Photography and Photographic Practice Evaluation Robyn Collinson

Peer Evaluation:Some of my classmates gave their opinions and evaluated bits of my work, the majority of those who gave feedback said that they thought that my strongest bits were the ones in monochrome; “I really like the black and white images…they look really professional…it is very effective.” “…The black and white pictures were edited well and are aesthetically pleasing.”. I do agree that my black and white photos are some the best images and do compliment me as the photographer and April as the model. I had a few more negative comments about the post-production aspect of the photographs, for example that a lot had been over altered/edited which I am 50/50 on, some I do agree on but the majority, I don’t. One comment was that there was a few repeated images and it apparently got quite boring, this was a mistake as there was three identical images which was I had copied twice more than need by accident – I then altered this. My favorite final image, the one to the right, had comments about it being a strong and effective photo. Some of the evaluations also said that although my photos weren’t exactly the same but were quite similar, I could of reduced this by taking a few more different photos in various backgrounds on the shoot, I could change this now by swapping some of my favorite, final images to slightly different ones.

Visual language:I chose to do fashion photography and when deciding this, I analysed the work of Lord Snowden, also known as Antony Charles Robert Armstrong-Jones. He is a well-known English photographer who is best recognized for his fashion photography, he has shot for the likes of Vogue and Vanity Fair. Like Lord Snowden, I tried to capture photographs from all angles. I shot from various angles, and attempted to use different backgrounds in an aim to photograph my model with different colours. The description of the background could also help represent the picture and the mood of it. The representation of the picture, again, could also depend on the angle used to take the photograph. For example, the picture to the right, my model is laughing. It is a half body shot and the background is of some orange/red leaves, which also goes well with the autumn/winter clothes the model in wearing. Although, the orange is typically a bright colour, whilst doing postproduction, I darkened the background to bring the model to the foreground slightly.

Audience:I picture my photos to be in a fashion magazine, that typically, upper class yet younger women would read. The clothes my model is wearing are simple, yet nice and look like something along the lines of what someone who would read the magazine I would hope my pictures would be published in. Again, I tried to capture in the style of Lord Snowden or another photographer I am interested in, Ellen Von Unwerth, a German photographer. Although Von Unwerth specializes in capturing erotic femininity, she does also partly focus on standard fashion photography. Her work has been published in magazines such as Vogue, I-D, Vanity Fair and The Face and she has shot for the likes of Chanel, Victoria’s Secret and Guess.

Historical and cultural context:Considering the historical and cultural context of my work, I would say that in the current commercial practice, my work would fit in the more modern aspect, although the photographers I researched crossed between modern and past/vintage styled photography, I decided present and contemporary photography would be my strong point. The clothes my model is wearing helps indentify that it is more of a modern photography shoot, the angles I shot with and the facial expressions of the model also helps show that it is contemporary style. When looking at past photographers styles of shooting, I realized that the stance the model has tends to be a lot more posed and unnatural, whereas with my work, you see that the expressions of the model are natural and casual.

Intentions and fitness for purpose:When starting the project, I had very structured ideas about what I wanted to produce, this being a variation of good fashion photographs. Just before I conducted the shoot, I began to have mixed feelings about doing fashion photography and then began focusing on taking more architecture-based photographs but then soon realised that that genre of photography wasn’t for me so moved back to fashion photography. I think when looking back at all the photos I took and the ones that have been finalised, I achieved what I planned and I am very happy with the outcome of them. I also think that the photos that underwent post-production would fit in a higher end fashion magazine, such as Harper Bazaar or Vogue. One of favorite images, this one to the right, I think would fit perfectly in a fashion magazine as it isn’t too bright but isn’t is full black and white and has a bit of colour on it.

Final Images:Overall, I think my final images are generally aesthetically pleasing as they feature a range of stances, facial expressions, effects and angles. One of the images I would have liked to have had as one of my finals’ light balance was off, even with the brightness dimmed, it was still faulty. During the shoot and the post-production time, I realised how important it is to position the model in the photographs and that generally, it is a lot more aesthetically pleasing to place the model three quarters of the way across rather than placing them straight in the middle.