'U' ---- what is ugly in the eyes of society

Make up vs no make up.

Even though it is natural to not wear make up, it is now more socially acceptable to wear it than to not. These photos show the natural vs the unnatural leaving people to decide what is ugly, the fake side of it, of the side that is usually hidden; the make up side. 

Paolo Roversi- Photographer

Paolo Roversi

Paolo's work is very elegant. I find his use of dimming colours down and also his use of black and white photography really gives it this feminine and classy feel to it which instantly makes you look as it is very pretty. Paolo felt he had no technique to his work, as he said “My photography is more subtraction than addition. I always try to take off things. We all have a sort of mask of expression. You say goodbye, you smile, you are scared. I try to take all these masks away and little by little subtract until you have something pure left. A kind of abandon, a kind of absence. It looks like an absence, but in fact when there is this emptiness I think the interior beauty comes out. This is my technique.''

I really find that Paolo's use of dimming down the colour tone in the colours makes you focus more onto the detail of the model and what is in the photos. From this I find myself looking at the little thing such as her nose, lips and cheek bones rather than the flamboyant headdress she is wearing.

Stephen Klein- Photographer

                                       Stephen Klein

Stephen's work is modern yet not usual, there is always something popping up in his work that makes you think 'What?' and 'Why?' I love the use of colour he uses, and how his sets are always out of the ordinary. I find this really caught my eye, and that is why I like his work so much.

Klein has worked making advertisements as well, such as for D&G, Nike and Alexander McQueen, and also worked with Madonna, Rihanna and Gaga to help with their background videos and photos on tour and also to photograph them for their perfume ranges.

I think the thing I love about Stephen's work is that it doesn't need to make you look for something you like in his photos, however the striking poses and colours he uses instantly draw you in.

Corrine Day- Photographer

Corrine Day
when I discovered Corrine Day's work, I really enjoyed looking through it. Even though she took photos of models in a serious way for magazines, she made them look like a friend had taken them, not just a photographer who barely knew the model. The photo's that inspired me to look closer into her work are the 'Drugs' collection, which she got highly criticised for, however I find them pictures that most teenagers of today can relate to with house parties and drinking with their friends. I found being able to link myself to the image made me really like her work.

I think the main thing that made me really like Corrine's photography is that she is honest, her photos tell the truth and she is not sugar coating them like many magazine photographers, and the other reason is that her photos feel almost friendly and homely, like looking through your phone camera pictures or a photo album at home.

Adam Fuss- Photogram Artist

Adam Fuss

Adam is an English photographer and made his first photogram in 1986. His work gives the feel of showing energy and feeling rather than just an object or image, which are based around the themes of life and death.

The fact of his photograms not just showing an objects caught my eye and made me think about the piece, which had me thinking up my own story behind the photogram. My favourite piece by Adam is 'invocation', the piece below, showing a baby. I really like this one specifically as it shows colours of the sun, like the baby has just been born and is opening it's eyes for the first time to see light. I also find it gives a feel of an aura around the person.

Adam made this piece by simply getting a mother to lay their child on a piece of photograph paper, in a tray of shallow water and then flashed a light directly onto it. This created the beautiful rippled texture in the background, which also makes me think of opening your eyes in the light as it resembles the squiggles you get in your sight when looking at the sun for too long.

Floris Neususs- Photogram Artist

Floris Neususs

Floris was born in Germany and dedicated the entire of his life to learning and teaching about the art of making photograms to the best of his ability. Floris creates a surreal detachment from the real world with these photograms and I really enjoy this. I also really like his study of using people in his work, as it gives it almost an eerie feeling, like they're not quite real however not non fiction either, like they're not quite on this planet.

I also really like the meaning behind some of his photo grams such as the one bellow which is untitled, as he describes his people photograms as them floating almost like they aren't really here, almost being dreamlike. I find that him creating these in black and white helps with the idea of them not being on this world as they have no colour like this planet.

Ethan Jantzer- Photogram Artist

Ethan Jantzer

Ethan began taking photography back to its natural roots when in a photo lab he decided to experiment with blank films and lighting, and later on described this work as 'a sun burn on a film' (by pouring liquids such as Windex and Gatorade to create the coloured and vibrant effect). He would make his photograms out of anything that he particularly liked such as fish, grass, leaves and most natural objects.

Ethan's work really caught my eye as he makes such simple shapes look effective and vibrant, making things that we take for granted in every day life stand out and catch our eye.

I also like the use of using a variety of liquids in his photograms, as without the colours, I don't think it would be as pleasing to the eye. These colours make very everyday things stand out from  a crowd and I think this is what I like so much about his work.