Tuesday 29 December 2009

Sleep Deprivation No.2

It's been some time since i last updated, in fact it's now a totally different decade! Anyway, about a week a go i spent my time re-shooting my sleep deprivation project. I didn't really make many changes to the format of the photographs, the things i changed were the way in which i spent my time when trying to stay awake. This time i made myself as uncomfortable as possible, so that i wouldn't be tempted to fall asleep.



I've still got to sort out the final 4 images i will use for my crit, however i will have to upload them later as i have a week left now to complete 2 more projects. Luckily i have an idea for what i'm going to do for them and i have a fair bit of time so it shouldn't be too difficult.

The first will be an investigation into me experiences coming home for Christmas. Living in a small village i feel a certain sense of isolation when i come back from Falmouth, this is not a bad thing at all, in fact i quite enjoy it. I intend to try to display this by photographing myself on different days from exactly the same vantage point in one of the fields surrounding where i live, in a similar way to one of my favourite photographers David Williams. His series "Stillness & Occurance shows swimmers off the coast of Edinburgh.



I find something quite calming about the way that the size of the figure reacts with the vastness of the area they are standing in. Imitating the way in which Williams goes about taking this series of photographs, i feel that i will be able to show the sense of relaxation and calm i feel when i come home.

The second project was originally intended to challenge what constitutes a portrait photograph. I had the idea to take inspiration from Tracy Emin's 1999 piece of work "My Bed" and to photograph objects/things that suggest the presence of me. However, since reading Charlotte Cotton's"The Photograph as Contemporary Art" i have become more interested in the work of Erwin Wurm and his "One Minute Sculptures". In these works, Wurm photographs himself and others in absurd poses. The idea being to encourage people to become works of art within their daily lives.



I really enjoy the humor that comes out of these photographs. It also gives me the chance to become more adventurous with my work. Anyway, i'll post up some pics as soon as i can. Laters.

Sunday 13 December 2009

The Average Adult Needs 8 Hours of Sleep Per Day

For my latest project i decided that it would be a "good idea" to explore sleep deprivation. Basically i chose to stay up for 24 hours straight and take photos every hour to see what sort of effect it had on my face. The brief was focused around a mugshot style image, so very clinical, a lot of detail etc. Anyway, i realised at around 5:00 am that i really should have done some research before taking these photos so i'll have to re-shoot... Here's one of the pictures of me after being awake for about 22 hours, it shows roughly what i'm after.