When initially thinking about this project, I was quite excited about getting into planning my images of incorporating animals into my fashion images. I had 4 initial ideas for my open brief, which were the following; Animals incorporated with models, Models being treated as Animals, Animals being represented through Model’s clothing, Animals being represented through Make-up and Hair. I created a lot of research on each of these 4 themes, using other photographers work and my own research on animal characteristics, as a way of broadening my knowledge on the theme that will therefore lead to my images having more meaning and depth to them.
Once I had gathered enough research on my theme, I started to pursue my first shoot which incorporated animals into the images. I decided to use my friend and fellow photographer, Rebecca Aubrey as the animal I was using was her horse. In my opinion, I would have preferred to use a different model (a professional) compared to Becky in order to make the images more affective The main reason I chose to use Becky was because I wanted her horse to be comfortable and at ease so that I would get the best out of him. I did all of the styling myself and in reflection I think I should have collaborated with a stylist in order to get the best out of this shoot. I decided to destaurate the images to drain some of the bold colour and I think this gave a sort of film aesthetic to my images. If I was to create this shoot again, I would use a different model as I did like the idea of incorporating animals in the shots but overall, it was a lot harder than I thought it would be and therefore I decided to move onto the next sub-theme within my Animals brief.
When pursuing my next idea, I wanted to try and use models and clothing in the studio with the correct lighting to try and represent an animal. I started to research into animals and what connotations come from certain animals such as Tiger, Leopard or Bear. Each of these animals is very domineering and I wanted to try and show this through certain garments. My original model would have been very good for this shoot however, I did have difficulties on the day of my shoot were my model failed to show. I therefore had to use Becky again as she was assisting me at the time and fortunately fit into the clothing. The shoot went very well considering the initial problems and I was able to gain the correct lighting set-up that I wanted and the styling of the clothing was very successful. Once I had edited the images, I began to really see the potential in them, my model Becky works very well in front of the camera and the overall aesthetic of the shots instantly gained my attention. Therefore I decided to shoot again and search for another model. I booked out the studio again and used the same style of clothing; however, I wanted my images to be more successful than last time. In order to do this, I needed to use professionals in the preparation of the shoot. I collaborated with a MUA and with my new choice of model; it was a lot more affective. The MUA created a style that made my models eyes pop in the images and this worked to my advantage as she started to represent the animals I wanted. Overall this shoot was a lot more successful because I was more in depth with the range of posing and even the work of the MUA made a great difference.
In reflection of this shoot, I do believe that collaborating with MUA is very effective, she was able to create a mood just simply with the colours of eyeshadow, I do also like the fact I chose to create both of the shoots in the studio. I did contemplate creating this shoot out on location but within a studio, I could control the lighting to create a dark and mysterious atmosphere that I would have found hard to do on location. The lighting is also exactly as I’d planned before the shoots therefore I am very happy, technically. The dark black background created by the lighting forces my models to stand out from the images.
As I had to re-create my second shoot with a new model and a lot of planning was taken to arrange this, I realised that I was coming to the end of the assignment. Therefore I didn’t have time to carry out the other two ideas that I originally planned to do and stated in my Statement of Intent. I was giving myself a lot of work to do when I initially planned my ideas and I was hoping to complete them all, however due to complications, I was unsuccessful. If I had more time and maybe in other projects, I will be able to complete my ideas, but unfortunately for this project, I have only completed two.
When deciding on my final images and looking through my final two shoots, I came to the conclusion that some shots from my first shoot of Becky in the clothing where stronger than those of my 2nd model Danniella. They had very different looks and I couldn’t decide on a certain shoot to finalise on, therefore I have collaborated both of the shoots and chose the strongest images from each. I have 3 images from the 1st shoot and 2 images from my second shoot. I arranged them in an order which will be shown in the prints and on Disc that I think shows a strong link and connection to each other. I have edited the images the best that I could to professional magazine standard and printed them to A3 specifications. My A3 prints were quite expensive as I wanted to get the best quality print I could and I think it has proved a good idea as my models stand out very well and the colours in the image are very striking.
I have also created a website using ‘Carbonmade.com’, I looked into creating a website a few months back and found that Carbon Made was the best site for price, quality and professional standard. My website address has been stated on my blog and also on the cover sheet of this Evaluation. I have also placed other images from other assignments on this website to show my work off to the best I could.
Overall, after looking back over this project, I have realised that I may have spent too much time planning both of the two final shoots which incorporated the clothing. If I was to re-do this whole assignment again, I would concentrate on creating the other two ideas that I had at the beginning of my project, so that I would have more variation than I do have at the end of this project. I have also realised that my blog and research is a lot stronger than my actual images but I am working on improving my concept building and applying it to my shoots. I have learnt a lot from this project and hopefully it will help me when pursuing more projects in the future.
