Bag Lady

My latest projects are the AoP competition and a cinematic brief for college. The AoP is the one I'm pretty excited about, since it's a live project with a chance of winning. I didn't have a clue what I'd do for a while, and was busy with 365 Days jotting down ideas in my sketchbook. I did have one idea come to me however one night after looking through a friend's halloween dressing up photos on Facebook. They'd dressed up in black bin bags, only they'd made them look like clothes. Some of them looked rather nice, too. The cogs in my mind started grinding and before long I ended up inspired for what was originally going to be a self portrait - I called it "Bag Lady". As you may have guessed, it stems from people telling each other usually on a night out and to somebody whining about their outfit "You'd look good in anything - even a black bag."

I thought about this for a little while, sketched things in my ideas book, and figured it'd be really cool and edgy if the bin bag actually looked like a stunning couture dress. My original idea for AoP was nothing like this however. To put it in the words of my tutor, it sounded like a Timotei ad. It also started out as an idea for a different self portrait that I may still do for a laugh, but for practicality's sake and how much more interesting my second idea was, I decided to follow plan B's route and take on Bag Lady.

Not only is it cheap and fairly easy to make, it's one heck of a lot of fun. I looked for a stylist and a jewellery designer, and I found them pretty quickly. They're just as enthusiastic as me about this and I can't wait to see their designs. We went to this shop in Carmarthen called "Trysordy" which in English means "Treasury". It's a shop that sells a load of recycled things from plastic bottle tops to (unused!) tampon applicators (which I found hilarious). You think of it, they probably have it, and dead cheap too. So I bought the jewellery materials there, and then later on bought the heavy duty plastic bags for the stylist. They should be ready sometime this week! I can't wait!

Next on my list was to find some assistants, a hairstylist and a make-up artist. I went for the easiest one first since we're all in college today: assistants. I got a much greater and enthusiastic response than I imagined I would! I said I was looking for one or two people who'd like to help, as it really would be a great opportunity for them to see what a fashion shoot is like, what second year is like, and to learn lighting techniques and the like. It's generally a lot of fun for them and an excuse to bunk off a bit (in an educational way! Win!) :P I got one person interested straight away, then another, and then two other people. So I now have at least 4 people from first year who would like to help and join in. Awesome! I hope they have a great time and learn plenty of new things.

The casting call is this afternoon, and last night I got a little nervous. I'm not as nervous anymore, mostly because I know Rick is in and he said he'd help guide me through it. It shouldn't be too difficult. I'm wondering how many people will turn up, and if anybody suitable will turn up too. The posters I put up in The Quad (coffee shop in the uni next door) kept getting taken down despite there being no indication of it not being allowed. Thankfully however they've stayed up elsewhere, so I'm happy. I'm just glad I can speak Welsh as part of their policy is that the poster has to be bilingual, even though not many there actually speak Welsh. So after being told by a couple of different people I could probably find a translator, I was able to say quite happily "I can speak Welsh!" I even got all my mutations correct. Awesome.

So, sometime this week, I'm going to have to find a hairstylist and a makeup artist. I might have to do this by phone as the only time I can realistically get to Pibrlwyd's campus on the other side of Carmarthen is on Thursday, and I'd like to start planning things out by then. I don't have much time left - a week or two. I need the model and I need everybody else I've mentioned. Things are getting a little tight. Plus there's my cinematic brief that needs sorting, so I'm even more pressed for time. I'm quietly confident I'll pull it off though, one way or the other. I don't have much choice but to succeed since my grades are depending on this. The question is if I'll do it well! :)

I've kind of put 365 on the back-burner for now too. It's a lot of time and effort and with two major projects on the go (one of which is live) a third is really pushing it. I've thought about this somewhat and have decided that I will make images as and when I'm able to. To do it every day is really taking its toll on me and I can't always manage it, so to preserve my health, enthusiasm and sanity, it's going on a semi-hold. I'd like to make each photo interesting and not just a shot in the mirror with my camera, so expect at least one or two a week, maybe more depending on how busy I am. I'll still be doing 365 images though. It might just take me longer than a year to complete :/

I'll include some of my latest images later on, as they're on my external HDD which is at home, and I'm currently at college. In the meantime however, you can see them over at my Flickr. Enjoy! :)

A creative use of flowers

Well, it's the second week of 365 and I'm still going strong, I love this project so much. It really tests you and drives you to do better pictures. So yesterday, I was in the studio again, large tea and toast nearby while I got ready to set up. It was a lot of fun, and involved flowers, petals, glue and my face. And a ring flash. I've included images of the setup I had, along with failed photos with reasons as to why I consider them failed, so to give you insight into my thought process as I work.

First of all though, here's some recent photos from the project:

More can be found over at my Flickr photostream.

As you can see, I'm having a lot of fun with it.

Now, on to yesterday!

First of all I acquired the roses, which was no easy task. There's only one florist, and she was a bit reluctant to sell me the sorry-looking roses. In the end however I managed to get them for a very cheap price and made my way back over to college. I bought some artificial flowers too as a backup plan but they weren't needed. I'll use them for something else.

I set up, and figured a beauty dish and a reflector (read: bit of polystyrene) resting on my chest would give me the best lighting.

Vignette due to me trying and failing to remove flare with lens hood

Neat huh? Well, not really. It gave me this:

Incidentally, this type of lighting is called "Butterfly Lighting"

"What's wrong with that?" I hear you asking. "It looks fine to me, nice soft shadows, good tonal detail and even coverage. Am I missing something?"

No, you're not missing anything. But the photo is. Sure, it's fine from the front, and would be great for some portraits with dramatic lighting, but it's not what I'm after. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the rim-light.

It really is a flash. Not a gun.

See that flash with a snoot hanging behind the chair like a spider? That's the rim-light. This is where it gets interesting. Using a rim-light, as above, gives me this effect:

Ooh!

The edge of my head and shoulders have been illuminated in a subtle way, making me stand out from the dark background rather than blend into it. This little pop of light isn't powerful enough for me though, so I tweak with the flashes, get myself ready by curling my hair, putting on makeup and gluing on the petals and leaves. I took a load of photos, but before I show you the final image, here's an unaltered (apart from cropping it down) version with a ring flash. I was curious as to how it looked, and it was clear from the get-go that it wasn't going to work:

Uhh....no.

So, why doesn't it work? It's too harsh for the atmosphere I'm after. It's great for no-nonsense "I've got attitude" or "I'm really happy" portraits, though not so great for times when you've constructed a flower on your face. So, away the ring flash goes for another day.

I had a bit of help from the technician, John (who is amazing at what he does and very helpful), we altered the light setup a little bit, moving the rim-light off to camera left and bringing it closer. We also moved the beauty dish around a bit but I decided I liked it in its original position.

After tinkering around in Photoshop I came up with this:

Click for larger image!

So that's how I did that!

Oh, and just for laughs, here's a video of me removing the petals and leaves. It was just as much work taking them off as it was putting them on! But it gives you an idea of how I attached them, and it might give you a giggle.

365 Days Challenge

Some of you may have heard of the 365 days challenge, and others might not have done. For those who don't know, there's a group on Flickr called "365 Days" where the sole aim of the group is to show a collection of images from several people all over the world who take one photo of themselves each day of the year (or as many as they can manage) and then upload it to the group. It doesn't have to be of your face, it could be things like your shadow, footprints, an object that's dear to you - though they prefer it to include some part of your body more often than not. I'm currently on day 6 and have managed to take all 5 previous photos and upload them. I have to say, I never expected I'd latch on the way I have. I've become slightly obsessed. I thought I'd try it out for a laugh but I really enjoy it. I love the fact that it forces me to think about new ways to take a photo and to keep it interesting somehow, and I learn something new every day whether it's about myself or the techniques I use. It really is a lot of fun and I've even inspired my friend Andy to take part too! Some days I'm bursting with ideas and have to write them down, other days it's like I don't feel a shred of creativity in me. I carry on regardless though, driven by the determination to upload one photo to the group a day. My first milestone is 7 days - tomorrow! It's gone by so quickly and I'm really loving it. Here's a few of the ones I've done so far. A lot of the time I'm just playing with lighting conditions and seeing how they come across in the photograph. Different angles give different moods, as do different intensities of light.

I'm curious to see how this project holds up when my workload gets heavier, since right now I'm not really doing a lot in the way of college work. I'm finishing off my summer project (I don't have a lot to do) and I'm getting introduced to AOP tomorrow in college, and after that I have the rest of the week off. Anybody would think I'm a part-time student...it's incredible the amount of days we have off sometimes. This could be seen as a good thing or a bad thing - the good thing being you have more time to yourself to be creative, you can come in and use the studios if they're free, you can book out equipment to take with you anywhere, and you can also get direction and feedback from the tutors. The bad thing is that if you're in the wrong frame of mind you could end up doing the bare minimum and scrape by, and I also sometimes wonder where all the money goes...it's a very good course though with excellent facilities, and the tutors are great and don't mince their words when it comes to helping you improve. I love the fact that I have access to a PhaseOne camera, RB67s, Bowens lighting equipment, a huge studio with infinity curves in several different colours, iMacs, printers the size of a small car, a dark room, black and white and colour processing, toning, and many more things besides...so it all adds up in the end. I'll also go from being in 1-2 days a week to three before long, with the introduction of critical and contextual studies on a Monday before long.

So, everything is settling down and I'm keeping myself busy :) The Margam Park shoot should happen in about 2 weeks, since that's the only time we're all free. I'll probably do a few things inbetween then though. It's gonna be a blast :D