I pulled out my Francesca Woodman book again today. It was a present from my Mum and Dad for Christmas and it has totally had me totally absorbed over the holidays (aside from my dissertation of course...ahem!) Being a colour junkie, it has reminded me of the power but also amazing fragility that black and white photography can possess. As you can see in the examples above, Woodmans sensitivity is spine-chillingly beautiful. Her work is very explorative of composition, light and figure. It appears to me that the there is a strong narrative of exploring both with regards to technique and also personally with reference to the female figure. The exploring, although youthful is executed in a very mature, observant way. Woodman only produced a very small collection of photos as she died very young (aged 22) but she is known as a very important photographer of the last century. She is certainly someone who has continued to inspire my work since my g.c.s.e's.
This New Year's eve my friend Ollie also took great black and white photos of the evening. His portraits are great-full of character and very witty. Although many, myself included can't help but play up to the camera, his portraits still manage to perfectly capture personality and atmosphere. Not mentioning how everyone's skin looks so peachy and smooth...! I am wondering whether they have had a cheeky little touching-up session or whether he used special film/lighting etc (you can tell I know my shit!) or MAYBE all his victims were really completely angelic! Ha!! don't think so....
You can see Ollie's work soon on his website www.olliegrove.com (currently under construction) or at the moment on his myspace
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