PatrickPhotos

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  • Goya – The Witches and Old Women Album

    Goya-Courtauld

    Having seen the posters around London advertising the exhibition Goya – The Witches and Old Women Album, it occurred to me that I’m really only interested in the topic rather than the art itself. So I decided to visit the shop and get myself the catalogue.

    Goya is most known for The Nude Maja and The Clothed Maja but the work on show at The Courtard Gallery until 25 May is very different. They seem to me the ideas in the artist’s head that have been compiled into a small collection. And it is fascinating to see the dark thoughts and fantasies that he had in his mind.

    Reading online about the life of Goya it appears that towards the end of his life there may have been severe health problems due to the materials around that time that he would have used to create his art. This is one hypothesis into the disturbing and dark work he was creating.

    Comparing the female figures in this collection of work to The Nude Maja and The Clothed Maja they are at opposite poles to each other. One is of youthful beauty and the other is of old age evil. The title of this exhibition does say it all.

    Looking around at images created today are we still saying youth equals good and old equates to bad?

    8 OCTOBER 2015 Read the catalogue of Goya: The Portraits it compares a couple of images by Helmut Newton that he took in 1981 called “The Unclothed and the Clothed” with The Nude Maja and The Clothed Maja by Goya. The Newton photographs are of four female models simulating a walk down a catwalk with one image clothed and the other nude. I never made the connection between these works until now.

  • Two years on

    clock

    Another 12 months have passed by in a flash. Only being able to work on this project part time means the actual number of hours I spend is relatively small. But the precious time I have spent, I hope has been spent well.

    So what have I learnt two years on? I’ve been surprised at discovering how complex and fascinating portraiture can be. On the face of it, it looks so simple but the simplicity is the mask of how complex people can be.

    The people who have been in front of the camera and location owners have been a really wonderful group of people to work with. It has been a real pleasure in finding and working with them.

    As the days and weeks tick by the more I see that a great photograph has the ability to tell a compelling story. What that story is can only be made by the person behind the camera. Equipment and technical knowledge help you create the image but without the story it is just an empty picture.

    The truth is that I’m still figuring out what my message is, what I really want to say. And it is the challenge that excites me the most.

    Two years have passed and there is still so much more to experience. Would I do anything different if I started this project today? The answer would have to be yes, but that is what learning is all about.

    With so many different possibilities and avenues still to explore, I’m really excited to be starting my third year.

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