Photography Coursework

Cristina Otero

I thought analysing this artist to start my project would be good because she uses very bright colours, which is what I want to include in some of my own work. Cristina Otero is a Spanish photographer currently living in Madrid. Known for her self-portraits, she was born in Galicia and is the youngest of three siblings. Being self-taught, Cristina started taking pictures at thirteen, and at fifteen she had her first solo exhibition in the Kir Royal Gallery (Valencia), becoming the youngest Spanish artist to exhibit individually in a gallery. What I like the most about this artists work is how she incorporates the fruit into her images. She designs her models makeup around the pattern of the fruit, which to me looks very effective. Most of the time she just takes head and shoulder shots so that the audience focus on the creativity of the makeup and props. The way she has composed the fruit against the models face is very imaginative because she changes the position in every different photo she takes therefore her photography worked is varied. You can clearly see that after she has taken the shoot she then edits her pictures to enhance the colours and make then more outstanding. The models eyes look like they are artificial because she uses the brightness and contrast tool to make them clear. This is essential when using such heavy make up and props because the models facial features aren’t as distinct as they should be, so the makeup wont looks as effective. I would like to attempt to have ago a the techniques that Cristina Otero used because I think they will work well for my project theme. I also want to try to experiment with different props so that my knowledge of different compositions expands then hopefully my own images will improve.