Shooting Look 2

With this shoot I encountered a few issues that were out of my control - But I think I was able to handle them successfully. When I booked this shoot, I had arranged my original photographer and a different student to complete the hairstyling. Unfortunately, my hair stylist dropped out on me at the last minute and I was unable to replace her at short notice. I decided to style the hair myself instead of cancelling the shoot completely. I made this decision based on the time constraints I was facing, I thought for the benefit of my project it would be better to achieve a finished look than to not shoot anything at all.

Below is the final edited image from this shoot.

I did struggle with the hair styling, as the model had quite prominent ears and I found it hard to find a simple hair style that I could achieve that would flatter this feature. However, I think I made a good judgement by covering the ears with bangs of hair and cropping the image in post production. I really like the finished image, I think the skin looks beautiful and the application of lip colour is accurate and striking enough without being over the top - which fits the purpose and USP of my website. Another aspect Im pleased with is the continuity of the style of photography between my shoots - the lighting set up has remained the same and the overall finished outcomes look consistent with each other. 

In hindsight, with the time I had I could have realistically shot another look. I let the earlier issues effect my motivation and distract me from my ultimate goal which was to shoot two looks with my model during the time I had with her. 

Moving forward...

- I think I need to be more ambitious with shooting, use models for 2/3 looks at a time
- Shoot more looks, I need to pick up the pace a little as I'm already falling behind on my schedule 

♯Initiative & Independent Learning
♯Devise Innovative and Appropriate Solutions to a problem or brief
♯Understanding of trends & styling conventions

Shooting Look 1

This week I completed the first shoot for one of the looks to be featured on my site. I was able to arrange the help of a photographer and hair stylist. I thought this would relieve some of the stress of having the responsibility of having three roles MUA, photographer and Hair Stylist. I found having a photographer to be really useful as I didn't have the added responsibility of setting up lights and adjusting settings. Overall Im really pleased with the quality of the images taken and thankful I had the help of my photographer. In future I will aim to have this assistance in my upcoming shoots. 

This is final image from my initial shoot, which I have edited today. Overall, I think the quality of the image is good. However, I do think the hair styling could have been a little more refined in hindsight. I will keep this in mind for future shoots and try to make sure that the hair styling is up to par.

In this photoshoot, I also shot another look. However I feel that the outcome of this was not as suitable for my website. Comparing the above image to the one below, you can see that the overall effect is completely different. In the top image the model looks polished, refined and radiant. In the image below and others from the shoot, the model looks a little bit miserable. Also the overall mood and aesthetic is more disheveled and messy. I have made the decision not to go forward and edit this image or to even feature this look on the site as I feel the quality is not high enough and the overall mood of the image is too angsty and fierce.

Going Forward...

- Continue designing and shooting looks 

- Start designing site layout & logo 

♯Initiative & Independent Learning
♯Understanding of trends & styling conventions

Facing Issues with Confidence/Motivation

Reflecting on my progress over the last few weeks, Im currently not particularly happy with the progress Ive made. In all honesty, Ive found myself lacking severely in motivation and much ambition to do any work towards my final major project. I seem to be in a bit of a creative rut at the moment and I'm struggling to find any ambition or enthusiasm towards my work. 

Im thinking that maybe finding someone to talk to about this or share my issues with could be of benefit to me. Im already falling behind on my production schedule and if i don't sort myself out its only going too get worse. 

Current Mood

♯Devise Innovative and Appropriate Solutions to a problem or brief

Revised Proposal & Mentor Feedback

This week I have focused on re-developing my FMP proposal. I have decided to create an inspirational website that provides inspirational images that celebrate my love of subtle make-up artistry. Here is the revised proposal presentation I created to show my mentor. 

When I presented my new proposal to Sharon she stressed the need for me to think more like a professional and less like a student. I understood that what she meant by this was to stop trying to meet a brief and to focus on creating something that was professional and had real life grounding and application. For example, it isn't entirely necessary for me to cater my website to make up students  - realistically this would make up a very small percentage of my audience.

Moving forwards from this week its important for me to get the ball rolling with starting to shoot my looks - as I have planned to shoot a total of 30 looks and feature a total of 25 on my website. 

♯Initiative & Independent Learning
♯Devise Innovative and Appropriate Solutions to a problem or brief
♯Understanding of trends & styling conventions

Initial Mentor Meeting/Change of Direction

My FMP proposal which I submitted before christmas outlined my intention to create a website that hosted beauty tutorials. 

However, with time to reflect over the Christmas holidays I have come to the conclusion that I want to change the outcome for my Final Major Project. This decision has come from my lack of excitement over the thought of creating video tutorials. I think it would be foolish to continue on with an idea that I really don't have that much passion for.

In my initial meeting with Sharon this week I spoke to her about my decision to change my idea as well as my uncertainty about what to pursue instead. I explained to her that what I really like doing is creating beautiful beauty images and showed her an example of one of my favourite websites - BeautyisBoring.com 

She encouraged me to pursue what I enjoy doing and to not worry about trying to jump through hoops to create something to meet a brief. On reflection I think this is how I ultimately ended up coming up with an FMP idea that I didn't really have any ambition for. I think I got so wrapped up in trying to plan something that was innovative and filled a gap in the market, that ultimately I ended up designing something that didn't fully incorporate my interests, passion or skill set. 

I now feel a little happier about the prospect of creating my FMP. With the help of my mentor I have decided to pursue creating a website that incorporates my love of subtle beauty and still imagery. Going forward from here I need to develop this idea further and come up with a more detailed, revised proposal to work from. 

♯Initiative & Independent Learning
♯Devise Innovative and Appropriate Solutions to a problem or brief
♯Good working practices