Reflective Photography- Tom Hussey.

I have recently taken some of my own photographs using my Nikon bridge camera and i have titled these 'moments of reflection'. 

 The first shows my peer, Scarlett sitting on a swing in the forest, overlooking a reflective lake. The fact that i have angled the camera so that i have only taken a picture of the back of her, adds mystery to the photograph. The viewer cannot be sure what it is the girl is looking at or what it is the girl is reflecting on. This forces the viewer to ask questions which cannot be answered and allows the viewer to add their own meaning to the image. 

 The second photograph is an image of my mother, holding my chihuahua, Minnie whilst on a beach in cornwall. This is a very reflective piece as she is looking out to sea. My mother is looking towards the direction of the sea wheras the dog looks beyond. The pale blue sky and the deep turqoise of the sea blend together to create a typical seaside feel. I have captured a moment and this can be seen as the wind blows through her hair and the salt water surrounds her feet. This is of course a personal photograph to myself as it shows my mother. However, as my project is personl reflection, this becomes a valuable photograph for my project. 

Since capturig these photographs, I have reserched and found a photography artist in the name of Tom Hussey. I have created and annotated a page larger than A1 size for artist research. 

Tom Hussey is an American photographer specialising in commercial and lifestyle photography. Hussey mainly produces photographs for capaigns with the most recent being for an advertisement for a pharmecutical patch for patients with Alzheimer's disease. He titled this set of photographs 'Reflections'. 

Hussey has used two people for each part aged 40 to 50 years apart. One is an older 'patient' and the other an actor to look like the patient 40 years earlier in their lifetime. 

I have chosen to use this artist to combine his work with my own photography skills. Altough Hussey is creating these photographs for a specific cause, which is Dementia. I am not taking into account Husseys underlying message. I have been attracted to his photographs due to their reflective nature. I really like the usage of the mirror in his photographs and the usage of an older person looking upon their younger selves. The photographs have an emotive, personal aspect to them and this appeals to me. Therfore i plan to use this artist for his technique and composition of his photographs rather than for his own message. 

To use this artist in my own work, i plan to take photographs of people in the mirror using objects and people personal to myself. I would like to use this artist for my final piece idea wherby i plan to take photographs of a model wearing my mothers wedding dress and reflect this in a mirror. This therfore gives the photographs my own personal message.

To create this idea using art, i have drawn a mirror on my A1 artist page using water colour and soft pastel and then drawn an image of myself aged 4. The mirror is acting as a barrier from the past to the preasent. I am looking into the mirror and seeing a younger version of myself. The image has been drawn using graphite pencil in a varying range of tones. I have taken time with this drawing,especially  concentrating on the fabric and shadow on the face, hair and shoulder. I wanted this drawing to look as life like as possible, like the works of mark powell. 

This drawing has been drawn from a photograph of myself and my sister. I chose this photo due to the position o the face and the natural movement of the hair and clothing. 

To develop this, i will perhaps look at a pencil artsit who draws faces. I will also experiment with different mediums in my sketch book such as stick and ink, chalk, oil pastel, ink and acrylic.