Photographer Research - Anne Geddes

Anne Geddes

Why I've chosen her

I really admire Anne Geddes work because it's different to what I've seen before. Firstly, she uses babies as her models and everyone knows that it's most likely a difficult task trying to maintain a child's behaviour. Secondly, Anne sticks to one theme in her pictures which avoids her from becoming side tracked with a photograph. Each feature in her picture has been placed there on purpose and everything contributes to the feel of one photograph. An example of this would be the butterfly photograph, the theme is nature and the colour is purple, therefore the costume and background are all different shades of purple to compliment the theme. She inspires me a lot and I can't wait to test photographs of mine that she's influenced. The main reason behind my choice for picking Anne Geddes as one of my photography inspirations is because her work is unique from my point of view. I admire the way she focuses every single one of her images on at least one colour of different shades. Along with this, her main focus in her pictures is also colour which is a formal element that has absorbed my love from the very beginning. Her photographs are bright, fun and full of life which is my focus for what I want my photographs to look like. She works with babies, I could work with older individuals in future perhaps.

Biography

Anne Geddes was born 13 September 1956 and is an Australian-born photographer, clothing designer and businesswoman who now lives and works in New Zealand. She is known for her stylised depictions of babies and motherhood. Typical images show babies or young children dressed as fairies and fairytale creatures, flowers, or small animals. She has described herself as "a baby freak". She is one of the world’s most respected and well-known photographers. She creates images that are iconic, award winning and beloved. Like no photographer before, her imagery singularly captures the beauty, purity and vulnerability of children embodying her deeply held belief that each and every child must be protected, nurtured and loved. 

This photograph reminds me of Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men, but instead there are three here. Bill and Ben are on a famous TV programme for children at a very young age, so this idea of that partners perfectly with the subject of the picture. Pattern is evident in this photo as there are three babies in a bucket each, lined up next to one another. This picture inspires me to make my photographs have a background that is a different shade to the colour that the subject in the picture is. So if I had models wearing one shade of clothing, I'd apply a backdrop of a different shade; this fills the frame of the picture more effectively.

This is a holiday photograph that represents the wonderful season Christmas. I like the idea of season photographs and it inspires me to maybe create my own; an easter or halloween theme etc. This photograph has been edited so that it looks as though the baby is all cosied up in a santa hat. Even though the two hats in this picture may not be identical to the original santa hats. the colours red and white are what porrtay this image to be a Christmas themed photograph. Lines and pattern are two formal elements that are demonstrated here.

This is an almighty cute photograph of a baby dressed as a bee. Anne has used costume in her photograph to create and extremely detailed and pretty pciture. The baby is sitting in a flower to indicate her love for pollen considering she's dressed as an insect who is adapted for feeding on nectar and pollen. Lines and pattern are again introduced in this photograph along with colour and form. The use of costume inspires me to perhaps include costume or precise outfits in my photography. Studying her pictures really excites me for when it comes to my own.

In this photograph, purple is the colour creating this whole composition. Different shades make it seem as though this picture includes a vast majority of colours when really it's just one with a range of different shades. You could say that reflection has been used here however no device like a mirror or water has been included, but the butterflies wings demonstrate symmetry along with pattern which forms a creative photograph. Butterflies are orginally light and beautiful and are to be treated with care. The baby being the body of the butterfly implies how she is too like a butterfly. 

How she's influenced me

Anne Geddes photographs have influenced me in many ways. I admire the way she focuses her pictures on a variety of different shades of just one colour. Some of her photographs portray vulnerability in a more physical sense aswell. If she'd be photographing a baby, she'd dress the baby and the overall picture in an innocent costume such as a butterfly. The butterfly would therefore be representing the baby's vulnerability as well as its own. She applies sensible themes to her pictures so that they're not all too overly wacky. Her photographs make amazing keep sakes for parents of the babies as they're not your typical photoshoot; it's not everyday you attend a photoshoot for your child that gets dressed up as a bumblebee and sits in a flower. Her photography is outgoing and has influenced me to apply one theme of colour to my future pictures. 

My intention with this picture that I took on the colour shoot was to look for something that contained one colour palette in a variety of shades. I found this in her work when I was studying Anne Geddes as a photographer and it reassured me of wanting to focus on this theme in future photographs. If in future I get the chance, I will be applying red shades to one image, yellow shades to one image etc. in a project.

This is a photograph that I captured that was inspired by Anne Geddes. The left model has black hair, so putting a black backdrop on this image would blend in, which is why Anne Geddes influenced me to put a block colour (teal) backdrop behind my models to allow the subject to stand out more. I thought this was successful and I was happy with the outcome.

Summary

Overall, Anne Geddes is a super successful female photographer who is individual and unique rather than your typical portrait photographer. She has her own signature style which is the main attraction of her work. Her photography catches your eye with it's colourful construction and makes wonderful framed pieces for parents and families.