Shoot Six - Experiment
Plan
In my next shoot, I am going to take a slightly different approach to the theme of Man vs. Nature. Instead of photographing landscapes, like in previous shoots, I am going to focus this shoot on the genre of portraits. Inspired from the work of Slevin Aaron, I am going to incorporate my theme with taking photographs of my model in water, motionless, surrounded by leaves and branches in which i will have collected myself. The water and branches covering the model will illustrate how nature is slowly fighting back the power of man and is once again becoming dominant in the issue of man and nature.
Overview
This shoot was different from the rest of my shoots as it is the first portrait shoot in this project, however, even though I have used different techniques for this shoot, I believe my images are strong and therefore I would say that this shoot is successful. When taking the photographs, I used a D3100 camera and the shoot was taken in a bathroom, the model being in the bath so that the shoot could take place in a save environment. When preparing for the shoot, I put the water in the bath along with a bar of soap, making the water white so that the models clothing was not visible. When taking the photographs, I tired a range of techniques, which varied my images from previous shoots, I tried the technique of an actual portrait shoot, which I feel is stronger than other shoots and has developed my camera skills. I also experimented with different types of compositions such as symmetrical, with both sides of the image being the same. If I were to do this shoot again I would possibly look at other ways of making the water in the bath white. I would also try different lighting techniques to light up the details in the images.
This image is one of the typical images in which I had in mind for this shoot, which initially shows the contrast between man and nature. The idea behind this image is that nature is over powering man kind, this is shown by the water slowing covering the face of the model showing it is taking over her body and the props such as the leaves and branches in the water emphasise the nature in the image. Furthermore, the murky water was created by using a block on soap and leaving it in the water, however, the froth from the soap has created an effect in the water, and I think that this increases the quality and characteristics of the image because it shows more texture amongst the objects. Furthermore, the birds eye view in which this image has been taken from allows the viewer to view the models face straight on, coming out of the water, this gives the full effect of the idea of nature taking over mankind as it shows how the model is drowning in the aspects of nature in the image.
This is another image, similar to the first one, however this image shows the model and the scene from a different view point, this image shows the experimentation of angles between the different images in the shoot. By taking the photograph from this angle, it allows the viewer to see that the models whole body is actually covered by the water, illustrating again how natural is slowing taking over man kind. Furthermore, the angle of view and the expression of the model creates a sense of unease for the viewer, when looking deeper into the emotion of the model it could be said that she looks emotionless. The idea of the model looking emotionless illustrates that the nature around her has more control, the leaves and water are controlling her position in the image and only her face could be seen, this is metaphorical for how nature controls mankind at times such as natural disasters etc.
This is a similar image to the previous ones, however, yet again, I have taken this image from a unique angle, different from the others. I think this image is successful because of the textures that have been captured throughout, as the image is quite sharp and the viewer is able to see small details. Furthermore, the model holding the natural objects adds to the image because it gives theoverall image more of an idea, especially for the viewer. By holding the natural objects, it shows that the model is trying to control the objects in the water but is drowning when trying, illustrating how nature is actually in control of man even though mankind has evolved. However, I think that this image could be improved by the models face expression changing,as the model does not look comfortable in the situation and this can be seen in the image.
This is one of the images from the shoot which was an after thought, once i had taken the images i had intended to orignally.However, I do think that this type of image was particularly successful because it is quite hard to tell what is in the image is of. This can be explained when looking at the movement of the water coming out of the models hands, it is quite unclear to the viewer as to what the moving water actually is. It could be seen to be ice or snow when the viewer does not know what the objects are. When taking the photograph, I changed the camera settings so that when the water was coming out of the models hands and into the rest of the water, the image would capture the movement and this would create more characterists in the image, making the image more successful. As the image is still life, it only shows the objects within the models hands and the idea of the is the reverse of the other images, which is that mankind has control over nature which is represented by the hand holding the leaves.
This image has a similar composition to the previous image which basically makes the images very similar. However, I think this image is successful because of the different textures that have been captured, firstly, the texture of the water is quite fascinating as well as the texture of the leaves and branches in which the model is holding. These textures where captured because of the sharpness of the image as well as enhancing the contrast and exposure of the image on Photoshop. The idea behing this image is that because the model is holding the natural objects, this represents how mankind is controlling nature, and the future of the natural world relies on the actions of mankind.
 |  |
|---|---|
 |  |
 |