Independent Research - Vee Speers

Vee Speers was born in Newcastle, Australia in 1962. She is an Austrialian photographer living in Paris. She studied photography and fine art at Queensland College of Art in Brisbane, after which she worked for 5 years as a stills photographer for the company ABC Television and Radio. After a short stay in france in 1990, she then decided to make a permanent move to Paris, which she described as having 'unlimited potential and endless creative inspiration'.

In 2002, she decided to visit the 1920's world of Les Maisons closes in Paris and used the backdrop of actual luxurious locations (these are still intact today).

During this time, Speers began photographing eccentric people she met on her travels, in order to show her admiration and ambition to photograph those who 'dare to be different'. However, it wasn't until she looked towards her own family and childhood for photographic inspiration that she became truly known in the world of art for the series 'The Birthday Party', however, she also has many other series of portraits, all equally unusual, such as 'Thirteen', 'Bordello' and 'Immortal'. In her photos, Speers likes to explore hidden realities, and says 'my photographs are linked to the human condition, the complexity of who we really are beneath the surface'. 

The Birthday Party (pictured above) is Vee Speers' first series of photographs and it was they that truly established her place in the art world. It is a series of portraits, all of huaunting beautiful children. They are all very simple, and through their simplicity creates visual intensity, reminding us that the violence and conflict of the modern world is the reality of life underneath the costume fantasies children often appear to live in. The photo's seem to demand an emotional reaction from the viewer as you look at them, as the children quietly seeming to stare straight through you in a ghostly manner, telling you of the underlaying traumas in their lives. The key to these portraits is Vee Speers' gift to be able to blur the line between fantasy and reality, bizarre and beautiful, leaving a sense of unease with the viewer as they look at these photographs. Some people see these unusual portraits as portraits not of children, but of different aspects of childhood that are generally unaknowledged.

The photos were inspired after Speers watched her children playing dress up and shot against the same grey wall on the rooftop of her Paris appartement over the course of two summers. Speers said 'I always shot them against the same old grey wall in order to keep all the photos visually and conceptually consistent. After that each one tells a different story; different emotion and personality - depending on the child or the costume, or the attitude'. 

The 'Immortal' Series (pictured above)

The Thirteen Series (pictured above)

 

My SlideShare on Vee Speers:

Vee speers from BeCcA_PhOtOgRaPhY

Depth of Field

Link : Definition of 'Depth of Field'
This photo is From the Disney Dream series by Annie Leibovitz. The Depth of Field in this photo is very deep, meaning that everything in the frame is in focus.

Lighting

Link : Definition of 'Lighting'
This photograph was taken by Vee Speers from the series "The Birthday Party" The lighting is thes photo is straightforward but effective with the theme of the photo. It is all pale and dull colours, except for the dress and tights of the girl. Direct lighting is being used (soft light that creates no shadows) for maximum effect of the chilling beauty of the child being photographed.

Focal Point

Link : Definition of 'Focal Point'
This photograph is taken by John Hedgecoe of the British artist and sculptor Henry John Moore. The focal point of this photo is Moore's hands. This is to show his profession as an artist and sculptor, as he has to use his hands a lot for his work. Although Moore's hands are closest to the camera lens, so drawing your eye to them, the whole picture is actullay sharp and focused, with no blurrred edges or background.

Composition

Link : Definition of 'Composition'
This photo is taken by Perou. The compostion of this photo is very striking. There has beeen a lot of diagonal lines used to create lots of dynamics within the photograph. Also, the model is dressed all in white against a black background, making her stand out, the the guitar is black on top of the white dress to capture your eyes. It does not use many colours but is still extremely contrasting. The sparkly mirror panels on the guitar make it stand out more so that the main focus of the picture is on the guitar. It is a full body shot and the model is just right of the center of the picture, meaning there is a lot of the black background showing, giving the feeling that the darkness behind her stretches on forever.

First Analysis

This is a photo from the series 'The Birthday Party' by Vee Speers.
She is an Austrialian photographer that lives in Paris, most famously known for her series of photographs named 'The Birthday Party'.
All of the photos in this series are of hauntingly beautiful children, all pale and dull colours except for often one stand out point - in the case of this photo, the black pigeon. All of the photos in this series are set against the same light background. It is quite a light photo, not dark and without any shadows. Also, most of the photos are full body or almost full body photos, none close up. Although your eyes are automatically drawn to the girl and the pigeon in the photo, there is no particular camera focus as all of the image is sharp.
I love this photo because it is spooky but at the same time beautiful and gives off a sense of unnerving purity to those looking at it. I like the style of these photos because they are so simple but really effective at the same time.

First Analysis

Annie (full name Anne-Lou) Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer. This is a photo from the "Alice in Wonderland" inspired photoshops she did for Vogue in 2009.
Born in Waterbury in Connecticut on the 2nd of October 1949, she is the third of six children. In 1970, she began to work for the just started magazine, 'The Rolling Stone' after studying art and music for several years.
One of the series of images from the "Alice in Wonderland" shoot, this particular image showing the point at which in the story where Alice grows and shrinks repeatedly after drinking a little bottle of some mysterious substance.
I think that this photo has been taken in a studio using a digital camera as it is a fairly modern photo. The props have been scaled in the picture so as to make 'Alice' appear bigger whilst being a regular sized girl in reality. It is a fairly dark photo though with some highlighted areas; Alice's face and legs are fairly light whilst her chest is shaded and dark in comparison. There is no particular focus to this photo as it is all in focus, although as a viewer your eyes are automatically drawn to the fact Alice is so much larger than the house around her.
I love the scaling of this photo; it really gives the viewer the impression that 'Alice' has grown to be cramped in the house. I also like the different shades of blue used throughout the picture as it gives a subtle sense of repetition throughout the photo. What I don't like about the photo is that it looks a little too posed, some posing is good but the way in which everything is positioned gives off the impression of organisation and arrangement and I don't like the fact that it is so arranged, in my opinion it would be better if it looked as if it was in a little more disarray after Alice has just grown to the size of the house as you would expect she would have knocked things over whilst growing; this would have linked it more to the book that the shoot is based around.