Shoot 12 - Emma/iPod-style adverts - Work Record

Plans for the shoot:
My plan for this shoot is to use the studio to take silhouette-type shots of my model, to allow me to create iPod/Apple-inspired adverts with background designs created by instruments I have photographed throughout the Unit. I will need to set up the studio so that the lighting comes from behind my model in order to create the darkened silhouette.

What I hope to achieve:
By conducting this shoot, I hope to effectively show the formal element of shape as the silhouettes will represent a variety of irregular shapes against the patterned backgrounds I will design using existing photos for my 'adverts'. I'm also going to use a variety of brushes, such as fire brushes to create detailed backgrounds and designs with the silhouettes. I feel like fire backgrounds will help to reflect the 'performance' section  of the topic brief as rock and roll artists are associated with setting things on fire, flames, fireworks etc.

What I actually achieved:
In the end I photographed my model in two different ways - First I used a dark background to make actually cutting around my model easier, allowing for slightly more intricate shapes as I had more space in the studio. After this, I then changed the setup of the studio so that the lighting was behind my model to allow me to actually capture a silhouette rather than changing my image into a silhouette.

What I am going to do next:
Now that I have conducting all 12 of my required shoots, I am going to spend the rest of my time on my outstanding contextual work and improving any of my physical work that I feel is not the best that I could have done.

Shoot 11 - CD Patterns - Work Record

Plans for the shoot:
My plan for the shoot is to cover my kitchen table with CDs so that the reflective sides are facing up, and I want to take a variety of shots at different angles to capture and represent different patterns. CDs make up a huge part of a musician's life as it is how they directly connect with the people who like their music. Musicians realistically need musical instruments also to help them create and produce a CD.

What I hope to achieve:
By turning some of the more colourful CDs the other way up, I hope to capture a series of different patterns which will also show and represent a variety of colours too. Hopefully, through some macro shots, I hope to also show the depth as I will have multiple CDs lined up, plus further away shots should hopefully show a nice repeated pattern.

What I actually achieved:
Honestly, the shoot was a lot harder than I anticipated as in a lot of the images you can see the roof of my conservatory plus the walls caught in the reflection from the CDs. However, after some editing, I feel that some of the images act as a good representation of both pattern and colour, plus reflection too in some of the photos.
Here are a few of my favourites from the shoot:

What I am going to do next:
I have one final shoot to conduct before the completion of my Unit 2. With this shoot I hope to recreate the iconic Apple adverts in the studio using a variety of different models acting out various performances.

Shoot 10 - Work Record - Guitar Plectrums

Plans for the shoot:
For this shoot I am going to need to go outside and find a textured surface that will contrast with the colours and texture of my guitar plectrums well. I have a collection of 10 guitar plectrums/picks, all either yellow, blue, black or clear and I am going to arrange them in various ways to experiment with patterns and colour.

What I hope to achieve:
With this shoot I hope to show what I have learnt about the formal elements since my completion of Unit 1 as I will mostly be focussing on texture, pattern, shape and colour with this shoot, linking it in with my chosen topic/theme of musical instruments and musicians.

What I actually achieved:
Although I was pleased with the outcome of some of the straight prints for this shoot, I wish I had have bought even more guitar plectrums to add to the collection to show a greater variety of colour and pattern. I feel like some of the images from this shoot, however, do represent the idea of natural music, and the hippie-genre/vibe associated with guitars, the field, grass etc.
Here are a few of my favourite shots from the shoot:

What I am going to do next:
I now only need to complete 2 more shoots before the end of my Unit 2, and I plan to shoot a) patterns created by a range of CDs and/or vinyl records, also showing colour and b) a studio shoot where I will re-create the iconic Apple/iPod adverts featuring a silhouette and a patterned or coloured background.

Shoot 9 - Work Record - Ukulele Shoot

Plans for the shoot:
This shoot is also going to make up part of my Media coursework, as I need a music-related image to use on the front cover of a magazine: www.laurenbarrettmedia.wordpress.com
My plan is to shoot my model in the studio using a ukulele and hippie/boho-inspired clothing and accessories to portray the themes and ideas associated with indie or folk music.

What I hope to achieve:
I hope to achieve a set of photos with a high quality so that I can also use it for the front cover of the magazine. I want the images to be a realistic representation of the genre of music, but to also experiment with different poses and shapes that I haven't used in any of my other portraiture work.

What I actually achieved:
I am really happy with the outcome of this shoot as I feel the images are an appropriate representation of the folk or indie genre. I also feel that I have learnt a lot about experimenting with different positions and poses in the studio too and it has also led to me conducting some interesting computer experiments. Here are a few of my favourite edited images from the shoot:

What I am going to do next:
Instead on conducting another shoot, I am going to use the upcoming week to continue with any outstanding contextual work and to also prepare for my 5 hour exam starting on Friday. My initial plan is to go to a local music store and shoot a variety of different musical instruments together.

Shoot 8 - Work Record - Violin Shoot

Plans for the shoot:
My plan for the shoot involves my model, a violin and a masquerade mask. I plan to portray the deep emotions associated with the violin, which I will hope will be shown through the concept of the mask, which I am using to represent the idea of the 'Phantom of the Opera'.

What I hope to achieve:
I hope to achieve two different styles of photo with this shoot: half of the shoot I plan to look at close-ups of just the face and the violin, primarily focussing on the mask. With the rest of the shoot I plan to take away the mask and experiment with how the body and the violin work together - getting my model to hold the violin in different ways, such as behind her back, across her front etc.

What I actually achieved:
The model I planned on using for this shoot wasn't available, so I had to use someone else, who was more than happy to do the shoot for me, expect she wasn't wearing dark clothes like I would have wanted, so the actual outcome of some of the photos didn't have the dark, moody feel I wanted them to have. However, I did also have some spare studio time where I photographed just the violin and the mask together, which I feel looked really effective and reflected the ideas I had planned for"

What I am going to do next:
Next I am going to begin to plan for my exam piece. Alongside this, I have a guitar shoot I want to plan for where I will use a model in a hippie-inspired shoot. I also have a ukulele hawaiian-themed shoot I want to plan for at some stage too.

Shoot 7 - Work Record - Katie Album Cover

Plans for the shoot:
I plan to use a friend as a model in the studio. I want to shoot the model posing with different faces and looking in different directions. I then plan to use these images to create my own album cover. All professional musician's will have a goal in life to release their own album, and the artwork for these albums can really help to persuade customers to buy the product, so they have to be interesting and eye catching.
What I hope to achieve:
I hope to achieve a set of photos which I can use in a repetition effect in which I will use to create my own album cover. I also hope that I will have some extra photos I can include to use for an album booklet design too.
What I actually achieved:

What I am going to do next:
With my upcoming shoots I am going to explore the genres associated with certain musical instruments. I have two shoots I can conduct very soon, involving a violin and a ukulele. With the violin, I associate it with darkness. power and drama, which is what I will look to portray in my shoot. With the ukulele, I associate it with fun, happiness and Hawaii, which is what I will look to use as a theme in that shoot.

Shoot 6 - Work Record - Forest/Piano Shoot

Plans for the shoot:

For this particular shoot I have been inspired by a specific image I found on the art community/website DeviantArt. In order to successfully shoot this idea I have, I need to draw out a piano to use in a similar fashion. As I want to photograph in various locations, I need to draw the piano onto paper in order for me to move it, unlike this photographer who drew the piano onto a wall using chalk. I also need to make sure that the piano I 'make' is quite big as it has to be visible in the photographs. I also need to plan the location for the shoot, and I intend on going to the forest again as I want to incorporate leaves into the composition.

What I hope to achieve:

I want to achieve some photos which reflect the instrument in a fun and quirky way, which is why I feel drawing the piano will look more effective rather than printing one off. I also hope that this becomes a 'stepping stone' on my way to achieving photos of people playing actual instruments.

What I actually achieved:
Although the outcome was quite different to what I had expected, I am still really happy with the results  as it allowed me to combine lots of different scenarios with my 'piano'. It was also an improvement on my last forest shoot as I had people with me to help with holding the piano in place for me.
Here are a few of my favourite photos from today:

What I am going to do next:
I am now happy that I have completed a lot of the location work that I initially wanted to do. I now want to start thinking about moving on to some studio work, where I would like to create my own album covers and music performances. 

Shoot 5 - Work Record - Songwriting/Forest Shoot

Plans for the shoot:

I initially planned to have a friend come in to model for me, where I wanted to paint keyboard keys up her arm and darken the rest of the image. However, my friend was ill and as I had no alternative who was willing to do this for me, I have decided to continue my 'songwriter' ideas in the forest. For what I have in mind, I will need to print off several sheets of sheet music which I will scrunch up to represent failed pieces of music/songs.

What I hope to achieve:

I plan to achieve images that show more of the theme 'destruction' - the more angrier, painful side a songwriter experiences when they are creating a new piece. It is a very stereotypical image for people to sit under trees in the forest and write and create new songs, so this justifies my choice of location.

What I actually achieved:

Overall, I wish I had had someone with me to shoot, as a lot of my shot ideas either featured hands (holding a pen to paper, scrunching the paper etc.) or feet (trampling on the paper, kicking leaves etc.), and obviously, it was hard to use myself as I had the camera. However, I am pleased with a few of the shots as I feel that the comparison between the paper and the dirt was a really strong idea. Here are a few of my favourites:

What I am going to do next:

I want to use a similar theme to this shoot but I am going to use the idea of an inspiring image, where I create a fake instrument, and photograph it in different places within the forest. 

Shoot 4 - Work Record - Guitar at Home Shoot

Plans for the shoot:
My plan for today's shoot is to use the guitar I have at home to capture different close-up components of the instrument.

What I hope to achieve:
I hope to achieve a set of photos that will reflect the detail and importance of all the different components of a particular instrument. I would also like to experiment with a photo-joiner technique on this particular subject as there is enough detail to re-construct the object in a creative way.

What I actually achieved:
I am quite happy with this shoot considering that it was completed at home where I don't necessarily have the sufficient equipment to achieve high-quality shots, whereas at college I could have used the studio to achieve better quality lighting. However, I am happy with my work now that it has all been edited as the colours and lighting can be changed to make the images look of a better quality. I am more happy with the close-up shots as the guitar fills the whole frame. Some of the others shots such as those of the whole guitar don't look as effective as I would have preferred to use a plain white backdrop rather than the carpet.

Here are a few of the edited shots from this shoot:

What I am going to do next:
I am hopefully going to complete a few last location shoots where I will re-assess my 'songwriter' work and hope to improve this. I hope to use the forest as a traditional, yet quirky backdrop to my work. I have also recently signed up to DeviantArt, as I wanted to be able to save some photos that I saw as inspirational. I have found one photo in particular that has inspired me for my forest shoot.

Shoot 3 - Work Record - Love & Lyrics

Plans for the shoot:

My plan for today's shoot is to explore the emotions a songwriter or musician will go through when they create a new song. Normally, the outcome of a new song is a really happy, and relieved emotion, but the process in building a new song can be quite stressful as the writer or musician struggles to find the perfect balance between music and lyrics. I am going to use sheet music for the main focus of my shoot and use different coloured marker pens to establish the different emotions. I am also planning on using this shoot for the basis of some of my print techniques.

What I hope to achieve:

Today I hope to achieve a set of photos that will deliver a message about the emotions and feelings that come with the responsibility of writing lyrics and music. I also hope to learn a little bit more about documentary photography - a style of photography that looks at taking pictures to document a specific event or lifestyle. I am hoping to get a slight insight into what it would be like to document a musician or songwriters' life in pictures.

What I actually achieved:

Here are a few of the photos I took from today's shoot:

- using lyrics inspired by Ellie Goulding.

My main theme that I followed with this particular shoot is that of love - the vast majority of songs to this day are about love, plus musicians and songwriters will find a strong love and connection with their songs once they are complete. I am pleased with the overall outcome for this shoot, but I am disappointed with the number of photos I actually shot, but this was due to the fact the weather is currently very cold and very windy - the papers would not stay still for the shoot! However, I feel that I have accomplished what I had hoped to do, and I also feel that I have gained more ideas for future shoots. 

What I am going to do next:
Other than further developing this particular shoot, I plan on putting more time and effort into organising shoots in the studio. So far I haven't done any studio work for this Unit and I feel I really should to get a variety of work for my final pieces. I am going to ensure that I find a willing model for the next upcoming weeks who I can use in the studio in order to 'stage' a musical performance. Ideally, I would like to use makeup and styling to re-create a famous, identifiable musician and play with creating promotionally work for the 'artist' such as a poster of CD cover.

Shoot 2 - Work Record - College Music Department

Plans for the shoot:

For today's shoot I hope to visit the College's Music Department to see if I can either shoot some of their instruments or even some of the students practising for a performance.

What I hope to achieve:

Ideally I would prefer to shoot the students practising for a performance as this otherwise will be hard for me to take pictures of in another environment - it would mean I would have to go to a real gig/concert/performance or stage my own using the studio. If not, with the photos of the instruments I hope to achieve a set of close-up detailed pictures of various instruments from interesting and unique angles to capture different compartments of the instrument itself.

What I actually achieved:

Here are a few of my favourite shots from today's shoot:

For today's lesson, I used the time to take a camera over to the College's Music Department, where I was given access to one of the studios which contained a keyboard, drum kit and the usual amplifiers and speakers. This shoot was particularly useful for me because not only did I get the opportunity to photograph instruments I wouldn't have been able to on an everyday shoot, but it also gave me the chance to improve my confidence when speaking to other people and building contacts/relationships with people who could become really useful for future shoots. Sadly, none of the music students were practising performances, so I will use upcoming studio sessions to stage music performances with simpler instruments. I now know that I am also welcome to go back at other points during the week to try and catch proper music students practising real performances. 

What I am going to do next:
I would like to take the idea of photographing instruments to a different environment. I know their are a few local music shops in Harlow which I feel I could obtain interesting photos from as they will have a wider variety of instruments available. I also feel that seeing instruments, such as guitars, displayed properly will hopefully create interesting patterns and designs in my images.

Shoot 1 - Work Record - Lyrics and Music

Plans for the shoot:

My plan for this shoot, as stated before in my target for today's lesson, is to use a collection of scrabble pieces to spell out song lyrics to form the main focus of my photos. Although the title of my topic is officially 'Musical Instruments and Musicians', my main argument is that in order to be a successful musician, you need to have meaningful lyrics, which is why I have chosen the theme of lyrics to include in my project.

With this shoot, I want to simply focus on one song/singer in particular, in order for me to experiment. Using too many singers/musicians and songs will possible confuse me, and I want to ensure that the technique is effective enough before I plan other shoots. Because the genre of music I like is mostly indie-music, I want to capture a real quirky, natural and rustic look to my images. For this shoot, I plan to use a lot of amateur tumblr photos as inspiration, using basic backdrops such as brick walls and the grass to contrast with the letters.

What I hope to achieve:

With this shoot, I hope to achieve a set of photos which reflect the natural and quite quirky look I am going for with this theme - something that will hopefully reflect the specific lyrics or even the artist. I also hope to achieve some more knowledge about this specific theme I have chosen to help me with future shoots.

What I actually achieved:

I really enjoyed today's shoot and had some real fun experimenting with some of the different backgrounds and settings I had planned. Here are a few of my favourite photos from today which have also been edited:

Lego House lyrics - Ed Sheeran

Lego House lyrics - Ed Sheeran

The artist/song-writer - Ed Sheeran

I personally feel that this shoot was quite successful considering that it was my first, and at times it was a bit experimental. I am really happy with the results, and I feel that these photos are going to become the 'stepping stones' to show the life of a musician - something of which I hope to show throughout this unit. I particularly like the use of colour in these photos and I think that the idea of using the scrabble pieces will be particularly effective in shoots in the future. However, I feel like I should have perhaps generalised the theme of this shoot a bit more instead of focussing just on the one artist and song. I could in the future prepare better by planning various other well-known quotes and musicians which would work well with the scrabble theme. The only other problem I encountered was that the natural lighting of the sun created a lot of shadows for the scrabble and the grass which interfered with the quality of my work. 

What I am going to do next:

At the moment, I am unsure as to what will do next time I shoot. However, I do have some ideas. I would like to carry forward this idea of using scrabble pieces, but incorporating people into the image to help show the basic life of a musician or singer - I want to show the process they go through to create songs and lyrics. I also have planned to do a shoot with my guitar, but I am unsure of whether I will do this in the studio, or getting creative and use the guitar as a prop during location work.

Developmental Shoot 3 Work Record - 07/12/12

Plans for the shoot –

My plans for the shoot are to go into the studio and use sweets in various ways to show emotions, and to just have fun!

I have bought a variety of sweets (and some jaffa cakes) in which I will be sticking them to someone's face and experimenting with different parts of the face, such as the lips and around the eyes. 

As well as sticking them to the face, I will beforehand get a variety of shots of the sweets on their own, arranging them in different ways such as in colour or size order. I will also be getting my model to hold the food objects in various ways. With this shoot I haven't as much planned the sort of shots I want to do - as it is quite an abstract, random shoot, I want the shots to be quite random and to have some fun with it!

What I hope to achieve –

With this shoot I hope to achieve almost two different collections - a more commercial selection of photos which would look similar to something used in a advertisement - simple, basic shots that clearly highlight what the objects are, and a more abstract selection of photos - these are the shots where I will be playing with the sweets, getting my model to hold and present them in various ways -- all whilst playing with emotions. 

What I actually achieved -

I have had such a fun time with this particular shoot as I found it quite easy as I could do whatever I wanted to, it didn't involve a lot of me having to take charge and tell my models what to do - this was only so for a set of particular shots I wanted which were quite easy to create with my model anyway. Because of technical problems, this developmental shoot took place in three different shoots as the first time I had run out of time in the studio, and the second time the camera had run out of battery; but I found that my best shots did come from my last shoot, as it gave me plenty of time to get the exact shots I needed. This shoot has also given me a lot to experiment with; I've used a lot of repetition techniques, selective colour and a lot of size manipulation. 

This is personally one of my favourite photos from my shoot - I think it looks really cute and would make a good piece for some advertisement. I also think that it fits in really well with my planned theme as 'love' is a really strong emotion.

This is probably my most favourite photo from my whole shoot as I love the different colours used in it and how bright and vivid they are. I also think that it is the picture that represents the theme 'emotions' most, as obviously, each different sweet represents a different emotion. I would have liked to have included more sweets of different colours and used a load more different emotions to expand upon the idea of the photo.

What I am going to do next - 

What I would like to do next is to either expand on my theme of emotions which has been used in this shoot, or I may be able to carry out my next developmental shoot which you can see I have already planned for in previous blog posts. 

Developmental Shoot 2 Work Record - 21/11/2012

Plans for the shoot -

My plans for my second developmental shoot is to explore colour in more depth, and also look at different angles and views portrait work can be shot at. I am going to take my friend, Jess, into the forest where she will pose as a reindeer. This idea came from looking at different fashion photography photos on the website We Heart It:



I also plan to explore various different emotions, which I think can usually change the mood and tone of a photo. I will also be experimenting with various different photoshop effects and tutorials which I have briefly outlined in a previous blog post.

What I hope to achieve -
I hope to achieve a set of photos which similarly reflect the same style of fashion photography I have done a little research into (see above), but in a different environment which explores a wider range of richer and bolder colours and textures.

What I actually achieved -
In the end I was really happy with the photos, and even did a little editing to some of them which reflects my idea for my future development shoot based around fairies, which has given me some good practice. I really favour the close-up photos as I feel they reflect my initial theme and ideas more, and gave me more scope with the editing. I really like my photos as I think they show some really beautiful, autumnal colours, and also show a lot of different emotions. I also feel that this shoot did allow me to experiment with various different portrait shots and angles.

However, I did find that we were limited with some of the shots due to the poor weather - as we were in a forest and it was raining, a lot of the terrain was muddy and slippery which limited us to certain areas. If the weather had been dryer or warmer, I feel that some of my photos would have come out a lot differently and would have been somewhat more interesting. I also feel that it could have been interesting to include more people in the shoot to develop some of the poses we created for some of the shots. I also feel that I should have put more time into the preperation stages as we did find some issues with the costuming, as the 'antlers' at time did tend to fall out. I also feel that with the choice of location the 'antlers' didn't show as well as they could have if I had done the shoot on an open field, as the 'antlers' just blended in with the trees in some of the shots.

This is one of my favourtie photos from the shoot, after I had edited it. I really like the emotion in this photo, it almost makes the model look 'lost' or lonely, and I think combined with the added sepia colour effect over the top makes it look quite vintage and old. I also chose to  repeat the image but reflect it to make it look like there are two 'reindeer' peering around the tree.

What I am going to do next -

Depending on the availability of props, I may either chose to complete my 'fairy' shoot in the studio, where I will look at the manipulation of photos to make people look smaller or bigger than they really are. If I cannot get the props I need for this planned shoot, I may complete a simple shoot in the studio where I will 'play with food and sweets'. The ideas I am getting from this are to arrange sweets in such ways to make them look like other sweets, such as getting Skittles and drawing smiling faces on them, or making a Jaffa Cake look like a 'full moon', 'half moon' and a 'total eclipse'.



Developmental Shoot 1 - Work Record - 13/11/12

Plans for the shoot –

My plans for the shoot are to base it around Great Britain (more specifically England) and the military.

On the day of the shoot I plan to come in wearing a green army-style jacket, leather leggings and military boots to reflect a similar outfit which would be worn in the British army, but is also keeping up to date with current fashion trends.

I also have a large Union Jack flag from when I went to the Olympics in the summer, and I have also purchased some Union Jack lip tattoos to wear for the shoot. I will be using the flag in various ways to show how much the army/military means to Great Britain

I plan to use the studio for this shoot and it will either be mostly or completely self-portrait work. I may also take some photos on location around the college to use and edit together with my studio work.

What I hope to achieve –

What I hope to achieve by completing this shoot is something that will symbolise and represent all things British and more specifically, the British Army.

Also, as I am personally quite a self-conscious person who doesn’t like there photo being taken, I hope to produce my shoot in a way that doesn’t show my whole face, using a variety of techniques. I want to do this to show that everyone, in some way, can take and feature in great photos – they do not need to be models to look good in an image. With this shoot I also hope to develop my knowledge of Adobe Photoshop as this is what I will use to manipulate some of the photos into the way I actually want them to look.

What I actually achieved -

For my first Developmental Shoot, I chose to look at the use of colour, pattern and texture, through basing my shots around the British Army and the Union Jack.

This shoot was made up of a combination of both studio and location work. Here is one of my favourite shots from my location shoot. I have chosen to edit the image by applying text to the image, as it makes it look like something that would be used in an advertising poster. I am also using these developmental shoots to experiment with all sorts of different effects, such as applying text to the image. With this image also, I really like the contrast in the colours in the flag, but also the contrast againt the darkness in my boots.

This is one of my favourite edited photos from my studio shoot. To create this look, I took two images from my shoot in the studio, one of my eyes and one of the flag, and layered them over eachother in Photoshop. I then changed the opacity of each layer, which allowed both the layers to be visible at the same time. I really like this effect as it gives a mysterious, ghostly mood/tone to the image, which is something I could really develop in further work as I think it looks really effective.

What I am going to do next -

 From completing this shoot I have realised that I don't really enjoy doing self-portrait work, as I found it really hard to position the camera correctly - I much prefer to take the pictures myself of someone else, so that I know how well the images come out and having total control of the camera.

For my next few developmental shoots, I want to completely change the theme to give me a chance to experiment.

One of my ideas is to do a complete location shoot, themed around animals and fashion. I would like to go into the woods and photograph people in a way to make them represent animals. By getting my model(s) to dress in a certain way and using natural resources around me, I could get them to look like deer, squirrels or birds, which I think will look really effective in the natural lighting.

My other main idea is to do another studio shoot but using a model instead of myself this time to allow me complete control over the photo quality. After being inspired by some research and a specific music video, I want to dress someone up as a fairy/angel, and explore the use of colour, the human body and different emotions.

I will post more information about the research and inspiration for these possible developmental shoots in separate blog posts nearer the time.