Reborn (LO1)

A big inspiration in my current photography and drive to insert more narrative into my portraits is Brook Shaden. I really appreciate the beauty of her work both technically and aesthetically. For me, all her images center around emotionally driven concepts, creating fantasy worlds that allow the viewer to submerse themselves into and apply their own narrative and emotional connection. The ability to create that emotional connection with the viewer is something I would like see in my own work.

With this in mind I recently carried out a shoot in the woods based on the theme Reborn. My intention was to create an image that was fluid, had a feeling of serenity and which represented the emotional release of  shedding negative baggage to become free and pure. The narrative of the image was about letting go of negative emotions and freeing yourself of their ties. This would be portrayed by various elements within the scene such as the woods to represent nature, the white fabric, which I wanted to flow around the image, to represent the new feeling of purity and emotional freedom and the birds to represent the dispersing negativity.

My set up for the shoot was quite limited; using natural light and my DSLR. I had one prop which was a single white bed sheet I had ‘borrowed’ from the local YHA.  Prior to shoot I had visualised what I wanted to achieve, which was a large amount of flowing fabric around the scene. As I only had a small sheet I knew it would have to be a composite image. To achieve this I shot my main image, which focused on the model in the correct pose, then I asked the model to move the fabric into different positions while I continued to photograph them, with the intention of later stitching the images together in Photoshop.

My final image is clearly unsuccessful due to a number of failing, the first and most significant being my lack of abilities in Photoshop. This was my first attempt at a composite and it clearly shows through the naive editing skills resulting in the model looking like she has been superimposed into the image. The images below show the initial shots that I worked with. and also highlight how the shoot itself could have been improved significantly with the use of a tripod and better planning.

Although this style of photography clearly highlights my lack of experience in creating this type of image I do intent to try again. When I compared this image to my studio work, it looks very poor quality both aesthetically and technically which does make me consider whether I should forget this style and focus on a type of photography I know I can achieve to a high standard. However as I do now want let my technical skills drive my images, but rather my visual intention, I will plan another shoot which again involves a clear story and theatrical element.