Series & Website

I thought it would be important to make it clear what I will be producing as my outcome and now I have a clear idea of my concept, styling and makeup, I can decide exactly how many looks I would like to produce and how I will showcase them.

W E B S I T E  I N F L U E N C E S

I have been looking into how Nowness lay out their website, and I like the simplicity of the title and large imagery as the background.

Above is makeup artist, Michelle Webbs website which promotes all the work she has previously done. In particular I like it's a slide show as well as many different thumbnails of her work. 

The only difference is my website will be strictly for my project, so that everything flows well and everything within the website links together. 

 S E R I E S 

Within the website I would like to showcase a series of images, of course with no beauty retouching as I've stated many of times. Again with the influence of androgynous styling. I proposed in my final major project proposal that I would create around 5-6 different photoshoots and showcase two from each shoot. 

I would like to portray a different aspect of androgynous in each shoot, for example one being very masculine, another being very much makeup focused, another more focused on the styling, etc.  

Makeup and Styling Direction

Now that I have a clearer idea of what I want to achieve and I can begin to plan the styling and makeup direction.

As stated I obviously want the makeup to be challenging as there will be no savour of retouching! Each makeup look and styling will be fashion foreward. Influenced from past and current trends.

I have started to create a couple of story boards of images that influence my direction and show my vision a little clearer.

S T Y L I N G 

Each shoot will be slightly different but with the influence of androgyny. This means I will typically use quite masculine clothing, straight, sharp lines and mostly dark/neutral colours. Or very simplistic. I will go into more detail for each shoot.

M A K E  U P 

Because the styling will mainly be quite masculine, I want to keep the skin very fresh and natural combining various textures upon the face. (taking influence from major fashion shows, natural, glowing skin is very on trend) Each eye look may vary, however I don't want anything too over whelming, or anything that will take away from the styling and main aspect of no retouching. As I said before each makeup look has to be perfected. Again, I will be able to go into more detail when planning each shoot. 

No beauty retouching

Peter Lindbergh strongly influenced me on the idea of producing non beauty retouched images. The make up, styling and natural beauty of the model will showcase a raw, realistic approach to fashion. Resulting in no need for any retouching at all. 

Being a makeup artist, I strongly believe as long as the makeup is of high quality, precise and clean, there is no need to edit or alter this. It's not just about no airbrushing. I feel over retouched images just takes away from the original meaning.

As well as choosing the right model, styling and setting, there will be no need to over retouch. Obviously the image will still be slightly altered, for example the saturation, brightness, contrast and colour balance. There is something quite raw and intruiging with untouched beauty. (Like seen in Peter Lindberghs images of Kate Moss) 

Peter Lindbergh

In January's issue for Vogue Italia, fashion photographer Peter Lindberg captured Moss in a retro, black and white nostalgic aesthetic, styled natural and raw. Lindberg stated that it is believed retouching is overused and out of control within fashion photography. Additionally beautiful models are beginning to look unnatural and alien to society where there is a need for reality rather than an unattainable body ideal. Lindbergh has been known before to contribute within this movement of no beauty retouching.

Recap

At the beginning of the year, we was asked to complete a final major project proposal which included an introduction to my idea, inspirations, our main focus, target market and competitors as well as this, also planning our work schedule and the budget of our project. This was to help gain a clear idea of what we were creating, what we needed to do and think about beforehand. Lastly, to explain what beauty and styling direction we will convey within the final outcome.

I felt it was important to actually review my FMP proposal a couple times throughout my process, to see if anything has changed and if so, explain why.

As I have discussed previously, I am furthering the aesthetic outcome from my dissertation and practice. I explained that I felt the practical for my dissertation was not strong enough and felt I could of pushed the concept more. For the diss practice I produced a series of images, that were manipulated within photoshop (such as layering images on one another) and conveyed the 'emotional manipulation' of photoshop within society. Below I will insert my rationale that links my practical and dissertation together...

The aim of this practice is to portray the emotional and physical affects society accept due to the perceptions of body image influenced through beauty and fashion advertisements. Beauty retouching and the image manipulation distort reality, blurring the lines between what is real and what is false. Shields and Heineken (2002) explain how “images of ideal bodies, most often female bodies, are some of the most dominant and consistent messages produced by advertisers.”

Image manipulation is a popular occurrence throughout beauty and fashion advertisements and the majority of the time, this method is normally used to manipulate the models body and enhance features. However, this practice will portray the manipulation in a different way. Rather than creating an ascetically ‘beautiful’ image, the concept will portray through the use of lighting, model placement and most importantly the use of postproduction. By layering and creating blurred aspects within the image, similar to figure 1. This conveys the emotion and frustration that consumers deal with due to the unattainable perception of beauty within contemporary culture.

The styling was kept very minimal, as the use of post-production was the main aspect of the photo shoot. However, the makeup style was influenced from the likes of Tom Ford makeup advertisements to fit the concept of beauty and fashion advertisements.

The movement of the model and the use of layering in post product mainly indicate the emotional affects as Beauty Redefined blog (2013) explains that while the vast majority of images of women are being digitally altered, so to are our perceptions of beauty, health and what’s normal. Globally, for women, the media and advertisements controls what seems to be deemed beautiful.

Each final image will convey a new ideal of beauty, it is believed that not everyone’s perception of ‘perfect’ is the same. The aim is to provoke a reaction and feeling of what consumers believe is beautiful. As the media are constantly bombarding contemporary culture with beauty ideals, it is difficult to know what is attainable.  People are subconsciously drawn to what they see in the media and easily influence towards this vision of being ‘perfect’, thus creating a new perception of beauty.

In the art industry, various artists have used this concept in a way of portraying the message and the on going problem within society. Also by indicating the way it affects everyday consumers emotionally in how they see body ideals.

Beatrice Boyle, an inspiring London College of Fashion graduate produces work that incorporates painting, drawing and elements of design. The meaning behind her work is the main aspect that has a knock on effect on society. Boyle’s work subverts the original meaning and concept of an image, distorting the image and creating a new aesthetic, which conveys the meaning of tension between the original image and the final piece of work.

Beatrice Boyle’s work is an important influence within this project due to the message she conveys within the concept and visual of her work.

Boyle said, “My work is about subverting the original meaning and context of an image. By defacing the image and to some extent destroying it, I create a new one. It is about the tension between the initial image and the final work.” (Patrick, 2010)

As my tutor stated, the idea was there, but I didn't quite push it enough, I felt the meaning behind it was strong, however didn't quite showcase what the rationale stated. 
In terms of what I discussed in my proposal, my concept is still the same, however I am branching out into a different direction slightly. 

CHANGE OF PLAN 

At the beginning of this blog, I introduced my idea and proposed how I was furthering the aesthetic  outcome of my dissertation and practice unit and stated I wanted to experiment and produce a series of work that conveyed the idea of image manipulation within beauty and fashion advertisements in a different light, and physically manipulating the images by hand or within photoshop.
however I have a change of plan...
Reason being...IT JUST DOESN'T WORK. I have created a couple of experiments of physically manipulating images and magazines, however in all honesty, I'm just not happy with the idea and where it was going... I thought they didn't look professional enough and didn't convey the true meaning of what my concept was. Which was exactly where I went wrong with my dissertation and practice outcome. I do not want to make the same mistake again. Also knowing that I am producing the series of work onto a website and this website will obviously be another professional platform for me to showcase my work. As much as I enjoyed the collaging, etc. I just didn't think it was me and didn't think it worked for what I see in the future for me. This is obviously something I will further once the unit is over. Maybe not so much the concept, but the type of work I produce. Therefore I feel the outcome I produce within this unit will need to completely be my best and most passionate piece of work. I felt like the concept was just being forced slightly and it was hard not to make it too obviously or too 'tacky' looking.

As I discussed above, I will keep within the theme of  the portrayal of image manipulation in fashion and beauty advertisements. However, being a makeup artist, I obviously want to stick to my roots and show off what I can do! (which I also felt the collaging didn't show!!!)

Concept

As stated in a previous post, I will be furthering my concept from my dissertation and practice. The concept will be portrayed in a series of images. As this is an ongoing process, the concept may go in a different direction to what I originally wanted to indicate. Any changes or hiccups and why they changed will be logged.

I keep stating my concept over and over, but I know I want to make it very clear what I will be doing, where my idea is, where it will be going and how I will achieve the outcomes.

I also believe it's very important to have a reason behind every idea, and an explanation and plan of what I will be doing in terms of my final outcomes.

Therefore, each shoot will be thoroughly planned and explained beforehand, from the makeup and styling to the location to the concept and how the outcome relates to my overall concept.

In previous posts I was explaining how I was unsure on where my final outcome was going, I wasn’t happy with the experiments I was creating.

So I brainstormed what else I could create.

I was inspired by Peter Lindberghs photographs of Kate Moss. I loved how raw, natural and effortless they looked. I then began to read how his photo’s were unretouched.

This inspired me to propose to support NO BEAUTY RETOUCHING within any of my images.

I felt the collaging and manipulating of the images just wasn’t working for me. I want to show off more makeup skill and felt collaging was taking away from that.

By having no beauty retouching this means, I can really challenge myself on my makeup skill and ensure every detail is right.

Because I’m choosing not to go down the physical manipulation route, I felt my images needed some sort of ‘theme’ or style to link them all together.

I want the styling to be unexpected to your typical beauty and fashion advertisement. I don’t want it to be over retouched like you see in some magazines or over glamourized.

The style of each shoot will be influenced by Androgyny as a way of manipulating the stereotypical perception of a woman's style.

Manipulating, meaning the control of something or someone.

"Just say it how it is..."

So...seeing as this is a reflective journal and this blog is a way of showing my journey, I thought it was only necessary to truly reflect how I feel...honestly. 
As I stated, its a way of logging every part of my journey in order to get to my final idea and when I say every part, I mean every part! Faults, doubts, thoughts and experiments. 

Like I said, I wanted to be honest. Every artist goes through doubts and lack of motivation. I keep doubting myself and thinking what am I actually doing? WHAT do I want to achieve? What do I want my end result to be?
so......I'll answer these questions, in order to really KNOW what I want and to fully understand my idea. 

It is certain that my end result will be a website, a platform which I can showcase my work, professionally. Firstly, on the homepage, will be my name in which will be recognised as my profession name 'Hannah Emily Alice Kemp'. The design of my name I have already thought of. However, it is imortant that I know that it's not just showing my work as a portfolio. It's more of a showcase of the project. And everything on that website links together and aesthetically pleasing for the viewer. 

As well as the logo itself, I wanted everything to be kept very simplistic. Nothing that will take away from my work. 

IDEA

As this is a place to reflect, it's the only place where I can fully log EVERYTHING I'm feeling...As I said above, this blog will hold all my doubts, ideas and inspiration. I have been really struggling what to say on this blog and where to start. In order to reflect, it's only right that I log right from the very beginning and let you all know exactly how I got here and where I want my idea to go and what I'm going to do to make it come to life...

It all started with my dissertation and practice idea, my question was to reflect upon the role of image manipulation in the portrayal of beauty within contemporary fashion. I knew it was an on going issue within society, but I never really truly sat down and thought about the affects it has on us, especially young girls and women. As I can express this idea in a more personal way on this blog, I will be honest in saying, I've never really struggled with my appearance, which I felt was why I didn't really know the life threatening affects the media has upon society. The purpose of the dissertation was to gain an understanding of the affects of image manipulation, and how it is perceived within contemporary fashion, and the portrayal of beauty within society. It is believed that mass media create an unattainable body image towards consumers, especially upon young women, forming an misrepresentation and causing difficulty for the consumer to differentiate between what is reality and what is false. In order to help me discuss this topic further, I began to find relevant research drawn from various studies that include indication of how image manipulation is portrayed within contemporary fashion and the perception of beauty and body ideals. 

In conclusion to this I found that it is believed that body ideals are perceived as unfeasible due to the fact that beauty retouching and image manipulation has evolved and became an extreme, popular occurrence in the majority of fashion and beauty advertisements. It is very apparent that beauty retouching has contributed to the cause of body image disturbance and concerning health issues due to consumers taking body image to extreme measures, It is only when delving into the depths of the affects of beauty retouching and what the consequence it faces. Women who read fashion magazines revealed higher expectations of being thin. As consumers they tend to follow the advice in hopes of gaining acceptance and developing the ideal body. Adjustments are already being made within this movement, it is believed that fashion photographer, Peter Lindbergh has been involved in photographing celebrities with no beauty retouching and explaining that image manipulation should not define or represent women of today. Similarly, the interview conducted specified the evolution of fashion photography and a new ethical approach, portraying natural beauty and in hopes of reflecting this new movement upon society. (drawn from my dissertation)

As a result, it is apparent, that the media portray models within advertisements in an unattainable way, resulting in society to gain a false perception of beauty. Also, exposing a cause of body image disturbance and physical health issues. such as anorexia and bulimia. 

IDEA! DING DING DING DING. ( Whilst writing this, I genuinely just thought of an idea.........fill you in later)  reflecting really does help and blossoms your idea even more! I NEED to jot this down before I forget! 

As well as my dissertation, I also created a practice along side that reflected my idea in a creative outlook. Unfortunately, my practice was my downfall, and in all honestly, I didn't get a great mark in my opinion and my tutor, Flavia agreed also. I already knew it wasn't strong enough, I was so focused on the dissertation itself ,that my practice was probably done half heartedly. However, as I wanted to draw my research from my dissertation further, I thought this would be a perfect idea to truly experiment with this topic and as it will be a practice, I will be able to showcase the concept in it's strongest form and use my feedback from the dissertation and practice in a constructive way. 

FEEDBACK FOR MY PRACTICE FROM MY TUTOR, FLAVIA.