Not
having a clue about photography, I took a trip to the library to get
some books for a rough idea, thankfully the librarian helped me with
which books to pick because I woulnd't have known, one of them was David
Bailey "If We Shadows."
I
had a read of the introduction, which I don't usually do, as there
weren't any descriptions beside the photographs. Given a bit of
background information from the book I also had a read online before I
tucked into the photographs.
David Bailey is a British photographer, in 1960 he began photography for British Vogue where he transformed British fashion and celebrity photography. Bailey injected a completely different approach to Vogue from the past, where the models were always looking perfect and photographers took simply pretty pictures, Bailey slammed a tad of punk into it, made stars of new generation models including Jean Shrimpton and Penelope Tree and that is how he first became famous and one of the pioneers of contemporary photography.
In the introduction of the book "if we shadows" I found a really interesting quote which I fell for completely.
"It is also certain, not that it will in any way placate the sisters, that his erotic photographs emanate a disturbing poetry. Art, after all, is not necessarily 'correct' and Bailey is undoubtedly and artist."
One
thing that I have noticed in his photographs, is that he admires
nudity, and I don't see why now it is considered taboo due to the raise
of feminism, as mentioned in the book. In my opinion I think that the
female body and form is the most beautiful subject matter to photograph,
paint, draw, look at and talk about. I am strongly against this new
craze about feminism, I just think it has been taken slightly too far
and nudity should be praised rather than taken so personally. This is
one of the reasons Bailey's photographs have spoken to me. I was
actually smiling looking at most of the photographs, but some of them
also raised questions, because I am a complete amateur in the world of
photography. Looking at the portraits, you can see a personality but how
does it work with photograph? because the photographer is the artist,
so does that mean he conveys his feelings through the model? his
feelings towards the model? or the models personality? Because the
photographs are so real they give the impression of there being
something bigger than just a photo there.
The
way the photos were displayed in the book had an impact on the way I
felt about them, they either contrasted or complimented each other, if
there was a picture of an animals head on one side, o the other there
would be a portrait of someone laughing which also made it look
humorous. Another thing I notices was that all these photographs were in
black and white, but it wasn't just the usual black and white you can
edit into your photos, they were a lot more dark and characteristic.
From looking at David Bailey as the first photographer to have pretty much ever looked at, I think it has given me a head start for this unit, there are many things in his photographs that I like and will aspire by in the future.
