Gender Identity

Even though being Gay and Lesbian has been accepted by society for a while now its only been recently that gender identity has become more ‘accepted’. Due to it being shown in the news more and more people are starting to be more aware and understanding of it.

Though not everyone you see dressing in clothes formally known as being for the other sex is transgender people seem to assume that’s what they are. I find this interesting because it shows how much the media have publicized it that now the public make assumptions as to who that person is without actually knowing them.

I thought this concept would be a good platform to find a model with a unique style that some people may not understand and then photograph it. To show different sides to their personality.

I think it would be more striking to shoot a guy in women’s clothes rather than a woman in men’s clothes purely because its considered more ‘unusual’.

My Response-

For this shoot I decided to use someone with tattoos as I was inspired by research project and realise tattoos can be a big deal to someone as a way to show who they are. I used a canon 60d and a Z flash for this shoot.
As my model had never modelled before I needed to be very precise with what I wanted him to do/ how I wanted him pose. This took some time before he got comfortable.
I then used lightroom to star my favourite images and then opened a few up in photoshop to start editing. As I wanted to bring in the theme of surrealism into my work aesthetically I decided to merge pictures together and try different effects to see if they worked or didn't work.
I ended up really liked the 'scatter' effect picture however I feel its draws your attention away from the tattoos as you can't really see them so this might be an effect I try with a different model who doesn't have tattoos.
The second edit I chose to do in black in white because I like the contrast created  by it and how it makes the tattoos stand out.

Alex Minsky

Minsky lost his leg after a tour in Afghanistan, he was blown up at 20 and needed his right leg partially amputated. He said the day he managed to step out of his depression was the day he started modelling.

Minsky explains that he had begun getting tattooed during his rehabilitation because they served as an inspiration. “When I struggle, I need something, and I find inspiration from other things, I’m glad people are finding inspiration from other things, and if its my picture, then that’s a good thing.”

Shot by Therese Öhrvall and Joel Jägerroos are a Swedish/Finnish photography team. They live and work in New York City.

Hannah Wilke

Wilke ia known for her photographic work of performances in which she used her own body and she established herself as both the artist and the subject of her work. Wilke coined the term "Performalist Self-Portrait" to describe photographic work she created.
Hannah Wilke died in 1993 from Lymphoma. Her last work, Inra-Venus is a posthumously published photographic record of her physical transformation and deterioration resulting from chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant. The photographs which were taken by her husband confront the viewer with personal images of Wilke progressing from midlife happiness to bald, damaged and resigned.

This piece of work links in with my theme of Identity as it is showing how her body is slowly giving in to the cancer and her identity fading.