#my aim in these posts is to keep a sort of visual diary for myself

[okarasusama]

in vain you rise up and in vain your nightly vigils keep

and though the bread of toil partake, god gives to his beloved sleep

-the welcome wagon

[jorjathomas]

Aesthetic Research

At the beginning of this project, I was heavily inspired by the first two artists and wanted to base my zine around them. As I've progress with research, my style plan has changed slightly which is why there is two versions of this post. This is the original aesthetic I wished to use.

Originally, I wanted to have majority of my work made digitally as this was my strong point however, as I began to research other artists, combining some of this work with physical art would help my zine feel nostalgic and personal to the reader. This zine will be playful and humorous to remind the viewer not to take things to seriously. I will also be adding personal imagery alongside these inspirational work techniques. At first, I was fairly worried as I knew I wanted to cover a lot of different subjects within and I felt as though I had to keep the overall aesthetic layout similar on every page but a tutor advised me to do as I please as the more different each page would look the more engaging it would be to read. Below are some inspiring artists who may spark some of my layout ideas.

Florence Given- Women don't owe you pretty

I had read Florence Givens book last year, ‘Women don't owe you pretty’ which actually sparked this idea and learning more about feminism in the first place. She not only wrote this book but she also created all the visual identity behind her work. I love her aesthetic which reminds me a lot of the 70s because of her common curved typography. I enjoy her colour palette also as of course there is pink within her book but she also uses orange, red and yellow to add a fiery and informal side to her art. I've previously talked about colour phycology in our group project and I love the combination of pink and red in visual art. The light pink symbolises the generic stereotypes behind a woman and is very feminine just like we are told to be. The red conveys the opposite despite being close on the colour wheel. The primary colour symbolises the fiery presence and confidence that should be the representation for women. I am most definitely will be using this combination throughout this zine as I think the red alongside doesn’t make it look as girly and soft as the light pink alone will be. When creating a zine around this matter, it is hard not use the stereotypical colours that everyone would know and is associated with a women. Although this would catch attention quicker, feminism doesn't like this attachment which is why I will be aiming to use a lot more colours along side pink to wash out this opinion. I think I will use pinks, red and oranges like Florence but also add blues, greens and purples to add as much euphoria as I can.

Natasha Ahmed- Illustrated Wardrobe

Natasha Ahmed is a social influencer and illustrator. She has recently collaborated with a clothing brand with her motivating art which is what inspired me prior to researching more artists. All of her work is drawn digitally which is was sparked my inspiration originally. As I progress, I think I will use digital illustrations to an extent with typography but I have decided to rely on my collaging ideas to provide the main aesthetic for the zine. I will add digital art over the top of existing work to add personality and a ‘diary like’ feel. For example adding pieces like Natasha's or drawing over a image. Nevertheless, I love Natasha's work as it highlights normal life. A lot of her work consists of trendy objects or pictures of her room. She has made a magazine full of illustrations of famous musicians which I was drawn to. The first image above is what inspired me the most as I like the idea of the cluttered objects placed behind a patterned background. This ignited my idea of making it more personal by adding certain objects and imagery that could make the zine look as though it has been placed on a table without any thought. What I mean by this is imagery within the page such as tea-stains, nail polish, eyelashes, jewellery etc.

Below is some artists I began to research after I knew I wanted to add some collaging techniques into my zine. I was given this book by a tutor. The book is called Cute and Paste.

Julian Pacauld- escapism

I had always liked this persons art as I had found them on Pinterest a few projects ago however, the book helped be find the artists name and look further into his work. I always love the abnormality behind collage work like this and wanted to include it into my work some way. Originally, when you look at Julian's work it feels humorous as he places certain images in particular ways that aren't common .He plays around with size and proportions which is where this personality of art comes from. His pieces remind me a lot about escapism and the functions behind a persons mind. It requires a lot of imagination and playfulness to form this which is why I love it so much. I didn't know how I could tie this sort of technique into my work however, the more I thought about my original message behind the zine, I think Julian work fits in quite well. I’d like readers to feel eased when reading the zine as a lot of my content would involve the importance of living present and not overthinking certain life situations. I will use this technique when I try to explain the small severity behind a persons problem. For example; I have recently stressed about silly problems and I have made a conscious effort to remind myself how amazing life is as a tiny human on a floating rock in space. I could portray this message with abnormal collaging imagery as this could help get my message across better than heavy amounts of confusing text.

James Dawe-  adding  new stories into existing imagery to help portray messages

I believe James has used collaging digitally as this work seems fairly flat. I am unsure yet whether it would be easier to create my collage this way or to print pictures off. Nevertheless James is another piece of art which has inspired me greatly. What I enjoy so much is the layers within the pieces. I believe he only uses one or two pieces of art but multiple copies of them so he is able to get different outcomes with different cut outs. This is a interesting technique to add a new narrative within a image. I hope to do this slightly to some of my images. I may do this with my own personal images to again add a sense of playful into my work or combine two contrasting images together to create a different aesthetic. I am excited to start this process and see what outcomes I could create with James inspiration.

Craig Atkinson- personal touches

This was the final artist which I liked from the book Cut and Paste. Although Craig's background work is fairly simplistic, what adds character is the additional pen lines and mixed media. This is exactly the aesthetic I am going for. Just like Craig, I hope to create the a narrative that makes the reader feel as though they are snooping through someone's diary yet becoming educated at the same time. Using this sort of technique will make a big impact on particular pages and help portray my fun message for a female's life. I am unsure yet how to execute this process perfectly as I've previously tried this technique with the trend lookbook however, there is a difference between physical lines and digital lines. It would be easier to do this digitally on top of pre-existing collaging work however I don't want it to look too clean and pristine and I think digital sketches give off that look.

To conclude, all of these artist have inspired my visual idea. Despite changing my original aesthetic idea, all of these artists has contributed to my new visual layout of my zine and I will make an conscious effort to keep referring to these artists pieces for inspiration when I finally begin to speak these ideas into creative existence.

[eelliescott]

My Direction

I decided to look a little closer to home and take inspiration on what was going on around me in the world. As it currently stands we are in ‘lockdown’, majority of us are isolating due to ‘COVID-19′, only leaving our homes for essential supermarket trips and one form exercise per day. Our freedom to roam freely, visit our friends/family has been snatched away from us. Summer getaways to bask in the sun are cancelled, Gigs/festivals are postponed, we are living in a time of uncertainty with nothing to focus on other than trying to keep our bodies & minds healthy. During this time, where I am restricted, no work or uni, it is easy to fall into a negative mind space, trapped between the same four walls day in day out and I’m sure lots of people worldwide would agree. In the midst of all the negativity that is surrounding us, there has been some positives from this situation. Firstly due to the dramatic decrease in cars on the road, not many factories running, transport restricted, the earths pollution (particularly above china)has slightly improved... 

‘Orbital instruments designed to monitor air quality picked up a substantial drop in concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution since January. NO2 is a harmful substance emitted by gas vehicles, power plants and other machines that burn fossil fuels.  The decline is likely related to an economic slowdown and travel restrictions in China since the virus became widespread, according to a statement from NASA Earth Observatory.’ Rafi Letzter February 2020.

I think that bit of news is somewhat refreshing, yes we are all staying indoors feeling a bit crazy, but Mother Earth is reeping in the rewards. Ultimately I feel as though we will see pollution levels decrease in other areas of the world as well, as after all we are in lockdown and as we are slowly creeping upon the point of no return in regards to climate change, I think this is a small bit of news we can all get on board with. Personally I was surprised by this news, surprised that actually in a matter of weeks we could reduce pollution, just like that. Hopefully this makes the task of looking after our Earth less daunting & people make more of a conscious effort after all this mayhem, to keep trying to reduce pollution, slow down climate change, after all we only get one chance. This leads me on to say that I feel as though sustainability will be at the top of a lot of peoples agendas, creating less waste, travelling less, walking more, as we have had a bit of a rude awakening as to how easily our livelihoods can be snatched away from us, people wont want to risk this again, we will all be taking extra precautions to look after The Earth and ourselves.

In addition to this, people are taking this time to really focus on themselves. At time were we are all under strict limitations from the government, we are being forced to keep ourselves sane using what we have available at home. To help people adjust to this new temporary way of life, self care is definitely on the rise. With the fear of getting ill & the luxuries of life being taking away, people are a-lot more conscious of how they are looking after their mind and bodies. After doing a bit of snooping on the app store, I found that fitness apps, meditation apps (such as headspace),  along with educational apps were all sitting within the Top 50. To me this supports my point of people being more conscious of looking after themselves. Again I think this is a positive outlook, rather than sitting around all day, worrying, people are actively trying to keep their spirits high. 

In regards to my points made, I would like to create some sort of look book/journal for a future trend. I have no doubt that what we are experiencing now will have a knock on effect in the fashion industry, we will all learn from this. We will not take anything for granted, healing our bodies & minds, will be a heavy focus, after having so much time being able to do this during this scary time period, we will want to ensure we are keeping up with looking after ourselves, when our normal lives resume. I have begun researching future trends on LSN & WGSN which support my direction, which I will go into more in depth in the next few posts. In addition to this I am going to research into what I can personally see people are doing at home, by looking at influencers, popular phone Apps which may indicate people looking after themselves a little more.

WHAT STEPS I AM GOING TO TAKE

In order for me to make sure I am covering all the ground needed to create my final outcome, I am going to go through step my step how I am going to get there and WHY I am doing these steps. This post will be useful for you to understand where I am going to end up & useful for me to refer back to should I need to.

1. Research, Research, Research. As I am creating a look book on a future trend, it’s crucial that I do a lot of research to support my direction, I need to ensure that all of my choices that I make in my final outcome are backed up with evidence throughout my blog, my choices also need to match my trend.

I will research into AW 21/22 trends on LSN & WGSN, both of these sources will provide me with in depth information about future trends that I can dissect & apply to my trend. The information I gather from these sites will allow me to back up my direction & show that my narrative has a point to it. I will research into:

Colours

Silhouettes

Prints & Texture

Materials

Influences

These areas will give me the materials to start building up imagery for my look book, they are also the areas which make up a trend, they are all different for every trend we see, so it is crucial I put in the research to understand my direction.

Layout research is an important part to my plan of action. I think it will benefit me to have a look at a mix of different zines & look books, to help me decide how I want mine to look like. It will also be useful for me to select out a few examples, that I could refer back to if I struggle with creating my layout. It will be interesting for me to look at how layouts differ depending on the type of aesthetic you are trying to aim for, again this type of research will allow me to understand what my look book should look like. I am going to look into zine layouts, graphic designers, influencers.

Since I am creating a look book for a future trend influenced from our current situation (UK lockdown, due to COVID-19) I am going to conduct research which supports my point that people are learning how to slow down & really taking time to focus on themselves (mental & physical wellbeing), alongside learning to live with less, as right now we don’t really have a choice- we will see this change of mindset continue into the coming years. To support my statement of what we are going through now will influence our future, I am going to do some research into some influencers that I follow on Instagram, which are documenting how they are coping with this new way of living & how they are taking care of themselves. In addition to this, I would like to create a market survey to see what people think is going to happen after this pandemic is over & how they are adapting to it now.

Finally to bulk out my research, I am going to look back at previous trends and look into what influenced them and why. It will be interesting to see what our trends have been over the years & compare them to where our trends are heading in the next few years. I think we will see a complete contrast, we are about to make a 180 spin away from Fast Fast Fast fashion to a much slower pace & appreciation for longevity.

2. Creating my Look Book. Before I start putting my Look book together, I need to fully understand my trend- hence why the research comes first.

I also need to work out the structure of my look book along with the whole aesthetic/mood. I know I want my look book to feel somewhat like a ‘journal’ with little snippets of diary entries throughout, which are related to being in isolation. I feel this will help set the tone & allow the reader to understand a little further why we are seeing this trend. The layout & mood will also come after I have done further research.

I will gather imagery as I research, so that when it comes to selecting my imagery I have a large selection to choose from. I would like to use a mix between fashion imagery & aesthetic imagery, as I feel like it is more interesting to the reader to see diverse images & allows them to understand what I am trying to communicate to them further.

Natalie introduced me to ‘EPUB’ files which you can create on photoshop, I am going to use this type of file to create GIF’s for my look book. As I have mentioned I really want to push my communication skills in this module, pushing my CAD skills further will assist me in doing this, this being why I am going to use LinkedIn Learning to educate myself on how to create GIF’s. Adding a GIF into my look book will add a further element to the final outcome, as it will be a moving visual which I can hopefully create & mould into my narrative, this will also add further support my communication to the reader.

To conclude this post, those are the 2 most important stages in which will assist me in getting to my final outcome. I am going to create a plan using the project timetable Louise provided us with to plan out my weeks ahead, this will allow me to keep up with everything that needs to be done to produce my final outcome. The project timetable plan will also be useful to me as we are not having any time in university throughout this module, the plan will give me the freedom to structure my days myself & keep on top of my work.

[outlyingthoughts]

My used-to-be treasured garden: July 19.

Sometimes I wonder if people know how iconic they appear to me. Attitudes and shrugs, I admire in people the things I know I’ll never be. There is around me a sort of rough refinement that I’ll never reach and hundreds of admirative letters I have write to the humans I’m inspired by.

I’m the opposite and come as a contradiction to my environment. The people I write about all live on this thin equilibrium in a seemingly perfect messiness that only “cool kids” in movies have, yet they are crude and hold stronger personalities, like knives ready to cut your throat they have diverse and personal well calibrated comebacks. Each and every single one of them has a sharp sense of their onion-like layers, who they are and what they stand for. Some root for justice, some success, others for nothing but it’s a lovable nihilism they convey: charming and fearless carelessness, probably just a facade that my naive perception is reluctant to acknowledge.

And yet shy and intimidated thus loud and uncomfortable, I struggle to escape the natural mess that I am, becoming over the course of my teenager years a rigid and plain thing you won’t dwell over.

I used to be convinced that there were hidden gems in this garden I used to treasure. Now seemingly unkept, only a tiny part, like a suburban backyard is the survivor of my self-realization. The more time flies by, the more the myriads of luscious greenery I used to think I sheltered in my skull disappear like the Amazonian forest: cut short as the world goes on and I can’t regenerate and adapt my growth and vision to its rate. I have a diary where I lay and leave all my thoughts, it’s a mirror of my brain and the ruins of my treasured garden where dozens of flowers, my friends, bloom and perfume my perception of the world with their various essences, keeping alive the small amount of wonders left in me.

In this thoughtful heaven, there are clouds I can’t repress. Dark cumulonimbus chasing my sunny trust in everything that I take for granted, there is you, you-s and other them, the variables that mingle between us, wavering my expectations and confidence: they determine how I see you, see us. Over here, there are also overcast nightmares and wet dreams that make me lose my certitudes: how do I see you when my eyes are closed and my consciousness is in bed? Earlier this week, I dreamt of you; we held on tight like we twice did before, dancing in a bar under red flashing lights, my grip on your hair feeling as natural it is seems ridiculous now awake.

They say dreaming of making out in public can be a symbolism of wanting to be forthright and open to our feelings with someone but we haven’t talked in months and you hardly ever cross the conscious part of my mind. Yet now that my subconscience made you emerge, you linger in my thoughts and while I know I don’t want you anymore I still wonder what my sleepy fantasy meant.

Whether or not I’ve been burying you in a lost mental cemetery with my repressed feelings or if you’re like the other you-s irrelevant but still well polished in an alcove of the hall of You-s: that is the main question. Ashamed of how I let you swerve with my expectations, there is a limited amount of uncertainty and bullshit my self-esteem can take. By making me, despite yourself, believe just the time of a hibernal interlude in a concept I’ve never put my faith in, you swept me off my feet for a few weeks.

The big word with a capital L, you let me think I’d eventually fall in it truly, deeply, madly but mainly coordinately for the first time. You made me trust that I had time and that it’d come naturally, not with you nor for you, but that one day I’d eventually know what loving means.

In the valleys of my cortex, there are other you-s, I see you in social media statistics and you get me to dwell over instagram algorithms, wondering why you’re ranking upwards and whose fault it is. Deep in my mental cacophonies, there are also back-skin rolls and anxious memory snapshots from my latest pause in front of a mirror, witnesses of how summertime sadness makes swell out of myself into an even more self conscious monster. Hidden under the bed of my gray matter, what-ifs and how-comes, skeptical questionings of how on earth can the people that aren’t blood related to me endure my presence, attach affection and slap compliments (on)to my being; in my matchless condition, there is the designed ugly fat friend character but otherwise nothing cinematic relates to how unworthy the little cells trapped in my bony box feel.

Prone to harsh comparison in the silence of my lonely moments, there are truths I’ll never allow to slip of out the edge of my mouth, violent waves of self incrimination and thousands of accusations I throw at you all while I fight for salty beans to not glide down. What is there to appreciate in my physical envelop or vaporous persona and worst, why would you all lie?

Sometimes I dive deep into the lake of my doubts and ended up lost in a Truman Show maze. My almost-ironic existence on the line, is it all real or do you fake care? How will I know for sure that you feel and fear as I do, share and care the way I won’t allow myself to as long as my confused suspicions persist ? The lack of answer is an authoritarian source of irresolvable yet fully aware inhibitions. In those incoherent and fearful hours of the night, I take a strong hold onto my keyboard and cry my insecurities into a pointless blog with yet another set of soon-to-be-given-up dreams. There are snores and the mechanical silence of the AC chilling me to my bone, an almost empty cup of green tea and 636 people I can overload with untimely and uninteresting social media updates. I overpost with my subconscience, knowing damn well that I’ll delete half of it few hours later: it’s a simple scream in my era’s ever-connected void, not meant to echo, I might just want you to hear me out (felt depressed might delete l8er).

The only thing I used to think was great about me were my taste and ideas. Yet the hundreds storylines of half pregnant projects of movie direction and essays in my notes, pseudo philias more like stillborn loves for photography, cinematography, too popular and wanna be alternative forms of visual arts suggest that all that I thought made me special are mere reflections of the determinism of my upbringing, social background and environment. Shallow assumptions I made about artistic enlightenment and things I’ll probably never master nor understand are wild fires in my garden, they burn the virtual confidence away leaving me a desolated valley of ashes and like Ms Wilson, I’m scared of dying while seeking for an iconic gateway.

I used to think that I wrote well because I had always been told so, but lately I’ve been trying to write fictions and somehow it seems impossible for my self-centered being to write anything without identifying some of my traits in the characters I’ve created. Flawed and irregular, my writing relates more to a ‘teenage in crisis” diary material rather than the “aspirational twenty-something woman’s” essays I devour. But writing this, I see how even my standards and aims are distorted: I dream in big white and glossy capital letters over a blue background of growth and becoming. With Michelle Obama as my personal role model and a bunch of other fifty something black women sipping their successes away in a corner of my mental garden, I shouldn’t be surprised to feel unworthy when I try to gauge where my life is at.

To think that it took me nineteen years to realize how much of an obnoxious fraud I can be, yet still hoping to be more without truly acknowledging that I set the bar higher than I could ever reach. There are few things I wish to say and tiny words I need to hear get me through the coming storm of sickening sadness and ramping panic. Violent power seizures in my brain by toxic parts of myself, I’d rather have them shut out like you from my dreams. There is nothing I can do but to post and scroll some more throughout my supposed-to-be stress-free summer, or maybe to overthink and dramatize over my insecurities. I’ll just lay in the grass of my homie mental garden, praying for the forty remaining days of summer to pass by as fast as they can because a nerve wracking hurricane is heading to my used-to-be paradise and I’m not sure my soul can resist such bad weather again.

[cpfmp-blog]

EVALUATION

REF PAGES: 103

I have really enjoyed this project as it allowed me to think up an idea, going from concept to showcase. From quite early on I knew I wanted to incorporate the grunge trend that has made another appearance since it was in fashion in the 80s. I also knew that I wanted to translate my idea through film and photography, as those are the mediums that I have really enjoyed previously creating. Creating the various mood boards helped me to narrow down my ideas and have me the thought of combining the grunge/punk idea and the feminist idea. I loved the fact that we got to write our own project proposal, because it gave me a chance to write down all of my initial ideas about what I want to research and where I want to take my inspiration from.

Once I had decided on my FMP I, coincidentally, found ASOS’ spring issue of their magazine featuring Yara Shahidi and Adwoah Aboah. It linked really well as it was talking about dressing for yourself and self love – Shahadi reappeared on my makeup and hair mood board. In terms of researching brands; Saint Laurent, All Saints and Missguided show a nod to the grunge/punk trend that has been reappearing. I liked seeing brands lookbooks/campaigns as it gives me inspiration for photography as well as styling options. I also wanted to look into magazine editorials that could inspire my theme of grunge, punk and feminism. I researched Willow and Jaden Smith’s editorial for ‘Interview’ magazine (shot by Steven Klein) and several ‘Teeth’ magazine editorials. In terms of historic research I found that the pages on punk & grunge culture, International Women’s Day and the Women’s March very interesting because it sparked ideas around styling and the meaning behind my final photo shoot. I knew of the punk/grunge aesthetic, but I didn’t really know their morals or way of life before I had researched it. I took most of my styling inspiration from my punk research as I learnt about the personalisation of their clothes using household items like safety pins and decorating things with paint and destroying them with scissors. I took a lot of inspiration for poses from the feminism side of my theme, the idea that women are powerful and stand together, this is also present in the mini video interviews that I made alongside my photography. For primary research I created two polls on Twitter and two forum posts online, both of which I received interesting results. The ‘are you a feminist’ Twitter poll was almost 50/50, which I was surprised about and most of the comments on my forums were anti-feminist. This primary research helped me to see different opinions and inspired me when thinking about how to represent feminism in an un-obvious way (that would make people read the article – that would be paired with my editorial in a magazine – and learn about feminism. My main aim, after completing all of my research, was to create a series of photos that captured all three of my ideas (punk, grunge and feminism) in a way that would appeal to my customer (Meghan Weber, 19, from Hamburg Germany).

Since I had a lot of ideas about what I wanted to create I needed to do a lot of experimentation before I committed to one idea, as I wanted my final outcome to be as best as it could be. I made sure to experiment with lighting, camera angles and editing both photos and videos. I started off with trying scratch vectors on some photos that I had taken previously to see how I liked the effect, from this I learnt that I wanted my photos to be a lot more natural and effortless, which is why I decided against using Adobe Photoshop. For my lighting workshop I knew that it was more about sorting the lighting for my video interviews as I had always pictured my final photo shoot being outside and therefore the lighting being semi-uncontrollable. I really liked the look of the natural lighting with artificial lighting in the background as that reflected the set up of the interviews – natural answers, but more professional than a video diary style. After using the app ‘Afterlight’ to edit some pictures that were also taken before this project I found that it was much more subtle and there was a variety of scratch filters and they also had lense flare filters, which I experimented with to see how they would look. I think this experimental process really helped me to gage an idea of exactly what I wanted my series of photos to look like and how I wanted my video interviews to come across. In terms of styling experimentation I made a mood board of distressed denim and created mini samples of how to achieve those effects. I found that paint splatting the denim was the most effective and best for my outcome. I also experimented with possible outfit ideas and developed the six original looks I created and edited it down to two looks for each of my models.

I knew that I wanted to create video interviews, because I wanted to see how normal people (around the age of my target customer) felt about feminism and if they could spot links (in the questions I asked) between feminism and punk/grunge subculture. Originally I had planned to have the videos as part of my final outcome, however after editing them and seeing how they could be integrated with my photos at the showcase I decided to use them more as a primary research source. I wanted the videos that I created to be relatable to my target market as well as educational (in a fun way). I picture these videos being posted on a magazine’s accompanying YouTube channel, which allows readers frequent, maybe even daily, updates instead of waiting for the month’s issue to come out. I knew that I wanted three videos and that I wanted them all to have a slightly different topic, so everyone can relate to at least one of them, however they were all on the topic of feminism as I knew that would be the most difficult one to portray through photography. I really enjoyed the filming and editing process of making my videos, which is something that I have enjoyed doing previously, however I’ve never filmed videos in this format before. It was fun to have a more professional set up and to ask the interviewees questions, because I didn’t know what they were going to say even though I had asked them to briefly prepare. Once I had filmed all of the footage I needed (the interviewees answers as well as cutaways and close ups) I imported it into iMovie and started editing. From researching other YouTubers and how they have filmed & edited Q&A style videos I knew I didn’t just want it to be the interviewee sat there answering questions I wanted to break it up with other shots so it was more of a visual experience. Once I had got the video edit done I added music that I thought supported the theme of feminism, but would also appeal to my target audience. I am very happy with how the videos turned out, as I think they look very professional and well thought out (due to my storyboards), however there are a few improvements that I would make. The main thing I would change with these videos is the sudden contrast in audio from the montage introduction to the answer of the first question, this could be resolved by creating more of a gradient between the levels of sound rather than just dropping completely. Another issue is the sound in Kirsty’s video. Because she was the first to film I think she was quite nervous, which is understandable, so sometimes her voice became shaky and a bit quiet. I could have fixed this by re-filming some of her answers to get that confident look that the other videos have. I also don’t have an ending to Ellie’s video like the other two have, however it ended with a cutaway so it was less obvious, but if I were to re-film I would have got her to sign off the video just so there was a bit more consistency.

For my styling workshop I took a heavy influence from the punk and grunge way of dressing, but I also wanted to include some feminine pieces to portray my feminist theme. I really wanted to use some of the vintage pieces that I found in my parents’ wardrobe, as they aren’t necessarily garments that I would have chosen myself so I liked the challenge of styling them. I started by creating six looks, using some of the vintage pieces and some other pieces that I found on ‘Polyvore’ (the website that I used to make the collages). My favourite outfits from my initial six are numbers one, two, four and six. These are actually the four that I ended up using in my photos, however I developed them quite a lot before I got to the final looks that I used. Through the process of developing I changed the sweatshirt in look six and I re-arranged some of the pieces so that the layering of the garments would be better. In the end I made a page displaying the exact garments that I would be using so that when I was packing for the shoot I knew I wouldn’t miss anything. To finish off some of my looks I needed to make some things myself, as I couldn’t find something specific enough to what I wanted; I also wanted to keep costs down. For the fourth look, which Ellie wore for the second half of the shoot I bought a pair of size fourteen straight leg jeans from a charity shop (for £3.50) and splatted them with paint. This was part of my critical path, because I decided on colours of paints and took pictures during the process of making them. I used a paintbrush and splatted lots of paint onto the jeans, the front had white, mustard yellow, rust orange and black and I decided to just put mustard yellow and black on the back as a contrast to the front. I think this is a real focus piece in my editorial, because they’re so different from anything that you would be able to buy on the high street, which gives the feel of a high fashion editorial. The paint splats link to how punk people customised their clothing and how people who associated themselves with grunge bought things from thrift/charity shops and embraced it as their own individual look. In addition to the jeans I also made some safety pin accessories as a way to make some of the looks more high fashion and more obviously punk. For Hayley to wear with look six I made a safety pin crown using various sized safety pins arranged pointing at different angles. I used a thin hair band as the base for the crown and stuck each safety pin on using hot glue, this is something I would change as it is very delicate and after the shoot the safety pins started to fall off. I think using super glue what have held the pins on for longer and therefore created a more reliable accessory, which can be used again if I ever need to. For Ellie to wear with look four I made a set of stud earrings using basic studs and attaching smaller safety pins using hot glue. Similar to the headband, when putting the earrings in on the day I had to re-glue the pins on, because they kept coming off. Again I think that using super glue instead of hot glue they would have been more secure.

To compliment my styling choices I paid close attention to the hair and makeup that I wanted on my models for the shoot. From my grunge research I learnt that they are in to keeping their hair untouched, messy and sometimes dirty, so for Hayley’s second look and Ellie’s first I wanted their hair undone and just natural, which meant there was a bit of a wave to the hair. I especially wanted Hayley’s hair messy when she was wearing the crown, because I wanted to make sure the base hairband was covered. I also loved the idea of strong plaits, because I think it symbolises femininity, but also shows power. I love the image of Yara Shahidi with the safety pins in her braid, this is something that we trialled and then ended up using on Ellie when she was wearing look four. In terms of makeup I wanted the first half (when the models were wearing looks one and two) to be very matte and grunge-y. I didn’t want anything too heavy, because grunge style wasn’t about being over the top and taking too much time on their appearance. After the trial I decided that I wanted to take away the lip colour, because it was too prominent and I felt like it clashed with the clothes and the eye makeup. For the second look I wanted red/cranberry coloured glossy eyes to add a bit of interest especially in headshots. Due to the weather on the day you couldn’t really see the gloss effect and in the end I didn’t include any headshots in my final editorial.

I think the preparation from my sketchbook, makeup and hair trial with Kirsty and my schedule really helped my photo shoot to be efficient and get all of the shots that I wanted. I ended up taking three hundred and fifteen photos, which is more than I imagined I would, however in some of the photos the models are squinting due to the bright sun on the day; these are the images that I crossed out on the contact sheet. On the initial contact sheet I circled the images that I then went on to use in the editing stages. With the selected images I did a basic edit on the app ‘Afterlight’ where I changed the saturation, temperature, contrast, clarity and I added a filter. This made the colours of the images fit more with my grunge theme, which made me love them even more, from that I then starred images that I really liked and wanted to keep editing. This process took a while, but it was definitely worth it as I narrowed down from all of my images just to the final eight that I want in my editorial. I then went on to adding ‘Afterlight’ scratch effects to the starred images and then saw how that went. I found that most of the images didn’t look right with the scratches, because it overpowered the outfits, which is what I wanted to be the main focus. After that I took the favourite scratched images (which had been edited before that) and put them in black and white using the ‘Noir’ filter on iPhoto. This gave a real sense of what some of the images would look like in the final editorial. I then created a code for how I selected which images I wanted in black and white. As all of the photos on the black and white contact sheets were my favourite of all the ones I had taken I knew my final images were on these pages, so it was just choosing how many, which ones and how I wanted them edited. I decided on having eight pictures in my editorial and it just so happened that there were four black and white and four in colour. After I collected all of the final images that I liked I realised that because they had been edited and saved so many times, separately, the quality wasn’t very good. This meant that I got all of the original versions and only added the effects that I wanted, for example black and white images wouldn’t have been pre-edited like the other ones were (which I edited in ‘Afterlight’ and then added the black & white filter). This really made a difference to the professional feel of my photos, especially for the showcase, because they would’ve been printed even bigger and therefore the quality would have deteriorated even more. I think the first image really sets the tone for the whole editorial, it’s powerful, has a grunge feel and you feel the connection between the models that they have each other’s backs. I really like the combination of textures in this image the rusting fence behind is a real juxtaposition to the satin of Hayley’s trousers. I’m really glad that the skies were blue on the day of my photo shoot, because it really compliments the ‘Italia’ jumper that Ellie is wearing. The next image has a slightly different feel, because the dark filter really makes the safety pin crown stand out against the dark sky. The model’s position is really powerful and really embodies the theme that I wanted. I think this photo also shows off the sweatshirt that Callum made, which I am really pleased that he let me use, because it was exactly what I was looking for and I think it fits with the high-end feel of the shoot. The next shot also shows the community feel that I wanted within my images and it gives the viewer a chance to see the detail of the jeans and the safety pins in Ellie’s hair. This close up of Hayley’s shoe was really inspired by the close ups of the fishnets from the Teeth magazine research. I love how clearly you can see the detail of the fishnet sock and the studs on Hayley’s boots. I think it’s quite nice to have some shots like this just to break it up from the others and to give the viewer a closer look at the styling. I really like how the shadows feature in this image; it’s nice to have places of light and places of shade, because it adds a bit of interest to the image. This picture is also a chance to see the full outfit that I have styled, I really like how the paint splats compliment the colours I have used elsewhere in the outfit like the red bomber jacket, yellow vest and mustard yellow leather belt. I think the wind in all of the images, but this one in particular really adds a special effect, because it gives a bit of movement to the image. I think this scratched; black and white image is my favourite out of all of them. I like how you can only really see the scratch effect in the sky and the dark filter really adds to the moody, grunge atmosphere that I wanted to create. I think that this would possibly be the cover if my editorial were being featured in a magazine. As I have decided to call my editorial ‘Gateway to Grunge’ having an image with the wire gate in it is important and feel that this image has captured the vibe that all of my pictures have. All of my images have a European feel, however I feel like I could see these images in Vogue Germany. This worked out really well, because my target customer (Meghan Weber) is from Hamburg and therefore I feel like I’ve done a good job at aiming my editorial towards my ideal customer. This photo especially gives me German editorial vibes, because the pose is very professional and, again, I really like the way the shadows and the wind add movement and an atmosphere to the photo. The model shows a real power in her facial expression and the way she is sat shows that she’s relaxed and comfortable in what she’s wearing. This is very appealing to my target audience, which would therefore make them want the clothes that she is wearing, which is the main purpose of fashion photography. All through the planning of my photo shoot I knew I wanted a few close up shots to display the safety pin accessories that I have made. I love how moody this image is and how the delicate fencing and barbed wire is a contrast from the bulky black sweatshirt that Hayley is wearing. The way her hair is blowing into her face really encapsulates the grunge idea of unkempt hair, which is perfect for giving this image interest.

My thoughts for the showcase have been fairly consistent, as I know that I have always wanted a sensory experience. I always wanted my photos enlarged to A3 size on the walls in a booth style layout, however originally I wanted my videos to be projected onto the wall so people could listen to the videos and look at the pictures. I went off of this idea, because I didn’t ask the questions in the videos so you would have to read the question and listen to the answer, which I thought would distract from my photos. Now I want to have my photos displayed in the same way, but I want music playing in the background (the playlist that I have created) and something quite feminine – like flowers – hanging from fishing wire on the ceiling.

[micaramel]

Chemist by day and photographer by night, Gabor Samjeske has been living in Japan since 2003. Working exclusively in film photography since 2007, Samjeske is a talented street photographer with an ability to capture unfiltered life in Tokyo.

Primarily shooting with a Leica M4 and Leica M7, Samjeske is a subscriber to Cartier-Bresson's “decisive moment” philosophy. And of course, shooting on film in a digital age has only helped sharpen his skills, as he's limited to the number of snaps on his roll of film.

Through Samjeske's eye, we see Japanese culture in a new light. His subjects are often—though not always—solitary, burrowed deep in their technology. The German photographer's black and white photography features stolen moments, allowing viewers to feel as though they are peering through a curtain into someone's life.

We had the chance to ask Samjeske a few questions about his love of photography, why he shoots on film, and what he hopes his work says about Japanese culture. Scroll down for our exclusive interview.

Can you tell us a little background about yourself and what brought you to Tokyo?

I am a chemist and specialize in fuel cell research, a technology that I think has the potential to replace conventional gasoline powered combustion engines, as used in cars and similar areas, as a more environmentally friendly technology.

After finishing my Ph.D. in Germany, I went to Japan for 7 years to work as a post-doc and then moved to Tokyo to do research here at another university. My work is completely unrelated to photography.

Initially, photography was more like a visual diary for me after coming to Japan to record my memories. Slowly, it became a passion for looking at things, and sometimes, if I find something interesting, taking photos of it. I absolutely do not do any photographic projects or any competitions.

I'm curious to know what you shoot with, and why the decision to primarily photograph in black and white?

I've been taking photos since I was a teenager, which means I started in the 70s when SLR with big zoom lenses were all the hype, but my first camera was my father's AGFA box camera that used 120 roll film. However, the results were not as I expected and I moved on to some more sophisticated gear.

Anyway, my journey into photography started with film, at first color and later black and white film. This change happened because I was able to build and use a darkroom in high school and also because I started liking the aesthetics of black and white film. Therefore, it was cheaper to develop myself and making prints on my own, which was more fun and finally of better quality than the commercial lab prints.

The second reason was my favorite photo book, a special issue of LIFE magazine that featured all their iconic photos in one book. I got hooked on photos from Alfred Eisenstaedt, Robert Capa, and Henry Cartier-Bresson. After university (where my interest in photography was rather low) I moved to Japan and started using DSLR. This went well for about 3 years, but I got tired of the weight of the camera (Nikon D1x) and slowly remembered the photos of the LIFE photobook.

At that time the world wide web was already a good source for information and I found out about the cameras and techniques used by my photographic idols, which were mostly rangefinder cameras. I bought a Leica (M6) in January 2007 and since then use Leica rangefinder cameras, a Rolleiflex TLR from time to time, and very seldomly also a Linhoff Technica 4×5 camera. I started developing my film again after moving to Japan and still take photos almost exclusively in black and white and ob film. I like the look and the possibility to process and print on my own.

Your images seem to capture a sort of isolation, with people immersed in their technology much of the time, is there something specific you are trying to say about Tokyo culture with your work?

I think photos of Japan or Tokyo can be almost divided into three categories. The vast majority are photos taken by visitors who most often have no experience about the culture in Japan, which is considerably different than anywhere else in Asia—South Korea being close.

Another thing is that the Japanese culture is a very closed one. As a visitor, anybody is welcome to a certain degree but the Japanese will never show their true personality and will try everything to make the visitor feel welcome. Those photos show Japan from an outsider's point of view.

The next large category is the photos by the Japanese photographers who know almost everything about their society, and they show different things in their photos. Among those, Daido Moriyama, Issei Suda or Nishimura Junku come to mind.

Finally, there is the group of foreigners who have lived a long time here in Japan, but are still outsiders to the Japanese society. I count myself in this group and we “see” things different than short time visitors but still reflect anything we seem to find interesting on our own cultural background.

Tokyo life is based on a balance between hard and long working hours and very short periods of relaxation, during which most people try to enjoy as much as possible and rest their mind. Technology is an important factor to do so, and so is the desire for having some privacy also during this time. This large contrast between work duty and relaxing time makes for huge differences in how people react at different times of the day. This is what I find interesting and try to photograph.

What's your creative process? 

I really don't have a creative process, but rather some personal rules. The first one is to carry a camera whenever possible and take photos as soon as there is a possibility, and something interesting. I almost never take more than one camera, one lens, and a roll or two of black and white film.

I also almost never go out with the aim of taking photos, but instead go somewhere for some reason and if I see something interesting then I photograph it. While photographing I try to respect the people's private sphere and keep my role of an observer. The Japanese call it “snap” (abbreviation a snapshot) and I like that type of photography best. I develop and scan my films and then look for interesting frames. I don't crop anything or do any post-processing. Therefore the amount of “keepers” are very small.

Gabor Samjeske: Flickr

My Modern met granted permission to use photos by Gabor Samjeske.

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