Artist Research for Mon. Sept. 7

This week I found a photographer who explores the idea of anthropometric photography, Valerie Belin ( www.valeriebelin.com ). Valerie uses one harsh light to produce heavy shaping/shading to the face. This one light also allows her to pale and remove any impurities in the skin allowing the focus to be on the contours of the face it self. Her intent in this is to help see the similarities in people and in turn look at the way avatars are generalized. She has also done studies on mannequins and the models they are based off of to see where the spark of life actually comes from. I think both of these photographic studies are interesting. The first (avatar study) because she is not only comparing people but the female and male form together. I enjoy the way she almost removes all color from her subjects except a little in the eyes and mouth. I feel in a way this dehumanizes the subjects and allow for a closer inspection without letting emotions get in the way. I enjoy the second study (mannequin study) because when looking at the images of model and mannequin it is sometimes very hard to see that spark of life she is trying to locate. The lighting she used here is very soft removing most contouring shadows and impurities in the skin allowing the differences between the two to show either in imperfections of the artist creating the mannequin or in finding that spark of life, whatever that might actually be.