Volunteers

I printed some posters off the computer and stuck them around college to advertise for people with tattoos to contact me and arrange a time to do a little photoshoot.
I would put up a white sheet as a background and simply ask the model to stand in front of it, then I would place them into a position in which you could clearly see the tattoos.
I had a few replies from them; Simon a tutor at college, Greg a student on my course and a lady called Vicky, with whom I tried to get in contact with but I have heard nothing since.

The shots came out quite well and I'm glad that i advertised for volunteers, as I wouldn't have a good range of images like i do now.

Photoshoot

Just taken some photos of Simon a tutor at college and Greg a student on the second year of my course.
I have received a bio from Simon, to help as a background to accompany his images, as this will allow the audience to see the tattoos as part of his culture.

The shoot went really well. I set up a white sheet as a background for the guys to stand against. This way it will enhance the tattoos and their lines to allow them to really stand out.
It also looks professional, rather than an action shot and no focus.

At the tattoo convention, I wont have a white backdrop to photograph against but hopefully if I focus the model and the tattoos, the background will add to the cultural effect.

Documentaries

I found this video on youtube and it really helped me see what kind of angles I could capture when I take my photographs.

I have already taken some shots of people i know as development to see which poses work.

I also looked through my book "1000 Tattoos" a Taschen publication.

It features old school tattoos and photographs of people tattooing as well as photos taken afterwards.

There are many various ones such as people sat on chairs and putting their arms over the back of the chair to show their sleeves,

and also frontal photographs to show off chest pieces.

Tattoo Freeze Convention 2010

I have emailed the PR representative for Tattoo Freeze Tattoo Convention in 2010 in which I plan to attend and photograph people for my series of photographs.
The lady in charge has emailed me back and has allowed me to receive a press pass which allows me photograph there for the day.

This enables me to photograph like a professional commissioned photographer at the event without asking for permission of the clients, as they are aware that photographers will be at the event.

I'm really excited for this opportunity to be handed to me, as it is one step closer to building up my portfolio of work experience and as I am going out of my way to travel to this event, it is a highlight that will stand out on my CV.

Influences for my proposal

I was really influenced by Craig Burton and Lani Lee, as well as Christopher Nolan's Batman movies.

http://www.craigburtonphotography.com/
http://www.lanileephotography.com/

Christopher Nolan Interview On Dark Knight:

I looked at Christopher Nolan's work after watching the Dark Knight and relating the colour use and darkness to old school flash tattoos.





Craig Burton
His work really inspires me as his work and career is exactly how I want my career to turn out.
He has become one of the most well-known photographers around the metal and hardcore music scene in London. His main area of work is based around the music scene, but he also works a lot in the tattoo and fashion industries, shooting for every major tattoo publication and several fashion magazines.
He also specialises in portraits, which I'm very interested in myself.
He really creates an edgy, rough, almost un-kept scene in some of his photos which I prefer as a style of photographing, because I don't like things to become too neat and posed.

I've found it difficult to connect the music, tattoo, fashion and photography scene as I am very interested in all of those media fields: being in a band, going to gigs. Photographing events like that is what I'm passionate about.




Lani Lee
Her work is very fresh, brash and clean cut. I can use this to relate to my portrait work I may produce while at the convention or in my own time, using lighting as a main feature to allow the tattoos to stand out against the bright white background, then edit it in grayscale.

I prefer photographing in grayscale as I feel it's more raw and less personal, as colour animates a scene, and can take away any emotion. Grayscale gives the photograph a clean palette and opinion for you to form your own ideas upon.

Proposal Presentations

I proposed my presentation today and I thought it went quite well. I was quite confident I felt as I presented my presentation, as I'm not that shy when it comes to presenting something that I am passionate about.

I faltered at times as I was ad-libbing my script, because if i wrote it out I felt that it would be too scripted, and not show my own feeling when the images came up onto the screen. However, this made me forget some pieces of information, so I should have written down some points to remind me of key parts I was going to show and talk about.

In a way, I couldn't express my point enough, as each image related back to the point, and I'd end up going in circles in my presentation.

There were some technical difficulties such as Youtube not loading my link quickly, so I couldnt show the topic that I was prepared to show in regards to arguing that skin is meant for tattooing: from "Argumental" on Dave –


from 5:25 minutes onwards.

I also forgot to mention the laws on photographing people at a social event as I am hoping to photograph at Tattoo Freeze Tattoo Convention in Telford next January. I have also e-mailed the PR sector of the event to question whether I need a pass to photograph at the event.

I could have broadened my talk, developing my ideas further for the shots I would like to take and also my inspirations and the social aspect around tattoos.



Libby's Presentation.
I thought Libby's presentation was really well thought out as she knew what angles she would take the shots from and she thought about current cultural traditions that we seem to have abandoned.
It's also a very current event with the 'Torchlight Weekend' as her main focus.
She will photograph the event to show us what it's like and what we're missing out on if we're not able to attend such events.

Tattoo Convention

I have just booked my ticket to allow me to go to the tattoo convention Tattoo Freeze in Telford in January.
Here I will be able to photograph many different artists and their styles and develop a broad range of photographs from the event.
At the events I will see many different people from different backgrounds and lifestyles, enabling me to collect lots of varied information and diversity.

Its a really good event for me to go to to create my project and develop it further with my own photographs before the event.

I will gain lots of experience just from being at the event.