Magritte inspired images

During my photography exam I created Magritte inspired images to link to the idea of social media being a way of forming a mask. This photos were edited on Photoshop and were photos on Facebook friends profile picture and their twitter information box that pop up when you look at their profiles.

The building up of make up

In these series of photos I am showing the gradual build up of make up on my models face around the eyes, these photos were used as an experiment with light and how little I need edit certain photos to give a desired effect.

Ophelia Inspired Photo shoot

These series of images were inspired by the iconic painting by Sir John Everett Millais 1851 called Ophelia. The painting itself is depicts a famous scene from Shakespeare's play Hamlet when Ophelia is singing to herself before she drowns herself.

I love this painting as it shows beauty in such a morbid situation which could have been approached in such a different and more melancholic light. My images I hope capture the same ideas and effect. I took these images with a modern angle to show the aesthetic images of the 19th century can resinate to now.

Another written piece!

this is my other piece of journalism like writing I created for my English Language coursework, this article is fully fictional but is an attempt to show my skills in writing.

Meet the hipsters

Deep in the hustle and bustle of college life there is a group of teenagers who are not the conventional, not one of the typical cookie cutter social groups you see in the playground and don’t fit in with the “mainstream”. They are the “Hipsters”- they live to be different; they strive to stay away from popular culture and if anything is retro, weird or kitsch they are all over it. I got the opportunity to meet three members of this group and asked them about their school life, social life and all the nitty gritty things we may not know about these teens.

I head into the college building and go to the main office to ask where I can find the people I am interviewing, the woman at the desk tells me to head up into the Art department to find Annabella Lee, Scarlett Walters and Toby Wilde; she tells me they all do art and photography, possibly English too- but the main place to look is Art. I head towards the north of the campus and along the way I see the numerous different students who attend the institute, all the students seem to wear the same body warmer over an “OBEY” t-shirt and wear the same kind of Nike shoes, each teenager has the same kind of song blasting out of the headphones; a droning bass beat with a rapper who thinks he is “all that” just because he has a car and a “bitch” in it. I walk nervously past the canteen where they all lounge like lizards and head up the stairs.

When I enter the building next door the creative part of the school and head in to the first Art room I see, I notice three students who look very different to the rest I have seen. They all have a unique look to them and scream out wanting to not be normal. I go over to them and ask them if they “Are you the people I`m looking for?!” Scarlett smiles and says yes, so I sit down next to them.

 Scarlett talks to me first about how she feels at college; “Its average, I know I need to stay here to get my qualifications. I want to go to a university and study Art and Design. I would love to become an illustrator for book covers and children’s books”.

I ask the other two what their ambitions are, Annabella tells me she wants to work overseas and start out as a charity worker; “I`ve had a passion to help in certain areas such as South America, I know there are opportunities to join projects. Once I’m there I want to travel and help with other causes in this region; my family all do charity work and they speak of how rewarding it is.”

Toby looks uncertain: “I`m a bit all over the place at the moment, one minute I`m thinking writer or journalist, the next a teacher or tutoring. I even think I might join movements for things I feel are unjust and I`m against. I am very unsure but whatever happens I will make sure I enjoy it.”

 The bell rings for second period and, we go down into the common room and order coffee from the Costa; they all choose amazing combinations that contrasts to the normal simple tea that I choose. Toby gets an Earl Grey and randomly gets a lemon out of his bag, Scarlett gets a massive hot chocolate with caramel syrup, cream and marshmallows and finally Annabella gets a skinny latte with hazelnut syrup. We all sit on a wall just outside the college and admire the autumn leaves.

Scarlett begins to speak of what things she is into`, “I love going to galleries they give me a lot of my inspiration for my work, I love looking at the Pre Raphaelite movement as most of the women looked ethereal, out of this world and are so different to the modern concept of what beauty is... it makes me feel I am from the wrong time, like I was meant to be born and living in any other time apart from now...”

Annabella takes a less philosophical look on things and speaks of her friendship group, “ We all hang out of school and actually take an interest in each other’s lives and what we are in to, which is brilliant. I know some people don’t give a monkey what their friends do out of school or when they`re not at parties. If one of us feels down or is going through a hard time, we love and care for the person and don’t leave them feeling lonely.” Toby smiles from experience, “Everyone is great towards each other, I felt like complete shit at the beginning of this year, I knew no one and I had come from a broken household where there was a lot of issues. I met Annabella and she changed my life! I love her so much and she is the greatest girl friend and best friend I could ever hope for!”

They smile at each other which gives me and anyone around a warm feeling; Scarlett smiles too and looks at her watch, “Crap! Time for form!”

I say good bye to them as Annabella and Toby take each other’s hands and Scarlett begins to hurry them towards their form room, which is the English department, they smile at me and tell me if they ever want to chat again just contact them.

Though Hipsters are stereotyped as being arrogant and trying too hard to be different, these do not seem typical. Maybe preconceptions are for fools. They choose to be different out of pure love of the unusual and not wanting go down the old beaten path of mediocre. Though I may have met the better side of the allusive Hipsters, I am glad I got to spend my morning with these three; I have met a couple who are so happy they have met each other and a best friend who is pleased for them. When I hear of a new fad or movement I will try and be more thoughtful and give these people a chance, because you never know- you may have found your perfect people...

Written Piece/ Opinion Journalism

This is a piece of opinion journalism I created for English Language coursework, which was written in the style of writer Caitlin Moran- it got me a respectable A which I hope will shine through...

The impending sense of doom for Western women’s confidence

“We really don’t need the pressure of fast metabolism models and weight loss groups making us feel more uncertain, more unattractive and more unhappy than we already do.”

Every woman in the western hemisphere knows this feeling. It’s the feeling of contempt when you have to find the LBD (“Little Black Dress” if you don’t know the 411). It’s the sickening feeling at the pit of your stomach when you know you have to buy a new pair of jeans for the winter. It`s the spine chilling sensation you get when you have to find a new blouse for work...

We know that these things are not the end of the world but every woman will agree with me that unless you are a size 6, Skinny Minnie with an inexhaustible amount of money there is always going to be an issue. When milling around shops such as Topshop and River Island, there is an automatic feeling of snobbery from the fellow shoppers around you; you can hear them thinking to themselves “What is that `12` doing in here? Surely she should be in somewhere like Dorothy Perkins or another slightly less stylish shop than this one?”

I do realise that there will be people who are like that, heck! Most people have their bitchy moments but this feeling I get from the shops themselves is not right. It seems unless you fit in the shops main “quota” which is size 8-16 you are in the club, but if you are larger than that then you are not worth most of the shops on your high streets time... This is just wrong, considering the average size of a female in the UK is around size 16, but slowly going up to an 18; which means most of us are just squeezing into our “jeggings” and “skinnies” for dear life. We want the right to feel beautiful in our clothes; not mere mortals who are being just let into the kingdom of high street cool by being slightly under average and are the only ones worthy of this due to it.

Being a size 12, this is about normal for my age. I am slightly rounded but not enough to be seen as “unfit for” the likes of New Look and H&M. This is great and all but what about the bigger picture?  What about when we look at the media around us and see size 4 (Or the American Size Zero) models prancing about on the catwalk making us, the “average Josie”, feel inadequate compared to her perfect frame and sought over looks? Are we meant to say “Yeah, I see what Vogue means? I need to see my collar bone protruding out in a worrying manner to feel like I am socially accepted by the superficial people around me”. No, we shouldn’t, we should feel like we are god damn amazing in our bodies... But sadly the blinkers on what is beautiful and healthy do not fall on our side of the court.

Fifty years ago the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Bridgette Bardot and Ursula Andress were ruling the screen and all of them averaging at around a size 14. Where is the origin of why modern culture has become so fixated on an ideal that we cannot reach, and that only the elite can obtain? I guess this is the way the “beautiful people” are decided…

Though what is the point in plastering this ideal when it’s having such a negative impact on women in the Western world? It`s because money talks. Huge industries such as Slimming World and Weight Watchers love taking reverence in women’s insecurities by making them think their bodies need to be more “lean” (like a piece of chicken) to feel like they can present themselves to the world with pride. Why? This fad ridicules us as women, why don’t men need to lose 10 pounds to feel like a “new person”? I know that there needs to be a line drawn in concerns over our health and that`s what they should be for! Not your size 14 thinking she needs to get down to an 8 to look amazing... she looks amazing as she is! Also why do these groups only advertise to women?  Aren’t men just as prone to packing on the pounds after Christmas, if not worse? Why as a whole are men not as encouraged to fit to an ideal? Why don’t they feel as bothered to look like David Beckham as we do to look like Kate Moss? Shouldn’t there be as much pressure put on them to think they should go to the gym religiously? I realise that strain is put on men to be considered an alpha male, but nowhere near much as what is put on woman to feel like is an accepted; not just an ogre living on the verges of being feminine.

On the plus side it`s not all gloom and doom. The likes of Marks and Spencer`s cast women of all different sizes and ages to model their clothing; this gives us hope for maybe more companies to consider using more realistic people to advertise their clothing. Italian Vogue claims to use “plus size” models when it’s apparent the women they are photographing are probably around the size 14 mark... THAT IS NOT PLUS SIZE THAT’S NORMAL!! I hate this need for magazines to feel they are being all gun-hoe and letting the fat girl in by letting in a normal sized female not a stick... It’s going to take time before the media will evolve into something which lets in a variation of models of different sizes, different ethnicities and different ages... There is always a wall, a no for someone out there who doesn’t mesh into what is “perfect”, it needs to be broken down.

This change may not happen straight away, but there is time. Though my generation has been socialised to believe they have to be thin to be beautiful, there is hope- if we don’t have a defeatist attitude about our body image and tell ourselves that we are stunning we can do anything! Say no to Weight Watchers telling you lose a stone, say “f*** you” to the bitches who think you should leave the shop; and most of all don’t be deceived by the media making you believe that size 12 is “plus size”.

You are healthy and perfect however you are!

Hastings

Here are a few photos from my lovely trip to the seaside on Sunday!

I love the mood of Hastings, a few years ago it seemed more bleak, less lively unlike when I went there this weekend. It seems as if the area has had needed update and the benefits are great. The town is more kitch, and have moved into the new era for towns out of the main hodge podge of London or other major cities in the UK and has embraced its roots as a novelty and plays to its strengths.

Masks

Here is some of most recent work I have done which is form photography exam in May this year, this got me a B overall. The concept of these pieces are that we as individuals hide ourselves behind a mask to 'project' an image of being something that is not quite ourselves, or an altered or even better selves.. Even in some cases a most person, example- trolls!