Stared off the week with a collaborative shoot with my classmates Kiesha and Charlotte. After coming back from my trip to India, I had a set idea of a few shoots wanted to carry out this week which would focus on texture, touch and colour. Doing my first studio shoot on the 23rd of January allowed me to reflect on the results from the shoot. During the previous shoot, I struggled with using the camera and lighting in a professional way which meant certain parts of the shoot did not go to plan. A lot of  the textured photography was very unclear and the studio lighting was not used correctly for the purpose of my shoot. However, his time around I was able to creatively direct both my model for the shoot and be more confident as a photographer. Photography was something I was always struggled with and not been confident in therefore, I was happy I was able to conduct to shoot while achieving the results I had planned for.

The aim for this shoot was on hands and bring cultural diversity into my photography through a variation of models. Having a visual board worked exceptionally well during this shoot as it allowed me and the models to fall back on it when we were stuck or needed new ideas for model poses, photography angles, lighting and textured shots.

Had a productive tutorial with Elouise with lots of researching and academic references to start looking at before next week. I was struggling with academic reference points for my sketchbook as my concept is for a specific niche. Part from that, I also got in touch with a local skincare business in Brighton for a potential interview as an article to add to my final major project. Started writing down notes and content planning for my shoot next week to keep myself organised and worked on my sketchbook for the rest of the lecture.

I found this talk very helpful and relevant for my fmp as I am hoping to continue with the line of skincare after graduation. It was interesting to get an insight into the world of sustainability from someone who has been working in the fashion industry for years. I also learnt the importance of having different avenues of monetisation in order to keep yourself financially secure after graduation and working in a place you enjoy.

A video of behind the scenes from the product photography shoot.

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Our group tutorial where we had to demonstrate our work and explain our concept for the fmp was a lecture I found particularly useful. Getting feedback from classmates and tutors about potential shoot ideas motivated me to have a conceptual approach for some of my photography – move away from editorial product on model shoots. Therefore, with the help of Charlotte I decided to use the product photography studio to carry out a texture of ingredients in the masks. Initially struggling with lighting, background and placement which was very stressful eventually we were able to collaborate on a shoot which worked out beautifully – I bought my creative and Charlotte bought her studio photography and equipment knowledge to carry out a successful shoot together.

Photos which did not work:

Experimenting with fabrics, hands, chopping board, skincare tools.

I started off the trip revisiting a home I grew up in for the first 5 years of my life before moving to the UK. Going down a memory lane of where I grew up and my surroundings was really refreshing and also very new to me. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents and seeing what they got up to in their daily schedule. Once having a look at my surroundings and the place I was working with I began to start planning a few shoots I wanted to carry out with my grand mother. Going into the project, a lot of my work was focused on my personal aesthetic which is classy, simple and minimalistic however, I decided to go out of my comfort zone while being on this trip and capture a range of photography. Indian culture is all about festivities, bold colours, embroiders, loud patterns and embellishments. Therefore, I quickly realised that a minimal aesthetic would not be suitable for my final major project and the concept of history I am looking to explore.

A few images of the store I visited in India.

I decided to take a trip to India for two weeks as part of my Indian skincare research for my fmp project. Living in the UK and being raised in the western world has massively transformed my identity from a cultural point of view. Therefore, I decided to travel India for two weeks embracing different cultures, traditions, food and fashion. My focus for this trip was purely on photography for my fmp, capturing individuals in their day to day lives and the landscape to add more depth to my research. I planned on visiting different cities to differentiate the cultures and their way of living. During my travels, I came across an organisation which was based around the world of Ayurveda which particularly grabbed my interest. A someone who is not knowledge about Ayurveda, I visited a store called ‘Patanjali’ to find out more about Ayurveda and the different ranges of products they had to offer. I came across a range of products made from organic clay and produce found in India. The whole concept of the brand is about organic and sustainable products which is used to cure hair, health and skin concerns which you may be dealing with. The trip to the store was very successful as it took me down a new skincare avenue which I was unaware of. Therefore, I decided to get in touch with a doctor who specialised in Ayurveda to learn more about the benefits of using it and more cultural ingredients and organise a potential interview to expand my research which I was exploring India.

Photography:

The shoot took place at the university studio, Brighton I was a model being photographed wearing several different homemade face masks to capture the use of Indian skincare and its importance in my life.

I collaborated with Rose and Charlotte on a test shoot as I am not too confident when it comes to photography therefore, doing this test shoot with other class mates was extremely helpful. It allowed me to understand my own style of work better and taught me a lot about how to correctly use the camera in a professional setting.

When it came to lighting, we tested out a few different settings and natural lighting was one that worked most for me and the form of content I was shooting. As my concept is all about skin, I decided to use natural lighting throughout the whole shoot to capture the textures of real skin, keeping the shoot fairly authentic as well as showing the before and after results of using my skincare recipes. I used a Cannon camera with a tripod angled at shoulder length to capture the perfect close up shoots of the skin and face. The aperture was set to 2.8 and was later changed a few times to fit different face masks we were shooting to achieve the perfect results. The shutter speed was at 1/250 to capture fast movements and to freeze the texture of the face masks.  Apart from that, I also decided to use a photography umberella to soften the lighting we were using and some of the images were over exposes with lighting, making it unclear. Using the shooting umbrella helped enhance my skins appearance and it clearly showcased the facemarks texture in the best possible way.

Reflecting on the test shoot, I have gained valuable experience which I would like to take forward for the next shoot. I enjoyed the creative process of setting up the lighting, camera, modelling and creatively directing the shoot overall. Being a quick thinker is very important when things do not go to plan, I often have to reorganise my plan as things did not go accordingly.  Similarly, for the future shoots I would like to be more experimental in terms of exploring styling. Bringing elements such as makeup and clothing/ props on face, how would it look to style skin?

First month of 2025!

A bit of a challenging month for me 🙁

The month was extremely difficult for me as I was going through a very difficult time in my life and found myself in a very bad place for a long time. Therefore, this week I decided to have a wholesome week and spend it with my sister and her boyfriend who came to visit me from home. Watching movies, walk in the lanes and the beach,  gym, reading, cosy cafes, card games, everything we got up to. I loved every moment I spent with the family and actively trying to change my mindset and daily habits I had gotten into while being extremely upset. As a result, I was unable to focus on university work final major project.

Going further, while developing my ideas for the fmp I realised that I was not enjoying the work I was producing. I could not develop my ideas further and most importantly was not having fun while creating. I was extremely confused and felt completely lost at some point in December. Therefore, I decided to come up with a mind map of everything I enjoy doing. Doing the mind map allowed me to understand what I enjoy working on creatively, what am I truly passionate about and would like continue after graduation. Likewise, going into the final major project I reflected on all my previous work and statement of intent to demonstrate how I came come to my current decision and what led me to it.  This is when I had the a-HAA’ moment and was able to narrow down my options for a new idea: skin, styling, Indian culture and heritage.

Researching cook books…

I headed to Waterstones to take a look at few different cook books in store. I had made a list of factors I was particularly interested looking at which includes: layout, style of writing, colour palette, visuals and the recipes and methods. Each author was specific to their needs and shared a different frame of work in terms of design and writing. While one was very minimal and simplistic the other was bright and bold. Visiting the store and looking at different books motivated me to be a bit more experimental with the colour palette and making the recipes more detailed.