Collaboration with Miss Aniela
1 August 2009
For the last month I have been working on a collaborative series with British fine-art photographer Miss Aniela (aka Natalie Dybisz). We met in a weekend trip to Paris last June, took lots of pictures and uploaded four of the resulting images onto Flickr -check the work we’ve done if you haven’t already! After the two days we had to work on several ideas and this last month of online post-processing, I’m surprised of how many things we have in common, in spite of the seemingly big differences between our individual work.
I came across Natalie’s work a few years ago when I first joined Flickr. I’d been watching the evolution of her work for a while before approaching her, as well as enjoying her writings (just as an example, I heart and second what she says about Narcissism in this text, among many others). Since the beginning I was hooked by Natalie’s continued efforts in self-portraiture, showing an intelligent, liberated -and beautiful- woman with control over her body and image. I favor beauty in contemporary visual arts and I admire a woman who takes power of her own image, regardless of all the criticism she can get for sharing -nude or not nude- artistic pictures of herself. Natalie has also a keen sense of the audience, reflected in her consistently appealing imagery, yet it’s not all just plain ‘trickery’ like the one populating sites like Flickr. There is brains and guts to it.
The ideas for our collaboration came mostly from the shared concern and feeling of impotence towards issues like the disdain for -nude or not nude- female self-portraiture , the omnipresence of gender stereotypes and censorship -specially of women’s nipples. The images created are ‘commentaries’ on these issues, perhaps useless as various Flickr users have remarked, but to me all art is ‘useless’. Furthermore, we’d both been previously inspired by Balthus, which led to “The Artists’ Sketch” . This image in particular didn’t quite result as I first imagined, mainly because we had to take the shots in a hurry. Natalie had to catch her plane back to Brighton on time! We spent several days afterwards both tweaking the image in Photoshop, until we finally decided for the semi-drawing version. But here’s another version you haven’t seen (click to enlarge):
There’s a non-Flickr version of “Booby Traps” on it’s way (for those who didn’t notice, the color of the tassels comes from the Flickr logo), in the meantime I’d also like to share the black and white version of “Pathetic Phallacy”, which I very much like (click to enlarge):
During the course of the photoshoots we took individual portraits of each other, so I have the material to create a couple of paintings with her as the model in the near future. I was very happy to have the opportunity to work with Miss Aniela. Thanks to Natalie and my agent Julie for making this collaboration possible!
Hope you enjoyed the results of our work! :) Read more in >Natalie’s blog post<.
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Good stuff. Oddly enough, I really like the sketches you did of a topless Natalie, but I prefer the basic photo of the Balthus-inspired table shot over the photo/sketch mash-up on flickr. (The Balthus photo has a terrible lack of focus, however. I know Natalie only had the Phase One for a couple of weeks, but she really should have learned how to use it!).
For all images we shot each other separately…and the lack of focus was my fault :P
Rossina:
You did well. The drawings of Natalie must have taken some time and with incredible detail. I read “Arty Smokes” commentary and he is right in a way. Natalie had a Medium Format camera and that’s about as good as you can get. The pics didn’t have that “pop” that i see in MF. I read Nat’s blog and she said that a lot of the finished product was composited ( I had that feeling ).
Hey, you two did very well together and two of those startling images were very good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YEq4mLZGiw
Rossina,
I was moved by your blog regarding the issues behind your collaboration with Natalie Dybisz. As an evolving photographer and first year student of photography, I am most intrigued whenever I see artists as the two of you willing to confront the criticisms of those who would like to censor and limit a person’s vision of art to the confines of their own perceptions and limitations based off of their culture, gender, life experience, etc. In particular I applauded your one point of view “The ideas for our collaboration came mostly from the shared concern and feeling of impotence towards issues like the disdain for -nude or not nude- female self-portraiture , the omnipresence of gender stereotypes and censorship -specially of women’s nipples.” For the life of me, I will never understand the fear so many have of the nude human form in particular the need to rely on the safe bastion of covering up a woman’s nipples as the determining factor to differentiate a so-called appropriate image of a woman’s breasts from an inappropriate one. There are a number of other aspects of a woman’s body capable of being sexual and/or sensual when she makes the determination for it to be: her lips, neck, back, etc — for some reason we don’t see a big issue as a rule in covering these parts up in works of art. I admire both your and Natalie’s courage and resolve as artists to purse your vision of creativity despite those critics who would like to impose their idea of art on all of us. Keep up the good fight.
There’s a lot of information here. I’ll be back again.
I have a penis and I know it all, so listen to what I have to say!
First of all, you’re wasting cucumber and carrots, if you were gonna make a photo with a kitchen knife you really should have learned how to use it first! ;-)
Now seriously…
I’ve found amazing what you’ve done in this collaboration. My personal favorite is Tough toys for tough boys, although the “B-sides sketches” you present here are quite something too.
I also enjoyed reading further details about your collaboration in MissAniela’s blog.
You did well ;-)
I’m curios if I will manage to build a bigger audience for my Windows Vista for Beginners portal.
I never knew Natalie would take up a second career as an animator and a comedic writer with her You Tube video–I’m joking.
I do like the black and white version of the Phallacy. It occurred to me what made that presentation powerful. It was the play on words and the visual image together that made it click. The picture by itself would be considered mundane, but to inject sexuality into the words of the title made it meaningful and creepy (not to mention that big sharp butcher knife in Nats hand).
One more final word on the usage of equipment. I know I will bore and put to sleep people who are reading this, but I can’t resist. The Phase One P 40+ camera is Rolls Royce or Leer Jet of cameras.
The reason why I bring this up is because Arty made reference to Natalie not knowing how to use the Phase one P40+. It recalls from my memory from a long, long time ago a posting she did on Flickr about being frustrated on not being able to operate a camera called the Canon 40D DSLR she received as a present. I tried to console her and I told her that the learning curve on mastering (let alone being able to be efficient at it) a DSLR is very steep. We can all be grateful that she chooses to give us EXIF information because I’m an equipment junkie who loves to see statistics and “what’s in the bag” :))
Well, to make a long story short, Natalie all of a sudden started working with a Canon 1D Mark III camera. Now, to use an analogy here … that’s like going from a bicycle with training wheels (her point and shoot cam Sony R1 that she did most of her great art work) to a Porsche (Canon 40D) to flying a Leer Jet or an F-14 Tomcat (Canon 1D Mark III) and then to flying a Space Shuttle mission (Phase One P 40+). What leaps and bounds for someone who has yet to take off her training wheels.
I know I might catch some flack and ape offense to what I just said, but my intent here is not to be sarcastic or negative. I’m just saying that she is using way too much camera. Once she learns how to use the DSLR she can then graduate to Medium Format. I will say this about her finding and using the best equipment out there in the world … it really shows the devotion, commitment, and never ending goal of improvement by seeking the best there is. If she ever gets a lighting kit–look out world!!
One final note. I think I wrote to her on her photostream that it’s best to find somebody (professor, teacher, student, or another Flickr friend) to show her how to use the DSLR. I truly believe there are two ways to learn how to use this tricky and difficult instrument. One is to go out and practise by trial and error and the other (this is the best way) is to find someone who can teach it to you on a “hands on” basis.
The worst way to learn DSLR is to read a book about it. First, it’s going to be dry and boring. Second, you really can’t apply many of the things they teach because every situation is unique and different. Lastly, you will learn a few things, but is it worth your time to waste hours upon hours just to gain a bit of knowledge?
Thanks for listening and I’ll try and be more active on your photostream. I would like to write about what I said in regards to which is more difficult: painting vs. photography. My explanation is a bit personal and I was wrong on what I said before, but I really appreciated your reply. I just read that whole thing just recently. Very interesting.
Have a great day and best wishes.
@ Brad
To be frank, sometimes you can be irritating – your long commentary is kind of like spam, but spam that strangely makes sense… delivered in a manner which makes me want to listen.
I think your last comment was really well put, and I agree with much of it.
I am much more accustomed to using my 40D now, and using it has weaned me off Auto settings (whether I liked it or not – shooting Auto on the 40D invariably pops the unwanted flash and also disables RAW). As for the medium format camera, it took some getting used to, like using any new equipment, and 2 weeks isn’t a long time. However, I found it much simpler to operate than the Canon 1DS M3. The guy from Phase One who came round to lend me the camera very fittingly said ‘look, don’t be scared of it. Use it. It’s just a camera’. Comparing it to a Space Shuttle mission becomes a bit too hyperbolic, I certainly didn’t use the thing to its full potential, within the time I had, but whether or not I focused the lens correctly on one occasion is a little off-point.
Having said all that, I did a 2-day commissioned shoot with the P40+ and the person who I photographed is over the moon with her pics – pics that are in focus. Thankfully. I’d like to share some on Flickr soon…
In response to your other comments about lights: I’m about to start using the flashguns, umbrellas & stands I received for my recent birthday…:)
A Phase One shouldn’t be any more difficult to use than any other camera with manual (or auto) settings. All you need to know is how aperture, shutter speed and ISO relate to each other. It strikes me as rather odd that someone who’s evidently the most famous photographer on flickr and has been taking photography seriously for a few years appears to know nothing about how to manipulate depth of field or to maximise sharpness. Such things are written in chapter one of every photography guidebook I’ve seen and are usually described in each camera’s manual too. You don’t need training. You need half an hour of reading and a little bit of practice. Photography is not like flying the space shuttle. It’s a piece of piss. Unlike painting, anyone can do it.
Almost any camera can be used to take a great photo. The Sony P&S was fine, and perhaps led to more interesting work because it allowed the photographer to concentrate on concepts. Continually “upgrading” your equipment won’t make you a better photographer. Thinking about concepts that provoke the artistic mind will.
But then when someone resorts to unfunny penis jokes on youtube, I have to wonder if they are an artist at all.
@ Arty Smokes
Better equipment doesn’t equal better photography? Good grief, I didn’t know that! Thank god there are people like you to tell me…
As for the penis cartoon, when half of your ‘critique’ of my work is based on facetious references to my tits, I don’t think you have room to speak.
…farewell!
I too like the bnw version of “Pathetic Phallacy” very much
have very much enjoyed the results of your collaboration and hope you get the opportunity to repeat it some time,
whatever equipment you chose to employ…
@ArtyFuckingSmokes
“Photography is not like flying the space shuttle. (…) Unlike painting, anyone can do it.”
Well you certainly can’t.
The whiny little princess strikes again.
Wow
What a lot of talk about equipment and technique! I think that if Natilie had been as focused on technique as has been suggested is necessary, she would never have achieved so much success in her field. If she were selling herself as a studio photography specialist or a documentary photographer there may be a case to focus so specifically on technical issues, however she has developed so far and so fast because of her spontaneity, her fresh approach, her willingness to make mistakes and learn from them. Natilie has only been doing this for three years (correct me if I am wrong) she has no formal training, thank god because if she was bogged down by the restraints of getting everything so technically perfect we would not be blessed with a proliferation of her inspiring work.
I am sure that in another few years her techniques will be much more acceptable to the pedantic.
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