Photoshoots that didn't make it in to the book

I have 2 photoshoots that did not turn out well and did not go in the book.

This photo was suppose to go in 1910-1919, next to the young boy photograph, the story behind them was a father and son photograph, that had been separated,i used the same lighting and set up but the clothing did not look right and the model didn't suit the time period. I also didn't like how it came up when i edited it as it looks like a modern photograph and completely unrealistic. I did not have time to reshoot this photograph or any other suits i could use so i decided it was best to leave it out of the book.

This is the other photograph that did not come out well, it was meant to be 60s inspired but it ended up looking odd, the hair and make up looked too modern as did the outfit. I wanted to see if i could edit this photograph to make it look more realistic but the editing only made it look more modern and i didn't feel it was believable at all. 

Im glad i decided to discard these to images as i feel they would have stood out (negatively) in my book and would have looked like a modern photograph. 

What I have learnt going through this project: what I expected in comparison to how it turned out

When I started my FMP I planned for my project to be heavily based on fashion history through out the 20^th century however by the end I have realised I created a book showing how family present themselves through tout the 20^th century in photographs.

At the beginning of my project I was focused on involving as much fashion history as possible and planned on focusing all my efforts to the fashion side, I had originally planned to shoot in digital and to create highly styled images focusing on the clothing, as my planning went on I decided to shoot using original cameras and film, this gave me a whole new aspect to my work. When I started looking at film and cameras, I started to learn a lot more about photography and how people presented themselves in photography.

When I started looking at family photographs I learnt even more about not only my family history but also how people used photography. I have family photos from the beginning of the century to modern day and this has helped me a lot in moving forward in my project and developing my ideas.

My ideas started to change when I started planning my shoots, I realised that I wasn’t focusing on the styling but the atmosphere of the photograph, although I did plan the outfits in great detail I realised they were not the most important part of the photograph. The first shoot I did was the earliest photograph in my book, this was the main point where I realised that the mood, atmosphere and camera I was using were the main and most prominent elements. 

As I went on with my shoots, i focused on getting the models into the correct moods and made sure they understood the atmosphere of the shoots. I tried to use friends and family together in shoots to get the most realistic and natural relationships between the models. A key example of this is my 90s party shoot, shot with two best friends, their behaviour was natural which meant the photos came out well as they were actually enjoying themselves and not acting for the camera. 

When i shot my photos i made sure to tell the model the life i had created for each person, and the story that would be accompanying them in the book, this meant they knew what emotion they had to portray and were able to play a character, the 1930s woman in the doorway compared to the 90s woman in the doorway are both the same person but they were told completely different live stories so she acted and posed how she would if she had been the character i gave her to "play". 

I am glad that my book and project turned out to be a lot more based on how we present ourselves in photography rather than fashion history as i think it is a lot more interesting and something very personal. 

Weekly Update: 12.05.14

This week, i decided to move into branding my book and focusing on how i would sell and market my book. I went into this in more detail in my previous post, i finished doing my sketchbook, planning section and focused on the marketing side of it.

For the marketing side of my project, i want my presentation to be very clean and neat and professional looking. The other main aspect i focused on this week was my presentation for my assessment and final show, i thought a lot about how i want it to be presented and then I drew a couple of layout ideas to decided what i wanted. I decided on 3 A3 images in a  line, of my three favourite/ strongest images, it took me a while to pick these as i had to use a Digital image to avoid images being pixelated. My 3 images are going to be in chronological order too to show the transition of photography through the century.

My next problem to solve was how will i present my book? as my final piece is a book i had to think carefully about how i wanted to present it to fully reflect my theme. I considered a lot of things, but i think i am going to create a book and fill it with the items i used through out my project with my book resting in it.

Next week I will:
I will be putting  up my presentation, and i may need to think up some more ideas incase something does not work out with my current plans.

Taking My Project Further : Creating A Brand

As i have been moving quicker than planner with my project i have decided to add branding and marketing into my project. I have now decided i will now discuss how i will price my book, where i will sell it, my target market and the current competition on the market. I also want to look at how i would have to present my book to buyers at companies and how i could possibly edit the book to make the book more approachable and to make it more appealing to as many people as possible.

I have already looked at possible places i would like to sell my book these are:
Blurb Bookshop
Victoria and Albert Museum Bookshop
Urban Outfitters
& Other Stories
Topshop - Flagship Store
Beyond Retro
Whitechapel Gallery
The Photographers Gallery
Tate Gallery Bookshop

I chose and looked into these book shops as they all have a different target market but all ones i feel would be interested in my book, as it is a book that could appeal to a lot of different people.

Weekly Update: 05.05.14

This week i recieved my book, which was the most exciting part of the week, as it felt like my project was finally coming to an end and was all coming together. I am very happy with how my book turned out it is exactly how i planned it. I focused a lot on my sketchbook this week and the layout of my sketchbook.

I have decided to make my sketchbook and planning of my shoots have a very relaxed feel, i have included my todo lists for each shoot and a quick sketch of the outfit on each page. i have kept a continuous layout through out all of my planning so it is simple to follow but shows all my inspiration and planning behind each shoot.

What I would do differently (book):
I would have tried to take more images, i had planned more shoots but i did not have the time or clothing to do them, i shot over 25 shoots so i am happy with that amount, which equalled to 80 pages, but i would have liked to get my book to 100 pages or more.
If i could do this book again with more time i would maybe make it bigger (height and width) as to accommodate more photographs and to make it a more impressive looking book.

What I want to achieve next week:
I want to finish my sketchbook and start planing my presentation for the final show.

How My Film Turned Out (in detail)

Although I briefly explained that my film did not turn out as planned i wanted to discuss it further, i shot on 3 film cameras, all using 35mm film, all the cameras were fully working, however when i went to pick up my photographs (from the 2 main cameras) many of them unfortunately had not developed, one of my cameras had had a light leak, this meant that most of the film had be destroyed. on my other camera, the film had not been damaged but the photos did not develop. I had a similar problem with the one disposable camera i purchased, i was not given a reason to why my photos had not developed, so i am unsure to why they did not come out correctly.

The positive to my film not coming out properly were that some of the photos had slightly different effects to them, especially the camera which had a light leak, as it seemed to age the photographs without editing. Below is a good example of the light leak, which has made the photographs look aged and i love how they have turned out.

Below are examples of using the same camera and film but with different types of lighting at different times of the day, the top one was shot with artificial light at night and the bottom one was taken with natural lighting at midday. My favourite of the two is the top one as i love the orange glow that has been created, i think it adds to the mood of the photographs and suits the decade well (1970s) 

Weekly Update: 28.04.14

This week i focused on my book being finished and sent off to be published, which i did have completed on the 30th and sent it off. After this i focused on my sketchbook, throughout this project i have learnt a lot about how to use my sketchbook correctly, and how to make it work for me, as i do not normally like my sketchbook i tried a lot of new techniques to create my sketchbook, for me i found using different papers something i liked and by bringing in a more personal touch in the layout, similar to my personal diaries. I also looked at Kurt Cobains journals as inspiration.

NEXT WEEK:
Next week i will be focusing on my sketchbook again and then at the end of the week i will be focusing on my presentation for the show set up.