Rebecca Russell AS Photography Component 1: October 2018

Independent Shoot 1 Formal Elements

Research

Sayaka Maruyama

Japanese photographer Sayaka Maruyama creates art that explores, recreates, and redefines the classic definitions of beauty. She challenges her viewers to look with a fresh perspective and to see beauty in every element of our surroundings. In Sakura, the London-based artist draws on classical Japanese references and Surrealist motifs to explore what she describes as “contradictory contemporary understandings of Japanese notions of beauty, from both Western and Eastern perspectives.” The conceptual art project features images that are soft and aged, with tinges of vibrant and unexpected colour blending across the surfaces. Maruyama layers her subject together with textured flowers and gradients of colour to form her captivating and mysterious abstract portraits. Viewers are encouraged to find their own definitions of beauty within Maruyama’s unique visual manipulations.

Image Bank Sayaka Maruyama

Contact Sheet

Best Images

Images that need improvement

In the following images my camera or my model is not ready. In the first one the camera is out of focus, in the second and third the compositions of my model or the flowers was not thought through and my model was not ready for the photo to be taken.

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My intentions for this shoot was to incorporate flowers into portraiture to focus on the formal element colour. The photographer I found had all my intentions included plus a final edit that I loved and also further included the element of colour. I believe my shoots could have been planned in more detail as the composition of the photos did not come out the way I intended. This could because I didn't have enough flowers, as well as the flowers I chose were hard to position because of how small they are. I also think the stalks were too long. To improve in future shoots I am going to chose a better selection of flowers, as well as plan some positions before hand.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

To develop my images further I edited them similar to Sayaka and to also link with the formal element of colour.

In the image above I have edited it to link it further with the artist I have researched. I love how Sayaka had a soft blend of two different colours, and I have created my own versions of this which I believe was very successful. To get this effect I used the paint brush tool at a low opacity and a softer brush. I then used the two different colours and kept changing the opacity in order to get the desired blend of colours. I then made the saturation higher, shown in the screenshot below, to make all the colours in the image stand put, along with lowering the lightness of the image so my image as Sayakas images are quite dark and I used a white background. I did this with all my images, however I just changed the colours of the paintbrush.

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.

Progression: To improve my photos in the next shoot I plan to create better compositions with the flowers and to also experiment with editing flowers into any photos to create better placement of the flowers or experiment using them as a background.