Evaluation of Final Major Project

The aim of my project was to create a coffee table booked based on the impacts and effects caused by climate change. The images through out the book touch on effects that inevitability are going to happen in the future. To show this in a more impactful way I decided to show each impact and effect on the human body. These images were formed in an artistic manner that does not make the reader feel like climate change is being forced upon them but a series of images they can enjoy, however climate change will be in the forefront of their minds. The final outcome of my book IMPACT is still relevant to my target market who are people interested in the cause and people interest in artistic photography, this book brings climate change issues up and allows the viewer to depict them in their own way. It shows important topics to do with climate change that some people may not even realise will happen such as extreme weather conditions like thunderstorms along with our infrastructure sinking. I decided to shoot these very raw with minimal editing I wanted the images to look as real as possible. My project idea did change from my original proposal which was on unconventional materials. I am glad it did and I was able to develop this further and learn so much more, before my original topic didn’t really have a reason behind it. I just liked working with different materials. With my new topic being on climate change I was able to reach out to different people within the community. I made connections with Green Peace who even ask to see some of my images once they were produced. Along the process I have learnt so much about Climate change myself it has changed the way I think and made me change my own life style because I now know so much on the effects it is having on the earth. Although my book wont change lives I hope it makes people think more about what they are doing and what they can do to help with climate change. Within my self I feel I have developed on a creative scale. Before my project started I had never done photoshoots where I’ve had to think about the whole body and shoot. Most of my photoshoots have been close up beauty shots. Working as creative director, makeup artist, hair stylist and stylist I have realised how much effort goes into making just one image come together. I’ve learnt many skills while working on this project such as seeing the picture as a whole and how the layout of books is so important for visual effect. This has changed the way I now view images. Looking back at my project I realised I faced a lot of challenges however when it was happening I took it all in my stride and did not realise how crucial this could have been to change my overall images and project. This challenges were due to my ideas not working or complications with the models which were not discussed beforehand. For example one model turned up with sharpie on his back that his friend had done the night before, my whole look for that shoot was using his back. Even though I quickly had to change my idea it still turned out amazing and I am so happy with my final results. I was lucky enough to find reliable models who either knew me or the photographer, I kept it this way as they were less likely to let me down. Collaborating in first and second year helped me find connections and build strong relationships with models and photographers. It also gave me an understanding of working in a team and how to contact people when I wanted to work with them. Collaborating with a photographer is what has made my book so successful. I knew I wanted to find someone with a lot of skills and also knew how to work well with photoshop. I wanted one photographer to shoot my whole project so it would flow and I wanted them to fully understand my concept. As I only wish to work with one photographer this did slow down my production schedule as I wanted to find someone who was amazing as my whole book would depend on their abilities. Having a photographer who was also passionate on the cause and had skills in lighting and camera set up helped me focus on the concept and makeup and not have to worry about the lighting and angles. We had constant connection to each other sending over inspiration and back and forth communication on upcoming shoots. Without his help my images would not have turned out as amazing as they have if I was to shoot them myself. My final outcome of my book looked so professional and I am happy with the company I decided to use. The paper was a good quality and you are able to see every detail within the images. If I was to re-do the coffee table book again I would consider making it a little bigger and adding quotes or subtitles before each collection of images. This was something I did not think about as I knew what each image was. I did explain what images were going to be shown through out the book at the beginning but people pointed out this could be annoying to keep referring back to. This is something I would consider for next time to develop my book further. I should have got a range of people who knew nothing about my book to look at it and give feedback on their thoughts on images and the layout. My favourite collection of images I produced were the oil shoot ones, these pictures turned out better than I expected and gave the dramatic effect I wanted, I felt they really portrayed the true horror that happens to the animals when an oil spill occurs. I think what made these images was that I made a true oil mixture and the model didn’t mind it going over her whole body. I also really like one page within my book that shows the contrast between temperature rising as humans being hot and sweaty against the impact this has on the earth drying up the ground. The part that was most challenging for me on my project was putting the book together and working on the layout. I first thought I would use a printing company and have the front cover as wood which would be burnt into, however after many calls and talking to companies they either did not want to produce it or were asking ridiculous prices. With this I decided my best option would be to use an online book company as I knew they would produce it to a professional standard even if it did not have a wood cover. I decided to use Bonus Print they offered a software tool you could download onto your computer. This was brilliant as it allowed me to use tiff images which I wanted so you could see all the details in my images. One problem I did face was the more tiff images I added the slower the programme ran. It became so slow that it took me an hour to open it and load it, and to change any image or add one would take half an hour. Towards the end this made me so frustrated and I wanted to give up with the book altogether. I needed to make sure my book was visually appealing before sending it off so wanted to see my lectures before hand. They had a few changes that they thought I should make that could improve the overall aesthetics of my book. Although this did frustrate me as the program was so slow to use I knew see changes would be crucial to make for the book flow and the reader to understanding what was going on. To further improve this project and develop it more, I could have made a website to run along side the book. This could be a website that was run with other creatives in mind who also have a passion for climate change. In a world where we are constantly on the internet and it being the quickest way we find information this would be the next step of getting these images out there for people to see and get a better understanding on climate change. Moving videos of each shoot would work really well on a website and may portray the mood and the impacts and effects of climate change better than just still images. Developing this project further could mean to great connections and working with international environmental activist networks such as Green Peace. This could be a new platform to introduce climate change to the younger generation though pictures and videos. A website that would be cool to be apart of.

Sticking To My Budget

I wanted to see how well I stuck to my budget I had set myself in my proposal and whether it was realistic.

Below is my budget I had set for my proposal.

I managed to stay under my budget!

Makeup - I didn't buy need to buy any new makeup for this. I managed to borrow its of other people like the fullers earth for the Scorched Earth shoot.

Models - I didn't end up paying any models in the end. Connecting in first and second year I managed to make good connections with people who were more like friends so would model to help me out.

Travel - Only one of my shoots was location and was within walking distance. For my Original Proposal I wanted to do shoots within botanical Gardens.

Materials - My Original idea was based on unconventional materials this is why I set the budget so high. I did have to buy materials for my new project like oil and the smoke bombs however I only spent half the budget.

Book Production - Working with an online book company just the cost down dramatically. I only paid £85.00 to get my book printed. This helped a lot



Overall I ended up spending £185 on my FMP I am really pleased this came way under budget however I do think I over budgeted to start with as I wanted to make sure it would be there just incase.

Receiving My Book and My Thoughts

The book arrived in less than a week I was really happy with how quick the service was.

PAGES
The pages of the book is what surprised me the most when I received it. They are a lot thicker compared to normal book. But I really like it, they make it nice when you turn the pages as they don't easily bend.

MY FAVOURITE PAGE
I think my favourite pages is where there is a close up of beads of sweat and on the other page is a close up of the dry effect of the scorched earth. I like how the both contrast with each other, it also works because they are both close up images.

PAGE I'M NOT HAPPY WITH
I've been told when showing other people the page I don't like they say i'm being too critical.
However the reason I don't like this page is because I think it looks really obvious that the image stops and there is a straight line. I did have time to change the book if I wanted to but I did not see the point of spending more money when everyone else thought the page was fine.

IMPACTFUL PAGES
Making my first picture and last picture double page spreads where the image is kind of sidewards made an impact. opening up to my first spread makes every viewer go oh wow that was the impression I wanted to achieve.

Front Page

Last Image in Book

CHANGES FOR NEXT TIME
Speaking to people about my book when it had arrived. Some one mentioned about maybe having quotes or headings before each collection of images. Just so it was clear what they were about for someone who no idea on climate change. This was something I didn't think about as I knew about the book myself. I should have took a step back and considered it from someone else's point of view.

Adding Final Pages To The Book

Below is the final images I am going to add to my book before sending it off.

FINALISING PREFACE

Ice Caps Melting Shoot

PREPPING 
Before the shoot started I ran the bath before hand so the steam from the bath wouldn't fog up the camera lens. I also added milk in to the water to make it look as if ice had melted into it a bit.
I also showed my photographer my inspirations on my iPad before we started shooting.

Inspiration from my iPad

STRUGGLES
The water wasn't as milky as we thought it was going to be. This wasn't a massive issue as we spoke about editing the water to a more blue colour to look like the ocean.
Doing the photoshoot in the bath made the poses I wanted very restricted as I didn't want it to be obvious it was in a bath.

SUCCESSES
I thought about adding talc on top of the water to make it look like snow had settled on top of the water. When I put my head through it it made the effect of the ice being broken. This worked so well, it looked like the ice was breaking and starting to melt away.

EDITED PHOTOS 

EDITING 
When we spoke about editing the photos I told my photographer how I wanted the skin to look sore are raw. I wanted it too looked cold and that it was showing up all the bad imperfections in the skin. I think he was really able to achieve this. I really like how in one image the nose is really red, as this is what normally happens to me with i'm in cold water.

Unedited Image 

MY THOUGHTS
Working with myself as a model really made the shoot less stressful. As the model would have had their ears and eyes under water most of time I thought it would be easier to do it on myself as I knew what kind of images I was hoping to achieve.
When the images have been edited for the water to look blue it does look more like the sea and the effect I was going for.

OVERALL EFFECT 
Adding the talc on top of the water worked so well and gave the illusion of ice. I feel if these images weren't in there it would really be lacking that element of ice. The dark lips was a good choice as it matches the colour of my hair and eyebrows when they are dark.
If I was to do this shoot again I would like to have done it bigger water maybe in a big blow up pool would have worked. Getting more of the body in would have been really interesting to see.

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WHERE TO GO FROM HERE - Need to add the final images into my book and send it off.
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Facts and Inspiration on Ice Caps Melting

I knew I wanted to do a shoot on icecaps melting as this is one of the biggest issues we are facing today with climate change. If our sea level is to rise by 6 feet our lower costal cities will be underwater.

If the Greenland was to completely melt cities such a Miami and New York would would no longer exist.

SHOOTS SIMILAR

When googling ice caps and cracked ice there isn't any shoot to do with people in water with frozen ice. I think this would because of how cold the water would be.

With this in mind this photoshoot will be quite original. This will be done in a bath but the images will be cropped in so it will look like the model is actually in the ocean.

MOODBOARD FOR PHOTOSHOOT

Pictures from my Pinterest Board

Book Layout

When thinking about how I wanted the inside of my book to be I decided to look at makeup photography books already on the market. I chose to look at "Andrew Gallimore by Rankin" & "Art and Makeup by Lan Nguyen" with layout of their books were completely different so thought this would be a good base to start from.

ANDREW GALLIMORE BY RANKIN 

I like how on this image there is negative space next to the image as it's so bright it work well to draw your focus to just that this is something to consider for the layout of my book. 

I like how it's pretty much the same image with a slight change this could work with a couple of my images. 

What drew my attention to this page is that it isn't a double spread but it slightly creeps over to the second page. extending the picture out just a little bit allows for the viewer to see more detail in the image. 

ART & MAKEUP BY LAN NGUYEN 
My book will be about the same size of Lan Nguyen's book so I wanted to see how the inside was laid out.

I like the image on one page but feel the writing and the little image is too much I would want to see the image bigger than that. 

This gives a clean finish to the images and makes them look clean and polished however if I was to do this I would have to do it with everyone and feel you wouldn't be able to see all the detail in the shots. 

i like this close up shot of the eye and how it covers two mages you are really able to the detail in this shot even down to the white eyeliner in her waterline. 

I like the layout of Andrew Gallimore's book better I feel it's more about the pictures and lets them speak by having them big. He doesn't cram in lots of images and doesn't mind having a few blank pages thought his book this is something I would like to do too.

LAYOUT OF MY BOOK
Below is the layout of my book so far before doing the water shoot.