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...