Herb Ritt's

Ive had a really interesting experience with Herb Ritt's work. He was the last photographer I researched but little did I know I new him already. I have a roladex in my head of images that I remember from my childhood. The supermodel's of the 90's, Album covers and music video's. About a year ago in particular I took a photograph of myself using my phone and a basic editing app. I was listening to Michael Jackson's In the closet video and remember the music video being Light focused.  It was one of those mid afternoons in the summer where the sun is at its brightest. I decided to have an impromptu photoshoot (selfies) and used the natural light coming through my hall window. I had know Idea until today that Herb Ritts shot that video or that he shot some of my favourite images using the same natural lighting style in the late eighties and nineties. I am so inspired that I'm going to try this shoot again but with better equipment. His work is so beautiful.

Very bad quality image but a weird synchronicity 

The minute I saw his work I recognised his style! The lighting! Natural warm hard light that fills the whole space creating shadows and moods. The shapes in his photographs and sculpture. You can see his influence through his art. He creates a dance with his models. You can see how he see's his subjects and you can see the love he has for people and beautiful bodies and landscape. He made people beautiful through his images. The way he used natural light was incredible. Its probably my favourite type of lighting and I think his work is an incredible example of that. I absolutely fell in love with his work and with him as an artist. He managed to bring colour to a black and white image and make them interesting by using movement and thats a very hard thing to do.

I am so inspired that I am going to buy my own camera and start experimenting with natural light. I think Lighting is the most important part of photography and he displays this with his work. 

Helmut Newton

Helmut Newton built a reputation for his erotic sexually charged imagery. He explored this Field heavily with his photography and was famed for it. Having travelled a lot and worked in Australia, london and Paris he settled in America in later life where he later released books of his images. 

I found his work quite dark and disturbing. I felt angry when seeing his images and then intrigued mostly at the way in which he saw women. They just seemed like pieces of meat, animals that he positioned in quite vulnerable positions. I also found some of the images quite disturbing especially the ones of women strewn across the grass, half naked with a dark male figure lurking in the back ground.

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women always seem to be in victim roles in his work. It seemed like his work was always playing a power dynamic. I didn't like his style much at all. 

http://drunkguest.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/02b0dc17ea9480f6f9750ce8af3579a1.jpg

Another interesting image. A playboy bunny. Famed for being objectified. 

Erwin Blumenfeld

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I found Erwin's approach to photography really interesting. He was the first photographer of his time to completely manipulate an image. He would do what he wasn't supposed to do. He would take the photo's out of the processing fluid before they would be developed or put them in the freezer or in a hot space to see what the extreme temperatures did to the development of the photograph. He made photography art and explored the medium of psychological photography. He was known for having an obsession with women's beauty and this combined with his exploration of art became his signature style.
Beginning his new life in America after surviving the first and second world war Erwin fell straight into fashion photography. He had been referred to the then editor of harpers bazaar by Cecil Beaton, after he had seen his work in Paris where he had made a name for himself within the fashion industry.     From that moment he had a strong relationship with Conde Nast photographing most of the covers of Vogue and Harpers Bazaar through out the 1940's and 50's.

I love his style I think its probably the most interesting out of all of the photographers I've researched so far. His images are definitely more avant garde and more artistic than the rest of the photographers.   He really played with the process of photography and explored the possibilities of development. I think He was experimental and new his style and pushed boundaries especially for his time in the industry.

http://b-i.forbesimg.com/jonathonkeats/files/2013/12/blumenfeld.forbes.lo_.jpg

Final 3 Black and White Images:

Above are the original raw untouched images. I have sent the edited versions in my pdf submission file. 

For the black and white images I new what I wanted to do. I had a specific thing in mind as I had seen a lot of black and white images I liked before. I wanted something quite dark and moody but I wanted my model be quite highlighted in the images but with shadows to get a great amount of dimension in the face. 

I had asked Annie to model for me again as we had had such success with the first shoot. I wanted her to look quite natural but to keep the focus on her eyes. This time Annie did her own makeup as I had seen the makeup she had worn in the day and felt it was perfect for the shoot. She did a winged eyeliner look with a semi-dark lip. The lip however didn't look right with this shoot so Annie suggested putting on a nude lipstick shade. It totally worked and totally softened the whole look creating quite a doe eye  look and when we got the set up right it created such a beautiful outcome. I did however notice that when we started shooting in black and white Annie's makeup wouldn't come through. I really needed to contour Annie for her to look like herself and bring the dimension back to her face. 

Set up:

1. I used the cove for the backdrop of this shoot.
2. I set up 2 large foam reflective boards between the camera and Annie.
3. I had 2 lights facing the boards 
4. I had the camera setup. raw image, 1/160, manual with the SD card clicked in.
5. Sync cable connected the (through the hot shoe adapter) camera to one of the lights. and another cable connected the camera to the computer
6. Turn both lights on and one cell switch on one of the lights. 
7. Turn on the computer after plugging it in and sign into a new session on capture 1. 
8. make sure everything is safe.
9. make sure the model is comfortable and warm.

I wanted there to be quite a contrast between both shoots so I set up the lighting using a beauty box and a black and white background. We tested this out though and it didn't suit Annie's colouring and wasn't flattering for her at all. We tested out some different settings but this set up just wouldn't work so I had to think on my feet. I didn't want Annie to feel disheartened or lose momentum because I feel that if the model doesn't feel good in the images they wont be able to give their best to the shoot.  I thought about going back to the beauty dish set up we did for the last shoot. So we set this up and luckily had the use of the cove which was great for lighting. I wanted a slight change for this one though so instead of being behind the big white reflective boards I came in a little closer. This evened out the lighting and created the most beautiful effect. It created a real vintage look. I decide not to use a stand and to just create the right composition free hand. I like this as it gave me a lot more control and allowed me to move around Annie freely creating different angles and creating a more intimate portrait. 

I have slightly edited the Images to lighten the contrast and sharpen them as they were a little dark. I do love the original lighting outcome but I feel that for the sake of this project I needed to edit them slightly so that you can see my skills as a photographer. I have also edited Annie's blemishes. 

I'm really happy with the final 3. I feel that even though the set up is really similar to the first by me moving around this totally changed the lighting and end result. As my first idea for this shoot didnt work I really wanted an old Hollywood style shoot for my second idea. I really feel that I have created something special with the help of Annie again and even though there were challenges I was proud of both me and Annie for persevering with the shoot. By pushing through the wall we created something really beautiful. Again these mistakes and challenges have given me more knowledge that I can take with me. I actually enjoy making mistakes now which I never thought I would say. I have learned so much from both of these shoots and have faced different challenges with each of them. 

I think the only way to improve with photography is to educate yourself by practicing and doing it over and over. I still really enjoy photography and I think if I keep practicing and work on my Photoshopping skills and computer editing skill I could be really successful at this.      

Final Evaluation: Who do you think you are David Bailey?

What an amazingly inspiring first project. From literally the first day I have felt so impassioned about photography. I have loved learning about the amazing photographers who have trail blazed the industry of fashion photography. I have had such strong emotional reactions from there work. I have loved finding out more about them too and finding out what inspires them as people and as artists. They have all been completely different and come from different backgrounds and traveled completely different journeys. Its incredibly Inspiring and a beautiful thing to know that every artist has something to offer through their art including myself. I'm excited to learn more about myself through my own creative projects and find out what of myself comes through my art. 

 I have really enjoyed the practical lessons I have had with Chris Overend. Hes very passionate about photography and really wants you to learn the craft. Ive learned a lot in his lessons and have definitely used my skills gained in this project. Every mistake I have made whilst completing this project has been valuable. I have learned so many skills with this project and not just technical but even learning how to keep good fluidity on a shoot and keep the model happy and comfortable. One of the most important lessons I have learned in this project is perseverance and determination. I have learned not to give up if things go wrong. I have gained so much patience and I'm really proud of myself and the journey I have been on in this short amount of time. I'm really pleased with how much I have learned and I feel that really comes through with my final images. 

I'm incredibly happy with my final images and with how the shoots went so successfully. I loved working with my model Annie on the shoots as I felt we really made a great creative team. The communication was strong and the outcomes surpassed my expectations.

I did find post production quite challenging and felt I would struggle with this but after realising that this is just a fear of technology and not my incapabilities I will persevere with this and try some Photoshop courses to gain more skills in this area. I also feel that I need to be more organised with course work as I didn't do as much as I wanted to. I feel that I can only improve from here and I'm really interested in outside projects to strengthen my skills as a photographer. I feel this combined with my other makeup and hair skills gained this semester will make for some really great projects. 

 

Final 3 colour images:

Apart of the brief for digital production was to create 3 colour images. 1st had to be a front on shot the 2nd a back shot and one of either the profile or 3/4 shot of my model. I already new what lighting I wanted for this shoot as we had previously done it in another class with Chris and I loved how flattering it was. I had also seen this in a Photograph shot by famed photographer Tony Duran. It was of Beyonce and she was lit from behind. It was an incredibly flattering light with an ethereal feel to it. I new from seeing this that I wanted to use this lighting and then the rest of the shoot was inspired by this.
I decided that I was going to shoot a few weeks before Chris booked the studios as I felt this gave me more time to think of the concept of the shoot. I felt I could create something really great if I had more time. 

Annie my model for this shoot is a fellow student and friend and I new she would be perfect for this as she has a really unique look to her. She's a very independent and strong person and through getting to know her I found out that she has done a lot of performing in the past so I had an inkling that she would have a certain type of confidence and be comfortable in front of the camera. My instinct proved right and she really delivered on the shoot. I did her makeup before hand and I had bought a large diamond necklace for the shoot (not real though unfortunately). She looked amazing and was really great at taking direction. She understood what I wanted her to do and I felt we had really great creative chemistry. I had Audrey Hepburn in mind when thinking of the look I was going for with Annie. This was quite immediate when asking Annie to model for me. Annie has short dark hair and big eyes with dark brows and really reminded me of Audrey Hepburn. I am really happy with the images I took and how the look came together.

Set up:

1. Set up white back ground
2. set up camera. put it on stand,  set it to manual, shutter speed 1/160, IOS 8, set to RAW image, put the hot shoe adapter on the top and SD card into the slot. 
3. connect camera to computer and to light using the sync lead. 
4. put lights on stand and plug them in and turn them on. connect one to the camera and turn the cell switch on on the other for the flash. 
5. Get two large foam stands and put them together in front of the model with about a 30cm gap to just allow the camera to see through. The camera will be in front of the stands next to the computer to see the images.
6. position the model behind the boards. quite close to the boards. 
7. set up the computer and go to capture 1 and set up your session. 

With regards to challenges with this shoot we did come across some problems. The first set up we did the lights weren't equal in the photo's. We couldn't figure out what was wrong as we had changed a lot of the set up around and played with the settings but still didn't know why it seemed brighter on one side of the image then on the other. Luckily Chris was around the studio's and checked to see if we needed any help. He had a look and found that we didn't have the main light on and we also didn't have both lights on either. Once this was changed everything went smoothly. I felt that even this going wrong was a good lesson that I wont forget. Ive really valued these mistakes as I am adding it on to my list of knowledge in photography.  

I have lightly edited the images of Annie. Mostly shadows under the eyes and blemishes. I know that Chris didn't want them touched too much as it doesn't allow for the photography to shine through. I have played with the contrast and sharpness to give clarity to the image. They were also quite under cast too so had to lighten them slightly. Above are the original untouched images and I have put the edited versions into my final submission PDF. This will allow you to see my post production skills. 

I have absolutely loved this project. I feel that all of my ideas and preparation have really come together nicely. Everything worked with this shoot and we had a great time doing it which I think only adds to the final photographs. I'm very grateful to Annie my model for really putting her all into the shoot.   I learned so much and these experiences in the studio's have been hugely educational. Knowing I have chosen each part of the shoot and built it from an idea is very satisfying and has only grown my passion for photography.  

Annie Leibovitz: The Power of a woman (Kat's class)

I wanted to do a post connected to my last one but dedicated to a few images that have been taken by Annie Leibovitz. I think she is a really important fashion photographer for our time. I think she re-designed how you think of women. She strips us of our 'sex object' label and makes us human. She gives women vibrancy and life in her photographs. I love how she puts women against the landscape like we are mother earth. She uses the power of the elements in her photographs and places women within it. These are 4 of my favourites of hers. 

Rihanna for US Vogue 

Amy Adams for US Vogue December 2014

Fashion ad campaign for Moncler July 2015

 Inspired by the snow queen this is very powerful. The power of the birds around her is 

Charlize Theron for US Vogue December 2015

Beautiful elemental Image. With the power of the sea as her backdrop, it's like she's just walked from the ocean.