another image to emulate...

Artists / Images To Emulate

This picture is from a list of fake album covers somewhere on the internet. I can't remember how I came across said list, I just remember liking the angle and tone of this image very much so I saved it to my desktop. The list did not give credit as to who took the photograph; I assume it is a stock photograph. But just in case, here's my disclaimer: ***I did not take this picture and if the person who did is reading this and can prove that it is your original image, I will give you due credit on this 'blog.***


Photo courtesy of Brigitte Lacombe and Glamour magazine

Glamour magazine just did a piece where current actresses are dressed/styled as traiblazing American icons. I really like it and think I might want to try something like this for a self-portrait wherin I emulate the women who have been influential to me. The photos are somewhat Cindy Sherman-ish, but I feel the tone of this piece (other than being a fashion spread) is positive, whereas as much as I truly do like Cindy Sherman's beautiful Film Stills series, I view hers as being a negative connotation of female stereotypes.


I like Marc Chagall's self-portrait, Me and My Village (1911), because he is just a part of it; he does not inhabit the entire compostition. His physical body is just a part of what makes up his entire self. His surroundings in the painting, his village, are important because they shape who he is. It's a symbiotic relationship becaues he is as much to the village and the villages is to him. In emulating this painting, I'd like place myself among my surroundings but not be the main focus, but rather just an object that makes thats is part of the whole scene.

Melissa Auf Der Maur, one time bassist for Hole and Smashing Pumpkins, is also a photographer and often uses herself as subject. Some of her images come across as navel-gazing, but some really strike me compostion-wise, color-wise, and tone-wise, such as the shots of her apartment that were featured in Nylon magazine. In her series The Kids Are Alright, she documented her life on tour. The above photo illustrates how she is "on the clock" and with her "customers", i.e. fans. I'd like to try something like this with myself at work with my daily customers, but Starbucks is pretty strict about taking pictures in the cafes. We'll see what I can do....