Friday, 30 January 2009
Edible Photography
Ama Lea Photography
She uses fantastic, vivid colour in her work. Her playful photography is in a style I am very much interested in myself.
I have found some images that link well with my brief, and include food in fashion and beauty photography. I would like to use food in this playful, colourful way.
The bubblegum colours associated with candy are vibrant, and cute. This innocent use of colour mixed with the sexiness of the models make for really powerful images.
This style of photography is particularly loved by women, but it is still sexy; it's a classic style that truly stands the test of time.
I would like to respond to "Food - Eat Your Eyes Out" in an equally playful way.
Audrey Kitching is one of my favourite models, she herself looks good enough to eat. I'd like the whole of my images to look edible... maybe they could be? I could print some on cupcakes!! :o) And then take photo's of people eating my photo's?! How exciting!!
Anyway I love this composition of Audrey Kitching shot by Ama Lea, I'd love to do something similar but have my model surrounded by cupcakes and candy.... sugar heaven.
Ama Lea's Photography can be seen here: http://www.amaleaphoto.com/
Thursday, 22 January 2009
Emailing Magazines and Fashion Houses
"Dear Mr. Ledger-Lomas,
My name is Fran Bailey and I am a student at Leeds College of Art and Design.
I am currently collating a portfolio for application to a photography degree, and would one day love to be a fashion photographer.
I love Dazed and Confused, and find a lot of the photography inspiring.
My next project is to respond to a client brief. I was wondering if you would possibly be able to send me some examples of briefs you have given your
fashion photographers in the past?
I would be hugely appreciated.
Thanks for your time,
--
Fran Bailey
Access to H.E. in Art and Design
Leeds College of Art and Design "
Fingers crossed this particular editorial will get back to me, as it is one of my favorites.
125 Magazine Briefs
We are dedicated to providing a platform for artists to produce work that would not be viable in conventional magazines and are proud to have published work by 200 different contributors from across the globe resulting in the most open minded and truly fascinating publication in the world, a magazine that sits alongside the most luxurious "coffee-table books" and leaves most in its wake."
The magazine is comprised purely of submissions of work responding to a brief given in the previous issue.
This is the brief from the last issue. The deadline has past but it would be a nice brief for me to work towards independently.
125 MAGAZINE #13
LUXURY
Contributors deadline: 1st December 2008
On sale: 1st March 2009
CONTRIBUTOR GUIDLINES
In order to achieve the highest possible quality 125 uses the latest print and profiling technology. Below are important instructions put together in consultation with our printer and pre press partner which should help ensure that your work is reproduced at the best possible quality.
If you do not normally supply your own CMYK conversions and proofs we highly recommend that you pass these details to your lab/repro house. We will look at work not supplied to these instructions, but if accepted for publication we will expect you to resubmit.
All work must be supplied to 125 as follows:
Re-touched, ready-to-print Tiff files without any LZW, Zip or JPEG compression when saving.
Resolution: 350dpi (8 bits/channel) at 100% of printed size for best quality.
UCR: Combined Colour density of images should not exceed 330%
Files must be presented in CMYK colour space only using the ISOcoated_v2 profile which can be downloaded here.
We prefer images uncropped (with a cropping guide if necessary) using our page dimensions of 23x30cm.
With guide prints for reference (these can either be desktop prints or photographic but not thumbnails).
If your work is accepted for publication you will then need to produce CMYK match prints to ensure accurate colour reproduction.
With a fully completed CONTRIBUTORS FORM.
You should aim to fill 10-16 pages, and your work must form a cohesive ‘story’, we will not accept single images.
All contributors must include a title and a short passage of text that explains the idea or inspiration behind the work -
this will be printed alongside your images in the issue.
Any questions should be sent to contributions@125magazine.com
The full completion details can be seen here: http://www.125magazine.co.uk/index.php?p_id=5#
Amateur Photographer Monthly Forum Photographic Competition 2009
Amateur Photographer Monthly
Forum Photographic Competition 2009
Thanks to you, and the moderators (especially Siuya) this monthly forum competition goes from strength to strength. The quality and quantity of entries continues to rocket in an upward direction, and, far more importantly, so does level of enjoyment we are all deriving from it. So thanks for making it such a success and for taking part. Those that have yet to enter should do so at the earliest opportunity.
Thanks is also due to our wonderful sponsors – Nikon. The company very kindly supplies us with a delightful Nikon Coolpix S560 for the winning entry each month.
As you will also no doubt know, the second and third placed entrants win a top of the range, fully waterproof, ‘AP loves my pictures’ mug.
Please read the POSTING IMAGES – MAXIMUM SIZES etc sticky before posting for the first time as this contains important and useful information.
You can catch-up with all the chat about each round and see the entries and results in our monthly competition forum area
Best of luck to all of you, and I can’t wait to see your pictures.
Damien Demolder
* January –
The long night – pictures after dark
With winter’s short days the night is long – so make the most of it. Show us a picture taken outside at night that capitalises on those strange colours, the empty streets or some other unique aspect of the world after sunset.
* February –
Food – eat your eyes out
Food tastes and smells, but it looks too. You know what it will taste like from the colour, the texture and the sheen – but there are always surprises. Shoot something to eat in a way we can taste it through our eyeballs. Use colour for taste, backlighting for texture, glistening for stickiness, steam for heat - and your imagination. It’s easier than you think.
* March –
Looking up – a change of perspective
We spend our lives looking straight ahead seeing only what’s right in front of us, so get yourself a different view on the world. Look up. Inside or out there are new things to be seen, and surprising angles on that which we thought we knew. Get under the table, lie down in the street and make yourself see afresh.
* April –
No bigger than my thumb – mini-world
I can’t measure my thumb because I don’t know where it starts – but you get the idea. Shoot something small, and show us the details we’d normally miss. Macro or not, I want to see good lighting, careful focus, a well-chosen subject and a thought-about backdrop.
* May –
Looking through – frame it
We feel depth because we can tell some things are closer than others. Our eyes understand perspective, so well we hardly think about it anymore, but that only makes it harder when we want to show depth in our pictures. For this round create a photograph with a beginning, a middle and an end. Shoot through a window, but show the frame – look through an open door, between the trees, beyond the pedestrians and use them to demonstrate the fact our world is in 3D.
* June –
Man-made landscape – the urban jungle
Cityscape, town planning, the heart of the village, industrial wasteland, shopping heaven. Photograph the man-made world as you would the hills, looking for the shapes, the textures and the undulations. Use the light and make Charlie cry.
* July –
An orange – just add boiling brain
How do you treat an orange? Do you drop it in a tank of goldfish to create a splash of saturated fireball on blue? Or do you idolise it as Edward Weston did with those peppers? Balance it on a stick, ice it in the freezer or suspend it from the moon. You’ll all start from the same place – an orange – so winning is about what you put in to make what’s common unique.
* August –
Natural graphics – God meets minimalism
The planet is made of lines, edges, borders and junctions. Shapes and forms, angles and curves show the structure of the landscape as fields touch the sky, hedges split the fields and rocks puncture the plains. Show us a landscape that emphasises the graphic qualities of the natural world.
* September –
Soft portraits – subtle and muted
Shoot a sensitive portrait using soft light and muted colours. Keep the mid-tone contrast low so we can see smooth shapes and delicate form, and maybe just use window light and a reflector. Close-up or distant, make it peaceful, relaxed, soft and natural. Venture away from the energy high street studio.
* October –
Step back – something old…
…something borrowed, something sepia toned? Find something old and photograph it in way fashioned to its era. Transport us to the warm-toned 1880’s with a window-lit wooden toy, or to the sixties with a muddy naked hippy in faded colour-print, rations and the blitz in black and white or the garish ’80 with Basildon-chic and over-sized electronics.
* November –
A good long look – open shutter
What’s the shutter speed of your eye? The lower the light the longer the ‘exposure’, and motion becomes blurred. Shoot a long exposure – longer than usual – and make it show in the picture. Combine the still and the moving, streak reality into art or create an effect to catch the eye.
* December –
Wet – fluid, drips and drops
Shot wet, in the rain or in a puddle. Reflect the world or magnify it. Saturate a colour, wash it away or soak it through. Take a picture that uses water or shows its powerful effects.
See full completion details here: http://www.amateurphotographer.com/competitions/5267
Getting Started
I will source briefs from various locations. I will collect a few competition briefs that interest me, and I will contact fashion magazines; particularly photography focused ones such as Pop and Dazed and Confused, to see if they could possibly send me examples of briefs that they have given their photographers. I will also contact fashion houses and request the same.
Another idea is to find some local fashion designers, possibly students, with their own up and coming line, and ask them if they would be interested in me shooting some of their work, free of charge. If they use my work... that would be a Brucey Bonus!
I plan on working on a few small briefs before Easter, and then focusing on a self directed, or maybe a real client brief (like the local fashion designer ones)after Easter, and then using this work as my exhibition pieces.
The idea is that the smaller briefs will give me some practice, before the final piece, and help me develop ideas.
Preperation for Self Directed Practice/ Respond to Client Brief
| L E E D S C O L L E G E O F A R T & D E S I G N |
| Course Title | Access to HE in Art & Design | Student Name | |
| Module/Unit Title | Preparation for Self Directed Practice/ Respond to Client Brief | Year/Level | Level 3 |
| Brief Title | | Tutor(s) | |
| Context |
| You are now at a stage in the course where you will be focusing more specifically on your chosen specialism, in preparation for portfolio interviews for progression to degree level study. As well as identifying the media, concepts, approaches and visual language you wish to explore, you will be aiming to establish appropriate methodologies to working practices. This brief asks you to consider two distinct options, i.e. working in a purely self-directed way or responding to a given brief. |
| Brief |
| Choose either: a) Preparation for Self-Directed Practice, or b) Respond to Client Brief, according to whether you wish to set your own theme/concept/visual problem to respond to, or whether you wish to work in a more problem-solving way by responding to a given project, e.g. a live brief. Whichever of these two options you choose, you are required to present a brief to a group of your peers which complies to the standard college format. This brief will identify your aims and objectives for at least the next three weeks, but may take you right up to Easter. |
| Preparation/Research Suggestions |
| You may wish to refer back to ideas/themes/processes identified in previous projects, which you would now like to explore further. Or you may start afresh, identifying your ideas through brainstorming, reflection or media experiments. Alternatively, you may consider the life briefs given to you, plus any others you may identify yourself. If you choose to use a live brief, you must still present a brief alongside to show how you will identify your concept/ plan your time/ select appropriate processes etc. |
| Briefing Date 15 January 2009 | | Preferred date of completion 22/23 January 2009 |
| Unit Outcomes & Criteria
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