USING EXPERIMENTAL SHOOTS TO DECIDE ON FINAL PRODUCTION

After experimenting with mixed media with my first shoot I had come to the conclusion that I didn't feel it was effective in getting my message across, however I did like the textural element of using cellophane as a garment, so I brought that observation forward into my next shoot, which I felt worked a lot better and had the aesthetics and elements that I wanted from my work, which was to use colour as a main component of the image through lighting, and I felt that I achieved this by experimenting with placing coloured plastic over the lights to act as colour gel lighting.

I then had my mid-point review assessment with my Fashion Promotion tutor, John. We discussed how I should take my work into a more fashion-based direction, as the work until this point was mainly research and experimentation and no real application of what I'd been working with. I decided that I definitely did want to take my project down a fashion photography route, so we discussed the possibility of creating a zine or a photo-book. John suggested some research points I could start with to move my project forward and to bring everything I'd researched and experimented with together into a final production.

I started by looking at David Sims' photography for Arena Homme Plus magazine, where he creates multiple page editorials that seem to have some sort of narrative. I really like the use of borders and framing in his editing and the colours and lighting he uses in this photography is really abstract and different. I couldn't find anywhere I could purchase the magazine to get a good look at the structure of his editorials, so I had to just go on the images I did find and online articles. Looking at his work I was really drawn to his style of photography and the way it has it's own identity and is unique to him, which is something I felt my work was lacking, so researching Sims definitely inspired me to focus on my own style of photography.

I also researched 'Blue' by Derek Jarman, a film where the screen is entirely blue throughout, with just his narrative being spoken by him over the top. He tells the story of losing his eyesight due to AIDs related illnesses, and about the way his environment and life is changing around him. He personifies the colour blue a lot during the feature, which gave me an interesting perspective on how I should be using colour in my project. A single colour made such an impact on his life, so I thought about how a single colour or several colours associated with a memory can be used to re-create a narrative through fashion photography. I decided that I would interview my models about their strongest memory, and  re-create their story using the colours they described.

David Sims for Arena Homme Plus. Image found on Google.