Bullying

Friday 8th February 2013

Plans for the shoot...

For today's shoot I am going to be looking at the issue of bulling.  IK am planning to do my model up in makeup to make them look beaten up and have facial injuries, and then tape over their mouth using duct tape or a similar tape.  I am doing this as bullying something that is not spoken about and people often keep quite about it.  I ma also planning on just using one flash so to create lots of shadow on my subjects face during the shoot.

What I hope to achieve...

I am hoping to achieve a series of shots that really being out hurt emotions.  With half of my models face covered, I really want the emotion to be able to be brought out in the eyes.  With me focusing on shots from the shoulders up I really want there to be lots of eye contact and connection with the camera.   I think this will help me to get across the point and the issue that I am trying to highlight.

What I actually achieved...

I was happy with the result of today's shoot.  In some parts I improvised and worked with my model to get a different feel with some of the photos and look at the issue of bulling from a different angle.  Here are some of my favourite photographs from the shoot...

I really like this photo for the emotion that my model is bringing across - he literally looks like he has just been beaten up and has now given up.  I also love the positioning of the subject and I think the background colour I used (brown) worked really well with the shoot.

This was one of the shots where I took a different angel with the issue of bullying.  This one is saying "I've had enough of this" and therefore the subject is seen pulling off the tape of his face in a rebel against being quite about the issue.  I love how the lighting in falling on the features of the model and how this is really accentuating the emotion in his face.

The close of shot of the eyes was taken so to see the hurt that bullying comes along with.  I used the burn tool on Photoshop slightly on this photo to enhance the bruised eye.  I like how the eyes are really connecting with the camera and therefore the person looking at the photo can really connect with the subject.

Finally, I have this photo.  This photo really focuses on the subject and capturing their ordeal with the issue.  I like the expression, and the way his eyes are connecting with the camera, again.  I love the positioning and the way everything in the shoot is really sterile and this allows total focus on the face of my model.  I de-saturated this photo and added some effects the eyes to enhance them and too add to the beaten up effect.

What I am going to do next...

From today's shoot I have realised I really want to be able to connect with the people I work with and really get raw emotion in the photos I take.  I also really like the use of only one flash as I think this has given a nice shadowed effect that has added to my work.  I would like to use this in future shoots.  I think while looking at bullying there are many other ways I could photograph this and get across my point and that is something I will look at exploring over the next few weeks.

Thank you so much to my amazing model, Paul! xxx