Shoot 2

Within my second shoot, I shot three male appearing people. I decided to follow suit with the first shoot in terms of the camera I wanted to use and the Hasselblad's square format suited the images very well in my opinion, mostly due to the uniformity.

The first model's images had a large black shadow on the top right hand side, caused by a light shade catching the light off the metz system and creating a shadow on the wall, so I'll have to reshoot these. In terms of lighting other than that issue, the images are well lit and give the same feel as those in shoot 1, however they are a little lighter, which I do prefer; I shot at f16, 125th of a second, with the flash at a fourth of its power. I think these are the settings to keep to encourage an appearance of consistency.
These images again were strongly influenced by Anthony Luvera in terms of the lighting and style of shot, Bertillon has had a huge influence on the style of shooting too; shooting in this mug shot type fashion makes the facial features easy to see and compare to the other photos in this series while for the most part hiding their feelings. Dorothee Deiss also influenced this shoot; my images like hers are not at all images of models and show the honest truth about how they appear.

This image would be better, to me, if the headspace at the top was lessened, however it was my intention at the time of shooting to show the boy's height; to show that he is young. However, in retrospect this was not needed and you can tell this by his attire and facial features.

The bright greens and blues definitely have a childish vibe to them, however his facial features such as a couple of spots and a hint of facial hair suggest that he is not a child, but a pre-teen. I really appreciate how this image has these stereotypical values in them to help a viewer make these assumptions, for them to guess who this person is.

I feel that this image actually both supports and contradicts my message of how you cannot tell much about a person from a photo; in one case I, the photographer, could have dressed him up like this and used makeup to accentuate his facial features, yet on the other hand if I didn't do this then his appearance alone tells the viewer a lot about him, which suggests that appearances can tell others a lot about you.

The boy also holds a lot of character in his eyes, which will be perceived differently by everybody. To me, it's a sad look. He appears down, shoulders hanging loosely and eyes relaxed as if not trying to appear happy anymore. Despite this, I as the photographer know that even between these shots the boy was laughing and smiling away. Yet that could have been for show, and this look could have been how he really feels. It's all unknown to me and to the viewer.

This image in comparison the the previous image feels a lot more expository. The boy in the previous picture almost seemed to be posing and showing emotion through just his eyes, whereas this feels a lot more formal. I think this is perhaps due to the facial expressions being a lot more widened; such as his eyes. His head is lifted and he looks very much like one of Bertillon's mugshots.

The details in this photo in comparison with those of the image before show the age difference of the two men; the first has a more defined neck, like that of a child's, and wears brightly coloured clothes with a bold slogan from a TV show and his hair is a popular look for younger teens. This man, however, wears a more universal, mature haircut. We can see his visible Adam's apple, indicating maturity. The skin on his face appears soft and young, and his facial features still well defined, yet he has visible facial hair, suggesting he's an older teen or young adult. His Tshirt, while still having a large print on (commonly associated with youth), it is far less bright and has a German word translating to 'impossible', which gives the impression of knowledge and sophistication if we assume that this man is English. However, there is nothing in this photo that suggests that, and perhaps the German on his tshirt suggests that he himself is German. This photo offers the viewer clues to his identity with no real conclusion.

The headroom on this image is far better than the one previously, and helps the subject fill the frame better. 

I may reshoot this subject with a more interesting background, such as in the corner of a room; I feel this plain background has a uniformity that I don't mind but I would prefer a more relaxed background which the viewer can deduct information from.

This shoot went quite well and confirmed that this is the style of image I want to keep producing. I've found the right lighting settings for me and will continue to use these.