the years. I was also going to have the photographs printed at different sizes, e.g. going up in sizes, like steps. The first date being the smallest photograph.

This also caused a few problems at how I was going to make my model look younger than what she is. I even thought about using a younger person to portray that image. This idea caused too many problems that might be hard to pull off and I could have ended up with a range of photographs where the model did not look any younger in any of them and my idea would not have been successful.

The other identity ideas where simple - like the gender idea and have done been many times before. The problem with the hidden identity idea was how would I be able to show this? Mirrors have been used in a lot of identity photographs and even though I do like the ideas, I felt that it would be as orginal as I want.

Photographers.

• Cindy Sherman
• Nikki S Lee
• Jo Spence
• Maud Sulter
• Chila Kumari Burman
• Yasumasa Morimura
• Richard Avedon
• Gillian Wearing
• Tatiana Parcero

These are some photographers that their work is based on the theme of identity. I will be researching into each photographer to gather inspiration to lead me to producing an idea and finally developing my ideas in a final piece of photography work. 

Research.

To create images that are successful in showing the theme of identity, I need to research into photographers that have already produced work that have worked with this theme.

By researching into these photographers will give me inspiration for the creation of my own work and will hopefully lead me to creating my own piece of work that is related to the theme. 

I have not yet decided what my final outcome is going to look like and what type of identity I am going to base my photographs on but with the use of researching and brain storming I am hopefully going to be able to come with an idea that I can create and express the theme. 

As I stated in my first post, I have tended to produce work that is identity themed. I have a great interest in this area. It is a very broad area to research, where a lot of ideas can be created from.

Final Project.

My final project is going to be based on the theme of 

IDENTITY.

Throughout my Photography degree my work has been based on identity and fashion. 

I would like to still base my final project on these themes, and create a range of photographs that are both successful and professional. 

In this blog I will be recording ideas, research and development leading up to the final photographs that I will be exhibiting.