Prior to my photoshoot I wanted to have at least a brief idea of the feature article I would be writing so that I could take pictures that align easily with the storyline.

So I made a google docs by jotting down a few concepts I had in mind for the article. 

[Google docs with the concept ideas.]

This brain dump helped me get a better handle of the outcome I wanted to get out of the photoshoot which is to recreate parts of the book and thereby create a fandom for the book locally.   

Reference photographs are essential pieces of information which ultimately helps artists fill the gaps in their production process or even get some inspirations. It is also a very efficient way of getting the models to understand what is expected of them.

I decided to compile a few reference pictures taken from Pinterest for the same reasons as above. As I was trying to create a specific scene from the book I needed my models in a particular pose and spot relevant to the story line. 

Elain: As this character was more soft-spoken and was into gardening. I wanted her shots to involve flowers and to be taken outdoors in the garden. 

Nesta: As this character is Lady Death I wanted her poses to be more confident and bold. I was particular about the character not smiling for the camera to bring out her stoic personality.

Feyre: As this character is the High Lady of the Night Court, her poses were elegant yet showed that she was very much powerful. 

Cassian: Being the commander of the Night Court, with a playful personality I wanted his poses to capture both parts of his character. Hence I chose a few low angle shots to establish the character’s dominance and the poses to be less stiff so as to convey his easy going personality. 

Female group: These poses were specifically chosen for the three sisters, so as to show their contrasting personalities despite being related. I also wanted to establish their relationship with each other through these poses: that although there is tension between them, they’re still there for each other. 

Male female duo: Each of these poses were chosen specifically for each character to show their relationship with the male character: friends, sibling-like or mates. 

I chose 4 poses per model and then 4 poses for group and duo pictures so as to manage the limited time we had effectively. However as it all came down to how comfortable models were with each of the poses I did not finalise anything yet. However this compilation helped me get a visual grasp on how the final output of the shoot would look like and if it would go with the recreation I was aiming for.

As I had no idea what editorial photography looks like I decided to do an analysis of the outputs from an editorial photoshoot. For my analysis I chose the Vogue editorial “In Nature” by Stella Asia Consonni for CONAI. 

The following photographs are the end result of Italian Photographer and Creative Director Stella Asia Consonni’s interpretation of Caterina Zhou’s collection ‘One more Life’.

[Editorial Photos from PhotoVogue by Stella Asia Consonni.]

The main purpose of editorial photographs is to tell a story, and here I would say that Consonni has done it successfully. 

Analysis:

Her shots poetically highlight Zhou’s environmentally friendly, upcycled fashion line, by dedicating each of models’ costumes to packaging materials such as steel, aluminium, paper and cardboard, wood, plastic and glass. She has used the natural environment as her shooting location, thereby creating powerful meanings through the shots. The mix of aerial shots, wide shots and high angle shots makes the story conveyed a lot more compelling. Her photographs invite the audience to reflect on their responsibility towards the health of the planet and encourage them to play an active role in bringing about positive changes. 

Learning outcome:

Through this analysis I was able to understand how powerful messages can be conveyed through photographs if adequate attention is paid to all the important elements such as the frame compositions, location and even the costume and makeup. This was very helpful for me to create my own concept for the shoot and had me focusing a lot on the mise-en-scene elements.

When scheduling the mock shoot and main shoot it was of utmost importance that I have the best weather conditions to do any of my outdoor photographs. I also wanted to do it over the weekends as it was easier for the cast and crew who were all school students and their working parents. Having checked the availability of the cast and crew, I went through the weather forecast and decided to have the mock shoot on the 19th of February and the main shoot on the 25th of February. Colombo was having light rains these months, and these were the best options we could find. 

[Weather forecast for the 19th Feb]

[Weather forecast for the 25th Feb]

Prior to the shoot I made a price list that I derived after discussing with all the artists and sales people. This price list helped me finalise which of the artists would be helping me out and from whom I would be purchasing any props or equipment needed. 

[Price List I made on Google Sheets.]

Followed by the price list I made a budget with all the expenses I would incur for the main shoot and mock shoot. This helped me cut down any unnecessary requirements (i.e. contact lenses) and make the shoot cost-effective as much as possible.

[Budget I made on Google Sheets.]