Photoshoot 4: Gender: Men's Inequality: Work Record

Work Record -

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.

Photoshoot 4: Gender: Men's Inequality

Best Images - 

6141:

6147:

6152:

6160:

Editing Process - 

I began by using the 'Vibrance' tool to increase the saturation of the backdrop which made my work more reminiscent of Phebe Schmidt's and Sarah Maple's.

I then used the 'Brightness/ Contrast' tool to reduce the brightness to create a greater depth in the picture which I further adjusted by increasing the contrast.

Photoshoot 3: Gender: Women's Inequality: Work Record

Work Record -

Date: Tuesday 15th March 2016
Camera: Canon EOS 450D 
Editing Software: Photoshop CC 2014
Settings: F/11, ISO 200, 1/125

Plans For Shoot: My plan for today's shoot is to photograph a few different objects such as sanitary products that are under the category of gender. I will, however, focus specifically on women and one of the many inequalities that they face.

What I Hope to Achieve: I hopefully will achieve a few good quality photographs that I have composed in varying ways based around ideas like the grid composition or the golden ratio which I was unable to fulfil in me two previous photoshoots.

I would also like to photograph a series that is inspired by the artistic style of the photographer Phebe Schmidt, whose work implicitly to me suggests ideas about gender. For example, I would like to employ some of Schmidt's style which includes her use of bold colour backdrops that do no appear dull or patchy like the latest pink studio background.

 Also, another hope of mine is that I can smooth out editing issues that arose in my last photoshoot with the pink background. When attempting to rectify the issue in editing the images appeared fine on the monitor but once printed again seemed too patchy and thus I wish to avoid this issue within this photoshoot.

Finally, my other wish is to create a series of photographs which challenge ideas surrounding gender among those who will see my work. Hopefully, the interpretations of my work will carry a strong political, social and cultural meaning varying between each individual due to their socialisation. I do also wish that my work will transcend the different social groups and find its meaning through the eyes of everyone therefore avoiding excluding anyone.


What I Actually Achieved: This is my third photoshoot and I had a few reservations about the studio lighting after the issues of last time but I feel it was more successful than the second photoshoot.  

Firstly, I was able to try a variety of subject compositions and used my mind to create a grid. I did not use any guidelines on composition for this photoshoot due to time issue in a shared studio but in the final exam it is definitely something to consider.

Furthermore, I replicated my previous studio set-up in the style of Phebe Schmidt's by returning to the trusted baby blue hue backdrop. Most of Schmidt's work is on a pale pastel hues which I was able to match in the college studio. Although, I was unable to discover the lighting used by Schmidt, Armitage and Calypso and thus had to improvise. For this photoshoot there was a difference in the lighting not from the box lights but form outside uncontrollable sources which made the studio darker. Consequently, the backdrop, despite being there same pastel blue used for the first photoshoot, appeared too dull and would again be an issue unless dealt with in Photoshop.

Moreover, I was able to play with techniques on Photoshop as I used the previous tools such as the 'Vibrance' tool alongside the 'Hue/ Saturation' and had to dramatically change the 'Brightness/ Contrast' of the images in an attempt to save my work from the dark lighting. In future I will do test photographs and download them before finishing in the studio and running out of time to re-take the images.

When showing my final outcomes for this photoshoot to an audience the responses made about my work were around ideas such as: international inequalities, the capitalist patriarchal system that mostly benefits men, the beauty that is cohesive with the difficulty of being female/ having a uterus.

What I Am Going To Do Next/ Progression: The next photoshoot on my list to do is the male counterpart of this photoshoot which will be men's inequalities. To progress I will pay careful attention to the box lighting and the outside lighting and ensure that if outside factors changed the outcome of my work too much I may have to change lighting during a photoshoot to compensate.

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 background is duller than the rest of the series and unintentionally there is a gradient in lighting from tonally dark to over exposed at the bottom. Also, the objects were placed in a way that way too central and did not conform to any compositional methods and therefore had too much blank space. The writing also needed to be made bolder in Photoshop which I failed to do up to the same standard of the second photograph.

The second photograph, however, is much better than the first for a multitude of reasons. The first reason being that the backdrop colour both before and after editing was brighter due to the lighting from the soft boxes. Also the use of various sanitary products relates the final outcome to a larger audience. The composition is better than the first image as well. The colour matching between products conform to stereotypical femininity and also makes the outcome more aesthetically pleasing.

Meaning -

Denotation: Feminine sanitary products, process of periods.

Connotation: The process of becoming a 'woman', the pain of having a uterus, patriarchal consumerist attitudes oppressing women, the natural process as connoted through the petals, the beauty within the pain due to the possibility of life.

Context: I wanted to display ideas that transcend not only British culture but also that of somewhere such as America where the tampon tax is a prevalent issue of debate. I also wanted to portray the role of capitalist patriarchy in establishing gender norms through socialisation institutes such as the media. I also did not want to directly relate this to a gender as I wanted to portray that various genders experience natures difficulties and that the marketing of these products for just women fails to include other groups such as trans people and others.

Photoshoot 3: Gender: Women's Inequality

Best Images - 

6053:

6057:

6064:

6071:

Editing Process - 

All of the above images were edited using the same software, Photoshop CC 2014, and the technique used was the same to achieve a similar outcome from each of the individual images. The camera used was a Canon EOS 450D and the setting were:

ISO 200

F/ 8.0

1/125

Manual Focus

I began by adjusting the 'Vibrance' levels to achieve a brighter blue colour; I then used the 'Hue and Saturation' tool to make the hue more evident. The next process was one that I have not had to do with my other photoshoots and this was 'Brightness and Contrast'. I brightened the image to achieve the final outcome that is reminiscent of the colour scheme used by Phebe Schmidt.