Eric Kellerman

Eric Kellerman is a Briton who has lived near Nijmegen in the Netherlands for just over half his life. In 2008 he retired from academia to spend more time on his photography. Specialising in the nude' he works almost entirely in the studio with a regular team of female collaborations, most of whom have serious interest in movement. Sometimes when nobody is available he photographs vegetables and fruit out of desperation. He describes his work to be distant, abstract, melancholic, 'un erotic' despite his subject matter. He emphasises line, geometrical form, texture, implicit movement, and above all, chiaroscuro. He likes to create ambiguity in his photos, so that the viewer is unsure about what part of the body is being looked at. In this way, he attempts to free the female body of its conventional associations.

This is one of his collection of images called 'The Box' where he has photographed women in a box creating weird and wonderful shapes with their bodies. This photo i love because of her position and this is what i mostly like about all his collection. The fact she is using up all the space is also very interesting, the way she is on her tip toes creates an elegance to the photograph even though her arm muscles seem tense there is a sense of calm. I think also because the models are naked it creates a feel of expression even though she is inside a box, it almost reminds me of ballet and how slender they are. I also love the fact she is bent over and her hair is covering her face because she is looking down, it's almost as if she is too big to fit in so she has to mold herself into a shape so that she can fit.

This next photo is probably my favorite in this collection mainly because of her position, even though it is a tricky position to be in, it feels and looks so elegant and also the fact her hands are caressing her foot just seems so subtle considering the difficulty of the position. Also what i love about this photograph is her hair and the way it drops down to the floor yet you can still see her face and that she looks so relaxed as if this were a regular thing she does. I just love the angle of her arm that is twisted through her legs and her left leg is almost acting as if she were walking. I would love to achieve a photograph like this because i feel that it is just so beautiful in the way it is captured and it's as if they are just making the most of the space they have in the box and they are being really creative.

This image really stands out to me because of the shaping of the arms. It's like a perfect U shape and it really emphasizes the collar bones which are just before the head comes in. I love how the head is looking up to the ceiling of the box as you can just make out the features of her face and i think it is needed to add a little detail to the photo. The legs almost contradict what the arms are doing and i think this is what makes the photograph so effective and make it stand out. Again she is trying to use up all of the space which i love about these photos, also in some other examples of his work the model has only used half of the box which i also find really effective considering the position they are in. But when they use up most of the space it's almost as if even though they are in a box, they are free, that they can open up whilst inside that box.

Some of his other work

Richard Vantielcke

My first photographer that i have chosen to analyse is Richard Vantielcke. He is a French freelance photographer currently living in Paris. He says himself that his work focuses on the light and shadows and also night photography, also he says that his work has a poetic, dreamlike often humorous approach, but always thoughtful in spite of appearances.  Richard Vantielcke has repeatedly tried a unique approach to narrative photography through "conceptual photo novels", mixing narrative cinema and meaningful photographic framing construction to serve a story. The photos i am interested in are the ones from his Conceptual Phtotgraphy section where he has used the idea of boxes through his work.

This photo below is one of many of his collection to do with his idea of boxes and through his collection they seem to all tell a story. What i really like about this photo is the use of the light and the shadows that are used. Also the use of a bulb setting on his camera he seems to get the effect of the models arms being in two places at once which i find really effective. Because the box is over the models head does not show the expression yet that is made up for the fact of how he is standing and the way his arms are placed which then fully shows the emotion of what the person is feeling and that you don't have to see the face to realise what is going on.

 

 

This image is in the same place as the previous place yet has a different story to it. Again the lighting and shadowing in the photo really brings out the message of the photograph, In this photograph the model is reaching out of a box still with the box on the head. The fact that he is in a large box really reminds me of being suffocated and trapped and with him reaching out of the box, you can see the hunger to get out of the box and it is almost like he is being dragged into the box. This could have many different meaning to do with his lifestyle and the reason that he is feeling like this. I really like these photographs because i think it is a really good way of showing emotion without looking at the face and the expression. It is like he is showing expression in his body movements and positions.

 

Now this image is also very interesting because it seems to be telling a story and this is what Richard lieks to do with his photographs and with this photo it seems to lead on from the previous photo and that he seems to be engulfed into the box. With his work i just love how he has used the box to show emotion because i think it is a really good way to show how someone is feeling with things like he has done in his work. The fact that it also tells a story is really effective as this is what i want to achieve with my work in creating a story or just one photograph is telling a story through it, and this is why i chose to analyse these selection of Richards' photographs as it gives me some ideas and inspiration for what i want to achieve in my own work.

 

Some others of his work

 

MoodBoards

These are my moodboards for my title, boxes. I have searched the internet looking for images and also linking it back to my mind map that i created. In these moodboards it gives me an idea for what i would like to achieve at the end of this project. There are a few different subject matters in these photos all expressing different things which gives me a positive view on this topic as it could be very limiting to what you could come up with. I would like to think these moodboards would help me to develop my own ideas.

Mind Map on Boxes

 

This is my mind map on my chosen title, boxes. This will help me with my initial ideas and experimenting with what to do with my project. I tried to think of different sides to boxes and what they could represent without going into much detail. These words will hopefully spark up an idea that i could potentially use.