Bibliography

Websites of photographers that use image and text.

• http://www.wdog.com/rider/writings/real_kruger.htm

Websites I used to research the sins.

• http://www.soothbrush.com/the-seven-deadly-sins-creative-photos/
• http://www.deadlysins.com/sins/history.html

Photographer's websites.

• http://www.marcintyszka.com/
• http://www.michelletholen.com/photography2.html
• http://www.jedroot.com/photo-main.php
• http://www.eugeniorecuenco.com/fichas/1021.html

Articles.

• http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3517050.ece
• http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/magazine/17America.text.html?ex=1324011600&en=5bba69d300878be8&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
• http://whitestonejournal.com/index.php/seven-deadly-sins
• http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/access_all_areas_

Evaluation

I have learnt a lot from the project, image and text, I have learnt about experimenting in a studio with different lighting techniques, which has taught me a diverse way of achieving certain looks. For example, with the idea that I have used, using high key lighting and an all black back drop created a mysterious and dark images.
Initially it took me a while to execute my final idea as I had to consider a number of things to achieve meaningful and well shot images without being unoriginal, which was challenging at times.
Involving text with an image is not something I usually approach in photography so it was different, but I have looked at a number of ways you can approach it. It has given me the chance to experiment a lot more with digital and photoshop, which will help for future projects.
I think that having to use text was the biggest challenge simply because I was focusing a lot on producing meaningful images and at times forgetting that the text had to have a strong impact on how the images are perceived. I don't feel that my text is completely relevant to what I am trying to show over all, I think the text has relevancy to the sins but not to modern day issues, which was my original idea. 

Overall, I have learnt a lot for future projects, working in the studio on a time limit is quite pressurising and for my next studio based projects I will know how to be a bit more prepared before hand. I have enjoyed this project, as it has given me opportunities to work with new equiptment and work around fashion photography which I havn't tried before in a studio.

35mm film

400 speed film. F8

When experimenting with different ideas initially I went out with my 35mm film camera and looked for inspiration and examples of image and text on the street. I took a few shots of a small protest that was going on in Brighton. I looked at the idea of putting up peoples thoughts and opinions on problems going on in the media at the moment for example in this image the board on the far left says ' 5.7% voted for a racist party.' However, I struggled to combine this idea with giving my images an editorial look at the same time, and decided to go down a different route but took influence from some of these shots.

Examples of using photoshop

With the use of photoshop I have put my chosen text into the images as well as lightening them, as they were a little under exposed before hand.

For this image (Greed and Envy) I have used lyrics from the song 'All I want' by Joni Mitchell. The text talks about greed and jelously so it fitted in well with what the over all image.

''Oh the jealousy, the greed is the unraveling

                                                                It's the unraveling
                                                  And it undoes all the joy that could be.''

For the image with wrath and pride, the text that I used was a quote from C.S Lewis, 'A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and of course, as long as you're looking down you can't see
something thats above you.'

'The flesh endures the storms of the present alone; the mind, those of the past and future as well as the present. Gluttony is a lust of the mind.' This quote comes from a political philospher, Thomas Hobbes. I wanted to use this quote because it has a lot of emotion behind it. I particularly like the ending 'gluttony is a lust of the mind' It ties into both sins, and I think it worked quite well with the image.

Different ways of approaching my idea

I don't want to go down the typical cliché route, but instead give my project some meaning behind the idea of the seven deadly sins.
I wanted to show that the seven deadly sins were invented originally as a way of controlling society and giving some moral structure. Religion doesn't have such a strong impact on society as a whole any more, instead we look to the media for advice and structure and it's the media that has taken over religion in the sense that it now gives us the facts and controls us in many ways. After researching this a bit further I've decided to give the idea of the 'seven deadly sins' a modern twist. I think the old sins do reflect a lot of what could be classed as wrong and sinful in our world today.

I was looking at the sins and trying to connect them with what is currently being talked about the most in the media: The spending cuts and an ongoing subject in the media; the perfect image. I think that wrath, greed and sloth fit in quite nicely with what's going on at the moment. The spending cuts were announced the day that I shot my first film so I aimed to tie it in with the idea of the modern sins.

For greed I wanted to show a very wealthy woman reading about the spending cuts, with a look on her face that says 'This doesn't concern me, I don't care'
The spending cuts are going to hit a lot of people, but there are a majority out there who it won't affect at all. I wanted to show a stereotypical wealthy person, who this wouldn't effect and in turn you could class as the modern day greed.

Sloth is another sin that fits in with what's currently being talked about in the media. As well as there being a majority of people the spending cuts won't hit, there are also that other majority that it will hit and quite severley. Some people's opinion of people that are on benefits could be that they are sitting around all day doing nothing for the money of others who work hard. This does happen and there are a lot of people in England who are involved in benefit fraud, I wanted to show the stereotypical person on benefits. The modern day media's sin of laziness.

Wrath could be a good representation of how people felt after the spending cuts were announced.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/video/2010/nov/10/student-protest-london-millbank
There were angry protesters over the educational spending cuts, which resulted in violence.

The other three sins in the media
Gluttony is a modern sin that we are constantly reminded of.
Weight is a topic that the media are obsessed by, and we
are bombarded with images of the results of gluttony. Then and
now photos of celebrities losing and gaining weight.
For my photoshoot I want to show the emotional results of gluttony,
why people do it and the damage it causes. I don't want to show
gluttony the way the media shows it to us but how gluttony could
look behind closed doors.

Envy. I believe that the reason for some people's envy is due to
 what they are shown through the media. We're always wanting
the latest phone,or the latest car because somebody else, mainly
celebrities have it and were in a dellusion that with this type of
materialism our lives will be better.
Advertising has a strong impact on this, which is something
I have been looking at for image and text.

Inspiration: Fashion photographers

As I want to give my shoot a fashion/editorial look, I am going to look at some fashion photographers work that I have found looking for relevant ideas to aid my ideas for my final shoot.

I have been looking at the fashion photographer/film maker Joaquim Barreto. I really like his style, some of his photographs are very dark which is the look I am going for.
http://www.joaquimbarreto.tv/photography/
He has used two models in a lot of his photographs which has given me composition inspiration as I will be using two models also.
I've also been looking at this website:
www.jedroot.com
It shows a number of different fashion photographers and stylists, some of which have given me ideas toward how I will style the models aswell as inspiring me to use colour instead of black and white.The stylist Jessica Diehl uses clothes similar to the ones I have used for fashion shoots.
Eugenio Recuenco


Earlier on in the project I looked at some fashion photographers for inspiration on initial ideas. Recuenco has really stood out to me. His images reflect the techniques used in classical paintings, which is the type of look I am going for and trying to re-create with lighting.

 
I think these two photos in particular share some similarities, one is similar to how I want to show the idea of lust and the image of the subject in a boxing ring has given me ideas toward how I will show wrath. I've decided to use boxing gloves with the model in a very vibrant red velvet dress.
These are some examples of more of his work that I have taken relevant inspiration from.

This image was photographed by the fashion photographer Marcin Tyszka for Vogue Latin Americas October 2010 issue.
This is a good example of the type of editorial fashion look I am trying to re-create. I want to have the text, sayings and lyrics, typed up on photoshop in the corner of the image next to the subjects.
I want it to look as though it's an interview and the writing is quotes from the models. The model Anja Rubik's composition in this photograph reflects the type of composition I am looking to have for my shoot. Tyszka has used high key lighting here to create dramatic shadows and the lighting on the subject is similar to what I am aiming for. He has also used a black back drop, this has given me some really good ideas for how I will set up the studio focusing on lighting to re create this look. I need to focus on the composition of my subjects so the lighting creates dramatic shadows on them.

Studio work

Working in the studio for my shoot

As this was the first time I have ever shot in a studio I was quite nervous about getting the lighting right and whether I would be able to re create my idea properly as lighting is key. I'm mainly used to using natural lighting and shooting outdoors but I actually really like the results of working in a studio. I was able to create the dramatic imagery that I wanted, which couldn't be done without the black back drop and the hard lighting on the subjects. There was a lot of pressure due to having a time limit and being unfamiliar to shooting in this type of environment, so initially it took a while to get everything together.

 I made sure I did test shots so I got the perfect lighting on the subjects before I shot the actual film on medium format and digital. 

Once I was in the studio I realised that I was at some points limited to what I could do with the models, the composition of the subjects was hard to alter at times because the lighting would not fall on them both correctly. Over all, I felt that you don't get as much freedom when working in a studio but for this project in some respects this worked for me, and the specialist studio lighting really helped finalise the look of my prints. 

Experimenting in the studio before actual shoot

Studio equiptment includes: a flash head (strobe), light meter, stand, power leads, umbrellas, soft boxes, honeycombs, beauty spots, slave unit, sync cable, boom stand, back drop, wind machine, battery pack.

We went through different lighting situations such as using low key lighting and high key lighting (using three or more lights.) Learning about the studio was really useful to learning about what type of lighting I would use for this project, because I want an editorial look for my final prints I'll be using a black back drop with hard lighting therefore I will need to use a smaller attachment over the light so there is not much diffusion and more definition there will be in the shadows.