Heather Dalton
Photographer/Artist
The BEEHIVE. – Manon Pilarz
The poems below are the work of (above) Manon Pilarz, which was read at the Beehive. (Portrait taken by Heather Dalton).
The Year Book. – Danielle Rohan
The fear now is that the project is starting to loose momentum. Over the weekend only one of four shoots was completed because people kept cancelling. Luckily for Daniel’s shoot we were blessed with some wonderful weather, although a bit misty. The image above is one which I took through the grand glass of the camera using Danielle’s phone, in order to document the process.
Women.
This is an experimentation with technique and an image that I have taken. This is a side project, and the plan is to create a series of portraits of women, modelled after the style of classical painting portraits.
It is important to note that I started off this work in response to a piece submitted for the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize which was included in the exhibited show, although – I am not sure if it was shortlisted. It felt more like a challenge than anything, the portrait was digitally styled after paintings, and the artist who submitted it claimed to have taken six months to produce it. In response I wanted to experiment with this style of photographic portraiture, which has resulted in a new project looking at the truth within the image with regard to the photographed female form.
Rebecca Martinez Zoila – the image ‘With Freckles’ was also included in this show. I enjoyed the depth of the concept, and the relationship between truth, expectation, and the warping of familial values and interpretation.
Other work which I looked at while beginning this project:
Andrew Pinkham – I enjoyed the style of these images, and his work helped me to identify that I did not want to decontextualize my subjects through the use of ‘old world’ fashion. Michelle Dupont – The portraits that she has in her ‘people’ section I find to be the most inspiring. It is mainly the clean complexion paired with soft lighting and the creativity they suggest. Oleg Dou – These CG portraits were most inspiring with regard to their simplicity and perfection as well as the conceptual weight held within each series. Joanna Kustra – I liked her work with regard to the lighting of the images, as well as the composition of a few of them. Andrzej Dragan – I found the personal work most inspiring because of its hyper-real nature. The over saturation of colors and clarity of the images is most powerful in combination. Moreover, the fact that they have been edited is obvious elevating the work to a different level of interpretation. However, the subtlety of this puts into question the indexicality of the image as well as the intent of the perspective held by the viewer. Richard Vantielek – this work I found when I was looking for conceptual portraiture. I enjoy the narrative that the images display, as well as the dark grey settings. Maki Kawakita – I found the theatrical nature of the work most inspiring. My favorite work was by far the second commission which had a surreal element. I liked the strong make up in combination with the perfection in the complexion and styling of the models. Amazing CG Portraits – This is a general blog which I stumbled upon, which highlights some very well executed CG portraits.
The Year Book. – Girls by the Sea
‘The Year Book’ is a project which explores the nature of portraiture photography within different mediums and the different purposes, styles, and practicalities presented within portraiture. The plan is to document the importance of 41 people and their relationships to one another as members of an institution. Hopefully this will be achieved through the creation of ‘The Year Book’ Furthermore, a series of images documenting the process of making the year book will also be produced to greater inform the value of the myth. These will be included at the beginning of every post and followed by a slideshow or gallery of the final portraits produced. Hopefully I will also be able to update these posts at a later date to include the negative scans.
Visual and Conceptual Influences
It was suggested that I consider the work of Alison Jackson. The convincing nature of her work, including her website, has open my concept of the project into the spectrum of the greater myth. I am now considering the medium of the myth and where and how it can be disbursed, and how this affects the overall interpretation of the piece and its progression. The reason I have linked to her bio is to allow for people to immediately understand the relationship between the work she produces and the social/political commentary it makes as contemporary art.
I am also exploring the work produced by Eric Kessels magazine; In Almost Every Picture (#7)
Being Holy. – The Working Diary
This post will be constantly edited and updated to include all diary entries for the month of February for this project. To read the entries, click on the page in the image bank below, you are able to scroll through once you have opened them to full size.
My Little Lost Teddy
This Series of Illustrations has been produced for a children’s book I have been working on.
Heather Dalton 