Literature Review
Laura Parkinson
Consumerism and fairytales
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Grimm Brothers (1812). Grimm Fairytales. Germany
The stories from the Grimm Brothers in Grimm Fairytales have been the main inspiration
for my photographic research and practice. I mainly focused upon the stories
from Snow White, Hansel and Gretel and Red Riding Hood, and pulled quotes from
them about food and drink that were consumed during the stories. Quotes such as
“it’s apple pies that make the mensfolks’ mouths water” and “lets drop these
bread crumbs so that together we find our way home, because losing our way
would be the most cruel of things”. These quotes will formulate the text for my
experimental advertisements in preparation for my actual project for my final
major project module.
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Jennifer Ann Hill. (2011). Endangered childhoods: how consumerism is
impacting child and youth identity. Media, Culture & Society. 33
(3), 347-362.
Jennifer Ann Hill wrote about
the effects that advertising culture has upon the younger generation, which
relates to my research into the Disney culture and how it sells. She cited from
Jhally saying “to not be influenced by advertising would be to live outside of
culture. No human being lives outside of culture.”. She also comments on the
fact that “children become socialized in consumer cultures their childhoods
will have been so shortened that many will scarcely remember a time when they
were not operating as a consumer”. It was an insight into the statistics
relating to consumer culture and how advertisements and photography can make
people want a product or an object when it is made out to be ‘designer’ or ‘in
demand’.
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Carl Warner (2012). A World of Food: Discover Magical Lands Made of
Things You Can Eat!. London: Abrams
Carl Warner was the main
inspiration into my food photography and is someone I would like to look more
in depth to when I continue this concept into my final major project. In a book
that is aimed for children, but so informative, he talks about his works and
shows us his food landscapes in a beautifully printed book. His collection of
work looks into how he constructed fairytale landscapes out of food and
Photoshop.
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Cindy Sherman (2003), The Complete
Untitled Film Stills. New York: The Museum of Modern Art
Cindy Sherman is an
influential self-portrait photographer that I have been inspired by for a
number of years, and it seemed only right that I looked at my favourite book by
her; Untitled Film Stills, for my research on how to take inspirational but
meaningful images represented by the fairytales. Although her work doesn’t look into fairytales specifically, it
gave me ideas for poses and editing techniques that I can use in
my own work, especially that of making my images black and white with high
contrast.
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Susan Bright (2010), Auto-Focus:
The Self Portrait in Contemporary Photography. London: Thames and Hudson
Susan Bright’s book was my
first port of call when it came to researching alternative self portraits after
my initial exploration into the work of Kyle Thompson. I was mostly inspired by
the work of Tracey Rose, Florence Paradeis and Ananke Asseff.
Ananke Asseff looks at
“provocative hybrid of self portraiture and landscape photography”, her
photographs are beautifully shot, blending the line between human and natural
form. Her work, especially the piece of the photographer sitting in the snow in
a white outfit from the series “Fragments of Paradise” inspired me to look for
surreal weather conditions to take my photographs in, such as snow, fog and
rain.
Florence Paradeis give the
impression of a mysterious and well planned out moments from a film series,
similar to the work of Gregory Crewdson but more artistic and dramatic. “Her
photographs are carefully orchestrated to create oblique mis-en-scènes which,
at times, are both cinematic and theatrical”.
Tracey Rose looks at personal
and national identity from her own stance, and considers the identity of
herself with her strong Catholic upbringing and varied ancestry background. I
was not inspired by all of her work, but mostly by the image titled “Ciao
Bella, Ms Cast, Venus Baartman, 2001”. It shows the photographer running in a
crouched position through an overgrown field. It was the location that inspired
me so much, and made me think more about my images and where they were being
taken.
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Nicole S. Young (2011), Food
Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots. London: Peachpit Press
I have not taken food
photography images before, so reluctantly I decided to take to Amazon and
purchase a food photography tutorial book for beginners to get used to the
lighting and set up needed for professional food photography. The author of
this book is a full time freelance food and commercial photographer, and her
experience and knowledge was so beneficial in influencing my practice and I
feel now that I have gained so much more knowledge in food photography and they
really helped my final images appear much more professional.
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