Studio shoot - Final body portrait.

I photographed my portrait today for our body brief, got my arse out of bed at 7:30, did the usal morning buisness & made my way to uni in the freezing cold, got some money out so I was sorted for film and also to supply the sitter with lunch of tea, ect.

got in for about 8:10 am, by that time I had allready begun to get sorted, first organised my things on a table to keep everything fresh & organised. 

- Curtains for backdrop

- Jacket, Jumper, snood, hat.

- Konica big mini and X100 ( holding ) to document shoot.

- Film box stuffed with goodies.

- Note book/Journal.

- Lens cloth.

- wallet

- Pen&Pencil

- Shutter Release

- Gloves to handle film.

So after this I started building the set as much as I could so I was prepared for when the shop opened to start adding the other kit.

So first off:

This is from behind the set, imagen you are looking through the curtains.

- 3 C Stands

- 3 Large foam boards ( Facing white ) 

- 1 camera tripod

- Stall ( for sitter ) 

on the left hand side a Bron colour lamp was set up facing into the boards to reflect onto the curtains & subject, the board on the right was to allow for some bounce so the right wasnt too key, ( my fill & Key ).

Choice of stall.

Music on the go to keep me sane.

So after I sorted myself out, the kit used was.

- Mamiya RZ67 - 110mm lens

- Light Meter

- Broncolour lamp 

- Pack

- Sync Cable

- 2 rolls of hp5 / 400 iso.

- Cable Cover

My sitters name was Jodie Porter, I wanted someone natural skinned, scouted her down from foundation, she was very shy but keen, when she arrived I tryed to make her feel comfortable ( also the reason for the angle of my setup so she didnt feel people was staring ect, after 10 mins she settled in well & hope she enjoyed it, to be honest I was more nervous than she was, so its o.k. I shot 2 rolls, ranging from f.5 between & up to 8. scanned a few tonight and excited to print. 

one day I might enjoy taking pictures of people, who knows! 

Stefan Ruiz.

my friend hooked me up with the ' picture perfect ' documentaries the other day & I fell deeply for stefan Ruiz, people see him as a portrait photographer, he also gets called a travel & landscape photographer. His plan has always been to let the photograph speak for itself showing different lifestyles & contrast between the rich & poor.

What I also loved is that he was a hoarder, I see myself as a small time hoarder, I find it really difficult to get rid of certain items, so I end up getting collections of the most random things & see'ing what he collected was really cool. I love looking through random things at bootfairs & old tins see'ing what random things jumped out at you.

He mentioned that he used to be a very shy man, so becoming a travel photographed has brough him to being thrown into situations, being not sure of who he's going to be photographing & where he's going next, that to me is a real sense of adventure which also links to my enviromental project. His love for photography began when he taugh Drawing & Painting at the ' San Quentin State Prision '. He then began photographing the prisioners & made a notebook of his photographs.

His first commision was by CAT who wanted him to do some advertising photographs in the style he used to frame the prisioners ( no pun intended ).

So I suppose I shouldnt really go on about his history, what really interested me as he had no interest in portrait painting, but slowly grew into liking renaissance art & began incorperating postures into his portraits, when he traveled, He was more interested in the person & not there way of living' he wanted to keep them very clean, shooting only against white walls or backdrops, in the documentry I saw, he set studios up down back alleys & outside clubs & the local kids got interested & had there photos taken, His aim was to photograph there hair styles & clothing, as it was quiet out the ordinary. & working sometime for colours magazine, Im guessing it was a piece for them.

here are some works linking to the paintings.

I though the last one was just way to good to be true.. I feel like this has helped me a little bit with my portrait piece, I dont feel iv'e looked into it so much, but probally due to the fact I only shoot landscapes..

gonna carry on researching into portrait photographers using simular styles.

Ben Rayner - Body

Really feeling this image by Ben rayner ( http://www.benrayner.com/ )

Love the idea of using a prop for the back drop instead of a white back drop, I like the lighting spread across the back, giving the shadows of lines.

Its a very seducing image, dragging you in.

The skin tones look so fresh & natural, deffinately going to look into some rad back drops I could get & mix up a little, will see what happens