I decide to go back through my images from this photoshoot and select and edit more of the images. I am aware that one of my negative creative traits is that I focus too much on the ‘perfect’ images and discard the rest. I have decided to go back through the images from this shoot and edit more in the same style. Original I only posted two photos (the ones I thought worked the best) but there are actually many more that still work well for this theme.

I have been exploring the theme of 1930s – 1940s beauty gadgets following my theme of ‘uncomfortable objects’. I had been really interested in this topic whilst researching irrational fear & phobia, many of the 1930s beauty gadgets to me resembled ‘torture methods’, in my previous shoots around this topic I have explained the meaning behind it in more detail.

For this photoshoot I have been recreating the ‘Freezing’ method where patients would get their freckles frozen off with carbon dioxide as back in this era they were seen as unattractive and an unwanted feature on the face. To do this patients eyes were covered with airtight plugs and their nostrils were filled in to stop creating the fumes in, they would often have a tube to breath through. To recreate the image I found online I decided to use hose hold objects to act as the gadget. For this edit I used a tin can opener in pieces to layer over the image to create the ‘Freezer’. I used photoshop to dismantle the tin opener and to use the pieces as different parts of the gadget. This was a very time consuming edit as first I had to create the black and white vintage effect on the photograph and then blur out the edges of each piece. I also had to use the clone tool to get a consistent coloured back ground. I then used the dodge and burn tools to lighten and darken certain areas of the image such as the eyes. I feel this was a successful shoot and edit, I think the final out come works really well and I have achieved the mixture of old and new.

Experimenting with film clips and moving image from my previous photoshoots.

I am now at the stage in my project where I have completed most of my photoshoots and I have experimented with a range of different creative materials. At the beginning of this project I was thinking about experimenting with film however I was not sure if it was doable within the time frame as I have never created a film before and I figured it would be extremely time consuming. I decided as I now have a few options for my FMP exhibition that I could still experiment with creating a few short film clips using the photographs I had already taken.

For these videos I decided to use two separate shoots that I thought would look interesting as a moving image. I used a mirroring effect app to create the moving image and slowly tilted the camera to create the different shapes. I wanted the video to be unnerving and sinister it is not meant to be obvious what the clip is showing and is meant to be left to the imagination.

I have had a theme of ‘Uncomfort’ throughout my project and I wanted this to be obvious through the film, I also deliberately used background music from the children’s film ‘Anastasia’ called ‘Once upon a December’ to recreate the idea of something that was originally not scary being turned into a fear or phobia and having the opposite effect.

I have been developing my experimentation with other media styles, I have been particularly interested in the idea of creating short film clips. I was scrolling through videos on social media when I saw a video of a man creating mirror effects with his hands which formed into new shapes. I thought this was really interesting and wanted to find a way to try this technique myself. I have had a theme of ‘Uncomfort’ throughout my project and one of the topics has been relating ‘The Body’ to fears and phobias. One of the main ones I have explored is fear of insects (Entomophobia). I have previously created shapes with the body that show it morphing into insect shapes and I thought I could try this with moving image / film. To do this I found a mirror effect filter and experimented by using my hands to create insect like shapes. This technique is fairly simple to do however I feel it is really effective and the outcome is very interesting and there is something creepy / sinister about it.

I have been experimenting with creating Gifs by slightly editing each of my photographs to replicate movement when put together. I have been very interested in 1930s – 1940s hair and beauty gadgets as many look like Sci-Fi / torture methods which I found interesting as they are designed to improve / help appearance rather than damage it. To create this moving image I did portrait shots of my model and used photoshop to edit old fashioned hair curling and drying gadgets on to the image. I then used the blur tool on photoshop to manipulate the models hair and the wires for each photo and create the movement. I photographed, styled and did the makeup for this shoot myself. I wanted the ‘gif’ to look as though the model is getting electrocuted, which is why the movements are so fast and the main part of the image that moves is the models hair.

Model: Lauren Heward

After editing my images I then decided to experiment further with my idea of ‘growths’ on ‘the body’ and relating to significant objects. I find it interesting how linking the body in different ways can completely change the shape of a person and turn the body into an ‘object’.