Aside from the daunting double credit weight this set of assignments carries, comes the realisation of the amount of holes in basic photography practice that are present in my skills set. The constant message that has been hit home over and over is the amount of transferable still life practices that once mastered will benefit hugely every other aspect of my work.
Its only too apparent that if you try and cut corners you will not come anywhere near to getting the kind of results that have been shown by those at the top of their game. The leaders in still life produce work that looks like it has been done in seconds when the reality is that you could be spending several hours to create the vision in your head.
The importance of having the right equipment in order to make this happen is probably the most important lesson I have taken from all of the modules. Lighting that you know well enough to be confident with using is a given across all the disciplines. Mostly I have tried to stick with my own flash (Nikon SB700/910) set up and stand, soft box, triggers etc. Feeling that as these are what I will eventually be using myself once I leave CCAD they should be mastered and understood as soon as possible. It is the extra pieces that have proven invaluable, such as bounce cards, mirrors and reflectors. Without these a much more complicated and expensive set up would be needed if the images are to have any impact and punch.
I welcomed the challenge of creating appealing images of food. Perhaps the future for my personal work I would be more interested in presenting it in a more realistic light, more suited for the fine art rather than commercial arena. Although I find the difference in approach rather negligible, the end results for each are as far as I have seen so far can only be reached with the same outlook. Consideration must be made for how quickly foods perish from being brought out to the set. From wilting greens to runny whipped cream, you have to be on your toes to get everything else in exact position or it can all be in vein.
I have to admit I was not so interested at first at the thought of spending hours shooting the likes of packets of biscuits and perfume bottles. As with most things I find uncomfortable though, perseverance with this difficult module has help enormously at my overall appreciation of the levels of patients required. Just trying that one more thing endlessly when you think you have it teaches you much more than reading any book about it can. The Jelly Babies in a jar took several hours to complete and a total of over fifty shots after i had got to an image which matched what at first was the required end result. Its only upon incredibly close scrutiny of the images in post production that little corrections come to light. Never before have I went to such lengths to get as much of the elements correct completely in camera to reduce the time needed after each shoot. Even if I had an endless amount of time, the level of skill needed to do so in such a way (subtly enough) is beyond someone like myself with moderate Photoshop ability.
There will be many opportunities in the future to develop series like the ones created in the documentary module. The simple and consistent set ups used run the danger of sailing very close to the wind of coming off like a school project, if not presented correctly. However I feel this is as much its strength as a way of isolating items on a relevant narrative.
The best way to describe the Vanitas images would be to compare them to doing ten or more product shots at the same time. The finished scene will only be as strong as the weakest link. I feel we achieved a high level of accuracy in replicating the painting we were presented with at the start of the task. The devil is in the detail here, without any single element in the correct place, this simply wouldn't have been the case. Great team work from all involved going that extra mile to source the items made a huge difference to what was arguably the hardest task to pull off logistically.
It is reassuring that at this stage of my development that I can comfortably work to clients briefs without much hesitation or fear. Putting that together in writing like a learning agreement for the first time was still quite challenging. As you will know, this the writing part, is the bit I have to really apply myself due to not coming from a very academic background prior to the degree course.
Working with the Purple Pig chain to develop their own distinct look for the food promotion shoots has been very rewarding. Not least because it has offered paid work in an area I have barely touched so far. Also in regards to having a great deal of artistic freedom to produce work that is not only fit for a commercial purpose but represents how I would approach making fine art. It will take me as long to create my own look as strong as my event photography in this field. I do feel this is a worthwhile avenue to pursue as it will give me greater control over my own projects and develop the skills needed in every aspect of my photographic practice.
The final three prints chosen from the Purple Pig shoots have been chosen mostly due to their pleasing aesthetics. The slight depth of field combined with bokeh effect make them to me, the most interesting theme and un fussy.
I feel these images would be equally at home on the walls as individual pieces of standalone art as happily as sitting in the set with the rest of the promo used to sell the drinks on a menu. So I think for my path next year I will be choosing to go along the fine art pathway. I feel this more reflects my long term plans in photography where as commercial would always be seen as a necessary evil.
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