Fashion Week

This week, we were to collaborate with second and third year students in order to produce imagery to a set and chosen brief in the setting of Pentillie Castle. There were The briefs we could choose from, one to photograph clothes designed and made by a company called Birdie, one to photograph final garments made by year third year fashion students, and the final brief was split into two groups for a brief set by Holly McGlynn.
My group got Holly McGlynn’s brief. This was to find clothing that suited the genre of New Romantic with imagery included to be used as fashion influence. it was our job to go out and find clothed that matched the style, whether it be bought, our own or used from the fashion department.
We had a budget of £100 for the whole group. This was where much of the group divided – The Second ans third years wanted to buy an extremely expensive ball gown that did not match the genre of the brief, and the first years wanted to explore the charity shops and get the most out of our money. Much of the items bought by first years therefore, were from charity shops and Primark. The second and third years went to River Island and online. They got clothes that, in the first year’s opinion, did not match the brief. However we had a small tester of the colours and styles once all the clothes were brought in and whittled it down to around five outfits. We were told we had two models for the day.
After outfits had been chosen we were to go in and decide on hair and makeup for the models. It was evident the second years had a very different genre in mind – regal and over the top, however form the brief it was clear this was NOT the style intended. We requested it be subtle and natural looking for both models.
When it came to the day of the shoot, we had two cameras and two rooms. As we set up the first room, it became evident that hair and make-up was taking over an hour longer than anticipated, and so we had time to find a good location in such a small space and how to light it.
It was not an ideal room, however the bathroom worked well, yet we began by attempting to photograph the window and get a fairly good lighting set up. This was using BX kits and a very large Octobox soft box.
The lighting and location proved very difficult, and us first years weren’t particularly listened to. Regardless we helped out. Eventually the models arrived and we got them into their outfits. There was a lot of mixed feelings about the location and the styles. It did not work. Luckily the second room became available for us, and Tim suggested we break off into two smaller groups. Myself and three other first years took our preferred model, a camera and a light with the large Octobox on into the available room. We then took it in turns to take photographs of the model. Individually placing her where we thought best. This was extremely useful, allowing us to have our own creative freedom.
We struggled with the camera, as none of us used Nikon regularly, and the auto focus seemed to be broke, so we had to use manual focus much of the time. Regardless, we got some beautiful shots of the model and we all worked far more effectively.
After all the images were taken and we were back at the college, it was our job to edit down the number of images to a final four. These were then adjusted by myself and added to the second and third year’s images.
The next day we printed them out and were to arrange them accordingly to create a photographic narrative.
Initially we though it would be impossible to marry together such different shots, however we eventually all came to an agreement. Holly McGlynn herself was extremely pleased with the quality of work produced and we were able to come together in the end to create an eight page spread SS16/17 Look Book.
Though we had our issues at the start we came together as small groups and worked extremely effectively. I have learnt about lighting interiors, working with hair and make-up teams and using small amount of space to your advantage.
Overall an extremely insightful task that I would be proud to take part in again.
Below are my three favourite images I took, and the final seven images that became the eight page look book.