Every year in my AP photography class, we're assigned a project called "Art from Art". Each time, we have to pick an artist that inspires us -- no matter their medium of work -- and take a set of photographs based on their work. This year, I took inspiration from German artist Käthe Kollwitz.
Kollwitz lived during the period of Expressionism, and worked with drawing, etching, lithography, woodcuts, painting, printmaking, and even sculpting. I was most inspired by her charcoal self portraits. Most of them are just of her face, sometimes with a hand or two on her cheeks or her head. While sketching out thumbnails for my shoot, I had to think of how I was going to replicate the look of a charcoal drawing on cream-colored sketch paper.
I did some research and some thinking, and eventually came up with the perfect idea -- a powdered milk bath! I bought a box from Target that had 3 packs of milk in it, and I used them all just to get the solid, milky look. I submerged myself into the bath with a white dress on, and stuck my tripod right over my body. I had to clip my floodlight to the shower-head in order to get the lighting just right, and the reflector on the back of the toilet. It was terrifying and risky, but that's just part of being an artist. And, in the end, it was all worth it! I got the exact results I was hoping for, and even more so after the post-processing.
Kollwitz lived during the period of Expressionism, and worked with drawing, etching, lithography, woodcuts, painting, printmaking, and even sculpting. I was most inspired by her charcoal self portraits. Most of them are just of her face, sometimes with a hand or two on her cheeks or her head. While sketching out thumbnails for my shoot, I had to think of how I was going to replicate the look of a charcoal drawing on cream-colored sketch paper.
I did some research and some thinking, and eventually came up with the perfect idea -- a powdered milk bath! I bought a box from Target that had 3 packs of milk in it, and I used them all just to get the solid, milky look. I submerged myself into the bath with a white dress on, and stuck my tripod right over my body. I had to clip my floodlight to the shower-head in order to get the lighting just right, and the reflector on the back of the toilet. It was terrifying and risky, but that's just part of being an artist. And, in the end, it was all worth it! I got the exact results I was hoping for, and even more so after the post-processing.