LYDIA BALMFORTH
Photography
Catherine Opie
Catherine Opie specialises in photography of people breaking the boundries of societal norms. One of her most famous work of portaits is with the Los Angeles leather-dyke community. As you can see from the images above, Opie likes to push boundries with her photography and break down societal norms. Opie's photoshoots seem to be extreamly casual, wanting to catch the true personality of a person. Each persons unique style combined with the bright background of the images make each person's uniqueness stand out.
Opie likes to focus on the relationship between mainstream and infrequent society, wanting to address issues within today's society. The use of the bold colours is a reference to the work of Hans Holbein.
Opie has photographed the LGBT Community, surfers and high school American Football players, being deeply iterested how identities are shaped by our surroundings and the people we interact with.
These two photos above are my personal faovourites from the collection of photos from Catherine Opie as a collective.
The photo with the dark blue background is one of my favourites due to the relaxed feel it has, both due to the colour and the model's face and posture. The obverall atomosphere the photo has is casual, as though it was simply a photo taken in the middle of a conversation between two close friends. I also like the fact that it looks asthough the model is sat on what seems to be a chair you would find in a tattoo parlor, because they are heavily tattooed.
On the other hand, I like the photo with the yellow background due to the contrast with the black clothing and hair the model has. The photo is clean and simple, with no overwhelming angles or editing. The photo has been kept as close to the original to not lose the character Opie wanted to capture.
I think that Opie uses minimal editing, wanting to keep her photoshoots clean and raw, because she wants to show people themselves without holding their 'mask' up that they show society.