maddybradley-blog1

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Steve Miesel

Steve Miesel is a fashion and portraiture photographer who is well known for his black and white images. His work is very unique as he takes a lot of high fashion photos for famous companies like Vogue. I was intrigued by his portraiture work as he does a lot of studio work. Even though I liked working init eh studio I found it hard to come up with new images to make the model stand out for the plain background. I was inspired by his work by the use of props and fashion he uses to create a intriguing image. His work is full of original ideas to add interest for the viewer.

This is one of my favourite photos of his as I like the compositions this image as it makes the model lead towards the centre. The position of the model makes her looked surprised by the camera as she turns to the side.The facial expressions expresses shock, which is also highlights by the the intense hair style. However the hair style also connects with the nature element of this image, as the hair could portray flowers like the one she’s holding.

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My Evaluation

For this assignment, I was tasked to develop my ability to choose and retain information from a large range of resources to show a theme to suitable audiences. As well as this I needed to show my development through my ideas within my work and show a deeper understanding of the design process and how to apply it. The theme of the project was to create a zine about my chosen theme and the theme I picked was ‘How to be confident’. I picked this theme as I wanted to challenge myself through creating new ideas within the studio and outside. I found the theme of the assignment challenging as it gave me a lot of free well to do what I want and it was difficult to come up with new ideas. However, I like the freedom of the assignment also as it allowed me to practice the skills I wanted too.

The most interesting part of the assignment was learning about the studio and the new equipment, has it improved my quality of my images.  In this task, I learnt new skills like page layout, text & image and filters. I learnt how to change the background colour by the selection tool and changing the percentage of the hue. I also learn how to design a double page on Photoshop by overlaying and resizing new images and font. In the further, I would like to develop my skills on Photoshop in general as I like to edit my images my extremely by changing colours and sizes on objects in the images. I think the most successful technique I used was the changing colour of the background as it was the most challenging but it turned out the best.

I gain a lot of inspiration from artists I found from Instagram, mainly. My favourite two I researched was Cole Sprouse and Jessica Kobeissi. I like both of these as they do a lot of studio and environmental portraiture. I was mainly inspired by the poses’ the models were in and the angles used to present a powerful image. They also both used a lot of colour in their photography to make the image stand out more.

One of the issues that occurred a lot was for me to unable to edit my images as I saved them as JPEGs. This caused me to redo a lot of work as I wanted to develop throughout the design process. Also I found it difficult to keep pages symmetrical as the pages that are connected were on different pages. So I had to make sure the sizes of each images were right and I did this by using the grid.

If I did this project again I would change the theme as I would like to focus on something with fashion involved. Even though I liked the theme I chose as I could improve my portraiture. I would have liked to practice street photography through a different theme and it could also help me gain knowledge for colour psychology. However, with my theme I was still able to practice will angle, composition and text. If I could change any images in my zine, it would be in my first double page as the white background and t-shirt it slightly over exposure. Overall, I like how my zine finally turned out as it shows my theme Confidence.

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Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus was a portraiture and documentary photographer who was well known for her black and white photos. She mainly took pictures of  ‘unusual’ people at the time, like transgenders and disabled aswell as ‘normal’ models like celebrities and nudists. Her provocative work was known to be unique and extraordinary however some people criticized her for objectifying her subjects, but her images still remain powerful through society. I was inspired by her work as she creates powerful images through portraiture.

This is a famous photo of hers and I was mainly inspired by this as the overall message in this photo was unfased. Even though the model was looked down at in that time, the facial expression suggests he was unbrothered. I also like the composition in the image as she centres the position of the model and its simplistic however it makes the viewer focus on the model.

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Jessica Kobeissi

Jessica is a street fashion and portraiture photographer, I most gain inspiration through her portraiture as she does a lot of environmental portraiture and she also has expected of studio work, which I also liked. It clear to see she focussed on the angle of her photos to express power or strenght.

In this image, i like the composition and how sheuses the ruke of third to make the model the central focus. the angle in lower, allowing more of the clothes in the image and less of the background. This removes any distracts from the background asweel as using a low aperature. The low angle also makes the model tower over the viewer protraying her as confident.

I was also inspired by this image and she using the strong lighting as an opportunity to centre the image on the fashion on the model. She also focuses on the positon of the model to shaded the models face which adds contrast to the bright image. I like the way she uses the suroundings around the models to create a well connected images. she always takes in mind the lighting, angle and position of the model before she takes her images. Im mainly inspired by the way she works aswell as the images themsleves.  

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My first zine practice

For my first practice i used a mixture of my own and others photos as I mainly wanted to learn how to print correctly and it also allow me to experiement with different colours. As it was my first practice i encounter may mistakes like print on the same side of the page. However, through this I now know what to do. Also in this practice i wanted to experiment with different page types to see what is best to print on and to see how i can change the layout of images to create a professional looking zine. 

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Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol was famous for his pop art style and used a lot of famous portraiture to edit them into new art. The main art piece I was inspired by was the Marilyn Monroe pop art, which was made in 1967. He experimented a lot with the original image, he used silk-screening to get a strong assembly line effect. The overall purpose for this piece was an observation on the events between Monroe’s life and death. Even though the image has been heavily edited I like how I can still see a harsh contrast between the shadows and highlights. The highlighted image made the colours bolder, making the image more effective. This is good as these art pieces are mainly viewed in museums making them stand out. I really like the repetition of the image and how it’s different using colour, making a while new piece each time. I like this as through out the repetition the artist still added new interest to each piece. I decided to use his style in a page in my zine by editing an images background colour each time repetitied. I really like how it turned out as it stands out throughout the zine as it was a new style i experimented with.

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my last page

For my last page i wanted to keep it simplistic so i decinded to use fill it with one image for the main focus and i placed it in the centre, as i wanteda thick white boarder aroud it. This emphaisies the contrast between the white clothing and boarder with the dark background makes the model stand out more, highlighting her emotion. However, there was an error when I printed as i found the image wasnt completely central so if i had more time i would go back and edit it. Overall i like this last page as its simple and it makes the viwer focus on ine thing.

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seventh double page

For this double page, i started out with the two images on their own fill each page as i wanted the viewer to be focussed on only them. However, I wanted to add more interest to this double page so i decided to add text to the image with the empty space. I added the text to the top left corner as it makes the viewer focus on that before the image, main thrm read about the image before seeing it, this layout it useful if the photographer wants to add a deeper meaning. I like how the first image is by itself as it has more features in the image. however the seconf image in more simple creating the opportunity to add text. If i did this page again i would edit the images to make the background more white to create a brighter image and would do this by increasing the brightness in photoshop.This is so the white boarder would blend in with the image, making it a cleaner look.

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sixth double page

For this double page, i decided to use these images as the colour yellow instantly brings feelings of joy and the models add to that by their happy poses. I like how they were landscape so i chose the simple layout to emphasise the layout of the image. I decided to use similar images to continue the theme across the page. I also like the layout as the empty space of the page makes the images stand out further. In addition, i didnt add any text to this page as i didnt want to take focus off the two images. 

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fifth double page

For this double page i waned to colour the different colours with a simple black and white page. So i edited my image by selecting the baclground and using different percentages of hue to change the background. Then i created the collage by dragging each image over to the double page and placing them equally using the grid option to help me. That page was heavily inspired by Andy Warhol as i really like the bolness of the page. The repetion of the image and the bright colours protray the theme of confidence as it highlights boldness and recklessness. On the other page i decided to had black text to the centre of the page to explain the purpose on the other page. i decided not to add any images on this page as i liked the wrong contrast between the two pages. I was inspired by aesthetica magazine for this layout as they aslo couple pages with image then text.

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fourth double page

For my middle page, I experiemted alot and change small details to have the perfect final design. I decided to have the font to black as i thought it connect more with the picture and makes the yellow background stand out more due to the contrast and it doesnt remove any attention from the image. I also made sue the text sizing was right as i wanted it to over the empty space in the image without overlaying on the models, Iadded the text over the image as i wanted to cover the page full with the image to make it bold. Overall this page in one of my favourites as it stands out the most in my zine and expresses happiness.

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Third double page

For my next double page, i wanted to experiment with different text formats. So i decided to full one single page with an image to present the pages theme and i chose this image as it made the page stand out due the bright red prop used. This image expresses comft and enjoyment through the connect of the models and how close they are in the position. In addition I like the contrast between the  red blanket and white background as it makes the models stand out, the high key lighting empahsises this. On the second page, I decided to used a grided layout and decided to couple each image with phrase and meaning. I decided to make the text vertical as the small amount of text made it easy to fit centrally in the white space. I continued with the theme of high key lighting on this page as it gave the overall page a positive outlook. Each page of my zine shows emotions that relate to the theme confidence. So through all the images i wanted to show happy, content facial expressions.

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Second double page

For the next double page, I wanted to focus on the different emotions presented by being confidence. I like the way this page turned out, as the equal placement makes an aesthetically pleasuring layout. I really like the contrast between the bright light & clothing next to the dark background. As it shows confidence in any situation or location. I decided not to add any text to this page as I wanted all the focus to be on the images and it would change the symmetry of the page. If I had more time I would edit the other page so the yellow image would come through in the middle

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First double page

For my first page i wanted to start off with a balance of text and picture amount. I decided to title the first page confidence and paste a definition under in small writing and made all this central. This draw the viewers attention to what this page/zine will be about. On the next page i centred three equally sized images to fill the page, this gives equally attention to the images and also show different emotions that could represent confidence. I also used high key lighting for these images as it gives warmth to the image and gives annotations of happy. I decided not to add any colour and used negative space to make the text stand out more.

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Cover page

For my cover page, i decided to go for a simplistic look and i did this by choosing a plain background and a recogisable facial expression. In this image, i used high key lightingto empahsis the bright image, highlighting positive annonntations protraying to the viewer a confident look. I also like the dark clothing against the white backgrund as it intensifies the contrast, making the model stand out. i decided to take inspiration from aesthetica magazine for the title placement of the zine wil be. i created the two whote boards by cropping a white a4 paper to the desired size and choosing the right font (Georgia as it was the closes to the Aesthetica font), sizing and placement of the text. For the title of the zine i resized it to take about half the strip, then for the subtitle and date i deceasing the sixing of the text so both lines were less than half the size of the title, as shown on the aesthetica examples. For the second board i pasted words associated witht the theme and placed them into three different coloumns. i finally transferred a barcode in the lower left corner.

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another zine practice

Thought all these designes i was inspired by Aesthetica magazine. For the first four pages, I wanted to keep the layout quite simple to fmake the focus point on the images. for the first page i wnted to add text about confidence and next to it added thress equal sized images to add equal focussed throughtout the images. i like the simplistic of this double page however i think by adding a title it will make the paragraph have a ‘purpose’ and less random in the zine. the next double oage was covered by two images from the studio. Even though I like the bold layout, i would like to experiment with adding some text to add more interest to the double page.

For the next two double pages, i wanted to make the layout simplistic to allow the viewer to focus on the facial expressions in each image. My favourite page was the four images equally spreading across the double page as it shows a collection of emotions. I also like the contrast between the dark background and bright top as it makes the model stand out, which emphasises the confidence she has. For the next double page,I also wanted the layout to allow the viewer focus only of the images/emotions by spreading scross the page two landscape images.

For the next to double pages, I was experimenting with text placement and layering. i like the definiation and word placemnet throughtout these pages. As the size and central placement of the title makes them stand out more making the viewer focus on them. However, i didnt like the colouring of theses pages and i didnt find they suited the rest of the zine. i wanted to experiement with a colour background ortext to make this less dull.

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another snowy shoot

In this shoot, I mainly focussed on the composition on the images by making the model central in most of these photo. I used alot of straight on and low angles to capture the background.