Spring shoot

My first shoot for the season series I'm shooting for university went really well. I just snapped a few photographs behind the scened originally to show the model what she looked like as she had no idea but I will post them here too. The backdrop that can be seen in the background was a DIY attempt. I used a huge cotton dust sheet, bound it into a ball and threw it in the washer with a grey dye in an attempt to acid wash it. It turned out brilliantly! I was very happy.

The styling for this shoot went really well. The makeup was gorgeous but my original vision for hair looked quite theatrical in a bad way, so luckily Chloe the MUA worked her magic and created a gorgeous 'dragged through a hedge backwards' look (ha).

It fit really well with the bush baby/spring child look we had going on in the shoot!

Assisting

I assisted Taya on a shoot the other day. The concept was sports-chic with a super colourful background that I set up for Taya. I was quite impressed at how it looked in the end as my assisting experience is minimal and I managed to combat every issue we faced such as lights not being bright enough, the gels melting and a few other technical issues.

Skills

I think the key skills I need in order to be successful in the future in the photographic industry are

• clear direction
• motivation
• strong retouching

The skills I need in order to progress in BA8 are

• Clear direction
• analysis and evaluation
• strong retouching

All the skills listed above are relevant in industry and out of industry.

In order to achieve these skills I will really work on my communication skills. If I go into a shoot knowing what I need to get out of it then I will be able to direct the shoot much easier.

My communication skills will grow alot stronger with all the collaborations I hope to schedule during this project. This will automatically improve my direction as communication is the main part of this.

In terms of analysis and evaluation I must use this to make key decisions and judgements in my work in order for it to progress further and challenge current contemporary photography.

My retouching can be improved even further by taking online classes or attending university workshops to do this.

I have started BA8 off with running with the first ideas that I have thought of as this is usually the best creative process for me. 

I spent christmas contacting people to work with such as designers and makeup artists and my first shoot is booked for January 21st. I will be photographing the 'spring' look of my seasons idea.

Karen from Tulle and Candyfloss has sent me these items for the spring look and I'm hoping to continue working with her throughout the project.

Seasonal Affective Disorder shoot ideas.

I think producing work in relation to the Season Affective Disorder will be an interesting task.
One approach to this would be to reach out to people who suffer with the disorder and take honest images of them while engaging them in conversation about how the disorder makes them feel. One debate around this is that the images could never truly capture the truth of how the person is feeling as an image is just a representation of a moment, not an actual captured moment in time.

When thinking about this I begin to plan another approach to the project, and that would be through staged and styled images. As this approach fits in with my developing style of photography, it is definitely an option I will consider strongly. I could create images around the feelings that are typically felt during each season by people who are affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder. I could find out these feelings through producing a survey or doing some research into it. The images would not be as honest as the afore mentioned idea but they would hold an element of truth in what they are communicating and they would stay true to my style of photography.

I think the second idea would be most appropriate to my project as I would have full control over styling the shoot and the way it comes together with the lighting and model choice to tell the story I want it to. This is appropriate because as a photographer in the industry, I would need to be able to produce my own personal work that tells what stories I want to as well as working for something and telling their story. Through having full control of the styling, I manage to add my personal twist to the shots while still communicating the feelings that are felt during certain seasons ( the other peoples stories).