Date: Friday 18th March 2016
Camera: Canon EOS 450D
Editing Software: Photoshop CC 2014
Settings: F/11, ISO 200, 1/125
Plans For Shoot: The plan for today's photoshoot is to photograph a small range of objects that represent the category of the male gender. I will specifically focus on men and one of the inequalities that their gender faces.
What I Hope to Achieve: I will strive to achieve a series of high quality photographs that I have attempted to construct in a variety of compositions to entice viewer attention.
I would also hope that I create a collection of photographs that are inspired by the artistic style of the photographer Phebe Schmidt, whose work links to ideologies about gender. For instance, I would employ some of Schmidt's stylistic choices in cohesion with my own which includes would result in a use of bold colour backdrops.
Additionally, I also hope that I can smooth enhance my skills in editing to avoid issues that appeared in a previous photoshoot with the pink background. I am yet to decide but I may return to the blue pastel backdrop rather than the pink troublesome one.
Finally, my other wish is to create a series of photographs which explicitly appear to display gender possibly even in a stereotypical way but I, implicitly, want my work to show the flaws in following gender stereotypes and labels and provide a platform for change in gender perceptions within society.
What I Actually Achieved: This is my fourth photoshoot and I have been somewhat concerned as I have changed the pattern of my work from using the blue backdrop for women and the pink for men. To reduce Photoshop editing difficulties that arose with the pink I made the conscious decision to change colour backgrounds and thought this may mess with the pattern and fluidity of the practice series.
First of all, I was not able to try as wide a variety of subject compositions as I had hoped. I did not use rules of composition but instead followed my ideas to suggest either chaos or calm.
Furthermore, I re-created the previous studio set-up from memory in the style of Phebe Schmidt's by returning to the smooth baby blue hue background. Schmidt's work is often on pale pastel hues which I was able to replicate within the college studio when using the blue rather than pink. The lighting for this set-up was much better than the previous shoot as I tested with a light meter throughout when the outside lighting changed.
Additionally, I was able to again use Photoshop to edit the pictures but I did so using only a small collection of tools. I employed the same 'Vibrance' and 'Brightness/ Contrast' tools as used in all previous editing of photoshoots as these are reliable for achieving the desired Schmidt inspired outcome.
When showing this series to an audience they picked up on the ideas that men often have to choose between work life or family life and specifically the paternity/ shared paternity leave issue was raised multiple times.
What I Am Going To Do Next/ Progression: The next photoshoot on my to do list is the next sub-heading which will be myths but first it will be female myths. To improve I will attempt to include ideas around composition.
Least and Favourite Image Evaluation -
Least Favourite:
Favourite:
The reasoning behind the above pictures being my favourite and least favourite are for a multitude of reasons.
My least favourite is so because the backdrop, due to the placement of lighting, is brighter and appears almost dodged in the top right corner. Also the composition is disrupted by the placement of the pen which also fails to comply to the stereotypes of colour set by the other objects as it is neither pink nor blue. Additionally, the open folder buckled under the weight of the paper and began folding which deviated from the clean cut lines that I was aiming for in this photoshoot. The misshapen tie also adds to the failures of the first final outcome.
The second photograph , on the other hand, is my favourite of this series as the background colour is extremely bold through both lighting and editing in which I employed techniques of hue and saturation and so on. Also, the folder laying flat creates a more open image with more depth and allows the viewer to look further into the image. The blue folder with clean cut lines diagonally placed juxtaposes both the colour and contours of the doll. This is good in developing the implication of contrast between men having to choose between work and home life specifically relating to paternity leave inequality.
Meaning -
Denotation: Work, babies, children.
Connotation: The connotation is that males have to choose between a professional/ successful career or being involved in the home environment such as raising children, the paternity leave gap from maternity leave, difficulty and ridicule associated with being a 'househusband'.
Context: I want an audience to understand that women are not the only gender social group who face prejudice within certain institutes specifically the workplace. For instance, over the past couple of years the paterninty leave issue has been debated. If gender equality truly existed then couples, regardless of their family set-up as nuclear, single-parent or same-sex and so on, should be able to divide paternity leave as they wish rather than the maternity leave only being awarded to or forced upon the females.
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