CASTING AND
COLLABS
Researching diffrent agencies to get a grasp of the current casting industry and to help my own future casting desisions. Anti agencyFounded in 2013 Anti-Agency isn’t your average modelling agency. Our models aren’t just clothes horses; we focus on hand selecting London models with personality, individual style and talent. We’re here to provide casting solutions for companies and to promote people we believe in. If you want models that represent your target audience and that will be aspirational figures for your customer then these are the girls and guys for you. Casting Real -Real London Casting was founded in 2005 by Kate Wilson. With an extensive background in casting for large production houses, like Wolff Olins and Getty Images, she saw a rapid increase in the client’s demand for real people. She would send models to clients and, increasingly, be told “they’re too model-y!” Inspired by the industry changing, she came up with the concept of Real London Casting, a new kind of modelling agency. Her agency was unique in casting REAL people from London’s vibrant streets for commercial campaigns. Hii AgencyThe new male modelling agency getting representation right “Diversity doesn’t necessarily mean skin tone,” he says. “These guys are more than just models. I’m trying to get more personalised. A lot of them do music, art, photography. It’s more than just getting them modelling jobs. They have different talents. Get to know these boys as more than just faces. I want to see people first.” -Dazed Brother ModelsBrother Models was founded as an all male model agency in 2016 by photographer, Michael Mayren and later added a female board in 2018. With 10 years experience in scouting and street casting for his own work, Mayren was drawn to people with charisma and strong presence as well as having a strong and individual appearance. Brother models is proud to push away from typical model criteria and ignore the socially constructed beauty ideals. We follow our own strong vision and this is what sets us apart from other model agencies. Our goal is to be as inclusive as possible and epitomise a true representation of our generation. AMMOSTRONG STANDS FOR “STREET TALENT REPRESENTING OUR NEW GENERATION”
the agencies im most drawn too are the ones that are casting a wider variety of people. Intresting faces over steryotypically “pretty” one. I think lots of brands are searching for people with varied looks and I want to do the same. “normal” or everyday and beautiful is what im looking to cast for my projets. On the next page I will delve depper into this. This research has been benificial in letting me learn my likes and dislikes of casing. Modern agencys are casting more DIVERSE models.
Why is fashion obsessed with casting the ‘nor- How does mainstream casting efect society? -There are lots of problems with mainstream fashion casting, the non-divermal’ face at the moment? 2019s How have we sity, the obesession with black feautures but not using black models, idolising got here? How it effects society and me person- the unacheiveable. -Fashion imagery has always effected society, people are always going to ally? -Are we as a society slowly realising the beauty of actual people, after having ridiculously high beauty standards shoved down our throats? Are we enjoying an intresting faces?.. Or is this just another trend brands have latched onto? will it slowly die and we’ll go back to the 90s super model era? Its quite exciting to imagine the diffrent possibilities of what we will see on front of magazines in 20 years time.
-Our western society beauty standards have kept on changing over time. Although our casting has very very slowly got more cultrally diverse the body standards to match societys beauty ideal (particulalry for women) got slowly and slowly more and more ridiculous. (1)one of the most controversial aspects of fashion magazines, and the fashion industry, is models. Specifically, how young they are and how thin they are’. (2)‘If our brains are manipulated in to believing what the media tells us regarding physical desirability, then can we not take the bait? So far it seems that the media has succeeded in conditioning our response—ideal body is good—any other body type is bad.’ - The media, the fashion magazines, gave us super skinny to idolise, so we did. -Im just using the ‘skinny’ thing as an example, over time I think the standards shift to become something new to attract the masses and latest trends in beauty. Right now I think we seem to have created a completely unachievealbe prototype for modern beauty, we still like skinny white women but with bigger bums and bigger lips, smaller waists (3) ‘we have been besieged by a new female body standard. Big breasts, a dimension deceiving waist, a flat stomach, big thighs and incredibly wide hips reign supreme on the internet. Of course, many women have always looked like this, and a lot of those women happen to be black. But in the last five years, this body shape has become fashionable. It’s a far cry from the supermodel standard of the 90s and 2000s.’
compare themselves to people in magazines, online. My first memory of being more seriously effected by fashion casting is probably the ‘thigh gap trend’, this was am internet trend when I was in school around 2012-2013. Everyone was obsessed with carla delivinge and her thigh gap. I had lots of friends with images of thigh gaps as their phone screensavers in the, which is just so sad and weird for 13 year old girls. I personally felt inadiquate because i didnt have a thigh gap. Unhealthy casting will always start minipulating peoples perception of what beauty is from very young.
What I think all this has to do with casting the ‘normal’ face in 2019 (from my research into diffrentcasting agencies)
-As well as casting the epitone of unacheiveable beauty lots of large brands and magazines have started to cast the ‘normal’ face. The amazing everyday people. Choosing an interesting face over an unacheivable one. Even if this is just a trend for now and something that wont stick I think its what society needs at the moment. -I think the people who have grown up in the digital age are becoming the people who make content, therefore know how unhealthy casting desisions can make an unhealthy society.
-I want to see interesting people -Im bored of these faces. - I can only assume that lots of people who are going into the industry are like me and want to see imagary that represents real people. - Documentary and fashion photography have merged. (1)https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2013/jul/05/vogue-truth-size-zero-kirstie-clements (2) https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/when-food-is-family/201404/culture-dictates-the-standard-beauty (3)https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/blackfishing-phenomenon
some quotes from my research findings to inspire my work think will help me cast in this project...
‘Documentary and fashion photography have merged’
‘I want to see interesting faces’ Unhealthy casting = Unhealthy society
‘The amazing everyday people’ ‘The media, the fashion magazines, gave us super skinny to idolise, so we did’ casting can manipulate perceptions of what is beautiful so casting the normal face will hopefully make society more content with themselves.
My Opinion
OVERALL CASTING IN 2019 Overall I think there is this one side of fashion casting the extremely beautiful ideal and the other side casting real, interesting people. I don’t know if these brands are trying to be trendy but even then who cares, it’s a healthier and more interesting trend than the thigh gap.
My favourite casting agency -I loved browsing through all the faces cast by people file. I like the fact I see people like this everyday but placed in the context of being models I really start to pick out bits of their faces I find pleasing. -It really makes you appreciate the people around you and has inspired me to think outside the box when casting, I want to cast everyday people in my life. This is an agency that is really shaking off societys ideals of the ‘perfect’ face. -Hopefully more agencies will follow suit and try and battle the phycological obssession we have with pretty
WOW!
EVERYDAY YOUTH
Casting inspiration from people file
OLDER MODELS STRANGE FEAUTURES
MOTHER AND DAUGTER NEW TYPES OF PRETTY
DIVERSITY
OBSESSED WITH THE DIFFRENCES/ SIMILARITIES OF THIS FAMLY
NORMAL PEOPLE
My agency research has helped me find interesting faces I like
Starting to develop initial ideas.
-This is a list where I’ve just been brainstorming initial ideas. I think i have some strong ideas and could cast some really interesting people. I will bring these to my group when we next meet so we can all brainstorm together and combine our diffrent ideas. -I know I want to use normal people and do some sort of documentary style images. I particularly like the idea of contacting diffrent clubs and groups of people. I also want to take photos of my sister and her friends. photograph british culture. Use people and scenes I know. -I want to have a wide range of casting, using older people and children, siblings, groups. I really want to produce some fashion images as well as documentary or combine the 2 like charlotte and clemintine. I would love to get a hold of some graduate collections, do a collab with fahsion. -My next steps are to start contacting models and designers and to decide what I’m doing with my group. Im going to create insporation moodboards to show them. I will develop the chosen ideas, and gather insporation for each shoot.
Furthering some more concept ideas in our first group brainstorm GROUP BRAINSTORM NOTES
WORKING WITH ALICE Due to one person in our group not contributing, we were all confused on who we were going to be collaberating with. It was decided that me and alice would do all our shoots togther. I’t would have been fun to collab with other people but I really didnt mind the prospect of doing everything with alice because we get on and like really similar things. Here, we have anylised what intrests and likes we share within fashion to then create a concept were both happy with.
Page 1
My Original inspiration powerpoint to show my group some of my casting ideas. -early casting ideas before further development -Beauty shop -I would love to photgraph inside a nail or hair shop -capturing extreme beauty. -diffrent makeup styles. -girls who all share the same interests
Page , 2, 3, 4 -Freestyle disco - a dance club from wen I was younger -photographing children in graduate collections. -in dance costumes -shock factor. -Personal to me and my hobbies as a child -cast diffrent ages -people I know
-Same person in diffrent looks. -being able to create a charecter
would be interesting to photgraph extreme beauty, extreme bodies.
Page 5 Random selection of my favourite models at the moment and documentary photography.
I want to show normal people and people with intresting feautures in some sort of fashion context
Page 6/7
-Plymouth inspo -British driking and funny clubbing culture -smiles on the tiles -re create these photos -cast people from home -was looking for images of my sister to put on a casting sheet because I think it would be interesting to use her and her friends
CHARLOTTE AND CLEMENTINE TALK I love the merge of fashion and documentary I think its really relevant at the moment. As someone who looks at lots of fashion imagery I obviously still enjoy something thats just beautiful, but its better when it has some substance. I thought the whole project was interesting and beautiful and ‘its called faswain’ is defiantly a big inspiration to my work at the moment. I love the casting and community element, I loved hearing the stories about the personalities of the people they had cast throughout all their projects, the women of wales by charlotte, I called her Lisa-Marie by clementine. Using models you know and picking them because they’re from your hometown or you personally find something compelling about them gives more solidity to a project than just picking someone you just think is pretty and sticking them in a dress.
BEING IN BRISTOL. I related to what Charlotte said about feeling more inspired by the people and surrounding of her home town in wales than the people in London. I always have so many more ideas of what kind of work I want to be producing when I’m back home, so many models I would prefer to use and can use more easily. I know countless locations that would be great and I enjoy the company of people from home more than people up in Bristol. Everyone always talks about Bristol as if its some crazy creative place but I have never really liked producing work here I feel kind of limited in comparison to what I can do right now at home.
(This was a good talk to have at the beginning of the collaborative project launch because I got the impression that Charlotte and Clementine are quite different, having different skill sets and styles but they create something they both enjoy, this made me feel more confident to work with other people, I don’t have to do everything in order to be happy with the end result, I can let other people photograph while I style or whatever.)
Inpirtation taken from this talk, charlotte and clementines work they spoke about.
Cast people you know, you find interesting not necicarially who society finds attractive. I want to produce work for me first and use people who I find engaging. produce work with substance, or a story. Do a shoot in my hometown. Go back to Plymouth. what is the difference between photography and fashion photography? is there any difference? Some of my favourite magazines have the most random imagery but with context its so relatable to what I think is ‘fashionable’ right now. Cast more young models or older models.
Some images I particularly liked from the talk. i love the composition of the models and the diverse casting.
Notes from the tutorial with Dean, charlotte and clementine. All my castings went down well. My sister and her friends were received particularly well, Charlotte saying how different they all were being a good contrast. Clementine mentioned that to her, coming from france, english girls like my sister are so exotic. I just thought that was really interesting, something considered so completely normal being fascinating.
MERCY DENIM COWGIRL
-cowgirl glam, dolly parton esc -modern day cowgirl. -Cowboys in fashion? - what is your deffinition of a cowgirl? -styling, set design opertunities. -Texas glam - priarie girl, -southern bell. - solange, cardi b. -Black cowboys -What is the yehaaw agenda? why is it relevant? -oppertunity to use graduate collections. -mowalola.
looking at intresting and varied imagrey, current and historical to see other artists take on “cowgirl” and its relevence in fashion for insporation for our own shoot. styling and backdrop refrences are all intwined with this. - we have also been looking at nostalgic styles of photography and film, people who use VHS like sharna osbourne to comine with our cowgirl imagary. -Because the cowgirl has become a huge trend, we have found lots of usefull images. A mix of cheesy and kitch old school glamourous dolly parton images, combined with the more empowering photos that inspired the “yehaaww agenda” . I wantt my shoot to be a mix of all of this.
-We are looking to cast a black female model. -the images inspired by the yehaaw agenda really inspired this idea and I want to create a shoot that will possibly get people to think about the cowgirl steryotype.
Mercy, 19, law student
I cast mercy, she is an ex colleuge of mine. Beccause the shoot needed to be quite expresive, I wanted an experienced model who wouldnt be camera shy. She does lots of commercial modeling, gym wear modeling and street style. I think she’ll be perfect.
How I came to my initial starting idea This designers peices inspired me to do a cowgirl theme. When looking though graduate collections I just couldnt find anything that I liked. I was determined to find something, I want to take some more “fashion� orientatied images this project. This is a graduate collection from last year, Im not crazy about it, but I really liked the insporation and the concept behind it, I can loosly shape my concept round the garments I’m using.
-cowgirl glam, dolly parton esc -modern day cowgirl. -Cowboys in fashion? - what is your deffinition of a cowgirl? -styling, set design opertunities. -Texas glam - priarie girl, -southern bell. - solange, cardi b. -Black cowboys -What is the yehaaw agenda? why is it relevant? -oppertunity to use graduate collections. -mowalola. -sharna osbourne
The designers insporation and how it will inspire my work. -I’ve started to look at what inspired the designer, which will then loosly inspire my own photoshoot. I’ve picked out a couple bits from her garments and her instagram showing her space at university and what inspired the collection. -Dolly Parton, Motel, Deputy, Rodeo, the Denim paired with diamontes are all words which give me glamourus, texas, cowgirl vibes. Which is something that attracts me. I would love to create a shoot revolved round this theme. -The cowgirl hat has become such as staple in current fashion and I want to explore this theme more. -I love the bright colours the designer has used, its created a kitch but glam aesthetic. This is how this is such a contast to traditional cowboy and I would like to play on this idea through my project. -Dolly parton herself is such a charecter and creates countless stying refrences. She is so flamboyant and sparkly but still has soft southern bell vibes. -I will start looking at dolly parton more, and also the traditional idea of a cowboy and the imaregy that comes along with it. -The cowboy is very relevent in fashion at the moment and I know theres lots of images I could find that resonate with me, and inpire my work further. - I am very inspired by the extreme cowgirl super femminine feel. And would like to recreate it in my own way. Less pink, and more denim. I enjoy the ideas but dont like how garish the designs are. I will tone them down.
Looking for insporation through the designers inspo. Dolly parton WORDS, KITCH, OBNOXIOUS, glamourous, queen of county, flamboyant, diamonte, western princess, loud, cowgirl fit in every colour.
Why I chose Rosies designs.
-I mentioned before that I’m not a huge fan of Masies designs I just like the concept. I really wanted another couple of styling pieces to broaden what looks we are able to achieve. -I don’t want all of the photos to be masses designs I don’t mind the shoot being a little kitsch I just don’t want it to be garish. - I think roses designs are more sophisticated and classic. The corsets with the denim remind me of a cowboys wife, a southern bell. Which is a slightly differnt styling route all together but is under the umbrella of “cowgirl” for me. The looks will go great together. I want to style the corset with a white shirt underneath just like this. - The two designers pieces will hopefully complement each other well, masies making rosies more glamorous, and rosies toning masies down.
is this societys cowboy? Why? -I want to combine the ideas of a traditional cowboy (google search?) with the modern day. I want to use a modern model and styling but keep this cheesy nostalgic feel. to create this effect i will look into film makers like sharna osbourne, or frank lebon who use current casting, clothing and set design combined with old style 35mm film and VHS. I really like the outcomes they create and the idea of contrasting dated and modern ideas.
Why is the white cowboy our steryotype? When so many are black?
THE YEEHAW AGENDA What is it and how it has inspired my work.
This article mentions some key celebrities that helped the yehaaw agenda to become more known. I want to look further into solanges involvement, Ciara in king Kong ect.
“The history of the black cowboy has largely been erased from American culture, and the “moment” black cowboys are having in pop culture right now has actually persisted for quite some time.(1)” “When I started using the term [yeehaw agenda] online it was just in celebration of fly Black girls in western looks but it’s become a whole movement,” Bri Malandro, a pop culture archivist from Houston who coined the term tells me. Now she runs the account @yeehawagenda, where she shares images of Black people in westernwear and doing such cowboy-esque things as riding horses in an attempt to change what people associate with western style and culture. As Brooklyn White writes, “Malandro’s content is a form of reclamation.” As the real-life black cowboys have gone unsung in history, contemporary pop culture icons seem determined to put an end to the excision. The act of dressing like a cowboy, highlighting the impact black artists have had on country music, and flooding the Internet with decidedly black western imagery is a form of paying homage to this nearly forgotten community and a mode of archiving it so that it won’t be forgotten in the future. As Maladro posited last fall, “the Yeehaw Agenda is in full effect,” and it shows no sign of stopping any time soon.
The yeehaw agenda was adopted by fashion and I saw a comeback of cowboy clothing online. I really liked the images I was seeing. I think that fashion inspired by politics is always the most relevent. I wanted to use this subject to mainly inspire my shoot. I will further look into some of the imagery and use the things I find to fuel more ideas for this project.
https://www.gq.com/story/old-town-road-yeehaw-agenda
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/welcome-to-the-yee-yee-club-bitch-805169/ https://afropunk.com/2019/03/black-cowboys-yeehaw-agenda/ https://www.gq.com/story/old-town-road-yeehaw-agenda
https://www.manrepeller.com/2019/04/politics-of-style-yeehaw-agenda.html
https://www.wmagazine.com/story/yeehaw-agenda-explained-black-cowboy(1)
YEEHAW AGENDA INSPO
“I did a Calvin Klein campaign which centered around Americana,” Beyoncé’s younger sister shared on Sunday during the screening of her visual at Houston’s Shape Community Center, where she often hung out as a child. “I remember getting the mood board and seeing interpretations of Americana. Not even on any controversial shit, it was just funny to me because all of the cowboys I know were Black.” “Growing up here in Texas, in Almeda, you’re just going to see Black cowboys on the street. I don’t know John Wayne. I don’t know his story. I really don’t,” Knowles says. So it was important for her to show Black cowboys exist. “We’ve had to rewrite what Black History means for us since the beginning of time,” she continued. Her visual component to When I Get Home is meant to express the culture that sharped who she is as a person. “It’s not just an aesthetic, this is something that we actually live.”
solanges involvment in the agenda, how it will inspire my own work, and how I think interesting casting choices are the future of the industry I find these quotes very informative about why the yeehaw agenda needed to become a movement. I think its really interesting how fashion (which can be so superficial) can help promote politics, information and a movement. Solange’s imagery keeps on coming up throughout my research and I wanted to look at some of her reasons and her aesthetic inspired by the movement , it so strong and beautiful. I want to have a set of images that questions peoples perceptions on something by using fashion, I think images that have substance are the future of the industry. Thoughtful casting is really important here so that my images have substance.
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/03/226209/solange-knowles-when-i-get-home-black-cowboys
the yehaaw agenda in fashion. as the agenda became more popular in music and culture, it did in fashion too. Here are some images from a dazed interview with solange last year. The images are strong and sleek the use of monochrome is effective and creates a striking image. A lot of the images that have inspired the agenda are serious and striking and I think those are the ones that have fuelled people to take an interest in the movement at the beginning. The images make me question the cowboy stereotype. Solange is the face of this movement for me.
King kong magazine Ciara These photographs were mentioned in one of the articles quoted earlier. Images that popularised the agenda further. They will inspire my styling on the day of the shoot. I love this shoot for king kong magazine. I really like the backdrop used in the second photograph as a contrast against the garments. tacky mixed with high fashion which is an idea that attracts me.
WESTERN AFFAIR
An artist who creates cow girl esc shoes and hats. a goldmine of styling inspiration. Artistic hand crafted western pieces, that look very “put together� and easy to create at home. We have created our own accessories for the shoot inspired by her work. Some finishing styling touches to make the shoot obviously cowgirl, pointed boots and cowboy hats. I wanted to create these pieces to represent the relevance of the cowgirl in modern fashion, these are timeless silhouettes but can be re branded over and over and will always be relevant in fashion. Some slightly more avant-garde bits to make our shoot more interesting.
EXPRESSIVE
BLACK COWGIRL
Thierry Mugler
-the cowgirl and these glamorous western silhouettes in fashion. Its something that re occurs. I want my shoot to stay relevant and am using these images of a Mugler show in the 90s to inspire me with my own styling. I love the casting, all 90s models are so expressive, like how I want mercy to be. -I saw the first image, the black cowgirl in the red sparkly chaps and was instantly inspired. This images combines that dolly parton glamour with the strong black cowboy images of solange and I want my photos to have aspects of all these things. -I think these images make glamorous and kitsch work together in harmony which is what I want to try and achieve with my own photoshoots -I like the cow prints and diamonds, the fake cactus’s and the chaps paired with the sulky, beautiful 90s models and film photography. -I am also loving the spot light and would like to take some images of our model with fuzzy spotlight lighting like this. -How serious one of the models is with a cactus on her head is good and I want to try and eject some of that slightly humorous tackiness into my own shoot. Possibly buying an awful plastic cactus or something.
SHARNA OSBOURNE sharna osbourne is a photographer and film maker I have been really loving at the moment. I mentioned in earlier research “I want to combine the ideas of a traditional cowboy with the modern day. I want to use a modern model and styling but keep this cheesy nostalgic feel” “to create this effect i will look into film makers like sharna osbourne, who uses current casting, clothing and set design combined with old style 35mm film and VHS. I really like the outcomes they create and the idea of contrasting dated and modern ideas.” We have decided we will use a VHS and cam corder, and 35mm film at our shoot. I feel like it just makes whatever you were doing effortlessly nostalgic and adds that depth or story to an image. Im looking at sharna osbournes filming and after editing techniques and analysing how we could create some images that have the same relaxed 90s feel. With 90s coming back so heavily into 21st century fashion. Sharna osbournes work is nostalgic but also weirdly extra relevant.
Image 2 I’ve always been super interested in collage, I like the contrast of skin tones on this one in particular. the randomness of the image appeals to me. You can feel the movement in this image which is nice. I would like to contrast still and moving images in a collage.
EXPLORING SHAUNA OSBOURNES METHODS TO BENIFIT MY OWN WORK IMAGE 1 the effect of this grid with white space is really effective. I think after we do the shoot we could really play around with the editing. There will be a lot going on already with the garments, so simple editing like this will be really effective. In my shoot I will remember to capture different angles of the face.
Image 3 Sharna osbourne often uses contrasting backdrops in one singular film or editorial. Because I do want to do something with the after editing I think this is something to remember, change around the model or the backdrop to create something that interests a viewer.
image 6 . I wanted to get an images where sharna osbourne has shot cowboy accessories to see how she has filmed them and captured them. What images she has contrasted with the close up photos of the boots. I think an overall slimpistic but colourful approach is good to capture the boots. Cowboy garments are such a statement you can get theme from just one close up image. I can often go over the top when styling and editing.
image 4/5 I like how she sets a scene, zooming slowly in and out of the models faces with that glitchy VHS. I want to just get as much footage on the day so that I have a variety of still images to use as finals. I want them to all look different, wether thats different backdrop, outfit or position of the camera, close up or far away.
How phillip kwame apagya inspired my set design. And finalising my ideas so far. -My whole theme is to create a shoot with a black cowgirl that may start to question tradition. I want to keep glamorous dolly parton elements but add that kitsch nostalgic feel. I was worried that all these things would clash and my outcome would be laughable or extra garish and that isn’t the point. After I’ve combined all these things I still feel my concept is missing something. -In earlier research I mentioned I liked “How serious one of the models is with a cactus on her head is good and I want to try and eject some of that slightly humorous tackiness into my own shoot. Possibly buying an awful plastic cactus or something” I want to make my shoot more interesting through my set design. Paper cactus, I want to really go in on the western theme, and create a backdrop like Philip Kwame Apagya. -He uses these pained backdrops and gets the models to interact with the setting as if they are really there. Or gets them to awkwardly stand in front of them. His photography really inspired me to play around with set design in this project. I like the simplicity, and how the concept isn’t actually serious but creates a serious image. Which is what I want to achieve with all the references to the yehaaw agenda. A combination of cardi b’s fun diamonte cowboy chaps and solange’s serious monochrome cowboy looks in dazed. -I particularly liked this image because the model was wearing a cowboy hat and I could really see this idea fitting in so well with my theme. I am imagining mercy as the model against a western backdrop with a plastic cactus.
mowalola mowalola is a designer I’m obsessed with at the moment. She has a collection called ‘the psychedelic collection’ that I have looked at for inspiration in regards to this project. The cowboy styling and bright colours with interesting desert backdrops have particularly inspired me. I wanted to also find a more modern reference as well as phillip kwame apagya, mowalola just happened to use a lot of western styling props too so has been great to look at. I am inspired by the space age, but yet vintage western styling and I want to be able to incorporate extremely alien styling with old school cowboy esc accessories. I think these images are relevant to what I’m doing for this first shoot and will refer back to them on shoot day for positioning, and styling inspiration.
MERCY FINAL IMAGES. 1/2 we put 2 images together at a time, firstly because it was needed because of the quality of the vas footage (would have looked too blurry by itself) and secondly the contrast of the 2 images together looked really nice. -I particularly like the contrast of different lightings here, I like the yellow gels on the camera mixed with the spot light lighting. - The cactus was quite temperamental and it kept falling down, So i’m glad we got at least one good image with it.
-I said in earlier reserch that I wanted to produce something strong images but with a vintage element. I think the cactus gives this effect. I wanted to create a similar feeling as the one I got when looking at this catwalk image by Thierry Mugler. -The styling and proportians of the images were inspired by the more recent images fueling the yeehaw agenda, Ciarra in King Kong magazine was one I particularly liked for inspo.
3/4 these images really show off mercys face, I thought she was perfectly cast for this shoot I am happy with the contrasting lighting again. I think the shadow on the bottom image is really effective, and how the light is glistening off her earrings. Mercy is glowing, she looks relaxed, feminine and strong and I like that combination of things I want to further edit these pictures to look more like the style of sharna osbourne. They have a lot of potential.
Another Thierry Mugler image that strongly inspired me. I love how the outfit is insane but because the models so confident they dont outshine eachother, I wanted a similar effect in my own work. We filmed on VHS inspired by sharna osbourne I like how she caotures modern imagery in a vintage way and wanted to do the same. We I am happy we achieved this look.
5/6 I am so pleased with how the backdrop looked. The amuturness of the images give that nostalgic feel I wanted to create. I think these images and the their placement are very obviously sharna osbourne inspired. The way the model is placed in a setting will make people imagine a story line for her.
Philip Kwame Apagya was a huge insporation to me when picking the backdrop, you can see here how some of my research images link directly to the final images. A young solange and beyonce in western wear inspired the casting and the styling.
5/6 I am so pleased with how the backdrop looked. The amuturness of the images give that nostalgic feel I wanted to create. I think these images and the their placement are very obviously sharna osbourne inspired. The way the model is placed in a setting will make people imagine a story line for her.
We created our own accsessories inspired by western affair I love how these turned out they are modern western influences in fashion at the moment and i wanted to compare to my final images to directly show how I was inspired.
I came up with the concept when looking through 3rd year graduate collections, a designer called maisy rawlings had created a western inspired collection, lots of Dolly Parton references which attracted me. There was one white denim piece with chaps and sherif stars which I particularly liked. Cowboy styling has been super relevant in fashion lately. Ive seen lots of cowgirl esc designs from designers like miu miu, western affair on instagram and …… I read an article on how black cowboys had inspired solange in one of her new campaigns, I learnt about how America viewed a typical cowboy and how this was ridiculous to solange because growing up in Houston, Texas ‘the only cowboys she ever knew were black’. My concept grew from here and me and alice went into the shoot relatively prepared. I had been looking at a photographer from ghana who used these painted back drops which I took inspiration from this and we got a western scene party backdrop and a cardboard cactus, I don’t really like shooting in the studio and wanted to add a more interesting element to the pictures and set the scene. Me and alice created a denim cowboy hat and boots which turned out really well, and I contacted another graduate designer called @artrosie who made cord corsets that I thought fit really well with the western theme. a white shirt under the corset gave a real southern bell contrast to the other cowgirl look. I wish I got more pieces from her.
Mercy was the most confident model I’ve ever shot which was great, she’s had a lot of modelling experience in the past which showed. There was a slight problem with some of the garments not fitting her, (there was a pair of shorts that looked like they were for a child) so we had to wing it with other random styling bits, different hats we made, a black bodysuit, some satin pink boots borrowed from chloe. The denim outfit was defiantly the best in my opinion I loved it. In the end I didn’t really like the original maisy rawlings dolly parton chaps on her. I wanted the shoot to be tastefully tacky but not in your face and I felt this look was pushing it a little bit. In hindsight I should have done a mini test shoot and fitting but I couldn’t get a studio or mercy until that thursday anyway.
Me and Alice shot on 4 mediums, VHS, 35mm, another random old camcorder and digital just incase. We played around with yellow and red studio lights too. We had a lot of images and footage to go through and take screenshots of, I wanted to do a sharna Osbourne style shoot so I thought the camcorder and VHS stuff looked so perfect. Digital was horrible, I’m not good shooting with shooting digital I don’t like the look, these pictures might be good for some collage stuff later on though. Our film photos would have been ok I really liked 3 of them, but the flash wasn’t in time with the camera and half of all the images were black.
Overall, I had a lot of fun on this shoot and got to do some styling, photography, creative directing. I realised how important it is for more expressive shoots to have a confident model like mercy, we were getting great shots strait away, inso boards of poses and stuff wasn’t really necessary. I got to use some graduate collections and am confident now to ask designers to use their stuff again and make those connections with new people in the future. I do think that I need some more studio workshops, I don’t like shooting in them but it would be nice to feel more confident in environment. I am happy with our final images but would love to edit more for my portfolio when I have a chance.
decks, we have been inspired mainly by fashion images that cast older models. We wanted to also create a super surreal effect finding inspiration from 70s horror like the shining and invasion of the body snatchers. Putting people where they wouldn’t normally be to create a eeriee feel. We will go to the moors, so have also been looking for inspiration from fashion imagery which has used similar locations.
Here are some faces of older models I particularly like we will be casting a couple.
CASTING, ALICES MUM AND DAD
WHY OLDER MODELS? why older models? How the idea of older models started to mould our idea. At the start of this section of my research folder I did some research which led to these quotes that would inspire some of my casting choices. “Unhealthy casting = Unhealthy society” ,“the amazing everyday people“ . i want to see interesting faces’I wanted to cast at least one shoot which used faces that weren’t as common within fashion photography. promoting the beauty of age with some really nice images. Show faces which are more interesting. Showing that every day is beautiful and can be used to create stunning, intriguing images and not just pretty ones. The effect of an older model used in a fashion image in itself is kind of surreal because its not widely seen. we wanted to play on this idea of surrealism within fashion. I have been really inspired by 70s horror at the moment, its all very eerie but so pleasing to watch, pale colours and symmetrical scenes. The word juxtaposition will describe our final images, they will hopefully look like old film stills.
we want to place our models in clothes they wouldnt normally be wearing in a placethey woulnt normally be
Looking at practioners who use juxtoposition...
MARTIN PARR GUCCI
MARTIN PARR GUCCI starting to look for examples of juxtaposition in fashion. This is a campaign for gucci! I mentioned earlier “using older models in a fashion is surreal in itself �. Placing women eating i.e. cream on a beach in seemingly their normal clothes I think is really effective, If I saw this campaign in a fashion magazine it would stand out the most to me over any other photographs. Martin Parr is a documentary photographer, but he is shooting here for gucci which makes me wonder if the people in photographs are models or not and I like the effect these photographs have on me
The second set of photographs look more like a fashion editorial. I like how the song colours compliment each other and you are left thinking about the people in the photographs and wether this is how they normally turn up to the beach. I love the combination of martin parrs documentary photography and guccis direction. It works really well and keeps people guessing.
PARR BY PARR. -this is an interview book called parr by parr, where martin parr answers questions about his techniques -I have always been interested on Parrs stance on fashion photography and wether he enjoys it, if it because my favourite images by him are so real. He documents real people. He goes on to say the industry is well paid and you get more freedom. -He then goes on to say ‘I love doing shoots where you place things on often surreal circumstances� in regards to fashion photography. This has inspired me and made me more confident in our own idea in regards to fashion. Combining documentary and commercial photography to create a much more interesting image. -I want t look for more ways to add surreal elements to my images, possibly through styling and expressions of the models.
PUTTING OUR CONCEPT IN CONTEXT WITHIN FASHION
PALACE CAMPAIGN Further evidence our idea would work within fashion. Older models places next to younger ones creates an interesting storyline for an editorial, a shoot with older models doesn’t necessarily mean that it has to feature older models all the way through. I think using older models is relevant in fashion, especially when selling a product, I think you should show as may different people in the garments as possible. Even when your not trying to sell anything and your photographing people for more artistic purposes HOW THIS INSPIRES ME. I want to cast older models in the future within a shoot with younger models. A range off different faces and ages is really effec-
VICE PHOTO BOOK
. I’ve been looking for more examples of the documentary style combined with surreal fashion photography. Or fashion photography with interesting models which then makes the image more surreal. The fashion section of the vice phonebook has some really interesting examples of juxtaposition and all feel of all these images has given me lots of ideas. -“a fashion story was often a good excuse for us to do something closer to a photo essay. With unobtrusive styling and a bit of research, our monthly obligation to photograph clothing became a chance to do things like get the oral histories of new york gangsters and bikers, visit a legal brothel in Nevada and publish portraits of Iraqi women- both in burkas and in western clothing. -“so yeah fashion in vice is going to keep being both of those things: journalistic explorations that have clothes in them” -I think this idea of what a “fashion image” has to be is interesting. Who cares about the clothes, its more about bringing you whats behind the people wearing them, the overall effect of the image. You can make any image you want into an fashion photograph. The fashion section in the vice photo book has picked a load of interesting images to put under the umbrella of fashion. -I want to keep this in mind when taking my own photographs and I don’t want to put myself in a box just because I do fashion. I can do what ever interests me. I can photograph anything that represents fashion to me, and use who ever I find interesting.
I am obsessed with these images. I love how the photographer has thought about the groups and pairings of people. Lots of different faces of goth. Goths dressed in in black playing sports. the effect of juxtaposition is so effective. Because my stereotype of goths is that they’re not particularly sporty. So to see school portrait looking images of sports teams is weird. I like how its a school portrait type image but they’re all dead eyed and strait faced, that stance really stands out to me. I like how the images are serious but also slightly humorous.
Naked people doing normal stuff is surreal. I don’t want to shoot naked models but I again this effect of juxtaposition in a fashion editorial. Its not about clothes, a fashion image can be the strategic placing of different models and the feel of the image.
Most of the images I like from the vice photo book are by danielle levitt, I really like her way of placing the models in an image. They are always looking directly at the camera and expressionless. It gives a weird effect. That idea of taking the same type of images of lots of different people appeals to me. All these girls are wearing black pants and knitted jumpers, they have a similar body shape, but they’re all in different positions. I like that. All the elements of this images look really out of place but they all work together well. Its a real place, shot on location. but it kind of looks like a green screen set. The still people give of a strange feeling.
Dead eyed stare and how liking these types of images has inspired me to create images that look like film stills for a surreal effect. -I have found that a lot of images I’m interested in in regards to this shoot use models that are still and motionless. -I think this stance is vital in creating a surreal effect effortlessly. -I want the images to be a combination of documentary and fashion imagery. Danielle Levvitt does this so well and all her models have this stance. -The dead eyed stare and stillness is so striking and really helps create and eerie feel. -I think this effect of documentary imagery, but with styled clothes and strategically placed models creates an image that looks like a film still. -I have decided that I want our images to look like strange still from a surreal film -We should concentrate on the styling to push this effect of juxtaposition throughout the images. Put the models in something they wouldn’t normally be wearing, maybe matching outfits.
Some examples from what I’ve just been looking at.
bright yet faded colours looking at symetry throughout the film
twins are effective
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS. -the invasion of the body snatchers is a 70s surreal horror in which aliens grow out of flowers, recreate an exact replica of your body, depose of your body, and start living life as you. -theyre not like how you would have been at all, they are just a physical replica. They talk very slowly and have no expression. They walk around in pairs or groups, places they wouldn’t normally be while they slowly take over america. -the whole film is very eerie and I want to use those aliens in human form as an example for the stance of my models and the feel of my photoshoot. They just walk around and sometimes stare at you in silence -A pair of people stood together, walking slowly being expressionless, in an unusual place (the moors) will so effective on creating a calmly bizarre atmosphere to my images. -this 70s surreal horror film is just great for reference because its intense but calm. I don’t want to look at any 70’s references that are too psychedelic because I want our shoot to be more effortlessly surreal.
LOCATION SCOUTING I’m from plymouth and alice is from a town outside of plymouth. Around Alice’s house theres lots of beautiful countryside, dartmoor, quarrys, different tors. We want to use a location like this. To position her parents here with clothes they wouldn’t normally be wearing to create that surreal effect. some settings in dartmoor are quite alien like, yellow grass and black trees, rocks piled on top of each other. (experiment with fashion images in this location)
alexander mcqueen film
-I wanted to look at a film which uses a similar location setting as mine. To see how we can use the location to our advantage. -the setting here is as much as part of the campaign as the clothes are, its shown constantly. I think its important when photographing a powerful setting like this to remember that. -There are lots of different bits of the location photographed which keeps the different shots interesting. I want to have a couple tried backdrops in my own shoot.
VIV WESTWOOD 1/2 these images have inspired me because they show lots of angles to shoot an older face. I want to take lots of different angles of Alices parents faces to really get the detail of their faces, the placement of these images together are really interesting. I like the far away black and white next to a close up full bleed colour image.
3/4 Our location will be similar to this, and I like how it has been used here. Our models won’t be as expressive as vivienne westwood is here. I like how organic the setting is, it really makes her and her garments stand out.
5/6 these are shoots by jurgan teller. He really captures vivienne westwoods essence and makes her look powerful. She is truly empowered in her own body at the age she is. The second image is surreal because it has no context at all.
Matty and Plum by Dean Davies. -I like these photos because of the contrast of the setting, and the models wearing the clothes. -normal suburban settings paired with these brightly coloured garments creates a really interesting image. -older models photographed in interesting clothing against a suburban backdrop creates a good image and I will keep this in mind if i ever wanted to further my project with different locations.
-When shooting I wanted to take a varied amount of images, getting ones from diffrent angles and diffrent distances away from eachother. I knew that I wanted to edit them togteher with some of the other images at diffrent angles. Diffrent locations look good togther. -Im happy that this image captures the beauty of the place we were in. These images have personal value as we cast alices parents in a place we have memories of growing up, they feel nostalgic to me but probably just look a little creepy to someone who doesnt know alices parents or the place we were in. -In my research Ive mentioned the stare into the camera and how it can make an image more eye-catching and surreal. I feel like this was really effective here. -The symetry feels eeiree to me becasue of all the symetry in the shining. The placement of the models is like inthe twins in the shining. When you see the images together you realise how intresting symetry is in photgraphy and how you can create a more creepy image like we have done here.
-The tor in this photo gives the image a more alien like feel, you dont get tors in many places of the UK and I think that gives the images a more interesting edge. I am finding these images a lot harder to anylise because theyre all basically the same apart from the models get closer each time and the location changes. I was inspired by the 70s horror, invasion of the body snatchers, the aliens infultrait closer and closer and begin to be everywhere. I like how we can place the images so the models look like they are getting closer and closer to you and this creates an eeiree feeling. -The loaction changes as if they are everywhere and the setting is stange, silent and surreal. I am happy with these images.
-I put these images as a pair becasue I really liked them together, I like the diffrent directions that the models are looking in, I like how you get a close up view of the casting with diffrent backdrops, I always forget to get closer angles of a subjects face when shooting and I’m glad I did here becasue uts super effective. -The weather wa slightly misty but I think that worked really well to help get our images to have that eeiree feel.
-I think using older models was really effective and I would like to do it again, Martin parr was one of the practioners I looked at who combined intresting casting of older people and combined it with fashion. Both of us used juxtoposition. -I think theres a really good balance, the models and the setting work well together, one does not take over the other. I looked at the film by aleander mcqueen for inspo on how to shoot in a beautiful english outdoor space.
SHOOT 4 - ALICES PARENTS We wanted to have a range of models and for the last shoot and use children or older people. We decided to use alices parents, because we struggled a little bit with a member of our group and who was doing what with who this was a pretty last minute casting but turned out to be my favourite shoot so far. Even thought the actual casting was last minute we had wanted to use older models the whole way through so the inspiration wasn’t. I had been looking at gut magazine ………………. and the effect using older models has on an audience. Fashion is becoming more and more inclusive and while a lot of brands seem to be doing this as a trend to sell more shit clothes I feel like a lot of practitioners genuinely feel that typically beautiful isnt what their audiences really want to see right now and pretty is boring in comparison to an actually interesting face. I was really excited to use another graduate collection, but this fell through a few days before so we just put her parents in 2 of her dads black suits, they gave an equally dramatic feel as a graduate collection would have (if not more), just in a different way. This simple styling on the eerie moor looked so surreal. I don’t think we were sure of what we were trying to achieve we just wanted to do something really different to what we had done already, and different to the work we normally create. It felt really good shooting in an environment like that, dartmoor is so atmospheric. Her parents up there in suits was really bizarre and I love the eccentric look we ended up achieving. So happy with how these photos turned out on film they were stunning, it was really hard to pick exactly what ones to use. This shoot has really inspired me to use more settings like this in my work, there is so many amazing places around Plymouth and in Cornwall. If i could change anything about these photos I would have used super oversized suits, and maybe have prepared more reference images for angles but I’m proud of the photos we took.
SMILES ON THE TILES. -a photographer in plymouth that has taken images of plymouth nightlife since 2002 -there are thousands and thousands of images I’ve concentrated on finding ones for inspiration from around 2005 -I want these images to set the scene for my shoot with Eliza and her friends. I think these photos could easily be fashion images, I’ve picked and placed ones together that I’ve found interesting -thoughts on then and now: I find it interesting how the styles have drastically changed but also the definition of “glamour” has changed too. Girls now dress so differently than how they used too and I think there is such a higher standard to meet in terms of appearance. -I am inspired by the people I see in plymouth everyday and wanted to show these photos to give an idea of the nightlife. -Smiles on the tiles images were on my original inspiration powerpoint and I would love to do something further with these images in the future. -I would love to follow my sister and her friends onto the night out to create some 2019 images like these. I can see similarities with the plymothians I know and these people. -I love these images because they are a real depiction of the night life at home and I want the images of my sister and her friends to be as truthful as possible.
I have added some images I feel represent night life in plymouth, setting the scene. I really liked looking though all these images. There are lots of diffrent people out ana about because the centre is quite small. Plymouth attracts lots of poeople from surrounding area so theres always a mix
WHY I HAVE CHOSEN TO CAST MY SISTER AND HER FRIENDS AND HOW MY HOME WILL INSPIRE MY WORK. WHY I FIND MY HOMETOWN INTERESTING
MANCHESTER GIRLS
https://lectureinprogress.com/journal/dean-davies -“I’m drawn to residential homes and the street…I have vivid memories of the interesting characters who lived locally.”
-“I scout for locations that resonate. 99% of the time these will be residential homes and the street.”
-the whole of my casting project has been about casting people I know, who I think are interesting. I feel like these quotes embody the feeling I have when casting.
-Why do I find types of girls like my sister interesting? The way that they look and dress and carry themselves? I think is because most of my friends from school, some of my best friends from home, my own family dress and act in a certain way that I don’t and that confuses and interests me. I admire their strong personalities and glamorous tendencies, but I also think they’re totally agoraphobic about leaving Devon. What I find the most fascinating is how I could have easily been this way. -I always had many different groups of people I was friends with, so was always around a collection of people and was interested about how their own life and style difference itself from mine, that has made me photograph people from my home in this project. I am inspired by people from Plymouth. Plymouth nightlife is a good section to concentrate on because I think peoples personalities and styles are always magnified. -One of the groups of people I’m particularly interested in photographing is my sister and her friends, because they represent the typical Plymouth girl to me. I think casting these girls really embodies what I wanted to achieve within this casting project, I want to cast people that interest me and have interesting personality.
In this book tom wood photographs different types of women. A lot of them have nothing in common apart from the fact they’re women and he found them interesting enough to take a photo of, that links them all in some way. To further this project in the future I would like to take lots of different imagery of people I know from my home town and put them together in a book. ‘women’ is a really good example of how lots of different faces work well together and I love how his documentary photography really shows personalities and styles of different women and gives you a snippet of their life. I want to create this effect within my own photographs and capture the personalities of the girls I am photographing, really picturing where they’re from and what they like to do but not giving that information. I find documentary imagery clear and interesting.
These images of completly diffrent women work welll together
ALICE HAWKINS alice hawkins interview notes that bennifit my research for this project -party photography grew into editorial photography. -eccentric personalities. -Do what you feel comfortable with, can get away with doing what you feel. translate you’re ideas and what you feel comfortable with into fashion. -Glamourous women, obsessed with big hair and tanned skin. cross over with fashion and editorial and portrait photography. - bad taste is the hight of fashion, use fashion to elevate people, they elevate the fashion. -lots of people from different walks of life. Start talking to people. Take a girl who normally appears in nuts and put her in a fashion magazine. -Fashionable is boring, not audacious or brave. I don’t want to shoot people to look pretty, I want my photos to last longer than that. -Not taking the piss out of something but being part of something. I found this interview really interesting, I love the way Alice Hawkins talks about her models and talks about her work. I think she made some important points about being part of something, and how sticking to what you know can make a good fashion image. I related to this in regards to taking photos of my sister and their friends. I admire their strong personalities and glamorousness, I’m not making images that take the piss out of them I just think theyre genuinely interesting subjects to photograph. I think they look good and I want to capture this.
SNOG MARRY AVOID OBSESSION WITH GLAM I’ve always been interested in girls who carry themselves this way. Snog marry avoid is a good example. I always thought they looked better before and admired them for their confidence and expression. Not one girl on their personal intro appears unhappy in their looks, they own it. They love the attention they get and describe themselves as glam and gorgeous. Their attitudes and style had me obsessed when this show was aired and still now when looking for inspiration for my own images, I see so many similarities in these women and my sister. They would be great subjects to use in fashion photography I find their attitude towards themselves inspiring and there absolute dis interest in the publics view of them. I have collected some images and quotes that will inspire my attitude to taking the photographs and references throughout. I want to capture the confidence of these girls which is what I admire about them.
Some screenshots that will inspire my images
Pure british glamour
ZED NELSON LOVE ME
Zed nelson explores how western beauty ideals have been exported as a formal globalisation, and the darker effects of this on society. I know the book has a sort of dark eerieness too it. The awful effects the beauty industry on society, but I just love the images, I love the types of girls he’s chosen to photograph. After knowing I was going photograph my sister and her friends I really wanted to see how ot photographers capture glamour. I particularly like the changing ex pressions on 2 almost identical images shown here.
HOW THIS WILL INSPIRE MY OWN WORK the composition of these images are really beautiful. I like where he’s placed the models
He shoots most of the girls looking kind of fed up, which think gives a really nice effect but is probably misleading, the girl who’s just been crowned miss teen beauty probably isn’t glum, the beauty industry has some dark side effects but she’s probably feeling confident and beautiful she’s miss teen beauty. I want to take similar images but make sure I show the confidence of my models, I want to represent the good side of glamour, the side that makes you feel confident in an image based society.
tupac fans- http://www.dennisduijnhouwer.com/play/2pac-lives/
diffrent peoples objects bringing them together. Telling a story throught things.
DENNIS DUIJINHOUWER I want to have something else to add to the images of my sister, I want to show things that belong to her and her friends, or there accessories to paint more of a picture of their lives. Dennis duijinhouwer has inspired me to do this because he is so good at telling a story through his images, with these images he basically photographs lots of tupac fans and their things that relate to tupac, t shirts, hats, tattoos, shrines. All of these images together create a really interesting narrative and a glimpse into different lives. I like compilations of different things and the idea that a photographer could travel around from place to place meeting lots of new people and photographing one subject is really appealing to me. I love projects and books that do this and its given me some ideas on how I could possibly further this project by going round to lots of glamorous girls houses in Plymouth and take pictures of their stuff. I want to add these images to the pictures of my sister to just make the project a little more interesting and let people have a more in depth view of the subjects.
FAVOURITE PHOTO ANYLISIS -I really enjoyed taking these photos, my mums is always the place picked for pre drinks on the weekend and this photo captures one of the rituals. 1 million well lit photos and glasses of wine are a must when going out in town. “pics or it didn’t happen” -Alot of mine and my sisters friends come over dressed up but always end up putting on dressing gowns over their clothes while having drinks because my mum doesn’t like having the heating on. I like how this is captured in the corner, summer picked a dressing gown to match her nails. -My sister is extra and this photo really shows that off. I bet this was happening in lots of other places in plymouth on a saturday night
-I like how pristine the top half of my sister is, her hair and makeup but as you zoom in you start to notice common details of imperfection, patchy fake tan, broken shoes. I like zooming in to different bits of the models, wether thats a piece of their clothing, what theyre drinking or bits of their bedrooms. -The contrast of the wooden floor and the bricks of behind my house is really effective and eye think the images together are super eye-catching. Eliza and summer compliment her well.
HOOT 3 - MY SISTER AND HER FRIENDS Trying to set a date to photography my sister was really difficult, her and her friends were all going out on Saturday. I knew what kind of images I wanted to create but not whether Eliza was going to cooperate or not. I really wanted to shoot the images outside, we don’t have a garden at my mums but the back lane looked really good in the photos, I wanted to go into the park to get some pictures with greenery too but it was just starting to get dark as we went outside, her friends turned up pretty late. The lane pictures turned out good I just wish we planned the composition of the images a little more. My sister and summer were great, confident but charlotte was a little nervous, she kind of looked out of place in between the others, if we’d planned it we could have made this work by spacing them out, Tiffany was busy that day and she would have really added to the pictures. I had lots of references, photographers who documented glamorous girls like this. we looked at ‘smiles on the tiles’ who is this guy who has been documenting plymouth nightlife for years, the archives from the 2000’s are great, I love people in Plymouth, I love Plymouth girls I love the standard clubbing culture in Britan smiles on the tiles really incaputlates this as a timeline. The possibilities of where I could go with this series is really exciting, I would like to style the girls more for another project.
Me and alice shot on 35mm film on 2 different cameras and an old hand held digital camera inspired by smiles on the tiles. The photos I like the best are probably the ones my sister and her friends would dislike the most. I sent some to my sister and she said DO NOT post anywhere. I don’t think she looks bad, I just like the weirder angles, the odd posed positions against the grey walls, the patchy fake tan on their feet. Documenting real life is important to me as well as set up styled shots. I went to a talk by Martin Parr and he said its good to capture things you don’t think are relevant now (because they’re everywhere) but in a couple years these photos could really represent a time and an attitude thats moved on or been forgotten. He didn’t realise he was photographing political and economic changes in Britain, but when he looks back he saw that he was and thats something to think about in regards to these images. Martin Parr photographing something like a supermarket 30 years ago might seem so utterly pointless to someone at the time, but for me to look back on an image like that in 2019 its so interesting because you see all the changes compared to modern day. I’m not saying that I was photographing ‘political and economic changes within Britain’ by taking pictures of my sister, I just think its interesting that one day those images will be nostalgic to me and other people and might represent a type of girl who doesn’t exist exactly like that in 30 years. Looking at the photos me and alice took in comparison to the photos Eliza and her friends posted of themselves that night is funny, I just think real life photography is important compared to perfection we post, with social media you see the most fabricated versions of peoples lives (I know thats a pretty typical thing to say in regards to mental health and how instagram effects people, you hear it all the time) I started thinking about the majority of the images we keep and look back on when were older will all be morphed and tainted and thats weird. Club photos archives and documentary photography so the unedited versions of 2019 and thats important. Overall I think we got some good images, I wish we took more close up photos. I want to work on the editing a little more and would defiantly use my sister for future projects. The digital photos turned out better than the film photos and it made me hate digital a little less.
COMIC CON DECKS
MAIN INSPO.
MAIN IDEA -to take photos of interesting characters of at a whitchurch comic con. Photograph people dressed in cosplay. -to cast on the spot, simply because someone is interesting. -the models will be staring into the camera with a strait face. -Experiment with the widest range of ages and costume possible -try to group people
MAIN INSPO.
I like rubbish cosplay better than good cosplay.
MAIN INSPO.
-TAKING INSPORATION FROM FRUITS -particularly the way the street style is photograph -They are on the spot casting in the same way as I will be, choosing flambouyant people who are of interest to them. -by looking at these images I can see why these people would stand out, lots of diffrent styles together appeals to me -I want to take photos on film to get the same 90s effects as these images. -With scouting on the spot I should take as many diffrent images as possible because I’m not sure what I want yet.
I AM INSPIRED BY THE INTERESTING POSITIONS OF THE GOSHA MODELS IN THIS CAMPAGIN
I LIKE HOW THE SETTING SLIGHTLY CHANGES GOSHA ALWAYS HAS UNUSUAL CATSING WHICH WORKS WITH HIS GARMENTS
I COULD PLACE MY MODELS AT COMIC CON IN SLIGHTLY DIFFRENT POSITIONS AGAINST SLIGHTLY DIFFRENT BACKROUNDS
I DONT WANT THEM TO SMILE OR LOOK CANDID, THE EFFECT THE STRAIT FACE HAS ON FASHION OR DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY IS EFFECTIVE
https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/robin-mellor-cliff-richard-photography-190718 I IMAGINE THIS PHOTOGRAPHER DID A SIMILAR THING AS I PLAN TO,ASK PEOPLE THEY THOUGHT WERE INTERESTING FOR A PHOT OUTSIDE A VENUE
I LIKE GROUPINGS OF PEOPLE WHO LOOK DIFFRENT BUT ARE PART OF THE SAME THINGS, PART OF A FAN GROUP OR A CLUB.
I THINK THIS PHOTOGRAPHER HAS CONCENTRAITED AS MUCH ON WHAT THE SUBJECT IS WEARING AS WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE, THEIR OUTFITS ARE INTRESTING AS WELL AS THEIR FACES.
I WILL DO THE SAME ON THE DAY AND LOOK FOR COSPLAYERS WHOS OUTFIT CONTRAST THEIR FACE THE MOST. ALL THE ATRIBUTES OF A PERSON WILL MATTER TO ME WHEN TAKING A PHOTO, IF I DIDNT LIKE THE PERSONS PERSONALITY I PROBABLY WOULDNT LIKE THE PHOTO.
-These images are really beautiful, I like how the subjects are staring into the camera. -The structure of the image is nice, they look pale and calm and vibrant at the same time. -I want to have a similar composition of images, i want to set up my models in the centre of the photo and have them looking strait into the camera. -to further my project I would like to go deeper into the comic con world and maybe photograph some models houses or lives, their bedrooms with memorabilia would be interesting. -I want my images to tell more of a story if I was to do this project in the future. -I like the contrast of ages the photographer has used in this series. Not showing any football hooligans and perhaps the innocence of the England flag as it often surrounded by stigma. -Maybe in the future I could change peoples perceptions of cosplay, make my work more of a think piece, have bios about the characters life out of cosplay. https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/then-there-wasus-world-cup-2018-publication-photography-041218
-My Favourite thing about this image is that the girl behind this mask had the sweetest name ever like rose or something. -I thought a really angry boy would speak out of the mask. -The size of this outfit is funny.
My favourite images compared with the research behind the composition -I like this child in an outfit thats way too big for them. This give the image a humourous side. -A nice sunny image -I really like this image because the model was really sweet.
-When I say funny I dont mean it in a horrible way, I liked all these people, just a light humour - I dont think anyone can be dressed up and be complely 100% serious, though all the cos players would probably disagree
-I wish I asked a little more about their charecters and why they chose to be who they were. -I really enjoyed meeting all these people. -All my favourite photos are placed against this backround, it was pretty busy around the front doors and I think if I took the photos in other places it would have ruiend the compositon.
-Probably my favourite image -I wish I captured more pairs or more people that were dressed as anime charecters and not super heros or harry potter. -I like her wig and the contrast of her pink trainers against their outfits. -they dont actually look as awkward as they were.
Evaluation
SHOOT 2- COMIC CON- saturday.
Saturday was a pretty busy day for me, I went to Comic Con in the morning knowing that I couldn’t stay for too long because I had another shoot in plymouth in the evening so I felt kind of rushed and stressed on the way there, also tabitha didn’t turn up and ignored all my messages, apart from that it was really good! I had wanted to go to a comic con for a while and take photographs, I knew there would be loads of characters there and thought it would be perfect for a casting project. I regret paying £10 because it was too dark inside for me to take photos, I was literally outside the whole time it was a beautiful day. I didn’t really have any exact reference images, I had obviously documentary photographers that I’d been looking at for inspiration,.but I’ve never been to anything like this before and had a really vague idea of what it was going to be like. I wasted a lot of film at the start when it wasn’t bust by taking pictures of rubbish, standard dressed up people, none of these people who’s faces I really loved, I knew I wasnt really getting the most interesting images. After about 2 hours I had found some really good people with great faces. I like the awkward photos the best, and after a while being there I knew what I wanted to photograph, I missed a lot of great opportunities, the place got rammed at one point and lots of people I wanted to document just disappeared into crowds. I had envisioned myself taking people around whitchurch to get more striking images in different environments, but it was difficult to get people to move more than a couple meters, most of my images are against a yellow wall, but as it got busier it got difficult to take photos of people there. If I did this again which I would like too I would defiantly know what to expect and be more confident getting those different backdrops. I wanted to do bios and name, occupation and ages to go along with the photos but I stopped asking after the 5th person because literally every adult I asked in costume was unemployed, It got awkward asking ages and stuff as well as people were very much embodying the whole essence of their character. For example, when I asked claire (who was dressed as dafney from scooby doo) what her age was she told me 16. I would really like to look into to this further for a future project, why is there such a high rate of unemployment in the cosplay world? why do lots of kids who get bullied in school turn to cosplay? I think it takes people out the real world into a non judgemental community of people who have similar interests as them or maybe its not that deep, I don’t know but I’m interested. I would like to get peoples contact details in the future and do some sort of interview/ documentary series about why people get so invested in the lives of fictional characters. I would like to take photos of this community dressed in cosplay but not at comic con in their normal lives, outside their houses in their real life community. Overall I took more boring pictures than good ones but I really liked the good ones, its made me feel more confident about my own photography abilities I’ve never really been a photographer. I have a good idea for the future. I don’t really know what tabitha would have added if she turned up anyway and I was happy with the work I produced on my own.
THE EXHIBITION
My first ever exhibition was really fun, I wish I had made a bit more of an effort to print out better quality images. I was a bit disappointed lots of people didn’t even turn up or seem to care about it at all. I would love to set up another exhibition in the summer and get the people who really want to contribute to it and make it really amazing. The Latch was fun but we could have improved it 100%. Unfortunately it happened bit too close to loan drop when everyone was pretty broke, even the £1.70 each payed was a stretch for some people let alone the cost of printing. I know that sounds pretty stupid because there are ways around this stuff with a little more effort but I got the impression a lot of people didn’t have a good time collaborating like me and alice collaborating and just wanted to get this project out the way. I thought the exhibition experience was really fun, it was great to see my work on a wall even if it was just bits of paper blue tacked to it. I am excited for others in the future.
(Less than 500 words but I’ve done large evaluations for my other projects) CASTING AND COLLABORATIONS -Overall I did 4 shoots in 4 days, this was nothing to do with my time management it was literally the only time models were available to shoot and comic-con was on. I cast my models pretty early on but felt like I was in limbo for a couple weeks, one member of our group would say they were going to meet us and then not turn up or reply to messages, I think this threw everyone off a bit. It was decided I would do 3 of my shoots with Alice and one with Tabitha (who didn’t turn up so I did it alone). I would have liked to collaborate with some other people to see what I would have produced, but working with Alice was fun, no stress, were both mature working with other people. We had absolutely no problems or arguments, usually I don’t mind a bit of a debate about what kind of work to produce but, after the Lazy Oaf project I was so tired of collaborating with people who had completely opposite aesthetics to me .I was surprised at how emotionally draining and stressful it was. Working with Alice was needed, we both produced work out of our comfort zones without having to work with people with different styles. I’m happy with all the photos that we ended up, we defiantly work well together we have some similar influences, were from the same place too, which made it easier to use my sister and her parents as models we could both just go home for the weekend. I put a lot into these shoots and within this project I really pushed myself to do more photography, learn about the cameras and go to some medium format and 35mm workshop. Ive always been so reluctant to learn how to properly use them and someones had to help me load them and work them (normally abbie) throughout the whole time I’ve been doing fashion I’m proud of myself for just getting that done. I feel confident shooting on my own. Proud of the work I produced and it really bulked up my portfolio more than any other project. Overall enjoyable project, got lots of ideas for continuing shoots. Was really good to have some input from charlotte and clementine and the talk from them inspired me to do more fashion/ documentary imagery.