The Four Elements - I.D. Magazine

 I.D. Fresh works from leading creative proffesionals

• "Elements"
• "The German association of prefabricated houses, BDF, has opened their third FertighausWelt Wuppertal where all vendors, who are represented by the association, are showing their houses. The long-term aim of the park is to work energetically independent. Britzpetermann was commissioned to create an interactive installation for the entrance hall that draws attention to the topic energy.
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  We decided to break down the topic energy and chose the 4 elements, the basis of all energy extractions which are used in the park.The visitors are using the installation intentionally or can influence it by walking around in front of it."

Link to the video (Instillation)  - http://www.id-mag.com/gallery/Elements/11382949

I had a look at the project on their website of the instillation. I loved how they placed music in the background to support the instillation of the woman moving the energy with her body. This is something I would include myself if it were my own independent exhibition. I feel like it would provoke more of a calming feel when viewing my four elements. This was perfect in giving theme to my material based work and it has given it more of a structure. After viewing this it made me start to think about the motions and movements of each element, along with what words come to mind when thinking about representation.

Fire: energy, light, heat, abrupt, unpredictable, jagged, distorted, irregular, electrical

Water: wave, tilt, sway, gentle, dominant, steady, smooth, droplets, ripples

Air: Continuous, consistent, endless, important, life, breathe, swirl, twist, turn, repetitive, ethereal

Earth: planet, globe, mother nature, still, strong, structure, dust, creation, sphere, sublunary world, terrene

THE FOUR ELEMENTS - A BERLIN ART EXCLUSIVE

THE FOUR ELEMENTS - A BERLIN ART EXCLUSIVE 

(http://www.berlinartlink.com/the-four-elements/)

I wanted to find more projects based around the four elements, I found a  fine art, sculptural take on the concept of the four elements:

"Rachel de Joode’s artistic intention is to decipher human existence in absurd and surreal ways. Exclusively for Berlin Art Link readers, de Joode has created the curiously funny and poetic photo series “The Four Elements.” In her readings of earth, wind, fire and water, she continues to “portray the otherworldliness” of some of the more banal and overlooked objects in our everyday lives.

What happens when objects are disconnected from their original contexts? What “otherworldliness” emerges in her repositioning and constellation-constructing?

There is only one way to find out." - Berlin Art Link

I really enjoyed this idea of using random objects which she has placed together to give them a new meaning. I love the ambiguity of it and the huge space for interpretation. Although I would like to work with models, I feel as though my response to this project is going to be unpredictable. 

I will be getting random sources of material which will link to each element - in terms of colour - and will be seeing on the day how I can weave the material around the human body, to create an artistic response to my idea of what I feel each element could look like in a fantasy world.  

The Four Elements

The Four Elements

WHAT IS THE FOUR ELEMENTS?

"Fire, water, air and earth as we commonly know them are but outwardly manifested forms of the Elements themselves. Their manifestations are as follows: the element of water has magnetic properties; it nurtures and sustains. The element of fire has electrical and creative properties. Air is a detaching element and enables co-existence of the two main elements, fire and water. The element of earth binds fire, water and air in various proportions, which makes possible the formation of materials with different properties."

The element of fire (choleric)

Positive qualities: vigorousness, zeal, enthusiasm, courage, decisiveness, power of creativity, daring, sedulity...

Negative qualities: quarrelsomeness, irritability, urge to destroy everything, passion, immoderacy, jealousy, voraciousness, vindictiveness, violence, hate, anger, sudden ebullition...

The element of air (sanguine)

Positive qualities: vigilance, care-freedom, kind-heartedness, trusting nature, clarity, lightness, independency, dexterity, optimism, diligence, acuity, joy, smiling...

Negative qualities: lack of perseverance, dishonesty, gossipy, cunningness, backbiting, garrulousness, inconstancy, touchiness, prodigality...

The element of water (phlegmatic)

Positive qualities: understanding, placidity, mildness, trusting nature, devotion, mercy, forgiveness, modesty, compassion, fervour, pliancy, meditativeness, internalization...

Negative qualities: indifference, heartlessness, laziness, indolence, rigidity, lack of daring, lack of concern, unstableness, dejection...

The element of earth (melancholic)

Positive qualities: consistency, conscientiousness, perseverance, punctuality, caution, resistance, responsibility, carefulness, firmness, reliability, sobriety, ambition, respectfulness, matter-of-factness...

Negative qualities: stuffiness, superficiality, laziness, indifference, cumbersomeness, touchiness, lack of conscientiousness, irregularity, timidity, scornfulness...

The Four Elements Represented through Art

The National Gallery - Joachim Beuckelaer

1569

Earth Element - "This is one of a set of four pictures which take as their theme the four elements of 'Earth', 'Water', 'Air' and 'Fire'. In the art of the Low Countries in the later 16th and 17th centuries it became common to symbolise the elements by references to the natural world. Here, seductive representations of market produce for sale or for cooking are combined with relevant Biblical episodes. Beuckelaer's series of paintings are among the earliest and most accomplished fusions of these themes. These four pictures were produced in Antwerp, probably for a patron in Italy.

In this painting, 'Earth', the produce is depicted with tremendous bravura: vegetables tumble from the basket held by the woman on the left, and cascade towards the viewer. Sixteen different varieties of vegetable and fruit have been identified. The tiny figures of the Holy Family can be seen crossing a bridge in the far distance on the left."

Fire Element - "Fire is one of Beuckelaer's most ambitious works, combining the still life of haunches of meat and poultry being prepared for cooking on the fire beyond with a dramatic use of perspective constructions involving multiple vanishing points. Beyond the kitchen Christ is shown seated with Martha and Mary."

Water Element - "Twelve different varieties of fish have been identified among those offered for sale in this painting. The direct gaze of the stall holders is particularly striking, as is Beuckelaer's use of steep perspective framing the street vista to the left. Framed by the central arch is the scene of Christ appearing to the disciples for the third time after his Resurrection to perform the miracle by which fish appear in hitherto empty nets."

Air Element - "In this painting, 'Air', different kinds of fowl are offered for sale, some still alive in large wicker baskets, others dead and ready for plucking. On the platter in the centre of the foreground are rabbits, and to either side eggs in a basket and stacks of cheeses. In the middle of the composition, at a distance, the prodigal son is shown leaning against a woman in a debauched manner."

Research

PHOTOGRAPHY RESEARCH

Here is a collection of images I found on Institute Magazine that have really caught my eye in reflection to my project. I have been thinking about the different ways I can use material, as this is a key feature within my project. After going around to look at exhibition spaces I started thinking about the possibilities of how my final images could be possibly displayed. It got me thinking about the potential to hang my images. It lead me onto thinking about printing onto material and to relate the material to my four elements - e.g. The water element would be printed onto shiny material, the fire would be printed onto rough material and so on. I will need to research into how I could do this.

The Obsession

Model - Elsa

Make-up Artist - Nina Belkhir

Photographer - Benjamin Vnuk

Beautiful composition, tones, make-up and the simplicity to it. In reflection to my own work I would like to think about how I could create this hair look by using accessible resources. I could try using cream, or foam for hair.  

Ice Queen 

Model - Suvi Koponen

Photographer - Solve Sundsbo

I love the robotic aesthetics to this, the tension through composition of her body and the awkwardness of it. This is something I'm going to keep in mind when dealing with the material. A fan may be interesting to use in creating more motion in the hair and material. 

Powder and Paint

Photographer - Unknown

Powder is something I will be attempting in my fire element shoot - connoting fire and smoke. After researching what is best to use, I will attempt by mixing dry food colouring with baby powder or flower in order to create that colour pigment. It will be interesting to see how the light will capture this without the powder blocking out the model.

Double Vision

Photographer - Craig Shlewitz

Multiple exposures is something I also wish to include in my images. I love any type of movement or motion in an image and I feel this is something I could include in my water or fire element photo shoot. I want my fire element to be dominent and fierce and I need to think about who I use as my models.  I wish to have different models for each element. 

I love the graphical nature to this image. Rather than making my photos look aesthetically similar to paintings, maybe graphics will add a contemporary feel to the image.  I have found a few beautiful examples of this mixed medium.

Photographer - Sølve Sundsbø

Model - Suvi Koponen

Life in Black and White

Photographer - Chris Nicholls

Model - Samantha Rayner

The Obsession

Photographer - Anthony Maule

Model - Eniko Mihalik

I understand that the clothes chosen in each of these images are very bold and simply and it may not work with what i'm doing. I definitely feel as though it's something I need to try and would be good to learn how to add graphical elements to my images.

Egyptian Influenced Photo Shoot 4

Egypt Influenced Photo Shoot

I'm beginning to think about the idea of taking influences from different cultures and re creating them through fabric and the make-up and hair. I found a blog called 'Fashion Source Book', which speaks about the way Egyptian clothing was worn. In comparison to the historical references it gives, it also gives a contemporary example from a recent catwalk. Below is examples of some Egyptian art which I would like to draw reference to in terms of the material and possibly jewelry I could use.

  

This is the contemporary example Fashion source book gives, it is influenced from  ancient Egyptian clothing.  I would like to study further into the materials they would use and think about how I could use it as influence towards my ideas. 

For this shoot (Monday 27th January) I plan to photograph Magda Marzec in the studio. I want to use influences from Egyptian culture and style by using the white material I have and experimenting with what I can create from it. My nail artist, Emily Putman will be using Ciate, colourfoil to create metallic texture to the nails. This is important as  my aim is to photograph detail and the texture within the image, from the material used down to the the nails and make up. I will be using the same material as the previous shoot but will be using the black backdrop and hope to create strong contrasts. Going back to the idea of taking influences from Egyptian cultures, I hope to experiment in different ways of using the material.

Pre-Production

Here are some images from the prep of the nails for tomorrow. 

Make Up Ideas

I would like the make up to be subtle and not too obvious, to avoid it from looking unprofessional. It is a complete experiment, it could go really well or if could go completely wrong. I love the way the eyeliner has been done here, it goes against the actual eye line, therefore exaggerating the eyes.  

I love this make up but it is something I would have to do on my next shoot if this goes successfully. Here are some more images I found for ideas:

Erwin Blumenfeld

Erwin Blumenfeld

Erwin Blumenfeld's is one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century and holds a career of thirty five years. His work ranges from celebrity portraiture, to black and white nudes, to advertising campaigns and is well known for his fashion photography.
His obsession was with beautiful women, capturing some of the most iconic images in the world. His fetish for beauty, was expressed through his images, photographing images for Vogue and Bazaar.

"He defined the way that we think of the 40's and 50's looked, not necessarily how the 40's and 50's looked but how we think it looked and that's what makes him a great photographer because if you define an age visually for the rest of time then youve created something amazing" - Rankin

I have chosen two of his images which are shown above. The reason that these two stood out to me was the way in which he has used the fabrics, and compsed his models. I like the way the models body is pressing against the fabric to create tension and shape. The top image evokes less tension and the composition of the model is a lot more natural and relaxed but the way the material is placed over her head makes it seem much more surreal, and mysterious. Yet the image is still so beautifully photographed.

Photo Shoot 3 - The Air Element

Photo Shoot 3

In preparation for this photo shoot I went to the market to buy some material, the only thing I had in mind was the colour being white. I ended up finding this translucent material, which looked as though the lighting would work well with it. It made me question how it would look with the white backdrop, I had this image in my head of something quite contemporary and clinical looking. I arranged my model, Molly Vandervell and my assistant and make up artist, Farrah Watts and booked a studio for Friday Morning. 

On the day of the shoot, I had a rough idea in mind what I wanted to experiment with. We attempted to do a similar look to this image below, but it came out unsuccessfully with us having no black paint and only a dark blue. I went up to the store to buy some black paint and charcoal to see how it would look by changing the colour but by the time I got back I had decided I wanted to make her whole face white and then add the shadowing on top with the charcoal once the white had dried.

 I went up to the store to buy some black paint and charcoal to see how it would look by changing the colour but by the time I got back I had decided I wanted to make her whole face white and then add the shadowing on top with the charcoal once the white had dried. Here is a shot of Farrah touching up the make up.

I experimented with the lighting a lot as I have not worked with the white backdrop much as black or grey would usually be my first choice. I began by bleaching the backdrop out by placing to soft boxes facing onto the back drop. This shot involves the previous make up that went wrong but shows how I lit the set to begin with.

I didn't particularly like the bleach out as it reminded me of the photos you get in a family portrait studio, it was too plain looking, there was nothing artistic about the image, therefore I started experimenting with the light in the foreground rather than the back ground to see what I would get. This is an unedited shot but was the result of my lighting experiment. I didnt feel as though it was very successful and looked very flat. 

Here is an example of two of my work in progress's, they are still in need of further editing.

Post production was a very time consuming process. I have spent hours on them and teaching myself how to airbrush through watching YouTube videos and finding out different ways of doing so. My fashion friend who went to Berlin for the fashion week mentioned how the five elements are coming into fashion. I looked tried researching this but found an article from back in 2008 but was very relevant to this theme:

"On our pages you may have read the article and seen the video of the campaign of the fashion manifestation Quelle Fashion.hr spring/summer 09, which will be held from July 10 to 12 in Zadar. 

Famous Croatian fashion photographer, Mare Milin, shot a campaign called “Peti Element” (The Fifth Element) and here are the results. The campaign shows four female models who symbolise the four elements of nature: fire, water, earth and air, and fashion as the element on which the other four meet each other.

- First of all, as a photographer I had to adapt to the theme which the producer assigned, due to the concept of architectonic wonder itself, such as “Sea Organs” and “Farewell to the Sun”. The theme itself got off from the cohesion of the four elements (fire, water, earth and air) and their presence in fashion. We thought fashion in a new context as the junction point where the elements mix with one another. We concentrated on evoking these elements of nature serving “dressing” in fashion photography, and in fashion in general. Here I mainly refer to fashion accessories which often have an important influence in many editorials, as in defining someone’s fashion awareness. The idea itself is extremely decent and discrete, it celebrated the female body and sends a series of messages through the mentioned accessories. For example, the model who holds a scarf who dances in the wind symbolises the air, the model next to there with a quiet and proud expression on her face and a necklace represents the earth, the third model with sunglasses and warm reflection marks fire and warmth, and the fourth model completely fresh and aquatic represents water. This is what I personally wanted to add to the campaign: a process of reading between the lines which I use in my work – said Mare Milin after shooting the campaign.

Apart from Mare Milin, as art director of the campaign, the director of Fashion.hr, Vinko Filipic, explained his view of the concept of “Fifth Element”.

- As we set the manifestation from the point of view of the creation and production, the story of the four elements jumped out on its own, and today it will be present during the review in Zadar. Reviews are held on an installation which absorbs solar energy (fire) and in that way goes on living after sunset. Then are Sea organs and an immediate closeness to the seas (water), the sounds mix with summer breeze which kisses the shore (air), and the final touch, it all takes place on the shore (earth). We called Mare Milin to interpret our view of Zadar. In this way we go towards the end of the story which follows a logic, because we will all be exposed to the game of the mentioned elements, and in this way we will celebrate fashion as an expression of human creativity.

The head roles in the campaign were played by Croatian models with experience abroad: Lea Gobo and Lana Petanic from Talia Model, and Midikenn’s Ana Popovic and Malina Grahek." - Daljie.com, June 26th 2008

I decided to look into this concept of the four elements in order to work around  a theme. This I will be looking further into within my research.

POST PRODUCTION

Below is an example of post production on my bottom image. I began with airbrushing the skin which is a detailed process. I began by creating a mask for the skin which was create through using the colour range to highlight in detil just the skin. I then used a combination of high pass, gaussian blur, and emboss and adjusted the mode to overlay/linear/soft light to create the air brush/glamour glow to the skin. I then wanted to add texture back to the skin, where I added in noise and adjusted the opacities of each filter to create just the right textures to the skin. I also used the liquify tool to adjust areas and cloned out the background. 

Here is a few samples of the edited photos:

This was the first time I had experimented with the white backdrop. The light worked quite nicely in lighting it from behind the model, where I placed it at head height. For my next photo shoot I need to concentrate on the foreground lighting in order to create more depth to the image. Currently there's a lack of shadow to her face so I plan to use the light meter in order to construct and manipulate the lighting to bring more outline to the strong features of her face. 
The outcome of the material is aesthetically successful in creating this air type element. When printing my test images, I placed next to them a quote. 

"To connect with the power of the air element, find a place with clear air and breathe deeply. Touch a feather or inhale the fragrance of a heavily scented flower. Let yourself experience the energy of this element, and reflect that we also possess air energy within ourselves" 

This made me start to think about perfume campaigns and whether this quote is relative to these images in an artistic way or whether it makes the image seem more commercial. This is something I need to think about through my shoots. 

Research - Air Element

Research - Air Element

Elizaveta Porodina

I stumbled across this photographers work by looking through Institute magazine images on Facebook. I had a look on her website and was instantly drawn into her beautiful portfolio.

The tones in her images are the soft, and beautiful - similarly to the historical paintings I've been looking at. She is a photographer based in Germany and has her work featured in Dazed Magazine. The work Porodina makes is very contemporary and fashion based, it is also very surreal, and digitally manipulated - Photoshop is something I would like to further my knowledge on. I would like to be able to perfect airbrushing and be able to add affects in a subtle ways. I usually do not agree with over photo shopping, I like to do most of the work in front of the camera, but would love to be able to touch up the skin with a high professional standard.

This is the work I found of hers which was published in Dazed magazine. It's very visually similar to the way i'm working with material, which I found in a lot of her work. She is the perfect person to be studying in relation to my project. 

I found it interesting reading up on the interview she had with Satellite Voices, who asks her about what influenced her to get into fashion photography. She speaks about how she wanted a new artistic direction as she got bored of illustration and drawing and she found she could create what she loved within the frame of a camera. She looks to capture "strangely beautiful people, their aesthetics, and the way they interpret clothes with their personal dynamics" - Eleziveta Porodino (interview with dazed magazine)
The way she works also grabbed my attention as usually I plan my shoots thoroughly before shooting, arranging locations, models, actors, props and clothing  - whereas this term I wanted to completely experiment and see what I come out with. The only thing I am planning is what material I would like to use, and to have a vague idea of make up and lighting.

"I would describe it as experimental. Before shooting I only have a vague idea about the moments I want to capture; often this idea changes radically when I see how the model fits into the location and the clothes. I always try to leave my mind wide open for new and strange impulses and my intuition that leads me to unexplored experiences." - Eliziveta Porodino 

  

Ekaterina Belinskay

 

Ekaterina Belinska (born 5th February 1988) is a a commercial and editorial photographer, shooting for fashion magazines in Moscow, Paris and Milan.  The degree she studied was the complete opposite to anything creative, acheiving a diploma of engineer-ecologist. similarly to Kirsty Mitchell, she creates her own unique designs from accessories to clothes, she also works with professional designers, make-up artists and stylists. Her work is beautifully mysterious and extremely fascinating in the way the dresses are composed in the images. 

Her work makes me think about how I will experiment with my chosen fabric. I need to consider how I can style it around the body as it will not be a dress and how to highlight the figure in a complimentary manner. In the studio I will experiment with the lighting, and I would like to try lighting the model from behind to see what effect it will create through the material. I hope to get a atherial glow around the models head. I want to exaggerate as much as I can with the models height, therefore shoot from a lower angle.  

Greek Art

Greek Art

After looking at Vadim Stein and seeing that his education in sculpture came through his work, I've decided to look into some sculpture work myself. Statues have a huge element of structure and power to them and the people who are depicted always hold a strong stance. 

This is very relative to Edward Weston's work on Formalism, his work is based around natural objects and women body's - it is said that he "revolutionized the form" (Sean O'Hagan). 

He brought photography out of the victorian age by photographing the simple and turning it into somehing beautiful - to make the simple unusual. He would photograph even the smallest objects that somebody could easily look past, such as sea shells and photographed them in such a beautiful tonal quality that they were turned into something quite "mystical and erotic" (A vintage print of one of his seashells, Nautilus, 1927, sold for $1,082,500 at Sotheby's New York In April). 

To me when you compare this image by Edward Weston above and the image of this sculpture below there's similar aesthetics to both images. After placing the the sculpture below the image of the pepper, to me it has transformed her body into an abstract form.

CAUGHT MY EYE

This image really caught my eye in terms of the material, contrast and tones in the image. Considering it's female, there is something quite overpowering about the way she is gazing at this object she holds.