i-D STRAIGHT UPS

This is a bit out of order but we took alot of inspiration from i-D magazines signature street style straight ups. This is entirely the idea we tried to portray in our shoots. Here are some examples to show what I mean.

Technicalities

We kept it simple - Cannon D400 camera and a reflector to fill in any shadows across the face using  the natural light. That is all. Lucky you.

The Shoot

So, we wanted candid, personal, diverse, realistic. And we wanted to focus on this idea of  everyone dressing themselves. We chose to follow on with the heroes of fashion concept by shooting the 'heroes' in an black walled alley way just off the main high street in Preston town. It needed to be close to an area bustling with people to choose to model, but far enough to be out of the way so we could keep the set area sorted and the same for each model. The problem came when stopping strangers and asking "can we take a photo of you? If you just come down this dark alley way with us..." Doesn't sound too great really does it? Luckily we managed to convince most people our intentions were entirely honorable and get everyone feeling quite comfortable and laughing along.

Apart from a few people, including a magnificent old lady with a fantastic furry coat, most of the people we approached were more than happy to participate in our shoot. Steve put some of the photos that worked well on our group on facebook that we've been using to post inspiration and ideas so we could decide which five photos to submit. Here are some of those photos:

Capturing real people. Looking at Iain McKell

Following on with this concept of everyday heroes of fashion, I continued looking at photographers that focus on documenting life and the concepts and ideas behind the photos as opposed to creating an imagined concept and image. I found myself fascinated by a book I bought not long ago called Fashion Forever: 30 years of subculture by Iain McKell and Liz Farrelly. Its a photographic account of British style sub cultures from the last three decades documented by Iain McKell. It captures the England as it is and was - real people in real situations in real fashion. It shows how people live.

When I showed this book to the group we agreed again that we all liked the idea of trying to capture reality in an interesting photo and wanted to combine this with the idea of Heroes of Fashion.

Here are some of Iain McKell's photos, presenting "a unique collection of portraits of distinctive individuals, their looks, their styles and their very personal statements." - Liz Farrelly - Fashion Forever

Heroes of Fashion - the mask

As a group we all got very excited about the prospect of this photoshoot - street casting, interesting images of interesting people - heroes of real life fashion. Which is why we decided having the models wearing a mask of some sort to suggest they're secret fashion hero persona.

As the stylists in the group, Bridie McCann and I will be in charge of finding appropriate masks and finding the people that will create the kind of images we want. We will look at their personal style over all, as well as face and hair - and also not limit ourselves to young fashionable people. Children and old people - it is about how they choose to present themselves in an every day situation, and what makes them different to others.

Mask necklace by Aurelie Bidermann - S/S 2011

Heroes of Fashion - concept

We want real photography of interesting people in normal situations - every day heroes of fashion. This leads us to need people in their normal clothes, the way they normal style themselves - but with a twist. Maybe they dress a little odd, but they're fascinating to look at, or they do their hair in an ornate do every morning, or they have a brilliant mustache, or a beautiful dress on. Whoever we use, they must be fascinating to photograph - a true hero of fashion is the plan.

Heroes of Fashion

So, after sitting down with my photography group for a pint of cider and a meeting, we have come up with our concept for our photoshoot.

After alot of ideas and very different concept suggestions we decided we wanted to do something very real. Real people, real clothing and real locations but with a twist. It was Steves idea about real life superheroes that initially got us started.

Real people that stroll around being heroic in every day life.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8244078/Phoenix-Jones-the-masked-vigilante-protecting-Lynnwood-Washington.html

My Own Work - Fashion Editor

This project required us to work in groups to produce an editorial shoot of three images, taking inspiration from a designated artist and focusing on S/S 2011 trends. Our shoot was inspired by Chris Ofili.

Styled by myself, Danielle Smith and Bridie McCann, photography by Danielle Smith, post production by myself.

My Own Work - Fashion House

For this project we had to create a perfume campaign for a fashion house that fitted with the aesthetics of the brand.

Stylist - myself, photographer - Dave Schofield, Model - Natalie Brown

My Own Work - Style Icon

For our most recent brief at uni, we were asked to create a trend page for a style icon throughout history. 

My style icon = Andy Warhol

Here are some of the examples of the photos I constructed to go with the trend page.

Styling - Myself , photography - Myself and Danielle Smith

For some photos to accompany a trend page and develop a photo story, alot of the images proved to be very successful and worked really well for the idea. 

Rankin

I LOVE THIS PHOTO. The photography is done by Rankin and is incredibly simple but the dramatic makeup by Alex Box makes the image really interesting to me. I'd love to create something with the same idea.