Discussion

The topic that I am going to choose for my unit 4 project is 'unusual portraits'. I have decided to do this topic because I think that it would be an interesting area to photograph, due to the fact that I hardly ever capture purely portraits. I have decided to focus on shooting in the studio but I am also going to capture a couple shoots on location to make it more interesting and varied. This is due to the fact that my last Mark Jenkins project was completely spent doing location because it was street photography and therefore I thought it would be nice to mix it up and give myself the opportunity to explore the studio a little more. I am not used to using the studio and I think that this would be the perfect opportunity to be able to expand my knowledge and understanding of how the studio works.

When looking at all the exam questions, I envisioned what ideas I could do for each question. I thought that the exam question 'unusual portraits' was the most appealing and therefore I decided to do it. In terms of shooting, I am going to try and link each shoot an idea/existing idea to make it more of a journey for myself. This will allow me to develop my photography skills and also allow me to be more creative. By linking some shoots, it will also enable me to incorporate different photographers and allow for my project to be more efficient. Although I have picked unusual portraits as my question, I am going to incorporate two other exam questions into my photography project . I am going to use some multiple imagery to capture my subject because I think that this will work well and create a variety of different angles of the subject. I am also going to incorporate the exam question 'colour' into my project. I think that using colour will be successful because it will allow for my model to stand out against the background/objects within the shoot.

I have decided that I am going to focus on three main areas for the shoots within this project. These areas are going to be single shot inspiration (the use of finding a photograph that I like and using it as inspiration for a shoot), make-up/paint and also famous photographers. I am going to do these three areas because I think that they will encourage me to be more open and dynamic with my photography. I am going to base some of my inspiration on portrait photographers as well as the famous photographers mentioned in the exam paper including Alexander Khokhlov and Philippe Echaroux. I am going to focus on these three areas because I think that they give me the opportunity to explore existing photographs and challenge/develop them further. These three areas will work really well and allow me to develop my photography skills and become a more professional photographer. 

Some areas I want to look into:

•  Controversial/nmake-up: Including big eyelashes, coloured eyelashes, bright eye-shadow, bold cheeks, bright coloured lips etc. I think doing this will work really well and be different to the common way that everyday make-up is completed.

• Face paint: A variety of different coloured face paints including contrasting colours - black vs white, black vs colour, dark vs light, bold vs pale and natural etc. I think that using these coloured themes would work well and make my photography work look more interesting.

• Famous photographers  e.g Alexander Khokhlov: Inspiration will be taken from the five photographers that I am going to choose. The inspiration will be found in both individual shots as well as overall work pieces/projects.