My original idea for this identity unit was to experiment with the idea of identity through a persons possessions. I emailed and got in touch with about 20 care homes and sheltered accommodation in my local area. The original concept behind the identity project was to photography the elderly surrounded by their possessions. I was interested in how at the end of our lives our whole life is condensed down into one room. The persons possession tell a story about the life the subject has had.

I was feeling inspired by photographers such as; Richard Billingham and Adrienne Salinger’s series of documentation. The original idea was to photograph a portrait of the resident in their bedroom surrounded by all of their belongings, I think this would have had some interesting outcomes for this project as every room would have been different to the next. I contacted a lot of care homes and sheltered accommodation throughout Kent and dome in London by emailing or calling up the centre. Much to my disappointment I have had no luck gaining access to any of these organisations, due to a privacy law put in place put in place a few years ago I have not had luck with gaining access to these institutions as of yet. However I am continuing to enquire into the subject and hope to get access at some point, even if its not for this particular project.

Man Ray is a very well know artist/photographer. Ray first started his career as a painter but soon developed a love for photography and different methods of photo collage. Ray invented the Rayograph which is a process we still use today in the dark room. Ray’s aim was to create ‘camera less photographs’ a rayograph is done by exposing light sensitive paper to light with various objects on top, to create a ‘photograph’ of the objects on the light sensitive paper. Ray’s work is all about manipulating his subjects, he uses multiple techniques to do this.

In Ray’s images he often uses props to change his subjects and make them more interesting, he takes what could be just a standard portrait and gives it the edge by bringing in a factor that binds the subject to the camera and gives us as an audience a more interesting outcome to look at. Ray always shot in black and white, this gives his photographs the edge because, the harsh and dramatic lighting adds a lot of depth and tone to the images and helps draw the audiences eye towards them. Ray uses a lot of different methods in his photography one of my favourite photographic techniques he uses is to adjust the shutter speed of his camera.

By adjusting the shutter speed of his camera and getting the subject to move it creates a beautiful effect that the subject in the photography is moving even though they are not. I have really been inspired by the work of Man Ray. I believe his style of work fits in really well with my current project of Identity. I am going to try out some of Ray’s techniques in my image making process, these being different shutter speeds, the use of props and different lighting fixtures. I plan to use film as well as digital to see the difference in results. Man Ray is one of my favourite photographs and collage artists so I take a lot of inspiration from his work especially for my unit.

Museum Ludwig, ML, Man Ray, Foto von Charles E. Fraser

Richard Billingham’s iconic ‘Ray’s A Laugh’ is one of the most authentic and memorable photographic series in modern photography and one of my personal favourites. I have chosen to research Billingham’s work for my identity unit because, this photographic series was vital in revealing the identity of the conditions working class citizens were living in. Billingham’s photos shocked many of the public because they have not before seen these conditions in ‘modern day’ Britain. The photographs were taken in Richards home and tell a story of the identity of the people (Richard’s auntie and uncle) in the photographs. The fact that the photographs were taken in the home of these people gives the audience more of an accurate site in to what life was really like for this dysfunctional family.

From the decor to the outfits of the subject we as an audience gain an understanding of the identity and the story behind the characters, without knowing them or being there ourselves. The photographs work well together as a series because they all include a different context but link together well by simple things like the colour composition. The outrageous decor and dull furniture also help link all of the photographs together. There is even a sense of humour involved with he photographs, Ray’s constant state of intoxication, stumbling all over the place and even completely un aware that his photograph is being taken in the majority of the photographs, also acts as a strong link between this photo series.

I plan to use Richard Billigham as inspiration for my Identity project. I am going to do this by photographing in his raw and honest style, not directing my subjects in any way to give an organic outcome to my audience of the identity of my own subjects. By photographing in a documentary style gives me as a photographer more of a chance to do my subject matter justice, a technique I might use is to hide my camera to get a completely natural pose and therefore identity from my subject.

Adrienne Salinger is a well known documentary style photographer. Salinger deals a lot with real life and getting the general public to express themselves in ways in which they often do not get the chance to. These images are from a photographic series Salinger completed in the 90’s. The aim of the photographs where to allow the youth of that time period, express themselves in ways they were not able to do often in society. The project was called ‘It’s Nice That’. In the project Salinger went into numerous teenage bedrooms all across America. Salinger quoted in an interview “Our bedrooms tell stories about us. They become the repository for memories, desire and self-image”

I think this quotation by Salinger is very relevant to my Identity project because, I love how our bedrooms are very private things and we often express ourselves the most by our bedrooms and our own person space. Adrienne Salinger was an prominent inspiration for my Identity project because I love her use of lighting and context in her photographs, every piece off subject matter in each individual shot tells a story about the identity of the character in the photograph. ‘It’s Nice That’ is such a successful photo series because all the photographs have completely different subject matter but, all work so well together as a series.

Another strong point for me is the story and the subtle or prominent sub-culture shown in each picture. Each subject in the photographs has a very different style and bedroom, their bedroom tells such an effective story about the type of person and what sub-culture they are involved in. As an audience we can learn so much about the person in the photograph without meeting them. One of the things Salinger insisted to her subjects is that they leave their bedrooms exactly how they were when they last left them. I think this was a very effective thing to get the subjects to do because, it gives the audience a realistic and un-altered story about the person in the photographs, it gives the audience an organic look into the identity of Salinger’s subjects.