Rosie Hardy

"Overgrown"

"You are not alone"



Rosie Hardy

Rosie Hardy is a talented photographer based mainly in Manchester.  She started taking photographs when she was just 16. She had always had an interest for photography but often questioned why her photography ability wasn’t of a professional level. I order to improve her skills she started a project called the ‘365day project’ which consisted of self-portraits of herself for each day throughout the year. The work which she produces is personal to her, and has so much meaning behind them; they are generally related to herself or people around her.

I chose Hardy as I felt as though her work was rather person; this is an element I would like to include in my personal investigation. I was also fond of the use of Photoshop and the surreal effects which she created in her work; this inspired me to want to look at the representation of domestic abuse from a surreal approach.

BUTTERFLIES

"Sometimes you have to let go"

Objectively this photograph displays multiple emotions of sadness, happiness, and regret. The photograph is based on the break up between Rosie Hardy and her boyfriend. She wanted to display the sadness that she felt when they broke up and the butterflies symbolises the metaphoric butterflies, which she felt when the relationship began. She wanted to display how they were slowing flying away as the relationship came to an end. How the feelings she once has were also flying away. In this photograph she uses a black backdrop and used the back light technique. This produces a dramatic scene, which is perfect for this shoot as the photographer, wants to state and project the emotions she was feeling. She also changes the focus of the butterflies possible to show the feelings fading away, and how they were once so strong, this is effective as the main focus is still on the model and does not change. The vast amount of her work consists of Photoshop. 

Subjectively I feel the visual concept is interesting she uses various tones of blue, and these tones are generally associated with sadness. Although the photographed to display sadness, this is not the only emotion represented. She displays happiness and the special emotions she once felt. She uses a shallow depth of field in her work that makes the audience focus mainly on the subject of the image. The main focus is the model however our eye strays away toward the flying butterflies. I was drawn to this image as I was attracted to the way she portrays feelings. She presents the feeling of being in love and experiencing metaphoric butterflies as realty, a feeling that most of us have experienced before and one the audience can relate to. In my work I want to produce work that the audience will notice i.e. happy couples. However I want to communicate that there is more than what meets the eye.

ALOPECIA

"It's hard being ugly, sister."

Then I also chose to analyse this image, as I believe it is a powerful composition. Objectively she inspires this photograph past experience when she suffered from alopecia. The image display sadness and hurt, which is evident in her face and they body language she has chosen to display in this scene. She described that she felt like ‘The uglier sister’ when she was growing up because of this illness. She doesn’t quite understand what it was and why she was she had to go through, so a few year later she is not expressing her true and deeper emotions. The composition is fairly simple as it consists of herself sat in a chair to what appears to me a living room setting, possibly her living room with the use natural light. She is holding what appears to be a wig in her hand, which as an audience we presume as she has lost her hair as result of alopecia, this could the visual representation of her actual hair falling. She may possibly feel as though she feels as though all of her has fallen out in all at once. This could also symbolise that she is tired of wearing the wigs as a result of her losing her hair. Despite the image being based on something negative the colours in the photograph appear to be fairly warm brown and orange tones. We are able to see the full setting of the photograph; however all of the attention is still on the model and the visual expressions she is displaying.

 I was inspired by how personal her photography was and how she had used to something that she had been through which was a negative to share and inspire other young girl who may be experiencing a similar issue. Subjectively I feel that this work touches on a negative issue that many people may tip toe around and she has made a bold statement, she has embraced it and declared it to the people. This is something I would be interesting in representing in my own work. For my investigation on domestic Abuse I want to make a bold statement, and possibly produce images, which are going to challenge the audience. I have looked to Rosie Hardy for inspiration in the sense she is a versatile photographer and she explore different situations differently. She is not scared to explore what is going on in her mind and concert it into a visual photograph.

MAN V LION

"To be Fearless"

This image is again another powerful image. It is metaphoric statement of a young man who appear to be roaring face to face to another Lion. Objectively in this image she has used Photoshop in order to achieve this image. The image consist of two separate images being merged and layered on top of each other, it could it possible consist of three photographs. The surrounding could be one photographer; the image of the man being another separate image and lastly the image of the lion being another separate image and then being merged together. The image is based on the journey of a personal trainer and how he has transformed his life around. Subjectively I feel this image displays power and strength, hence the use of one the most dangerous and powerful animals in the world. Lions symbolises power so by placing him face to face with this animal the image could be trying to represent the man is looking back to what he used to be and how strong and undefeatable he feels at this moment in time. The image uses natural light as it is shot outside. The main focus and is on the man, as an audience we are surprised and we question ourselves how one can be so brave, the next we are drawn to the lion. There is a feel of tension and fear in this composition. The main focus is the distance of that the man’s face is to the lion, they are at eye level and fairly close, which makes the audience feel tense.

My Response:  Sophocation

"Why me?"

For my response for Rosie Hardy I thought I would start of by taking photographs in the studio and using Photoshop to manipulate them. I wanted to create surreal images inspired by   her work. My personal investigation is about domestic abuse and so I wanted to create distressing images portraying a metaphoric message. I wanted the hands to represent the sophistication of the victims and how the relationship would make them feel trapped and feel like there is no were to run. I used a black backdrop in order to create and dramatic dark effect through my photographs. I photographed each hand and then create various layers and merged them together. I then photographed the hands separately and photo shopped them the original image to produce multiple hands. Initially I wanted to focus on using one hand, however I wanted to create a surreal effect in the style of Rosie so I then started adding various hand in. Each hand has a purpose and symbolises something for example the hand that is pulling the hair directly above the models head symbolises how an abuse can make a victim feel so small and worthless, whereas the hand which is directly to you right displays how an abuse can make their victims feel so beautiful and feel like nothing in the space of a few seconds. That hand focuses mainly on emotional abuse.  The hand at on the left hand side which appear to be punching the victim represent physical abuse. The victim has her head down, I wanted to create a dull, fearful and emotionally drained mood.

Rosie Hardy focused on the mood and the emotions in her, work this is something that was constantly in the back of my mind as I was completing this shoot. I was inspire by one of her image called ‘Why me’ which consist of a young girl stood on a chair terrified at the shades which appear to be trying to grab her. She explains that her work is based on her fears at that moment she produced that image, she was afraid, mainly because she thought she was losing her hair again. I was inspired by this image as I felt it was a powerful piece which would relate to the dark topic which, I am exploring. Instead of using shadows I started off by using hands



'Trapped'

I was pleased with the outcome of my editing, as it was much better than I expected. The edition on photoshoped created a strong message and I feel as though it did portray a woman who is distress and feels suffocated. However the lighting in the studio was fairly dark when I began my shoot, and I feel that this did affect the quality of my images. In order to improve the images that I had taken, I went back and edited them using Photoshop by increasing the exposure, which instantly improve them. In the future I must be aware of the lighting around me and the setting on my camera to ensure that my image are of good quality.

When using photoshop, in order to improve my images it would improve my work if I edit each picture, which I cut out in the same as. This avoids the hands around my models from being a different colour. I will also be careful with cutting them out and ensure that I cut around them to the best I can which will add a much more realistic effect to the picture , which was the outcome I was trying to achieve.

Response: Lake shoot

 In response to Rosie Hardy I wanted to produce a metaphoric representation of domestic violence. Water to me personally symbolises venerability and I felt placing my modelling in the lake could prove to be successful. Hardy produces work, which seems to be abstracts and as previously used lakes and water in her photography. This was one of the reasons I choose this artist. The aim of this shoot was to represent a venerable woman dress in a formal garment, I wanted to tell the story of a woman who felt trapped and wanted to run away from her problems.

As the shoot was outside it was fairly challenging to conceive the perfect lighting. To my surprise the lighting working fairly well, I the sun was located in the perfect place and was exposed to one half of my model. The reflection of the sun in the water started to reflect on to my models face, which also was an effective lighting opportunity. I also used a reflector produce some warm light on my models face. In terms of practicality my shoot was successful I experiment with various lights and the natural light worked in my favour. However in terms of the message and the representation of my project, I felt as though this did not relate to my project successfully. I felt as though image represented commercial model shoots rather than a domestic violence representation. In terms of my future shoots, I hope to represent my models as clear victims possibly by adding busies and stages scene if couple possibly fighting and arguing with each other. This could possibly get he message across. I did not feel as though this shoot told the story I was hoping to tell of venerable victim looking for freedom, but instead told the story of damsel in distress type of princes.