Term 2 - Week 1 - Portfolio Progression

Theme Name for Week 1:
"Purity"

My colour palette that I am thinking of for my final portfolio is very faded, pale and a lot of natural skin tones and similarities (such as beige, peach etc). The following images I have collected are similar to what I have in mind for my portfolio when considering the colour palette.

I am also very keen on delving in to exploring the different aspects of the human body (especially the face and details on the skin that some may miss on a day to day basis). The Tumblr images that I have posted are my inspiration as to what I want to shoot. I want to do this with natural (ambient) light outdoors in the shade or by a window. 

I also feel as though on social media and advertisements we as a society are frequently surrounded by these "idealistic" women with the "perfect" face and body along with designer clothes, shoes and bags; young girls/women look up to these things and crave materialistic items because it's seen as what you need to have in order to be accepted as being conventionally pretty. I wanted to expose what's underneath the falsity girls/women are told to wear without revealing any nudity and just photograph the females in their natural state without makeup or excessive editing.

The reason I have changed my mind about shooting in the studio is because I want every element of my portfolio to be consistent with my theme of "purity and organic beauty".

As much as I want to show off the natural beauty, I also want to maybe incorporate some teary eyes or cracked lips etc just to show the rawness of emotion that may also be missed in every day situations.

The aim of this theme is to show the audience that "negative" emotions shouldn't be considered as something to be hidden, and the same for your natural face and skin. 


Tumblr Images:
(these images also go on to represent my theme):

I like this one because it represents (to me) how the model is trying to escape what looks like a prison (shown through the blinds) and it relates to my theme of opression.

Bullet Point Overview of Portfolio Theme: Week 1:
"Purity"

• inspired by unrealistic societal expectations for women and female oppression
• natural / ambient light including the limited use of white-toned lighting
• no makeup, nail polish, earrings etc on model plus also being clean faced.
• model wearing simple clothing, limited patterns (if any) and relatively cheap. Also, barefoot.
• no nudity, just focusing on daily-exposed areas of the body i.e.  face, arms, hands, collar bones etc
• emotion will be explored through this theme as well
• models are female from 4 years onwards
• great focus on lighting and exposure of image in order to correctly pronounce the details I'm after.

THIS POST WAS UPDATED ON 18/5/16:

As much as I still believe in what I have stated above in regards to the theme of unrealistic societal expectations for women and female oppression, I have changed my theme slightly to the purity and innocence of children. The reason being not only because I love photographing and working with kids, but because their curiosity makes for a lot impulsive decisions and having that uncertain energy keeps me on my toes. That's one of the joys I get when working with kids. I also love their honesty and their eager spirit when they model for me. I experience a lot of hesitation from adults when I do photoshoots with them and they claim to not be comfortable in front of the camera.

I plan on just photographing young girls for now as I currently don't know any young boys who would be interested in modelling. It's important to note that I will not be photographing children who are not fully clothed. It's vital that I remind everyone that I am utterly against the sexualisation or exploitation of minors. The artist models I use are merely inspiration for reasons other than nudity and are not presented as a directory.

I will be photographing young girls in their natural environments that will hopefully help capture their innocence and the character of each model. I have personally chosen an environment for each girl that I feel represents who she is and that they are comfortable in (such as bedrooms and playing in the backyard).