The unpredictability of teenagers...

I had everything planned, I took a lot of inspiration from Jacopo Pandolfi and had a lot of shots lined up in my mind. For my steam punk, I wanted to get a shot of him in the old part of town with the cobbled streets, stood isolated. I then wanted an image of him leaning against a worn brick wall staring at the camera with his gas mask on, to create a gritty street photography style.
I wanted a small emo girl, and to bring her sparkling black wings to stand her against a graffiti wall.

All of the very unusual and extreme stereotypes never showed up for the shoot and the majority of my photos had to be re-thought on the spot. So on the spot I used what I had around me. As it was an extremely sunny and hot day, the people I was photographing weren't exactly wearing their most extreme clothes. But then again, is that what the shoot was about? Yeah it was about youth fashion culture, but I had a look at the book Fruit by Shoichi Aoki. He captured Japanese youth culture and took photos of random people in the city. I like this documentary style approach, so I feel it may have been better that they were wearing what they wanted instead of being made up just for a photo shoot.

So I decided that I would follow my sister and cousins main group of friends around town, see the places that they naturally went too and then set up photos there. they went to a wide range of places, they went to the grassy park, to the main shopping area, to the marina and around the older parts of the town. Along the way, they bumped into more friends that were different and they all came together for a group photo (you'll know which one it is Mike).

All in all, it was a different day than I expected. Not the gritty street photography style that I was really after, but you never know, it could be just as good...

Posed vs Candid

I love my natural photos, just taking pictures of whatever goes on around where ever I am. It's probably why I love street photography so much as the most natural things I think are the most beautiful and interesting. However, for this project, I don't really think it is appropriate for this project. So I'm going to look at photography styles with and without posing.

One of my favourite photographers, Elliott Erwitt, did a mixture of posed and candid shots, but my favourites of his are the natural ones. This next one was a natural shot, he set it up for focus but the subjects were just passing by:

It's great for the right purpose of capturing the French culture.

This next one is also candid.

It's the right environment for this sort of shot, it wouldn't look as good posed.

Next I'll look at posed shots also by Elliott Erwitt.
This next one is of Marilyn Monroe, it looks right posed at it is a portrait

It may be due to the fact that she is an icon and we expect her to be picture perfect 24/7 but I think that it wouldn't have looked as good if it wasn't posed.

This is also posed and tbh I really like it. It fits its portrait purpose.

So, what do I think is best for this shoot?
Well, I think that posed shots would be best. As it's people in their environment, I really do think it would be more suitable. On the shoot I will take some candid shots too and see what they look like some may fit quite well in the sequence. These would be of the group of people together, could make some great shots.

All systems go!

I sent the message to my younger sister to tell her to gather the minions ready for saturday! I'm going to take a few approaches to make sure I get everything I need. One of my main subjects is my cousin, who is a very elegant goth, she's already got some photos done of her by various people. Here is one of the only examples i can find of her on facebook but there are some fantastic ones of her in a graveyard but i can't get them.

I have a feeling she will be one of my main subjects.

Other sorts of people I have that agreed to come and meet me on saturday are:
- Skaters
- Steam Punk
- Indie Kid
- Other goths
- Emos
- and i think a pirate?!?!

Just to do an evaluation of what sort of places are in the area when I'm shooting, I have a small church/graveyard, record stores, a marina, the whole facilities of the town in general and the place where all of these weird and wonderful teenagers meet every week (basically this massive hole in the ground).

My idea, to shoot them in this very plain environment where they meet, basically a bit like street photography. I think i have found an interest in this area of photography as I just want to keep revisiting this style. I'm not sure if they should all be posed or not yet, but I'm trying to think for the sake of the sequence. Here is an example of the sort of style I want to shoot it in:

I was also thinking to take photos of people in their stereotypical environment such as goth in graveyard etc but maybe them outside of where people would expect them to be.

Not sure yet, I'm gonna have to decide in the next few days.

Lets take a trip to Sin City...

I have found a new inspiration for my photography project. Bombastic to me means colour, but I don't think that full-blown colour would be the best way for the photos to be edited. For a start to my research, I looked at one of my favourite films Sin City. I love the way colour is used to highlight key objects or characters. Here are some examples underneath:

The only thing about Sin City, is that the colours are over exaggerated and the rest of the image is in black and white. I kinda want to lean away from black and white. I feel it's too overused for no particular reason. But what i want to do is use the image, tweak the brightness/contrast but to keep a key object or element in the picture in full colour. This should fit into my colour criteria.

To be quite honest, I will probably slip into the black & white street photography image style but at least I'm trying not too...

I've had a break-through!

My photography project has started moving, finally, less than 2 weeks before the deadline. Bombastic to me means in your face and reminds me of younger teenagers (15-16). So I went on a few digital dictionaries where I got the definitions pretentious and inflated. But what got me thinking was the rhetorical meaning "emphasizing style at the expense of thought" How many times when you were younger did you brave the extreme cold or heat just to look good? I know I did quite a few times!


So then I liked my idea, my younger sister has an array of weird and wonderful friends, but earlier I lost confidence in it. But then I came across Jacopo Pandolfi. He photographs youth culture in London in an environmental portraiture style. It is exactly what i wanted! So this has really sparked my idea! Here is his website.


Must remember this to go in my research file!

BOMBASTIC!

I hate that fucking word! It has been the bane of my life for the past week. I have a photography project on environmental portraiture and this was the word I picked out of the teapot (don't ask). Being a very random word, all i can think of is Shaggy- Mr Bombastic. So, 12 photos on the topic in 2 weeks, any idea on what theme I can do for it?

In other news, I have done quite a few other photography projects. I did the alphabet street photography project, as shown earlier in the blog, raggaphotos and an Elliot Erwitt style collection of photos. All can be found on my Flickr site. www.flickr.com/photos/aleyshaminns

Comments are muchly appreciated.

Marmite syndrome...

I have been the worst person for keeping up this blog. Over the past few weeks/month I have learnt a lot about myself, about what I can actually achieve in media and where I ultimately want to go. I'm right at the end of my first year at uni, only 2 weeks and 3 days left! Eeep! I've made my choices for next year finally, after changing them around 3 times, running back and forth to and from the office asking for my form back! If you saw some of my earlier posts, you may know that After Effects and I aren't the best of friends. However, I am glad to say we have made up! I have started to really enjoy it and it is one of my 2 options for next year along with single camera.

Me and After Effects have such a love/hate relationship...