I have had quite a successful week this week. Have had a couple of positive responses to work placement and am feeling a little bit happier about the whole situation. Having been in contact with Kitty Gale she suggested that I look at the work of Nicole Heiniger. This was because two week previously I had written about Karin Berndl and Nicole is her main assistant, but is starting to branch away and do her own work. Having looked at her site I really liked her work and think I could really learn from her given the opportunity and her assisting experience. The work that I have decided to include in this post is from her website and under the story category. Her fashion styled work is really interesting and the image I have included particularly caught my aye because of the layering and unusual focusing. Images from http://www.nicoleheiniger.com/

This week I have decided to include my front cover image for the Gaia project. I found it difficult to get motivated at the start of the project but I am fairly happy with the final out come. I think the front cover is quite successful but could still be improved. Im not totally happy with the double page spread which is why I haven't included it. during the project my photoshop skills improved dramatically and I am really pleased with how the globe had come out, I was worried about making it in photoshop but the finished image has the look that I was after. I think it really helped having the model hold a ball as it gave me something to map to.

This week I have decided to include a photographer who's work I have followed for a few years now. Her name is Karin Berndl she is an Austrian photographer who graduated from Vienna's photography college. Her work focuses on precision, lighting and a fantasy aesthetic. With the unusual perspectives and the creative use of colour, sets and lighting it is no surprise that her final images look like they come from a fairy tale world. She was also awarded the Photographer of the Year award at the Association of Photographers 2009 ceremony. I have always found her work eye catching and enjoyed looking at it, the scenes that she creates and the dynamics within her work keep me constantly interested and inspired.

Both projects are in now which is a big relief. We have had a two day critique for the CAP project yesterday and today which i have really enjoyed. Its been so nice to see everyones work as we have all been quite separate during this project it was good to all come together. Overall my own project had really developed and changed along the way. I started by thinking i would base my own around the story of Alice in Wonderland but in the end I chose to use fashion from the era the book was first published, Victorian. I wanted to create images that had a painterly look to them to researched victorian portraits and painting. Overall I am really pleased with the series. All 8 images work well together and your eye flows from one image to another. I have included four of the images in this post as I thought including all 8 would be a bit to much!! From where I started I think that the project developed for the better. I chose to use the Victorian clothes and photograph the models in contemporary poses.

Pretty stressed at the moment deadlines looming! but here goes a welcome break from it were I can talk about something inspirational. I was looking on the Aop website today and i came across a photographers work that really stood out to me. The photographer is Tiffany Mumford. Her work is includes a variety of areas, fashion, beauty, lingerie and portraits. Her work is beautiful and she has a very diverse style within her work keeps her work interesting. She shows great sensitivity to her subjects which really adds something to her images. I have picked a number of her images to post as i couldn't choose just one. I realy like the scenes she creates within her work and the lighting that she uses. All images are fromhttp://www.tiffanymumford.com/.

This week I am feeling pretty stressed out having the "to much to do and not enough time to do it" freak out but I feel like i am starting to make progress. I had a successful shoot in the studio for my CAP unit and think i have some final images from which does wonders for motivation! I have set myself a target of emailing people today about work experience as its looming and yet another thing for me to worry about so hoping that i will get some positive responses soon. Anyway this week i have decided to include an image by Chris Craymer as my image of the week. I recently bought his Romance book on the trip to new york and over the past few weeks haven't been able to stop looking at it. Its a vast project consisting of hundreds of images both colour and black and white. Craymer is a prolific photographer who is represented in London, New York and Paris and works for a variety of editorial clients such as American, British, Indian and Korean Vogue, British, French and American Glamour as well as many more. He has achieved great success with his commercial and editorial work and still creates his own personal projects.
'Romance' is a celebration of love. The couples used some of them models some of them not are all together, real couples in varying stages of their relationships. Chris captures the random details that add truth to the project.
'It's all about trust, I wait for something to happen and I never doubt that it will- however long it takes' Chris Craymer.
Romance is about moments which i think although they are in someway constructed he captures brilliantly. He lets the subject become so involved in each other that the camera is side lined and they almost forget that it is there. The set of the images is formal bu he allows room for flexibility. He creates the frame but leaves room for freedom. Both images are from http://www.chriscraymer.co.uk/

Ok so this week i and going to talk about a Viktor and Rolf collection that i saw recently in Dazed and confused. I referenced it during my cap unit. I was looking at fairy tale images but was struggling on a way to make it different. The brief for the project is 'classic' and i thought that this collection really illustrated a contemporary twist on the classic evening gown. The gowns are elegant and architectural and immediately grab the viewers attention and look beautiful on the cat walk and in studio portraits. Since looking at these images my project has developed and i have moved away from the fairy tale theme and am using victorian clothing and photographing it in a painterly style but trying to incorporate a modern edge. The image is from http://www.dazeddigital.com/Fashion/gallery/34/5246/9/Viktor__Rolf_SS_10

Guest lecture

This post is a little later than i intended but never mind, we had a guest lecture last week and it was given my Laura Pannack. Laura graduated from Brighton university's BA Hons Editorial photography course in 2008, and has now moved to London were she is freelancing and doing commissions, whilst carrying out her own personal work. Since leaving university her work has won and been shortlisted for a total of 15 awards. In such a short amount to time she has had amazing success and been published world wide.
It was a really interesting and very inspirational to hear from someone of a similar age and not that much further along her journey than we are. Her work really stuck a cord with me as she manages to get that something extra from her subjects which helps you to connect with them. She seems to be an out going person who although is at the beginning of her career has already gain a lot of respect within the industry and isn't afraid to go after what she wants. Work experience is looming which worrying me a little as i already don't have enough hours in the day and i still need to research more about where Im going to go! However i have emailed laura as i think i could really learn from her. Image from http://www.laurapannack.com/.

This week I have been looking for research for my CAP project. I am doing the classic fashion brief and I think I am going to base my project around a classic fairy tale, Alice in wonderland. After looking at research into the story and the new re make by Tim Burton. I have been looking at photographers that have photographer fairy tales. The photographer I am going to include this week is Eugenio Recuenco. The shoot that the image i have chosen is from was for Vogue Espana. His work is has a cinematic quality to it and i love the scenes that he creates. I particularly like the silvery colouring to the images I have included.

New York!

I was in New York this week which is why this post is late. New York was somewhere i had never been but always wanted to go and it didn't disappoint. I squeezed as much as i could into the 4 days that I was there. As well as all the usual tourist things to go and see we were also lucky enough to go to the studio of three photographers, Platon, Toledano and Chris Verene. Platon was the first photographer that we visited and i found him to be really emotional as a person. He could instantly connect with each and everyone of us in the lecture. He was very upbeat and positive which rubbed off on all of us. But i think out of the three photographer's that we saw Philip Toledano was my highlight. He talked quite alot about his 'A new kind of beauty' project. The images are beautiful and so elegant of both the males and females. He was heavily influenced by paintings for this project. During his talk I made lots of notes and reading them back makes he smile as he is a funny guy and there were lots of funny moments in his talk, he also had some really good advice. He said to always be honest with your subject about your intentions, talk to them as a person. He believes that the idea determines the execution and will approach this differently depending on the project, whereas Platon uses the same lighting set up in nearly every shot.

I am so looking forward to going to New York next week! We are hoping to visit three photographers and I have decided to look at one of them this week as I am particularly looking forward to meeting him as I admire his work. The photographer I am talking about is Platon. He uses the same lighting set up within the majority of his work which means that his work is instantly recognizable as being his. His distinctive style has brought him great success, I particularly like the way he treats his subjects and captures a sense of who they are. I cant wait to get out there!! Image from http://www.platonphoto.com/portraits/movies/index.html

This post is quite late so please forgive me! I was looking through Februarys issue of Dazed and confused and came across the new Louis Vuitton ad campaign for 2010 spring/summer. It really stood out to me as it was quite different from the other ad campaigns surrounding it. The idea behind it was the new age traveller. There are 6 visuals in total for the campaign all of which are modeled by Lara Stone. The background is a bed of moss and ferns which are supposed to emphasis the colours of the spring/summer collection however I think the whole double page spread is quite dark in the magazine. When looking the images online the brighter clothes are more obvious. The model is posed in a series of Bardot esque positions, looking glamorous and feminine surrounded by the foliage. The style of this image is interesting to me as it is along the same line of the look of images i was thinking of producing for my Gaia theory based project. Image from http://www.taistoisoisbeau.com/blog/wp-content/2009/12/Louis-Vuitton-Spring-2010-ad-Lara-Stone-01.jpg

I was looking on the 125 Magazine website when i came across the nominations for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize. This years nominees are Anna Fox, Zoe Leonard, Sophie Ristelhueber and Donavan Wylie. Anna Fox's image from her series country girls was used by 125 as the header image for the piece. This image was so stiking i decided to look further at her work. After visiting her website i found out more about the project. Its a collaboration with Alison Goldfrapp. The series consists of staged colour photographs that are based on personal experiences of growing up in rural areas and the story of Sweet Fanny Adams who in the early 1900's was violently murdered in alton. The images are bold in compositions and colour and draw you with intrigue of what the situation is that has been captured. The image i have included is my favorite from the series. I like the way all the bright colour's work together and the awkwardness or the position of the legs with the red high heels which are completely out of place. Its also the closest crop and taken from an interesting angle. The work by the final four photographers will be exhibited at The Photographers' Gallery from 12th February to 18th April 2010. The overall winner will be announced on 17th March 2010. The image is from http://www.annafox.co.uk/arc/12/02.html.

Had a lecture from Frederike Helwig today which was really interesting. I think her work is really interesting, and she came across very well. Showing work from some of her first publications to her current work. A series of hers that i particularly like was one for the Guardian newspaper featuring Brandon Flowers the lead singer from the killers. Within this shoot one of the criteria within this shoot was to include parrots, however instead of letting this element dominant the frame she adapted it in a way that she could take the photographs that she wanted in her own signature style without compramising what the client wanted. I learnt that its important to incorporate ideas that are wanted, but to adapt them to suit you and your style. Both images are from http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gallery/2009/jul/18/brandon-flowers-fashion-shoot.

I thought it was only appropriate for my photographic highlight of the week to be an image i found on the BBC News website. The whether has been absolutely incredible this week. Im from Wokingham in Berkshire and we have 9 inches. All the schools in the area have been closed for the past three days and the appropriate clothing has been a ski jacket and snow boots. i chose the images that i thought where really interesting. I particularly like that anybody can up load photos onto the website. It gives you a chance to see what is happening around the country. All images are from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8448137.stm

http://www.212dressingroom.com/blog_more.php?id=5251http://blogs.colette.fr/mandi/2009/12/20/nick-knight-100-portraits-for-i-d/

When looking at the I-D magazine website I came across this project which i thought was interesting. It is by Nick Knight and called the 100 portraits series and was done as a celebration of the 30th anniversary of I-D. The project mirrors his 100 portraits series taken in 1985 to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the magazine. This series will be published on the 25th march 2010. Model, Actors, Editors, Stylists and musicians were all invited to be photographed, many of which have been seen on the pages of the magazine.The original story for the October 1985 issue included names such as Adam Ant and Morrissey.
The shoot took place in the Live Studio at the SHOWstudio: Fashion Revolution exhibition at Somerset House. Visitors that went to the exhibition could watch the shoot via a two-way mirror. I think the live element to the project makes it really interesting and i wish i had been able to go and see it.