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Major Project 2 - Kenta Cobayashi

As previously mentioned, I had come across Kenta Cobayashi’s work on Instagram when researching for my project. Upon further research I found that his work was exhibited in 2015 in the Noorderlicht Gallery. The exhibition was titled “The Devil May Care”.

As you can see, visually it is the same idea as my project. On Kenta’s instagram page he has an Email button, which I used to my advantage. Due to COVID restrictions I knew my project would suffer. It would take a lot of time to test multiple types of paper without a leeway as to what shape and aesthetic the paper should be. Facilities are closed at the university until March, and shooting is impossible as agencies will not take risks with their models during lockdown. I emailed Kenta, as shown below, enquiring what type of paper he used. As a form of primary research, asking the most reliable source for his own work. This was just to give me somewhere to start testing.

Kenta did not disappoint. In less than an hour I had half of my answer. 

I wanted to find out more, so I asked what finish the prints were, as I had previously tested with satin, but was not sure if there were any other good options.

And once again, Cobayashi got back to me in less than an hour.

I was quite shy to e-mail photographers at first, I thought they may be too busy, or they would not read their e-mails. However, as I have been emailing agencies lately, it gave me confidence and told me that photographers are humans too. I will most definitely be emailing photographers in future for research, as it is easier to find and trust information if it comes from its creator.

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Major Project 1

Came across this today, an Instagram story by @ pam_boy who is a CSM graduate in fashion journalism. Thought it was fitting to the concept of my project.

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Major Project 1 - Zine as Open Book Layout (MOCK-UP)

REMINDER AS MENTIONED IN PREVIOUS POST:

The first page you see is the back cover, the second page is the front cover, the first screenshot you see is to be imagined as if the zine was open and laid down with the front and back cover facing upwards.

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Major Project 1 - Zine as Spreads Layout (MOCK-UP)

REMINDER AS MENTIONED IN PREVIOUS POST:

The first page you see is the back cover, the second page is the front cover, the first screenshot you see is to be imagined as if the zine was open and laid down with the front and back cover facing upwards.

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Major Project 1 - Creating Zine Layout

I had previously seen Vogue use InDesign in a behind the scenes video they shared on YouTube, so I thought I’d try it myself, after using it for the first time on my Professional Futures module to create my portfolio.

I found this to be really successful at creating a zine or magazine layout, I was able to use the dimensions to create a middle on the X and Y axis, which allowed me to neatly adjust my images into their assigned places.

The numbering and detailing text you see in the screenshot below, however, was created on Photoshop as a guidance for myself and the reader of this journal.

Each spread measures 2000 x 1414 mm, as my prints intend to be B0, which measure to 1000 x 1414 mm, I had to double the width so that two prints could fit in the spread.

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Major Project 1 - Next Studio Shoot

My next studio shoot is planned to be on the 21st of January, if the current circumstances don’t worsen. The studio has permission to remain open during all tiers and we will be travelling for work, therefore, we should have no trouble during COVID’s tier system.

I have levelled up my mood board system, including make-up and colour pallets and overall making it more pleasing to the eye as well as being easier to look at with little to no clutter. I have sent this mood board to the stylist and model, we have organised some outfits to wear and are currently waiting for the COVID pressure to wear off so we can continue to work.

Mood board:

Current Outfit Ideas:

As you can see we have also gone for more colourful outfits, still mostly black, however, as we try to get comfortable and practice with different colour backgrounds, we will also be using clothing to compliment each background.

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Major Project 1 - Magazine Covers

I edited these two images on Photoshop in ways to make them look like front covers, playfully editing titles and text in order to create an aesthetically pleasant cover.

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Major Project 1 - Magazine Cover Mood Board

These are some of the magazine covers I used as inspiration to create my current final cover for my zine.

Through researching these I have found a magazine that I can relate my work and aesthetics to, “Numero” magazine contains front covers and images that I admire and inspire me to work towards that level of production and glamorous outcome.

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Professional Futures - Guest Talk: Yassen - 07/12/20

Yassen’s website

In this photographer talk, Yassen talks to us about his upcoming as a photographer and career since graduating at Westminster in 2020.

Some of the advice Yassen gave us is as such:

Editors go through hundreds of photographers’ websites, you have less than a minute of their attention, so you have to have something great straight off the bat

Print are extremely saturated, it’s hard to sell print

Have an agenda on computer or phone that you actually check on, this will keep you productive and ensure you finish your daily tasks

After this talk Yassen took one to ones, which I was a part of, I took advantage to ask him questions as follows:

How did you get approached after your Major Project?

approached by “issue 07″ through Instagram

open calls are great to apply for

PupilSphere - focused on recent grads - zine based

know the right people

consistently apply for free and relevant work

booooooom.com - sometimes open calls

#opencall on instagram

Picter contests

LensCulture

FLR Magazine

How to stand out as a fashion photographer and what to say?

talk about yourself, you’re selling yourself

more about standing out, than fitting in

avoid clichés

digital marketing and branding exercises

know what your brand stands for

How many images should you have per project?

Keep it relevant

Not so much about numbers but quality of work and consistency

I asked Yessen to review my website:

Cut down Brandon project to fewer images

Only have best images of each project

Don’t use two images that are almost the same

One powerful project is as good as five good projects

I had a great conversation with Yassen, he gave me great professional advice that I will carry on to my career as I learn to develop myself and my work.

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Major Project 1 - Work Review - 02/12/20

Using the same process as last work review, again we have three module tutors to critique our work and give advice on how to move forward with our work, I will list below the advice I had written down and taken away from this work review, overall I believe this work review was phenomenal and extremely helpful to move forward with my project, I was given praise for improvement which gave me the confidence to be bolder and try different things that can positively affect my work as well as constructive criticism that I can fix or work on in my future shoots to have a great final project.

The notes for this work review are as follows:

Poses too bored - be more dynamic with poses - model looks bored in some images, poses look basic - Look up “The New Black Vanguard” a book that contains bold images and posing made by other creatives in the industry

Symmetry of image/frame

Work with shapes - use model as a sculpture - structuring more, making sculptures with the camera and the model - Look at sculpture and dance for poses and shapes

White background only works well with shapes

Try out colours - black is fine but trying different colours will create more variety in your final images

Work more with model and how the body works or fits in the frame

ECOS of magazine - what makes my magazine different?

Specify difference between zine and magazine in proposal - zine is images, magazine has text

Play with facial expression, more animated face and play with glance and angle of the neck

More directing of model posing and details

Look at designers sketches to see how they shape clothing on sketch and try mimic this in the shoots as this is what the designers had in mind as to what the garment would look like when creating the it

Look at lighting

Details in clothing - wrinkles, lapel, make sure everything is sharp

More creativity - stand out

Use more than other photographs in means of inspiration, you can get inspired from paintings and other artworks, this will also make it more about you as you will determine how it looks in a photograph rather than seeing a photographic reference

Research after work review:

Kenta Cobayashi - shapes, medium and exhibition format

Arielle Bobb-Willis - colour and posing

The New Black Vanguard - photographic book made by creatives

Images referenced most:

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Major Project 1 - Editing Images

Using the Adobe Lightroom software I would play with contrast, brightness and colour of the images, I find this software easier and more controllable in regards to how the image looks; whereas, Adobe Photoshop I use mostly for retouching, using the heal or clone tool to remove any areas on the face which the fashion industry would describe as flaws, this would range from zits to hair getting in the way of the face.

I believe I was successful editing these images and making them more appealing for future use as magazine covers.

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Major Project 1 - Studio Shoot - 24/11/20

Today we had the studio booked for 5 hours, we finished with 15 minutes left to pack up, meaning we had hired the perfect amount of time, the 1st hour included: make-up, set up background, set up studio lights, set up black boards on sides of where the model will stand, ensure camera settings are correct, model changes into first outfit. The rest consisted of shooting, and outfit changes, overall, I am very pleased with the outcome of my images, I only tried black and white backdrops today, however, I am now confident to use different colour backdrops and more avant-garde outfits in future.

The model did a great job at posing and positioning herself, the stylist would help the model change into the next outfits, as well as steaming every outfit before use, mid-shoot the stylist would also rearrange the clothing to make it more appealing, to ensure the creases were minimal and clothes correctly worn; I made sure to frame everything in ways to make the image interesting, as well as directing the shoot and controlling light sources.

Below is a contact sheet of my favourite images from this shoot:

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Major Project 1 - Studio Shoot outfits

The stylist sent me these outfit ideas, with these I started visualising shoot ideas and looking at fashion campaigns that used similar outfits, which could inspire my own take on it.

Stylist outfit ideas:

Fashion Campaigns:

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Major Project 1 - Editing

Here I edited one of my images and created a very simple magazine cover, this would only establish where and how the name would sit with the image.

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Major Project 1 - Planning Studio Shoot - 18/11/20

After my last outdoors photoshoot, I found that having a professional model was much easier to work with, after all, they get paid to do so on a professional level, so I started thinking about changing from outdoors to indoors shooting, meaning I would have to use a studio, preferably with professional lighting equipment, this couldn’t be the university’s studio, as during COVID we are not allowed to bring in guests who don’t go to the university, I would have to hire a studio for a couple hours. I haven’t used a studio since my first year, all my projects were outdoors, I was sort of nervous, although I knew a lot about lighting positions and poses after many hours of research, I had never put it into practice, however, having a professional work with me gave me the confidence I needed to execute this photoshoot.

I dug through my connections, in search of a stylist, this shouldn’t be too hard as I go to an arts university and spend most of my time in London.

I sent a direct message to someone I had already seen the work of on Instagram and we arranged to collaborate on a studio shoot, I sent her and the model the mood boards I had created, we agreed on a date with the model, found a studio an hour away from our location and the stylist started looking for clothes, this was great for me, as it alleviated the stress I had from picking out clothes and outfits for the model to wear, while the stylist and model worked together to collect outfits that would suit the model, all I had to do until the shoot date was study lighting positions and poses, I have been shooting manual since the start of my photography career, so I already had the camera settings knowledge after many errors in previous photoshoots.

Below is the mood board I will be using to lead my creativity for the shoot:

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Major Project 1 - Photoshoot - 17/11/20

This was another outdoors photoshoot, this time I hired a professional model and was able to have her wear different jackets and shoes, which would represent different outfits, aswell as experimenting with different poses, which were more unusual than a standard influencer-type-photograph.

Before spending money to hire a studio, I wanted to shoot outdoors with the model first, this way we would be more comfortable around each other in future shoots and share ideas on how to create great images in future.

Overall I am very happy to have hired a model, as it feels easier and more relaxed to know I don’t have to fully guide someone to pose for me, instead I have a professional, who I can direct their movements and they’ll know how to make them look fluent and have a relaxed, high fashion facial expression. I like the way these images came out, the model did a great job posing, however, I am not fully pleased with the way I used the flash gun and dark clothes, which when the image is printed will look quite bland almost as negative space and know I can do better.

Below is a contact sheet of the edited images.

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Professional Futures - Ben Blossom - Guest Speaker - 16/11/20

Ben Blossom is an architecture & portrait photographer

Ben has been comissioned by:

The Canadian High Comission

Design Council

Wallpaper* Cityguides

The Sorrell Foundation

Amongst many other architectural practices

In today’s talk, Ben guided us and explained the process of each of his projects, going in detail as to how he would analyse each subject and plan his shoots.

He also touched on how to get commissioned you must offer solutions and ideas, in order to show the client how you’re taking this project personally; as well as mentioning how to build relationships with clients to get repeat commissions.

Ben spoke about the best ways to present work, these being:

Website

In-hand portfolio

Networking

Social media

Ben’s final advice was to not rely too much on social media or online portfolios, although in a current pandemic these are the most reliable, meeting your client physically will give them a better insight as who you are, whereas an online portfolio can be scrolled through and skipped in seconds.