Monday 12 October 2015

Research Log

Alexander Smirnov
Alexander Smirnov, a photographer from St. Petersburg, photography since 2008. Prefers fashion, portrait photography. One of the main formal element he takes in nearly all of his photos is colour.  One thing that stood out to me about his work was the range of different image types he takes. For example, in his work you will find a range of high key style images, and another different types of beauty images where he includes this alongside fashion photography. I also love the range of different props that he uses in all of his image, which conform to the formal element of colour in which much of his work stands out from. In the image below, the element of colour has been used through the contrast of the females skin tone to the white background and headpieces. 




Yulia Gorbachenko
Yulia Gorbachenko is a fashion and beauty photographer based in NYC; she holds a Masters Degree in Digital Photography from the SVA in New York. Yulia's work has done extremely well, with shoot editorials for magazines including Elle in Germany, Russia, Ukraine and Bulgaria. Harpers Bazaar, Cosmopolitan and InStyle. One of the things I like about the work of Yulia Gorbachenko is the natural element she explores, where she goes out on location and uses natural lighting. As we can see from the images below, a lot of her images come across as being extremely pure, with the image on the lift exploring the use of makeup more with her finger nails and lips. 

David Benoliel
David Benoliel is a French photographer living in the United States between New York and Miami. He specialized in fashion photography and beauty, practicing professionally manipulation and editing his pictures, allowing to discover many faces flawless, makeup to perfection. A lot of his work follows a similar theme, however it is all different to work I have looked at from different photographers. It can be said that a lot of the fashion he uses follows a theme that was similar to the 1980's. 


Jamie Nelson
Jamie Nelson is a fashion and beauty photographer who lives in New York. She started work at 17 when she moved to a photography institution to study her hobby. Her work interests me through her use of different angles and the different approaches she takes upon photographing. Out of all the photographers I have studied, this photographer creates contemporary images. Nelson’s work can be seen in over a dozen international editions of  VogueAllure, ELLE , Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, L’Officiel, Cosmopolitan, Tush, Lula, and Vanity Fair to name a few.


Rankin
Rankin made his name in publishing, founding the seminal monthly magazine Dazed & Confused with Jefferson Hack in 1992. It provided a platform for innovation for emerging stylists, designers, photographers and writers. The magazine went on to forge a distinctive mark in the arts and publishing spheres, and developed a cult status forming and moulding trends, and bringing some of the brightest lights in fashion to the foreground.


Geoffrey Jones
Geoffrey Jones is a beauty photographer from Canberra in Australia. One thing that stood out to me about his work was the way he incorporated the same techniques among both male and female models. Whereas other photographers I have looked at only study beauty among females, this male photographer uses the same makeup but in a different way among men. This is shown through the two images above. Geoffrey Jones is a commercial photographer, who creates pictures for the advertising, beauty, fashion, editorial and real estate industries. He also uses water a lot, and a lot of his images use water to capture the effect that something so pure can appear on the body. 





















Simon Pais-Thomas
Out of all of the photographers I have looked at, Simon Pais is one of the most advanced technically in the different techniques he uses amongst his images. One example of his work is the image on the left, this image stands out to me as he has used many techniques. Blurring is used in the image which is strong enough so that the entire image is out of focus, however we are still able to identify the facial features and make up that the females face is covered in glitter. The image on the right is the complete opposite, with flowers covering the edges of the frame, the image appears more feminine. This is also done through make up on her face, with teal blue paint brush streaks highlighting her eyes and a much brighter frame. This shows the two different styles in images that Simon Pais can take. A lot of his fashion and editorial shoots have featured in popular magazines Elle (Mexico) and Vogue Latin America.  



















Steve Kraitt
Steve Kraitt is a fashion and beauty photographer based in London, England. He specialises in advertising, commercial and editorial photography, however when I look at his images I will be looking at his conceptual work and hi end digital retouching. The reason I looked at this side of his work as appose to the other aspects is because I feel as though all of the other images are very old fashioned in the techniques they use and the positioning of the frame. I feel like this may be because the images are fairly old, and therefore the different styles of them are similar and follow the same approach. Out of the three portfolios that he has created for different companies, they are all based around different eye ware companies in London. As this was not relevant to my topic, I wanted to look at his other work which was more fun and creative. 














Cybele Malinowski
Cybele Malinowski is a fashion photographer who works with many different organisations when taking her photographs. One of my favourite shoots of hers is one with the Welsh RSPCA, in which she took photographs of models with the different animals. I personally thought this was a beautiful shoot, and was truly inspirational to show beauty alongside different walks of life on the earth. Model-Maison is a project of love and dedication that has seen Cybele shooting models in their bedrooms all over the suburbs of Sydney, LA, London, Ukraine and Shanghai. Cybele gives the model the freedom to style themselves and they work together on creating a world somewhere between fashion and realism. Despite the proliferation of social media, models remain an endless source of fascination and Model-Maison gives the consumer a rare look into their lives. Model-Maison has been almost 2 years in the making, but is set to be a sought-after and unique offering in a crowded digital space.



Gulcin Mutlu
http://www.gulcinmutlu.com
Gulcin Mutlu is a Turkish photographer who has created portfolios for U.S. Polo Assn and Aqua Girl. One of my favourite shoots by this photographer was one including the image below. In this image, we can see a range of portrait shots in which a females face has been covered entirely in sharp streaks from a pencil. We can see from the images that the photographer has taken a lot of time and hard effort in order to achieve this effect. The formal element shown in this work is evidently colour, with the colour enhanced with the dark background. This shoot is really inspiring to me, and shows the range of ways in which I can frame my work and also exhibit the formal element of colour more aggressively as appose to the soft brushes of paint which is often used when people incorporate makeup within beauty and fashion photography. One thing I do not like about the rest of the Gulcin Mutlus' work is that is is not very similar to my course, I like the range of locations in which she uses and the bold underlining of colour among the different styles of these shoots.


Ruby James
http://www.rubyjamesphoto.com
Ruby James is a Seattle based portrait and fashion photographer. Ones of the things I love about the work of Ruby James is through the bold portraits that she creates by using paint powders and other creative colours. Another inspiring thing about her pieces of work is the way she also uses a natural element when creating her work. This is done by transforming her models in the studio by using colour and strong makeup, however whenever they go outside and she takes on location shoots, she uses very subtle makeup and soft lighting to highlight the natural beauty. The coloured image below is one of my favourite by her, as the models facial expression and composition in the shot stands out to me as it contrasts too the two tones of blue which have been splattered over her.


Daniela Glunz
Daniela Glunz is a beauty photographer based in Hamburg, Germany. She has produced a wide range of work for all different magazines which are extremely high profile. Some of her work has featured on the front cover of magazines such as Glamour, GQ, Vanity Fair IT and Vogue ES. Some of her influential work includes a shoot in which she undertook for ZINK magazine where she used nude models and even created the masthead of the magazine with nude models making up the letters. I like the work of Daniela Glunz as the makeup used and the dark colours stand out to me. 


Zachary Sutton
https://zsuttonphoto.com
Zachary Sutton is a Los Angeles photographer specialising in headshots, portraits, events and weddings. Zach's passion is to take great photos that contain a style unlike other photographers which I have looked at. He takes a range of images which are shown in this style and explores the different concepts in which you can explore in beauty photography. On the left, we can see that the photographer has shown the female to be covered in kisses, she is also wrapped in white bed sheets and has hair which is backcombed to make the viewer assume she has just woken up. On the right, we see a completely different image in which the model is holding up a lightbulb and it is the source of the image. I like this image as we can see the female is covered in a much softer image where the light is holding a golden glow among the shot.






















Andrew Mcgibbon
http://www.andrewmcgibbon.co
Andrew McGibbon is a photographer and conservationist based in London. He is currently an artist in residence at the Hornsey Town Hall Arts Centre, working on a project called 'Animal Lectures' as well as taking on commercial commissions. He specialises in photographing animals with flash, human and non-human. One thing I have noticed throughout the different shoots in which he takes is the use of the formal element of colour. In the first image, we can see the use of the paint powder and the fast effect in which we see it being thrown amongst the model. The photographer may have used a really fast shutter speed to capture the high speed images or he could've filmed the images and then taken screenshots from each of the frame.



Justin Grant
Justin Grant is a commercial photographer includes clients such as Sony Playstation, MGM Corp, Majesco, Matrix Fitness, Icon Fitness, City Creek - Taubman Group - SMZ, Maggie Sottero, The Light Group, Xyience, Christian Audigier, Rock'n'Roll Marathon, Miss USA Universe, Descente Ski Wear, Del Sol, Cariloha, KT Tape and JayBird Sports. One thing that I have found is evident amongst a lot of his beauty photography is the natural element in which he uses for his shoots. As we can see in this image below, he studies beauty in this shoot by looking at the purity and femininity of the female he has used and uses very high key lighting with a light grey background. The white and clean image has been followed through in the second image where the female is seen cupping water in her hands. I like this shoot as it enables me to look at beauty within natural elements. 



Jonathan Knowles
http://jknowles.co.uk
Advertising portfolio including OMO, Guinness, McDonalds McCafĂ©, Schweppes, Fairy, Dairy Milk, Vodafone, Westfields, O2 and Smirnoff. With this extremely diverse portfolio in working with companies, Jonathan Knowles has picked up a range of different techniques and a fun style within his work. While his work for such huge TNC's include Smirnoff, when I study his work I look at the beauty of his products and the way in which they're shown. This level of photography is very in depth  and looks at the way in which products can be shown to appear beautiful just as humans and actions that we do can make us feel beautiful. For example, the O2 advert looks at the simplicity of water and therefore this can be seen as beautiful through the way in which it has been photographed.



Viktoria Stutz
Viktoria is a beauty and cosmetic photography currently resides in Hamburg, Germany. She was born and raised in Kassel where she discovered her love for photography at an early age. She early developed her special interest for body and skin and focused on developing her own style which is defined by clarity and pureness. Since then, her work has been featured in many editorials and has clients including Selfridges, HUF magazine and Vivel India. From one of the pieces of work I have chosen, Viktoria explores different positions in where he places the model. In the image on the left, the models face is partially covered with her strands of hair. As this is the case, we are unable to see the face as clearly. Although this is still effective, as the shot has focused on the jewellery and her green hair. In the image on the right, we see a completely different approach to this style, as her hair has been swished upwards and her posture is effectively indirect to the viewer. 


Elisabeth Hoff
http://www.elisabethhoff.com
Elisabeth Hoff is a fashion, celebrity and beauty photographer working for major advertising and editorial clients in the UK and abroad. Based in London but born in Norway, she spent 5 years of her childhood sailing around the world, spending times in schools including Barbados and Pitcairn Island. As a result of this, she has a lot of different cultures after spending so much time in different continents. Eventually after a near death experience, Elisabeth decided to pursue her dream of being a photographer. As a result of this, she has created outstanding advertising campaigns for companies including Coca Cola, Nike, Red Bull Formula 1 and Harrods. Including celebrities Bob Geldof, Davina McCall, Jenson Button and Pippa Middleton. One aspect of her work which stood out to me, away from her adventurous advertising campaigns is the image below. This is where Hoff took both males and females and took a picture of them normally, she then went on to flip the image but transformed the models into those who were wearing makeup. This aspect appears feminine on the male, but still appears striking nethertheless. Elisabeth Hoff's work is a huge inspiration to me through her unique ideas.



TOMAAS
Born in Hamburg, Germany TOMAAS has lived in NYC for 18 years and is now based in Paris. His images have been and continue to be shown in an ever expanding number of international publications such as Vogue Italia, W Magazine, VS, Marie Claire, Qvest, Twill etc. His work has also been exhibited in several New York galleries. His work stands out to me as it is very original. One of his most popular shoots, named Candy Warhol, is based on the work of the previous artist. I love the variety in his work, and the way he looks at different social themes when photographing different models and placing them in different situations.

Jeff Tse 
Many photographers are driven by something singular in their imagery.  It is the essence of how they see their work.  Eventually it is how others will see their contribution as well.  Jeff's work is defined by the play of light and form.  His goal is to translate those subliminal forms into imagery that is timelessly beautiful.  Instead of catching passing trends, he strives to find forms of aesthetics that is universal across genre and cultural backgrounds.  Allure, Pantene, Covergirl, Dior Cosmetics, Fekkai, Harpers Bazaar, John Frieda, Marie Claire, Neutrogena, Seventeen, Teen Vogue, Vichy Cosmetics among others.






Friday 2 October 2015

High Key Lighting - Work Diary

Evaluation

Today in our photography lesson, we looked at High Key lighting and went to the studio to look at ways we can take images similar to those in our image bank. This wasn't a new technique that I hadn't looked at before, but the way in which we set the studio up and the lighting was new to me. Firstly, the lighting diagram above isn't completely accurate as we actually used two lights at the front in between the camera, they were both facing the subject which was positioned in the middle of the frame. Either side of them, we placed two white polystyrene walls which bounced the light back off of them and onto the model. This meant that there would be practically no shadows. One of the ways in which we got the background so bright was because behind the white walls, we placed two other lights at either side and used bright lights to make the background a solid white to decrease shadows. 





Josh Shoot














Thursday 1 October 2015

Definition of Beauty

Definition

a combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight.

Describe Beauty:

appealing, charming, exquisite, elegant, fascinating, enticing

In this image, we can see beauty is explored in a variety of ways. Firstly, there is a big contrast between the  colours used in the shot. There is a much darker background and harsh shadows on the females face. In contrast, the make up used is pale pinks and golds which conform to the pale face. The outer skirts of the frame are also darker, with soft shadows being used to highlight the cheekbones and a strong shadow on the neck. One of the main ways this image stands out to me is by the use of water and the way this is shown is through the bubbles of air we see floating in the picture. I think this is extremely effective as without the bubbles we cannot see that the female is in water, I also think it is a unique way of showing beauty, and highlighting the different ways this topic can go. 
I chose this image in my definition post as I feel like it stands out as different to what else I have looked at for inspiration. Where I used colour as a subtopic, this image shows me that photographs can be just as effective with the use of black and white. The use of black and white exaggerates shadows, and darkens several parts of the face. One of the main parts of the image which stands out to me is the eyes, as the photographer has used dark make up and harsh colours which make the eyes bold and draw the viewers attention to them. The hair also covers several parts of the models face, and makes the image feel messy and shows beauty in a different way especially from colour.

Alternatively, this image does use colour as a formal element to show beauty among the portrait shot. The framing of this image has been used to show just the lower half of the females face. The use of colours in this shot make it more feminine, as they have used pinks to highlight the eyes and the lips. The photographer has used a incredibly smooth face, which shows the powdered paint to stand out among the nude face. The photographer has also used pale lips, to make





Double Exposure - Straight Images