FINAL SELECTED PORTRAITS: FIORIRE

Here are my final portraits for the Identity series: 

Stripe

Mint

Time 

Quiet

My motivation for this series of portraits was quite simple. I adore the look of skin on camera, capturing it in just the right light to make it look so soft and beautiful. I also wanted to capture my relationship between my partner and I. I wanted to show our intimate moments together without it being sexual and just with very carefully selected lighting. I chose to only shoot between four hours of the day (10am-2pm) to achieve the soft light I achieved in my photos. Also having a photo of my partner and I individually I wanted to show that we are individuals too, and that we come together and a unit. My initial ideas we to shoot my pictures candid and just have my camera ready at any moment we were together. However, I wasn't getting fast enough results or what I really wanted, so Anne suggested that I stage the photos so I can control everything and make the appear candid. I decided to give this idea a go and my results were far better and was producing more work. I quite enjoyed controlling the seemingly candid photos as it meant I had full control of composure and lighting and this gave me satisfaction that the photo would turn out well. I wanted to highlight through post production the places in which our bodies come in to contact to enhance the senses of we we touched. 

For my research I wanted to find some work of a similar nature to mine and I looked in the book Auto Focus I found a series named My Little Dead Dick which was a collaborative piece between Patrick Tsai and Mdi Ju. The collection is simply gorgeous as they photograph their intimate time together. I was so inspired by their work I wanted to try and get a similar candid look with my photos. However, one strong difference between their work and mine is that they used film photography to create the beautiful saturated colours. I just loved seeing how strongly you could feel the intimacy in the photos without it having to be sexual. Another photographer I researched was Igor Prorrt. A friend of mine saw his work and recommended him to me, and specifically a series named Betelgeuse. Upon looking at his website filled with his work I fell in love. The lighting in his photographs was beautiful, so delicate but so soft and touching in the series. On reflection of these photos I learned and can see he used a lot of artificial lighting to create these wonderful shots, but I still adore them and their composure. For portraits they are quite unusually composed, he often has his face away from the camera and close ups of body parts with him and his partner. I liked the uniqueness to his work and took inspiration for my photos in composure and lighting.  

When shooting my photos there were some challenges, it wasn't all an easy ride. For instance, when photographing the picture of me in the bath I had to try and make sure you couldn't see the reflection of the camera in the side of the bath. I saw this as an issue and framed it so you couldn't see it. Also with the photo of my partner across my lap it was hard to take the photo as I was having to hold the camera from above and hope for the best, This meant we had to take multiple shots in order to get the framing exactly how I wanted it. For the portraits together brought new challenges. The photo in the bathroom I wanted to show there was a mirror behind us but not get the camera in reflection,so I had to frame this carefully and position us so we would block the camera's reflection. For the photo of us on the bed, I had to set the focus and desired framing with my partner in shot, then press the timer on my camera and run back into shot. This meant we had to take quite a lot of photos before I was happy with one, but it was worth it in the end. We also had to balance the camera on a radiator which was switched on so time was of the essence. I also had to settle on a name for the series and that brought new challenges because I felt I couldn't simply sum up the series with a title. However, I took my time thinking and researching and settled on naming the series Fiorire. Fiorire means to flourish or to blossom in Italian, and since I have Italian in me and in my family, I felt this was fitting and gave a new intimate level into my life and the series. 

In terms of post production techniques, I set out with the idea that I was going to select the places in which we came into contact with each other and alter the hue. I personally felt this would look good and give good results because it would draw the viewers eye to the colour change in parts of our body to make you think about the touch and contact we have, enhancing that feeling of intimacy. However upon doing this in PhotoShop I wasn't happy with the results as they ended up looking alien like and taking away the natural intimate feel to the photos, which is what I wanted in the first place. So I spoke to Anne and made the decision to submit the photos as they were as I felt happy with how they looked, manipulation free. 

Personally I have thoroughly enjoyed this portrait unit, I liked the freedom of producing more than one photo and how creative we were allowed to be. I feel there are many strengths in my series as I took a lot of time and hard work creating and selecting them. I made the decision to start taking photographs as soon as the brief was given to us, so this allowed me plenty of time to get the results I wanted without being under the pressure of time. I am also quite proud of my lighting too, I feel even though I am very strict with the times I shoot in the day it really does pay off for me. I see good consistent results by being very strict with my shooting routine. Also with starting to photograph in plenty of time this gave me more flexibility when it came to framing as I could dedicate the whole four hours to achieving one photo, so I could move slightly left or right and get it just perfect. Being a perfectionist I feel this is the way I should start working in future project so I have enough time to really perfect my work. I feel I achieved what I set about doing in my series from the beginning. I personally feel and see intimacy in my photos even if I was a viewer and not just the producer of the work. I feel you can see a connection between my partner and I that is intimate and loving without being too overpowering. However, there are always areas to develop on in any piece of work. I feel I could develop, explore or expand my series by trying out a whole shoot on film camera. As my initial photographer research was on a whole series just shot on 35mm film, I feel I could have done this and seen if my results looked as saturated and warm as the photos I researched. I have always been a bit afraid of photographing on film as you don't have the reassurance that you can check to see if the photo looks good. But I feel I should push myself more and try it out, even if all the results weren't what I wanted, at least I could show that I had tried. I am considering using just film cameras if we have another portrait series to really challenge my skills. 

Overall though I have learned so much from this unit of work, I have learned even more on composure through research into other photographers, I have explored and perfected my lighting through research and experimentation which will help me in any future photography.I have also realised the importance and significance in series of photos instead of just one and how it can tell a story and give the photographer and audience more space to explore running themes through the photos. I have also learned how to mount on foam board which I have never done, but will do again as the results give a beautiful finish to my work. 

I hope you enjoy. Thank you.