mfs124charlottewilson

[mfs124charlottewilson]

|THE FIRST SHOOT|

The first shoot I shot with the creative director I found really stressful, when collaborating with another person I expected us to work as a team. However I found that I ended up doing most of the work for the shoot. I searched for the model, already had the wedding dresses and kept hold of the accessories. I was asked to pick up the props for the shoot from the British Heart Foundation including a sofa and a side table, although the side table I could not pick up until the day of the shoot. The morning of the shoot I felt very stressed out as I had to make sure I had picked up the side table, a lamp shade prop from a friend, and remember the hair accessories arrive in hair and makeup at University before 11. I arrived late and did not bring the hair accessories with me, meaning I had to go back to get them which I felt was not very professional. I believe that this was because I was trying to remember too many things. I learn that next time I would not let myself do everything again and to try and work more as a team especially if the other person I am working with wants the professional title of creative director. Although she did contribute to the shoot, I almost feel reluctant to state that she is a creative director on my website as I feel like it is unfair.

[mfs124charlottewilson]

|MEETING TO COLLABORATE|

Whilst searching for hair and makeup artists to collaborate, I found a creative director on the same course who wanted to start up her own wedding app, I thought this would be really useful to keep in contact with her and maybe end up working together on each other shoots. We organised a meeting to talk about collaborating where we both showed our ideas and plans deciding that it would be useful to plan the styled shoots, we had both had similar styled shoot ideas. After meeting with the creative director I felt that her ideas supported mine and it helped me to develop them further. I was able to start deciding dates for the shoots.

[mfs124charlottewilson]

|WEDDING DRESSES|

Whilst I was back in Kent I thought about going to charity shops to see if they would provide me with any wedding dresses. I visited two and was able to buy 3 dresses for £115, as I had not received any emails back from wedding dress shops. I thought it would be best to buy the wedding dresses so I have some ready for my shoots. Each of the dresses were completely different and by getting them early I was able to decide which one to use for my themed shoots. I was able to borrow some wedding dresses from a family member which I found really useful for the first shoot I wanted to do as it matched the style of the shoot. The other two looked a lot more like bridesmaids dresses which could be helpful for future shoots.

The first shoot I did was my classic shoot. I used this as more of a test shoot to see how I work with lighting on location. I feel like the shoot went better than I expected it to be, although the dress I was using did not fit the model completely. (The middle dress in the second image) This meant that I had to sew a piece of ribbon onto the back of the dress meaning that I would not be able to get any shots of the back of it which I had originally planned to do. After the shoot I learnt that I need to bring back up dresses just incase it does not fit.

[mfs124charlottewilson]

|LOCATIONS AND MODELS|

To achieve the themes I wanted to use in my shoots I started to search for locations for my classic and elegant shoots, expecting to use these to develop more themes. Using the few locations I included in my proposal I used that as a reference to help me focus on using places located in and around Southampton and Kent. I found websites with a listing of heritage owned buildings, hotels, manor houses and a school and spent a number of days emailing these locations to see if I was able to shoot there. I found this slightly difficult as I do not have a high budget and was not too sure of how much the locations would quote for the shoots.

To further my preparation for shoots I researched more into wedding dress shops. I found this really hard as many wedding dress shops either did not allow hire or where to busy. Some locations were very quick at replying, including one located in Kent called Cobham Hall, I was quoted £50 an hour to shoot there which I felt was a good amount to pay as I only expected to spend either 1/2 hours in each location. I was quoted at another location £250 which was a set discounted price for students for a day. I felt like this was too much especially with the budget I had and what I had been quoted from Cobham Hall. I was told by a tutor at University to try and use agency models as I would only be charged for their travel and expenses. I felt like this would be a good idea for my project so I researched a few agencies including the one I was recommended. I decided on which models on their new faces would suit my ideas the best and emailed the agencies to see whether or not they were free over the next couple of weeks. I felt like including in the email that I was a student with a low budget will hopefully help with how much they would be charging.

[mfs124charlottewilson]

|WORKING WITH A WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER AND LOGO|

Using the feedback I received from my tutors for my proposal, I decided I had to develop my research further. My feedback included a paragraph on what I should think about for themes for my images for my editorial page. Whilst researching I started to consider 3 different themes including classic, boho and elegant. I explored each of these themes by looking through images from other wedding photographers and found inspiration using Pinterest. I started to gather images that was suitable for my theme and place them into different sections to use as reference for future shoots. Using ideas from my proposal I worked with a graphics designer to create my logo, for my idea for my logo I felt it was better to work with someone else so I could get exactly what I wanted. I had sent the graphics designer ideas and inspiration of other logos that I had seen so it was easier to get my point across. The logo was sent back and forth as I was not completely happy with what he had created, however I found it quite frustrating as there were only a few things I wanted to change each time.

To enhance my understanding of wedding photography I emailed a wedding photographer based in Southampton that I had previously met during enrichment week. I felt like it could improve my photography if I was able to work alongside the photographer for one of her upcoming weddings. This deemed difficult as the photographer replied asking for a portfolio of my work, which due to my course I did not have a large portfolio especially when it came to photography. I decided it would be appropriate to add a few images of photographers work that I was inspired by and give a couple of names of my favourite wedding photographers to. I believed this helped my chance of a reply from the photographer about meeting to discuss what upcoming project she had that I would be able to assist on.