Essay

Camille Proyart

UCAS personal ID: 1072321491

Reference: 13244406

I am applying for this course as I think I can refine my knowledge of photography through the critical study area that will be offered. Studying photography at A-level I have learned a substantial amount, especially in film and darkroom techniques. In my current A2 year I am learning about the skills needed to analyse photography in a critical way whilst writing a 3,000 word essay as part of my project. I aim to learn more about this and how images relate to art, society and culture. I was attracted to the overall course description, what excited me was seeing past examples of work which I thought where excellent. I would also love to undertake a work placement in London.

By attending a number of university open days I realised that Westminster is extremely unique with an equal emphasis on practice and theory. As I study English Language and love to write, I was intrigued by the fact that the course is fifty percent practical and fifty percent theory which is an element that ensures me that this is the correct course for me, and the one I would like to study more than any other. Another part of the University I really like is the fact that there is a huge mix of cultural backgrounds which became very apparent to me at the open day. Being bilingual myself and having a love for travelling I would love to study in a multicultural area.

Corinne Day is a photographer who I have looked into a lot recently whilst focusing on fashion photography. I would love to photograph in the style of Corinne Day one day, photographing beautiful models, forming a relationship with the models I photograph and working in studios and a mixture of different areas. She has inspired me to study photography through her huge mix of photographs all with their own style to go with the model. I find her photographs of Kate Moss extremely powerful as Kate Moss’ personality shines through the photographs with a documentary but still high fashion feel to them. I also love her photographs of the beautiful Gemma Ward with a natural laid back style to them which I have aimed to achieve in some of my current photo shoots. Mario Testino is one of the first photographers I looked at when starting to study photography, his recent work in Vogue magazine is hard to miss with his crisp style. What I love about Mario Testino is how he will shoot one model and create a mixture of shots from the same model, using different costumes, settings, lightings etc. I also find his work fascinating when looking at the huge change between his first book ‘Any objections?’ and his recent work within Vogue. His experience in photographing documentary style photos has created an effect in his recent fashion photography, this inspires me to be creative within my photography and try everything. I love the work of David Hilliard, I think its new different and extremely clever. David Hilliard quotes ‘The construction of panoramic photographs, comprised of various single images, acts as a visual language. Focal planes shift, panel by panel. This sequencing of photographs and shifting of focal planes allows me the luxury of guiding the viewer across the photograph, directing their eye; an effect which could not be achieved through a single image’. The style of David Hilliard’s photographs remind me slightly of Mario Testino’s early work with the documentary feel to them, but by having three separate photographs put into one puts a whole new twist on the overall image. David Hilliard’s style towards photography is extremely influential with photographs looking simple at first glance but extremely technical when looking into them.

I find the book ‘Art and Photography’ by David Campany extremely interesting and the way photographs are written about is inspiring. Focusing on Allan Sekula who is a known as one of the most thoughtful historians and critics of photography working today, what he writes in this book is incredible and really makes me think about every separate detail in a photograph I take. What meanings are constructed in a photograph? A photograph is made from 3D objects into 2D image, changing everything completely as people interpret photographs in their own way. Pressing the shutter is a decisive decision that all photographers make. We then make assumptions about every little detail. What Allan Sekula does in this book is describe one photograph in every single opinion, this inspires me to plan every detail within a photograph and as a photographer I can make the audience see what I want them to see from a photograph I take. I quickly became inspired by an article called ‘The Decisive Moment’ by Henri Cartier-Bresson 1952, as I read the first pages I quickly became interested as he described himself as a young child who stopped taking silly photographs of friends, became serious and was on the scent of something new. His story is amazing and shows how when you have a passion you should follow it no matter what. He also describes photographers as having two selections. The selection we make when we look through the viewfinder at the subject and there’s the one we make after the films have been developed and printed. When reading this is really make me think about everything I do and each frame I take and later pick out at the end of the film. Another article which stimulates me is ‘How Do We Read A Photograph’ by Clarke. C 1977, where he discusses how to read a photograph as not an image but a text where the photograph achieves a meaning through what has been called a ‘photographic discourse’.

 

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