End of Unit Evaluation

Now at the end of Unit 2 I can confidently say that I am happy with the work produced over the exam unit of this AS year. Throughout the exam unit, I used the skills which I learnt during the first half of the year in the Formal Elements topic to produce work of a high standard. This exam unit tested my creative ability and allowed me to work independently, planning my own shoots, choosing my own photographs and deciding how to edit my photographs.

For my exam unit I chose to study evidence and with the initial idea of 'the evidence that we (as people) leave behind' in mind, I began my shoots. In my first shoot I tested this idea of human evidence by photographing my model smoking a cigarette which not only leaves evidence outside due to the cigarette butt but leaves evidence in her body, a decrease in lung capacity and a rise in craving. However, for shoot two I felt it best to try the other side of evidence before deciding on a definitive theme to study; this lead to my choice of natural evidence such as the effects of weathering where I went out into town to photograph rain damage and rust etc. For shoot three I returned to my study of human evidence but instead of damage began to look at evidence like makeup finger prints and lipstick stains, otherwise known as accidental evidence, this lead me to think of lipstick stains on coffee cups, coke cans etc. On the the theme of makeup evidence I began to question what is the evidence of makeup and food or on food? In shoot four I focused on a bacon sandwich and a tea cup, photographing the lipstick stains and the teeth marks, two types of evidence in one photograph. In shoot five, the reference here fell heavily on my research, I'd discovered a love of lipstick stains on coffee cups in previous shoots however this time I wanted to mimic my research but also my previous shoots by incorporating smoking. 

However, shoot six was a jump into unknown territory in keeping with my theme, I decided while I enjoyed looking at the evidence makeup leaves I wanted to look at the evidence of makeup in action which is why I focused on the way eight different models styled their eyes individually. This lead me on to my next shoot which did the same, except it focused on the way identity can be shown through makeup therefore I had my model come up with 12 different poses which they thought showed their personality whilst wearing their own choice of lipstick. Shoot eight was where I moved on to the idea of a routine, the evidence of routine and how routine can control you, the candid shots show the model applying makeup and show a transition throughout and all the components needed to  complete their routine. This leads me on to shoots 9 & 10 which are the same shoot (one a self portrait shoot and the other with a model) As I gave myself this idea I wanted to show my own routine therefore used myself as a practice run before shoot 10 where I focused on my model performing a transformation and going through each stage. Finally, my exam shoot was a long time coming for me, I was excited and the idea behind it is about the way personality effects everyone and partly to do with how we, as a society feel pressured to look, feel and behave a certain way. The beauty industry pressures women and men everyday to conform to their own ideals and my final shoot was a representation of a rebellion against societies 'ideals' where I smashed up makeup to shatter the 'perfect image' and painted half a models face in order to prove you should be who you want to be. 

To conclude, I have immensely enjoyed this unit and feel as though i was able to improve not only my physical skills over the last three months but also my intellectual skill and my levels of creativity. I have learnt how to develop my own ideas from paper to reality and how to develop a whole concept from the basis of one word. 

Final Pieces

INSERT COFFEE CUP RESHOOT HERE ------

Portfolio Powerpoint

Exam Plan

 Shoot

One shoot requires me taking makeup palettes, lipsticks, powders, nail varnishes and gels and destroying them and ruining them creating a mess of makeup on a plain white background. However, I will take photographs of the makeup beforehand to show a before and after shot of how the makeup looks before destruction. (Crushed makeup example…)

Then, as a second element to this shoot I plan to do a completed makeup look on one half of the face and then messy makeup on the other half of the face sort of like a physical representation of a broken routine and a physical representation of the ruined makeup from the previous shots. I will either do half the face messy makeup or do half a painted face such as a skull like this which is known as sugar skull makeup…

My Own Practices of Make-up...

Connecting Essay 5

Internet Photograph:

 My Photograph:

In the photograph from the internet that I chose the photographer has zoomed right in and focused on chunks of the powdery make-up rather than the powder itself. This idea is evidence of a beauty routine and almost like a rebellion against what society makes us think we should do. The idea of crushed make-up throws many people into disarray due to the fact it costs such a high expense therefore crushing it is almost like telling the beauty industry that society doesn't need instruction of how they should look, think and behave.

In my own photograph that I took I chose to keep fairly zoomed out in order to catch the splatters of powder at the edge of the frame almost as if it represents an explosion of powder, an explosion of rage against the beauty industry. I used two contrasting colours of powder in order to show the many different things that we apply to our faces in order to recreate the looks that the beauty industry convince us that we have to replicate. I wanted to crush make-up for my photography shoot in order to express the opinion that make-up shouldn't be compulsory.

These photographs are both similar because they both focus on powdered substances which have been crushed and destroyed however the first photo shows more of the compact shapes still in tact whereas the second photograph is literally almost completely crushed powder. A difference between my photograph and the photograph from the internet is that the photograph from the internet is taken from above and is much more zoomed in however my photograph is taken more from the front and zoomed out much more.

Connecting Essay 4

Internet Photograph: 

My Own Photo:

The internet photograph that I chose was a photograph of a starbucks cup which has a close up focus on the hole in the lid and the lipstick print, I chose this photograph from the internet in order to fit into my theme of identity and the way we as people leave our identity behind in the theme of evidence. I really like this photograph as I like the way the photographer has made sure the cup and the hand are in the photograph which makes the it more realistic.

In my own photograph I took a photograph of a coffee cup with a phone on a bench, again evidence of literally just 'being' the way we casually plonk our coffee cups down and our phones on tossed to the side, fag ash flicked in another direction. I chose to take this photograph from this angle because I liked the way that the bench added depth to the photograph however I still wanted the cup to be in the centre of the image.

The similarities of the internet photograph and my own photograph is obviously the subject, they both feature pink lipstick on coffee cups, they both signify evidence left on things by human presence, its forced evidence, the kind of evidence that comes from an action however not like a crime scene but almost like accidental evidence, just something that proves you were there, you were alive, leaving a mark on the world even if it is as tiny as a lipstick print.

Shoot 10: Evidence - Straight Images