Alexander Trinitatov

I really like the works of Photographer Alexander Triniriatov, Here you can i see i came across a series of smoking photographs he did. I found the way in which he captured the smoke within these photos to be extremely interesting using it almost as an extension of the photograph as without it they would lack in meaning. It seems to pad out the photograph making it more insisting to the viewer leaving the main subjects of the pieces fading into the background as though they are being overpowered by the smoke itself which seems to shine in its own limelight. 

Experimenting with aperture speeds again foreground to background

As i cant use smoke in the actual studio environment i need to think of something else to use as a replacement. A main idea which i was thinking of using would be to continue with the theme of distortion of the models face but in this case with the tobacco products itself still keeping an advertisement appearance for example, placing tobacco leaves over someones face to resemble that of glasses or a mustache, placing cigarettes in someones mouth as long front teeth or placing a pink lighter on someones tongue.

As the images will resemble that of a joke like context i want to then juxtaposition this next to a meaningful and serious quote, as though this somehow makes the viewer reflect upon what they on first glance saw as a funny uplifting advert to now a serious, meaningful and quite dark image. Due to the contrast between the two i feel this will make the viewer reflect upon their own first impressions and how serious they do in fact see smoking.

  "If you could see what others saw, you wouldn't smoke." "If smoking was a joke, you'd be the clown."  "Don't let smoking become who you are."  "Don't let smoking make you someone your not" 

If you could see yourself, you wouldn't smoke.

I also did i few photographs mainly concentrating on using reflection and mirrors. In these photographs i wanted to capture myself looking in the mirror while smoking yet have myself
reflected back somewhat worried or angry as though i was trying to stop myself from smoking, making me see what i was doing was wrong. A true reflection of if i could truly see the damage i was doing to myself i would stop smoking.

In the end i decided that these photo's weren't the best out of all i took. They didn't really show what i wanted and were more experimentation pieces before i moved onto my jumping photographs. I also found it difficult to get the correct camera angle of the mirror as my tripod was too small. If i was to do these again i would want more of a higher angle as though the photographs were being taken from looking into the mirror capturing more of my body.

If addiction was a person, he'd be a silent killer.

(Mainly used Tungsten light setting as i wanted to create an unflattering cold light, something that held no colour to it, resembling that of death + Tripod.)

My ideas surrounding these photographs were to create something which made people see that the act of smoking was the same no matter where or when its done,same effect same process, same appearance. I wanted to do this by using uncommon locations ones which are not usually associated with smoking for example a bathroom and a bedroom. When taking the photographs i decided to reenact being a dead and lifeless state as though the viewer was seeing through the normality and into a surreal and blurred reality behind the act of smoking. I also wanted to capture smoking and addiction as a whole, something similar to a bully, a monster and a murderer, a force that has complete power over you. I feel i captured this better in the hanging and floating photographs as they seemed to capture an unidentified invisible presence due to positioning of my jumping body.

Overall i wanted these photographs to represent how smoking itself basically kills you, slowly but surely. The ropes which i added later on Photoshop were made to look depicted of that of the overflowing cigarette smoke as though the person themselves was killed by the smoke, yet raises the question that if the cigarette was never lit and the addiction was never there would this mean she wouldn't have died?, Was it the cigarette that killed her or was it in fact herself?.
I feel the photos put into context the power an addition has over someone and the little control you as a smoker have on the situation.

I've been brainstorming different ideas for photographs in which i want to capture smoking yet still keeping an anti-advert appearance.  I've also been thinking up different quotes and statements which i want to put in my previous photos working alongside the image. For example "If you could see what others see, you wouldn't smoke." "Smoking looks the same no matter where you do it." "If you could see yourself, you wouldn't smoke."  These then lead me onto thinking about creating a range of photographs somehow incorporating a mirror or some sort of reflection. Such as taking a photograph in the bathroom mirror or using Photoshop to have the same person but looking at each other one smoking, one not. I would like the photos to somehow represent something out of the ordinary, something which wouldn't usually be seen to make people see the reality of smoking and of what there actually doing, as just because its not being done outside of a club or a pub area doesn't mean that your not doing the exact same thing just in a different location.

As my Portrait is about smoking, the effects of smoking and the way smoking looks to others for iv'e been thinking of different ways in which to portray this within my work.  I've also been looking in a range of different styles of advertising mostly aimed to discourage people from the act of smoking to help influence my own work. One in which i found in particular to be very interesting was "The hanging man" by the advertising company Mercury 360 and the photographer Ola bell. I love surreal and controversial photographs like this and would love to somehow incorporate or even rework this type of photography into my own work. I think  not only the way in which the man is portrayed to be hanging without a noose to be seen along with the dark and almost tungsten colour effect topped with the slogan "Its called suicide because its your choice." referencing the choice that every smoker takes on a daily basis to that of someone purposely taking there own life not only creates a dark and intising image but also something which is very shocking and meaningful.