Day 121: Exhibition Composition

Now I have decided on having the first 3 shoots in my exhibition I have started to experiment ways of displaying the pictures as I need to know what sizes to print them. I have also considered displaying pictures from my initial inspiration which was London Fashion Week as these pictures are very strong.

Day 120: Shoot 4 Finals

The final three pictures work well together and are strong photos. Sadly when viewing them beside the other shoots, I feel that they do not stand out as much as the others do. The pictures are lacking impact due to the background, as the majority of it it open space; sky and water. Based on this I have decided not to incorporate them in my display for the exhibition. I am pleased that I completed the fourth shoot as otherwise I would have never known if it was going to work or not.

Day 119: Shoot 4 Editing

When taking the pictures I thought they would turn out really strong but later in the editing stages I have realised they lack the same power and impact the other shoots have. It was only whilst editing when I noticed this as the background is not as strong in the editing technique I have used on the previous shoots. Even though I thought they were not as strong I decided to continue and finish editing them in the black and white style.

extra contrast

colour within sail

low angle not as effective

little saturation as buoy so bright

simple background

Above is an experimentation with the colour of the costume as I tried to add more impact by desaturating it and adding more contrast.

Day 118: Shoot 4

For the shoot today I continued the theme of the make up reflecting and complimenting the costume. I have used the stereotypical bright lipstick, inspiration from Barbie, in each shoot. To be able to shoot in the boatyard I had to go through many people to get permission, I started this process a week ago to allow time for mis-communication. I finally got permission from Falmouth Harbour Commissioners to shoot within the harbour on the terms that it is just me and my model. I found it really easy to shoot in the harbour as their were so many possibilities for posing and backdrops so hopefully the photos will be very successful.

Day 117: Costume 5

For shoot number 4 I wanted to create movement within my pictures similar to shoot 2 as I wanted a variety of styles within my shoots. The location which the costume was based on, a boatyard, meant i could take inspiration from the sails of boats to add movement to the garment. I kept the colour palette simple and complimentary to the white of the boats.

draping lots of material

experimenting in a sail shape

cut open buoy as a hat accessory

contrasting bright buoy

I took inspiration from Duchamp who took an ordinary article of life, placed it so that its useful significance disappeared under the new title and point of view and created a new thought for that object. When deciding what accessories I looked at the shapes of Oskar Schlemmer's costumes and found similarities between a costume and a buoy at sea. 

Day 116: Shoot 3 Finals

Day 115: Shoot 3 editing

As I had already decided to stay with the theme of making the model and costume pronounced in colour and desaturating the background it made it alot easier to edit the photos using Photoshop. 

On the other hand as the editing was made easier it seemed as if selecting the compositions was alot harder. I wanted to show the beauty of the location against the costume so found myself selecting lots of similarly framed shots instead of a variety of positions and locations around the hotel. 

I have also tried to keep to portrait photos as by coincidence the final images from the past shoots have been portrait and I want to keep them as a set of photographs.

I have noticed that the images from head on or at a high angle compliment the costume and its shape whereas from a low angle the shape loses its impact.

beams on angle

effective framing and effects

unusual crop, over exposed

half length adds variety

weak pose but shows location effectively

highly saturated photo

highly saturated

darkened, curves and contrast

effective use of lighting

tilted crop

effective use of lighting, saturation

background slightly desaturated

Day 114: Shoot 3

The shoot today was very successful as I believe I achieved the exact look I wanted from the costume, model and location. I had planned the schedule effectively aswell as the early morning meant that making the costume on my model was ready by 12 and after make up we did the journey to the location. 

The journey was one of the trickiest things as the costume was not fixed or sewn in a way that it would hold for a long time so we had to be careful not to ruin the outfit. 

I decided on using the colour pink, green and yellow for their vibrancy and neon effect which would make them stand out in pictures. I decided not to use any of the little embellishments I experimented with as I had a lightbulb moment and thought I would use them within the fringe of the wig.

I had a desire to use something as a hat for one of my shoots and have been brainstorming throughout the project, I finally decided on a Barbie car. This was going to be perfect for this shoot as I could personalise the car with colour to match the dress. These Bauhaus Barbie shoots are all about reinventing fashion using unusual materials and creating a striking image representing this.

Day 113: Costume 4

Taking inspiration from the location I have already selected, a run down hotel, I have sourced material to make the costume form. The material I selected represents the run down quality of the hotel and I plan on using spray paint to represent the vandalism of the graffiti. The photos below show my process of experimentation of materials.

canvas material

adding shape

I used the hanging baskets from costume 2 (which I am no longer using for a shoot) to add shape at the hips. One of Oskar Schlemmer's main focus was shape and I have included this in my pasts shoots and wanted to keep this as a continuous theme. The shape gave it structure and I believed it transformed the costume into something new and exciting.

I am unsure as to my colour palette for the spray paint on top as I would like to feature the Barbie Pink in at least one of my shoots so plan on incorporating it. It would work well as this shoot is all about transformation and how the graffiti has transformed the abandoned hotel, similarly the paint and colour transforms the costume with vibrancy and impact.

Day 112: Shoot 2 Finals