DIGITAL STILLS PORTRAIT RESEARCH

For my research I decided to explore the work and portraits of Ana Casas Broda. I was drawn to Broda's work because of the honesty and such raw emotion you can feel through her work and through the expressions in her photography. I particularly enjoy Broda's project Kinderwunsch, as she explores the natural form of human beings, identity, and the development of life.

Through some extensive research I discovered Broda’s motivation into creating this project that took fourteen years to complete. In an article I found that her desire and motivation for this project was to explore and display the stages of motherhood from pregnancy to beyond. Broda talks about the struggle of being on fertility treatment and decided to document it as a reflection piece for herself and also to help explore identity and show her audience the depths and raw truth about motherhood. Broda has sometimes received some negative reviews on her project as the extent of nudity was perceives as “too real” but she continued to push her work to be displayed. She talks about how the project and motherhood changed her as a person, by learning to “live for the present” allowing Broda and her sons to engage and be spontaneous within her work and their private lives. I also watched an interview with Broda, where she talks about the process of her project and how it developed and adapted over the fourteen years it took. She talks about how the children were involved heavily in deciding what they would do, such as bath in milk, or draw on Broda’s naked body. She talks about how playful it was when her two sons came into her life and how the project changed as they grew up.

Untitled 

The first image I got drawn to was of Ana and her son lying together, facing each other, in a dark lit room. This piece is untitled, however it is still within the project Kinderwunsch. I personally enjoy the photo in a lot of different ways. The lighting in the photograph and all of this project is very striking. The harsh bright light that is directed at their bodies only, directs our focus onto the main attraction to the photo; it is almost a spotlight into her work, and her life as a mother. Another aspect of the photo I love, is her son touching her face; this is such a simple thing but evokes a real raw feeling of love towards your parents that anyone can relate to when they were little. I love how much this piece aesthetically relates to portraiture in general, with

the traditional set up of the subjects in the centre of the frame, but then Broda changes it to suit her with both her and her son lying down.

Untitled

The second image that I resonate with is another untitled piece of Broda’s son feeding from her. This really draws me in due to the close framing, the natural lighting across the whole photograph and the soft focus and playful depth of field. It is unlike some of her other pieces in Kinderwunsch, but nonetheless I still enjoy it. The framing is something I particularly enjoy, I love the way her son and her form fill the entire frame, and therefore the whole focus is right there staring you in the face, nowhere else for you to look around the frame. The rule of thirds has also been used to great effect, her sons eyes in the right hand side, fill the last third and the eyes completely dominate the photo; they stare up at you and are so dark and striking you can’t help but hold the gaze. The lighting in the photograph I adore, the natural light across her son and her skin is very kind to the photograph, it creates a soft atmosphere with gentle exposure, unlike her other pieces in Kinderwunsch with the harsh lighting, I feel this is a more intimate, precious and positive look into her life as a mother. This is rather different to the general conventions of portraiture, as it so close up and personal, filling of the whole frame and so raw.

One hour before Lucio's birth

Thirdly, the last image I love from her work is a titled piece called “One hour before Lucio’s birth” this is such a striking image with Broda as the main focus of this photo. Her pregnant stomach and enlarged breasts from lactation dominate the piece as they rise up from the bath water. I am unsure if there was a sense of empowerment behind the photo but I feel it when I analyse this piece. This piece really conforms to the codes and conventions of a self-portrait as Broda is central in the frame staring into the camera, and sending us a message through her piece, for us as the consumer audience to resonate with in whatever way we feel. I love her expression in this photo as from the title we see she is due to give birth very shortly, there is a look of worry, fear and determination across her face as she will begin motherhood. The exposure is so beautifully adjusted to give that darkness around the edges, but still natural highlights and shadows where light hits her body.

Through an article in the guardian I discovered who Broda’s inspiration was for her work, and what photographers she went to for ideas and styles; she mentioned Elinor Carucci who is described by the Telegraph as “The mother of all photographers” she has an incredible style to her photography work. She really captures life as it really is with her loved one, close family and her children. When looking at Carucci’s work and Broda’s work you can see where Broda has got some of her inspiration from.

Love

One of the first images I could see some resemblance in Broda’s work was Carucci’s Love 2009, I could see a similar style between the bond of mother and son. You see in Carucci’s work the joy and happiness her son brings to her through facial expression, and with Broda you can see that maternal love in a slightly more dark and intimate way, with just her son’s hand resting on her face. They both explore maternal love and how intimate the bond is through birth and then childhood. As from research we know Broda idolises Carucci we often see a lot of similarities in Broda’s style, lighting, framing and expressions in her pieces similarly to Carucci’s Mother project.

Snut 

The second image I saw a lot of similarities with is Carucci’s Dry Snut 2005, this had strong links with the second untitled piece I looked at by Broda. The first thing that I saw in both pieces was the natural and soft lighting, you can see how Broda has taken a lot of inspiration from it to put into her project. The framing of both their sons, with the innocent looks on their faces and how close up and

personal they both are, I deep and intimate look into their childhoods. Since researching these two photographers I have become quite interested in their style on portraits and self-portraits, so much so that I feel I can draw some things from their pieces to help me create my own.

Feeling me 

Lastly, I wanted to look at Carucci’s Feeling me 2004, and Broda’s One hour before birth, I personally I see in both of the pieces a strong approach to female empowerment and identity. The way they both appear confident in their skin through body language, their facial expression so blank but in a way anyone can interpret what their feeling. The lighting in both are very similar, both photographers often use harsh bright spot lights to play a part in their pieces but for the more intimate photos such as these two, the lighting is a lot softer, more evenly spread to give more of a natural and clean look to the overall image. With softer lighting it creates a gentler and light mood to the piece instead of harsh lighting and a sombre feeling. I am intrigued by both photographers and I am fascinated by their use of lighting and have come to the conclusion that I shall explore similar lighting themes in my portrait work too.

https://vimeo.com/76945933

http://www.anacasasbroda.com/ing-10-kinderwunsch

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/jan/10/ana-casas-broda-best-photograph

Auto Focus – Susan Bright Page 35

http://www.elinorcarucci.com/mother.php

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mother-tongue/10350481/Elinor-Carucci-the-mother-of-all-photographers.html

I hope you enjoy. Thank you.