Mapplethorpe Studio Work Diary

We were set with the task of taking inspiration from Robert Mapplethorpe's work when shooting in the studio. My main focus of the shoot was to consider the composition of the image while taking photos and I wanted to try to consider some of Mapplethorpe's positioning of his subjects in the image. I was able to incorporate some key formal elements such as contrast and tone. I was able to reference Mappletorpe's work directly with some of my images. This allowed me to further understand the process in which Mapplethorpe takes when composing his images.

For this image I wasted to consider an interesting way of composing my image. To accomplish this interesting composition I wanted to use an action to make the image and pose seem more natural while filling the frame. The white background creates contrasts with the dark colours of the person. This causes the audience to pay full attention on the action of the person. Examples of tone can be seen as the dark shadows on the face of the person gradually become more brighter. This causes more detail to be seen within the image while directing the audience's attention towards the lighter areas of the image.

This image was directly inspired by one of Robert Mapplethorpe's pictures. In the original he fills the frame by having the subject  from side profile while holding the object. The result is a more natural looking image that fills the frame. The brighter tones of the image creates contrasts against the dark background of the image. This use of contrast makes the person the subject of the image, causing the audience to focus only on him. The use of this pose allows for me to capture an image by making the person appear more natural.

Progression:

If I were to of this task again I would address some of the problems that I encountered during the shoot. These problems include some issues with composition and image variation. I would search for more alternative ways of changing the composition of my images. Mapplethorpe has allowed me to consider a number of new ways of composing my images. This will cause my images to appear to be more interesting and cause the subjects to appear more natural.