Laurence Demaison

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Apal'kin's work has a direct view on to the model. The shots were taken with a studio lighting as it can be more controlled than natural lighting. Using studio lighting is perfect to use as you can place it anywhere and make shadows to create a contrast between light and dark. However, I do believe the final shots does have a soft affect left by the studio lighting. Arms and hands can create leading lines which this photographer used to make the mirror the focus point. The mirror is on a rule of third which catches the viewers attention further. I believe that Apal'kin's work is usually taken with a large depth of field. I purvey that the photographer did not use a tripod and had taken this image with an f stop of 8. The photo was taken at a middle point, only revealing the upper half. I remember that after the call, I didn’t know what to do, so I took a long, hot bath. But it didn’t last too long—there was work to do! The HSBC team is incredibly efficient and competent and kind. It was such a pleasure to work with them in such wonderful and professional conditions. Such conditions are rare. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them again and again.. One set of images is composed of time exposures registering carefully orchestrated performances for the camera, during which Demaison creates representations of the outlines and surface of her body with layered, multiple exposures of her own hands. These read as both traces of a performance and the sort of simultaneous fluid yet frozen moments to which Butoh dance aspires. I took these set of images each time I gave one of my dogs a treat. I think that these images are quite amusing mainly from the angle at which all the images were taken. From the high birds eye angle each time my dogs would wait for their treat, they would look up at the treat, which meant that the artificial lighting in the room would create a reflection in their eyes. From this and the way the dogs were sitting, it created a very innocent feeling towards the dogs. One way I could have improved these images, would have been by including the food for the dogs in the image, to make it more obvious what the dogs were looking at, as well as this I think by including the dog food it would've made the images more comedic as the viewers would be able to see what the dogs were staring at. I took these images in different locations. I first took images in my garden in the evening, whilst it was raining. For these images I used the flash on my DSLR camera, because of this, it also captures the rain falling, which I think made the images more interesting, as it's not obvious that it was rain. The next location I photographed in, was in my local area, using my friends as models for the pictures. These images gave me more flexibility as I wasn't trying to photograph myself, so I could get my friends to pose in a wider variety of positions, than I could whilst photographing it. Photographing the body felt more as though I was creating a sculpture.

Laurence Demaison, born in 1965 in France, is a photographer and visual artist, graduated from the Strasbourg School of Architecture in 1988. Her first approaches to photography took place in the early 1990s. Her photographic work is exclusively consisting of self-portraits from 1993 to 2009. Laurence Demaison è un fotografa e artista visiva francese, nata nel 1965 . Dopo aver studiato architettura a Strasburgo si avvicina alla fotografia da autodidatta. Il suo lavoro consiste essenzialmente nell’autoritratto. Autodidacte, Marc Sommer élabore depuis de nombreuses années, sans jamais la montrer, une oeuvre d’une grande cohérence, au fil de l’absurde. Dans ce travail photographique où la réalité est inventée de toutes pièces et orchestrée avec ses proches, des objets surréalistes côtoient des personnages mis en scènes. Complètement inédit, ce travail remarquable décrit un univers paradoxal, où une grande fantaisie accompagne un humour cruel et inattendu. I decided to edit my images even more, as I realised that the formal elements I wanted to show in my images could be emphasised even more with heavier editing. Using iPhoto again, I turned my brightness down more on the images and exaggerated the contrast even more. I think this helped blend the body with the location together, as well as emphasising the tones and textures in the images, which I have always liked about the effect.I followed Brandt's theme, by photographing the body and also the location of the photograph I took these set of images using one photograph and placing it in random places around my school, then photographing it using my iPod. I found this task harder than the previous ones, as most of the places where I photographed the images, made me feel more uncomfortable to take, as it felt quite awkward and un-natural. An example of this was in the toilets, as I placed the photograph behind the toilet flusher. This was the most awkward image to took, as it was a new environment for me to take images in, as well as feeling slightly embarrassed if people walked past. However, this was the last place location where I put my image, because I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone and purposefully place myself in that slightly awkward situation for me. Out of all of these tasks I have done so far, using these images, this one I think has been most beneficial to me. This is because it has helped me feel more confident in taking images in what I would think where more uncomfortable situations such as the location of an image, or the subject. All of these images I have created I would defiantly like to experiment more with taking images in more stranger locations and still create and directing the images myself.

Aviophobia (fear of flying)

Laurence Demaison, currently living and working in Strasbourg (France), started out as a self portrait photographer. All of her earlier work, starting in 1993 up to 2009, consists of self portraits. While browsing through the series you’d never suspect all these images show the same person, it’s like every series shows something new about her personality. To make it even more special none of these images are (digitally) manipulated aftwerwards, except for the chemical treatment of some negatives. I’m amazed by how much diversity can be found in Lauence’s portfolio. Some images are beautiful, some are sad. Some seem to tell a story, while others are straight out terrifying. In her latest work Laurence expanded the range of her models from just herself to dolls and mannequins as well, yet still succeeds in capturing haunting, conceptual portraits. The Indian saint Ramana Maharshi achieved enlightenment by asking “Who am I?” over and over. Demaison asks the same question, but not in words. Meanwhile, her body changes and ages. Her photographs become a journal of inquiry.” La sua opera presenta fugaci richiami ad artisti come Etienne Marey, Andre Kertesz, John Heartfield e Francis Bacon. Un corpo di fotografie meravigliosamente stravaganti realizzate senza trucchi digitali. Immagini che sembrano piegare la luce e il tempo, distorcere l’aspetto e produrre messaggi codificati nelle riflessioni, nelle rifrazioni multiple, nelle ripetizioni visive e nei gesti che si fanno luce come macchie tra le tenebre. Ces dernières années, Laurence Demaison oriente ses recherches vers une démarche plasticienne, expose ses dessins et conçoit des sculptures dans un univers proche des séries photographiques qui l’ont fait connaitre. Elle s’autorise l’utilisation de mannequins comme modèles de ses photographies, ce qui lui permet de dépasser les limites de l’autoportrait et de concevoir des mises en scènes spectaculaires. Avec une maitrise totale du noir et blanc, de la prise de vue au tirage, la photographe joue avec les limites du medium comme dans ses monotypes, autoportraits directs au flash métamorphosés en épreuves uniques et lumineuses. Pour cette exposition, la photographe a sélectionné des travaux récents et des tirages de ce qu’elle appelle ses "petits parachutes", ébauches de séries ou prises de vues isolées dont elle a redécouvert les négatifs.

LODLP : Apart from the monograph, what impact did the prize have on your career? And what is your relationship like with HSBC today ? L’Œil de la Photographie : The Prix HSBC pour la Photographie turns 20 this year. It is awarded annually to two photographers to help them complete a project that will be exhibited and published as a monograph, often the artist’s first. What was your experience with the prize ? The image I am going to annotate is the one on the right. These series of photographs known as the Petites Bulles are eye capturing. Though particularly the photo on the right I am drawn to. This photographshows a portrait of a person that is distortional with water. My eye is specially drawn to the many bubbles that frame the image. Furthermore I really enjoy that the base image of the photo is still visible. He uses many composition styles, one I really like is that the bubbles are acting as many irregular frames. They have focused the camera in the middle. But what I do love is the different shapes and looks of texture on the bubbles; which causes your eye to never stop in one place for to long. As the viewer would want to take in the whole photo by Laurence. Sometimes strange ways lead you to great art. I came across the works of French photographer Laurence Demaison by accident, as I was listening to music and found myself amazed by the beautiful cover of the latest IAMX single Happiness. I traced the artist down and found an impressive photography portfolio of which I’d like to share some images with you today.

LODLP : Can you tell us about your winning project? Has the prize had an influence on your subsequent work ? Brno Del Zou is a photographer who takes distortion photography to another level. By not only taking the perfectly exposed and professionally taken images, Zou has taken photography to a further outcome by printing, cutting and distorting these models faces. However, from a far these masterpieces could potentially look normal to the naked eye but as you come further in, you almost feel the discomfort on the models faces by the neutral grins portraying through the last outcome.