Matchbox styling suggestions...

Over the past couple of days I have been having a think about the styling for our Matchbox photoshoot.

I have some ideas that aren't solid ideas at the minute just ideas we as a group can think about.

I realise that the shoot is based around this idea of consumerism and an almost army of women: these women want all these things that are popular or on trend at the minute and we are wanting to look at the concept and bring out the individual in the image, we want to make a heavy point on the individual i.e the model. Our images are being created to question and highlight why we are a ‘mass consumer’ society. We want to create a literal uniformed look, making the mannequins strongly similar and making the model stand out and show her identity. The mannequins could almost be made out to look like a Barbie doll-highlighting the very fake look.

Here's my thoughts;

-I think whatever clothing we get needs to have a military feel to it because of the idea of the uniform and row of models/mannequins- militant looking
-with the earth/air/fire/water idea in mind- we could choose different pieces of clothing that you wear when in earth /air/ fire /water circumstances- i.e swimwear, safari/utilarian look/ summer wear etc....
-we could go for earth/air/fire/water literally with the colour palette of the clothing. earth- natural tones: air-sheer fabrics, ice blue: fire-hot reds, oranges: water-blues, violets

With regards to the idea of the smokey look of the photograph, and the post I have spoke about on here with the idea of using a mirror to make the model and mannequin multiply, we could take the images from the reflection in a mirror, if you check out one of our photographers' blogs, Moira took an image of a model through the mirror and the debris that was on the mirror created a nice smokey,uneven effect.

Another idea when considering the styling for the matchbox shoot, we could literally look at a subculture or a certain type of person in a group i.e western guys, army military: people that are always in a group and take styling ideas from their group??? as we are takin imagery of a group of women/mannequins/models.

We could literally play with the idea of reflections: maybe use a mirror for the reflection but with post production take control of the reflection and change the reflection to something more ironic for the consumerism theme????

We are having a group meeting tomorrow so some of the ideas will be discussed tomorrow.

I will keep you guys posted :)

1950's focused

The stereotypical 1950's housewife look is following me everywhere: I would love one of these lovely Mad Men dolls please...

Projector Testing

During our developmental stage, Moira and Adam tested the shots of locations they had scouted and projected the images on top of the mannequin to see if the look is something we want and to see wether it would be successfull. We realised that doing projection again, in terms of from our last project: would show a development of work and work processes.

As you can see from the images the projection of the location shots looks strong just as it is, it may be good to look into styling the mannequin with only photographs of locations as another project, but for this, for myself and Marie to style the model or mannequin, the image as a whole would look too busy.

Cindy Sherman

An artist we need to consider for our ‘Matchbox’ shoot is Cindy Sherman.

Sherman is an American photographer and film director, she is well known for her conceptual portraits where she herself, is always the model. For each photographic project she seems to take on roles of different characters for her work. In 1981, a project named ‘Centerfolds’ questioned the idea of stereotyping women in films, magazines and TV. In discussion about this project, Cindy stated,

"In content I wanted a man opening up the magazine suddenly look at it with an expectation of something lascivious and then feel like the violator that they would be. Looking at this woman who is perhaps a victim. I didn't think of them as victims at the time... But I suppose... Obviously I'm trying to make someone feel bad for having a certain expectation."

In 2006 there was an exhibition, a retrospective for Sherman‘s work: a spokesperson for the exhibition spoke their thoughts on the pieces:

‘What emerges through these images is a subtle analysis of individual identity, both the fantasies that it generates and the forces that shape it. This immersion in the uncertain, conflictual zones where individual identity struggles with the collective imaginary, stereotypes and issues of symbolic power, can be either playful or—when it touches on horror and repulsion, on the decay and dismembering of the body—very dark’.

Sherman’s work seems to question roles and identity, specifically of women, this I think will naturally come through within our images for the matchbox photo shoot. When thinking about mass consumerism, it is usually women that seem to have the want and need to be ‘similar’ in society, yet somehow, women tend to want to be unique in society. Our images are created to question and highlight why we want to be a ‘mass consumer’ society. Not only does Sherman’s work have more complex meaning’s but, when looking at her imagery she commonly looks like a mannequin: her look isn’t heavily natural- this could be good for us to look at for make up ideas for the shoot. Sherman is very ironic and literal in her shoots, I like this.

Graham Dolphin

In our lecture the other day, where we discussed art and fashion: its crossovers and links, we were given plenty of names of creative people in creative industries and one man that stood out to me, when considering our ideas for the ‘matchbox’ shoot, was Graham Dolphin.

His name stuck out because Adam explained to us his projects and the work Dolphin creates: within his work he specialises in defacing beauty and fashion imagery, this is something I think we are wanting to consider in our shoot, whether it be on the day of the shoot or through post production. Dolphin's almost compulsion of re-presenting the objects, images, sounds and music of fashion as well as popular culture, is Dolphin's trademark in his work. Dolphin’s work focuses on objects and icons of the music and fashion industry, modernising them into constructed imagery that highlight obsessions with the progressive world of mass culture. In our shoot we want to highlight and look at ideas surrounding mass consumerism and ideas with complexities, rather than creating fashion imagery that just looks like ‘pretty’ and beautiful imagery. Each of us in the group prefer imagery that has underlining meaning.

I love the fact that Dolphin works onto his objects and images and adds layers to the imagery. His main way of introducing fashion in his work is through fashion advertisements- he kinda vandalizes the imagery and turns them into something else. Dolphin’s book, ‘Everything in Vogue’ mainly focuses on Dolphin’s fashion work but also portrays other projects he has been involved with.

Mixing models

I came across this image the other day when looking through my inspirations folder (for my still life shoot): the image could influence our matchbox shoot. The styling and the image looks quite dated but it's good to look at the use of mixing models with mannequins. The make up and the poses are good to look at too.

MCmagazineenizagamCM

Yesterday I was sent an email from MCMag online-there current issue to be exact.

In the issue (MC Online magazine April 2010) I came across a photo shoot that influenced my thinking for our 'Matchbox' shoot.

The photo shoot story name was 'Reflex': a shoot looking at the idea of reflections with the use of mirrors and little clothing. There was a specific image that really caught my eye, the use of the mirror in this image made the woman obviously multiply: it looked really effective and quite disturbing. In the same story there was another image that played with the look of the model, and changed her shape immensely. We are thinking about the idea of beauty and fashion and changing the concept of these for our story. In terms of considering this shoot, the art director seems to be questioning the same theme.

Mannequin and Lighting testing

Last week the two photographers tried and tested the lighting in the studios on a mannequin.

The images look really successful, I love the use of coloured lighting, it helps adds something to the images and the mannequin is perfect, she looks very realistic. In terms of styling, I think if we do tests from one extreme to the other meaning, we could use for instance, a simple suit and see what the image looks like with the lighting then we could test styling ideas with clothing that has more detail: the lighting I think will work better with the detailed clothing because it will show up the creases and contrasts in the clothes. The simple styling however may add a mysterious kinda creepy sense to the uniform of women and mannequins.




Photography: Moira Yardley-Sprunt and Adam Beazley

Guy Bourdin

A film sent to my email from Hintmag.com, for 'When the Sky Fell Down: The Myth of Guy Bourdin'.

When considering our 'matchbox' shoot, Guy Bourdin, I think, is a photographer that we should look at and research.

Fashion Photography and the North

After looking at Fashion and Art and its crossovers, we then looked at Fashion photography and the north: predominantly at Agyness Deyn.

It seemed that when Deyn became famous, so did the north. When she began gaining more fame, she moved to London to ‘follow her dream’ but Adam, our lecturer mentioned that she had moved to London, previously, then came back up north, and then moved back to London. We very rarely hear of this part of her life, it seems the media really wanted to build up the hype and the aspirational aspect of this ‘northern lass’ fulfilling her dream.

We also looked at fashion shoots that Deyn had been in and analysed the imagery. I really like Agyness Deyn as a model I love her look, my liking of her became stronger as her fame did, she was seen in every magazine and newspaper. There was a shoot she did for I.D. in fact the whole issue was dedicated to her, a couple of years ago which I loved. But, as we analysed the imagery in the class, you can really see that the photographers and the creative directors that showcased this new model, didn’t really choose creative ideas that successfully, the imagery kinda patronised Northern culture by using heavily stereotypical Northern settings and stereotypes.

We looked at the shoot for Vogue, in 2008 named ’Angel of the North’, shot by Tim Walker.

The shoot portrayed this northern girl in heavily stereotypical northern settings. For instance, the shoot was shot in a country-like setting, quite nostalgic like, it looks like it was shot in a northern place, near to where Deyn was born (very near to Preston) but they chose a location that is probably the most northern (geographically) in the UK. The shoot had quite a romanticised view of the north, compared to ‘Mass Observation’ a photo shoot shot in the mid 30’s in Bolton. The idea of the ‘kitchen sink’ cinema is really highlighted in the shoot, the imagery looked similar to that of the film ’A taste of Honey’ in comparison to the shoot shot for I.D. magazine in may 2008 named ‘Origins’.

Deyn had been placed in Manchester, there’s an actual shot of Deyn’s college where she used to study when she was younger and again it seems the photographer and art director chose creative elements that weren’t very creative and were too obvious. The images seemed to just celebrate the working class of the north, almost like saying that the whole of the north were like this there were no other types. I mean, yes it’s a positive thing that fashion moved out of the capital, showing that fashion isn’t only embraced in the capital but around the UK, but still it seems too typical and literal.

Fashion and Art: the crossover

We had a double whammy lecture today, Fashion and Art and Fashion photography and the north.

I was looking forward to the lecture, I knew we would be introduced to plenty of creative people: people I have come across before and new people I haven’t. We were first looking at fashion and art.

I come from both an art background and a fashion background, they naturally crossover whether it be through literal ways, anyone remember the season when Vivienne Westwood had the help from school children who designed artwork that Vivienne used for her collection? Well, this was a literal connection, but naturally what we all see and involve ourselves with influences parts of our lives- I find this is how my natural crossover came from with regards to art and fashion.

At the beginning of the lecture we discussed ways which we though art and fashion were and became connected;

Fashion and art;
-they are both creative subjects-help each other
-fashion has a widespread publicity-art wants this
-influential to each other
-fashion is a representation of social culture and politics
-fashion has a different history to make reference to
-fashion is more accessible
-fashion-commercial more so than art
-both areas seek financial backing
-art-respect-art has an aura
-art seems to have more depth and credibility

After our thoughts Adam broke down the concept down into categories. Firstly looking at the fashion exhibition. It’s interesting to think about how images in certain places are looked at differently, for instance Steven Meisel’s Versace adverts were seen in an exhibition, in a gallery but they were also used for commercial use. When thinking about this, I believe, when looking at the ads in a magazine your mind looks at the image in a different way-you tend to look at the image with a sense of want and commercial reasoning, but in a gallery space at an exhibition you tend to question the image more so than in a mag or newspaper- the meaning of the image is unpicked in your mind.

We were shown some examples where fashion and art have been side by side. The exhibition at the National Gallery, ‘Face of Fashion’; and exhibition at the V&A ‘Imperfect Beauty’ for example. It was nice to look at who at these exhibitions were really being exhibited and shown.

Throughout the lecture we were introduced to many creative people in the industry, some highlighted I want to research more, for instance Martha Rosler for her use of collage and Graham Dolphin for his media use and the way he ‘attacks’ beauty/fashion imagery.

The next section we looked at fashion and art, the crossover. We looked at works by Elsa Schiaparelli where she worked with surrealists; also Tracey Emin’s collaboration with Longchamp creating limited addition handbags. The publication that celebrated the crossover initially was ‘Purple’ magazine: they seemed to pioneer fashion and art before anyone really caught on.

After this section we examined the fashion show. We obviously looked at Alexander McQueen’s fashion shows: also Viktor and Rolf and Hussein Chalayan- all these designers I absolutely love, so I really enjoyed discussing their work and looking at their shows. We looked at the fashion show with relation to substance designers (emphasising the process over product); science (designers who give intense attention to technology of fabrics); structure (unique clothing construction- form over function) and statement designers (the designers who use the show to help make a statement).

After this part of the lecture I realised I need to do a lot of research into some professional creative’s in the industry;

-Martha Rosler
-Sam Taylor Wood
-Graham Dolphin
-Vanessa Beecroft (specifically for our matchbox photo shoot)
-Dash Snow (found objects-Polaroid’s)
-Cindy Sherman (specifically for our matchbox photo shoot) identity of women
-Alexander McQueen (specifically at the show with Joel Peter - the mirror room)

Final 4, Final photoshoot

Wow, what a busy week.

I finally did the photo shoot for the still life brief and I'm quite pleased with the images. Using the Cove to take the photos did prove a little problematic however; after all my hard work customising the hat for the shoot, I really wanted to emphasise the rouched material, and with adding lighting and some post production, on the MAC screen the images looked OK, but once printed some of them were quite dark, so in future I will be using the studio for whatever size work I am producing.

Other than the lighting in the images, as said I'm pleased, I believe I have shown the trend well. I aimed the images at RUSSH magazine (an Australian fashion magazine) as I think the images could look really well alongside the stories and articles they have in the publication. Also, a bonus, I checked out the RUSSH website to have a wonder at its current issue and the issue had a double page spread on the 'prim and proper' look of the Prada fall10 show alongside imagery of 50's women, style icons, and products so I think overall my images and my photo shoot story fit the magazine and its target audience.

Four Naturals

I was thinking about our shoot, and trying to generate some ideas that could be involved in the shoot: the other day I came across some images of a fashion shoot that was based under water, the model was photographed while under water, and this got me thinking about the four elements, when considering our initial product, the 'Matchbox' – earth/air/fire/water. At the minute I haven't a solid idea as to how to incorporate these elements, if we all want this, in the shoot but It's something I will think about.

We could bring the elements in the photoshoot through the styling or the make-up looks perhaps or the lighting used in the images.

Simply Similar

During our lecture today we needed to present our work done so far for our 'Matchbox' photo shoot.

It was great really to explain to the class our ideas, because if we were heading in the wrong direction, or indeed, if our idea is successful the class (full of creatives) can give our group some pointers as to where to look and what to research.

This is exactly what happened, we had positive feedback about the idea from our peers and most importantly Adam. We were given some ideas to research and one was to look into the fashion show, by Viktor and Rolf, where the designers based the look of the models on the actress Tilda Swinton's physical look.

I checked out the catwalk show and read some reviews for the show. This unified look between the models and the actress I think changes the way the viewer views the show, it changes the whole concept of the show, rather than the show just being a show, showing beautiful clothing and genius craftsmanship, but using the idea of similarities if not, exact copies of Tilda Swinton on every model adds a eerie sense really to the show. Maybe the designers wanted to really highlight the clothing because when you have seen one model, in this case, you have literally seen them all so your eyes may be more focused on the actual clothing when considering the other outfits? V&R stated that they 'wanted to do all our signatures, with the menswear and the couture influences, for an ageless modern woman.' this being their reasoning behind using Tilda Swinton as they did for the show.

We could maybe use the idea of the similarity between people in our photo shoot, not just through the styling of the clothing but the physical similarities between the model and the mannequin, this may be a challenge for us: to make both mannequin and model look so similar but with a good eye, we could pull it off I reckon. In this case, the look was very successful.

Jigsaw

As part of our still life brief we needed to source a jigsaw to include as a whole or partly in the still life styling shoot.

I searched high and low, really, for a jigsaw. It took me forever but I have found one that I'm happy with. It's a still life food jigsaw by Raymond Campell, from 1982. Obviously the jigsaw caught my eye as I was on the look out for a kitchen scene, or a food related scene, but also I loved the colour of the tiles in the background of the shot: very country farm -like.

I don't think I'm going to use the whole jigsaw, I reckon I will use the wine glass and bottle from the image and maybe use the cheese also in a shot...I don't know yet will have to see.