Last week I had tutorial with Rachael who gave me a lots of advice on my sketchbook working, I’m currently behind a lot on my sketchbook since I was very focusing on working out for the photoshoot. I planned a big photoshoot on Friday 21st March with several models and makeup artist, with that amount of people I will need to find a photographer since I don’t think I can handle it all. Rachael gave me suggestion on dividing the pages and added more annotation into my image selection, also I will need to annotate on the academic research I have made and connect it with the experiment I have made. Also we both have a look at Bloom book for me graphic and layout inspiration for my visual book.

This week I had tutorial with Eloise to talk about my plan for the show and also have a look at my draft Indesign file. I was thinking about making A4 size, Eloise suggested I should go smaller or bigger since A4 size is quite formal, also I wanted to bind the book myself by spiral binding so using other size than A4 is completely doable. We chat about how should I lay out my book and I should add a bit of context in the first page of each shoot so the viewer kinda understand what this dish is. It was pretty helpful but somehow I still feel like something is missing, and I don’t know how to figure out. I asked Mylinh for a meet up on Wednesday, since she is Vietnamese and I would like to hear some feedback from an Asian tutor perspective. I showed her all my sketchbook and my Indesign draft, my plan what I am going to add, etc. She gave me such a good suggestion that I should figure out who is my main target audience, how would I deliver. She showed me two Asian artists whose works related to cultures that viewers who from different Asian background can have more deeper interpretation than Western viewers. And she suggested that I should look for the main theme of the whole book, everything should tie to one main umbrella so it will connect. Another suggestion that I love is asking other Vietnamese about their feeling with these kind of food for the context part in my book, that would make the book more diverse and interesting. Also she gave me feedback about what my sketchbook is missing, what should I focus on and work on next. I feel so much less confuse after this chat with her, I know what I need to do next and I feel somewhat confident in what I’m going to do.

Moving on to Friday is my big shoot, I worked pretty hard on finding models and makeup. For this shoot I asked models to bring their own clothes since it was very hard to source clothes for 6 different people and also it would make the shoot more diverse in style. But I still reaching out for some brands and fashion design students for some items. For this big shoot, it was struggle at the beginning to plan out and finding people, after that I have to express my ideas as clear as possible for people that will work with me. I was very lucky to find a very great photographer from the photography course, she is amazing in execute my ideas and great sense of direction. We had a chat on Tuesday to discuss our ideas and made sure we on the same page. On the shoot day I’m not worry at all since I know what I’m doing and I trusted people who I chose to work with. Which is such a different feeling, I think it’s a good thing maybe. I’m looking forward to sourcing out the pic with Eom since we both work in the weekend so we’ll have a look at these pic on Monday

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This is how I layer the represent food under as a background, I found the image more interesting and more easy to understand

Last Tuesday I had tutorial with Eloise, we talked about my ideas and she suggest some artists I should have a look. Few thing I’m missing at the moment are the academic reading that will support my ideas. We set a small plan what I should do next which is I will experiment with food photography and try out the new idea for Banh Cuon shot. Eloise suggested I can use a bit water onto the sheer fabric to create more texture which is quite a good ideas.

This week I brought to my group the work I have done. I like having tutorial in small group like this which gave me the chance to listen and talk with other students and receive questions and feedback from them. They suggest I make my images bigger in the sketchbook for better view. Next week we will have a work-in progress so Eloise suggest I should think about how would I want to showcase these images maybe on screen or print out 0r projected. I think I will chose to print in a transparent paper like I did in previous term which go along with the sheer texture of the food and the garment I put the model in.

I wasn’t very sure about the space, so I decided to talk with Mark on Wednsday. Seeing everyone with their already setup spaces gave me stress. I thought the website I made is enough so I didn’t plan or have any ideas about the physical spaces. I talked with my friend Stella and Elidth and they gave me some ideas for the spaces. After all, Mark found a small space for me, it was next to someone else work so I dont think i should do something too big. First I’m thinking to turn all my photos into slideshow and show them through the projector on the wall.

But then I think i can just reuse all my props for photoshoots for this space. I run up to the Print service to print some of my photos. I would stick them on the wall and under will be decorated with grass and metal flower. I attached some nails and wig onto the photos to make it lively. I attached NFT tags behind the photo so when people scan them the link of my instagram and website will appear in theirs.

I brought the grass i used for the 1st photoshoot and metal flowers to decorate the floor, i tried to make the flowers stand so they looks more real and viewers can walk in to look at the photos. I kinda regret not to print these photos bigger like a3 which can make it more clear.

Here is the video that I attached NFT tags under each photos.

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fashion space document

here the video document my fashion space.

The exhibition day was very interesting that i had chance to look at everyone work and understand more about their concept. Mostly everyone have AI aspect in their work so we can try them out together. I’m very grateful when people said they like my website and my filters. Having a physical space but also connect to digital world is what i’m aiming for and luckily all the links working well. I still have to fix the mobile site on website as it was a quite messy, and everyone will definitely view website on their phone rather than laptop screen so I have to be very careful with that.

The guidance note i attached on the wall was a bit small so it hard to read, i should have make the tap instruction bigger therefore it will easier to follow. The photos should be printed bigger like A3 size so they will have more impact because my space quite narrow, if i printed them bigger it will make my space more recognisable. All the filters looking nice except the Wood mask one, it looks not really on theme but i have no more idea and it needs to be approve before the exhibition so I just choose the template to make it.

In overall, i satisfied with all the shoot that i made, I learned so much more about the lighting in studio and time managing to make all the shoot. There are still things i regret about the space and the website, but i can learn from these mistakes and do better for the next project.

I don’t have much time left therefore I decided to combine 2 photoshoot in one day because there’re both studio base. I just need to prepare props and clothes few days before. The shoot went pretty well as I already discuss with Richard about what I wanted to do, he and Rachael helped me a lot in setting up the light and backdrop.

I wanted to have red light setting for the first one and one round light for the 2nd one. I learned more about studio lighting setup and I know to adjust the light and the distance to give the results as I want. I already prepared and have main posture I want in my head so the shoot went fast begin from 12:30 -4:00.

For the Fire photoshoot, I just want to express the dynamic and the energetic when we think about fire. Using ribbon as a symbol of unfreedom, model standing out of the ribbon represent she’s free and step away from the stereotype.

For this shoot, I always want to make something cyber or robotic. Using old phone as a prop and metal dress turning the model into a robot-human. I want to say that human are too depending on technology, will human be half robot half human in the future. The Utopia can be flexible and human can be anything they want

I arranged the 3rd photoshoot on Monday this week as the weather is predicted to be nice. I have prepare earmuff, nails, makeup and dress in advance. When Eilidh come, i just need to help her get ready. I have my friend coming and Eilidh had her friend come to help as well. We took nearly 30mins bus to Hove as the beach there less crowded.

My friend -Ngoc helped me hold the light reflector, luckily the sunlight look amazing at that time. Eilidh’s friend assists us in behind the scene and fixing clothes. I feel much more confident when I have some people come for help especially for outdoor shoot. Unfortunately, i forgot to bring the earmuff I made from recycled plastic as it makes the model more mermaid-like. Maybe I can try to add it later in Photoshop.

The waves pretty strong so I didn’t want model go to far, but I still able to catch the scene the wave and the dress blend in. I also really like the sticker I put on her face, it matches with the water drop on her body.

In overall I really satisfied with this shoot, my top1 favourite so far. However I still very worried because I have two more shoot to do and only 2 weeks left to submit. I have booked the studio for these shoot but I’m still looking for model who match the vibe.

For this Land photoshoot, I would like to use long hair braid I like the idea that the briad represent the tree root. Therefore I’d love to photograph in the park or somewhere with lots of tree. I went to Preston Park and Queens Park, I feel like Queens Park have more interesting spaces for me to explore, and I want to shoot in the dark part between tree so I lend 2 LED light from uni for this.

I’m the model for this shoot myself as I have long black hair with match with the wig I got, and I asked my friend to click the camera for me. I put camera on tripod and locate it at the position I wanted and when i’m ready my friend buzz the button for me. It was quite tricky at the beginning but we did it well. I also found a tree had been cut, so I climbed on it and put the braid following the tree.

As I want all of the photoshoot have the surrealism vibe so for the post-production, I didn’t add any 3D elements into this but I will retouch the colour so it will look unreal

On Thursday, we had concept pitch in class, unfortunately I don’t have anything physical to prepare so I just making my sketchbook at that time. I shown Eloise about the draft edit I made and explain roughly about what I do.

I’m waiting for 12:30 to show and give feedback for the whole class but then she said we should have lunch break and I was planning to have a photoshoot that afternoon as well so I have to left early. If I have any more questions maybe I just sent them an email.

Today I had my 1st photoshoot out of 5. I got 2 friends modelling for this shoot, I’ve been preparing for this over a week from planing pose, 3d post-production, make up and hair. Because i want to focus of the otherworldly aesthetic so I find the colourful wigs for the models.

I’ve been to this studio a week before to have a chat with Richard about ideas and the lighting so when I come I just need to setup the grass and get change for the models.

I think the shoot went very well, I just have 3 core poses I just shoot to make sure the angle and the lighting is right. The colour of the wig and outfits are really match with each other.