Location Vs Studio...

In a recent meeting my my personal tutor, he got me thinking about locations for my shoots. I do like the idea of shooting this concept out on location but I wouldn't know where to start when thinking of the locations because it would really have to fit the clothing and ideas of the shoot in order for it to work. However in the studio, I can focus my attention more on the lighting and making sure the clothes are lit well enough as well as giving a modd of a dominating animal. I feel that if I was to do this shoot out on location, I would be worried to much about getting the correct location and not putting my effort into what I believe is mroe important and that is the clothing and representing the manerisms of animals.

For this shoot, I have decided to use the studio, purely on the basis of that I think the clothes will be the main element in the images and there will be no distractions in the background of the images. I will see how this shoot goes first before I start to think about maybe moving the shoot out on location. It may be good to see this variation from studio to location and see which works best for the concept.

Clothes Chosen...

Here are the clothes that I had purchased for the shoot. Some of the clothes is borrowed from friends etc that I knew wouldn't mind me borrowing. I have layed the clothes out on the white floor in the studio so I can show the clothes before being worn by my model.

Shoes For all Shoes

Black Heels - Schuh £60 - Already Mine

Outfit 1 - Snake

Snake Skin Blouse - £38 Topshop
Black Bra - £25 Ann Summers
Cream Jodphurs - Borrowed

Outfit 2 - Bear

Black Bra - £25 Ann Summers
Fur Coat - £90 River Island/Borrowed



Outfit 3 - Snake 2

Black Bra - £25 Ann Summers
Snake Leggins - £20 Topshop
Brown Belt - £3 Primark

Outfit 4 - Leopard

Leopard Print Top - £30 Topshop/Already Mine
Cream Shorts - £28 Miss Selfridge

Sourcing Clothes...

When thinking about sourcing the clothes I wanted I really had to think about the style I was going for. The animal Prints I really wanted were Tiger, Snake and some sort of Fur that would represent a Bear some way. I went into Preston town centre and used ideas from another photographer Martha Birks and also my Friend Clare Ryan from the Fashion and Brand Promotion course. I used clare to help me come up with ideas and put items together to get the right style I was going for.

I tried shops such as Topshop, River Island for the main Items, alongside Primark and charity shops for the little things that I wouldnt be able to get in larger marketing shops.

I knew I would be spending a lot for the styling of this shoot therefore I decided to pay for all of the items and take them back at a later date to get my money back.

Styling...

I will be doing the styling for this shoot, I am not very good at styling to begin with therefore I wanted to use a stylist from the Fashion promotion with styling degree. However, I wasn't able to get a stylist at such short notice, I had already booked the studio for my shoot and thereofre had to get womebody who was willing to work in a short time and this wasnt possible. If I am to do this shoot again, which I think I will because I really like the idea and concpet for this shoot and would probably want to develop it, I will try to use a stylist to push my ideas further.

As I said before, I'm not exactly amazing at styling but I do have a passion for fashion and on some level know what is already out there in terms of collections by designers, so I think I will be ok for the styling on this shoot. Wish me luck!!!

Chosen Model...

Here is my chosen model that I have recently found.

Name - Chinyere Stapleton

Age - 20

Dress Size - 8

Occupation - Student, Ba (Hons) Business, UCLan

This is just a simple picture of my model to show what she looks like, her size and features and hair. She also has very very very long dreads on her head that she ties up and covers up on a dily basis. I think for my shoot and depending on the clothes I will try a few images with her hair covered and a few with the dreads down. They may suit the images better with her hair down. I am happy with the model I have chosen for the shoot, she is exactly what I was looking for and is very comfortable in front of the camera. Lets hope the images will show this.

Model Type...

I have been thinking about this for a very long time now and I didnt really know were to start looking for a model and what I wanted my model to look like. After looking around and scouting for models, I knew that I wanted a model who was dark skinned only because I think that the clothes and overall style of the shoot would look a lot more effective. I also wanted somebody who was tall, slim and who was comfortable in front of the camera as they would have to be able to take direction quite easily.

I will continue to look for a model for my shoot.

Lighting and Technical Aspects...

The lighting aspects of this shoot is very important in order to show the clothes in the best way, and in order to gain the best out of my model and clothes, I will be relying heavily on my technical skills. I am not amazing at the technical aspects of photography but I do believe I am getting better at understanding what looks good and how to achieve what I want. There are different lighting techniques I want to use for the different styles of clothing but all of the images will be taken on a black background so that my model can stand out from the background. When setting up in the studio on the day, I will be able to work out what lighting works best for the clothing before my model arrives and I will document this when showing the images on here later on. I will however be using a Canon 5D Mark 2 for these images in order to get the best quality images.