My Reflective Journal: April 2017

I got my first reply!

15:36

I just received my first reply back from my e-Folio feedback emails, from Laura. I am happy that I didn't include my studio images from my previous projects as they wouldn't have been as consistent with my other ones. Her feedback was really generous, I think I was hoping for some negative feedback that I can improve upon, so I think I will find some more practitioners to send it too and re-word my email asking for things which can be improved on specifically. Knowing that will help me more to make my e-folio better.

She seems really friendly so I think I'll reply saying thank you and maybe in the future when I get a bit more confident in my own work email her and see about the possibility of some assisting work with her.

BA2b (4)

Contacting industry professionals

10:58

Today I emailed three photographers asking for some feedback on my e-folio. I asked Hayley Louisa Brown, James Grant, and Laura McCluskey. I went to all their guest lectures, and I chose them because their work seemed to be the most relevant to my own. I wrote out my emails last night but sent them this morning to seem more professional; all three based around a very similar template, but I added a personal reason about how I found their lecture which I think is a nice compliment.

I hopefully have a good chance of being responded to as they came to uni to give lectures, and I have hopefully got enough time between now and hand in to receive a reply and then make any changes to my work in response to any feedback. I'm hoping for at least one reply as I know its a big favour. Of the three, Laura McCluskey's work is the most similar in my opinion to my own, so I hope I receive a response from her. Although James Grant's work isn't very similar to my own, he still shoots portraits and portrays a lifestyle through his images similarly to how I want to, and I think his feedback would still be very useful. Likewise with Hayley Louisa Brown, all her work is shot on film, but we have the same fashion underpinning both of our practices.

Any feedback from industry professionals will definitely help me refine and perfect both the content and presentation of my work in both my e-Folio and website.

BA2b (4)

My e-Folio first draft

13:15

Today I made my first e-Folio. I was unsure how to begin so I got in contact with my friend Leoni in third year to see how she laid hers out, and what to/not include. I found looking at hers very helpful and I understood what it was for and why we were making one a lot better than before.

The process took longer than expected, and involved lots of moving around and changing order. I initially made it using a combination of powerpoint and photoshop, and was happy with how it looked, however I then consulted a graphic design student who told me off for what she described as a graphic designers nightmare. I had to remake my e-Folio in InDesign, which fixed all my problems with pixelated images and my finished folio is a tiny 2.3MB and has good quality images. Being so small is really helpful as I will be sending this across to people via email and the smaller the attachment the better.

The only text I included is my name, in the same font as my website, which has kind of become my branding, a nice minimal font, and a link to my website. I think the less text the better and the focus will remain on my images.

In terms of content, I started and ending with my strongest work, and this is what is most memorable to someone looking at it. At first I included my studio images too which I still do want to do, however I want to ask James in a 1 to 1 on tuesday how best to put these in as they do look very different. I plan to email my e-Folio across to some photographers who have given lectures here and maybe a couple others if I think their work is similar enough, to receive some professional feedback from someone in the industry on both the content and presentation of my work. I will send them this version below, and think about adding my studio images in my next drafting.

Nicolas Bruno

13:27

Nicolas Bruno is an imagemaker from Northport, New York, a small harbor community located on Long Island.

He suffers from Sleep Paralysis, and creates images based on the vivid hallucinations he experiences during his sleep.

To construct his images, he sets up a tripod, and shoots continuously, allowing himself to be all the characters in the scenes he depicts.

I really like this work, because despite having seen so many surrealist photographers who use self portraits within their work, but all of the scenarios have been pure fiction. Bruno keeps a dream dairy to use as inspiration and each image is a replica of what occurred in his dream. By creating these photos, it gives him control where he feels as though he has no control within his dreams.
I think making these images is a brave thing to do, facing his nightmares and taking control. Using photography as Therapy has really helped him express what he is going through to others and brought awareness too.

Assisting Sophie

19:02

Today I was given the opportunity to assist Sophie, on a shoot for Delores daywear. I have never assisted before and was really looking forward to doing so. What I found really beneficial from today was just seeing how a shoot flows and I was surprised to find that the experience actually didn't seem any different to how I would handle a shoot if I was the photographer, something which has increased my confidence when working with new people, Sophie had never met any of them in person before which surprised me as everything flowed so well and the communication was similar to people who had known each other for a while.

The atmosphere was very relaxed and chilled, and I got to take some behind the scenes images which was good fun. Sophie shot both digital and medium format, using a Hasselblad, which is something I do want to learn how to use as I have never shot medium format before but has always interested me. Apparently once you switch to 120mm you never go back to 35mm!

Also something I came away from today is that I want to buy a tether cable as shooting directly onto her laptop meant that the client could see immediately what the images looked like and could give guidance to what they were after. We have these at uni but for times like this it would be very good for me to have my own.

The shoot was at studio 20 on Wensum street, and cost £50 for the day which is incredibly reasonable, so I think I will look into using the space for my own work too.

I was able to take some behind the scenes images for both Sophie and myself which was really fun too.

'Out of the Wardrobe' Shoot 1

10:41

I recently worked alongside a stylist to create some images for an editorial. I haven't worked with a stylist on set before and I knew this was something I really needed to do to increase the production value of my images. We exchanged ideas of how we wanted to take the shoot and she had a clear idea of the clothes she wanted the models to be wearing. The initial idea was that she wanted the model to be wearing her own (the stylists) clothes, and a working title for the images would be ‘out of the wardrobe’ I really liked the idea and was excited to see how the shoot would go. The desired outcome was for these images to appear in a small zine that she wanted to create as an end goal for her after graduation (She is a fashion promotion and communication student) is to be an editor of editorials for a top magazine or to put together her very own bi-annual publication.

On the day of the shoot I met with the stylist an hour early so we could go over exactly what we wanted to do and what outfits we were shooting. She had put together the separate outfits on hangers so that when the model arrived we knew exactly what they were going to wear. We have more shoots planned so we worked out what outfits would look best on each model.

As soon as we starting shooting I realised how beneficial it was having someone there entirely focused on the clothes; she would step in whenever was suitable to change the way something was falling on the model or giving more direction for how they should hold their hand or leg, things that I wasn't as focused on as I rarely focus on anything directly but the models face, I am looking at the bigger picture and how its composed.

We planned three shoots, going to five locations in total; the train station (permission permitting) riverside, the yacht club, a small gardens behind prince of wales, and waterfront boat park. With three models and one being able to come back for two days, we also wanted to experiment with two models working together.

My one concern for these shoots was the potential difference between locations, as I was under the impression she wanted them all to appear side by side in the same editorial. I expressed my concerns but the stylist was still happy as the clothes were consistent and that they would still work.