Portfolio Review - David Julian

For one of my Portfolio reviews, I contacted David Julian (http://davidjulian.com/Bio/1/): self-described photographer, illustrator and educator. I sought his opinion because his work appeals to me (especially the black and white photography) in addition to the fact he specialises in both fields that I'm interested in practising. As well as the review, I asked for his thoughts on working with the two and how he sees himself in relation to them. I received the following response he had kindly taken the time to put together:

"WOW, you can handle several styles in many media. This gives you a distinctive edge, as you can work in any one, a favorite one you are pulled towards— or merge them as the subject calls you to.

I am especially fond of the B+W photos, as your balance of shadow and light and choice of POV is spot on for each subject.
They say that message are often in the shadows. In your case, the light: Did you notice the second-read elements of the once-proud World Trade Center's 'Twin Towers' in your shot of the Empire State Building? Awesome.

The ink+guache crow feeding is one of my faves. The unexplained red on the mother... (in my interpretation) as if she is wounded, or symbolic of the poison in her passed-on foods.
I like that most of your painter work leaves a lot to the viewer to interpret. This style is especially good for book covers, editorials, should you choose to develop it.

You are also fascinated with birds. I am keen on them as you have seen, using them as organic forms in a man-made world, or simply as elements of beauty and wonder.

The swallow feeding sequence is great. How lucky you are to witness that from a window~!

Regarding my mixed focus in my work....
It has been a blessing and a mini-curse.

The blessing is that I am free to explore two mediums with different voices, and one also informs and enables deep experimentation in the other.
I began drawing surrealistic work, used a camera to document nature and travel, and soon found the digital darkroom as my experimental lab.
You are also in that uniquely fluid place of parallel growth.
Someday you might try adding hand-wrought media to your photographic prints, or try digital collage.
Also: to learn what others are doing professionally, look up the illustrator's gallery websites, such as 

illustration, stock illustration, new illustration portal, illustrators, spot illustration, Illustration Directory

and

WORKBOOK Photography & Illustration Portfolios, Creative Contact Database

Note the consistency of style within a portfolio. This has been a challenge for me, as I have three styles in Illustration, and a few in Photography— too much to manage at market at the same time. yet doing any one for too long bores me, and I respond differently to different subjects. In the end, my clients refer to the style they want from me at any one point.

My mini-curse is that I cannot say : I am a photographer without adding I am an illustrator, and I am a teacher (and an Assemblage artist, entomologist and inventor)
Confuses my marketing, causing many more plates to be in the air at one than I often can manage!
Renaissance artists we are! But I would not, could not give up any of it. My ADD mind loves the wonder of capabilities as well as the conflict of prioritized time.

My advice is to find a mentor or two-- someone you admire who you can work for and learn from.
Growing up, I was forbidden to be an artist, so I left home and went 'underground' for years. I never sought a mentor after school, toiling alone to "stay fresh and unique" so i told myself.
It was just my fear of being moulded or told I wan't good enough. Self-psychological rubbish.

Advice: Find a mentor who can teach you something new. Move on if they cannot."


-Thanks again for the feedback, insights and advice.

Ambient Imagery Continued

The arranging of these composite images involves a lot of experimentation for each piece before a final outcome is decided on- it can be difficult to know whether two images will blend well colour or detail-wise until they are actually combined. The challenge was to maintain a consistent feel to the images while trying to avoid repetition, which is a precarious balance. I feel each relates well to the discussed keywords, evocative of the subject matter in Baudelaire's writing, yet amorphic in a manner that doesn't impose defined interpretations or ideas on the viewer. The choice to radically change my approach to this project from the paintings to this has been greatly rewarding, with the experimental photography leading me to interesting territory. 

I had looked into potentially using these images as backgrounds for the previously-painted elements, creating the following piece as an experiment. I decided not to pursue it however, preferring the aesthetics and ambience that the photo-compositions by themselves possess. 

Portfolio Review

Four contacted, three responses, one completed.


-To be added to as I hear back-


Physical portfolio review was given by Illustrator Megan Thomas. The following is the general feedback received so far for consideration, though more specific details relating to my work are pending:

1) Be prepared to talk about any piece of work within your portfolio. What was its context? Why is it important to you?

2) Display work in a quality portfolio.

3) Try to fill as much of the page's space with the work as possible.

4) Including a logo is redundant.

5) Listing media used is redundant.

6) Different work such as illustration and photography is best kept in separate portfolios.

7) Consider ordering portfolio selections as strong pieces first, but the strongest last.

8) Always use quality paper and ensure no pixelation is occurring.

9) Quality not quantity, and no more than 30 images.

10) Ensure both colour and black & white works are represented.

11) For experimental / unfinished works, have a separate 'sketchbook' section.


Many thanks to Megan for taking the time to provide this advice.

Parfum Continué / Vin

I continued on with the ink-perfume idea, taking further shots of the same technique though this time with improved lighting. The colour red's connotations of blood, love and desire...etc make it perfect for this process.

The unpredictable, organic nature of the ink spreading yields different results every time and means that only a select few may prove to be fitting of the desired purpose, despite taking many. However, the examples that have worked in my opinion have made that worthwhile- the following perfectly resembles the moon shrouded in rolling fog, the moon being another symbol of the mysterious, melancholic and supernatural. The moon is referred to repeatedly within the collection.

Original above, edit below:

The use of drinking glasses for these photos was simply a choice made out of necessity, with something like a fish tank with a flat side and a higher water capacity (unfortunately not available) likely lending itself better for the purpose. However, the idea then came to me of incorporating a glass into the picture, specifically a wine glass this time- Les Fleurs du Mal features a sub-section of five poems about wine. With many of the poems describing decadence and sin, the following image bears the dual interpretations of the sensual visualised fragrance, and also the poisoning of innocence and purity (usually symbolised in white) as the water turns to bloody 'wine'. Note that one of the wine poems is entitled Le Vin de L'assassin (The Murderer's Wine). 

Ambient imagery

With the success of the ink-drop photos and after feedback from tutors, I decided to continue to take a photographic response to the poems. Although the painted imagery worked, the clean starkness of the negative space doesn't best reflect the very atmospheric feeling of Les Fleurs du Mal- something I could achieve instead with photos. The following is a selection of key words / themes that run through Baudelaire's poems and summarise them well:

 I began taking pictures of different textures and colours predominantly found outside, most selected for pure aesthetics, while some were sought out for their relevant themes- especially those containing or resembling decaying organic matter. The next step was to discerningly select which photos to use, and them layer and combine two or more per image in order to abstract them and create alluring, dream-like colours and textures.

I think that this approach effectively captures the visceral nature of Baudelaire's writing, with the hazy and surreal effects of the combined images capturing mood through the palimpsest-like process of layering. 

The above process was inspired in part by designer Vaughan Oliver, who works with similar ambient textural photo work like the following: 

http://www.hardformat.org/designers/vaughan-oliver-designer/

Oliver is particularly known for his works made for album art, generating images with photos usually inspired by the music it shall come to represent- each example reflects and deepens the sense of the music. My approach for the poetry's themes is the same.

Website Research

This post is a reflection on some of the different formats of websites utilised by creatives that I have visited, with a list of features I have compiled from them to be considered for my own, which I shall be soon creating. I have secured the domain of MatCoffey.co.uk.

http://mariondeuchars.com/index2.html has two briefly animated introduction pages that present the artist's bio, achievements and specialisms, in addition to the logos of who Marion has worked for. These immediately give a strong first impression and inform the visitor of the context of what they will see on the site in a professional and creative way. Her site also features hand-drawn text for the category names matching the intro animations, which are a nice personal touch. Though not the case here, the downside to the animations is that these can sometimes take some time to load, or just completely fail and even crash the page.

The website http://beljones.com/ is one that I particularly like. It appeals to me due to it's clean, minimal look, simplicity, and ease of navigation. The website is divided into separate categories and sub-categories presented on a bar at the top, allowing for quick and easy selection of the part of the site you wish to view. The lack of complicated animated elements means the site loads immediately. A feature it has which seems to stand out from the rest for me is that the site features as a diary/blog on the homepage in addition to the portfolio sections, allowing for you to present activity, progress and 'behind the scenes' work in addition to finished pieces.

http://jackparra.daportfolio.com/ features thumbnail versions of the images contained on a reel on the top so that you may choose to look at whichever, rather than unnecessarily clicking 'next' on an image slide when you might be seeking a specific image, or don't know how long the reel goes on..

http://www.aaronyeomanphotography.co.uk/ has an interesting format for the homepage where images are shown on a rotation, covering the whole screen except for a navigation bar that fades in and out. The images being large-scale better showcases detail and has a greater visual impact.

http://www.lauradifrancesco.com/#!portfolio/c12wr features clickable photos with the categories, another potentially eye-catching way of presenting navigation.

http://samspratt.com/ uses a variant on the photo reel where each image is displayed next to an enlarged section, allowing for detail to be showcased.

http://www.davehillphoto.com/#/174090/ -This site uses an interesting format of showing the entire portfolio in one page as smaller, clickable images, with a selection of themes listed at the top which take you to the relevant point on the page when selected.

Main desired attributes for consideration:

• Clear, simple navigation
• Different pages for different themes, categories...etc
• Possible blog section
• Homepage featuring a slideshow, with pause / manual click option

Parfum

'...in a deserted house, some cabinet

Full of the past's acrid odour, dusty and black,
Sometimes one finds an antique phial which remembers,

Whence gushes forth a living soul returned to life.'

Relating to the idea of depicting perfume, I decided to experiment with photography to capture the idea, after cleaning my paint brushes and noticing the paint clouds flourish in the glass of water. An idea I had in mind is exemplified perfectly in the work of Charles Emerson, the following example being the cover art for The Editors' latest album. I feel the image potently holds a sense of emotion and nostalgia, which are the effects Baudelaire hoped to elicit with his repeated sensory descriptions, and so it definitely serves as inspiration.

I set up a glass of water with a plain white background to take my photos, and dropped ink in while taking repeated shots 

I took this series of photos with the intention of likely using the results as components rather than finished pieces in themselves, but I feel they aesthetically hold their own. One particular shot worked out better than I could hoped for by pure chance, with the ink cloud appearing to resemble a heart. I feel it could be used as a minimalist contemporary book cover for The Flowers of Evil.