Analysis of Roxanne Worthington

Roxanne Worthington

The Letter, 2008

Roxanne Worthington owns a studio and has been teaching photography classes for a few years now. She fell in love with photography the first night she spent in a dark room, printing a roll of black and white film. Worthington has had her work shown both nationally (CA) and internationally.

This photograph, The Letter, 2008, was in the 'And So to Dream' series of images. In this photograph you can see a mug and an open envelope with something inside, presumably a letter. It looks like both the mug and envelope are situated on a brown surface, possibly wood. In the background of the image it looks like there is a type of shojji screen. There is a strong contrast between the shadows and the light which due to the lines, suggests it is coming through a window with blinds. 

I think that the meaning of this image ties in with the simplicity of the layout. From looking at the photograph I get a strong sense of a comfortable life. Not a lot of money but not poor, enough money to relax every now and then with a cup of tea or coffee whilst reading a letter. This image creates and reminds me of sentimental memories. Not of a specific day or event but the 'simple' things in life. That drink from you favourite mug or a message from someone close to you. This photograph definitely screams sentimental value.

I love this image for simplicity of it all. It reminds me of those mornings in autumn or winter where you have just made a cup of a warm drink and the post has just arrived. Although the photograph has captured a very simple, almost day to day scene, it emits a sense of calm and the feeling of home.

Digital Photographs and Experiments

I decided to take some photographs of eyes to relate to the first starting point I chose, 'The Senses'. I took photographs of eyes as I personally think it is one of the most precious senses, and the outside beauty of them is just as interesting to me.

Original Photographs:-

Photographs edited online using Pic Monkey photo editor:-

Warhol Effect

Posterize Effect

The Two Staring Points I have Chosen: The Five Senses & The Everyday

The Five Senses

I chose this starting point as it would be a struggle to live without any of the senses and would be interesting to try and photograph. 

I plan on looking at other photographers' work and looking at the visible senses such as the eye (sight).

Artists of interest that fit within the starting point:

-Olivia Parker

-Anna Schuleit

-Carsten Witte

I want to do experimentations with double exposures in the darkroom through sandwich printing. Creating handmade negatives to go over photographs could look interesting. I hope to explore a 3D element with photographs related to the senses so people can touch them. Also maybe explore a way of making the photographs fragranced.

The Everyday

This starting point is around us everyday making it easily accessible to photograph.

I plan on looking at other photographers' work and keeping a closer eye on what I see on a day to day basis along with routines.

Artists of interest that fit within the starting point:

-Roxanne Worthington

-Pierre Cordier

-Susan Derges

Like before I want to do experimentations with double exposures in the darkroom through sandwich printing. Creating handmade negatives to go over photographs could look interesting. With photographs of the everyday, I intend on doing digital experiments which will involve manipulating the images so they do not look so 'ordinary' or 'everyday'. I will also play around with the tones of the images in the darkroom.

Modboard of Inside, Outside, In Between

Inside, Outside, In Between: mindmap

Final Evaluation

At the beginning of this project, we were given the title of 'Personal Project'. This enabled us to continue on from our last project in the direction that we wanted to go in. Within this theme I had to experiment with various techniques and play around with different subject matter.

I started by making a mind map and mood board to help to create some initial ideas for where I could go with this project. I continued my research by completing analysis's on photographers. The first set of photographs I took were based around the idea of the suit (being the urban beauty) vs the casual wear (that of nature - i.e. the person's personal, natural, comfortable style). Using the chemicals in the darkroom, I did various experiments on some of the images from my film. Even after this I still felt that the images were not strong enough to depict my documentary theme of: Nature vs Urban Beauty. I did some handmade experiments involving stitching, ink and painting onto the photographs. For more detail have a look at my Progress Review Of How Ideas Have Change. I did another mind map to help me come up with some ideas for my final film. I also did more research to help broaden my idea spectrum. This gave me the idea to paint on a model and then photograph them.

Leonard Nimoy was my main inspiration for how I should light my final piece as his focus on how the light effects the photograph and the model themselves really intrigued me. The contrast of the black and white made his images more bold and added more depth to them. Jane Deschner's influence was that of the personal ties with the photographs. All of her pieces were photographs of groups of friends, family, the young and old. This emitted the sense of memories and sentimental feelings. Due to this research I decided to use my boyfriend as my model to try and show the personal connections. Lauren Baker inspired me the most in this project. She paints on models and then photographs her work. The idea of painting on the body of the model that will be the focus of the photograph really interested me as it was like documenting an experiment by photographing it.

I think that my experiments that I had done in the darkroom with the chemicals were my best prints as I love how it gives an abstract feel to the image yet you can still see the original photograph clearly... depending on how it is done. I really like my final outcome as it has a tribal type feel to it from the paintings on my model and how they have been attached together. The small pinholes in the photographs add a delicateness to the whole piece when the light shines through them.

Instead of using acrylic paint to paint onto my model, next time I will try and find actual body paint to use to avoid the paint cracking and eventually peeling off of the model's skin.

I really enjoyed the project. As always I hope to develop further my darkroom experimental techniques as I love the texture the chemicals can leave on a photograph. Improving my digital editing skills would be beneficial in this technology based world.

Final film digital edits

Using this website- Picmonkey - I digitally edited these photographs.

Final film darkroom experiments

Vignetting

Selective Developing

 The image below if my favourite out of the three selective developer experiments from this film. I love how the flicks of developer went in the same direction of my model's eye and how you can still see the paint on his face clearly but not so clearly of the rest of his skin.

Solarizing 

Reversals

 The image above, was exposed to light for 20 seconds. I felt this didn't define the detail of the paint and the edge of my model's face enough so I boosted the light timer up to 36 seconds. The improvements can be seen on the image below.

 I love how scary the eyes look of my model in the image below. The eyes combined with the paint makes this image a rather sinister one.