Emma Campbell is a photographer born in Belfast, Northern Ireland but based in London, England. Within her photographic work, Emma explores gendered themes, closely linked with the feminist movement. Two examples of her work include Dawn - a series based on female adolescence, and Fashion - a photographic project portraying the lives of women working in UK garment manufacture. Whilst she explores many different themes such as political issues and identity, it is always focussed on how they directly effect women.
Emma's work has influenced my own as it has made me realise that there are many different ways that feminism can be expressed within photography, and that it is not always shown obviously but instead tied in with another topic. Looking at how most of her images are in natural settings and how she subtly shows how women are effected by specific things, I have been inspired to try out new settings for my photographs as the majority of my ideas are set to be shot in the studio and I would like to see how my images would turn out in a natural, documentary styled theme.
Overall, after studying the work of Emma Campbell, I have found that not all work based on the feminist movement needs to have a clear link to it and does not need to be dramatic or staged in a studio. Instead, simply documenting the lives of women in different scenarios can show how women are effected by patriarchy on an everyday basis. Also, I have found that using feminism as an underlying theme can almost be as effective as using it as the main theme as it enables the photographer to show exactly what is effecting the woman and how it is effecting them.
This image is of Dawn from the series that Emma created of her. Dawn is stood at a bus stop wearing layers of thick clothing and no make up. This is a first instance of subtle feminism as she is not conforming to the stereotype of feminine beauty but is dressing how she wishes. Dawn appears to be quite young and has an eyebrow piercing, which could be a symbol of adolescent rebellion as she has got a facial piercing which, again, goes against the female stereotypical beauty.
Emma's work has influenced my own as it has made me realise that there are many different ways that feminism can be expressed within photography, and that it is not always shown obviously but instead tied in with another topic. Looking at how most of her images are in natural settings and how she subtly shows how women are effected by specific things, I have been inspired to try out new settings for my photographs as the majority of my ideas are set to be shot in the studio and I would like to see how my images would turn out in a natural, documentary styled theme.
Overall, after studying the work of Emma Campbell, I have found that not all work based on the feminist movement needs to have a clear link to it and does not need to be dramatic or staged in a studio. Instead, simply documenting the lives of women in different scenarios can show how women are effected by patriarchy on an everyday basis. Also, I have found that using feminism as an underlying theme can almost be as effective as using it as the main theme as it enables the photographer to show exactly what is effecting the woman and how it is effecting them.
This image is of Dawn from the series that Emma created of her. Dawn is stood at a bus stop wearing layers of thick clothing and no make up. This is a first instance of subtle feminism as she is not conforming to the stereotype of feminine beauty but is dressing how she wishes. Dawn appears to be quite young and has an eyebrow piercing, which could be a symbol of adolescent rebellion as she has got a facial piercing which, again, goes against the female stereotypical beauty.
In this photograph from the Dawn series, we can see two people writing out mathematic sums. We can only see a small snapshot of their faces, but from that we can tell that they are young adults and above the age of regular schooling. This could connote female empowerment and success as Dawn is appearing to be taking control of her life and getting lessons in order to gain qualifications, which in future will lead to a career.
This photo is from the Fashion series, focussing on women working in the clothing manufacture industry. The use of depth of field in this image brings the viewers focus to the woman in the centre so that we can see her facial expression. The woman appears to be bored or worn out, which connotes the exhausting and repetitive nature of the work that she does.
The woman in this image is framed by a piece of machinery both in front and behind her. This could connote how she is trapped by her work and how her work is all around her. In the picture, she appears to be simply standing at her work station and looking around, possibly waiting to be given work to do. Like the picture above, this could connote how tiresome the work is as without others doing work she cannot do anything.
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