MUGSHOT TEST

Did a 'mugshot' test today with model.





For the final image these 2 mugshots will be incorporated onto a 'wanted' poster, which will be tied to a lamp-post outside, and then photographed.

Forgot to make a nameplate for model to hold up, but it was mainly to test out the lighting/backdrop.

Made the backdrop in photoshop, printed onto A4 paper and then glued together...very much a 'blue peter' day.



...and there's one I made earlier =)

Appreciate any feedback/critique. Do you think the poster tied to lamp-post idea would work, or is it too cliché?

NOTHING'S GOING RIGHT FOR ME

In a rather shit mood at the moment, nothing's going right for me.

Starting to think that my jailbreak idea was too ambitious...

Tried ringing EDF Energy to get access to their entrance to photograph...kept getting different numbers to call, and when I finally got through to the 'right guy' he wasn't there.

So I asked the woman who picked up, and she said it seemed doubtful that I would get access.

*&$^%£*&^*%

This was 2 days ago...tried ringing today, and he's still not at his office.

Also, I wrote a letter to the governor of holloway woman's prison, to try and borrow a prisoner's uniform to shoot with. Got this reply from her today:

Dear Mr Hargreaves,

Thank you for your letter to the Governor that has been passed to me to reply to on her behalf.
I am sorry but I cannot supply you with a ‘prison uniform’ because women prisoners do not wear them. I think the only prisons where a uniform is worn is in the High Security Estate, for example a prison that holds Category A prisoners and due to security implications they would not be in a position to loan you a uniform.
I am sorry I cannot help you any further but wish you well with your studies.

Yours sincerely

Zara Gill

So no luck there then, either...

Question:
Do you guys know of any locations that appear prison-like, ie have a wall with barded wire along the top, and a building behind that could be passed as a prison? It doesn't need to be a prison, as access is impossible, but something along the lines of my last recce.

If so, then please let me know, cos I am struggling =/

I BLAME YOUTUBE...

...For me not being able to concentrate on my dissertation!

FIGURING OUT LENS EQUIVALENCES

As a follow-up to my last post indicating my difficulty in renting the medium format digital back & 50mm wideangle lens, I decided I need to resort to plan b, and shoot on a DSLR for my test images.

The digital camera I own at current is the Canon 10d (old I know), so to find out what lens will have a similar area of coverage to the medium format 50mm lens, I need to do some maths!

According to this graph at graflex.org the 50mm medium format lens is the equivalent to a 24mm lens on a 35mm camera.

However, my Canon 10d has a stupid 1.6x crop due to the small sensor, so I need to do the following:

24mm / 1.6 = 15mm.

...So my DSLR will need to use a 15mm lens in order to have a similar coverage to the 50mm medium format.

Apparently, the equivalent focal lengths can be inaccurate, and I have read on other websites that the 50mm equivalent on 35mm cameras is more like 28mm, which would be 17.5mm (18mm) on my Canon 10d.

The nearest lens that I own to either 15mm or 18mm would be the crappy kit lens (18-50mm) that came with the camera, so I will probably take this out in order to get the closest representation that I can.

My brain hurts now.

LCF MEDIUM FORMAT DIGITAL REQUEST!

Hey all.

After my tutorial today, I was told to book out the Hasselblad 503 medium format camera with leaf digital back as soon as possible, so that I could get underway with testing.

However, the earliest I could get it for is just under 3 weeks time...which sucks monkey balls.

Basically what I am asking is if any of you have reserved it, but don't think you will be needing it for the full amount of time please let me know, so I can try get it to test. Cheers.

MAJOR PROJECT TUTORIAL 1

Had major project tutorial with Kelly today. She helped me with my approach to locations - told me to look at location finding websites, not to purchase their service but rather to see their take on different locations. Basically stating that a prison break scene doesn't have to be staged at a prison, but needs to include the semiotics that the viewer would recognise.

Anyway, this was something I covered last night when out testing, as the best location that I found was an EDF Energy substation (of all places).

Kelly also pushed me forward with my tests, giving me guidelines to meet by next tutorial:

• Type up a full detailed list of my 15 storyboards.
• Location test shot at the correct time of day, with the correct camera (medium format digi), correct composition and correct lighting to see if it will work.
• Get hair/makeup artist to test a look on Zaneta (model) to see if she has the right image for the jailbreak concept.

Got my work cut out then...

FRAME 1 LOCATION RECCE

Went out after uni today to try to find a decent location for frame 1 of my 15 images.

I found it quite stressful to be honest. It's hard to find a suitable location when you already have an idea of the image you want to create, especially considering I had not visited the area before. Involved a hell of a lot of walking, and not much image taking.

That said, I did manage to spot a couple of places.

Firstly this place, which I need to ring up to try and get access:







Returned later in the evening, to see what kind of lights are available around the time I will shoot:



Also looked briefly at a tennis court, as the type of fencing could be represented as a prison. When shooting at night-time, most of the background 'distraction' would be blackened out:





Reminded me of an old shot for a first year project, so dug that out too:



I also took a trip to Holloway Women's Prison. One thing that struck me was that the building gave very little visual reference that it was actually a prison - mainly consisted of very high, bland-looking walls. Therefore it wouldn't be a very suitable location to shoot. Clicking the link will also show this, as the place looks like a fucking holiday resort on the inside.

The main reason I went though, was to enquire about borrowing a prison uniform, to give my shoot a little added authenticity. There were 2 officers there, 1 had to leave the room from laughing at me, but the other kindly gave me an address, so I could send a request to the governor.

Well that was my day. Legs are aching now...

DISSERTATION MID-TERM PRESENTATION...

...Also went quite well.

Very relieved to get positive all-round feedback, as I have been struggling for so long to come up with a topic that relates to my major project idea.

Itai's Feedback:

Good presentation. Good thought process. Good research. Gathered information is all valid.

Need to make a decision on what I want to write about - too many subjects in dissertation.

Preferred the second half of my presentation - regarding the authority of police uniforms and deindividuation.

If I decide to focus on "How authority is represented in Fashion Photography", it would be a good idea to look at contemporary American fashion photography as opposed to British, because I will find a better representation there.

Quite a lot to research for that topic, and might end up going over 8000 words, but this is not a concern.

Mark's Feedback:

Already got the questions on uniforms, and as soon as I start reading Uniforms Exposed By Jennifer Craik the contradictions that I have identified will be highlighted.

Kelly's Feedback:

From where I was 2 weeks ago I am doing really well.

My Reflection From The Feedback I Was Given:

Obviously I need to start reading much more academic sources, so that my direction/argument will become clear to me - Uniforms Exposed By Jennifer Craik, Language of Fashion By Roland Barthes, etc.

Need to make a decision on what area to focus on - think I will look at the Authority topic, as opposed to the Controversy topic, but I need to find out what route to take with it.

STATE OF EMERGENCY - STEVEN MEISEL

Steven Meisel seems to be a big inspiration for a lot of people on the course.

His editorial below, entitled State of Emergency (Vogue Italia 2006) ties in well with my jailbreak major project theme, as this shoot is stressing the "authoritative" element in my idea.

Found an interesting article relating to this shoot, that discusses its controversy. This can be found here.

Interesting read, and is helping me to find a dissertation topic to look at, but I am still very unsure =/

DUNHILL ADVERT

Dunhill's advert for their new fragrance '51.3N' features James Bond finalist Henry Cavill, flying around in a glider.

Seems to be a pattern with James Bond type look and aeroplanes (see Olga Kurylenko in last post).

Here's the advert, which strangely has no sound, as well as behind the scenes images.

Thanks Jonty for the recommendation.

MAJOR PROJECT MID-TERM PRESENTATION...

...Went pretty well.

Itai's Feedback:

Main concern was the scale of the project - 15 different setups in different locations. Need to orchestrate it very carefully.

Would recommend shooting it on medium format digital (can borrow from LCF rental shop) or top end DSLR - to give me a safety net with the lack of budget I have.

Before I look at any influences or stylistic references I need to evaluate every frame - lighting (daylight/artificial), crew, model (who/how many models).

Shoot recce of locations for reference when I have my tutorial with Kelly.

Other concern was how contemporary I could make it, so it doesn't look like a 70's type editorial ie Helmut Newton - big machinery etc.

The images of Olga Kurylenko by Ellen Von Unwerth is trying to look like dated glamour photography.

Down to the styling and the ingredients in the frame to make it contemporary. Styling is extremely important, as is the type of girl and what she looks like.

Leila's Feedback:

Test the first 5 frames of my storyboard - know what I am shooting with, what lens to use, get the lights tested out (use my mates to test).

When I have done the first 5 frames, evaluate them and see if they (and the other 10) will be do-able in the time frame we have.

If not I may need to adapt the shoot to something more manageable.

Kelly's Feedback:

Team is a big aspect of the editorial, especially model. With 15 setups - will be lucky to shoot 2-3 in a day, so I need a team I can take out again and again.

My Reflection From The Feedback I Was Given:

Would be ideal to have an assistant for each shoot, to help with lighting, especially in the night-time shots.

Whatever route I choose to take the editorial, I need to identify it, and show through research why I want to do it that way.

Have back-up idea always ready in case the scale of a jailbreak scenario is too much. This will probably be my original idea of incorporating a plane: "Models day trip to France".

Start testing straight away, so that I can identify if the project is achievable as early as I can.

AEROPLANE RESEARCH

Researching some aeroplane images for part of my shoot.

Annie Leibovitz - The bold and the beautiful:

Really enjoyed these set of images. Interesting to see model flying the plane - could be a possibility with my images - maybe make my model shoot the pilot and take control? =)







Ellen Von Unwerth - Olga Kurylenko (GQ Mag):

Love the second image - could shoot like this before takeoff, during the flight check.







Steve Hiett (Spoon Mag):

Although slightly dated spoon issue still an interesting look. Quickly googled Steve Hiett, as I was not familiar with his work, and he has some interesting stuff. Will look more into it at a later date.











If anyone knows of any more famous plane shoots, please don't hesitate to leave a comment =)

BRONSON

Watched Bronson last night. Tried to get into the 'mind of a criminal' for my project. haha.

Pretty funny movie, but shite ending. Was inevitable though, as he's still locked up.

My project can be a sequel to this movie - how he escapes.

Only 'he' will be a 'she', and nowhere near as scary.

Watch it anyway, especially if you like seeing willies flapping around.

MY GF WOULD LEAVE ME FOR WENTWORTH MILLER

One of the obvious references for my idea was the TV show prison break, so I went searching for screencaps (season 1&2).

Found a pretty cool site that has tonnes of stills.

A few that were relevant to me:













Also found an editorial of Wentworth Miller in GQ style mag:











Images aren't anything of particular interest, but I do like the styling very much - hightop boots work really well. Would like to have similar for my editorial.