Finally all of my packages have arrived which means I can finally get to work with creating my bald cap. Hopefully all will go according to plan. I’ve watched multiple YouTube videos and it doesn’t seem that tricky (she says) so I should be able to make one with no complications. Once this has been made I can get to work with my rapunzel image as part of my final major project. I’ll be posting a picture of the results shortly. Fingers crossed.
For my specialist studio project I have been photographing alcohol, and for my first image I wanted to create an image that was simple but effective. I believed that the best way to achieve this was to create a composite, this allows you to photograph each element of the bottle individually which are then put together in Photoshop. By using this technique I was able to gain much stronger colors, highlights and definition. The image that I create shows my first ever attempt at a composite and I must say that I am rather pleased with the way that it has turned out. It took me quite some time to put this image together, however I now feel more comfortable using this technique and believe that I will be using it a lot more in my upcoming projects.
For one of my product shots i wanted to create and image that shows the alcohol pouring through the bottle in order to show something that is more visually interesting. In order to prepare for this shoot I had to find a way of removing the bottom of my bottle without destroying it. After a bit of research I found a way of doing this by using items i had lying around the house. By tying string round the bottom of the bottle (approximately five times) then soaking the string in nail varnish remover for a few minutes, allowing it to be completely absorbed by the string. I then set the string alight, making sure that I was constantly turning the bottle whilst it was burning, by doing this for about 60 seconds I then dunked this into a bucket of water. This then allowed the bottom of the glass to fall of leaving no damage to the rest of the bottle. The image below shows the results of the process that I carried out. As you can see I have been able to gain a bottomless bottle with a clean cut which I can now be used as part of my studio assignment.![IMG_0321[1]](https://charlotterose93.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/img_03211.jpg?w=225&h=300)
![IMG_0320[1]](https://charlotterose93.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/img_03201.jpg?w=225&h=300)
After strolling around and a multitude of charity shops I have now acquired a large number of miss match tea cups that I plan to incorporate into my Alice in wonderland shoot. These will help to build my set and will also allow me to gain a sense of place, making the theme recognisable by it’s audience. These teacups vary in shape size and colour, which will be hung from the ceiling to allude the audience to believe they are floating. My intentions for this are that they will resemble the scene of the tea party.
One aspect of this shoot is out of the way, it’s now time to get my hands on a dead, skinned rabbit.
After having my initial idea for my final major project ready for some time now I have finally stated to start my spending spree for my set designs. I have now bagged myself three costumes for my three chosen themes of Alice in wonderland, wizard of oz and rapunzel which should hopefully arrive by Monday. I have also done a lot of research into some garish props of dead animals and body parts having some difficulty finding some of the pieces a trip to the butchers should sort this problem out. So with one aspect out of the way it time to carry on my search and buy the rest of my sets.
For my specialist studio assignment I have decided to revisit product photography. his decision came to me quite quickly as its what I wanted to do for my assignment earlier on in the year but decided on food photography as I have never worked with it before. Ooh well lesson learned, at least I now know that it is an area in photography that I am unlikely to revisit. So onwards and upwards I go, my focus for this project will be alcohol. Within these shoots I am looking to enhance my creative it terms of design and set creations. At first I was going to focus on a particular selection of alcohol, focusing on whisky as I found that the bottle selection shows an array of interesting shapes and will also ignite my images with colour. However my current research has made me change my mind and i will now be looking into larger, whisky and the possibility of vodka. I won’t be naming what I will be doing with each of these, that way people can have something to look forward to seeing.
It has taken me some time to think about the final ideas for this project although i have had an initial idea for some time, trying to refine it has been extremely hard. However although I have some solid ideas in mind there is no doubt that these will change. So my chosen theme for this project is “Gruesome Fairy Tales”. After doing a lot of research I found it extraordinary how many fairy tales that we knew and loved as children had be drastically changed to make them suitable for minors. A lot of the stories that I have looked into such as Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Rapunzel and The Little Mermaid all started out as very grim and each carried their own dark reading. The sinister issues that these include are death, pregnancy, self harm, rape, and sex and normally involved more then one of these issues.
Even though there are plenty of fairy tales that contain there own adaptations I have also decided to use some of these for inspiration but also create some of my own issues within stories of Alice in wonderland and the wizard of oz. In order to make my images successful I will need a lot of time patience and dedication to make this assignment a success.
Jim Scherer is an american commercial photographer who has had a lot of experience in food photography. From looking at his work I found a few images that i felt showed some resemblance on the type of food that i wanted to be photographing. He believes strongly in leaving some imperfection in the work that he created as he feels that it gives the food a more fresh and realistic look. I found this to be quite interesting as within photography we always strive to find perfection within our images, however when shooting food this doesn’t really apply. If we spent so much time trying to perfect the way the food looks, we would start to realise that the food no longer looks like food. In order to keep that sense of realness within the image we need to make as little changes as possible.
“Nan one month after being battered”
I find this image of Nan Golding to be extremely controversial from how she is publicly documenting domestic abuse. This isn’t a topic that we hear a great deal about, but statistics show that fewer than 1 in 4 people who suffer from domestic abuse and as little as 1 in 10 people suffering from sexual assault report it to the police. So from Nan Goldin to show these images so publicly is inspiring and also acts as a beacon of hope for fellow sufferers. This singular image shows us bravery, confidence and hope.
Although my personal project doesn’t go as deep in terms of the concept they still share there similarities, in the sense of making people aware of the insecurities that we bury deep inside.
A major inspiration for my studio project comes from a series of self portrait work by John Coplans. As part of his project he documented different aspects of his body from his neck to his feet. Within this collection of images he would never photograph his face, as he didn’t want them to be focused on a particular person or identity. With this approach it has allowed his work to become more generalised within the genre of the male body.
His work also goes against the norm of youth and beauty that is published within commercial photography. When viewing what the media depict as natural beauty, we are often faced with images that give us a false interpretation of what beauty is by showing us figures which are unrealistic. As our fingers flick through the pages of a glossy beauty magazines we are often shown images of models with flawless skin, size zero figures or a perfectly defined six pack. With this persona in mind i plan to face my fears and photograph my own body in the style of John Coplans in attempt to break the stereotype of natural beauty created by the media.
Charlotte-Rose 