Fashion Editorial

During class we were separated into groups of four and set a one day brief focused around fashion editorial photo shoot for a brand campaign.
Our brief outline was to work in a team for a creative agency who had been commissioned by a well known brand to produce a series of editorial photographs. The editorial would the be published in a well known magazine across four pages. The four photographs must include 1 long shot, 1 close up and 1 mid shot. Post production is allowed and we were required to use some element of flash photography, either hand held or with the use of the location kits.
To begin this assignment we researched in editorial photograph, which in short is basically photography in a magazine that is not an advertisement, it can fall under various categories such as fashion, nature, photojournalism, portrait, travel, wildlife, architecture, beauty, food and still life.
We then continued to create a power point presentation in our groups which reflected our inspiration and ideas, it included a mood board, themes and characters, we then presented this to our peer group and noted there feedback on our chosen brand, publication and ideas. We researched into all elements of our idea such as the characters clothing, accessories, hair and makeup, location, lighting, props, depth of field, structure and colour balance, we also established clear roles on the shoot for each individual member of our group.
As a group we decided to focus our editorial photo shoot around the brand 'All Saints' and the publication ' Nylon' magazine. We decided to create an edgy feel to our fashion campaign and focus the shoot in a more run down and neglected part of the city to compliment to fashion featured, our campaign is named 'Saintly Sinners' relating to the brands name. 'Nylon' was our chosen magazine as we felt it would sell and relate to this particular sort of audience, after researching we noticed the advertisements featured and presented in the magazine were both high street fashion and high end. After collaborating as a group we decided to use a hand held flash rather then the ranger kit, this choice was mainly down to time and convenience, we also agreed that the overall outcome would be just as successful, we agreed to experiment shooting at various times throughout the day and assessing the outcome such as sunrise, afternoon, dusk and night.
Underneath are screenshots of our power point presentation which was created during the initial stage and also our final images, which were taken at night using a hand held flash. During the final crit our group was given feedback and constructive criticism on the photographs, unfortunately I did not attend this crit but have seen the response and overall evaluation. 

POWERPOINT

FINAL IMAGES

 

FEEDBACK

One Day Brief - Advertising.

Footwear One Day Brief

This one day brief consisted of us considering we were working for a client within the advertising industry; this assignment was based around the subject of shoes and how to market them as a product in an advertising campaign.

The brief was issued at 9pm and had to be completed, presented and judged at 3pm, this allowed us to understand and experience working under pressure and using restricted resources in minimal time, this gave us an insight into reality and a rough understanding of how the industry can work.

Teamwork was important throughout this task; we were separated into groups of three, after mind mapping we needed to decide upon our final idea and how to purpose it. Many aspects were to be taken into consideration such as what we would advertise, lighting styles, backdrops, composition, props and our targeted audience.

After discussion me and my group decided to base the assignment around an already well known brand and label ‘UGG Boots’, as the brief stated we were to produce three images we decided to base each individual photo around a different generation and target audience, this is so our overall campaign would appeal to as many people as possible. Our captions for the images would be ‘First’, ‘Favourite’ and ‘New’, this gave us the opportunity to explore as many ideas as possible. Although each photograph would demonstrate a different concept, we would keep the colours and lighting similar to guarantee the images suited as a series and fitted together as an overall advertisement.

After initial test shoots we decided to keep the photographs simple, as the shoes would be featured in advertisements it was also essential to portray the correct perspective and appearance of the UGGS. Our series of images were to be displayed using all over, even light coverage and a white backdrop.

‘New’ was our first image, our setup for this photograph consisted of a white backdrop and large softbox directly above the product. We positioned the UGGS in front of a clearly old, ruined pile of shoes, the concept of this idea was to isolate the shoes to draw and catch the viewer’s attention.

‘First’ was the second theme, the target audience for this shot was adults as they would be purchasing the shoes, however it is clear that the idea for this advert was directed to the younger generation. We photographed the shoes using the same lighting as before however in a slightly different composition, we photographed them in a different perspective making them appear significantly smaller and petite. Then in post production using Photoshop CS5 we imported a snow scene, using baby footprints to surround the photograph, the fur and snow throughout this image complimented each other well, in my opinion the idea for this advertisement was the strongest and the outcome was definitely the most successful compared to the rest.

The third advertisement was ‘favourite’, to achieve the subject we used several pairs of similar shoes, this advertised the many different styles and choices available to the customer. We positioned all shoes at different angles to insure all aspects of the shoe were reflected. The lighting in the image was very similar to the rest of the advertising campaign with a pure white background, isolating and enhancing the UGG.

Unfortunately, after shooting and editing the final images we did not have enough time to complete our idea, the slogans new, first, and favourite were not printed within the finals, this was clearly a very important aspect of our idea so the photographs were not represented as we intended them to be.

In conclusion, I found this assignment to be insightful and motivating, although our final outcome may not have been as successful as intended I found it a very useful learning experience. In the future I intend to improve on time management and ensure to use all time effectively.

'FIRST'

ONE DAY BRIEF

ONE DAY BRIEF - Photo Narrative
9am - 3pm

This one day assignment consisted of each of us selecting at random a different 50 word story, producing a series of five images based around the text, the photographs were then presented the end of the day. Each PowerPoint of images were then judged against the original story and how they worked together as a series as well as various other factors such as composition and post production. The assignment was set and images were produced in limited time using restricted resources, it was interesting to see how different people visually reflected and interpreted the text.

After initially mind mapping ideas I decided that I would photograph resources that I had staged as I thought the outcome would be more successful. I intended to create a series of photographs that had an old fashioned effect, I used old props to reflect this such as brogues, a quill and old notes, these images were then changed to black and white in post production as I felt they flow better as a series and enhanced the theme more.

   "I left the message, a melange of multiform blots on paper towel, in the least conspicuous place I could find. I tiptoed as best I could back to the couch, the floor heaving sharply underfoot. Under the afghan, I felt like a piece of tuna trapped in some fisherman’s net."

Blogs...

The Tiny Art Director

'The Tiny Art Director' is a blog created on blogspot written by Bill Zeman, the artist (father) put together a collection of his work and drawings on request of his daughter, then includes her response and critique. Most images state the brief, the critique, job status, additional comments and artist statement. 

The Tiny Art Director was created when his daughter turned two years old and continued until she was four, the light hearted and relaxed approach to blogging resulted in his book being published and successful advertising of his personal illustrations and portfolio.

Tiny Art Director Blogspot

Tiny Art Director Facebook
Tiny Art Director Twitter 

Someone Once Told Me

'Someone Once Told Me' is a photography website and blog which shows a daily, black and white photos of someone in London holding sign, on which they have written something they have previously been told. The images are human documents and the people posing are reflecting the story behind the message which enriches the moment. The site deals which human instincts and emotions and visually publishes and broadcasts to the world via internet. Initially the idea and project was created to improve the practice of the photographers work.

Someone Once Told Website
Someone Once Told Me Blog


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Bradford Photography Festival

Nudrat Afza - Born 1955, Pakistan.

'The Salon', 2011.

The above photograph is an image featuring as part of Nudrat Afza's 2011 exhibition at Bradford photography festival. 'Ways of looking' is a new festival of photography based in Bradford throughout October 2011, the exhibitions explores the subject of 'Identity'.


Nudrat Afza is a self taught photographer who works and lives in Bradford. Her work is based and focused on the genre of documentary photography, she mainly concentrates on social documentation. This photograph below drew my attention as it provides the viewer an insight behind doors that might ordinarily be closed to the general public, this image is an example of how her work interacts with the community, area and people around her. 

Afza's work has been on display in exhibitions both nationally and internationally and can be found in public and private collections. As this photographer is reasonably unknown I would be interested in studying her work further and viewing her exhibition at the Bradford photography festival.