Homage to Thomas Struth /  by Claudia Phares

These portraits were inspired from Thomas Struth’s series on ‘Friends and Families’.

Janice Guy, Naples 1988 by Thomas Struth

Fake it ‘til you make it - Project 7: Thomas Struth

I chose the German photographer Thomas Struth because I was interested in his simple and spare portraits of families and friends. I read he collaborated with a psychoanalyst for his project on family portraits and scrutinised relationships between family members. For my project, I wanted to explore the idea of a modern family and so shot my friends, Lise & Ben, who I met through our dogs. They were shot in their own art studio (studio Pardon). I used a Mamiya medium format camera with a roll of 120 Tmax 400. I processed and printed the film in the VCA lab. I had never printed from a 120 mm film and I was really happy with the results: the tonal range of the actual print is amazing compared to the scanned version here which has lost a lot of detail.

 5 elements used:

  1. black and white film
  2. natural lighting
  3. subjects in their own surroundings
  4. intimate portraiture
  5. truth teling photography

Homage to Hiroshi Sugimoto /  by Claudia Phares

My take of Sugimoto’s stylized sculpture series

Fake it ‘til you make it - Project 6: Hiroshi Sugimoto

I chose Sugimoto because I liked the simplicity and the sharpness of his images. I wanted to emulate the high contrast found in his black and white series on the highly stylized wearable sculptures of Japanese designers. I used fabric and paper to make a costume for my dress mannequin. I shot on Kodak 400 Tri-X for 2s with one light source. Sugimoto prefers to use analogue photography and long exposures. He stated in an interview: “To be aware of the passage of time, is to be conscious of our mortality”.

5 elements used:

  1. black and white film
  2. one light source
  3. darkroom print
  4. presence of true black
  5. long exposure

Homage to Polixeni Papapetrou /  by Claudia Phares

My homage to Polixeni Papapetrou

The players, 2009 by Polixeni Papapetrou

Fake it ‘til you make it - Project 5: Australian photographer

I chose the Melbourne-based photographer Polixeni Papapetrou. I saw her series ‘Between Worlds’ in Paris last year. It was quite amazing to see the actual large-sized colour prints. I was drawn to the element of staged performance with the animal masks set against Australian landscapes. For my project, I used myself as the subject. It turned out I used the wrong lens for this project; it was too wide. I cropped the image so the figure appears bigger. I used Portra 400 NC film whereas Papapetrou works with Portra 160 NC.

5 elements used:

  1. colour 120mm film
  2. props
  3. performance
  4. local flora backdrop
  5. square final print

Red light darkroom /  by Claudia Phares

My classmate, Grace Wood, invited me to yesterday’s book launch and opening of the exhibition 'Red light darkroom'  held at the Alliance Française.

Grace was the assistant of Gemma-Rose Turnbull who did a residency with St Kilda Gatehouse to teach, photograph and interview street sex workers. This exhibition includes a video and photographs of the day-to-day lives of street sex workers. The colour photographs spoke for themselves; they were graphic and powerful. At times, I found the accompanying text lengthy. Overall, I would recommend the exhibition to anyone interested in documentary-style photography.

Sam Taylor Wood's 'Bram Stoker's Chair' - revisited /  by Claudia Phares

Sam Taylor Wood 

Fake it ‘til you make it - project 4: Sam Taylor-Wood

I was interested in taking up the challenge of creating a ‘suspended’ effect, minus the harnesses. Getting a nice shadow was pretty difficult to start with. Let’s just say I spent more time editing than shooting.

5 elements used:

  1. colour
  2. self-portraiture
  3. hidden face
  4. shadow of the chair is ‘missing’
  5. mid-air effect

/  by Claudia Phares

“When I’m in writing mode for a novel, I get up at 4:00 am and work for five to six hours. In the afternoon, I run for 10km or swim for 1500m (or do both), then I read a bit and listen to some music. I go to bed at 9:00 pm. I keep to this routine every day without variation. The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind. - Haruki Murakami”
— from 99percent

'The future is analogue' /  by Claudia Phares

New addition to the camera collection: Polaroid 600 (Barbie edition). I found it at a garage sale. It came with 5 packs of expired polaroid film. Tried a whole pack dated ‘2000’. The emulsion was quasi inexistant on the sides of the frame, yet the centre turned out with a soft and yellow-tinged effect.

You can buy expired Polaroid instant film and newly manufactured Impossible film on the Impossible Project website. The Impossible Project is a team of former Polaroid employees who got together to keep the production of instant film going. The Impossible Project isn’t quite impossible anymore. There are talks of an 8x10 in instant film coming out this year.

The nightmare /  by Claudia Phares

I’m working on a project involving fear. I decided to re-enact the scene in Fuseli’s painting ‘The nightmare’. For the project, I created an evil-looking incubus (creature) out of papier mâché. Not sure if I succeeded in making it look fierce enough. Someone thought he looked like a cross between a koala and a Gremlin.

The nightmareThe original scene, see below, has a horse’s head poking out the curtains. I settled for what was available at the school prop store: a rhino’s head. The bed was set up on a table which may not have been the best OH & S scenario. It was worth the risk anyway. I tried imitating the posture of the woman, and nearly fell off the bed/table.  Since a long exposure (1s) was required,  I chose a more stable position. This project is only the beginning of a series exploring angst, fear, and repulsion.