Man, Moustache and Suit

A while ago now, I shot some images that were part of an editorial piece, photographing facial hair on men. After not having much experience shooting men, I thought it would be a valuable and knowledgeable experience to complete this shoot and to see the way male models work compared to female models. I used the studio for this shoot, with a grey backdrop which I thought would match the models skin tone and complexion and compliment the suit he was wearing. I could almost get away with saying this was a group of images advertising a suit!!

I narrowed my images down to 3 images which I thought were my best, that are striking as individual pieces, but at the same time, the 3 that work well as a group of editorial images. I converted them into black and white which looked more effective than if I were to leave them in colour, and I also increased the contrast a tiny bit!

I actually really love these images, even though they a simply taken in a studio environment without any un-natural posing or facial expressions, they are really bold images which really make a statement of their own and add emphasise to the reason I was taking the images - the moustache!

      

 

                 

Ill be blogging again soon :)

Love, Laura xxx

Infinity Dreams Award!

Hey guys, I have been nominated by Megan for this award, thank you Meg :)


The Rules

Thank and follow the blog that nominated you

Tell us 11 facts about you

Answer the questions set up for you

Nominate 11 people and make questions for them

11 Facts About Me!
1. I live in Chippenham
2. I study Photography
3. I love Peanut Butter Kit Kats (even though I don't like Peanut Butter!)
4. I'm a big One Direction fan
5. I cant live without fake tan
6. I have a tattoo that is un-finished
7. I try not to spend my money (only when I have to - I like to save!)
8. I have always wanted to own a Mini
9. I'm a lover of football
10. I have double jointed arms
11. I go to Nandos every week with my boyfriend


What' your go to high street shop? I don't very often go high street shopping, I do a lot of my clothes shopping online and I always buy from my favourite shop Miss Guided! The clothes are beautiful, comfy and so cheap!

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? I'm quite a homely person so I wouldn't want to live anywhere abroad, but if I had a lot of money I would love to live in a big modern country house and do it up!

If you could star in a TV show what would it be and why? I would love to star in a show like Coronation Street! I have been watching it ever since I can remember!
If you could have a superpower what would it be? If I had a superpower I would slow down time. Time seems to go so much quicker the older you get so pausing or slowing down time would be my superpower.

What's your favourite shoe? My favourite shoes are my Kurt Geiger Chelsea Boots from my boyfriend which I absolutely ADORE!!

What is your claim to fame? I don't really have one, but I had served Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies and Flog It! TV presenter Paul Martin a couple of times at my work place! Or touching Conor Maynard's head!?

If you could look like any one in the whole world who would it be? I would want to look like the beautiful 1950's model, Bridget Bardot! Or Megan Fox!
If you could take one thing to a desert island what would it be?  My camera!

What are your hobbies? My hobbies are Photography, Fashion/Beauty, Sport and Music.

If you could have one special talent what would it be? I'd love to be multilingual and be able to speak different languages fluently!

What company would be your dream company to work for? Id love to become a professional photographer and work for in any industry that includes any type of advertisement, whether that be in fashion for Vogue, or high end clothing companies, published in magazines and modelling agencies to build portfolios (Models 1 for example), which is what id really love, or industries including music, sport, dance or food photography. I definitely want to keep my options open!


I NOMINATE

http://roisinfineartography.blogspot.co.uk/
http://diandracilibertophotography.blogspot.co.uk/
http://hawkephoto.blogspot.co.uk/
http://photographymicajwright.blogspot.co.uk/



And your questions are:

If you could own anything in the world what would it be and why?

What do you never leave the house without?

If you could be best friends with someone famous, who would it be and why?

What is your favourite fast food restaurant?

If you could have any job in the world, what would it be and why?

Do you prefer a holiday somewhere hot, or a winter holiday, skiing?

What is your favourite piece of clothing?
Do you have anything exciting planned for 2015?

What is your favourite type of music and favourite song at the moment?

 

If I have nominated you then make sure you send me a link to your blog so I can read through them, I hope you have fun answering the questions I have given you :)


Love Laura xx

 

Digital Imaging - Street Photography

For our recent task, we had to shoot some sort of street photography. I have shot street photography in the past and I did actually find it quite interesting and rewarding. So I thought id share some images of this type of photography I have taken previously and shot only using my phone. I don't always carry my camera round with me and I happen to be in good photography situations (for street photography) when I haven't got my camera with me as most images are very unexpected and spontaneous! I have picked images which I have shot in different places to show how vast street photography is and how it can be shot anywhere. I also converted them into black and white, as traditional street photography is known to be in black and white.

Shot in Barcelona

Shot in Chippenham

 

Shot in London

Shot in Bath

Shot in Steeple Ashton

 

 

I have also found some really cool graffiti on my travels, around Gloucestershire and London.

 

 

 

 

I have come to learn that street photography isn't my favourite genre of photography to shoot, its more of a hobby or an odd snap at something interesting every now and again. But what I would say is that it is a very fun and interesting way of collecting exciting images anywhere in a very spontaneous way which you cant really go wrong with!


Laura xxx

Editorial Throwback!

So I have recently been looking through my images that I shot during my first year of University. I came across a really exciting shoot that I did back with Steve, a photographer who also studies with me. During this specific shoot, we spent the whole day with the model and the MU artist. We took our cameras over to the media make-up studio in the other building and photographed the model getting ready and transforming into a beautiful mystical creature!

These things take time, so I spent atleast 3 hours chatting and photographing the model as I went, capturing stages of the transformation. It was such an amazing experience, being able to see the model being transformed, and the stages the MU artist went through to complete the look was fascinating and definitely needed someone with a lot of patience and a model who was willing to sit that long!

Here are just a few shots during the transformation stages. I love the depth of field within these images, which really allowed me to focus on the model and the makeup artist. Blurring out the background really helped me to create attention to detail in the models face and how delicate the whole process was. I also love the imperfections with some of the images, the mirror is slightly smudged and none of it was staged, which definitely makes these images stand out.

I then got onto shooting the model in the studio, Steve and I set up the studio whilst the model was having the final touches of her make-up done so we were organised and ready for when they came over. I was so excited but nervous because I wanted to capture some really striking images to do the work justice! I took a lot of images but there is one that really is in a league of its own. I love the way the light has fallen on this particular image, almost as if it is lighting up the most important parts of the image, creating and leaving shadows on the face, the ears and the dress to create depth and contrast. I absolutely love it, I think its beautiful and it was definitely worth the wait capturing an image like this one!

 

 

 

 

 

Ill be blogging again soon, thanks for reading!

Laura :) xx

 

New brief - exciting!!

During our afternoon lecture today, we got set a new task around the theme 'advertising'. Advertising  is a very wide open subject with many different topics that can be included, especially when it comes to photography. It can include anything from Photoshop, to products and services to surrealism and lifestyle choices.

We have been set a live client brief for this specific assignment. This will be relevant for future experience when we have our own live briefs to work on. Our assignment is based on 'Bunny Pumpkin Boutique', created by Jen Burton. This business creates bespoke customised footwear, created by hand and that is unique to each customer. I will be working with a plus size model who will be modelling the shoes. I have been left to organise everything else! The theme of the shoot is vintage 50's. This really interests me as I love looking at different eras, especially the 50's, 60's and 70's where fashion icons such as, Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe were at their peak. So this brief is definitely one for me!!

I have already got lots of ideas for this brief, I'm looking into the brand, its existing marketing and what I believe would be best suited to the business to make it stand professionally from its competitors. I cant wait to start shooting! :)

For now, here are some images that I am basing my shoot on and what I want them to look like.

Image 1 (a very sophisticated, elegant and beautiful image)

Image 2 (In my interpretation it will be a full length image with focus on the shoes but I love this casual, chic image)

I really cant wait to recreate these images!

Laura xx

Digital Imaging - Bokeh!

Our task over the Christmas period was to photograph the technique known as 'Bokeh'. After never hearing of this specific effect before, I spent a little while researching about it and looking at lots of different perspectives and ways of doing it. A simple way of explaining Bokeh is the technique that blurs out the lighting in the image, or when the lens completely out focuses the background. For this task, I used my Nikon Telephoto Lens (70 - 300mm). I was abit apprehensive on using this lens as I was worried I wasn't going to get the right effect with it, but after I set up what I wanted to shoot I started playing around with the shutter speed and aperture I was starting to get the right effect. I was currently in the middle of tidying up my Christmas decorations and I decided to use the tree lights for the background and some little Christmas novelties which would be in focus in the foreground.

I had a lot of fun shooting Bokeh, especially for the first time! I'm really happy with my results and will be shooting a lot more Bokeh in the future!

 

 

 

 

I also got my beautiful little cat to model for me!!

 

 

 

Hope you like my images :)

Laura xxx