Update and Inspiration

I've been shooting quite a bit lately, faster than I can edit. I find it is kind of wonderful when this happens.  I only have three more shoots till I wrap up on my Capstone project.  But, of course even though the class will come to completion soon, the drive and quality of imagery that I have been working on this semester will not.

One of the best things about this semester is the amount of visual research I've been making time for. I thought I'd share work from some of my favorite photographers, at the moment.

Tim Walker

Lara Jade

Zhang Jingna

Capstone #3

I'm back in the studio with my third Capstone session. This time I focused on playing with different props, that I found at my local craft store, to enhance this "Dark Mother Nature" shoot. This shoot was really about using simple props and techniques to enhance my usual workflow. Sometimes, just adding a few extra elements could be the big difference in making a great image that much better.

With the help of my make-up artist we got a little wind action, something so simple can add so much. The slight movements in the models hair really add to the mood of this shot.

And trying out different textures in photoshop can turn a simple portrait into something dark and dramatic.

Capstone #2 and Planning

 Last week I shot the second shot for my absurd and surreal fashion series, I am shooting for Capstone.  Besides the trying to be more creative, another aspect of this project is to get myself to be more on top of planning the initial concept. Normally, when planning a shoot I tend to be a bit vague and leave more of the shoot up to the energy that is on set.  Now I do a lot more visual research and plan out my lighting diagrams before I even cast a model. I have also taken up drawing out a reference sketch so that I have a starting point.  It definitely makes the process run a lot smoother and I  believe it allows me to get better results from a session.

For this shoot I was influenced by ads for designer sunglasses. These are some examples I was really drawn to.

I've found it really helpful to sketch out an image to work from, even though 80 percent of the time it turns out completely different.

A sketch from the first steps of planning my smokey sunglass shoot.

I'm still in the process of editing my final image. 

Screen shot of my favorite image.

Capstone and Retrain my Artistic Brain

I often reflect on my work and the progress I’ve made over the last two years.  I was happy when I made the decision to go back to school, but I can’t help but feel that I lost a bit of myself artistically. My first few semesters where nothing but technical work, leaving little room to work on personal project. I’ve decided to rekindle what I’ve lost by creating a new body of work.

I am approaching this body of work very differently. Normally when I start shooting a photo series I work around a concept I’ve created, that reflects a strong personal connection to something I want to express visually, in the photos themselves. This time the importance of this body of work is not necessarily what I’m shooting, but why I’m shooting.

Over the next few months I will be creating a small body of work depicting absurd fashion with a heavy overlays of surrealism. The point of this series is to take my newfound knowledge and retrain my artistic brain. The plan is to learn how to successfully merge the artist I once was with the photographer I am now.

My work has definitely become more polished and professional, but I feel I have lost a very important and more artistic edge that used to be more apparent in my work. These are just a few examples of my current style.

I have been doing a lot of research, exposing myself to as much imagery as possible. I've come across so much amazing work that has begun to inspire me.