Shoot 4 - Be better than Dan

"Be better than dan" - The inspiration for this collection came from a short film called the little death. The film focused on 5 couples and a sexual fettish they had in their relationship. The film lead me to think about why we couldn't celebrate sex. It creative its colourful and natural. The use of flowers and bright colours helped to display this narrative" - Louise Blackstock 

Designer: Louise Blackstock

Title: Be better than Dan

Models: Matt Holford & Will Neville

Stylist: Ella Preece

As I previously mentioned I wanted to change some of the ways in which I was shooting. To do this I used two models for this shoot. Shooting with two models was slightly harder than having just the one because I had to ensure that they interacted with one another on set. As well as this, scouting the models was a slightly trickier task as they needed to complement each others looks.

The menswear collection was successful and provided my portfolio with a slightly different style. This shoot was very much focused on creating abstract imagery with the garments. I wanted to produce images that would make somebody look at my work and question what it is. The garments within this collection made this possible as they were quirky and had a lot of volume.

I did want to try shooting on location but none of the designers were happy to have their garments taken out of a studio. This was understandable and in the long run may have been slightly trickier as my lighting was easier to control in the studio environment. Having set myself a challenge to photograph a menswear collection I got in touch with a suitable designer and set a date for the shoot. The designer was unavailable to the attend the shoot so I made sure I had a stylist instead to help out with steaming/ironing and adjusting the garments on the models where necessary. 

During post production I was able to see how successful the shoot was. Due to the design of the garments I was able to create a lot of abstract imagery; showing elements of line, shape.

Another reason the shoot went well is because I thought a lot about framing my composition when capturing the images. In previous shoots I had done a lot of the cropping in post production but I made sure to think about my framing while the shoot was taking place. 

How can I develop further?

Looking back over my work I was pleased with what I had produced but thought there could be some ways in which I could develop my concept further and also challenge myself. 

I came up with a few possibilities in order to do this:

1. Shoot a menswear collection
2. Have more than one model in one shoot
3. Shoot on location

Collaboration with fashion and graphics students

Two students were collaborating to create a website for a modest clothing company. They asked me to take photos of the clothing so that they could use them for the website. The shoot was simple and straightforward. They were going to use the images to make the webpage interactive. 

https://xd.adobe.com/view/bc00446d-36d9-4b6c-a9d9-1d2aa8ba544c/screen/14cf550f-a3a9-405d-9b41-95d179a9d555/Web-1920-13/?fullscreen

Lighting development

For my first two shoots I used 2 soft boxes on either side of the model. 

I also thought about creating a harsh shadow between the model and the background to enhance the element of shape. I researched how to do this technically and found out I could do it by using a ring flash. However, after some consideration I went against this idea as I thought the shadows would be too harsh and would detract from the clothing.

New software

During the course of this project I was introduced to both Adobe Bridge and Lightroom. 

Lightroom was really useful for:

• Applying the same editing settings to multiple images to ensure consistency through the series

Bridge has also been really useful for:

• Adding metadata (very useful for when I worked with live clients)
• Batch renaming a shoot
• Creating a contact sheet
• Star rating images 
• Selecting and viewing multiple photographs 

The Other Art Fair London

Visiting this show was extremely helpful in terms of understanding how to organise an exhibition. It got me thinking about the different ways in which I could display my work. It was also good to see what other artists had on show with their work. (e.g. business cards, postcards, flyers).

It was also a great oppurtunity to get to talk to some of the artists at the show. Graeme Messer created a series entitled "Will I ever be good enough" which expresses his desire to be accepted. Having the opportunity to speak to him and ask about where his ideas come from was very inspiring.

 

This exhibition also made me think about my personal branding and decide possible options for my exhibition space at Grad show. Collecting different business card designs and flyers made me think about which design would be the most suitable style for my work.

Sisterhood series

Having previously collaborated with a stylist for one of my projects, she asked if I could photograph a shoot for her Final Major Project entitled: sisterhood.

BTS:

FINAL IMAGES:

The stylist wanted one of the models in focus (in the foreground) and the other model out of focus (in the background). I attempted to do this by using a shallow depth of field however this created a problem with the lighting as the shallow depth of field was not letting enough light in. I therefore decided I would create the blur effect during the editing process so that the lighting would be consistent throughout the shoot.

Shoot 3- Roxanne Savage

"Nindot Bastos, meaning "Beautifully Vulgar" is conceptually inspired by growing up as mixed race girl in The Philippines, Hong Kong and England. Identity is key within the Nindot Bastos concept. Figuring out who i am and where i belong, there is a strong sense of limbo and nostalgia throughout the collection. There is a question whether, to fit within the crowd, or standing out and being noticed, good or bad which one is better? 

Inspiration from Hong Kong came from, personal photographs taken while my family lived there before i was born and two years after. As well as the abstract and geometric architecture in that city. 

From the age of 8, life in England had begun. This is were Abstract art entwines within. Abstract seemed to have a limbo sense or aura to its movement. Some art works are extremely exaggerated or minimally there, there is never an in between. 

"Nindot Bastos", finishes off with a maximalist impact to its conceptual peers. 

The Maximalist portrays, you don't have to blend in to be somebody. Stand out, be different and be remembered for who you are." - Roxanne Savage

Designer: Roxanne Savage

Title: Nindot Bastos 

Model: Merveille Sene

Make up Artist: Chloe Rose

I chose this shoot because of how structured the garments were. They spoke a lot for themselves and I thought we would be able to create some rigid shapes with this collection.


Unfortunately, the shoot did not go to plan as the model was very inexperienced, uncomfortable and quite difficult to direct. 

I was not pleased with the outcome of the images so I decided that in order to get the best quality images I  would reshoot this look at a later date. 













On the second attempt the shoot ran much more smoothly, the model was a lot more confident and knew what she was doing.
The outcome of the images were a lot better and portrayed numerous sculptural elements including geometric shapes and symmetry. 

Together with the make up artist we decided that we would go for a symmetrical look and a contrasting a lip colour.

















Final images:

The images were much more successful and the model was a lot more comfortable on set which made mine and the stylists jobs a lot easier and the overall shoot ran a lot smoother. 

During post production I ensured I was using techniques we had been taught by Jennie such as layering tools and masking. I also thought carefully about cropping my images to show off the clothing in the best way possible. I thought back to how the photographer had done this in the images of Craig Green's designs and used this technique in my own work to produce images as can be seen below. 

Potential clients that would use my work would be "Another Magazine" as the style of my work is very similar to the front covers of their magazines. They photograph sculptural garments and so they would be a perfect client.