I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
Heading 4
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It's easy.
Heading 4
Heading 4
Heading 4
Exercise 5.1 -
Assignment Three - Self Portraits
Drawing upon the examples in Part Three and your own research, you can approach your self-portraits however you see fit.
Keep a diary for a set period of time (at least two weeks). Each day write two or three pages about yourself – what you’ve been doing/thinking.
Select the most interesting parts of the diary (which could also be the most banal or mundane) and interpret them into a photographic project.

Introduction
The idea of producing a self-portrait was something I hadn't thought about before, or could it be that I was in denial? I'm not the kind of person who likes to speak about themselves, although I'm not afraid to speak in public.
Another aspect to this assignment was writing a personal diary and getting into the routine, writing down my thoughts. I did find the task strange, as the course book states recording the mundane, however, at the end of the exercise it did give me another perspective about how to approach this assignment and the experimentation was useful.
My Diary
Select the most interesting parts of the diary (which could also be the most banal or mundane) and interpret them into a photographic project.
The notebook I chose to record my diary was a present from a friend for Christmas in China. It's called 'The book of answers'. The idea is that each page has an answer to a question and you come up with the question. I thought it would be very appropriate for this assignment. Here are some excerpts from my diary entries.
Day 1 - Up at 7am as usual, beautiful day, not too warm and not too cold and today is a venture into the unknown. I've never written a diary before, so thin should be interesting and a venture into new territory. Todays answer was 'Seize the day' which I thought was appropriate.
Day 3 - Today's answer was 'Enjoy the experience' I'm not sure if I entirely agree with this answer as I'm struggling with the right idea for my self-portrait.
Day 7 - I have orange coloured books, pencils and pens, jacket, sleeping bag, ball, desktop on my Macbook. You'd never guess that I love the colour orange. Todays answer was 'Be yourself'
Day 10 - Aside of the difficulties, I've completed my assignment and will head to the library to send off to my tutor. I think my research worked well but I do have some reservations about my completed work. Todays answer was ' You'll get what you deserve' I think this is probably the most poignant answer to date as I'll have a better idea how I'm progressing winthin the course after I have my formal assessment for this unit.
Conclusion
On a personal note I tend to talk to myself, a lot. I find it a good way of questioning what I'm planning so I did find the diary difficult at first to get into the habit of writing down all my thoughts. As time went by it did become easier, but I do feel that I still overthought everything before writing it down. Over time this task would become second nature as a routine.
Experimentation 1
My sister-in-law recently purchased an old house for renovating. I agreed to help out and made a start to clearing out the rubbish from the garden. Once I'd started, I found various items from a Lego brick to a pen, sets square which made me wonder the type of person that lived here before. I knew nothing about them so I began to collect the items and consider the profile of this person.
After collecting all the items from the garden, I brought them back home to photograph them.

Using the still life box I'd made for EYV I used natural light and recorded each item shown below.

.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
From the items collected I deduced that the person may have been a tradesman of some kind. There was a number of technical tools but in addition was some children's toys. He may have had his own family or grandchildren and finally a dogs skull. This could have been the family pet. It's not uncommon for a loved pet to be buried in the garden.
Although I enjoyed the process of discovering items within the garden and subjectively hypothesising what the previous tenant persona was, I couldn't apply this to my assignment. It seemed lazy to me to use objects that I've collected over the years. I wanted to create something else that would show me as a person and not so repetitive in its presentation.
Research
There are many self-portraits from creatives in all mediums, but the most provocative is the images that deliver a narrative more than just a record of the likeness of the artist.

Frida Khalo produced many self-portraits of herself. This painting demonstrates a very poignant and pivotable moment in her life. Khalo was always very proud of her long black hair. After her divorce from husband Diego Rivera, an act of defiance cut it off and painted this picture, revealing her shortened locks.

Man Ray not only was a photographer but showed his creativity in painting, sculpture, film, prints and poetry. This image also provides his experimentation in the photographic medium using solarisation to produce his self-portrait.

Claude Cahun's gender-ambiguous images were very bold and brave considering this was in 1920. Only by the discovery of her work in 1990 by French scholar Leperlier, we have been able to experience her radical self-portraits today.

Francesca Woodman. Her legacy remains through her photography which conveys her struggles throughout her short life and the culmination of her suicide at the age of 22. Viewing her images, references to loneliness, alienation, vulnerability and her difficulty in dealing with the break up of her relationship show through the stark black and white photos.

Vivian Maier. Maier was a fiercely private person. What was more astounding was the volume of photographs she took in and around 1950, over 100,000 negatives worth. The discovery of work in 2007 demonstrated many self-portraits using mirrors and reflection in and around the New York streets.
Observation
All these pioneers have shown their 'self' reflected through imagery. Like the best songwriters, it's usually a tragedy, struggle or individuality that provides the strongest emotion.
Observing these pioneers of self-portraiture and their reasons for doing so made me reconsider how I should approach this assignment.
I researched not only from photographers but painters, sculptors and digital artists I discovered the work of Adde Adesokan. The German-based photographer's series 'Triptychs of Strangers' matched perfectly the self-portrait I was considering.



I've travelled quite a bit as many others have too, however, the places I've visited tended to be a bit more extreme than holiday resorts. Using this analogy, I thought it would be interesting to convey the weather conditions I've experienced. Showing this would not only highlight the physicality of my travels but that I embraced the cultural side of the people I met. My concerns for the planet and my interest in diversity interpreted in the images.




.jpg)




After completing the storyboard, the original concept of three triptychs was too busy with nine images in the series. Reducing it to one focussed in more appropriately on who I am. Not explaining the second and third photos would prompt the viewer to wonder where I'd been to combined with the title of the series.
The combination of title and final images best expresses me but leaves enough for the viewer to want to know more.
- 40 degrees + 40 degrees and everything else in-between
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Contact Sheets














Reflection
Before our meeting on Zoom, both of us felt that my research was good however the finished assignment was lacking the same level of interest. This will be discussed in more detail and reworked later.
Assignment Reworked
Summary of Formal Feedback
• Although my research was interesting, the submission wasn’t as comprehensive as the research. Reworking my idea will present a stronger assignment for the assessors.
• Create images of how I was feeling in the self-portrait rather than trying to produce my life experiences.
Australia is a great place to live, but as I’m applying for residency, I’m not allowed to work or do voluntary work. My family in Australia has a farm which produces wildflowers for export. Located about 3 hours from home. It’s the height of the season just now so they have commitments there. As a result, I spend a lot of time alone in the house. This has led me to feel a little isolated and alone from time to time.
• This is the aspect to pursue my reworking.
• To compliment this, I researched the work of Gregory Crewdson.
In an interview, he said " A singular Voice, at the core photography, is a singular act, a lonely act, just by putting the camera in front of you is an isolating act, an act of separation, most photographers are drawn to the medium by a feeling of aloneness, certainly voyeuristic. (Alonso, 2016)
I had never seen his work before and was impressed with the cinematic character to his images. This inspired me to think about the feeling and cinematic theme to my reworked images.

Solitude

Detachment

Emptyness

Desert

Loneness

Silence



Wasteland
Alone
Quarantine



Isolation
Wilderness
Separateness
Assignment Three - Reflection

References
Works Cited
Adesokan, A., 2010. Flickt - Adde Adesokan. [Online] 
Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/theblackstar/sets/72157626117942754/with/6172045186/
[Accessed 15/01/2019 Jan 2019].
Alonso, H. D., 2016. Interview with Gregory Crewdson. [Online] 
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jLtNwPB9eY&t=33s
[Accessed 26 Feb 2019].
Browner, S., 2006. Man Ray (selfportrait) [1157]. [Online] 
Available at: http://www.manraytrust.com/
[Accessed 2019].
HOGAN, C., 2011. TRIPTYCHS OF STRANGERS: THE STREET PHOTOGRAPHY OF ADDE ADESOKAN.. [Online] 
Available at: https://digitizedgraffiti.com/2011/12/17/triptychs-of-strangers-the-street-photography-of-adde-adesokan/
[Accessed 05/01/2019 Jan 2019].
Lumb, A., 2014. Claude Cahun: Gender Identity, Femininity, and Representation. [Online] 
Available at: https://hemera-collective.com/claude-cahun-gender-identity-femininity-and-representation/
[Accessed 05/01/2019 Jan 2019].
Maier, V., 2018. http://www.vivianmaier.com/. [Online] 
Available at: http://www.vivianmaier.com/
[Accessed Oct 2018].
Moma, 2019. Frida Kahlo Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair 1940. [Online] 
Available at: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78333
[Accessed 10/01/2019 Jan 2019].
Story, T. A., 2009. Francesca Woodman American Photographer. [Online] 
Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/artist-woodman-francesca.htm
[Accessed 04/01/2019 Jan 2019].