Collaboration Research

The conclusion we came to yesterday was to explore a promiscuous theme for our genre photos. We want to use a lot of symbolism and metaphors, instead of taking these genres literally. We all discussed what each photo could be and came to a few decisions yesterday when we met.

We pulled the genres from a hat to decide who would be in charge of directing which shot:

Dane- landscape - landscape of a body

Myke- still life - flowers

Brenna- portrait - cat

and myself- architecture - either high heels or pointe shoes

We all discussed the painting Olympia by Manet, in which there is a symbol for promiscuity in the form of a cat at the end of the bed by the reclining nude. This painting was scandalous and promiscuous for it's time, and in today's context it could still provide the same meaning, but in a much subtler way than it originally had.

For the still life, we considered the flower as a symbol. We are all going to bring some fake flowers to have many to chose from, although i discussed the orchid as a possible candidate due its sexual connotations relating to the female anatomy.

My shot of architecture is quite figurative in nature as we decided to stray from the norm of photographing a building. We discussed the form of a body as architecture and creating shapes with the body. We then moved along to explore a high heel as architecture. it holds up the body in a way that neccessitates a strong design, or architecture. I brought up the historical context of ballerinas. While studying Edgar Degas I learned that ballerinas were high end prostitutes. Ladies of that time would always be covered up, it wasn't acceptable for a woman to dress in anything but a long dress. Ballerinas pranced around on stage in tight, body forming leotards and rich businessmen and aristocrats would go to the ballet to watch them. After the show they could go backstage, and quite literally buy a dancer. I thought this connection would be another layer to promiscuity that references art history in the same way as a cat refences many paintings. The focus of my shot would be on the feet, showing how pointe shoes can hold up an entire body on the tips of your toes. Along with the architecture of the shoe, it would be interesting to note the shape various positions in ballet make with the dancers legs. Another link to architecture would be the design of muscles of the body, which is the emphasis of ballet.

High heels are definatly a symbol of promiscuity, and as well they are designed like architecture. The straps have to be in the right place to suupport the foot, the rise can't be too high as to make for an uncomfortable and wobbly walk. We discussed Helmut Newman's photo in which the ladies in heels are statue-like.

 I do like this photo in terms of arcitecture and shoes, but the focus should be more on the shoe. I found a cool photographer, Alex Maxim, who does some shoe photography. Here's a few of the photos that I found to be relevant to how I may direct my shot.