Shoot 5: Model 8; Steff

I was lucky enough to get Steff into a studio session at the same time as Matt, which turned out highly successful. Steff brought two items with her, the first a teddy bear which I do not know the full story behind and the second a letter, which she carries everywhere in her purse, from a friend who passed away shortly after writing the letter. Whilst we had some fun shooting the images with the teddy in, I particularly wanted to get a really good image of the letter, knowing its importance to Steff.

I am particularly pleased with how the image with the letter turned out, capturing a personal moment, looking over the shoulder and onto the letter, drawing all attention exactly where it needs to be. Even though the letter itself is in focus I did not want to go too close to it, wanting not to intrude that far into something that means so much to someone.

Whilst I also like the other images, the letter has to be by far my favourite of this shoot and of all my images that I have taken so far for this project. I can only hope that the next photoshoots get such positive results.

Images taken on the Hasselblad 503CW, digital back.

A Bit of Self-Promotion

So today, after much faffing around with images and having to upload and re-upload images because of silly mistakes, I have sent away for some business cards, eek! I shall admit, this was partly to do with the self-promotion project which we have, but its best to get the ball rolling really isn't it?

Unfortunately, my project needs to be handed in on monday 16th, which hasnt left me much time to get them ordered and dispatched - mostly my fault I shall admit here, and so I had to go through "rushed printing" to ensure that the cards would arrive in time. The standard printing and delivery times estimated that my business cards would arrive on the monday... cutting it a little too close for my liking. And that would be assuming that they are accurate with their timings.

I was reccommended to use www.moo.com (a name which I did find quite entertaining) to order my business cards due to the ease of being able to use their website and I must admit, I did find it very easy to use and navigate around. The only downside I will say, is that I found that I couldn't go back and take one of my uploaded images back off, however it is late and i am sleepy so that could well have been an error on my part.

Having realised that I had made a silly mistake with the images, I had to re-do the process, however with Moo's simpleness it did not take up too much extra time and I was able to order the cards so that they should hopefully arrive on thursday and in plenty of time.

Here's a couple of images I used on my cards, with the text that then went on the other side of them:

Self-Promotional Video

Here is a video I made of my book which I created as part of my specialisms project at college, 'Around The Corner' by Sarah Anderson:

James

My final shoot of the day was of James, who brought with him his watch. Having known James for nearly two years now I cannot say that I have noticed him with this watch. Maybe this is down to being oblivious on my part, or maybe it is not something that he does not wear that often. Somehow, I did not get the story behind how this item is important to him, however I shall be asking him in the near future, out of both personal interest and for the purpose of this project.

For now here are a few of the images I took of him, experimenting with different angles and ways in which we could shoot the watch:

To begin with I went for the casual stance with James arm at his side. However, whilst I am pleased with how those images came out, I couldn't help but notice the similarity with the way which Caz was photographed and so I experimented with a couple of different stances for James to take whilst I photographed.
I feel that the image with his hand on the back of his head is not as strong as the other stances as I think that the attention is taken away from the watch and is instead taken to his hand, making us question why he is in this stance. I feel that it instead makes us look into maybe what emotions this is conveying rather than looking at the item of importance to James.
On the other hand, I particularly like the image of James with his arms crossed. I felt that the image with his arm by his side was too similar to the one of Caz and I feel that this image is in some way more "manly", the crossed arms portraying a sort of male dominance. Or maybe a more natural stance for James to take rather than the gentle nature of the relaxed arm at the side.

Image taken on the Hasselblad 503CW, digital back.

Drew

The second person who I chose to photograph was Drew who brought his guitar with him as music has been always been part of him for in some degree or another. Even though he has many other interests, he hopes that music will continue to play a part in his life.

Whilst waiting as I looked through some of the images I had already taken, Drew then turned his guitar around and balanced it on his foot as he waited for what was to happen next. When I questioned him about it - after all, its not everyday you balance a guitar on your foot! - he said that he also does this with his skateboard when waiting around, often in shops, small supermarkets and the like.
Deciding to photograph this, we resulted in this image, which I like for its uniqueness and slightly humourous quality:

Image taken on the Hasselblad 503CW, digital back.

Cairwen

So, two days after my last photoshoot, I am back in the studio with three new models. Three! Having only booked the studio for two hours and not knowing what the three were bringing with them to photograph I was worried about having enough time to shoot the three of them. As it happens though the session went smoothly and I managed to shoot all three of them in plenty of time.

The first person I chose to photograph was Cairwen (Caz). With her she brought along her bracelet and a dress. She also has a tattoo on her wrist which means 'forever' in traditional Chinese and is in memory of her aunt and grandmother.The bracelet was present from her grandparents and her family have been adding to it since then, brining them closer whilst she is away from them studying at university here in Cornwall.

As for the rest of the images in this project, I have here used the Hasselblad 503CW available at the college, (if only I could afford my own!) with the digital back and using a smaller aperture than in pervious images as so to widen the depth of field. My favourite of these images is the first, which I have been told has a very gentle quality to it making it very pleasant to look at.

"What Means Most"

"What Means Most" - the things that mean most to us. The objects or belongings that we would be lost without, that we would be devastated about losing, what we cannot imagine living without.

This is what my final major project is based upon. I am looking to shoot as many persons as possible in the studio with what means most to them. 

I am based in Truro and if you are interested in getting involved in something like this, or know someone who may be, then it would be much appreciated if you could send me a message. Either through here or to my e-mail: andphotography@hotmail.co.uk

Many thanks!