Carnival Masks contact sheet

I have include my thoughts and processes on the images below.

Dark carnival make-up images

Once again I was using the male shoot that I did first as an inspiration. I have also pulled from paganism and obviously carnivals. I used the same ideas as I used when shooting the model with white paint however, by using black paint I was trying to draw upon the dark side. Black is the darkest colour possible which is why I chose it. It is literally the complete opposite of white meaning a complete absence of light.  What black hides white uncovers. The colour black represents the hidden, the unknown and therefore can be thought of as a mystery. Black can hide who you are much like a carnival can, you are free. When you are in a carnival you can literally be whoever you want to be, that means you can choose. In a way you can choose light or dark. This is the representation of the white and black paint on the models. I wanted to show the two sides without being completely obvious.

I am really happy with my final images and feel that they flow together more with the rest of my work now. I think my strongest image from the shoot is the close up of the eye mainly because it is so close it feels asif the model is popping out of the picture to come into reality.

Black carnival make-up contact sheet

This gallery contains 2 photos.

I have included notes about my thoughts and ideas during the shoot on the images.

Carnival beauty shoot

When I looked at my images as a group I realised I wanted the make-up on the  models to link more. I felt really strongly towards the male model shoot as I found those images worked the best. Due to this I decided to alter the females make-up to relate to these ideas. These are my finals from my first shoot in this theme.

When I was shooting I had references of paganism and my original male shoot in my mind. I wanted to make my models more masculine without taking away all of their feminism. To involve the viewer more I used a macro lens to get really close to the model, I feel this creates the feeling the model is right there not just in a photograph, it draws the viewer into the magical, surreal world that carnivals create. In a carnival you can literally be who you want to be and I am hoping to create that feeling with my work. I have continued using glitter to link everything together and glitter tends to sparkle which gives the sense something magical is happening.

By using the white paint I wanted to signify pure freedom, white is the colour of perfection. White can also signify innocence, it represents new beginnings and a fresh start. It opens up the mind for creation. I used white here to represent the complete opposite of black. I wanted to show how the carnival could be a way for someone to be who they really are. To have that new beginning and to show people who they really are. I am very happy with my final images.

Carnival make-up, contact sheet

This gallery contains 2 photos.

I have included all my thought and processes throughout the shoot in the images.

Progress

After shooting a collection of different things all based around the subject of carnival I realised that I wasn’t entirely sure how it would all fit together. Due to this I felt the only way to figure out where I was going would be to print out small versions of my work and live with it a little. The image you see below is all my recent work collected together into one space. After looking at each of the images and spending time figuring out how everything would fit together I removed the images I did not feel fit together and kept the ones that you see below. I knew from looking at this selection that I needed some more images of the models to add more variations. I want to make the images fit better together and flow successfully. One of the points I feel work successfully is continuing with the use of the birds of paradise colour theme and linking with the use of glitter. I also feel very strongly towards the male model shoot, the make-up works the best and I feel that the way the model is so close to the camera draws the viewer into his world. It makes them become part of the carnival world. I want to continue with this style of make-up and make the female models more this style. I plan to reshoot with similar make-up drawing on the use of lines and the ideas of paganism. 

Birds of Paradise

To link in with the carnival portraits I have been doing I wanted to include some still life images to make the overall body of work more interesting. As I have been researching into the flower Birds of Paradise and using the theory of freedom and happiness based around that flower I thought it would make sense to photograph the flower as it is. I think this would tie in all the loose ends of my project and make the work flow almost as if it’s a story.

When creating my images I tried several different things including scanning the flower in on different backgrounds, moving the flower around whilst scanning it in to create movement, photographing the flower from different angles, photographing it with a short depth of field and finally I included glitter into the mix so that it fit more consistently with my portrait as I have kept the running theme of glitter throughout. I think that these images have turned out very successfully. I love the intensity of the colours and the use of glitter just pushes the ideas even further. I would have to say my favourite images out of the collection are the ones you see below.

This image works successfully in my opinion because of the extremely small focal point. The silhouette of the flower is included so it is still obvious what it is however, the mixture of colours and the blurred out effect makes the flower resemble a models form so I think that it will fit in with the rest of my images easily. The intensity of the colours draws the viewers eyes immediately.With this image it is the unusual angle at which I shot the flower that makes it successful. I love the bright vibrant oranges contrasting with the purples and black and the tiny fraction of the spathe that is showing at the bottom of the photograph hints at what the image could be, leaving the rest up to the viewers imagination.

Contact sheet for male shoot

This gallery contains 3 photos.

This is my contact sheet for the male carnival themed shoot that I did. I have annotated my thought processes and ideas on the images.

2nd Beauty shoot

These are some of the images from the 2nd beauty shoot that I tried. For this shoot I had a makeup artist come in, Bethany Cooper. I told her what my theme was and showed her the image I drew with some of the ideas I had in my head. I continued with using the colour theme of the birds of paradise flower and also included some blue to represent the sky over the flower. I loved everything about this shoot and feel that the makeup worked perfectly to represent my carnival theme and the subtle hints of the flower was all that was needed to link my images together at the end. I have started to play around with potentially overlaying things in the orange image just to see where I can push my ideas. To continue with this I am moving on to shooting full costumes mixed with some body paint.

Carnival make-up, contact sheet

This gallery contains 5 photos.

I have included my thoughts and processes from the shoot in the images.