It's going over well :)

We Go Nowhere

We Go Nowhere from Haley Vining on Vimeo.

Between the Pages

Today was the shoot with Alexa and Haley, based upon the "Fashion Execution" poem. I wanted to investigate the relationship between young women and the magazines they read. I took every magazine I could find, and looked through them, had the girls bring their clothes and interpret the photos, dressing and posing. This is a subject that I definitely want to pursue further. 

Location Prep:

The location for the shoot was a large marble and wood bathroom with a jacuzzi tub and vanity lights, mirrors, cabinets, granite countertops - something to give the air of privilege and pampering, and to set the stage for this private "fashion show." The master bathroom at my parents' house was the perfect location for the shoot, but it was very much their own, personal bathroom, so I spent the morning of the shoot placing all of their affects into bags and scrubbing the surfaces of the bathroom. 

Before 

After

I love being the wardrobe stylist and creative director of photoshoots, but until today, I had never acted as a MUA. Here is the shoot prep:

 me, applying Alexa's makeup. photo credit: Hailey Curtis

Here is a preview from the day:

A Never-Ending Story

Lesson for the day - it sometimes takes much more time to edit a film than it does to edit a photo shoot, and there's a small chance that I will be editing this forever. That being said - back to editing!

Sunday's Shoot

Inspiration

Source: flickr.com via Ms Sadie on Pinterest

Source: chasingkitesbyangie.blogspot.com via Claire on Pinterest

Source: crushculdesac.tumblr.com via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: weheartit.com via Lena on Pinterest

Source: the-electric.blogspot.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Fashion Execution

Writhing beneath the mesh, lips parted

Grating tulle flexing over cheekbones

Skin sucked between pale, jolting ribs

Hips sliding A-line, knee bent, toes pressed,

Feet arched, and head jerked, calculated

thrashing. Tugging with slender-boned fingers

wrenching the fenceposts down over her oiled

paper chest, knees smashed against each other,

malleable marble, crumbling into thighs

Zipping blue-veined goose-flesh into painted

black metal zips. Dry palms over palm oil scalp,

painted nails over painted face, acidic throat

cleared into the fabricated air and the sound

of heels being torn against plastic casing

of unsharpened pencils writing lines up the

legs and over the curves of near-hips

Wobble-walking before the blank wall, pulled

tight, caged, staring into the black eyes, the trigger

pulling, click. Shadow splashing against the wall

Sliding and in seconds, fading.

Epiphany

e·piph·a·ny

   [ih-pif-uh-nee]  Show IPA

noun, plural -nies.

1.

a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

Amidst the frustration of editing, row after row of pictures on my computer, of seeing the same layer masks, the same poses, I began to wonder what was stilling my creativity. What lid was capping my imagination. First, I dug into films and looked at other photographers to draw inspiration from them, but though ideas flickered up in the dark, they did not light the room. 

In my writing, I did not fear strangeness or risk, and washed my hands in a running tap of ideas. I wondered how to incorporate that type of creativity into my photography and spent this morning and early afternoon reading over my writing from the last few months, trying to trace back to my original inspiration. 

Somewhere in the early afternoon, I began to perceive each poem, each writing in a visual way and had an "epiphany" of sorts. Each image I had in my head, as I read, burned brighter than the ideas that I had been formulating for days, from a blank scene, though I had more tangible information to work with in those cases. 

I called Alexa, the model I'm working with on Sunday, and asked her to call me as soon as she got out of class, to fill her in on the direction the shoot was taking. Now, because the amount of potential inspiration was not overwhelming and the idea, and focus, and emotion I gathered for the shoot originated with my own writing, I felt as though I could take more control as a creative director and stylist.

I also got in touch with Mason to reschedule, because I formulated another idea from a separate piece of writing. All in all, I am very excited about the direction this project has taken and what it means for my productivity as a photographer and a writer. 

Cast of Characters for Sunday

For the shoot on Sunday, friends Mason and Alexa will be working with me and Hailey Curtis will be working as MUA and hair stylist. I'm trying to pursue the Back to the Future films as an inspiration for the storyline and style of this shoot.

Mason and Alexa

Back to the Future

HAIR AND MUA IDEAS

"Doc" revamped

Marty McFly revamped

This Week, So Far

Alright, so, here is what has been going on this week!

Sunday - I scouted and secured a location for my video shoot with Jimmy and Hailey and called a friend of mine who works in video production for lessons on how to improve the quality of my film on my camera. We spoke on Skype for a little over an hour and I showed him my test film.  I came away with a knowledge of how many frames per second I should shoot with and the suggestion that I should cut between macro shots and shots of the action to include symbolism in my film. I also learned how to shoot in black and white, rather than making that decision during the editing progress. It gave the film a more definite direction.

Monday - Early in the morning, I prepped my photography equipment and went around to test the locations and shoot a little of the locations without Hailey and Jimmy. When they arrived at 1 pm, we went out to a newly built fence near the field and i shot them again in the same style as I did at the beginning of the test film, but instead of panning vertically the way I did in the first cut, I focused on specific parts of the body that I thought would be important to the overall meaning of the project.
We then rode out to the field and they warmed up as I set up the equipment. I decided, after editing the first piece, that I wanted to do more shots of them together, and I did not want all of them to include the acrobatics of the first day. As much of the time that I wanted to cut from the first one, we shot even longer than we had before.

After shooting with Hailey and Jimmy, we drove back up to the farm and I began setting up for my shoot with Katherine. She hired me to do her senior portraits and about a week in advance, we began to plan locations and outfits for her portraits. She arrived at the house around 2:45 and we began shooting at 3 pm. The first location was a field of dark burnt and wheat-colored grass. She wore a lovely tribal maxi dress and brought along a straw hat. Next we found an old rusted gate, leading into a field of tan grass, fenced by tall trees. We walked through and shot there for a while and then came across a felled tree from the last hurricane season. She leant on it and we captured a few photos before she changed into her second outfit. From there we ran to the lush greenery at the edge of a grassy opening and shot between the branches and in an old green fishing boat. Finally, we drove to her home on the Vermillion River and shot in her backyard until my memory card was full and the sun had all but escaped behind the rooftops.

 Yesterday, on Tuesday, I began to edit Katherine's photos and the shoot of Jimmy and Hailey. I also called Alexa and Mason for a shoot this Sunday afternoon and began researching for the proper wardrobe, lighting, and locations. I think I may play a little more with black and white, but we'll see!

Week Two - Summary

This week has been so busy! On top of editing and delivering two shoots for clients, I've been ill all week :[.

So far, this week has been about planning. Normally, with photoshoots, I do research and create collections, first of ideas, and then colors, poses, people, and from there, I rehearse how I want a shoot to go. In this case, making a short film, I found that there are very different steps involved. First, i chose a subject. As my first moving picture, I wanted to explore the dynamic between two people through movement. I asked Jimmy and Hailey, who possess the skills and chemistry I needed for the short film, and who I've had the pleasure to shoot with several times before.

Next, I decided on a song entitled "Her" by a young artist in Australia and I emailed him asking for permission to use his music. He agreed, and I proceeded to choose a location, a field out in rural Southern Louisiana. Next, I decided on wardrobe. My initial thought was that I wanted the film to be in black and white, so i had both of them bring dark clothing, to create the greatest contrast.

I first wanted to shoot on Friday but,  unsure of the lighting conditions I wanted for the film, and because I had never made a film before, I wanted to do a test shoot. 

Hailey and Jimmy walked out into the pastures of our farm with me late in the afternoon and we shot for a little over an hour. I took mental notes of what each could do and what they could do together and we set a date for the actual shoot, Monday.  From editing the film, I learned what I wanted to ask for next time, and what things I wanted to add in during the actual shoot. The following film is the test shoot for "Her."

Go Your Own Way