Idea behind bondage based images

Idea behind bondage based images

 

Whilst exploring the body and it's form I have been researching Robert Mapplethorpe in doing this his images inspired me look in to the human form. These also inspired me to look at  the bondage side which has been an idea that I have had for a while, but I didn't know where to start from. The main  reason for this is because I want to explore the human form, particularly the female form. I want to show the body as an art form, this isn't me saying I don't want to show the sexual side to the female form I would like to explore aspects of both of these in images that make the on looker want to explore the idea behind the image. 

 

When planning this idea I put a lot of thought into the lighting set up and how I would make the detail of my subject stand out so I could still have a dark background. When doing this I decided to use a wooden side board covered with black sheets, I then covered the wall with my black studio back drop. I also used my bed in my second trial shoot as that was the same height and covered this with black sheets so that I could experiment with taking the images from different angles and heights.

 I would then experiment with 2 lights to get the perfect ratio between the lit up subject and the dark background, I found that using 1 fill light and a soft box worked for this. The position of these depended on the position of the subject and which part of the body I was then focusing on.
 I then decided to use HDR and Camera Raw to edit these in Photoshop and to also try cutting out parts of the body and overlaying them to create digitally manipulated image (I will go into this in more detail when up loading the images and the editing process).

The thing I struggled most with was the concept behind my idea, I knew that I wanted to take these images because I liked the way the style was something a lot of people wouldn't photograph to show to the world unless it was of a pornographic nature, With a lot of my work I like to try and go to the extreme in some ways and photograph images that show things that are hidden behind closed doors.
 For example in previous projects I have looked at Nan Goldin and tried to show my own interpretation of her work. But with this it was different even though Roberts photography made me think of an old idea I felt more of a connection in the type of image I wanted to create and the way in which I wanted to do this on a digital scale, I just couldn't put this into words. 

When I planned my first shoot I used a close friend and my girlfriend, at this point I was just looking for models that would be more comfortable to be photographed in this way (to show all areas of there body). When I did the shoot I found it easy to tell my models how I wanted them to be photographed, I had ideas for shot lighting and angles so I found this a lot easier. When I looked back over the images I loved the way they had turned out and how the different shapes and lines in the body where set on  the dark background. I was really pleased that I had chosen people that didn't have the typical bodies that are seen in shots like these in social media, But natural bodies that to me are better and show more depth, feeling and reality than an airbrushed fake image.  

After this shoot I did still have the idea in my head of still wanting to incorporate the bondage idea into this but only in small amounts, nothing that would make my images tilt more to the side of typical pornography rather than art. So I began to plan this shoot but at the same time still not being able to put into words why I wanted to do this, I just had the idea of the images in my head that I felt strongly about producing and this along side the human form I think links quite well together, by what I think makes the image more interesting and again go to the extremes of a normally quiet hidden subject.
 

When doing this second shoot I decided to use my girlfriend and do both sets of shots and not use any clothing so I could get the curves and shapes of the body with no restrictions. But at the same time as I loved the images I had taken I want to be able to explain my concept and feeling behind these rather than people  just see these as random naked images . After a lot of work I have managed to put my idea into words that I think makes sense (well it does in my head) :   

I like to put a lot of myself into my images and some times I do this with out even realising it, for example the main things in my life at that moment were my past experiences the good, bad and everything really that makes me who I am in a way that had always been my main inspiration within my thoughts and mood . 

Over the last year I have gone from an extreme high of moving away to live by myself at uni with full independence and being the happiest I have ever been . To then making a lot of bad life choices in which I put the partying life style above everything because I thought this would make me happy, what I didn't realise was that I was using this block out feelings that had built up in me over the past 10 years from the sadness and anger after nemourous different life events had dragged me down.

When I finally realised what I was doing to myself it felt like it was to late the toxins I had been putting in my body had broken me giving me curvier depression to the point where I felt like there was no light at the end of the tunnel . I had to stop what I was doing and that was hard enough in its self, I was failing my course and loosing the people closest to me . So I moved back home which was even harder having to admit defeat. I think what im trying to explain is I completely lost control of my life and have now realised that you can't just do what you want all the time because eventually it will break if you dont have rules and control, the fun will always come to a broken end. 

This then leads me to my work I seem to be creating different images now im a different person because the things I did have taken me to a place in my life where even though im now in control I will never be the person I was so I have changed as a person and a photographer.  

That brings me to my most recent project in this I think I have used my girlfriend as my main subject  because she is the biggest part of my life now and was in the steps I have taken to bring my life back to a controlled balance.  When lighting the images I wanted to show her with the bright light almost coming out of the dark background because that's where she has taken me, from being broken to on the path to being fixed keeping me in line in a way . 

Even though my idea with the bondage and the human form is also based on my wanting to explore new thing and to explore the human form as a whole because the difference in peoples bodies interest  me because there all so different  and amazing in their own way.
 

I have used the bondage to represent control not only in a sexual way that will be persuasive at first glance by the on looker  but to also show the new control I have had to adapt in my life now to get myself away from the darkness of the past year. These also have some sexual relation to them but this isnt my main focus of the image. 

This is why im going to cut sections from the images and overlay them so that you have to look at the image in detail to see that there are hidden emotions behind my work. I think the mess abstract muddle of the final pieces also show my state of mind on a day to day basis and the way that I have to control my thoughts and feeling that are still hard to control with my depression.