Día de los Muertos

For my final major project at uni, I'm doing a fashion shoot inspired by the Mexican "Day of the Dead" festival. Although this was only a test shoot to see whether or not the make-up worked etc, I am so happy with the way the photos have turned out and will probably use a few in for my final edits. This particular bit of the shoot was inspired by the acrylic paintings by Sylvia Ji - they're incredible! The close-up paintings helped us loads with the make-up and the way the girls are posed helped me to direct my lovely model, Steph. It took Abi over two hours to paint Steph's face - longer than we anticipated but thats the whole purpose of a practice shoot right? I ended up stepping in to stick on the sequins and paint her lips - both of which proved a lot more difficult than I thought as I have giant claw nails that really did not help! Big thanks to everyone that helped me out - cant wait to shoot the rest of my project.

Model: Stephanie Bacon

Make-up: Abi Simmons

Assistance: Stephanie Brown

Photography & post-production: Laura Martindale

(Shot on a Canon 400D with a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens)

Vanessa Paradis by Paolo Roversi for i-D Magazine (Spring 2011)

My housemate bought the latest issue of i-D Magazine so I had a flick through whilst sipping on my new addiction that is jasmine tea and I came across some absolutely stunning photographs of Vanessa Paradis, wearing Chanel styled by Jacob K and photographed by Paolo Roversi.

I love the use of the dark blue and black tones throughout the set, giving it a sultry and sophisticatedly sexy/mysterious look and how the lighting really compliments the textures of the fabrics. It really helps to bring out all the details of the silk underwear in the top image and all the details of the black feathers in the bottom right. In the bottom left, the use of the sheer black fabric creates some really interesting shadows over her skin. In the top image, the lighting really brings out the shine and gives her tousled hair a beautiful silky texture. Overall, these are now some of my favourite photographs that I'd love to try and re-create sometime. Ooh I'm feeling inspired.

#1

As a first post, I thought I'd write a little bit about me and my photography. Why? Because I feel like I should for some reason.

I started getting into photography when I was about sixteen. I was on holiday in Hong Kong at the time and as a birthday present a few days before, I'd got a simple point and shoot camera. Like any sixteen year old who was admittedly slightly vain, most of the photos I took were of myself - in the mirror or the classic "Myspace" arm-stretched-out pose. Not exactly portfolio material. It was only when I got out and about and started snapping away that I realized that I actually quite enjoyed taking photos of subjects other than myself. Hong Kong is an absolutely amazing place and I came away with some photos that I never thought I'd be able to achieve without a super flashy camera. This little epiphany made me realize that you don't need a to have an amazing camera to take "good" pictures. You just need a good eye for composition, and maybe a bit of creativity. The technical stuff just makes it easier.

Once my Canon 400D popped into my life on my seventeenth birthday, I thought it'd make taking "good" pictures easier. (I keep writing "good" in inverted commas because who determines which pictures are good or bad? Obviously there the technical aspect but I think its mainly down to opinions). At first, I didn't understand any of the settings as I'd never been taught anything about photography before. I tried to read the manual but it just confused the hell out of me. So for a good year or two, it was pretty much stuck on the Auto setting. I struggled somewhat through my Art & Design A-Level,  desperately trying to incorporate photography into my projects but never really succeeding, so I ended up with a D grade. I then applied for a Foundation in Art & Design course in the hope that I'd get the opportunity to learn more about photography. However, although they had a very small darkroom and studio, no-one really knew how to use it so I was at a loss again. I ended up teaching myself how to use Photoshop through online tutorials and reading as much as I could online about photography so I ended up scraping a Pass grade in my Final Major Project in which the photos only looked alright because the Photoshop editing techniques I'd picked up.

Then came to actually applying for university. I'd got offers from a few, but I either didnt like the campuses or the locations or even the course in some cases. The only place I could see myself studying really was Bournemouth Arts which was one of the places that I didn't get into. After phoning up the admissions lady and asking what I needed to do to get in next year, she told me about their photography diploma course which I applied for, got into and is the course I'm on now.

After getting through the initial shock of moving over a hundred miles away from home, I started to learn what I'd been wanting to learn for years - the absolute basics of photography. I'd previously never had a clue what ISO meant, what aperture meant or anything about shutter speeds, lenses and lighting. I'd never been in a studio before and I'd certaintly never ventured into a darkroom before. Suddenly I started getting so much more out of photography than I previously had. I started spending hours in the darkroom, feeling like an absolute vampire when I came out in the light again and I got so much more out of my digital camera once I switched off Auto mode and started shooting manual.

I've still got so much to learn, but I'm enjoying learning it.