Final shoot considered pictures

For my final shoot I did an underwater shoot. The shoot I found difficult, however it ended very successful. Picking my final picture was very difficult I had many pictures too choose from and these were the ones I cancelled down to. I really liked all these pictures and the decision was really hard. I think I captured the water movement really well, but I feel I should have got more body shots where the scenery was more clear.

 

Final photo

 

Shoot- innocence of children

Shoot

For this shoot I decided to dress my young model in a fur coat with a short dress underneath and some pink willies with bare legs. I done this as I feel that a young girl dressed inappropriately all alone down alley ways and deserted areas can cause viewers to feel vulnerable for the child. I feel this is because there is an innocence about children and when they are sexualised it can provoke the wrong kind of attention and without adult supervision can cause not only them to feel vulnerable but the viewers looking at the photograph. I think my photographs displayed this sense of vulnerability for the viewer as the model is very unaware. To improve this project I would maybe dress the model in different outfits and maybe put her in more public places to capture the reacts of people to see what there reactions are. I think this will be a good thing to develop in the future so I can develop my responses. Also maybe to do some edits in colour this could be more effective as she has pink willies and make up it makes her more 'girly' this could add to the effect this would have on the viewer.

 

 

 

Condition shoot- out in the dark

Condition shoot

This shoot I did to text the vulnerability of a friend she hates being alone in wooded area in the dark. I eventually persuaded her to do the shoot for me, this is where she felt most vulnerable. I think this shoot was successful as in the final pictures I do sense her vulnerability. A young girl alone in the dark in the woods is quite daunting. I used the flash as my only light source my reason for this is so in my images all you can see is my models face and the rest of the environment isn't clear. I feel this leaves the environment around the female a mystery that's dark leaving the audience feeling vulnerable for her. I edited the hue and the saturation of the image making the image darker and leaving a slight green tint to it. I decided on this as it made me think of night vision cameras. I think to improve on these images I should use a variety of different angles and other light sources to see how this could change or develop my photos.

Under water test shoot

Under water test shoot

Here is a test shoot I did to test what my photos would look under water. I wanted to get the detail of the water and how I could edit these to my advantage. The different movements in the water could represent and emotion or struggle, which is helpful to my research. I edited these photos exposures and colour balance to see if I could make the movement in the water clearer. I think this was a good extra to my research. To improve I think I should try more positions and maybe different locations where water is involved.  

Research and response- Nils Orth

Nils Orth

 Untitled Faces aren’t particularly flattering images, however they’re quite compelling, rubbing against many photographic conventions. I chose to look at Nils Orth as her images are quite raw and I like how there's no shying away from the models imperfections. As I was looking at beauty through part of my final project I looked at how vulnerable this could make someone within todays society. As we are expected to look a certain way, imperfections are not the ideal.

My response

I chose to respond to Nils Orth as I like the way her portraits quite brutally honest in the way they display the imperfections of the models she is photographing. My first edit I decided to air brush my model and darken his eyes I like the innocence this creates on his face. I did this in order to make a comparison to my other edit.

This edit I edited more towards Nils Orth as the model has a sort of gritty look in which I feel she adds to all her photographs, I also didn't edit out all his perfections unlike the other photo. I think this edit is definitely more towards how Orth edits her photographs and I feel has a similar effect to the audience. I think this photo overall is successful, however to improve I would do other edits and maybe expose the photograph more and chance the black and white balance. Also I could do other shoots to develop the response and use other models with difference faces and features.

 

Evaluation

Overall, I feel my FMP was successful. I had many ideas as to what I would like to do and trialled many shoots to get closer to my final one. After a deep analysis in my sketch book and looking through all my ideas I decided to do an underwater shoot. This is something I have never done before so was a risk. However I had done many test shoots with water so I thought I could get a good photograph. My Final photograph was of a female trying to swim towards the camera. The female doesn’t like water and actually can’t swim properly. Therefore the vulnerability should have been shown in her face, which I think it was, but this is not completely obvious I feel it’s quite subtle in the shot I chose, yet effective as this is true emotion.  

 My time management was kept quite well, I was very happy with the amount of research I did for my project as this was a big help when it came to making a decision as to what my final photo would be. I had a wide variety of responses and different ideas to build up to my final; this made it easier to bring me to a final idea. I went to a few exhibitions which were very inspirational for my idea development, I do wish I had visited more, but none of the exhibitions were project related. I made up for this by conducting interviews and reading books which were very helpful.

 

One of the obstacles that occurred in my FMP was actually getting models to do the shoot for me. This was
difficult because I was asking them to conquer a fear or something they didn’t like, I had a few willing models that took a lot of convincing and I had to interview a few more in order to do more shoots. This was a recurring problem throughout the project, but I did manage to get the shots I wanted. Another obstacle I came across in the project was in my final shoot I struggled to get the shot I wanted this is because my underwater camera broke last minute so I had to borrow one from a friend. This camera I borrowed was delayed when taking the picture this made it very difficult for me as I had to adjust to the delay very quickly as the model only had a certain amount of time. I managed to get the shot after all and I realised I can adjust very quickly to situations due to forward thinking.

 

My initial idea for my final photograph was to have the model fully clothed in the water i thought this would look really effective as the clothing would make for great shapes in the water. This was not allowed in the location I went to for health and safety reasons. So I settled for having my model in a leotard, this worked well as her arm and leg movement were clear and I feel that’s important in showing her struggle. One major problem I faced was finding the right location for my shoot I went to many pools and either they wouldn’t allow it or the pool wasn’t right for the shoot. I eventually came to my final location which was perfect, I had to fill out a form and make sure no one else was in the photograph, this proved difficult but ended in success.
I focused on portraiture when it came to thinking about composition I learnt that my photos looked better with the location clear. The blues in the water came out very well and I edited them to look very blue to draw people in. 

 

Throughout this project I have really enjoyed myself and learnt a lot. I realised how quick my ideas can develop and what I can do to effect my audience. I took a few risks throughout the project which isn’t something I would always do, I feel I have come a long way and ended with an image that I am pleased with. If I were to do anything different I would do more test shoots and maybe if I had more time do a shoot that is a lot more daring, this could make for an interesting project in the future and I could definitely push this project further.

shoot- innocence of children and flowers

Shoot
This shoot I did just to experiment with innocence. I chose a 10 year old model to as innocence is usually connected with a young children, the white flowers are to represent purity. This shoot was successful in the way I feel my pictures displayed what I wanted them too through just emotional expressions and props. I did various edits for these photographs I chose to put the photographs in black and white as I thought colour would be a distraction I wanted the viewer to focus on the image. Each image was edited similarly as I thought it had a good effect. In the images the model almost shy's away behind the flowers or looking down at them leaving I believe an innocence to the image which is what I was trying to create. To improve I would maybe do more images with the model not looking directly at the camera making it seem like the model is unaware of the camera.

shoot- nudity

Shoot - Nudity

I decided to do a shoot with a model with her top off as many of people I surveyed when do they feel most vulnerable, they said when they are naked. So I decided to see what a model would react like when I asked her to take her top off. The model I chose didn't feel as vulnerable as she thought she would and came across on camera more comfortable. This was a good learning point for me as it is important to test how vulnerable people are in certain situations and weather I will get the shot I need from them. She wasn't comfortable to go completely topless so her covering her breasts was in a way expressing how uncomfortable she was. I edited the photos black and white as I thought there would be more of a distraction if there was colour. In one of the photographs she is shying away from the camera and looking away I feel this was one of the more successful shots of the shoot as she wasn't directly looking in the camera displaying uncomfortable body language. To improve I will test with a model who would feel more vulnerable in this situation.

 

 

FMP evaluation

Overall, I feel my FMP was successful. I had many ideas as to what I would like to do and trialled many shoots to get closer to my final one. After a deep analysis in my sketch book and looking through all my ideas I decided to do an underwater shoot. This is something I have never done before so was a risk. However I had done many test shoots with water so I thought I could get a good photograph. My Final photograph was of a female trying to swim towards the camera. The female doesn’t like water and actually can’t swim properly. Therefore the vulnerability should have been shown in her face, which I think it was, but this is not completely obvious I feel it’s quite subtle in the shot I chose, yet effective as this is true emotion.  

 My time management was kept quite well, I was very happy with the amount of research I did for my project as this was a big help when it came to making a decision as to what my final photo would be. I had a wide variety of responses and different ideas to build up to my final; this made it easier to bring me to a final idea. I went to a few exhibitions which were very inspirational for my idea development, I do wish I had visited more, but none of the exhibitions were project related. I made up for this by conducting interviews and reading books which were very helpful.

 

One of the obstacles that occurred in my FMP was actually getting models to do the shoot for me. This was
difficult because I was asking them to conquer a fear or something they didn’t like, I had a few willing models that took a lot of convincing and I had to interview a few more in order to do more shoots. This was a recurring problem throughout the project, but I did manage to get the shots I wanted. Another obstacle I came across in the project was in my final shoot I struggled to get the shot I wanted this is because my underwater camera broke last minute so I had to borrow one from a friend. This camera I borrowed was delayed when taking the picture this made it very difficult for me as I had to adjust to the delay very quickly as the model only had a certain amount of time. I managed to get the shot after all and I realised I can adjust very quickly to situations due to forward thinking.

 

My initial idea for my final photograph was to have the model fully clothed in the water i thought this would look really effective as the clothing would make for great shapes in the water. This was not allowed in the location I went to for health and safety reasons. So I settled for having my model in a leotard, this worked well as her arm and leg movement were clear and I feel that’s important in showing her struggle. One major problem I faced was finding the right location for my shoot I went to many pools and either they wouldn’t allow it or the pool wasn’t right for the shoot. I eventually came to my final location which was perfect, I had to fill out a form and make sure no one else was in the photograph, this proved difficult but ended in success.
I focused on portraiture when it came to thinking about composition I learnt that my photos looked better with the location clear. The blues in the water came out very well and I edited them to look very blue to draw people in.  

 

Throughout this project I have really enjoyed myself and learnt a lot. I realised how quick my ideas can develop and what I can do to effect my audience. I took a few risks throughout the project which isn’t something I would always do, I feel i have come a long way and ended with an image that I am pleased with. If I were to do anything different I would do more test shoots and maybe if I had more time do a shoot that is a lot more daring, this could make for an interesting project in the future and I could definitely push this project further.

Research and response -Howard Schatz

Howard Schatz

In his new book, -"In Character: Actors Acting"-, acclaimed photographer Howard Schatz captures actors who are doing what they do best: acting. Schatz takes portraiture of actors into another realm altogether, by directing them in the development of specific characters.

Schatz invents the scenarios that project the emotions and display the talents of 100 of our finest stage, screen and television performers. His subjects revelled in the idea of being given "something to play" (i.e., F. Murray Abraham: "You are a teenage girl chosen to go backstage at a Justin Timberlake concert") instead of simply posing to look attractive, provocative or distinguished.

I chose Schatz to look at I was looking at change in emotion and how facial expressions display these different emotions and how these emotions are captured. I like the way the characters faces are put next to each other in order to show this. I think is this is a really interesting way to show the development of emotion.

My Response

 

This is my response to the Schatz I chose to take the same emotions from one of his pictures and use them on my own model and to see the difference in how they would present this emotion. I thought my response was successful as I definitely think it conveys the same emotions as Schatz. I edited my response on Photoshop in order to put her different expressions beside each other. I also edited my photo to black and white as I didn't want the distraction of colours for my views. If I were to improve I would so some more shoots with different models in order to develop this idea further and see if I can come up with some story lines for them.

 

Research- Gregor Schneider

Gregor Schneider

Overwhelming blackness, like the subtle bursts of colour. I chose to look at Schneider as I like that he uses one source of light to reveal a vital part of a crime scene. The rest of the scene is in darkness not revealing a lot for the audience to go by, leaving the focus on part of the photograph with the source of light on it.

Research- Andrew Curtis

Andrew Curtis

The series 'cell', Curtis adopts the phone as his light source the cool white glow of mobile phones in order the create the mood for his images. This illuminates the faces of the young women at nightclubs and bars as they send messages absorbed, in private pools of light against blurred dark neon backgrounds. This creates a focus on the females faces and is very effective as it takes the viewers straight to the females faces and displays the focus on their mobile phones.

Research -John Hilliard

Causes of death, 1970

John Hilliard

Cropping is a way of changing and influencing the way someone sees an image. To crop areas off of an image can alter the layout. If something in the image was to the side, you could make sure it was more in focus by cropping the image so that the object now appears in the centre etc. Cropping can also be used to hide details from a picture to give it new meaning.
For example, John Hilliard experimented with the cropping of a single photograph to give it a different meaning each time. The idea is that there could be several different events occuring in one space by cropping the photo. By cropping and changing the title/ caption of the photo this changes the way we interpret the image. Here Hilliard highlight's different parts of the environment to suggest different deaths.

Test shots- long exposure

Long exposures 

For these photos I tested out long exposure, this is because I wanted to test out different shots to see how they came out. For my FMP I plan to do a long exposure photo. To do this I needed to practise so I went to London and these were my outcomes. I think these out comes came out as expected as they show a wide variety of colour and movement. To improve I will experiment with other settings and movements and see the outcome.

week 4- research

Thomas Ruff 

Ruff embarked on a series if portraits. They were unglamorous portraits of ordinary people, devoid of expression the portraits suggest that it is impossible to photographically represent a subjects inner life, socially based mode of representation.

I chose to respond to Thomas Ruff as I like that he wiped the expression of the ordinary peoples faces to see what effect this has. I like that there is no emotion and that they are very raw. This is good for my project as my FMP is going to be portraiture so this was good for test shoots not only this but when I responded I wanted to focus on imperfections e.g spots, scars or even wrinkles. These imperfections can cause some people to feel vulnerable.

I think that my responses to Thomas Ruff were successful, as I do think I captured and added emphasis on the models imperfections on there faces. In order to do this I changed the photos to black and white and edited the colouring balance like magenta and cyan. If I were to do this again I would make sure I took the photos at the same time of the day so the lighting is the same and maybe get a wider range of models to get a better selection.