Name of Collection and Artist Statement

Collected Clutter - Connor Albinson

Through this series of five images I am reminiscing on the change of styles over the past years. The work was inspired by my grandparents home which is filled with mismatched decor dating back from the 70s till modern day. The pictures represent my grandparents through only a small amount of possessions and their choice of decoration, showing how possessions can be used to represent a person and give an insight into their life.

The Presentation

Originally I was planning to add a borders around the photos almost like a polaroid instant picture but after doing so I decided they looked better without so its easier to focus on the pictures. I also had to decide on how I wanted to present the pictures so I tested out a few arrangements on photoshop. I tried the pictures all in a row, vertically and horizontally, but I thought they would take up to much space in the exhibition and I wanted the presentation to be a bit more interesting so I tried these two looks. I decided the top one was how I wanted my work to be presented because I personally found it more aesthetically pleasing. I arranged them in the way that they are based on what featured in the photo. The two on top both look like the belong on top, I feel, because of the angle that I had taken them. The next two are viewed from a higher angle but are both objects, in reality, in the same position as the top but look as if they are lower down. Finally the bottom image was taken on the floor so I thought that the arrangement looked evenly proportioned with this at the bottom. 

1st Arrangement

2nd Arrangement

The Final Five Images

Best photos from the second shoot

From the last photo shoot I went through and picked out these few pictures that were my favourites. Although I have not yet edited any of them how I would like the final photographs, I have altered the colour on most of them. What I liked most was that each of the pictures look like the scenes are decorated in a vintage fashion but the styles are not 100% determined or obvious. Especially in the photo where you can see the bedroom. The bookshelf shows things from a few different eras; theres an obvious contrast as you can see the modern DS games and the old VHS videos. 

ISO 720  |  26mm  |  f/4.0  |  1/60sec

ISO 3200  |  18mm  |  f/3.5  |  1/60sec

ISO 720  |  55mm  |  f/5.6  |  1/60sec

ISO 2000  |  29mm  |  f/4.2  |  1/60sec

ISO 720  |  38mm  |  f/4.8  |  1/60sec

ISO 6400  |  55mm  |  f/5.6  |  1/40sec

ISO 5000  |  40mm  |  f/4.8  |  1/60sec 

ISO 3600  |  31mm  |  f/4.2  |  1/60sec

ISO 450  |  30mm  |  f/4.2  |  1/60sec

Second Shoot

If by chance the photo shoot with the models does not work out, my idea was that I can use my photos from my grandparents house to represent the number of years they have lived in the house and the mismatch of decoration collected in their house over the years. Incase I did decide to use the photos without models, I went back to my grandparent's to take more photos around the house with better lighting and focusing more on the composition of my images. Again I used my Nikon D3300 and kept many of the pictures around 50mm lens but it varied from picture to picture. As I was taking my pictures I noticed the pictures of grandchildren around the house and I thought these would be well incorporated in the pictures as we have such a big family, which started with my grandparents. I decided to also include things such as my nan's side table in her bedroom, my granddad's shed and the spare room which at some point has been the bedroom to many of the grandchildren including myself. I much preferred these pictures to the ones from the last shoot, because of the better lighting and composition and decided these would work better for the project than the others.

Family Album Photos

When thinking about the look of my pictures and editing them, I decided to look at some old pictures of my nan when she was younger from an album my mum made for her. The album was full of pictures both with and without colour as I wanted my pictures to be in colour I didn't think the black and white pictures would benefit me. However I quite liked the grain, scratches, blotches and borders on the black and white pictures and think these features could be incorporated in my pictures. I also realised that in the coloured pictures the colours all looked off and slightly dulled so when I do the final edits on my pictures I will take this into consideration.

Editing my first photos

To edit the first pictures I used Adobe Lightroom as I just wanted to fix the pictures colouring and give the pictures cooler tones and pastelised colours. I edited each of the pictures similarly as they all had basically the same colouring. I added blue and purple tones to each photo to cancel out the yellow and orange but also to give the pictures a colder more worn aesthetic, I also lowered the saturation to rid the photos of some colour. Lastly I upped the contrast slightly to add darker shadows to the picture.

Favourite photos from the first shoot

ISO 2000  |  42mm  |  f.5.0  |  1/60sec

The first thing I wanted to take pictures of at my grandparents was my grandmothers dresser. Since I can remember her dresser is always full of pretty things like jewellery, glass ornaments, flowers but when I came over the day of my 'practice shoot' my nan had this statue on the dresser. I thought it would be interesting to include the religious iconography as my grandmother had grown up catholic  in Ireland. Aesthetically I also loved the way the bright red cape and colours on the idol contrasts against the paler, muted colours in the room. 

ISO 4500  |  55mm  |  f.5.0  |  1/60sec

The reason I liked this photo and wanted to use it in the project was because the jumper she was wearing was owned by my grandmother when she was slightly younger. Although the clothing is not fully involved into the picture, I felt that this photo embodied the idea of the photoshoot with the mixture of styles incorporated with the model: the natural 80's model look, simple makeup and 60's mustard yellow jumper. I also liked her standing against the green wall. When I edit the photos I'm going to make the background stand out more. 

ISO 6400  |  48mm  |  f.5.0  |  1/60

While walking around I noticed a lot of religious iconography around the house including paintings, idols and crosses and as religion has been a part of my grandparents lives for so many years it makes sense that there would be this iconography scattered around the house. I liked this picture because of all the random items in the scene. The rosary was naturally placed on the cake tray, on the dresser, next to the candle stick and the wooden cross my grandad would have made out of boredom. I thought this picture showed the character of their home well.

First shoot

For my first photoshoot I wanted to take test photos around my grandparents house so I could get an idea of lighting and which items I could use as props in my pictures. I took the pictures on my Nikon D3300 on 18 - 55mm lens. While looking around my grandparents house I had the idea to photograph  the house to show how the interior is decorated. I realised, as I was walking around, that the house was full of items from all different eras, not just the 70s like I initially thought. Although this changes the idea, I do like the concept of looking into their collection of different mismatched possessions that they have bought over the years. 

Im hoping to still take my picture including the models but I think that if that falls through then a collection of images looking into the different eras within my grandparent's house would work as a plan b. I wanted my models, when I do shoot with the models, to be in certain casual situations like ironing etc. So to give myself an idea of situations that I think would work with the things I have available, I made a list of possible ternaries that would happen in everyday occurrences and involve the objects and scenes.

• Putting on makeup in the mirror
• Clothes laid out on the bed
• Garden - Hanging clothes on the washing line/drinking lemonade on the bench
• Cooking
• Holding clothes up to themselves looking in the mirror
• Laying on the bed on the phone
• Reading an old magazine
• The old phone on my nans side table
• Grandparents pantry
• Ironing clothes
• Hoovering
• Listening to music on record player
• Looking out the window into the garden

Experimental Film

Subliminal imagery on television and how it effects you.

My initial idea is to create a film based on the theme of subliminal imagery. Subliminal messaging/imagery is the idea that the media is trying to control your mind, subconsciously, through the use of certain imagery or sounds. The 5 mains ways this is done is through themes of sex, violence, drugs, food and fear. These messages are created to manipulate your mind and influence how you think, this technique is often used by advertising companies in order to make you want to buy their product e.g. product placement. Messages like these are often used in children's shows to manipulate the child's growing mind.

One of the most well known forms of subliminal messaging in television is the quick flashing of text telling the viewer to do something, such as 'Drink Coca Cola' or 'Eat Doritos' during a show. he message could also just make a suggestion such as 'Thirsty?' or 'Hungry?' to simply influence your thoughts. The idea is that the words flash up on screen so quickly that it is undetectable by the person watching as they are so focused on the show that they do not notice the message, but it affects them subconsciously.

I imagined the films to have three parts to it. The first being the audience of the film and introducing the characters, the second being the film itself, and lastly the effects that the subliminal imagery has on the people. The film will start off innocent and pure and gradually show more and more subliminal/disturbing imagery. The imagery will symbolise the 5 main features in this technique: sex, violence, drugs, food and fear and each of the characters will be effected by one of those themes, e.g. imagery of horror giving someone nightmares/ making them paranoid.

To include in the film I was thinking about using both self filmed footage and archive footage that has already been on TV, I would like to use archive as it is will act like an example of what the film is about. I was also thinking that it could be a good idea to create a soundtrack based on the idea that some musicians implant subliminal messages in there music and when played backwards you can hear the message.

Film Research

Gillian Wearing 2 into 1 (1997) - I found Wearing's film to be quite awkward to watch towards the end as the children and mother start to get more and more personal. I understand and really enjoyed the concept of the film, I liked that it seems that the people featured were talking about themselves. Wearing obviously thought into what family she would film and interview, as they would have to be intelligent enough to be able to maturely deal with what one said about the other.

Jean Cocteau Blood of a Poet (1930) - Of what we watched from Cocteau's film, I found that the filmmakers surreal style and themes were very interesting and slightly disturbing. The scene where the man walks up the hallway stood out to me as it seemed like the shoes outside the door symbolised the way that the people allow themselves to be seen by other people but when the man looks through the keyhole he is able to see their true self. I found this a really interesting idea.

Photography Research

Larry Sultan

Gregory Crewdson

Philip Lorca diCorcia

5 Photo Collection

Photography Ideas - Memories

Use of baby box/old stuff to demonstrate ageing/growing up links to theme of memories, how you usually can't remember things when your younger so its important to keep mementoes from youth. Pictures/ projects/ diaries etc.

Create scenes in my grandparents house. Unchanged for years and create fashion shoot with vintage style theme using props, myself and friends in the style of Alex Prager.

Create violent, illegal (basically bad) scenes using props and have the model wearing a disney character masks, representing innocence of youth still being present as an adult. Disney because most people of my age were brought up watching disney movies, disney symbolising youth.

Using my mums old artwork from when she was a student and incorporating it with pictures of her from her youth.

Taking old photographs and warping them somehow to symbolize how the past can often be forgotten or remembered in a different way to what actually happened .

After our meeting with Leah she seemed to like my idea of creating a scene with vintage style themes at my grandparents house, reflecting on how much things have changed, in terms of fashion, technology etc, over the years. I liked this idea myself because the location and props are accessible to me at anytime and this photography is what I enjoy. However my worry is that the pictures may not translate but if that becomes the case I have a few ideas to pick from that I still think could work. To inspire myself I did some research into similar photography and artists, also Leah gave me some artists to take a look at to help me with my idea.

Yto Barrada - Short Presentation

In a lesson with Leah we were each given a photographer to quickly study and give a short presentation on. The artist I was given was Yto Barrada, whose work I quite liked. I enjoyed how she depicted the struggles of everyday life as art by photographing moments in her hometown of Tangier. It wasn't until she had left and came back, that she noticed how violent and dangerous living their was as the residents try their hardest to make their way across the Strait to a better life. I made my presentation very short mentioning her life, focusing on one collection in particular called 'The Strait Project' and showed 4 pictures in which I thought the idea of this everyday life theme was shown. My favourite of the pictures is the last one of the two girls looking at the advertisement of the cruise. I thought this picture was reminiscent of childhood and how as a child you will always dream of big things even if in reality those things may not be possible for you. I made my presentation very minimalist as I find this is a very clean and professional appearance.