Friday 25 November 2011
Tuesday 8 November 2011
Casio
After a long summer break from uni it is now time to submit my final images for the first assignment of the second year. The brief was based upon narrartive which encouraged me to consider the theme and concept of my work more thouroughly.
My idea is an advertisement for Casio watches and is based upon references to time. The idea is to create an instant association with the product and its purpose, much as you would an iPod or a hoover.
The campaign is a series of billboards which are supported by ad shells.
Casio
After a long summer break from uni it is now time to submit my final images for the first assignment of the second year. The brief was based upon narrartive which encouraged me to consider the theme and concept of my work more thouroughly.
My idea is an advertisement for Casio watches and is based upon references to time. The idea is to create an instant association with the product and its purpose, much as you would an iPod or a hoover.
Thursday 31 March 2011
Cosmetics advertising
My most recent assignment involved creating two bus shelter posters for a cosmetics product, there were other options I could have selected from the brief and originally I had decided to work on a mobile phone network campaign. After sharing some of my ideas which I thought were a good starting point, the feedback I got wasnt so positive...
It was then I decided to switch my idea and work on the cosmetics campaign, I had this idea about organic makeup and I wanted to apply the makeup to flowers. I researched the market and found lots of reference to flowers and products shown alongside them but nothing that showed the makeup applied to the flowers, as I had changed my idea at a late stage and so close to the deadline I quickly started with some test shoots and experimented with my idea.
The first test proved that it was going to be difficult to dress the flowers and actually make them look nice and not like they've been coloured in by some 4 year old with a set of crayons, I talked my housemate into helping me and we spent the night experimenting with the makeup and came to the conclusion that seeing the nail polish dripping out of the flower was the most effective.
I chose the daffodil as it represented spring time and my campaign was to promote a new spring collection, the difficulty I had with the nail polish campaign was that it didnt work as a package. The nail polish was bright and colourful and I couldn't find an organic range to match that style, this meant that the flower only represented spring and not the organic product. The bright coloured range also would be marketed to a younger audience who wouldn't necesserilly be interested in this kind of imagery.
I then decided to use the ideas I had from another test shoot using botanical bath oils, this approach made much more sense and the campaign worked much better. These are the two posters I submitted, I feel that in the end my final images were a some what watered down version of what I had imagined from the start however this is where my idea develop and working process lead me.
Wednesday 30 March 2011
Hard Times By Paul Wenham-Clarke
Paul is one of my tutors and he recently shot a series titled Hard Times, the project documents a variety of Big Issue sellers and is part of their celebrations as this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Big Issue. Paul was kind enough to invite us to the private view in Trafalgar Square and I'm glad we went as it was a really good evening, I was so busy thinking how cool it was to be going that I under estimated the significance of the event and didn't know what to expect.
It totally changed my opinion of the big issue and I was moved by Paul's speech as working on the project clearly opened his eyes to the realness of some of these peoples situations, the series has some powerful images supported by some brief descriptions about the people and their lives. It made me think about how photography can be used in such a positive way to really make a difference in society, I thought about how amazing it must feel for Paul to know that he played his part in this project and as well as changing other peoples lives he also gained something personal from it also... I want to know how that feels.
Time lapse
Me and my two housemates regularly discuss each others assignments and we help each other develop ideas and concepts which is cool because I often find it easier to think freely and more creatively about other peoples assignments, typical that I cant do it for my own but I think its maybe because I put too much pressure on myself when its my own work. These talks that we have often help me to think outside of my uni work and bring me back down to earth where I can treat photography more like a hobby again.
As part of one of their assignments we've been looking at time lapse video sequences and the other night we went out to do a quick little test, this clip is one of the end results and it has definitely inspired me to take it further and do some of my own experiments soon.
Coffee and night projects
Toby Smith was a guest speaker at my university and he showed a series titled light after dark, it shows all 32 of Englands power stations shot at night. He described himself as a night person and was well aware of the fact that he was way more productive late at night then he was during the day. I also work in this way and it made me realise that planning shoots of this nature will help me to re-establish some enthusiasm in my work, I remember I had worked my way through college this way and often joked with my tutor about being up late with the candle and cheese. Time to get planning...
Gary Salter
Gary Salter was a guest speaker at my university and I found his work colourful, funny and full of character. Gary has an amazing ability to create the images for the ideas that he visualises in his mind, whether it is a relatively simple and quick image or a large and complex group shot he invests lots of his own time and money into making his ideas come to life. This is something that I need to get better at, making notes from the rough ideas I have and then bringing them to life and I was able to see the potential in this method after seeing the successful results of some of Garys personal projects.
Thursday 17 March 2011
Adidas Classic
This is the sequence of layouts I submitted for my fashion classic assignment, the concept changed a number of times as I worked through the project and grew from just being about the trainers to including clothing as well.
Tuesday 1 March 2011
What do you do when the music stops?
So many quotes, so many lyrics and so many beats But more than anything is the memories. The Streets really have been the soundtrack to my life and the latest and what is to be their last album "Computers and blues" was released in February and has yet again come at a time in my life which will most certainly be associated with the music, their albums always carry with them a heavy nostalgia that for me generates so many memories of people, places and emotions and they help me to keep them memories close. This weekend will be the 3rd and final time I see them live at Brixton in what is sure to be the climax of this journey, but when the music stops the memories will last forever.
"All races, many faces from places you've never heard of. Where you from, whats your name and what you on? Sing to the words, vex to the phat ones. The tribal drums, the suns rising. We all smile, we all sing." The Streets, Weak Become Heroes.
Monday 28 February 2011
From the depths of my hard drive...
After recently searching through some old folders I thought I would post a couple of things I found, The first is a series of environmental portraits I shot on the London underground. I spent the best part of a day sat on the Northern line taking shots of the people who sat directly opposite me, obviously looking back at it now I can see so many ways I could have done it better but at the time I remember being pretty happy about my project.
The second assignment I found was one where we had to create a CD package, I decided to make my final design a booklet and it was based on a non existent Streets album titled "Additional Pirate Material". I shot the inside of the booklet in Nottingham and used the images alongside some Streets lyrics, I then shot the reverse image on the london underground to create a fold out booklet.
http://ndpshowcase.vvhosting.co.uk/
As part of my final major project for my National Diploma Photography course I project managed and designed a website, Bletchley college had tried to create a website the year before but it never got off the ground. The purpose of the site was to create a space where the students final major projects and other portfolio work could be viewed, I worked alongside many of the College departments to create the site as the design had to meet many different demands in order to work alongside the college branding. I had many group discussions with my class to develop ideas and find out some of the features people wanted to see on the site, I then designed the logo which then became the title of the end of year exhibition.
The end of year exhibitions was displayed in the College atrium for around two weeks, I designed the templates for each student and worked with them to finalise their personal layouts. As part of the design each student had a portrait taken which I shot in the corridor outside the class room we studied in for the two years we were there, I also shot the empty chair and used the image for the poster. The series was shot on 120 film using a hasselblad and I was really pleased with the results and the series has become somewhat sentimental, I met alot of good friends at Bletchley College and learnt from some of the best tutors.
Thursday 24 February 2011
A Fashion Classic
These images are from a series of test shots I have taken for a classic fashion assignment, I'm not sure if its going to fit the brief but I'll soon find out in tomorrows tutorial. My idea is based on the fact that I personally have a thing for Adidas trainers and I have pairs that I've never worn, the thought behind the concept is that you never throw away a classic because its always going to be a classic and I wanted to show them laying around the house. The Sambas have been shot in the cupboard under the stairs, the Forrest Hills are in the old storage cupboard and then the shot with the heels was just a bit of fun really. I knew that never cleaning my boots would come in handy one day and when I saw the girls shoes by the door it was too perfect.
Tuesday 22 February 2011
New York City
I recently went on a trip with my group from Uni, around 50 of us let loose in the middle of New York City. We had an amazing time and came back with stories that I will never get tired of telling. I don't know if it was just the jet lag but at first I wasn't that excited by New York, as we walked around on the first day I felt as though it was just another city and feeling almost like I was in London. As time went by the city grew and grew on me, I think it really kicked in on the second night when me and Declan got the Subway to Brooklyn to take some photos. The view of the city at night from across the river was incredible and it started to feel real, the following day a small group of us went on a mission and without really planning too much we had an epic day. It started with a walk to Central Park which was covered in snow and so much bigger than I expected, then we headed down 5th avenue and checked out some of the shops. Along the way we went to Rockefeller Center and took the elevator to the top, The view of the city from 70 stories was unbelievable in all directions, seeing the Empire State Building and the city rolling back behind it left me pretty speechless. It was surprisingly peaceful up there and we spent some time sat on top looking out and it made me think back to the disaster of 9-11 and how it must have been on that day, so we went from there to Grand Central Station to get the subway to Ground Zero. I'd heard stories from a couple of years ago that when you get there its strangely quiet but I didn't think that was the case when I got there, I know that this is a result of the new development taking place and its amazing how the city appears to have recovered and is moving forward. It was surreal to stand there now and believe what I know to have happened there, we went into a store there and looked at the plans for the new buildings and memorials planned and also listened to some emotional stories and tributes. After that we stopped into a bookshop on our way back to the hotel and also managed to find a bar with buy one get one free beers and a replay of Man UTD Vs Newcastle from 1996 on the telly, too perfect...
Mixed in with this were some really cool visits to places such as The Museum of Modern Art, The International Center of Photography, A talk with Win Initiative who are an Image Library based in Soho and also a Live project from Resource Magazine. The University really did pull out all the stops and organised a fantastic trip for us, these are some of the photos I took whilst I was there.
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