Miss Aniela Photography

On 9th July I gave a presentation on my work at the Microsoft Pro Photo Summit in Redmond. I had been invited to talk about photo-sharing and how it has impacted on my work and opened up some doors for me. During the presentation (20 mins with 10 mins for questions) I did as best I could to give a general introduction to myself and to describe my ‘journey’, as well as analyse what I think might be the elements to the way I work. I did this by breaking myself down into four factors, factors that may constitute ‘Miss Aniela’ but are also interesting and relevant to photography and art more generally, as we move with technology and try to think where these changes might lead us in the future. The four factors were:
1. Digital photography
2. Digital processing
3. Photo-sharing online
4. Self portraiture

1-3 are topics at the heart of the Pro Summit’s debates and discussions, photo-sharing being the newest factor which has been mentioned more than ever this year at the Summit as the popularity of sites like Flickr proliferate. Number 4, however, was the ‘Miss Aniela’ crux: the colour to my presentation and the selling point which made my presentation different to anything else during the event. Combined with 1-3, I was positing the whole process of ‘Miss Aniela’ (an alter-ego I began two and a half years ago at first without intention of creating ‘art’ or being an ‘artist’) as essentially offering control, complete independence and privacy over the whole image-making process.

I illustrated the presentation with many pics, describing along the way my exhibitions in 2007, 2008, various press I have had and where I think it was all going. To make my words as relevant as I could to other people, other artists, to the general photography scene and their speculation of the future of the art, I mentioned how last year Tate Britain had not only decided to put up digital photography in its gallery for the first time but actually collaborate with Flickr to invite members of the amateur photo-taking audience to submit their pics themed on Britain. (One of my own images was selected as one of the final 40 to go on display.) It is extremely interesting how this move by a prestigious institution suggests a blurring between traditional or established art, and the modern photo-sharing public. It maybe attempts to make the bold statement that amongst the hoards of photo-sharers, there are some ‘artists’.

I contrasted that attitude to how the press coined the term the ‘flickr photograph’ (The NY Times to be precise, re: a previous blog entry of mine, but I used their words not to rant, but to point out something interesting). The term suggests that photo-sharing and digital photography/enhancements go hand in hand, which I have likewise suggested in my own presentation. However, my stance is that this shouldn’t necessarily be to separate those photographs from the ‘real’ art world. By using examples of how my own work has been welcomed as part of art magazines, art galleries, and the homes of art collectors who traditionally buy paintings (well, at least one buyer I heard about) I wanted to show how maybe things are changing, that digital photography is being accepted. I also wanted to share the idea that although modern digital accoutrements may make the creation of photographs easier, as a consequence it makes it more difficult to be unique or interesting. Bringing the theme back to the predominant one of photo-sharing, I concluded that the viewership artists accrue on sites like Flickr rewards the hard work they put into their craft, strengthening the idea of democracy and that art is ‘made by ordinary people’. I wanted to show how the figure of ‘Miss Aniela’ can encourage the modern artist to celebrate the control digital photography offers and to have their say over what ‘art’ should be.

–Hmm, I’ve blabbered on a bit there but that’s the gist of my presentation. I think it fitted it nicely to other discussions going on during Day 1, such as Lise Gagne’s story of success on i-Stock and the general talk of the blurring between amateur and professional.

Some reviews of the 2008 Summit here:

Recap by John Harrington

PDN Pulse: Microsoft Targets Pro Photographers With Summit: Who Is Listening?
PDN Pulse: Is The Amateur The New Professional?
PDN Pulse: Pirates and Money and Bears, oh Microsoft!
Thomas Hawk: Microsoft’s 2008 Professional Photgraphy Summit and What Microsoft is Up to With Digital Photography (scroll down for that one - a few nice pics with it)
The mesmerised audience by Scobleizer

I can’t yet find a video of my presention though I heard the whole Summit was streamed live on Scobleizer’s (above) video site. If anyone finds one please let me know, thanks!

Above: l-r, 5-1!

Ok, here’s my current ‘Top 5 flickr inspirations’. It comes as an odd time to write this, because at the moment I’m kind of pissed off with the Flickr community.
I fully appreciate my Flickr viewership, exemplified by the 170+ comments on my latest pic, ‘Their evening banter’. I consider this one of my best works and so to have so much feedback at least shows some promise that Flickr viewership can be trusted ;)) Most of those comments are meaningful and substantial, but the one that means the most to me by far is the one I received from the manager who let me use that hotel room. Therefore the comments mean more on a quality over quantity basis. I think Federico Erra came along and faved it. That means more than ten comments like “so beautiful !” that actually make me feel a little ill. What do they mean? I see that comment written on crappy pics all over Flickr, should I be flattered to receive it myself? Have you actually looked at the pic? Or do you just see a naked/’pretty’ woman and decide blindly that the highest superlative is needed?
Someone recently said that there’s none of that ’so beautiful’ nonsense on my blog. So this is the best place to write my critique.

I want to withdraw myself from Flickr a little bit because I’m bored of the childish behaviour coming from those who feel is necessary to sit down like a saddo and judge everyone, unfairly stereotyping and incriminating users for being snobby or untalented or any other derogatory term these bored-minded people can come up with.

However, I also want to withdraw myself from Flickr a bit precisely because there is some truth in what these people say. I just wish their vitriol was better aimed, or at least not so sweeping. Not everyone is an attention-seeking talentless poo round which sycophantic flies gather. However, I feel as if I am at the end of my tether with people on Flickr blatantly ripping me off, who don’t even realise it. They and their sycophants make me feel like the word ‘artist’ is being thrown around far too much in this, yes democratic, but ever so naive, cyberspace community where anyone can ‘make it’.
As I said in my first Inspirations post, I count a real artist as one who is honest about his or her inspirations, who makes no effort to hide them, in fact, who makes a special effort every now and then to highlight them, to name them and link to them so that viewers can put their work, and thus their originality, into context.
There are so-called ‘artists’ on Flickr who simplistically recycle the images they have previously seen and admired, taking praise for having created a great piece of ‘art’. It bothers me twice as much because I feel I am the only one who can recognise that I am amongst those being plagiarised.
Obviously all photographers/artists will have to put up with copycats for some time, or even all of the time. But this is why I have a problem with Flickr, because so many viewers and users, blind to where plagiarism has occurred, are eager to plant virtual kisses all over the arses of the amateurs spawned by the internet phenomenon. It seems to make it easier for them to make a unoriginal image and get away with it, to even get praised for it.

Here are the current inspirations.

5. Ilina S

NY-based Ilina has a great popping processed style that is right up my street. I think her most recent work is the mst impressive - I was bewitched by her Valentine’s post. Her face, skin and eyes come out wonderfully in her work, as in this pic. Her Flickr portfolio is quite small so I’d love to see more from her. I haven’t yet been directly inspired by one of her pieces, but her and Vaneska Thomz (further below) generally maintain my confidence to be brave and bold with post-processing.

4. Lara Swift
She’s in my first list too. Had to add her into both lists because she’s produced some corkers recently - like this one and this mermaid one. Her work is quite deathly and gothic even, but that doesn’t put me off because she seems more nonchalantly original than alot of similarly death-loving artists. I have also heard her mention she has depression, which makes her artistic intentions a little more meaningful.

3. Vaneska Thomz
Vanessa, like Ilina above, has a stream full of square-cropped boldly colour-paletted images that offer me courage as a digital photographer. ‘Air’ is amazing and I was directly inspired by this one of hers but never quite produced anything close to it. Her work uses alot of textures and can get quite surreal. I do prefer the simpler ones which I find more effective (same goes for my No. 1 below). Pictures with floaty garments like this one was part of my inspiration to do more with interesting clothing. I also love the soft processing, hair, setup and composition of her pic ‘elegantly wasted’.
A pic I did recently, ‘Party piece(s)’ was made with Vanessa in mind (I was flattered when she faved it) but I did not mention her because it was not directly inspired by any particular pic of hers.

2. Oladios
I’ll write her what I wrote in my testimonial for Oladios.
“I came across Ola’s weird and wonderful work one day through the Female Self Portrait Artists’ group and was immediately struck by how well she photographs her cats. What’s more, she captures them perfectly within the difficult feat of self portraiture! She becomes her own character within the quaint comic strip world of her images; a mysterious girl interacting with the animals who are placed as if by a paintbrush. This play between human and cat Oladios tells us is very much in the style of Balthus’ paintings, but Ola takes his nubile nude and replaces it with her clothed - and masked - self.

“Ola is one of the very few people on Flickr for whom I feel art is a special vocation, almost a divine power that comes from above, rather than from the influence of her peers such as on Flickr. Artists like Ola don’t worry about fitting in, they don’t try to master a certain level of photography in order to be accepted. They just get on with creating magic through what they are naturally good at - employing their superior sense of the visual.

“Whilst she may take inspiration from other artists, artists like Ola never seem to be copying an image or rendering photographic cliches as if there were a limited supply of ideas in self-portraiture. Instead, they take inspiration from selected diverse and obscure sources, in Ola’s case, those inspirations go from Balthus’ paintings to Nirvana lyrics.”

I haven’t been directly inspired by any of her pics as yet, but her work just generally fills me with a good feeling about photography. It’s weird when you realise that most of her pics on Flickr are taken in the same room, from the same angle, with the same subjects, and yet she can create a different surreal narrative every time, using some props and a crazy imagination!
My faves of her work are Jozin z basin and this one.

When I did my pic ‘Self portrait with Sally’ I mentioned the work of Ola with regards to keeping animals still and obedient during photoshoots. She not only seems to have control over them, but seems to have the power of a circus ringleader to even get them to do roll over and jump up!

1. Quizz
Bogna’s work impresses and excites me more than anything I’ve seen inside or even outside of Flickr.
Her work is like a modern-day classic art museum, a girl who uses her digital camera and Photoshop to create painting-like masterpieces that look more like photorealistic paintings.
My favourites of her work are most usually the ones with least use of ‘texture’ - that is, the ones that allude to paintings, with the subject unobscured by the addition of textured layers. My favourites include ‘Pillow book’, ‘Publications feel good’, ‘Read my lips’, and ‘Balancing on the edge of light’. I was lucky to do a collaboration with her - see her image here, mine here, though I’ve never met her (the collaboration was done digitally).
Quizz always inspires me but usually, when inspired, I end up creating something completely different, which is a good thing!
You can see the influence of Quizz in images of mine such as An impromptu performance and Bless this mess. She’s inspired me to try harder with motion and expression - a poetry of the body. As a result, I often look theatrical, as noticeable in They found themselves on stage.

Out of her recent work in my opinion the astounding image water, exceeds the level of most of the other more ‘popular’ images.

And that’s my 5.

Some more ones to watch:
Brady
What Milk
Sophie Charlotte (only young! some fantastic inspirational spritely work that inspired me recently)