Coming To An End

Final Evaluation

When the idea of a self-initiated FMP was put across to me, I felt blank for ideas and slightly worried at the possible outcomes, as well as the nervous feeling of opting for an unsuitable project. After a lot of thought over several previous weeks, I settled with a few ideas that could be versatile, experimental and use a range of techniques that I wanted to develop more throughout the project.

I wanted to select a project that no one had really completed before, one that I could direct myself and make it my own. I chose my Disney inspired project for the final cut because if I wanted to put my own stamp on the project, it needed to be alternative, with plenty of room for idea creativity for each shoot. I knew from the beginning of my thought process that I wanted to create a blurb book due to the relation of the physical book with the fairy-tale story that parents would read to their children at night, however the alternative nature would be slightly unrecognised yet related to the original ‘uncensored’ versions of fairy tales. I also chose to experiment with nursery rhymes for a wider range of characters, especially as each rhyme has a purpose and/or an event in history to relate to which the shoot could be based on.

I think that this project went very well because there are many strong areas within ideas creation, research, planning, shooting and evaluating:

·         Variety of idea creation methods

·         Sufficient research of stories- current versions, re-made and original/censored versions

·         Documentation of artist research and inspirations

·         Excessive planning for each shoot- storyboards

·         Effective organisation of models and selection of location

·         Selection of the most suitable file type- RAW

·         Simple direction of shoots- model positions etc.

·         Detailed evaluations and advice of what to do/not do in the next shoot

·         Documentation of what’s working/not working

·         Annotation of contact sheets and selection of images

·         Effective post production comparisons

·         Meaningful experimentation with different equipment and techniques

·         Studio and location techniques

·         Film processes (both 35mm and 120mm)

·         Researching print/framing/book places and the preparation beforehand (re-sizing and book creation)

However, I think that there are also some areas of my project that I could improve on or do differently next time including the more effective use of my blog. I tried to treat this as a second sketchbook but found it difficult to keep up to date as the website itself was quite difficult to upload photos to and the format was also frustrating to work with. I also think that next time, I will need to keep a running bibliography as I go along rather than just at the end as this will be easier compiling each link and book name/ISBN at the time. Other than this, I think that my project was very successful and if I was to complete it again next time, I would just develop my ideas from here and include a few different characters/stories, possibly some further shoots to represent this.

I think that my final images work really well, both my print on the wall and those exhibited in my book because I feel that they are all critically composed and well thought out with regards to their framing and colour scheme. I’m really pleased with how my book is set out, especially as I think that I have more than one final image for several of the stories so I was able to include these extra images also. I think that my images represent my alternative photographic style and the post production was executed well for a set of appealing images that meet the brief and criteria. I feel that I have created a body of work to be proud of and am pleased that my experience and technique has developed during this project, as well as my confidence as a photographer with regards to approaching models and directing them throughout the shoot.

Exhibition Prints/Blurb Book

Coming to the end of the project, I then began to think about my presentation style and drew a ‘to scale’ diagram of my exhibition space (7ft x 4ft) and placed my singular 30 x 20 inch print with a ½ inch frame in the centre as 155cm from the base of the board being the mid-point. I decided to only have one image in my exhibition space because it was the strongest from the project (snow white photograph) and is very powerful on its own. I knew that my other images also worked well so I compiled them into a Blurb book with the text from each story/nursery rhyme. I found that the nursery rhymes already existed in the public domain along with the ‘Brother’s Grimm’ stories meaning that I wouldn’t infringe any copyright laws with the production of my book. I planned for a small table to sit below my frame in the exhibition as an alternative to a shelf, where my book would sit alongside a table lamp and a box for comments and business cards.

I ordered my print from the website ‘Professional Photo Prints’, a larger version of ‘Pro-Am’ due to the size of my print (30 x 20 inches- £20)and I framed it at a little shop in Hinckley called ‘Contactus’ with a ½ inch black frame which cost £32 at full bleed. Before ordering my book from Blurb, I created a mock-up out of paper to ensure that the images flowed well together and the text was aligned well. After this, I then downloaded the ‘Bookify’ programme and created my online book to upload to Blurb. The book cost me £22 with the 25% discount code that I was emailed due to already being a member of the site. I found the program very easy to use and was happy that I could select one or two of my final images from each shoot to include here and it would still look like a professional but alternative story-book.

Goldilocks Shoot

For my Goldilocks shoot, I wanted to portray her as a modern day thief as the story implies this. I wanted the image to be quite comical so I dressed the model as Goldilocks with a yellow shirt and added a balaclava and denim waistcoat. To capture the perfect image, I need to catch her in the act of stealing some porridge from the cupboard and/or chairs/bed covers.

I think that this went really well as the images turned out really well, especially with a dark tone due to the night-time lighting conditions that I decided to use. I like the idea of shadows and mystery within each photo as it ensures a huge contrast between the fairytale and the reality of the story.

"Baby Bear, however, had hardly any friends. This was partly because he was rather a bully and liked to win games and arguments. He was a pest too and always getting into mischief. Not far away, lived a fair haired little girl who had a similar nature to Baby Bear, only she was haughty and stuck-up as well, and though Baby Bear often asked her to come and play at his house, she always said no."

This part of the Grimm Brothers story explains that not only was Goldilocks a naughty thief but the Baby Bear was just as bad as her, possibly showing that they deserved the robbery after all as pay-back.

Cyanotypes

 To create my cyanotypes, I mixed up some cyanotype solution under artificial lighting (potassium ferricyanide and ammonium citrate and equal weightings of water). After the solution was combined, I then used a paint brush and other items such as a sponge to apply the solution to the cartridge paper. After ‘creative patterned’ coatings were applied, I then dried these and placed them inside a light-tight box for the time being.


I then set to work creating my digital negatives- using my digital photos; I de-saturated the colours to black and white with a high contrast and inverted them in Photoshop for a negative image. I then printed these onto acetate (by setting the printer to print on ‘transparency’.

 

When the printer ink on the negatives was dry, I took them outside with the boxed cyanotype paper along with a clear contact frame and a tray of water. I set out the contact frame indoors with the cyanotype paper underneath the negative and closed inside the frame. This was then exposed to the sunlight for about 5 minutes until the paper went from a green colour to ‘gun metal grey’. I then transferred the print over to the water tray and left it to develop until it turned a cyan blue colour and the image became clearer.

Luckily for me, it was quite a nice day outside so I just left my print to dry outside, weighted down by some stones which took only minutes.

At first, I wasn’t very optimistic about the prints as they took a long while to turn gun metal grey, however, I discovered that the exposure time was shortened if the cyanotype solution was pasted on the paper thicker in layers.

Overall, I was very pleased with my prints in the end, my favourite being the Snow White Studio print due to  the textures within the cyanotype solution and the way that it was dried. It reminds me of an old, vintage photograph, much like her style and outfit. Even the cyan colour relates to the character and emphasises the theme.

DIY Rollei

So.. I bought a DIY Rollei for £7.80 on EBay and pieced it together- which I must admit took a while, not to mention the poor instructions which were written in bad English.

"Screwdriver (do not enclosed)" means that there isn't one.

Some of the pieces were quite small to work with, especially the tiny screws but I continued to persevere, ignoring the fact that the diagrams were not very helpful. Even towards the end, it seemed pointless as the body itself was bowing enough to let light in... until it needed to be screwed through the centre.

In the end, the camera appeared to be fully functional and I was quite impressed with the idea itself as the lenses were quite accurate and the viewfinder screen appeared easy to focus.

All that's left to do now is to test it with 35mm film... Images will follow.
 

Digital Studio Shoot

My inspiration for the studio sheet is associated with portraits of various Disney princesses, framed in an oval, supporting various stereoypically 'elegant' poses. I decided to take this idea and use my 'alternative style' princess and nursery rhyme characters and mimic these poses for my own frames in the exhibition.

I prepared the studio with a simple lighting set up:
   -Two soft boxes either side of the subject for an even lighting      (white backdrop)
   -White umbrella with a black cover facing away from the subject in order for the light to reflect off it and back towards the subject (black backdrop).

After completing this shoot, I think that the simple soft box lighting set up worked the best out of the two due to the simplicity, yet I liked the black backdrop as it was very alternative.

When directing the model, I asked her to do different poses such as the one above that are stereotypically recognised in order to create that irony.

I think that the shoot went really well and I have definately captured some usable images, at least one for each character/princess.




Left to right (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Goldilocks, Little Miss Muffet).
 

 

Rollie in the Studio

As one of the shoots for my FMP, I decided to use the studio in order to capture some images of the 'alternative style princesses' to mimic those of the Disney princesses as they sit posing for the camera in their oval frames.

For this shoot, I used three types of media: my DSLR, my 35mm Minolta camera and a Rolleicord medium format camera.

To the left is the contact sheet that I printed in the darkroom of my 120, medium format film which unfortunately didn't turn out so well (only two frames were printable). This was due to a few reasons:
Although Rollie was easy to set up and load film etc, for the exposure to be set correctly, you need to use a light meter which just so happened to not be working correctly on the day... However, eventually I got a light reading, set up the shutter speed and aperture and framed and focused the image. The problem then occurred first with the cable release which wasn't firing properly so I scrapped that idea and decided to fire manually. However, as we were in a studio environment, I had set the lights to flash meaning that Rollie needed to be connected by a sync cable which obviously only worked for two shots because the other images on the film were underexposed and hardly visible. I also shot a 35mm film and printed the contact sheet (to the right) which had worked quite well, except for two overexposed images in the centre and a multiple exposure at the end as an accident. Originally I had thought that the film I was using had 36 exposures, however it only had 24 meaning that the film had finished by this point and I was just multiply exposing the last frame.

Despite these technical problems that I experienced, I think that I do have quite a few images that I could use and print, especially on the 35mm film. I really enjoyed using Rollie even if it was a frustrating challenge to get the lights to sync correctly and I am very impressed with the outcome (even if there are only two frames). The medium format style is much more detailed and these images show a lovely contrast which even helps to construct the personality of the character in the image.

Baby Rollei

I came across baby Rollei today, not to mention his fantastic retro colour scheme. I think that this may be an option if I was to purchase one as they can be cheaper yet they take 127 film which isn't too readily available and is quite pricey compared to 35mm or 120.  In the long run, this may be an expensive option, not to mention the smaller size of the camera meaning that it will be more fiddly to operate.

DIY Twin Lens Reflex!

I was searching on eBay for various prices of Rolleicord and Rolleiflex cameras when I came across a DIY TLR. Essentially, the camera comes flat packed and you have to build it yourself. It is sold as a lomography style camera which takes 35mm film.

When I saw this, I was a little weary about the quality but for £7.80, I'm not sure if anything can go too horribly wrong.

I think that I may just have to treat myself to one of these in the short term to get used to the TLR without spending hundreds of pounds all at once (and since it's being imported from China, it will take a while to get here anyway).

I'm intrigued to see how the images will turn out due to the lomography style...

Searching for Rollie

When looking at alternative formats to use for my FMP, I looked at all options of medium format cameras and came across the twin reflex cameras (Rolleiflex). This is a camera with two lenses of the same focal length. One lens is connected to the viewfinder system and the other is the lens that actually takes the photograph. The word 'reflex' fits into it due to the viewfinder system as you shoot with the camera at waist level. This consists of a 45 degree mirror and a focusing screen  beneath the pop up hood at the top of the camera that you look down in to. The focus shown on the focusing screen will be exactly the same as what is captured on the film.

Viewing the preview from above means that the camera is steadier rather than hand held and  it also reduced time to take a photo as you can now focus easily and quicker without having to swap the ground glass screen for the plate.

TLR's became introduced to mass marketing with the beginning production of Rolleicord and then Rolleiflex in 1929 developed by Franke and Heidecke in Germany. Obviously most of the market was taken away with imitations and copies but Heidecke's inspiration was always unique. When photographing enemy lines from the German trenches in 1916, the periscope effect happened to reduce the risk of being caught by a sniper.

The image on the matte focusing screen is reversed left to right, meaning that it is difficult to steady the composition, so most high end TLR's have a magnifying glass built in and a square panel in the back and knock out in the front where photographers could look through at the subject which is especially good for moving objects.

Compared to single reflex lenses, TLR's are better as you can constantly see the image on the focusing screen as it doesn't black out during exposure.

Mamiya's C-series are the main conventional camera found with interchangeable lenses yet 'Bayonet Mount' TLR's particularly Rolleis and Yashicas has both wide-angle and tele-supplementary front add-ons but Rollei even made separate TLR's with fixed wide-angle or tele lenses.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ROLLEICORD AND ROLLEIFLEX- They were both produced by the same men yet Rolleicord was made first as an 'ameatur' version as Rolleiflex is particularly marketed to professional photographers.

I decided that I would like to experiment with this type of photography and further with 120 film, possibly 35mm adaptors as the whole concept of the TLR really fascinates me. Now it's just down to finding one of my own...
http://www.vintageclassiccamera.com/

Cinderella Shoot

As Cinderella is usually seen as a Disney princess, I decided that I wanted to portray the working world of Cinderella in her rags rather than her riches.  I began by using the model to do everyday housework and jobs and photographed the various stages. This worked well due to the lovely natural sunlight both outside and streaming in through the kitchen window.

To modernise the story further, I used a bed-time slipper to try on instead of a glass heel as the word has a few meanings. In the original story, her step-sisters try on the slipper by cutting off parts of their feet such as toes and heels in order to get to the prince, but with a bed-time slipper, the sizes can be very vague and not made to fit, meaning that it could belong to anyone, showing the impossibility of finding someone by just having their shoe left behind.

Georgie Porgie Shoot

 The photo on the top left was taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt on V J Day in Times Square, it shows the 'stranger' relationship between a celebrating sailor and an unsuspecting woman on the streets. To relate this to Georgie Porgie the poem:

'Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie,

Kissed the girls and made them cry,

When the boys came out to play,

Georgie Porgie ran away!'

I wanted to change the meaning due to the development of relationships in modern day society. People meet their partners at pubs and clubs these days and due to the addition of alcohol, people tend to just go for a meaningless kiss and then proceed to regret it the next morning.

My idea is to re-create Alfred Eisenstaedt's VJ Day kiss scene as it is an iconic moment and image in history and the act itself suits the rhyme and almost redeems the romance to a kiss even without a relationship. The idea of re-creating an old photograph in a modern style brings the two eras together and leaves a choice of colour photos or black and white.

I also experimented with a slow shutter speed to create a blurred movement of Georgie Porgie running away after kissing the girl whereas she is still in focus. This effect works quite well as an action of the rhyme as it explains it well and the expressions are spot on.

Sleeping Beauty Shoot

 

These images were taken during my 'Sleeping Beauty' Shoot- the aim for this  is to create a modern day version of the original tale. As the original story relates to themes of rape as sleeping beauty wakes up pregnant, I want my version to show the idea of a typical teenager waking up in bed after a long night out, messy hair and make-up smudges on her face. Instead of being trapped inside a tower, her angry parents have confined her to her bedroom as a punishment where she begins to lose her mind, fuelled with the anger for her parents.

I think that this shoot went really well as I especially like the natural lighting coming in through the window. I tried to use reflections in the mirror to imply the facial expressions and the messy clothes on the floor to convey the idea of a quick entrance into bed after a night out. 

Little Red Riding Hood Shoot

 I decided to complete this shoot at night time with the lighting set up of just artificial street lamps to complete my modern day feel for Little Red Riding Hood. The idea for this shoot is that this sweet innocent girl can actually be a rebellious teenager and she defeats the wolf in the end (according to Roald Dahls Revolting Rhymes book, she pulls a pistol out on the wolf). The red hooded cloak has been replaced with a red hoodie as these are seen as a stereotypical teenage item and has been matched by the red lipstick.

I wanted the model to look intimidating and fierce instead of scared, so I used the shadows to put her behind bars to mimic time in prison and gave her a blank but stern facial expression to finish it all off.

I think that the outfit and location worked really well but I was unsure about the lighting set-up because the darkness caused me to use such a high ISO that the images started to appear grainy. Fortunately, I was shooting in RAW giving me some power over rectifying this grainy texture, but I think I may need to experiment with the images more and maybe keep them a little darker in the shadows for a mysterious tone. If I am still not happy after this then I will consider a re-shoot and plan for back-up lighting conditions such as more street lamps in the town centre or an additional flash gun to illuminate the scene (even in the day time as a directed flash at the model can send the background into darkness).

Little Miss Muffet Shoot

The idea behind my 'Little Miss Muffet' shoot was to replace the original lyrics of the rhyme with alternative or my own to modernise it. Items such as a 'tuffet' and 'curds and whey' are quite old fashioned terms so I aim to replace these with items such as the bench, box or steps and a packed lunch or jam on toast.

I decided to stick with the idea of a white dress but to make it more creative, I used a rockabilly style with a skull print, and fixed an apron to the front of it. Pigtails demonstrate her youth as the original rhyme is about an insect scientist's daughter running away from an escaped spider) but the small heels show her teenage years/woman hood.

I shot these images in a RAW format with my DSLR on location in a park scene, near some trees as an enclosed area and then moved to a set of steps to emphasise how Miss Muffet ran away. Using a slow shutter speed and continuous shooting, I created a series of images (below in black and white) that demonstrates her journey as the spider remains motionless. This movement is quite creative and is extremely effective in sequence, especially in relation to other formats such as a flip book, comic strip or stop motion-animation movie.

My favourite photo is the one above because of both the facial expression and the juxtaposition of significant objects in the scene such as the toast and the spider on her leg. This portrays the modern side of the rhyme as most people don't suffer from arachnophobia and although she looks nervous, she isn't moving or running away.

Overall, I was pleased with the shoot outcome as they turned out more creative than I had first thought and represents my alternative ideas very well.

Snow White Shoot

So, I completed my first shoot in the theme of Snow White, and as luck would have it, snow had fallen the night before leaving an ironic gesture at the pun of  'Snow White'. This idea works well because it helps to modernise the original story alongside the 'fashion catwalk' style of modern day.

'Her skin as white as snow'- this is definitely shown by these images as she looks so pale and innocent, especially in contrast with her red lipstick and the red apple.

After researching the original story, and alternatives, I came across a version where she runs in to the Forest and finds a job in the town there and lives with the seven dwarfs. One night, she then returns to the castle to steal the mirror and as the dwarfs were ex horse jockeys, they asked the mirror which horses to bet on and therefore became very rich indeed.

I was extremely pleased after I had finished this shoot as the outcome proved very successful and the costume was very effective. This was a direct link to both the original story and the brief as it represents the idea of Snow White through the costume, yet contains the hidden pun and idea of the fashion parade.

FMP Proposal/Brief

Hello. I thought that  i’d begin by telling you a little bit about the my FMP, so i’ve decided to paste the project brief describing my ideas and how I will go about creating and developing this further.

‘The Other Version’ is a self-initiated project, working towards the production of a blurb book containing sections of 6-12 nursery rhymes and fairy tales, yet the uncensored versions before Disney. I hope to photograph these versions of the stories as a real life scene compared to the Disney cartoon, bringing the images to life. The book idea relates to a fairy story book that can be read to a child, yet has been re-edited double fold for adults, leaving the possibility for huge experimentation. This project will help to extend my knowledge, understanding and creative ability through the development of new and existing skills including, studio work, using equipment on location, the format of photography and learning medium format as well as developing my skills on Photoshop during post production of my images.
My initial influence came from the increasing number of ‘re-made’ films such as Snow White and the Huntsman, as well as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. I would like to select individual nursery rhymes or fairy stories that I can re-create, narrowed down to plausible and choices given the model, costumes and location. Contextual references include Roald Dahl books, Brothers Grimm and the author of the original Disney stories (before editing). These are relevant to my ideas as they all show a twist in response to a childish fairy story. I intend to research subject areas such as nursery rhymes, fairy stories (original and Disney) and the idea of a children’s story being derived from a horror. Sources of information include books containing the stories themselves and the original versions (possibly found on the internet) as well as the re- makes of particular films for inspiration.
I intend to experiment with both film and digital processes, possibly using the technique of cyanotypes or warm tone paper for a sepia effect, as oppose to Photoshop. This could help me explore and develop my ideas due to the controversy that a new version is being seen in an old, film, sepia format. I would like to compare processes both on location and in the studio for the desired effect; therefore using studio lighting and natural lighting outside, yet post production will allow me to use Photoshop for further experimentation. As we have 11 weeks to complete this project, I have planned my journey from week to week with the use of a tick list including idea generation/development, shoots, and evaluation.
Initially and on-going, I will use personal, detailed evaluations of my work and then I will create feedback sheets for other students/tutors to comment on my work for criticism and possible improvements. Continuing evaluation, I can add tasks to my time schedule tick list. My method of evaluation is similar for each task with a series of questions to be answered about each point. In addition to this, I will also display a comment book at my final exhibition to gather a critical response and include a supporting statement at the end of my project to ensure critical analysis.