Shoot 1

I had a pretty clear image in my mind what I wanted to get out of this shoot, and so I knew how to execute it before going into it.

After studying the words of Luvera and Parr, I was sure I wanted to use a Metz, however if I didn't like the outcome after processing I was more than open to changing my lighting setup, however this wasn't needed.

After chooseing my lighting, I had to choose which camera would suit my images best, and so I chose the Hasselblad, mostly because of the uniformity of the size; a square is perhaps the most uniform shape and so gives a very clean cut look, while framing the subjects evenly throughout the photograph.

I only shot two people during this shoot so I could experiment with how the focus on the Hasselblad worked and how bright I wanted the flash to fire. I used a mixture of full flash, 1/2 flash and 1/4 flash, all of which gives a nice shadow behind the subject, bringing my models forwards. This is due to the Metz always being to the left of the camera, which I hope to continue throughout my shoots.

As I had intended, my subjects wore a straight face while having their portraits taken, to eliminate any emotion which could cause the viewer to know more than i'd like them to know about my models. 

A lot of these images aren't completely in focus, so I can't use them, however because of this I know what I need to improve for next time. I decided to place my subjects 3 feet away from the camera to create a continuity between all of the shots. 

This was the first shot for this project, and i'm reasonably happy with how it turned out. It's a little dark, and perhaps I didn't choose the right image to print, however as a starting point I'm not overly bothered. I really like the way that the shadow falls behind him, lifting him from the background and bringing him forwards, due the the fact it was shot indoors. I used F22 with an 1/8th of the flash with a shutter speed of 125th of a second. 

I like the way you can see some of the background without giving much away, because of the aperture. This is also true with the clothing; I like how the person has a little personality hinting at who they are in conjunction with the rest of the image removing anything to identify the person.

The muted beige walls behind him suggest that the image was shot in a home as it's such a common colour for the home, and this is further emphasised by the curtain in the background. I will definitely try to include some background details in my further shoots. 

I thought that him wearing glasses with the flash would be a disaster, however I decided to give it a shot anyway and i'm glad I did because while you can see little white flash dots in the glasses, they're not overpowering or in your face.

This definitely reminds me of the work by Luvera in the way that it appears expository due to the flash gun, particularly the 'assisted self portraits', as they're often posed similarly. 

The headshot style with blank facial expressions gives a very mugshot-type look, which was the aim.

The image is very much like the first. Again, using an aperture of f22 with an 1/8th of the flash with a shutter speed of 125th of a second, the background is very visible to the viewer, although there's not much happening there. It uses the same background simply because these were more test shots for composition more than anything else, and so I wasn't too bothered about them being different. 

This image has a much more feminine feeling to it, created by the fact it features a female appearing person in a pink jumper (which is stereotypically a 'girls' colour), which contrasts to the above image which has a much more masculine feel. To me, even when told to not smile there's a hint of one peaking through, and she appears to be subtly posing as opposed to the image of the male who is completely straight faced and statue-like. This was also evident at the shooting stage, and perhaps it says something about the differences in the ways women and men try to appear to others, however with only two photos this has no proof. 

If I were to reshoot, I'd leave less headroom at the top, subsequently stopping her hair from being cut out of the frame. Some of the other images are composed like this, however the lighting is too bright in those.

As this was taken in the exact same way as the previous image, it too was inspired by the works of Luvera and the mug shot. 

I also feel that Dorothee Deiss influenced these images, particularly in what she says about them; "In my portraits I want to show how their honesty and self-awareness makes the invisible visible", to which I find is very appropriate for these images because of how they appear to expose the raw self rather than a posed and trying portrait, they're stripped of facial expressions and exaggerate poses and the society's rule that you must appear happy in every photograph. They're being honest with the viewer about who they really are, which makes them seen by the viewer as human beings rather than another piece to the game that is society.

Overall, I really like the way that these images were shot. Perhaps next time i'll print the images that were shot at 1/4th of the full flash, however I do like the amount of detail that an 1/8th lets you see on their face; it's definitely something to experiment with. 

I also intent to keep the subjects 3 feet away from the lens as it creates a nice head shot that isn't uncomfortably close, but neither is it too far away that a viewer feels distant from the subject.

I'll continue to shoot with the metz indoors because I appreciate the raw and expository feel it gives the images.