Images for the project

I feel these images give a good understanding to how I have try to get that subject doing different things but to still work around the brief.

My feeling on how the shoot went were, that I found it easy to work with the subject as they had a understanding of what I wanted, I wanted to show the connection with the young which work and the problem with debts and no being able to get a good job because of this.

I feel I really have showcased these problem with in the final image and that I try to show with in these images that I wanted to try a number of sitting and standing postion before I committed to the final image.

Camera and lens.

I used this camera over my full framed camera as I wanted to view them on my digital LCD screen on the back of the camera, and with this having a better on it would be the best choice.

I was worried that people were going to think that I pick this because of that and that I would not care about image quality because of choosing this over the full frame. But I was happy with the quality of image which would get off this anyway.

I used the Canon 50mm prime lens because of how good it is with depth and it is a stunning lens to use for portraits, I wanted a good sharp image around the eyes on the subject as this was a important element to the image.

Overall I feel my final portrait were well shot with this camera and lens and I feel I will use these again for any other portrait I do. I have got a job to do with the college, taking portraits of all the people which are finishing this year and I may try this lens out then as I didn't use it last year, but I feel this will be a good thing to review for this year portraits.

"But, it is for a fact that the best optical quality is delivered by prime lenses (fixed focal length, no zoom lenses). Why? In simple words, because they use a smaller number of glass elements inside the lens, which means lesser loss of quality, and hence better pictures."

http://digital-photography-school.com/the-50mm-f18-%E2%80%93-small-wonder

www.thephoblographer.com
www.the-digital-picture.com

lighting

This is a video which I watched about lighting, I feel I also learn best off showing videos or having someone showing me how to do, instead of reading a book. I love how the photographer is showing with drawing on the diagrams where the light is going to fail on the subject as this gives me a better understand about light and where it fails on a subject.

Overall I feel the photographer did a good job at the portrait and it truly shows the character of the subject with how they dressed and the environment they are in. I also feel a now have a better understanding about lighting a subject too with me doing my project which is on portraits.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maM4dWbK0A0

Project Summary (Dazed and Confused contemporary portrait of youth brief)

At the start I chose this brief from the D&AD because of the quality and diverse briefs which are available from the D&AD website. When first assessing the brief I foolishly got into the mind set of “Oh its just another photography brief” and put it to one side for a good number of weeks and devoted a lot of my time to other work and my input to the group project.

Now after evaluating and concluding this brief I fear I have let myself down regarding my devotion and commitment to this brief. As stated at the start of the year that this brief was our final one so it should showcase the quality of our research, development and to show what quality of work I can do. I feel I got into that unprofessional mind set because of how easy the last D&AD brief was, which I did last year but now looking back on it I foolishly let my professional standard slip, and I feel I have not took advantage of the time frame I was given to do this brief.

When starting the research on this brief I soon found myself struggling because of the style of work which Dazed and Confused publishes and works in. I feel that calling it a very modern and surreal style of photography, where the story and emotion behind the image takes more priority over the actual quality and photographical knowledge, can only sum up this style.

After seeking feedback from my tutor regarding the problem that I landed myself in as I only allowed myself three to four weeks to fully complete this brief. The feedback I got was quite short but constructive, he told me to simply read and research around the subject, which was a contemporary portrait. After seeking this feedback this settled my concerns about this brief but only for a small time. I feel I was so unsettled regarding this brief due to the nature and style which I needed to work in as I have worked successfully with people and portraits for a good number of years but this really pushed me out my comfort zone.

“Where the comfort zone becomes a problem is when we are stuck in it, when we don’t let ourselves move on with the natural flow of life. When we hold ourselves back and hide in our comfort zone we are effectively saying no to life.” Smith, J. (2012)

I knew to get an initial concept for this brief I needed to conduct a survey which would give me vital information about what worries the youth of today. I conducted this survey and got back the information that I needed to justify my reasoning behind this concept. I also tried another larger sized survey on social networking sites so I could get more statistics but due to time and possibly the target audience I was hitting, I was unable to get back any solid feedback on this survey.

I felt it would be wise to look into practitioners that work in the industry, which do portrait photography and from this I would be able to learn and see how they do it and to add my own personal twist on my final image. Overall I looked at seven different photographers which have made a successful career from working within the field of portrait photography, I was also pleased to see all different styles from all the different photographers and to see how they all put their own personal input into each image to make it a successful image.

I also found it helpful to look into what a portrait communicates as this helped me to work out how I wanted my final portrait and how I wanted it to communicate the message of worry, debt and job loss within the youth of today. The other key elements of my research were looking at how light effects and change a portrait and how portraits are seen and described like within the industry.

After this research I felt confident to start shooting development images for my project. Now looking back I should of give myself more time to conduct these images as there is a number of different styles in and out of the studio, which I wanted to experiment with. Yet again I feel this problem is down to time I allotted myself to do it in, throughout the shoots I started to develop an idea on how I wanted my final image to be.

I have done a series of mock-ups to test and try different background to show different emotions within the image. I settled with what seemed at first as a standard head and shoulder portrait, but I started adding elements to this image so it would be interlinked with my concept. The elements which I introduced to the image is a sense of the subject being blocked into the frame with the letters acting as a wall which the subject needs to knock down before they get their final goal. These letters are representing the student debt aspect of the concept, and with me using the background and environment my advantage I was able to get the feeling that the subject was unable to get the job they wanted after going through higher education because of the job cuts and economic crisis which is happening at the moment throughout the world.

Overall I feel with the problems I have given myself regarding the motivation and commitment to this project I have successfully executed the final image to a standard that fits the brief. I feel it is a portrait that I will use within my portfolio because of the personal story and the feeling this portrait gives off. 

Evaluation of final image

This is my final image, which I have done for my project to take a portrait of contemporary youth.

The concept I have made behind this image was to show that the young, ages between the age of 18 to 25 years old, struggling to get into employment after having gone to university or finishing higher education.

I have used a number of elements to get this image right, are these are:

Using the letters in the foreground as a wall to block the subject to getting out of this problem of student debt when they finishing higher education.

With the logo of Student Finance being noticeable and in focus gives the connection to student debt and with the letter being half way up the face shows the sense of being blocked in by them.

I got the subject to wear there uniform, to get them into the character of how they feel when working in their dead end job. At first I was not to bothered about having the uniform in shot as all I wanted to for them to be in character.

I am happy how the subject is starting into the camera with a sense of worry and stress with in there eyes. I feel this is a key element to this portrait as the eyes draw you into the image and give it the true feeling of angry and a sense of the subject being unsettled with there situation. I also think that

The background I have selected shows the problem with the world today with all the cuts and job lose out there. I feel this complete and into link all of elements of the image together. I feel the background is well balances and bold to give the image a 3D effect.

I used nature lighting for this image for a number of reasons, The first being that I felt that it would test my skills on lighting to get the image well lit and to get the right exposer with in the image with out using flash lighting and to get out of the studio. The second reason is, because of time I felt that I would be rush in a studio location and I felt because of the time I had left to do the shooting I would be better off shooting at a slower pace than I would be with in a studio.

Overall I feel that this evaluation truly explains my image of contemporary youth and the image itself show cases all the elements which I wanted it to show. These elements were debt, worry and job loss I got these elements from a survey which I did as part of my project research. 

Using the environment

Within this project I am aiming to use the environment in which my subject is in to enhance the final portrait. I feel these are good examples of how you can use the environment in which you are shooting to enhance the image. I do not think these images would be half as good if the author did not use space and environment within these images.


I feel i'm going to use this method of using the environment in my images to enhance the final artwork in quite a lot of my photography as I feel this would work well in everything from motorsports to weddings.

http://portfolio.joemcnally.com

Portraits

image 1

 Image 2

 Image 3

 Image 4

Image 1- This image portrays a sense of power and authority. I feel this also gives off a sense of pride because of the two american flags in the background. I feel the sense of power and authority comes from how the subject is standing, this stance is normally seen when you are taking a portrait of a director or owner of a company. I feel that the stance of the subject and the environment of where this portrait has been shot suits what this image is supposed to comunicate.

"Along the lines of defining your purpose, you must evaluate why you’re outside, what it adds to the portrait and how to best capture it.  In this photo of someone working out, a full body portrait makes the most sense to convey the health & fitness message being sent."

http://www.lightstalking.com/environmentall-portrait-tips

Image 2- A portrait like this is commonly found in a fashion magazine or sources like that. I have the feeling of this because of a number of factors and these are.

1. The highlights which you can see on the subjects hair is there to show details in the hair which interlinks with my first thought of it being something to do with beauty or fashion.

2. With the subjects hand being posed like it is gives the sense of seduction. Also with the subjects clothes slipping off her shoulder also backs up my feeling on the sense of what this is trying to communicate which I feel is the sense of seduction.

Image 3- What I feel this is trying to communicate is the feeling of commitment and devotion to the subject winning. With the obvious blood marks on the subjects head and the hand gives the sense that the subject maybe in a position where they might not be winning. With the subjects face being full of anger and that he looks like he is shouting also makes me feel that there is an element of pain in this image.

Image 4- I feel this is a natural lighten shot or a single light set up. I feel that the author of this image has tried to communicate the sense of disappointment or heartache. I feel it has been put in monochrome to enhance the masculine subject and the details of the arm, face and hair. With the subject holding the white object in his hand balances the image perfectly. I feel that the story behind this image is that the subject has just lost someone he loves and that by holding what I feel is a piece of their clothing in his hand and is reflecting on the good times.

Overall I feel that by myself breaking down the images to see what the author is trying to communicate and what lighting set up they have used will give me a better understanding on how portrait photography is changing all the time, and will keep me up to date with any changes to industry standards.




www.photovide.com

www.babydoll.ws

www.twentytwowords.com

www.funzug.com

Lighting setups

After reading up about lighting setup, I feel this has helped me to understand how to set up the lighting on location for my portraits which I will be doing for this project.

With these drawing being done, I can now see how and where I need to place my lights to get a well balances portrait. I feel this is the best way for me to learn new skills, I feel I learn better then it is shown to me and then I will follow to see if I can do it.

This has also give me a understanding of where to place my subject and what are the best types of images are,compared to what I think is right. I feel I have learn alot about this style of location lighting because of the drawing and also it has been written by a professional, who makes a living of doing this.

http://digital-photography-school.com/lighting-setup-the-athlete

The importance of lighting

Throughout the last seven years I have learnt that light is one of the most important aspects to photography. Basically light can make or break an image, without the right light you can have the best model or landscape etc, and they could could be wearing the best designer clothing or the landscape could have the best weather possible to create a landscape but without the correctly exposed light and without the correct lighting or light source that image will be nothing. You could have the most boring subject matter but with the right lighting/ light sources you can create a truly iconic image.

These are elements which I need to undertake when shooting my portraits for this project, I feel I understand light and how it can effect a subject just by moving the light a faction.

"Before you can understand photography, you must first understand light. Even if you have the most sophisticated of cameras, and the most expensive and sharpest of lenses, without light your photographs would be impossible, and your cameras and lenses would be useless."

http://library.thinkquest.org/25473/ph_02_01.shtml

Monkey Survey

I was advised to look at this website as it would of been a great source for my research for this project. Within my current project I am aiming to find out what worries and concerns people between the ages of 18-25.

Within my research I have done a small survey within my class to outline what worries them, on this website it would have been a great source to use as it would of provided me with facts and statistics about what worries young people.

After looking at this website I have left it too late to use this source in my research because of collating the information I would of got back off this survey because of the audience this website attracts and the amount of possible people which could of conducted the survey. I feel disappointed that I have neglected this project and not dedicated more time through the year to do it and because of this, this is why I have been unable to use this website as a core piece of research for my project.

I feel the feedback I could of potentially got off people which would have done the survey through this website could have greatly improved my concept, thoughts, ideas and overall project but due to the time I have left, I feel I will complete this project with the facts and figures I have and completed to the best standard possible within the time I have left.



http://www.surveymonkey.com

live work for Nulc.

I was asked to do some live work for Newcastle college, as they wanted some of their artwork around the college and to be freshened up and updated because of their current studios which they have to offer to the students

Within the brief it stated that the college wanted to show the different environments which are in the studios and to also show their students working with different materials and objects which can be used in the studios. While in the meeting with the college they asked me if I would take special attention to a number of their requests, these requests were to make sure that all PPE and health and safety regulations were being followed while doing the shoots in the studios and to also have a good mix of male and female models as they were wanting to show multi diverse and cultural students working within the areas.

After studying the brief I became aware of a number of problems which could occur and these were, having full co-operation with staff and students of all ages and that I may have problems with lighting as I would have a mix of natural light and indoor light which in turn could affect the final exposure of the image.

After two days of shooting and a number of amendments the college was happy with the results of the images. While editing I learnt about CKMY printing process and the importance of depth of field and sharpness within a high resolution image as these would be printed at a zero size.

I feel that by doing jobs like this has given me vital knowledge which I can carry to the professional industry. Overall I am pleased with the result of the prints and feel I handled the exposure and resolution problems correctly to gain an output to this professional standard.

Final Live work PDF

These are some screen shots of my final live work PDF, I am happy with the contents of this report and I am happy and was surprised with how much leadership and management I use to do the job for the clients.

I feel this is a good module as it make people and yourself understand what work goes into a job, as a lot of the time people underestimate what goes into a job and they only think that that your there to take photos.

Also I made me see where I could improve my work with different styles and different ways of working, Overall I feel that I learn a lot off this and will assess my working pattern and style after this report.

Strategic Plan for ASDA

This is my final design and fully checked Strategic Plan, I feel I learn a lot of information about the current product photography market.

I found this module a little dull due to the lack of hands on working, but I do feel that doing modules like this make you see the business side of photography.Also I feel the designs the with the colours suits the logo and the own of the George brand.

After this is been mark and I got had my feedback I will be using the feedback to improve it and I will be proposing to Asda to see if they will think and concision my options, this plan have been drafted and written with 100% of my knowledge after my research and all the figures and information is true.

I feel that Asda will look at it but I think they are set in there ways with having a creative agent in doing the photography because of what there competition is doing.

"W+K’s appointment will come as a surprise to many as the agency has no major retail experience. Its work with Nike, Honda and Nokia, however, has been lauded, suggesting it could add more creativity to the supermarket’s advertising."

"Advertising is expected feature the priorities set out by CEO Philip Clarke in his business review, such as improving service, stores and quality."

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/tesco-names-wk-as-creative-agency/4002849.article

Website's for strategic planning

This website was a massive help for me when doing the strategic planning as it gave me a bigger insight to what it was all about.

I am glad I did my research on this subject as I feel I wouldn't get the best out of my module if not.

http://mystrategicplan.com/resources/how-to-write-a-strategic-plan/

Pricing for the Strategic Plan.

When I was doing my research on Pricing for the Strategic plan I notice that there was a lot different in price for the same product, this worried me as I didn't want to get count out and something go wrong and I couldn't get my money back.

I based my research on prices in the UK and locally as I thought this would be best because of the value of some of things I was research.

I could have got this a lot cheaper in China but I didn't feel safe in getting my products or money back if there was any problems.

I feel by me doing this research and finding this problem out that I could have saved myself a lot of time and money in the future if I never want to but off online.

There is a lot of talk on Ebay about this problem and this just shows that the problem is massive.

"Everyone should stay away from sellers located in China and that includes Hong Kong. A lot of them are scammers. They are registered member for a year or two only, then they close their accounts. The quality of whatever they sell is always crap. Read their feedbacks, if some people say it took a month for the items to arrive or not received at all you should definitely not buy from them"

"It is never ideal to buy from Chinese sellers (especially those selling branded items) unless you know them or someone close to you recommend them to you. It is hard to verify suppliers with actual websites what more sellers who just sell on eBay, there's no way to do a background research of their reliability as a seller. "

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/topic/Reviews-Guides/Do-Not-Buy/510298594

http://www.procamerashop.co.uk/canon-eos-7d-digital-slr-18-135mm-is-kit.html

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&safe=off&sclient=psy-ab&q=1st+cameras&oq=1st+&gs_l=hp.3.0.35i39j0l9.42105.43028.2.43982.4.4.0.0.0.0.112.354.2j2.4.0.les%3Bernk_timediscounta.1.0.0...1.1.5.hp.QTFs5ugNZvQ&psj=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.43148975,d.d2k&fp=6cc8dd5df84cb69e&biw=1439&bih=744

http://www.1stcameras.com/All-Categories/Cameras/Digital-SLR-Cameras/Canon-7D-DSLR-and-15-85mm-EF-S-Lens-Kit

Biglight interview.

Because of Asda are doing up the dot com service, Asda had planned to build a photography studio where I work at Asda Lymedale.

The management were happy for me to go to a interview with the third part creative agent called big light who had got the contact for this new service.

There was a photographers position going at the studio, and that's what I was going for, After having the details of the job and information about the company sent to me by a manager I send off my C.V.

At first I sent the C.V off and with in two hours of sending it they called me and ask for to go to a interview two days later.

I was very happy at this news because this would be making a step in the right direction for me setting a career in the industry.

After talking with my tutor about this possible new job he said the university would support me with giving me time to go and do this new job and still going to college at the night time, which was some more great news.

On the day of the interview I send in with some of my photography I did for the last project and some modelling studio work and some university work too , to show what I can do.

I felt the interview very well and they seem to be happy with what I was saying and doing with my photography and University.

Sadly I didn't get the job as the same photographer who was doing the job before for another company went for it and got it.

I feel I did everything I could in the interview and after the feedback I got back off my interview was that everything was great but I did not have any experience in product photography so thats why I didn't get it.

Sadly this is a common thing which is happening with young people getting to get jobs theses days, I am happy because I know there a lot more photography jobs out there, so I know one day I will get the experience and get the job I want.

"With so many young people struggling to find work if they don’t have any experience or qualifications, it can sometimes feel like nobody is willing to take a chance on you"

http://www.jobs.barclays.co.uk/cant-get-a-job-without-experience/

http://www.biglight.co.uk

layout design for the Strategic plan.

After starting my plan I needed to find a layout design which I like and wanted to use for my plan. These images are from some research I did on different layout designs with the internet.

I like how the title or subtitles are bold and readable and stand out, I am going to use the method in my design as it will help me to break the plan down into different sections cleanly.

The colours I went for, for the design of the plan are the same as the George logo black, white  and yellow I have used the yellow for the key sections of the plan like price's.

I feel this suits the plan and make's it look professional but still looking user friendly without it looking to formal.