Shoot 1 - Hero

This was my first shoot where I was the model, as well as the photographer. I also organised the props, studio set up and told an assistant how I wanted to be positioned and styled. I needed someone to help me with this as it would be pretty hard to do on my own. 

Looking at the contact sheet I’m really quite happy with how the images look. Although I will be going back to the studio to get it even closer to the original, overall I think that it was a good first attempt and is a great starting point and also reference for what I need to bear in mind and change for the next time I am in the studio.

Enlargements: 

Edit: 

I decided to put a grain filter over the image as I feel like the original has a rough feel to it and my images were a bit clean and clear. This also darkened the colours in the image down too. I’m not too sure about using this but it gives me something to think about for my final edit. 

Final choice from this shoot: 

Notes for next time: 

• Need to make my expression more angry/annoyed rather than sad.  
• Need to wash the red material to make sure that it doesn't stick up as much, make it more flexible and easier to style.   
• Possibly get contacts to make my eyes more like the original.
• BRIGHTER LIGHTING!!!  

How i feel - First Shoot

Soooo, I have shot my first shoot for this project and it was a stress to say the least. I have never felt more out of my comfort zone. I’m not a “dress-up” type of person to begin with so this was a challenge.

Creating the set up seemed to be rather straight forward, and the styling really showed resemblance to what I wanted to recreate. As I was wanting to shoot the image “afghan girl” I really wanted it to look serious and didn't want it to boarder on a joke. This was something I was really passionate about. But I have never felt more uncomfortable and unsure of what I was doing. It’s so hard to try and create such an iconic image and do it justice. Hopefully I will get more used to doing it.

Kate Moss - Corinne Day

Kate Moss is one of the most famous and most photographed model of today. She is an icon in her own right not just in the fashion industry. I really love this image of a young Kate Moss. I feel that it’s sweet and innocent and really shows her as the young woman she was. 

I like the way that she isn't looking directly at the camera. It’s above to make it look like she’s looking into the distance, gives quite a pensive feel to the image. The lighting is beautiful, and really highlights Kate’s face. The image really has an angelic feel to it. I also like the styling. This would be a wonderful image to try and recreate. It’s truly stunning.     

Iconic Movie Moments

Iconic moments happen and are created in many different ways. Moments and images that are iconic in my mind are often associated with movies. I have picked out a few images that I think are truly iconic and something that everyone would recognize. 

Another reason I have picked these images is that they are something that I think would be easy to re-create. That is something that is really important, I don’t want to set my goals to high as I really want my images to look as close to the original as possible.

Dirty Dancing

Surely everyone has seen Dirty Dancing and knows this image. It may not be the most famous from the movie but it’s one of my personal favorites. The detail created from the light coming through the windows creates detail on the floor in the background, and therefor adding more detail to the whole image. I also like the framing of the image, the way that the 2 subjects take up the majority of the space. The use of black costume for the male and white for the woman makes him appear as a bad influence and maybe her as pure and innocent. This is almost like villain and hero in the same image.     

Pulp Fiction

I feel like there are a number of scenes from the cult movie Pulp Fiction that are iconic. And the ones that I think are most iconic are of the character ‘Mia’ played by Una Thurman. The simple styling, with short black bob hair is something that is associated with the film and instantly recognizable. 

I really like the scenes shot in the diner. I think however trying to find a location like this would be difficult. Trying to find a location that resembles the American diner that is in the film, and also being able to shoot there.

Hero Idea No'2

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

This is quite possibly my favorite album of all time. And the image is something that everyone is familiar with and something that sticks in my mind. I love the delicate nature of the image, the subtle coloured background with the black and white image over the top. This is something I would love to try and create however I think it would be difficult to shoot both parts myself. 

"Rumours is a tangled web of neuroses as it is, but the cover, which features Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks (who were not yet lovers) engaging in something resembling old-fashioned courtship, seems designed to stretch relationships to breaking point (of course the world feels different when you’re in the grip of a crippling coke habit).

Whether the cover was designed to stick it to Lindsay Buckingham or portents of Mick and Stevie’s affair is unclear but the fact remains this is an enchanting, elegant and gracefully seductive album cover that deserves to be remembered."

 http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/the-50-greatest-album-covers-of-all-time-444093/25/1

Clever don't you think

I find this really interesting that you can tell who these graphics are meant to be without actually seeing detail. They are iconic images simply for the style. Very clever and the true meaning of iconic.  

The Afghan Girl 1985 - 2002

This really puts the image into perspective for me. And now more than ever I want to do a good job of the image and keep shooting it till I feel I get something that is as close to the original, and is respectful. 

Hero Idea No'1

Steve McCurry - Afghan Girl

EVERYONE knows and loves this image. It’s so powerful and full of emotion. The story behind it and also the fact that the photographer Steve McCurry has went back to shoot the ‘afghan girl’ once again makes the image even more iconic. This image is so strong. I truly adore it and it would be great to attempt to recreate this image. However I wouldn't want to make a mockery out the image, I wouldn't want it to become a joke so I would really try and express the emotion and get the styling and feel of the image as close as possible.  

What I would need:   

• Green gels or a location with a green background such as this one. I think that I would be best to use the studio to create this image as trying to get natural lighting like this would be really hard this time of the year. 
• A red piece of material to create the veil. I would use sand paper to try and make it look messy and old. This is really important as I want it to have the same feel as the original.  And as the model lived in poverty during conflict it’s really important to have the small details such as the holes in the fabric. 
• Also need makeup or face paint to make my skin look mucky and dirty. I would also consider using contact lens for this image as the eyes are so powerful. I thought about editing the eyes in Photoshop however I wanted them to look realistic and not border on comical so I need to be careful of this.

Ideas for ''SELFIE''

Ellen Von Unwerth: Liv Tyler

Ellen Von Unwerth is one of my favorite photographers. I love her style and the way that she captures an image. For my personal ‘selfie’ I want to be able to express how I feel inside and show the frustration that I have for being tied down in one place. I know that it’s not meant to be a recreation of an image but I feel like this image by Ellen Von Unwerth is a way that I could express the hidden feelings that I have. So I have decided to use this image as a starting point and to create a ‘selfie’ that is in this style.

Villan Idea No'1

Samara - The Ring

Growing up I was forced by my ‘loving’ sister to watch the Ring, after I watched it I realized she must have been really mad with me because I would not subject any child to watch that film unless I was mad with them. I mean I still have nightmares now! No joke! This film scared the life out of me! Samara who is the main character and the evil killer child is my real life villain. She stopped me sleeping and made me scared when the TV lost signal.  

This image has really got a creepy feel to it. The styling is really simple it looks to be just a hospital gown, and also the location gives the feel of an asylum. i think out of these two images the close up one would be easiest, as you cant see much of the background, therefor i would be able to get this look in the studio using filters.  However when it comes to these images of Samara I don’t feel like these are the true iconic images from the movie. Maybe try more like the image below…    

C.V's

Although I have created a personal C.V before, I found It really difficult to create a Photography based C.V. the reason being is that I haven’t had any paid work for photography therefor I couldn't really put any passed employment onto it. This really set me off on a bad foot and I really began to panic about creating one. However I didn't let this stop me and decided to just put the work that I have done and also up and coming roles that I have got the job for. This shows my passion and that I am working although I haven’t previously. 

I wanted my C.V to be clean and simple, and wanted the individual subheadings to be noticeable immediately. The reason for this was so that if someone just wanted to see, for example, education they would see it straight away. To do this I decided to add a bit of color to make them stand out. Nothing too over powering, but still noticeable. 

Below is the C.V that I have created for this assignment 

Power Point Presentation

I had to create a PowerPoint as part of my assignment brief. This was pretty straight forward. The PowerPoint was to explain what I wanted to base my report on, and what I had found. Basically a summary of my report. However I hadn't got much response at this point and couldn't really put my findings into the PowerPoint. So I decided to focus more on the meaning and how I was going to go about my report. This seemed to be a better angle to take, rather than trying to rush an outcome to my question.

Creating the PowerPoint was easy as it only had to be short, there wasn't much detail needed on each slide, it just had to be the basics so that I could talk about my report to a group. This was the challenge. I found it really difficult to speak aloud and get my true point across to the group. Although I created what I felt was a good PowerPoint that explained what I was proposing, when it came to explaining my mind went blank. 

I wanted the look of my PowerPoint to be clean and simple, but to hold as much information as possible without it becoming too overwhelming for the viewer. I tried to include charts and examples so that it wasn't too much writing. 

Gathering Research

The most important part of my report was to gather research on the subject that I had chosen. I decided to do this by sending emails to a number of photographers. The way that I did this was by sending them an email (shown above). I tried to get a range in photographers who covered all genres of photography. This was to try and get a fair sample and an accurate answer to my question. 

As well as sending emails through my own account direct to the photographer, in some cases there was a question box like the one above that allowed me to drop in my question and send it to the photographer this way.  This would be the best way to get the answers that I was after, by actually asking working, established photographers, however I could not rely on this solely in case I didn't get any response at all.   

Another way that I gathered research for my report was to create a questionnaire. This allowed me to ask a number of people. I focused this method of research on fellow students to try and get there views on the matter. This proved to be really reliable and give me a great range of ideas as I got a number of responses.