Feminist or Photographer? A social experiment behind and in front of the camera.
By bryony edwards
29 Apr 2009
I am a photographer, and a feminist. These dichotomy of the two conflicting interests is the subject of my final project for a Visual Communications degree.
In order to explore the way that the glamour/ fashion and beauty photographer and feminist in me interact i have chosen to be active as a model aswell... A bit of a social experiment.
How do i feel modeling? If i don't like being on the models side of the camera then i can't condone being on the photographers side.
The Final Major Project, for me, is a way for me to explore how the two conflicting interests, photography and feminism, can work together.
Essentially I will be exploring, not necessarily answering, he following questions:
• Why, as a feminist, do I enjoy taking the kind of pictures that, in publication, offend me?
• How, as a feminist, can I condone my professional practice as a studio photographer?
• How, as a photographer, would I be able to earn a living taking 'feminist' images?
• Do I really HAVE to take 'feminist' images to be a feminist?
• With all things considered, am I really a feminist, or just a girl who likes a good bitch about men?
Along side this little dichotomy I will also be:
• Extending and diversifying my portfolio
• Making contact with photographers
• Working on my time management and organisation skill
• Trying to take on larger scale shoot
• Collaborating with/ managing Make Up Artists (MUA's), Wardrobe Stylists and Models
Strategy
In order to further explore the ideas presented previously I am advertising myself on a model/photographer networking website as, not only a photographer (see attachment 1), but also as a model (see attachment 2).
This website allows me to organise shoots as a photographer, getting in touch with models, MUA's and wardrobe stylists, chatting with photographers nationwide, getting tips, and even assisting work.
Anticipated outcome
The idea of this project is, mainly to get leads to as much paid work as possible, otherwise I will end up as a dirty hobo in 3 months time. But as a sideline to this, I have the goals of:
• Being a confident, lively and talented professional photographer.
• Understanding myself both as a practitioner and as a feminist, the two need not correlate.
• Having more large scale, unique, interesting shots in my portfolio.
• Possibly even having been paid for doing some modelling...
So Far.....
I have noticed a difference in the way models and photographers talk on networking sites. As a photographer i speak concisely and matter-of-fact-ly, however as a model i feel i must "babes" and "honey" it up a bit in order to compete with the other models, despite knowing full well that, as a photographer, i would never choose a model based on how cute her emails were.
Even just the name on my profile had to change in order for me to be a model. I felt my last name wasn't "model-y" enough so i changed it to Bryony Boo, whereas i felt it was perfectly fine to have my photographer name as just bryony photography.
I did my first shoot, for this project, as a model the other day and i didn't feel uncomfortable even though it was a topless shoot. Now i am trying to work through the reasons why it didn't feel wrong glamour modeling, in just the same way as i don't feel wrong taking glamour images as a photographer, but yet the presence of these images in the mainstream media drive me crazy because they perpetuate the idea of mass produced beauty.
Hmmmm....... I'll keep working on it and probably post another installment at a later date.
Signing off...... but as who?
Bryony Boo
Bryony Photography
1 response
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Brian Hinesley said (29 Apr 2009):
I think there will always be a never ending battle between our other half, because we are after all not perfect.. i fight with my self everyday.. i criticize people that eat fatty foods, and do zero exercise, and bitch about it yet i have days where i do the very same thing.There are other incidents where i do the same exact thing but that's human nature.. we are all hypocritical in a sense.
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