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.