PLANNING SHOOTS: INTERVIEWING & CASTING MODELS

I decided that I wanted to do shoots of two models, one male and one female, so that readers of both genders could enjoy what my zine has to offer. Choosing my models was a hard process, because I wanted to use models that I know and that I already know are good at modelling, yet I wanted to use a model who had an interesting story to tell of their strongest memory. I asked three of my friends, who I'd used as models before, what their strongest memory was, and picked them based on the most interesting ones. I asked one female and two males to give me a maximum of three strong memories so I could choose one to work with and plan a photo-shoot around.

The first friend who responded was Qetina, a model who I use a lot because of her photogenic looks and height. I like using her as a model because she is a close friend that I've known from school and she has a naturally pretty face, which means I can style her in any way I want and she will still suit whatever the theme of the shoot is. She is of Albanian decent, so I like using her as well because she offers something different.  I like to use models who aren't white, of all body types and genders, and models with unique looks. When interviewing her, she told me three of her strongest and weirdest memories.

The first memory was about her first time visiting her Albanian family, where her uncle was cleaning a cement mixer that was six foot deep with water, so she and her younger siblings swam in the cement mixer for fun. She also recalled how her Albanian family were surprised and amazed that the three of them could swim, which made me laugh. She said that was her weirdest memory because it seemed to vague. She found it hard to associate a colour with that particular memory, so I didn't use it. The second was what she said was "Her strongest memory because it is her worst memory". She told me about the night she learned her grandfather had committed suicide. She describes being woken up by her aunt in the middle of the night, and going to the living room where there were multiple candles lit. She vaguely remembers the 'lime green' TV screen mixing with the orange, and how all the colours mixed together both from the shock of the news and from her tired state as a child. This memory stood out to me, so I decided to use this one of hers. I planned to use mainly the colours of green, orange, pink and yellow.

The second person I interviewed was my boyfriend Dean, who I use quite often in my photo-shoots, because he has interesting style and offers something different when it comes to menswear shoots, as all too often a white man is the model for a brand's menswear. He is from Mauritius, so when asked about his strongest memories he told me about being by the sea, eating Mauritian street food and partying with his cousins. He found it hard to describe any more memories in detail to help me plan a shoot on the story, so I decided I wouldn't use him.

Lastly, I interviewed my brother Callum, who I've also  used before. I like using him as a model because he has a 'blank canvas' look about him which makes him easy to style. He also has a good height and is photogenic. When I asked him about his strongest memories he told me about childhood memories. The first was about a time he had his head stuck under a round-a-bout in a play park, and how he associates the emotion of fear and the colour of yellow and black with the memory. The second memory he told me about was a time he was playing with matches and almost set our grandmother's carpet on fire. He said he thinks of all kinds of colours, specifically yellow of the flames and purple of the carpet and bed covers. He also says he associates green with the memory, though he couldn't tell me why. I decided I would try to use both of his memories in my shoot, as his memories were a little short, so to make a whole narrative out of it I wanted to use both. This would also give me the opportunity to experiment with outside location shooting.

RESEARCHING ZINES (POLYESTER & MUSHPIT)

To get me started in the direction of creating a fashion-based final product, I researched zines: A 'mini magazine' that offers something different to the reader. They're usually A5 in size and around 50 pages long. I researched Polyester and Mushpit. Polyester was the one that stood out the most to me so I purchased a copy to look at the entire thing for analysis, I took scans of my favourite pages in terms of layout and photography to help me with my production of my zine. 

I liked Polyester the most because it's a zine for girls with predominantly feminist and liberal views, and offers this type of reader an alternative to fashion magazines that might promote gender roles and unhealthy, unrealistic body image. Polyester uses models of all shapes and sizes and mainly has bright, colourful and girly photo-shoots accompanied by girly and sometime 'kitschy' pixel images. I really liked the aesthetics in Polyester and the flow of the editorials. I love how the editorials and photo-shoots are all different yet keep the same running aesthetics, which gives the zine an overall brand and recognizable look that their readers will identify with. This aspect of giving the zine a collective aesthetics that keeps the theme running throughout is definitely something I will want to use in my zine in terms of colours. 

I also researched Mushpit, but didn't purchase a physical copy as I did with Polyester. Mushpit has a somewhat similar aesthetic and agenda to Polyester, but the in-your-face feminine colours and themes is a little more toned down. Mushpit is also a zine for a mainly female target audience who want something with more substance when it comes to fashion.  The layout of Mushpit is similar to Polyester, and I really like the use of editing and graphics within the editorial's shoots. I like the bordering of the scans from Mushpit I found online below, and the choices of colour are carefully thought out so that the whole thing ties up well and flows. 

Researching these zines suggested to me by my tutor John has definitely helped me to envision what I will create, and has given me a good head start in planning my shoots and how I will lay them out when constructing my zine. I also like the thought of offering something different to just fashion imagery. I will offer my audience a narrative to follow from two models or characters, and I need to make sure that my layout tells the story in the right way to get my message clear, consistent and beautiful.

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.

DEVELOPMENT STAGE: SHOOT 2 - MOVING ON FROM MIXED MEDIA WITH TEXTURE AND COLOUR

After the first shoot I did and after the experiments I made using mixed media, I decided that using mixed media wasn't for me and that I didn't feel it would be very practical for me to produce a final product made entirely of mixed media photographs. Because of this I decided to go down the route of creating texture and layers within the photograph instead of after the photograph has been taken. I still used inspiration from the I-D editorial I found, but wanted to take my own spin on things and not just 'respond' to the images. I decided to do another photo-shoot to experiment with creating texture within the photograph. Because this was another experiment there was no real story to the photographs.

To create the texture I again decided to use cellophane, this time I used the polka dot roll I had purchased but never used in the previous photo-shoot. I really like how the plastic looks in my previous images so I decided that I wanted to keep the theme of cellophane and texture going. I used a female model this time round so that my shoots don't look all too similar and boring. I also wanted to do something different with the aesthetics of the shoot and add more colour into the images. Instead of doing this through the styling of the model I decided that I wanted to experiment with colour gel lighting to create a more in-depth, interesting looking image.

The styling of the model was relatively simple, similar to my previous shoot, however looking back I think I could have been a bit more experimental with the styling of the model to make the images even more interesting. Even though there wasn't much styling of the model, I still wanted the images to look fashion-based, because my project is about fashion photography. I got the model to pose and instructed how I wanted her to look, so that she didn't look too boring and still. I also achieved a sense of movement with using slow shutter speed, which really works with colour gel lighting.

I wrapped the cellophane around the model's shoulders at first, but after a few shots decided that this wasn't working very well. I took a moment to re-drape the cellophane and really play around with the lighting. I then ended up wrapping the cellophane around the model's head and tried to cover her face with it. To achieve the lighting I used coloured plastic bags over the top of the lights, which worked well as a temporary cheap alternative to purchasing rolls of coloured cellophane. I also used a yellow acrylic tile and placed it over the pop-up flash on my camera, which achieves a yellow overlay on the photograph.

The shoot took longer than expected because of my mistakes in the beginning, but the model was patient and fun to work with as she is a close friend of mine and also one of my favourite models to use in my photographs. This shoot was also my first time working with colour gel lighting as usually, when trying to achieve coloured light, I used a coloured lightbulb. I'm very pleased with the results of the shoot and the aesthetics of the photographs I think are really beautiful.

DEVELOPMENT STAGE: EXPERIMENTING WITH PHOTOS (PHYSICAL

For the physical versions of creating a mixed media photograph, I bought a range of materials to work with, such as marker pens, paint, sponge paint brushes, embroidery thread, fabric tape, cellophane, foam and plastic bags. I didn't get to use all of these materials, but I did use enough to do a successful experiment over the week and to decide where I wanted to go from there.

I started by printing out a contact sheet of multiple of the same image that I wanted to work over that I could do some kind of 'plans' with. I printed around 24 images with six on each page to work with. For these 'plan' experiments I used the marker pens that I bought and decided to just have fun and let loose with the experimentation, as when I did the digital versions I was more conservative and selective about how the images looked, so I didn't get to produce a huge variety of interesting experiments. I used bright colours and bold lines and just did  whatever I felt would look interesting. For some I used a ruler with the marker pen to create straight lines, for some I used dotted lines, some geometric and complicated, etc. For one image I took inspiration from the Klimt paintings on my concept board, and created yellow lines with black circles over the top. 

I chose some that I thought were successful and decided to play with embroidery on top of the photos. I used thick embroidery thread so that I could get the experiment done quite quickly but still so that they'd look nice and thick and bold. I decided to use the triangle shape and the two rectangle shapes as I felt they were simple yet effective. I first drew out the plan of the images and then punctured holes with a thick embroidery needle where I would feed the thread through. Because of the paper I printed the photos on, embroidering the photograph was quite difficult and often ripped the paper. 

I feel that the triangle experiment was a lot more successful than the rectangles. This is probably because when I was producing the two experiments I took a much longer time to do the triangle shape. I'm not sure why this is, as I seemed to finish the rectangles naturally without rushing. I think it's because the triangle's embroidery pattern is at an angle and is consistent with where I placed the punctures, whereas the rectangles seem as if there's no real flow or consistency to the pattern of the embroidery.

If I was to do this experiment again I would print the photograph on thicker paper so that the finish would be cleaner and more successful, and I would make sure that the thread was flowing in a consistent and even manner so that I can avoid what happened to the rectangle shapes.

Process of embroidering photos

Final images

Paint experiments

DEVELOPMENT STAGE: EXPERIMENTING WITH PHOTOS (DIGITAL)

After doing my first photo-shoot of the project, I started to experiment with mixed media as planned. I started off with digital collage and painting to work over the photos. I used inspiration from all the mixed media artists I had researched, but not as a 'response'. I produced around 30 digital experiments just by using Photoshop to create these digital multi-media photographs. I used Photoshop experiments prior to this shoot to influence my work because I had already experimented and decided what worked and what didn't, but I still also experimented with new types of layering.

I used a variety of techniques, such as paint strokes using the paint tool brush on Photoshop, playing with the opacity of the brush and the brush type to create brush strokes that look like physical paint. I had also previously played around with this when I did my first Photoshop experiments on the images of the gallery visit I went on. I used the rectangle tool for some images to create a solid colour over the photo and then play with the opacity and the layer masking. 

Some issues I came across with using the paint tool was that the edits over the photos began to look like the main image rather than an image that had been worked upon with multi-media, I solved this by layering the images with paint strokes and other techniques such as using shapes and changing their opacity so that they didn't look too dark and out of place, although looking back I think that things looking out of place on the image might reinforce the mixed media aesthetic and could work well.

The next technique I played with was using the past experiments with the photocopier/scanner with the pins and woodchips. I placed the image over my photograph and played around with the opacity and layer effects. I really like one of the effects I created with the scanned image of  the pins which I made black and white, because it blended with the background and I feel the placement of the picture was successful in the way that it sits with my photograph. I also like the masking tape image coming through because it gives the photo a scrap-book like feel. 

I also did this with scans of some polka dot cellophane that I bought to use in the photo-shoot and then layered the scan over the top of the image that I had already used the rectangle and overlay effects over.  I then placed the scans of the cellophane carefully over the photo and experimented with the effects, I eventually settled with an effect that really brought out the texture of the cellophane in the original photograph. What I would do differently in the future is maybe be a bit more adventerous and not be afraid to make an image look 'ugly' when just experimenting. I also would take more screenshots to show my development, which is luckily what I did when doing physical mixed media pieces after learning from my mistakes with digital. 

DEVELOPMENT STAGE: SHOOT 1

I used all the inspiration images that I gathered to decide on how I would construct this experimental shoot. I wanted a plain white background and a plain model, so that when it came to editing and using mixed media it wouldn't look too over the top and confusing, and so that the attention would be on my mixed media experiments. I chose a male model to use as I feel that I always use a female model and I wanted to be more experimental with my shoots for this project. I had already gathered materials for the shoot when I found rolls of cellophane from the shop Tiger, so all I really had to organize was the location of the shoot and the lighting.

I wanted the location to be a plain studio setting or at least against a white wall. I did leave this aspect to the last minute as the shoot was being held in my model's house and conveniently he had a white wall I could make him stand in front of, but the lighting was only natural lighting because I hadn't had any access to lamps. This was something I should have thought about and something I will definitely avoid in the future when doing a shoot towards the final production. Because the styling was only limited to the cellophane being wrapped around as a garment I only really had head shots of the model, but I thought this didn't matter too much as the photo-shoot was only an experiment so that I could work over the images and decide what worked and what didn't, but when I begin to work toward my final product I will vary the shots and angles of my photography.

It was difficult to style with the plastic as it was only on a roll and hard to pin into the shape of a garment, so instead I wrapped it around the model's neck like a collar or a neck accessory. The plastic did wrinkle in the way I wanted it to and I liked the way the light bounced off of the material as it created the texture I had hoped for. I had to pin the plastic around the model so he found it quite hard to move, which is probably why there isn't a variation of shots from this shooting session. I kept the model how he was already but styled him with plastic and no top so that the texture of the plastic wasn't interrupted by clothing underneath and so that the material acted as the garment.

It took a while to get the model to take it seriously, but eventually I was instructing him on how to pose to that I could get the right compostions to work over but I still wanted them to look like fashion images. I took around 70 photographs in total and I tried some with some yellow acrylic that I use over the flash of the camera to change the colour of the photographs, but I decided that this didn't work with the general theme of the shoot, even though it would work with the theme of colour and emotion. I kept the shoot simple and clean but I still got good and interesting shots on their own without the workings over the top or the layers, which is what I wanted from the shoot.

All in all I feel the shoot went well, but it definitely wasn't good enough quality to take into my final images. I do however really like the cellophane use, so I will definitely use this again in my second shoot and in future shoots.