Emerging Practice.

Michele Aboud is a National Portrait Prize 2014 winner with the below image titled 'Stella'. However, I prefer her other photographs to the award winning one. The shot above was photographed in a studio probably with a single beauty dish to one side of the model, a black reflector and a light on the backdrop.

The shot will have been taken with the intention of being published online or in a magazine and for exposure of a clothing/hair/makeup brand.  It could come under many genres such as advertising, editorial or fashion and beauty.

This shot is quite relevant to my own practice as there is a moody intensity to it, wether that be in the colour palette chosen or the lighting or the expression of the model. I think if I was to take anything from this image to use it to inform my own work it would be the lighting as it is quite dramatic.

When I look at this image it reminds me of the clean cut and dramatic contrast of the following image by Irving Penn.

Out of all of the other National Portrait Prize winners Michele stood out to me because her image was the most relatable to me. The other winners were images of people in war zones and young children so as a portrait photographer who specialises in photographing women at the moment I think Michele is a great influence. Her image definitely stands out against the other winners of the competition.

Stella.

Richard Mosse is a Deutsche Borse 2014 prize winner. His Infra series are shot in the Dominican Republic of Congo on discontinued Kodak infrared film. His images were shot for documentary reportage to bring light to the situation in the Dominican Republic of Congo. He has released a very successful book called Infra and is in the process of releasing a documentary film. He is currently being exhibited around London and in other parts of the world. I think when trying to compare Richards image to other work available in the documentary genre, his work is unique. I have never before seen serious documentary images transformed with such beautiful colours before. Infra has been a huge inspiration to me in the last 6 months and will continue to inspire me in the way he uses beautiful colours to juxtaposition terror and sadness.

I think its very interesting how Mosse uses film that is no longer in production to create his images rather than using digital which is much faster. I think it gives his images a much more intimate feel.