Interview magazine
My Intention of Idea 1: The brief for this project is to show an upcoming young talent, and my intention for Idea 1 is to portray a new singer. In order to make my photographs unique I would like my model to wear minimal make up, in order to portray the idea of natural beauty. I feel this could work well to portray an upcoming singer because usually young girls idolise singers/celebrities and believe that they need to wear lots of makeup in order to look good, because they want to be like them. However, this removes individuality from people and may make them feel very self-conscious. Therefore, by photographing my model wearing the bare minimum of makeup, I hope it will portray the idea of natural beauty, and the idea of not having to hide yourself behind makeup, and to be your own person despite what others may think of you.
Written Analysis – ‘Alicia Keys’ By Rankin This photograph of Alicia keys by famous photographer, Rankin, is the main inspiration to take my first set of initial photographs. I feel like the positioning and composition of the image works well with Alicia’s facial expression, and this is something that I would like to achieve in my photographs. Alicia’s facial expression clearly illustrates that she is a singer, and this is an idea that I would also like to experiment with when taking my photographs, in order to portray the idea of my model being an upcoming singer. I also believe that by posing in this way, an element of fun is created and this is also something that I would like to achieve, to portray my model as having a fun and bubbly personality. An aspect of this photo that I feel benefits the image is that Alicia’s clothing is not too abstract. Therefore, it doesn‘t take away the focus of her facial expression. This has inspired me to style my model in clothing that is not too prominent, in order to make sure my model’s face and personality is the main focus of my photographs. It is clear to see that Rankin took the photograph in a studio, using professional lighting and a plain background. These aspects working together result in Alicia’s facial features being completely in focus and emphasises the fact that she is the main focus of the image. This has inspired me to take my images in a studio also, in order to hopefully achieve a similar, professional set of photographs.
Written Analysis – Continued What I find interesting about this photograph is that despite the basic background and styling of the model, it is still very prominent and aesthetically pleasing. Alicia’s clenched fists and closed eyes whilst supposedly singing, suggest the idea that she has a great passion for singing, and this could be seen as her concentrating on hitting the right notes. This emphasises the fact she is a famous singer and I believe that by asking my model to pose in a similar way to this, I can hopefully portray her passion for music as much as Alicia’s is portrayed in this image. When editing this photograph, Rankin would have airbrushed Alicia’s skin in order to hide and blemishes and imperfections. This is a technique that is necessary for me to also do when editing my photos, in order to make my model look as flawless as possible. This will also contribute in making my images be as professional as possible and the most suitable to be published in a fashion magazine. Another reason why I think this photograph is so successful is due to the studio lighting that Rankin would have used for the photo shoot. In order to create the same professional look with my photos, it will be essential for me to use the flash kit in a studio, so that when I take a photo, the extra lights will flash and cause my photographs to be of the best quality possible. It is likely that Rankin would have been able to use quite a fast shutter speed when taking this photograph because if the studio was well lit, the shutter wouldn’t have had to been open for too long as less light would have been needed. This is a technique that I would like to be able to use when taking my set of photographs because it will reduce the risk of camera shake and blurred images. By using a fast shutter speed and the correct ISO like Rankin has in this photograph, it should enable me to produce high quality, sharp images.
Initial Photos For Idea 1
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
Image 4
Image 5
Image 6
Evaluation of Initial Photos My intentions for Idea 1 were to portray a model as a new and upcoming singer. However, unlike many traditional photo shoots of celebrities, I wanted my set of photographs to reflect the idea of natural beauty. Therefore, styled my model in clothes that were not too outrageous, and I asked her to wear a minimal amount of makeup. As a result, this meant that the main focus of the images were my model’s face, highlighting her natural beauty. I chose the location for these photographs to be in a white studio, where I used a flash kit in order to make my photographs look as professional as possible. When taking my photographs, I had to ensure that the ISO, shutter speed and aperture were all at appropriate settings for my photographs to turn out well. I think that all of these aspects working together made my initial photographs turn out how I wanted them to – my model being the main focus of the image, with a plain white background. I really like how all of the photographs portray my model’s bubbly, fun personality. I think this is a very important aspect for my images to have, because it enables the viewer to have a glimpse of my model’s life and emotions. I felt it was very beneficial to have her posing with expressions that portrayed the ideas of happiness and a sense of fun because I believe that is what a lot of fans would aspire to be like if my model was a real celebrity. One of the facial expressions that my model illustrates is ‘sticking her tongue out’ (Image 4). I wanted to portray this because I feel like it this is an expression that is associated with children, and by doing this, it reinforces the youth of my model which can easily be lost in the limelight of becoming a celebrity. Another pose that I think worked well can be seen in Image 5. I asked my model to pose as if she was singing, and I am very happy with the result. I believe her posture and expression work well together in order to portray the idea that she is a singer. This pose in particular was inspired by the photograph of Alicia Keys by Rankin, which illustrates Alicia singing.
Evaluation of Initial Photos Continued When taking my set of photographs for Idea 1, I felt it was very important to include full length images of my model. This is to illustrate the clothes that she was wearing, as it is for a brief where my images would be published in the fashion magazine, Interview. Therefore, I styled my model in a polka dot dress which created a beautiful fan shape when held from either side. I really liked the way that Image 6 turned out using this pose, as I feel it makes the photograph very interesting and appealing. In addition to taking full length photographs of my model, I also wanted to take close up images of my model. This is because I wanted the main focus to be of my model, and of her facial features, to illustrate the theme of natural beauty. In addition to this, I really like the angle of the photograph in Image 3. This is because it is a pose that a lot of celebrities do (looking down smiling). It reminds me of Marilyn Monroe, which again emphasises the fact that the photo shoot is to portray an upcoming artist. Overall I am quite pleased with the outcome of my initial photographs for idea 1, and I believe I have achieved what I wanted to in my intentions.
Developmental Photos For Idea 1
Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
Image 4
Image 5
Image 6
Evaluation of Developmental Photographs for Idea 1 I wanted to develop my set of photographs for idea 1 in different ways that would illustrate a rang of different meanings. First of all, I used the technique of copydex to develop Image 1. The use of copydex resulted in the photograph becoming slightly distraught. This creates the idea that the upcoming singer is not perfect - no one is. This then suggest the idea that people should not worry about their flaws, but to just be themselves. I think this is a good message to portray to the viewer because if my model was a real celebrity, she would want to be inspiring fans, and I believe that the message behind the development of Image 1, does this. When developing Image 2, I wanted to make the image look more aesthetically pleasing, as I thought it looked quite plain. Therefore, to enhance the prominence of the image, I decided to re-photograph it with the accessory of pearls, scattered over the image. I decided to do this as it portrays the theme of fashion because I took the pearls off of a necklace. In addition to this, pearls are items of jewellery that are associated with wealth, and this therefore promotes the idea that my model will become wealthy as she becomes famous. I think this development worked quite well because I feel it adds more depth to the image, as well as giving it a deeper meaning and making it look more aesthetically pleasing than the initial photograph. To develop Image 3, I wanted to make the photograph more prominent and unique. I really liked the technique of adding words to an image, and therefore started to think of lyrics I could use, as my model’s talent would be singing. I thought of the song ‘The Lucky One’ by Taylor Swift and decided to use the opening lines of this song. I think it fits the theme of an upcoming singer very well, as the song is about a singer just getting started and used to limelight, as well as feeling very lucky about becoming successful. In addition to this, Taylor swift has a similar personality to what I would like my model to portray, so I thought this was very beneficial. I used drawings to make the development more interesting and to also show creativity in my developments.
Evaluation of Developmental Photographs for Idea 1 - Continued The final developmental technique I used to edit my initial set of photographs was to paint over the images using bright colours. The work of Rankin inspired me to do this, in particular his photograph of Daniel Craig. I think that the use of the bright pink paint splatters creates a sense of fun and this is why I chose to use the technique in my developments. The brightness of the pink makes the image very prominent as well as making it very aesthetically pleasing and unique. I wanted the deeper meaning of the use of the paint to portray the idea of the bright colours representing my model’s bright and fun personality. I think this was successful because the colours I used are usually associated with happiness. If I had used dark colours such as black and brown, the same effect would not have been created. Finally, when developing Image 6, I wanted to keep it simple but effective. Therefore, I decided to paint the polka dots of my model’s dress with a range of bright multi coloured paints. I done this again to represent my model’s bright and bubbly personality, but also because I didn’t want to distract from the main focus of the image. When I initially took this photograph, I liked how the dress was the main focus of the image, so when developing my set of photographs, I did not want to lose this aspect. Therefore, I chose to keep the development very simple, but I feel as if it worked well, as the colours highlight the dress rather than taking the attention away from it. After developing my set of images for this idea, I feel that all the photographs look more unique and interesting, and have inspired me to maybe use some of the images in my final 3 outcomes, as I feel that they succesfully convey the theme of promoting an upcoming talent, and are up to a standard that could possibly be printed in a magazine such as Slave magazine.