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Photo-shoot Title:
"Gentle Hang"


Photo-Shoot Concept & Aim:

This shoot is about Depression and suicide. The idea im trying to capture are that no matter our social class or how polished our lives look the most wealth and rich people can still be suicidal. I am trying to capture a feeling from my photograph. I am hoping to capture the feelings people never show. I want to get out a message with this photo-shoot. I want people to see that suicidal thoughts affect everyone.

Date & Timing:
This photo-shoot will take place on the 27th December 2016 around 2pm. This date was booked as I needed the venue to be available for me to use. This is an indoor photo-shoot so weather and sunset/sunrise do not need to be taken into account.

Location:

This photograph will take place in Washington. I needed permission from Tanatswa Shumbanhete to use her house / hallway in her house. This will be shot using portrait and vertical  positions. this is so I can focus closely using close up shots of the character. Some photographs will be taken on a slant to create a feeling of unease and imbalance.

Props:

I needed a full suit, This includes: Suit jacket (Black), Suit shirt(White),Suit trousers (Black). I also needed a rope to tie into a noose to use as a tie. This will be used to show visual metaphor of wealth and stability while the rope will contrast this.


Models:
I shall be doing a style of self portrait photographs. This will be a self portrait photograph as I myself will be the model for this photoshoot. I have chosen myself as a model as it captures a audience I want to attract of males showing their stuggle with mental health as well as spreading a message of males struggling with mental health disorders and suicidal thoughts. This is as it is stereotyped that females have the disorder and men are masculine so don't get upset.

Team:

I had a stylist and positioning assistant. Tanatswa Shumbanhete helped style me in the shoot and put me into position she also was the one who got the rope into a noose quality and tied it around my neck.

Equipment  and Preparation:

The camera i have used for this photoshoot is a Fujifilm Finepix S9600 Camera with a Integrated 28-300mm lens. The batteries were fully charged before shoot. For my ISO I will have it set to ISO-200 while I will have the Shutter Speed set 1/2000seconds while the F-stop will be set to  f/3.2.

Desired Shots:

The photographs will be in black and white so the colours of the outfit need to contrast one another clearly and stand well in black and white. The camera angles will be shown with a close up of nothing more than the rope and the suit branching out to the neck and legs to a medium shot  then a long shot of the whole model. This gives me variety and allows me to see if the mood and feeling of the photograph changes 

 

Reference Images: 
 

Record

Drawing / Sketch

Photo-Shoot Two

Edward  Honaker 

Edward Honaker 

Edward Honaker is a photographer who documents his depression using black and white photography.Using various cameracontrol and composition he illustrates the struggle of anxiety and depression displaying thoughts of suicide and suffering. He does this in a silent way. His subject (which is himself doing Self Portrait) wears formal wear usually suits such as shirt and ties. His work remains to maintain work where his own face and identity is somehow obscured using a unique technique each time. For my work i shall try and leave out my face and identity as well as wearing formal wear. 

Produce

Refine

This black and white filter was added over my photograph was inspired by the work of Edward Honaker. This is a full shot of the subject. We can see his clothing the noose and his face. This gives a identity to the subject and therefore striking a certain audience.

This black and white filter was added over my photograph was inspired by the work of Edward Honaker. This is a similar angle however this time the subjects face is cut off no this alows the subject to lose his identity. This then makes the photograph relatable to any gender or age group.

This black and white filter was added over my photograph was inspired by the work of Edward Honaker. This closer Shot now focuses on the noose around the neck in a portrait way.

This black and white filter was added over my photograph was inspired by the work of Edward Honaker. This closer Shot now focuses on the noose around the neck in a horizontal, landscape way. Having the focus of the noose shows the pain and suffering that draws people to suicide. You see the extreme lengths people go to for peace. The peaceful calm stance is erie. It shows the acceptance of someone to commit suicide. It also is direct contrast to how unhappy someone is for them to be so peaceful about dying, This then shows that people are happier to die than to live their lives.

The black and white filter was inspired by the work of Edward Honker. This photograph is a medium shot and captures the face of the subject.However the subject is looking down showing that he is in thought, he is in his mind thinking about everything he is listening to the thoughts in his head. He we can see the expression facially as well as the metaphorical meaning of the outfit.

The Black and white filter was inspired by the work of Edward Honker. This is a long shot of the subject. This subject is holding the noose. This gives off many different interpretations. One interpretation is that he is committing suicide by his own hands. He is taking things into his own hands and will do it himself. Another way is that he isnt ready to commit suicide yet and is holding on to the noose as he hesitates to do it, He hasnt fully decided to do it. On the other hand it could show that the man who has everything and is heath ( represented by the suit ) is still holding on to the past of his depression and suicidal thoughts he isnt fully over it and is constantly struggling to not fall back.

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This photograph is a refined photograph. I have used digital manipulation to increase the length of the noose. This then makes the rope longer. More refining will need to be done on the noose to make it more smooth and to blend in with the rest of the rope to make it more realist. The idea of making the noose's rope longer is to create a more striking and dangerous look to the rope. Making it appear lethal and able to kill. The use of black and which creates  tone for the photograph as well as the slanted angle of the vantage to create the feeling of unsteadiness.

Camera Controls used for this photograph was an Aperture set to f/3.2 while the shutter speed was 1/2000 seconds and the ISO-200 was used. I have used Visual elements within this photograph .Line can be seen with the lines of the door behind the subject but more noticeably on the lines of the noose. Shape is present with the the areas defined by the edges as in the corners of the doors style or the points on the clothing. Form is noticeable as we see the shadow of the model providing the three dimensional quality of the object. Tone is used greatly throughout this photo-shoot as we see the darkness of the suit jacket will contrast against the light white of the shirt creating tone within the photography with the use of Black and white. Colour isnt used in this photograph as its in black and white so the only colours seen is the spectrum from black to white and all shades inbetween like grey. Space was used to closely squeeze the object within the frame this allows him to look trapped and confined unable to move.Texture can loosely be seen again on the door with the markings and the overall texture of the doors material. However we can see the ruff quality of the rope. Again on the rope is where the visual element of pattern. I have used composition to create this photograph by using vantage points allowing us to vertically see the figure while the frame is slanted giving it the feel of instability. Framing and cropping was used to help have the subject take up the whole picture making him squished with little room to move within the photograph this allows for the model to look tight and small like he is squished to fit inside this photograph. Rules of thirds are visible as the eyes will be on the top horizontal line making it almost eye level with the viewer to look directly at the subject. Rules of Odds and Evens are seen as their is an odd number of people in the photograph This shows the model as alone and creates a more upsetting photograph. Rules of triangles were used with the doors shapes appearing as right angle triangles. Mainly the suit jacket which cuts into a triangle. As well as then the collar of the shirt. Rules of space was used to help the image convey a certain and specific meaning but this wasn't done by giving him loads of room and empty surrounding but rather isolating him and keeping him alone in a small space. Repetition and pattern are seen in this photograph as the loops on the rope and the straight lines down create repetition and pattern. Finally simplification was also used to focus the attention on the subject this was done by giving him a empty backdrop.Artificial light was used to shine down on the subject brightening up the face and allowing the bottom to fade darker. The narrative of this photograph is about a young boy with depression who is ready to end his life. The suit represents wealth and statues which them shows that even high earners and upper class people can have depression showing that it effects everyone.

Evaluation

From this photoshoot I wanted to capture the idea of depression and suicide while communicating the message that depression and suicide can happen to anyone whether they are young or old, rich or poor, male or female.

I believe to have successfully achieved this. As when I presented it to others it received an overwhelming shocked response which is exactly what I was hoping to receive. This proves to me the message I am communicating and the dramatic impact of this photograph is phenomenal.

To improve my photograph I believe my Props could be changed to have a thicker rope and even a longer rope. This can improve my work to make it more realistic and allow me to not have to use photoshop for digital manipulation to make the noose look longer. During this photoshoot I had a long rope but once tying it I realised it was not long enough and so as seen in the original photographs doesn't share the same impact. The clothes and background did a superb job however the rope could do some improving.
I believe the pose was right. It required close ups of the subject. The movement of arms and angle of the camera position creates variation of mood.
The photograph is in black and white so lighting was not a problem however the like above the subject helped stand him out This effectively works to show the contrast of the black suit and white shirt with the grey rope.
I have focused the ISO to ISO-200. The Shutter speed was set to 1/2000 and the F-Stop was set  to F/3.2 this all has helped to create a strong focus point in the image appropriate to single out the subject.

Other areas to improve is other than a better rope is a shirt that is not to tight so that i can button the top button to pull the tie all the way up. Another blazer could also be worn. Preferably one with double buttons so that it fasten higher up allowing for the rope to hide much better.

Camera Controls:
ISO: ISO-200
Shutter Speed: 1/2000seconds
F-Stop: f/3.2

Source light added from above as an aim to add more shadow to the subject.

© 2017 by Jay Collins Personal Creative Enquiry. Made in Saint Robert Of Newminster . Proudly created with Wix.com

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