joanne-hollins-blog

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2807QCA- Digital Portfolio

For my final digital portfolio I decided to do a Beauty and the Beast theme and turn it into a campaign for domestic violence. I wanted to play around with the idea of something that can seem like a fairytale is something far from it. While researching I found a photographer that explores the idea of what issues Disney characters could face in modern times and uses Disney to highlight that these things can happen to anyone. I also looked at a few domestic violence campaigns while researching and noticed that most of them are graphic and shows bruises and cuts and focus mainly on the physical abuse in domestic violence situations. But domestic violence isn’t just physical. It can be emotional, psychological, financial or other types of abuse so I didn’t want to focus too much on the physical side of the issue and have these graphic scenes. 

For the set I had a dying rose that is trapped in a glass cover. This represented being trapped in a dying relationship. With the character portrait I portrayed the abuser. I wanted it to look cold and intimidating. I also faced the abuser away from the viewer to keep them faceless to say that anyone can be an abuser and you don’t know who they could be. In my fashion/ lifestyle image I depicted the lifestyle of someone that could be trapped in that kind of situation. The lifestyle of being in an abusive situation is depressing and lonely. My still life image is of dying roses in the hand of the victim. This image is about what could be potentially the end result when someone is in this kind of situation. 

These series of images could be used for a campaign against domestic violence or in a magazine article about domestic violence. I think my character portrait is my strongest image because the lighting makes it interesting and stand out more. My fashion/ lifestyle image is probably my weakest image as it is not as interesting as the other images and is quite plain an boring and I had used a stereotypical way of depicting the lifestyle when I could had done something else to make it more provocative. When looking at my folio images overall there is a difference in styles. My character portrait stands out more because with the way I light it was in a modern way. The rest of my images look more like 17th century Dutch paintings. If I were to shoot this series again I would need to bring both of these styles together to make more cohesion between the images. Its an idea I want to keep working on to develop further.  

https://joannehollinsphoto.wixsite.com/mysite

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Final Image

We were to design a set for this brief. I decided to create a Beauty and the Beast themed set. My set was the dying rose in a glass on a pedestal. After creating the image I thought it was too plain to be considered a set so I photographed a set of books to put behind the glass and pedestal. I just used natural sunlight when I photographed the books. I shot the rose using ISO 100 and a focal length of 70.0mm. My shutter speed was 1/125th and I used f/4.0. In post production I increased the exposure slightly and increased the contrast. I also brought up the shadows on the rose so more of the detail can be seen. The clarity has been increased and the vibrance has been decreased so the image is similar to the others in the folio. I have also removed some spots and marks on the glass and added in the books behind it. If I were to shoot this image again I would use different books or remove the titles on the spines of the books and i would shoot them together in the same shoot but overall I am pleased with how this image turned out. 

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2807QCA- Digital Portfolio_5d

I only used a soft box directly above the subject to light it. this gave the glass a nice highlight at the top of it as well as giving the rose dramatic shadows. I also used a light on the background to highlight where the most important part of the image and so the outlines of the glass is more noticeable. I also used a black diffuser sheet to block out the with poles on the table and the computer beside it as they were being reflected in the glass. 

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2807QCA- Digital Portfolio_5d

The Set

During these shoots I mostly played around with the position of the soft box moving it back and forth to get that long highlight at the top of the glass. Once I had done a series of shots moving it back and forth I would change the subject slightly and do another series of shots moving the light. 

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For this shoot I only used one light had the light  bounce off of a large polystyrene reflector to create a bigger and more even light source. 

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2807QCA- Digital Portfolio_5c

Fashion/ Lifestyle

Again I wanted to keep the shoot simple and dramatic to tie in with the others shot for the folio so I used a one light set up and had a lot of shadows. Once I set up the lighting I had the model try different poses while looking like she was in a depressing lifestyle. I also experimented with movement in the image by getting the model to drop the flowers as I take the images. 

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Final Image

For this brief I had to create a character portrait. The character I photographed is cold and intimidating. To create this feeling I used a blue gel and made the character fall off into shadow and blend in with the background. I shot this image with an ISO 100 and a focal length of 50.0mm. I had a shutter speed of 1/125th and at f/8. In post production I cropped the image a little and increased the exposure and contrast. I also increased the clarity and decreased the vibrance a little. If I were to shoot again I would used a male model because I was limited to the angles and positions as the sitter was female. 

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2807QCA- Digital Portfolio_5b

I had one light with a blue gel side lighting the subject so there would be dramatic and half of the subject fell into shadow. In my previous test shots I had another fill light opposite the blue gel but decided to remove it as I don’t think the images were as dramatic and with the light it made it obvious that the model was female. 

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2807QCA- Digital Portfolio_5b

Character Portrait

While researching domestic violence campaigns I noticed that blue is used in a lot of them so I played around with a blue gel and tried to make the lighting dramatic. For this shoot I wanted to have a male to shoot but kept getting cancelled on so I had a female model for me. During the shoot I kept getting the model to move and angle her body to try and make it seem less like a women. 

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2807QCA- Digital Portfolio_5a

Final Image

I have completed the brief by creating this still life image. I shot this image at ISO100 on f4.0 at 1/125 shutter speed and my focal length was 70.0mm. In post production I brightened the exposure a little and increased the contrast. I brought up some of the shadows so the details on the rose can be seen better. The models face could be seen slightly so I darkened that area a little because it was distracting. I also increased the clarity and decreased the vibrance a little. I also added a slight vignette to keep the eye in the centre of the image. Overall I am pleased with this image. If I were to shoot again I would have a reflector in front to bounce some light into the roses so I wouldn’t have to bring up the shadows in post production to see the detail. 

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2807QCA- Digital Portfolio_5a

I wanted to keep the lighting simple and dramatic. I used one light and light the subject from slightly behind it to cast a lot of shadows. I kept the intensity of the light down low because I didn’t want the highlights to be blown out too much. 

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2807QCA- Digital Portfolio_5a

Still life

I wanted to keep the still life simple and dramatic so I only used one light to light this. During this shoot I had an idea on how I wanted this image to look so once I had moved the light and the subject in the positions and angles I wanted I played around with framing and crop of the image. 

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2807QCA- Digital Portfolio

White Ribbon Australia statistics. 

https://www.whiteribbon.org.au/ 

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2807QCA- Digital Portfolio

Shannon Dermody

https://www.shannondermodyphotography.com/

Shannon Dermody explores what issues Disney characters could face if they were living in more modern times. Through this series of images she is able to raise awareness of some issues in todays society such as police brutality, rape, pollution and many more issues. She has tied in fantasy with real issues to highlight that these issues can happen to anyone. 

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2807QCA- Digital Portfolio

End the fear

http://www.endthefear.co.uk/

This domestic violence campaign uses play on words in their advertisements to stand out and get the viewers attention. The images are simple yet are visually strong and the ad is very effective when coupled with the play on words statements. 

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2807QCA- Digital Portfolio

KAFA

http://www.kafa.org.lb/

This series of images for a Lebanese and Middle Eastern domestic violence campaign by Y&R are of women who have been abused and their scars and injuries are in the shape of the audio waveform of the  words used against them. The images have the words “words hurt” on them to bring to light the unseen scars of verbal abuse. 

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2807QCA- Digital Portfolio

Our Watch

http://www.theline.org.au/ 

Stills Photographer: Garth Oriander 

Domestic violence campaign called “The Line” aims to change the culture, attitudes and behaviour that contributes to violence against women and children. These series of images are to help young men and women to be able to identify what behaviour may be crossing the line. This campaign not only mentions physical violence but it also mentions other types of domestic violence. The photographer has also used blue gels to make the images have a cold and harsh feel to them.