Inside, Outside & In-between.

Exam Prep

Paige Anthony

My Pinterest Of Initial Ideas in response to the brief.

http://pinterest.com/paigenanthony/inside-outside-inbetween/

Mood board of Ideas.

Idea 1 – Street Style

Artist Analysis – Yvan Rodic Yvan Rodic is a famous world wide street style photographer who also goes by the name Face Hunter. His work is renowned in the fashion/blogger industry and has photographed at many of the famous fashion shows around the globe. His photographs are aesthetically pleasing as they capture unique and weird fashion trends on people, that may inspire others in their fashion choices. The photographs are in a natural environment based in day to day life demonstrating that these are real people and not models posing for a shoot. The photographs use quite distracting backgrounds sometimes, but always draw back to the person as the center of attention. The focus of the shot is on the person and so the composition is quite simple in order to draw attention to them. The photos don’t appear to be edited at all, and are quite simple shots but this may be because he captures so many images on a day to day basis. Rodic’s photographs have inspired me to take my own street style photo’s as I think they are a successful way to capture the interesting patterns and colours in clothes and how clothes make a person. I also think Street Style photography will be a successful way to capture the theme Inside, Outside and Inbetween as the photos will be of people who are on the outside of society as they steer away from the norm in what they wear. It will give me a chance to become more confident in my photography by approaching strangers and asking to capture images of them. The influence behind the images is definitely fashion and new trends that are on the street that could inspire designers, and so I will look for people who are standing out from the crowd and look different. I will also try and use different compositions to make the photos more interesting and not all the same throughout the set. It is important for me to capture the craziest outfits that demonstrate the outside of fashion conventions.

Initial Set Of Photographs

First Developments

Artist Analysis-Barbara Kruger The message the photographer could be trying to achieve in this photo could be one of humor or irony. The text layered onto the images contrasts hugely with the subjects of the photos. The models are dressed in very little, and the text ‘innocent’ is referring to the opposite of what they appear to be. However this may be a misconception by the audience, perhaps they are innocent and the photo has a deeper meaning or symbolism to it, in that the girls could be dressed like that against their will and perhaps they are in fact innocent. I also like the contrast of the grainy black and white background against the bold red text, which makes the writing really stand out amongst the photograph. This photographs has inspired me in my work, in that I would like to attempt layering text over my photographs to further support my imagery and them being on the outside of society in what they wear. The text that I will use will be famous quotes from designers and people in fashion that in my opinion sum up what it is like to be these people. I also might try to edit my photos further by perhaps experimenting on photo shop with merging them and blurring and other techniques depending on what looks like. From this photo I know that it is important that any text I use must be bold and stand out against my bright backgrounds as they are very colourful unlike this image by Barbara.

Second Developments

Evaluation of First Idea My initial photographs used quite simple composition in a portrait style to capture the essence of the street style photography. Yvan Rodic really inspired me in my photographs and so I had a solid idea of what I wanted to achieve in the photos. I think that for an initial set in this style they are quite strong and have a good technical quality. When I showed these photos to a focus group to get some opinions, they all said that the background’s were quite boring and plain and so I decided to draw in my own backgrounds in bright pens to reflect the theme that I was going for. I wanted the backgrounds to make the subject stand out and be bold like fashion is. I then decided on adding quotes as a simple but effective way to further broadcast how important it is to stand out amongst the crowd. The symbolism of these photos is all about being yourself. I wanted to create a set of photographs that the audience would look at and be inspired by the bright colours and vivid fashion choices. The symbolism of being on the outside of society through your fashion choices as you break the norm but you are being yourself! This set allowed me to push my creative boundaries as I explored different ways of developing photographs on the computer and by hand and then combining the two together. I think that this hands on approach allowed me to do directly what I wanted as a photographer and expand my use of colours and hue and saturation in the editing process. This set also gave me a lot more confidence to go up and approach people and ask to take their photos and so I think that I have really benefited from this set of photos. If I had more time I would’ve firstly liked to have expanded and done a few more sets of photographs and edited them alongside the ones that I did. Also, I would like to have captured some slightly different street style looks in different ways and varying my composition more to create a more interesting set of photographs. Next I would have maybe experimented with hand writing quotes onto the photos by using projector paper and maybe even got a few original quotes from the people I took photo’s of. The artists inspired me in this set as Rodic helped me to recognise and produce conventionally correct Street style photographs which was an extremely important starting stance for the set to be successful. It also helped me to realise that not much editing was needed on the original photos as they had to look natural and unenhanced and only using direct sunlight and no false lighting. Kruger influenced me to try different bold styles of writing on my photos to add even more texture and structure to the photographs in a different way from the block colours that were already featured on the photos. Writing on photographs is something I have never done before and so it was good to try something new, and try to merge the words successfully in with the photographs along with editing them slightly further if needed. I think that this set has been quite successful as I have kept within the exam title whilst also taking a quite unique set of photos that focus on the title as more of a guidance to be developed upon. They are successful because I used the typical street style conventions and then added my own unique twist to them by changing the background and developing them further in the editing process which is not something that a lot of street photographers do and therefore I am pushing the boundaries to create something new and exciting within the genre.

Second Idea – Human Contact

Artist Analysis- Tamara Lichtenstein

This photo demonstrates teenage love and the way they interact. The body contact is a strong form of imagery in this photo and I would like to shoot a couple to re create a form of bodily contact to demonstrate the emotions inside as well as the space in between them. This photo is very bright and colourful however I would like mine to be more powerful and like in this photo the woman is in control, I would like to portray the same feminist attitude in my photos. This photographs has inspired me in my work, because I have never tried to shoot a couple before and so it will be interesting to work on poses that will create some strong shots. I would like mine to be Fashion based like this photograph as my strong point is Fashion. I want to capture the sexual tension between the couple to engage and create an impact on the viewer and make them wonder what each subject is thinking. I will shoot using studio lighting and in a studio as I think that it will create a simple backdrop with shadows that will allow me to explore the topic thoroughly with no distractions from the outside area. I will also use portrait composition on all my photos as I think this will capture the bodies better.

Initial Set of Photographs

Artist Analysis - Unknown

This photo shows an X-ray of someone’s foot. I thought this photo would be something different to try out to my photographs. I will try to create something similar by overlaying an image on photo shop and blending it into the skin. This photo is very simple however it really strongly demonstrates the inside aspect of the exam topic as it is inside the body. This photographs has inspired me in my work, because it will help me expand my photo shop skills and learn more about overlaying different images to create a new final image. This process could be something that I expand and use further in the actual exam to create some new more graphic images. This photo is simple in black and white like mine are and so I think that applying it and blending it into the other images will look quite different and really intrigue the audience to look closer.

Developmental Photos

Second Developmental Photos

Evaluation of Second Idea My initial photographs were quite dramatic in showing the connection between two teenagers emotionally connecting to the theme. I wanted to create powerful images portraying the female dominance and I think I was successful at doing this. The photos were inspired by a fashion photo but I think my set changed up the connection and turned out quite different from the artist that I looked at. I think the developed photos confirmed the connection to the theme even further and then the third just a little bit more, but all for different reasons. The first set is the emotion (inside and between) two people share, the second set demonstrated the inside of the body and the overlaying of emotional book pages and words further supported the emotion and in-between connections. The symbolism of these photos is about being attached to someone emotionally and how we are all humans and feel emotions for each other. I feel this set is quite a strong one and could be interpreted in many different ways depending on that particular person who is viewing the photos. I am pleased with this set. This set allowed me to push my creative boundaries as I explored editing more on a computer base with this and it has really impacted my decision on what to do during the exam time. I have decided to do some more graphic photographs during the exam due to my experimentations with the overlaying of the body in this set. I really like the dark feel that this set has and how the composition and lighting is quite simple and structured with very clean lines, but by overlaying I have added a lot more detail to the photographs. It has also allowed me to explore different ways that I can experiment with photos for future reference and how I could adapt the measures I learnt through doing this set to do other things in the future. The artists inspired me in this set as the unknown artist firstly gave me the solid idea of what to do to develop the photos in a really unique and interesting way, and I took a lot of inspiration from this and used the idea of x-ray in my photos when I developed them. Also, the first artist Chafetz helped me to think of a successful idea that connected to the theme in so many different ways. Although I did not use many of her ideas in my work regarding the colours, edit, background setting, I recognised the human connection would be a strong topic to focus my photos on. If I had more time in this set I probably would have identified with some more artists that use two humans as their subject in a more provocative way and how they portray the sexual tension, however I am quite pleased that I set up this whole shoot myself without looking at other photos that were more similar to mine as now I know I have developed a stronger sense for directing and styling a shoot, and getting some successful images at the end that I created alone with no help from magazines or the internet. I think that this set has been quite successful as I have made countless links to the subject of the exam in a successful set of photographs. The photos are bold and unique from what other people might have done, and I think that it was risky to try such imagery however it was worth it as the photos look really professional. I think the photos look as if they could appear in a fashion magazine and I am really pleased with this set of photographs.

Exam Outcomes

In the exam I planned to use a select number of photos that I took of a friend Nicole along with some nature photos I took and sourced off the internet to create my response to the theme. I chose to focus on portraying the different elements – fire, earth, air and water. From my exam prep I discovered new techniques to editing my photos in a more graphic manner and I wanted to use the exam time to create a small number of images that were edited to an extreme to demonstrate the nature of outside, and how we as humans become stuck in between the elements.

Exam Evaluation I started the exam project with a few ideas on what I wanted to achieve. My initial idea in response to the theme Outside, Inside and In-between was the idea of being on the outside of a society. To achieve this sub theme I decided to capture what I enjoy the most as a photographer – fashion photographs. I decided to take pictures of Street Style. This was an interesting concept as I haven’t experienced with capturing Strangers before and also as I took the photos at London Fashion Week, I wasn’t used to being surrounded by so many fashionable people. This helped me to evolve as a photographer as It gave me more confidence in just asking to take photos of strangers and make the theme I had chosen work. The other initial set of photographs were successful as they demonstrated the emotional relationships between males and females through fashion photography and also provide a strong link to the theme. I think that they were successful as I took a lot of inspiration from fashion sources in order to create a successful set.

I think that the initial photographs were of good quality as they were very sharp and clear as they were just simple portraits and didn’t need too much editing in order to improve them. I think that the photos were effective as they demonstrated the theme of being on the outside of society through fashion and linked strongly to the topic of the exam. I think my second initial set were also of a very good quality as I wanted them to be sharp and gritty with the black and white tones running throughout. If I was to improve any set I think it would be the first initial set as I would like to have been more experimental with the models and perhaps asked them to do different things like maybe walk, instead of just standing and posing for the camera.

I chose a completely different idea for my second set of photographs although I did still remain within the fashion photography concept. I really like the second idea as I feel it allowed me to be more creative and take a more direct approach in my photography right from the styling to the posing and everything else. I think that they were more successful as they were like something that you could find in a fashion magazine whereas the others were more just capturing people’s personal style. In the eight hour exam I decided to develop a completely different theme of capturing the elements. I think that this was a different way to relate to the theme and allowed me to explore a different type of photography that was more ethereal and fantasy based. To create these set of photos it involved me spending the whole time on the computer editing on photo shop to try and create a set of photos that were very dreamy yet still looked like they were realistic.

The photographers I used really inspired me however for the exam I took influence from some different photographers as my theme was varied from the original initial sets I created. The artists Rodic and Litchenstein really inspired me as they set the tone for my whole initial ideas. They inspired me in what type of photos to create aesthetically and what the techniques of each style of photography was. They really inspired me to create photographs that were engaging to an audience but with my own twist. In the exam I took influence from separate artists such as Brooke Shaden who is an ethereal photographer. Her work really inspired me on how to capture and edit in different ways to get fantasy based photographs.

I think I pushed my creative boundaries as I tried very detailed photo shop skills to improve my photographs and prepare me for the extreme editing that I had to undertake during the exam period. The experiments linked to my artists as I tried to recreate the effects that they used within there work. The experiments were all done on photo shop apart from one experimental technique. I decided to colour in my photos due to the response I had about the photographs from a focus group. I think that by getting the responses that the photographs were quite dull, it inspired me to try new techniques to create different outcomes. Also, by doing most of the other developments on Photo shop, it helped me to prep my skills and increase the level of them that I possess as a

photographer.

During the actual exam period I was based purely on the computer and I was quite pleased with how my outcomes came out mostly. I think that some were better than others as I spent more time on them and with the time limitation that I was facing, it was quite a struggle to produce a set that was all as successful as each other. I over estimated the time at the beginning and so my first edits took longer and therefore were stronger. If I had more time I know that I could improve the other photos that I am not so happy with to a better quality. The outcomes of my exam link to the photographer Brooke Shaden and I also took inspiration from my favorite photographer Rosie Hardy. These two photographers rely on the experimental and extreme photo editing that I under took in my exam and so they were the perfect people to be inspired by. I loved how they incorporated the elements and smoke and clouds into their photographs and I really wanted to capture this in to mine and move away from fashion photography slightly and try a different style as a photographer.

If I had more time on this prep project I would have perhaps tried another set that let me explore more photo shop skills and move away from fashion to try ethereal style photographs that would have helped me prepare better for the extensive editing process in the exam. I would have taken inspiration from Alex Stodden to create some beautiful imagery that could have inspired me further in the exam. If I had more time during the exam I would take a couple more hours on each photograph to improve the realistic qualities and make them better. The ones that I would particularly like to improve upon would be the fire photograph and the cloud ones. Also I would like to completely remake the photograph of the subject leaning on the tree as I am not happy with this photograph at all and would like to re do the photograph. However all in all I am quite happy with the results that I produced during the exam and I don’t think much more time would be needed to improve the photos.