Today I had a test shoot with the Elinchrom Quadra portable lighting kit that we had the workshop on with Rick Kelly and Simon Weldon a few weeks a go. I set it up in the atrium of the Richard Steinitz building at the university. I set it up in front of a huge open window that was letting in a lot of natural light, I waited for people to pass by and asked if they would mind if I was to take a portrait of them. I faced some issues with the kit, my images to start with were too unexposed so I adjusting the power of the lighting to which it then became to over exposed on one side. The issue here was that with this kit the lights aren’t adjustable separately unlike the lights you would use in a studio. If you were to adjust the lights it would adjust both. This is something that was mentioned in the workshop and to solve this would be to move the lights around, so this I tried and it worked.

Another issue I faced was the time of day, and the natural light coming from outside which was also effected by the weather. I tested this kit out on a very miserable, dull and rainy day and it was late on in the afternoon there fore it was beginning to get dark anyway. This effected the lighting of the background, the background became dull and dark. All though this helped my voluntary models stand out from the background this wouldn’t be an ideal situation if I needed the background to be exposed and in view. In this case I could have used one light on the model and one light on the background, however I didn’t have chance to explore this as there was no more volunteers about.

Despite the issues that came up the lighting test was a good experience and a good test. The lighting helped highlight all the details of the models face and clothing which is a key factor in Fashion photography. It helped raise the quality of the image and is definitely a tool that I will use again when shooting.

Today we had a Peer Review session with Gregg. We each took in turns to present some work we had recently done and try to give each other some feedback and guidance. I presented my work I had done before Christmas of the model poised on the floor and the orangey/yellow over colour over cast from the Sainsbury’s carrier bag. All though feeling lost about my work and confused as to where I am heading, facing a huge wall of “creative block” syndrome Gregg helped me restore a little direction and faith. It was brought to my attention that my work has a very retro feel to it, it was compared to Fashion and Editorial work that was produced on the 60’s – 90’s and I came away with some photographers to have a look at and research in to for some inspiration and a push to get back in to the flow of shooting. An all round positive Peer Review today.

Today I attended a location lighting workshop with Rick Kelly and Simon Weldon. Together they demonstrated how to use the Elinchrom Quadra Kit – 8 that is available to hire out from the University. The kit consists of 2 x 400w flash heads on stands that connect to a portable Quadra PowerPoint where you can adjust light settings and power as well as which light you wish to be dominant etc.

We began by using the kit to shoot portraits at an inside location with available natural light from the sun shining through the big windows, as well as the secondary light coming from the artificial lights inside the building. These are factors than can either be a benefit or a negative, depending on how you use them. Rick and Simon began by showing us how to set the lighting up and then moved on to taking a portrait and showing us how to change the lighting and what we can do if we need to adjust the light. We then moved on to shooting outside going through the same process and looking at how the sun can massively influence the image.

Today’s workshop was really helpful, I intend to hire this kit out and try it out for myself as it will be a massive help in progressing my work for the Final Major Project.

Today I printed my completed dissertation, Fashion Models, Body Image and the Promotion of Eating Disorders in the Fashion Industry. In my dissertation I explored the idea that the Fashion Industry plays a role in promoting eating disorders. Many people and Fashion fans are aware that eating disorders are very common amongst models with cases of models dying due to malnourishment, I want to explore why this is happening and if there are any causes as such. Was a very interesting topic to research, I learnt a lot about the fashion industry.

My dissertation is submitted and awaiting marking. Nervous but excited is the explanation of how I feel today. I also feel like I’ve accomplished something huge, a big milestone in my university journey and I am very proud of myself. Dissertation, Check✔

As a break from all the had work we had been doing my University took a trop to Amsterdam to visit some of the exhibitions they had displaying at the time. One of theses exhibitions and one of the most memorable was the Foam Museum and Foam next door which was presenting the new Foam Talent Exhibition 2019 which featured the work from new generations and upcoming artists of contemporary such as Maisie Cousins and Daniel Shea.

For my second Interim Exhibition I chose to use to print an image from my most recent shoot. I printed at A2 and on gloss paper. Once the image was up it began to show that the paper choice was probably not the most suitable, it was reflecting the light too much and was giving of a glare that was quite distracting. I think that matte would possibly have been a better choice and I will take that in to mind for when I next print.

The Exhibition was also a chance to do a Peer – Review session. We each looked around everyone’s images and made notes of any suggestions. The paper type was mentioned a few times, it was also suggested that I do some retouching, I don’t retouch my images often but it’s something I need to try and get in to the habit of doing. It was also mentioned that the image is more portraiture, it gives of the impression that it’s maybe a personal project on the subject rather than it being a Fashion photograph like I was aiming for.

Over the last few weeks I have struggled with a creative block, I was struggling to get models and couldn’t come up with anything work. After becoming frustrated with my creative block I called upon a friend who is a fashion student at the same University as me and we conducted a spontaneous shoot to try and get some ideas flowing. For this shoot I used my own Canon 600D and Yongnuo Speedlite III, we decided to shoot inside as the weather was bad outside which instantly limited our light source. I let her pick out an outfit and we got to work. At first we were shooting with her positioned on the bed as she had a blanket and cushions that matched the outfit. However, she was sinking in to the bed and it didn’t look right. I also noticed that the Speedlite was creating a rabbit in the headlights kind of look and the light was too harsh in the models face. Due to lack of lighting I couldn’t rotate the flash like I had done before and I also didn’t have any diffusers so I tried tying a white carrier bag over the flash to act as a diffuser. This worked really well in softening the light and it also triggered my next idea. I decided to use an orange carrier bag to tie over the flash to create an orangey sepia type effect that matched the models top and the blanket. From here we just shot her in different positions and it started to work. This triggered a realisation that i don’t need a big idea to start with, I just need to shoot and the ideas will come. That way I’m getting practice so when I want to shoot with a specific result in mind I know what I’m doing.

In order to move my work up a level I thought it was key that i keep up to date with recent work in the industry. Hopefully by doing this my creative mind and knowledge of what the industry is expecting stays fresh. Vogue magazine releases an edition every month and the university library provides them all. The work in these magazines are of some of the best, it’s going to be a long haul before I even get anywhere near this standard but practice makes perfect and that’s what I’ve got to do.

From researching in to Elaine Constantine I came across two photographers who have a very similar style to Elaine. These photographers are Allyssa Heuze and Gemma Booth.

Heuze did a project titled Pop. This work has the “more in the world” feel about it that I mentioned about Constantine’s work. The quality and techniques of Fashion photography are there but she has also brought in a fun and exciting side, Scenes that show aspects of real life that have a happy glow about them. This swerving away from the conventional somewhat serious line of Fashion work that has come to be very common.

After a one to one with my photography tutor following the first interim exhibition we decided that now I could do the basic catalogue style fashion shoot and that I had figured out the issue with my own camera and lighting and how much difference was made when changing what equipment I used that it was time for me to start bringing a creative side in to my Fashion photoshoots. My tutor suggested I look at a photographer called Elaine Constantine, from this I fell in love with her work. Her work is fun and cheerful and what i would describe as “More in with the world”.From researching in to Elaine Constantine i came across two photographers who have a very similar style to Elaine. This photographers are Allyssa Heuze and Gemma Booth. Heuze did a project titled Pop. This work has the “more in the world” feel about it that i mentioned about Constantine’s work. The quality and techniques of Fashion photography are there but she has also brought in a fun and exciting side, Scenes that show aspects of real life that have a happy glow about them. This swerving away from the conventional somewhat serious line of Fashion work that has come to be very common.