Photographer Research - Damien Blottiere

Why I've chosen him

Damien Blottière studied Fashion at the Parisian Art School Duperre. He was always interested in images and photography, so he worked first as a fashion editor for Mixte, Purple Fashion and Dazed & Confused until he decided to devote himself entirely to photography. Blottiere plays with images and creates a universe for the models or the objects by building "hand made" sets or collages looking like animals, flowers or surrealistic sculptures, which are an open window to his childhood and own world of magical fantasy. This photographers work beams with passion and creativity, the pattern of each piece consistently strong and eye catching. Blottiere works with a variety of topics that all inherit the same theme; his artistic style of collaging shapes of the same/different images. I have chosen this photographer because his style isn't something that I often see in fashion photography, as he manipulates photographs to illustrate a complicated yet engaging piece of work. Some of his photographs act as illusions such as the first one below, whilst others are more simplistic yet still flawless such as the second one below. I am interested in doing my own fashion shoot as a result of studying this photographers work and am interested in manipulating some of my outcomes in his style.

This is the first photograph of Blottiere's that includes the formal element pattern. The pattern is found in the triangular slits that separate the two faces yet mix them together at the same time. This technique is peculiar because it looks as though the faces of the two men make a complete one in the middle, yet when you look harder you can separate the two faces from each other, resulting in this type of photography being an illusion. Blottiere has used gel lights to cast a faint red glow over the side of the mans face on the left, making his appearance more feminine than masculine. This red glow contrasts with the black tones in the frame found in the background and in the items of clothing the models are wearing. The mixture of red and black are colours that have the connotation of danger/anger/fierce etc. The expressions on both of these mans faces are blunt, with their lips shut tight and one starring deeply into the camera - his expression is therefore complimented by the colours in this image. Curves on Photoshop is a tool that has the most effective touch to this type of photograph, as it will enhance the dark shadows, create more depth and give dimension to the faces, making their features more piercing. I may mix two faces together in my project through a physical experiment to experiment with this style.

These above are both screen shots that I have taken from a Gif. This was originally an animation of two photographs; the first one of the man hiding his mouth with his gloves and then his ears with his gloves. The pattern in this piece isn't as strong as some of Blottiere's other work, however the idea of an animation is something that I can create large amounts of pattern with. The model is dressed in dark colours that contrast effectively with the bright white background, allowing the props to stand out. The colours of this piece are neutral, which means the saturation would have been decreased in Photoshop as the original pictures of this Gif would have been a lot brighter as a result of a studio shoot with lights. Winter is a season that is evidently being advertising in this piece as the model is wearing fluffy gloves and a patterned scarf; perhaps a project for winter clothing was being carried out. 

This is a very abstract piece of photography of a lipstick. This product has been photographed from an assortment of different angles and then merged together in one photograph to make one illusion. You can see a birds eye view of the packaging, a close up of the lipstick, a picture of the whole product etc. Blottiere has used Photoshop in this image to blend these images together, forming an artistic and confusing pattern. The combination of light red, black and white are colours that contrast effectively when grouped together, making this lip product pop and appear extremely dramatic. The quality of this photograph is smooth and flawless, which is exactly how beauty products should be photographed as it will entice the viewer to purchase it. High key lighting has been used for this piece in order to make the product bright and vibrant, creating a clean white backdrop and giving the packaging an immaculate finish.

This is one of Blottiere's fashion installments which he has manipulated with geometric shapes and slits, as part of a project where he performed similar creations to other pieces of his fashion photography. He shot the model in a studio using two lights to brighten both his sides, and used a blue sheet for the background pulled down onto the ground in order to create an infinity curve which avoids noticing the separation between the floor and the wall. This style of work is something that immediately caught my attention because it is a unique and engrossing method used to direct the viewers attention to specific items of clothing. The circle around his face conveys his appearance, the circle around his body conveys his smart jacket and the circle around his feet conveys his footwear. The circles have been used to present the models body from head to toe, whilst the rest of the shapes have been inserted around and inside the circles to create a more fascinating outcome and enhance the eccentric style. The colours are a bizarre combination, however this exaggerates the already odd presentation of this piece of work. There are different shades of blues, oranges and blacks which are found in the clothing and the background/shapes, meaning this photograph was pieced together with thought and effort instead of carelessly thrown together. 

How he has influenced me

Similar to the second photograph of Blottiere's in this post, I have taken on his technique of photographing the same person in the same outfit with the same pose, but changing one thing about the composition. For my work above that I captured in my exam, I got Danielle to pull different facial expressions and put the results into a triptych to act as one piece. I was very pleased with this outcome as it appears to be a sequence along with a pattern that responds effectively to my title. 

Summary

Ultimately, this photographer evidently lives and breathes creativity, piecing together surreal and abstract photographs linking to fashion to make the outcomes extra effective and appealing. He doesn't just take a photograph of attractive models and stylistic costumes, Blottiere thinks about how he can make his next piece of work more intriguing than the last, using methods such as gifs, paper and Photoshop. The pattern is consistently strong in his work and the combinations of colours always make sense, providing connotations and meaning that makes his photography impressive and inspiring.