Shoot 4 - work diary

Inspiration and my shoot:

When researching into existing unusual portraits and photographers, I came across a photograph of a woman who had an animal on her head. I instantly knew this is where I wanted to begin. In terms of using animals, I did not feel 100% comfortable dealing with live or dead animals so therefore I improvised using toy animals from a pet shop. The three animals consisted of a raccoon, skunk and a fox. The two toys that I used the most were the raccoon and skunk because they worked best with the model's complexion as well as the turquoise background. I decided to make it appear like my model was wearing no clothes so I gave her a boob tube to wear in order for her shoulders and top of her chest to be skin only. I think this worked well as it made the photographs look more dramatic and did not cause a distraction within the shots. I think that this shoot was a successful beginning to the project as I captured what I was hoping too within some of the photographs. I also think that choosing the right coloured background created a more appealing atmosphere within the photographs. 

My work:

 This particular photograph that I did was inspired by the photographer 'Ian Phillips McLaren'. He uses two separate shots that are not similar and places them together as one photograph. I decided to do the same and placed two shots of my model with the dog toys. The left shot contains both the raccoon and skunk which have been placed on her head and her left shoulder. The right shot consists of the raccoon which has been placed on her head. The two shots feature different angles of the model and therefore are similar to the work of Ian.The shot on the left shows the model looking to the left of the camera as well as facing to the left of the camera, compared to the right shot which shows the model looking directly at the camera and facing the right of the camera. In terms of editing, I think that putting the black border around the two shots worked really well because it made them stand out individually as well as together. If I were to re-shoot this I would try to capture some more shots that were different to one another to create a contrast in body language/position/movement. 

This photograph was one of my least favourite shots from the entire shoot. I think that the shot works really well in terms of positioning of the raccoon and the skin shown within the photograph. The raccoon's head can be seen on the right-side of the model's head and goes back to the left-side of her head. The placing of the raccoon allows for the model's face to be seen by the camera as well as her hair which is longer to the right-side of her head. The only problem with this photograph is the fact that the model was in the middle of blinking when I took the shot and therefore her eyes are not 100% open and ruin the entire photograph. I think that if her eyes were open fully, the photograph would be a lot more professional and look appealing towards the audience. In terms of editing, I decided not to do anything with this photograph because it could not be improved due to the half open eyes.

Evaluation and development:

In terms of the topic 'unusual portraits', I think that I achieved what the aim of the shoot was because I included a number of different animals that featured on the head as well as her shoulders. I also managed to capture and create a photograph that was inspired by the existing famous photographer 'Ian Phillips McLaren'. I think that this helped me to grow as a amateur photographer.  I think that in terms of my next shoot, I am going to continue to focus on facial portraits in the studio as well as maintaining the link between animals and humans. For the next shoot I am going to make my model wear animal themed make-up because I think that this will work really well and link together.