March | 2020 | Maria Dowsett

Shoot Three: In the Studio

For this shoot I wanted to go back to my favourite high contrast, black and white photography, and too my surprise found some brilliant black and white references on the subject. Although none of my research particularly plays around with light, they do feature almost sexualised mannequins, not that that’s surprising from Helmut Newton. Man…

Mannequins in Fashion and Art Reference 3

After seeing the Cecil Beaton exhibition at the NPG I really wanted to do a shoot that used his photographic techniques in some way. I decided to try his multiple exposures and also imitate the high contrast black and white as that’s something I do often anyway. Knowing this I started to research into black…

My Own Website!

Website Link – www.mariadowsett.myportfolio.com I had fun designing my website, the core of it was already done from second year when I had decided the theme already – being the grid of images as the home page and the navigation bar at the side. I decided not to change this as it works well and I…

Shoot Two: Party House

After starting on the mannequin concept and travelling to Seaford to pick up two eBay purchases, I found inspiration in the mass of body parts I had dumped on the stairs after bringing said purchase in from the car. The plastic body parts seemed to fit well in the worn-out student house they were in,…

Mannequins in Fashion and Art Reference 2

Still keeping on the theme of mannequins, I wanted to produce a slightly more down to earth view of what is normally seen as a plastic version of the ‘perfect’ human. I wanted to juxtapose them into a setting where they didn’t look so comfortable like a nice shop window or a showroom. I started…

Researching into Photographer’s Websites

I had already made the starts to my website in second year as part of the specialist pathways module, so all I really needed to do was develop on the skeleton. I had a few old shoots on there that I deleted as they really didn’t show off my best work. I also added the…

Figuring Out Branding and Logos

Keeping your branding the same is one of the most important things when trying to maintain a consistent brand or image. As a photographer, all I really need is a logo that I can upload to my website, business cards, perhaps social media and CV. I have never previously designed a logo for myself so…

Cecil Beaton: Bright Young Things at the NPG

I knew I wanted to see the Cecil Beaton exhibition as soon as I saw it advertised. I learned of him in college and have since used his images to inspire a lot of my own work. All of the images in this exhibition were flawless and I really enjoy myself whilst trying not to…

Dora Maar at the Tate Modern

I decided to go on an exhibition trip to London sooner rather than later and it proved a good idea seeing as the Tate closed 5 days after I visited. I wanted to see the Dora Maar exhibition as it had been recommended to me with people telling me there were a few mannequin photographs…

Who Do I Want To Work For?

The first question when starting this portfolio project is, who do I ultimately want to work for? When starting to think about this database, I have thought about the likelihood of having to start with internships as a way of getting into the companies listed. For photographic jobs I think I’d need to start with…