Influential photographers.

Through out this project there have been three photographers that are constantly inspiring the growth of my project all three have different styles of photography but their concepts and images are rich with narrative and have created striking,beautiful images in their own right.

Haris Nukem.

Haris Nukem is an underground photographer based in London, I stumbled across his work on Instagram and was intrigued by his style of images, they are mysterious, full of narrative with a raw contemporary twist. What I find refreshing about Nukem's images is that they do not seem to be over re-touched you can still see the skins natural texture and lines. The lighting and post-production is extremely similar to how I envisioned my images to be, my photographer perhaps not so dramatic but  I like cool tones and shadows. This is a photographer that I have introduced to my project photographer Toni Ward so she can get a feel of the post-production. He has tackled the issues of self harm and depression with suicidal tendencies in quite a raw sense you can see the models suffering within their eyes and the setting his images are something to reflect on and have made me think about how to deal with the re-enactments in my images and that I can keep it quite realistic as long as it is done so with taste.

Francesca Woodman.

Francesca Woodman is a photographer that has great relevance to my topic and has inspired me greatly. The deceased artist committed suicide at the age of 22, Woodman's work is strongly conceptual Woodman explores issues of the female body's subjectivity creating mainly images of which contained herself naked. I love how she explores vulnerability as this is a factor I intend on touching on.I have taken inspiration from the infamous figure to use myself as the main subject to explore my concept. I feel inspired by Woodman's realistic approach to her images they are untouched, Woodman's parents explain that there is no evidence of some of Woodman's concepts behind the images leaving it for the spectator to decide. Without a doubt the photographers work is extremely artistic the Woodman's state in the documentary about the art of Francesca "What is the art saying?" The work to me seems to explore female subjectivity, entrapment and provocative of which are elements that my work investigates as previous research suggests in Joiners framework of suicidal behaviour and Simons 'Naked suicide' scholar- of which will show more depth to my work. (Sam Willis, 2011, The Woodmans)

Below is a short clip of the documentary of 'The Woodmans' it is interesting to get a perspective of Francesca's work and personality from those who knew her personally. What is a compelling piece of information is that her parents and peers note there was no evidence as to why she committed suicide she did not seem deprived emotionally, she had a good upbringing and did not seem to follow Joiners  neither Durkheim's framework of suicidal behaviour patterns, yet her work could suggest differently the artists death and emotional state is a mystery yet her work could say otherwise.

(https://youtu.be/074vh1l8rs8, 25.2.16)

Laura Makabresku.

Laura Makabresku is the final photographer that is contributing to inspire the outcome of my images. Like myself Makabresku has portrayed a series of images that depict suicidal tendencies but in such a delicate way, the artists approach to sensitive subjects is intriguing as the images exhibit dark issues yet there is a beauty within them whether that be the soft cool lighting, the peachy glow of skin, or delicate butterflies Makabreskus work is so powerful due to her use of pretty elements that create a delicate outcome.  The figures work showcases images of mental health and death similar to myself although I will be taking a harsher approach to the subjects. Makabresku's take on suicide is very fanciful to look at as if suicide is pretty, in my moodpboard there is an image from her 'fairytale' inspired suicide image the women has delicate white butterflies on her gown and in her hair as her face is resting expressionless with a noose tied around her neck. Reflecting on her work it makes me feel as though her work has some dark concepts she has interpreted them in a softer light the image look like pieces of art, I hope that my pieces look like pieces of art to show that I have delivered the topic tastefully. What I will transfer into my images is the use of skin details to to tell a story about the character.

All three photographers have different styles of photography yet approach what seems like similar concepts, I think I feel inspired by the artists as I am drawn to cool lighting and striking images that have depth to them, I want to create images that are thought provoking, controversial and look like pieces of meaningful art that can be interpreted in the way the viewer wishes.