Underwater Colour

Whilst trawling It's Nice That I came across a feature on Jill Greenberg's Underwater series. She's tagged "The Manipulator" because of her digitally enhanced photography which verges on surrealism. I didn't realise it but I actually knew a lot of her work- the crying children in End Times and the countless advertisments, fashion editorials and celebrity portraiture which always has an unsettling, if not sinister quality. However, Underwater is new to me and I think it piqued my interest because of the amazing colours (electric blue anyone?) and that the whole idea is layer upon layer of artificially enhanced nature. The pool is a man-made body of water, reflecting unnatural colours, and the subjects are manipulated and their movements stylised to an extreme.

(these images from Ambient Art Gallery)

(these images from photoshelter)

If these models look surprisingly co-ordinated it's becuase they are actually members of the American Olympic synchronised swimming team. To see more of her work, have a look at her online portfolio at Manipulator.com.

Electric Colour

There's a lot of talk about colour going on around the fashion halls at the moment. I've been a part of in-depth discussions about the virtues of cold greys with steel blue influences versus warm greys with a tint of mouse brown but without heading over to taupe. Skin comes in colours from nude, flesh, beige, powder pink to peach-but-not-peach, and my own variation "burnt flesh".

So I have colour on the brain. At the moment I just can't get over neon blue. Developing the colour palette for my final collection I started looking at the colours of electricity, neon hues of all sorts but particularly blue. This came from a recent obsession with Blade Runner (apologies to anyone who studied it for year 12-I only discovered it last year and so it hasn't been ruined). The movie showcases neon lights in all their glory. Contrasted with the derelict surroundings I found it a really powerful element in the film. That and blue smoke.

(image from Original Trilogy)


(image from Broken Projector)

There is just something so amazing about this almost turquoise, electric sea colour that makes it jump off the screen. However not so easy to concoct in a dye pot. One last electric delight is a restored neon umbrella prop from the Blade Runner, which I didn't even notice during the film but I think it's fairly amazing- partly due to the prop itself and partly because of this eerie photo.

(image from Blade Zone)