Summer shooting
Textures and Colours
Here are some images taken by both my camera and on colour 35mm film, looking into colour and texture. I followed the process of my sister dying her hair from green to reddy brown. I used this to take photographs of the change in colour and texture throughout the process, taking both head shots and macro shots of the hair. This shoot encompassed 3 different ideas from my shopping list, sense of place due to the idea of a journey, of progression from one situation to another, which in this case was the journey of her dying her hair from one colour to another. Texture due to the focus on macro images of hair and how hair becomes when its matted together. And finally my hair idea, looking at hair itself, a study on colour, on texture and on hair as a beauty symbol, and a symbol of ones identity.
It was a very successful shoot as I was able to incorporate all these ideas into one and believe I am showing a change in lifestyle that indicates how important hair is to ones identity and how change can sometimes feel daunting and even distressing.
It was a very successful shoot as I was able to incorporate all these ideas into one and believe I am showing a change in lifestyle that indicates how important hair is to ones identity and how change can sometimes feel daunting and even distressing.
Digital Shoot |
Film shoot |
Texture
These two shoots look into hair and texture. I've realised that I've been looking at what hair does to create identities, and how it affects peoples personalities, but not at hair as its own subject. I decided to shoot some images of hair on its own, focusing on the textures that it creates within images, and the difference in colour and texture dependent on the person. These images were taken using a digital camera, which is more suitable to use, considering that these images had to be very close-uo. However, they are not all completely in focus due to the macro nature of them, so I am going to continue shooting them, but will try to use a macro lens and tripod to create a very clear, focused, precise effect in the images. I also shot hair against other textures, juxtaposing the smooth hair next to brick, wood, leaves and grass. This allowed me to show off hairs texture alongside nature, showing the contrasting textures of two natural things. From these two shoots, I've become very interested in hair and its texture and have started to collect hair, which I will photograph in the studio, creating close-up images to show its texture. I am also looking into photographing hair so close-up, enough perhaps to see the actual hair proteins meshed together.
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Colour
Inspired by Hanne van der Woude and Vivian Keulards.
With these images I started shooting my sister and her red hair, looking into the specific colour and how it sits within different landscapes. This also felt successful in its outcome because the red hair pops out from the greenery surrounding it, indicating it as the focus of the images. Whilst shooting these images, I took photographs of the locations on their own. and textures and shadows that I felt connected back to the person and the hair. These were also successful in the fact that they give a little more context to the places I am photographing each person in, and show how I have considered my location as well as my model, so that the whole image is being considered thoroughly, rather than placing someone wherever they may be and not allowing the image full context.
Digital Shoot |
Film Shoot |
Hair Loss
With these images, I started to recreate imagery I wrote when I suffered from hair loss. I read through writing which I wrote at the time and started creating images around the creative language that I used within the writing. I began writing about my life and how I would get ready for school before I started loosing my hair. I decided to reenact this routine, taking self portraits of myself and different parts of the day to show what my life would have been like before hair loss, just very normal. The quote I reenacted was "breakfast, bus, school, bus, home, homework, supper, bath then bed". These portraits went well and were interesting to create as they weren't composed or created, just snapped as I went about my day, very simply. I then used another quote to create images around, which was "head slipped underwater, ears ringing with silence, blocking out the sounds of normal everyday life.". I used a model to shoot these images due to the positioning of the model in water and needing to shoot from above. Both these shoots went well and were interesting to create. One idea which came from them was to create a moving image off the back of the writing, creating a personal film about my experience with hair loss. However, this may be quite difficult due to my lack of filming skills, but I still want to look into it and learn more skills throughout the year.
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How do you wear your hair?
For this shoot, I looked into the idea that we wear our hair. We decorate and adorn our personality and identity using our hair in different ways. I wanted to show this by taking portraits of people, front and back, to show how each of us using our hair differently to shape ourselves. Whether we really know we're doing it or not, we all use our hair or perhaps lack of hair to create looks for ourselves, shaping it depending on our outfits, situations, religions and culture. I am very pleased with the images that I took, using 35mm film, as I feel they show a variety of people with different hairstyles, which indicates the broad spectrum of hairstyles and how one can wear their hair as an accessory.