Villain Shoot - Mansons Girls

This is the image that I chose to do for my Villain self-portrait. I decided to shoot myself as all 3 girls, as they are similar in looks and exactly the same styling I thought this would be the best one to choose, also I didn't want to choose one where that had their hair shaven off. My main aim was to really capture the expressions on the individual’s faces and how they are reacting to the situation.

Location:    

The best location I could find for the shoot was a corridor in uni. I thought that it would be perfect as in the image they are walking down a corridor too. It was also convenient and also meant that I would have help if needed and also access to equipment.     

Things to consider:

• Needed to make sure there was enough space so that I could fit all of the girls into the shot. I didn't want them to overlap as I really am not confident with Photoshop and this would have been way too hard for me to do if they did.   
• Need to change the position of the cross on my forehead so that it looks different on each woman. 

Shoot setup: 

For this shoot I used a digital camera on a tripod, so that the image would be easy to piece together after the shoot. I also used a flash gun as the original image was a paparazzi shot I thought by using a flash gun it would be the best way to recreate the image.  

Take One - Patricia Krenwickle 

For Patricia Krenwickle I wanted to capture her with a full smile like she has in the original image. Also she has slightly longer hair than the other two so for this I left my hair down and also natural. Her pose is pretty straight forward. Just a normal walking motion but she has got her hands like she is picking at her nails. I wanted to capture this in my image as it maybe shows some nerves or stress, this is weird because her face is telling a totally different story. 

Take Two -  Susan Atkins

Susan Atkins seems a little less happy than the other two (what is weird because she was a down right psycho). So I wanted to portray this in her expression. Because the lighting and camera was already set up I didn't take as many shots to get this image. I did however pin my hair up to try and make it look shorter and also redraw the cross on my head in a different place.  However the outfit stayed the same.     

Take Three - Leslie Van Houten

Leslie Van Houten is the girly-est of all, she was an all American girl that’s why it was so shocking and also her expression in this image is shocking because she doesn't seem bothered at all. She is still carrying herself like a lady and this is something I really tried to get across. The all American girl. Slight change to my hair so that the face was showing more and again changed the small cross on the head. 

Editing the images together: 

I found editing the images together so hard as I had never done anything like that before and I expected it to be straight forward and east, this wasn't the case at all. It took quite a bit of time to blend the images together correctly, and to sort the lighting on them out so that they matched correctly. I think that this must have been the biggest struggle throughout the project. Sadly I didn't take any screen shots throughout the process so that I could blog about them. But I’m sure you all know how I will have done it.  

Final Image: