Photography Project - Could You Help?

sdfsxd · Post by **sdfsxd** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 3:32 pm

Hi Everyone,

My name is Giles and I'm a documentary photographer.

I am currently looking into creating a body of photographic work that looks into the world of Love Dolls.

The main focus of my photography looks into understanding objects and the relationships that are formed between inanimate objects and people, so as you can imagine Love Dolls are a fitting area to look into.

I want to make it clear that this project is not a statement about your interest in Love Dolls as an individual, more of a comment on Love Dolls as objects. The project is in no way opinion based or judgemental, as mentioned I shoot in a documentary style, representing real life situations as they occur without putting a spin on them.

I intend to do a series of location based shoots to look into this area, the locations would primarily be the homes of Love Doll owners. This is where I need your help! If you would be willing for me to come and photograph your Love Doll in it's natural environment I would be very grateful.

In return for your help I can offer copies of any images I take on the day, as well as personally inviting you to any exhibitions this work is displayed in.

I am only looking for people in the UK so if this sounds like a project you may be interested in please don't hesitate to email me at giles_watson@icloud.com and we can discuss things further.

I will not be undertaking this project until the start of 2014 so theres plenty of time before shooting will begin, at this stage I am just trying to build up contacts.

My work can be seen at http://giles-watson.tumblr.com

Thanks for your time,

Giles

Post by **Nescio50** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 2:37 pm

Hi Giles,

Living in The Netherlands, I cannot help you. But anyway, good luck on your project!
Media and doll owners often are a difficult combination. Maybe you should tell some more about your project, what kind of help you are asking for, what you are going to publish, what kind of photographs you are looking for, your guarantees for anonymity, et cetera.

P.S. TDF Management has verified that Giles is a documentary photographer.

Dollarhyde · Post by **Dollarhyde** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 5:41 pm

Hello sdfsxd and welcome to the forum...

Your not the only person who has approached members on this subject... a few to none generally may contact but good luck on your venture...

Post by **RainLover** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 6:53 pm

sdfsxd wrote:I am only looking for people in the UK

Then may I suggest you should add your location to your profile so it's clear where you are. Good luck with your project!

RainLover
Media Moderator

Post by **Stephanie RD** » Wed Nov 06, 2013 7:07 pm

Please be more specific as to what type of "documentary" you're making.

Is this for TV? A private/public art gallery exhibit?

Everhard · Post by **Everhard** » Fri Nov 08, 2013 4:23 pm

Giles seems to be genuine. I recognise Boscombe street market in his gallery of same.

angelah · Post by **angelah** » Fri Nov 08, 2013 6:47 pm

The words Photo Journalist can make people very nervous, especially about a subject as delicate as this one often is. Most wish to remain anonymous which I why I suppose we mainly have usernames on the forum. I use my real name because I am open about my approach to dolls and the implications of coming 'out' to a journalist as I did with Benita.

My advice to Giles is to come out of the closet himself on here and be honest which means a lot more information about him, what he wants people to do and what the end game is. This has already been stated above but nothing has materialised. For instance what will he do and what might happen to any materials he gathers, be it photographs or text?

Come on Giles, more info please.

angelah

sdfsxd · Post by **sdfsxd** » Fri Nov 08, 2013 8:40 pm

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I haven't replied so far, I had a work in progress show of some work so my time has been focused on that, now this post has been verified I hope to elaborate to make things a little clearer...

As for media attention, I completely understand where you're coming from, due to the unique nature of the subject matter I can fully appreciate the type of attention it has the potential of gathering.

My photographic practice looks into attempting to understand, represent and document inanimate objects in the world around us to highlight conceptual and physical relationships we form with those objects, how those objects relate to us and the constant connection we have to a culture of consumerism and owning 'stuff'.

Recently I have been interested in the idea of looking into an area where objects and people overlap. This idea has manifested into the possibility of documenting human effigies. As you can imagine life-size dolls are an interesting area within this concept.

The project will be in response to my final brief for University, the nature of the project is to document this world using an honest, frank and direct approach. I don't stage photographs and I wouldn't ask any members taking part to do anything that they would not normally do, or be comfortable doing, the point of my practice is to relate real life situations as they happen, not to stage a scene to create a specific feeling or 'spin'.

In terms of the actual shooting process I would fully inform any participating members about the nature of the project and what I intend to do with the images. This project is focusing on the dolls as objects, not focusing on the people that own them. No photographs will be taken of participating members, their right to anonymity will be guaranteed.

I am hoping to travel to the homes of willing owners to take a series of photographs of their doll/dolls in everyday situations you may normally interact with your doll, I only shoot stills, no video will be taken. I am based in the south west of England so anyone in the same area would be ideal to keep travel costs down but I am willing to travel further.

I will also make any participating members sign a document making sure they are fully aware of the project and intended image usage, consent is essential when undertaking a project such as this.

The project will not be sold to any news media. My intention is to create an artistic body of work, not to make profit from a tabloid piece.

I will retain the right to use agreed images on my online portfolio and printed portfolio. There may also be the possibility of turning this project into a book, or exhibition.

I hope that clears a few things up, if you have any more questions please fire away!

Kind regards,

Giles

stacy718 · Post by **stacy718** » Sat Nov 09, 2013 12:00 am

this subject has been done so many times... from Elena Dorfman to Becky Yee and most recently with Benita.

:snooze:

good luck

angelah · Post by **angelah** » Sat Nov 09, 2013 4:32 am

Hi Giles,
Well I came out and asked for more details and I think Giles has done that. As Stacy718 says, this has been done many times before but I think they were for commercial use rather than that intended here. I do not know two of the people Stacy mentioned but I do know Benita and a nicer person one could not wish to meet.

The wording of any agreement must of course be satisfactory to both parties and as I see it any images would be retained by Giles for future use. One wonders what that might be?

Is there a timescale here? When must this project be completed by?

Many shots of dolls are posed, there is no real alternative to showing them as they do not move so cannot be caught 'off guard' or doing things they normally do, they just sit there looking good.

But at least Giles has cleared the field a lot more and we all know what his motives are and why/

If you feel able to become part of his 'baby' then get in touch, just asking is not going to commit you to anything.

Blessings,

angelah

Everhard · Post by **Everhard** » Sat Nov 09, 2013 5:33 am

I would volunteer (as I have done such things before) but nowadays my diary is too full (mainly with a full time job).

angelah wrote:I do not know two of the people Stacy mentioned...

Elena Dorfman Still Lovers:
http://www.elenadorfman.com/art/still-lovers/index.html

Derived forum topic:
http://www.dollforum.com/forum/viewtopi ... na+dorfman

angelah · Post by **angelah** » Sat Nov 09, 2013 11:33 am

I am afraid I have no doll at the moment, only me... but that is going to change in a few months time so I will volunteer then.

angelah

Post by **Stephanie RD** » Sat Nov 09, 2013 9:44 pm

stacy718 wrote:this subject has been done so many times... from Elena Dorfman to Becky Yee and most recently with Benita.

:snooze:

good luck

True this subject has been done before but it should be done more.

As they say, "there's no such thing as bad publicity." Any media about love dolls always seems to come out positive. Even if the intention was to ridicule.

I tried in vane to find negative press about 'Lars and the Real Girl.' But even ultra conservative religious film reviews applauded it as being positive.

Recently someone posted a link to a bodybuilding forum with ridiculed TDF. However a surprisingly large amount of their own members said love dolls were sexy and they wanted one too.

Giles won't be the first, but I wish him luck in at least reporting about love dolls.

I'd volunteer Giles if I lived in the UK.

sdfsxd · Post by **sdfsxd** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 8:12 am

Hi Everyone,

Once again my apologies for lack of response, I have to have a draft of my dissertation ready by december so I've been busy with that.

Thanks for your comments so far, please keep any questions coming and I'll do the best I can to answer them. I'm aware this are has been looked into before by other photographers, but as stated there is always room for further exploration of any given topic, this is the nature of documentary photography.

The project will commence in January and run until March/April of 2014.

All I need is one or two people to volunteer to help me get off the ground, I'm sure you will all understand my intentions and direction if I can show you some visual examples rather than just talking about the project. I would really like to meet with some active members from this forum so you can see that I am sincere about this project.

If this is you then please don't hesitate to get in contact via private message on here or email me at giles_watson@icloud.com even if it's just with questions about the project.

I can appreciate the type of media attention this subject can attract so I fully understand that getting accesses to shoot was always going to be challenging but if you feel you could help I would be so appreciative.

Regards,

Giles