My creative independent project is focused on fashion photography. In my work I have shown modern garments made by the fashion students and I am collaborating with them for my final 6 images. Also, the garments are based of environmental issues such as weather patterns, so I have tried to link them by taking some of my images outside. By the end of this project, I want to be able to achieve some creative photos that outline some environmental issues and showcase the fashion students work. I also want to be able to create a time lapse of photos to show the working stages.
For my creative independent project, I decided to work in a commercial context, choosing to promote analogue watches. Research shows that young people are not wearing wrist watches but rely on the phones that tell the time. It’s more commercial based than artistic. I used different products like shower gel and glass bottles to experiment with. I attempted action shots including dropping the shower gel into water and trying to capture the moment where it splashes. For the watches I mainly used a dark background and soft lighting. The metal of the watch reflects some light and gave a sharp edge to the product.
My independent project is called ‘Challenging Society’s Pressures’ and explores the struggles women must go through in everyday life and the stereotypes men and women face. I tried to break the stereotypes of modern society through my photography. I also tried to explore the things women are expected to do to fit into the patriarchal society we live in. My project also looks at topics like body image, stereotypes for both genders and feminism. I want to show how all women are different, yet we are all brought together by feminism and issues regarding how women are treated and seen in society. My project aims to bring women together and educate people on feminism but to also go against society’s gender standards. I also did this to show that it’s ok to go against standards and it’s normal not to have the ‘ideal body type’.
I decided to do this project to show how people suffer with mental health. I wanted to do this using a colourful approach rather than a dark, monotoned one, so I’ve achieved this by painting with light and using coloured gels over lights. By using a colourful approach, I hope it will catch more people’s attention and raise awareness of how mental health is often pushed off to one side.
I am happy with the photos I have taken and I hope they convey the message that a lot more people go through mental health problems than you initially realise. Basically, what I’m trying to get across is this: Be kind to everyone because you never know what someone is going through.
My final project is about people’s most listened to and/or favourite song during lockdown. The multiple lockdowns over the past year ended up leaving everyone feeling isolated and anxious. My models gave me a song that they have either listened to a lot during the past year or songs that gave them comfort. I then created a series of images based on the lyrics in these songs including songs by artists such as Taylor Swift and Fall Out Boy. For everyone music was a way to escape the ‘real world’ and the stresses that came with the current events. In one survey it mentioned that 91% of participants said that music helped them feel a sense of escapism. Music is all around us, but we’ve never realised how important and useful it is to uplift us, as well as to distract us, until we were made to ‘stay safe’ and to ‘stay at home’.
I wanted to make my final project about something current and relevant, I think we can all agree that there is nothing bigger or more relevant right now than the Covid-19 lockdowns. So that is exactly what I have based my project upon. The title of my project is ‘What It Felt Like’ because that is exactly what it represents, what it felt like to live during lockdown. We have all had to adapt to a new way of life over the last year and now, finally, it looks like we may be moving past all of this. So with the UK lockdowns soon to end, I felt now was a great time to look back on the bizarre year we have all had to endure and to try and encapsulate some of the key moments from that time, that we can all relate to.
Ornstein (1975) describes the eye as the most important avenue of personal consciousness’ and it is estimated that 90% of the information we receive about the external world reaches us through the eyes.’
My project is about students. I feel through the coronavirus pandemic we have been ignored and pushed aside, left to deal with college/school on our own, forced to adapt quickly to online learning, which has been difficult for many people. For my project I have photographed a range of different students, showing how different and individual we all are. I find that eye photos are quite uncomfortable to look at, but they’re so interesting at the same time, you can’t look away from them. With this project I want to force you to look at students for once – don’t ignore us, we are all talented individuals, we should be treated as such. Don’t look away from us.
