MARSÈLL Campaign

A really interesting advertising campaign from Italian shoe manufacturer Marsèll, unfortunately try as I might I cant find who the photographer responsible for the imagery is.


It's very surreal imagery with a slightly macabre tone, with the main figures seemingly decapitated or in strange connotations of form. The main focus of the shots appears to be leather, obviously in-keeping with the material of the shoes, yet the actual shoes are not particularly highlighted.


Wish I could find out more about it as I like it a lot.

Iain McKell "On The Beach"

I recently came across this fashion shoot in Tank magazine by well known photographer Iain McKell, which adds his own idiosyncratic feel in environmental portraiture to a fashion shoot.

This series of images has to my mind more than a passing nod to Martin Parr's Last Resort (whether implied or not) with it's depiction of ordinary seaside imagery, juxtaposed with the glamorous central model in modern fashion. It has a feel of almost documentary photography yet doesn't necessarily try to hide the fact that most of the imagery is staged. It's a style that McKell has become well known for with his preference to finding "characters" to use in his work as opposed to models.

I really love the lighting in this series and would like to learn a lot more about how much flash photography was used in the images in contrast to the ambient light. This is an area I'm going to be spending quite a lot of time with in the near future as obviously I won't have as much access to a studio as I've had during the course and want to turn more toward environmental photography, an area where I haven't had as much experience of lately.  

More of McKell's work can be found at: http://iainmckell.iainmckell.com/

Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland is the personal work of French photographic artist Ben Sandler.

Combining retro styling with futuristic elements, Sandler creates a very cinematic style to what is ostensibly environmental portraiture. It is however, the scope in which he does this that makes the series interesting.

The imagery is obviously influenced by the likes of Crewdson with it's theatrical look, and also has more than a passing resemblance to the television series Mad Men, yet with the futuristic, CGI led , elements gives the work a more contemporary edge, showing how Photoshop, design and illustration can all be used to create new and different styles of work to old mediums.

I think it works, although I think the floating car still looks a bit false, and enjoy that Sandler wants to create imagery that is decadent and purely for himself yet can still showcase his photographic ability.

I hope, and am quite determined, that in a similar fashion I will continue to do the kind of work that I'm interested in even though I will be away from the more creative influence of this course.

For further information about Ben and his work, with more images of the series can be found at:
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Tomorrowland/990243

Chanel inspired shoot

Another of the collaborations between myself and Lara the mua.

This one was trying to create a Chanel advert, which I think worked.

What we're trying to do with shoots like this is create work that we can send to magazines etc to get work or at least generate interest in what we do.

We wanted to try a couple of different looks but keeping the make up quite natural looking, other than the decoration around the eyes.

I used one Bowens 500 Gemini with a soft box for the main light and also used a speedlight on my camera for a little extra fill and to also trigger the  Bowens as unfortunately there wasn't a sync lead in the bag (my fault I didn't check).

I'm really happy with the final results and Lara and I have arranged to do loads more shoots in the future working on lots of different ideas.

Inflate

I recently subscribed to an online edition of Dazed and Confused and Tank magazine which houses the majority of Dazed's 20 year back catalogue.

I find these kinds of magazine much more of an inspiration than most dedicated photography magazines as they appeal to my more experimental ideas.

I recently came across this fashion shoot by photographer Anthony Maul and Stylist Robbie Spencer, which made me wonder how far the collaborative process goes in a shoot like this, if there is one at all.

As I have recently begun to collaborate with an mua/stylist recently I have found the process very interesting as a photographer trying to interpret another persons ideas. The process so far has worked very well and I really enjoy the collaboration and way we work together.

Returning to the images selected, I like the way due to Dazed remit of being very progressive in their style they allow, well actively promote, creative thinking.

The way that the models/ mannequins are indeed inflated really add a surreal feel to the imagery and yet still promote the clothing being used.

Even though this shoot is a couple of years old now, it still looks very contemporary, which is probably due to it having a much more conceptual feel.

Portfolio

So I think I've finally decided the images I want for my portfolio.

As I've decided to try and continue in the fashion/ beauty/ hairstyling work that has so far been where most of my work has been, I have tried to select images that would represent this.

Also I thought that they would help with trying to get commissions for editorial work etc.

I also wanted to add a couple of my still life images to show what I can do in that genre and also as it's an area I want to continue with when I finish the course.

Peter Lundstrom

I came across a couple of series recently by a photographer called Peter Lundstrom.

I can't say I know that much about him other than he works for a design company called Cargo Collective and he appears to do quite a lot of commercial photography.

However, it's these two personal series he has created that caught my attention.

The first is called 8 bit  and the second is called Circus Depression. They remind me a little of the work of Chris Brock, in the way he creates lovely little scenarios for his characters to interact with the environment they find themselves in.

Also he really brings out the character of his subject and has a really strong eye for composition

When I look at images like these I realise that I have a long way to go in my own work to achieve these kind of shots, even though I am really happy with my own progress as photographer.

More information: http://cargocollective.com/peterlundstrom

8bit

8bit

8bit

8bit

Circus Depression

Circus Depression

Circus Depression

Circus Depression