Inspiration

After looking through some photography books at the library today, I came across some works which i found really interesting. First was French photographer and neurologist, Guillaume-Benjamin Duchenne de Boulogne's (1806-1875) images. They are portrait style, scientific-based photographs that were taken and used to study physiognomy. He conducted electrical experiments on patients facial muscles at the Salpetriere, a mental hospital in France, with a strong interest in expression. Although these images are quite confronting and disturbing to look at, the expression captured and surreal quality of the pictures is appealing to me.

Aruhi Arutokoro (1958) - I found this image in The Photobook: A History volume 1 (Martin Parr and Gerry Badger) I couldn't find it anywhere on the net so I took a pic with my iphone. I like the way the multiple images of womens legs have been photographed and lined up alongside one another to create a typology of legs. I am thinking of using typology as a theme for my final folio as well as photographing people. Although the poses are different the photograph has been taken from a similar distance and is focused on bodies from the waist down. I think the varied poses make the picture more interesting and perhaps tell a story about each of the people in the photographs. I like the way this image has captured a similarites in theme but also the differences of each person.

I also came across some work of Bill Brandt and was really intrigued and drawn in by his photographs. The perspectives he creates in his photos is so interesting and surreal. I like the way he often uses a particular aspect of the human body and works the photos composition around that. I am considering researching Bill Brandt for my presentation.

I like the use of the mirror and the reflection in this picture. When first looking at this image it gave me the illusion that it was a photo of a woman with two heads.