IOW 400.1 Editorial Design |
Narrative & Curatorial Photography
Brief
This project explores photography as a story telling medium. A greyscale photographic narrative, should be curated, in the form of a panoramic layout that highlights one or more visual qualities (shape, texture, pattern, colour, tonal value). The aim is to keep the sequence's narrative abstract rather than literal, and it should be immediately visible and understood as a visual sequence. The sequence should include 3 documentary images and 2 fashion images.
Deliverables
01. 5 x images presented on a single image canvas (height of 250mm)
- 3 greyscale documentary photographs
- 2 greyscale fashion photographs
Design Strategy
The visual approach for this project was inspired by the repetition of shape and pattern. Starting off with the documentary shots, I noticed the repetition of groups of shapes - a row of cows, a row of bibs, a bunch of lemons. This became the inspiration for the fashion images, focusing on shape, how it could be replicated and seen in groups, as well as how it could connect with the 3 photographs already part of the collection. I experimented with creating repetitive shadows, by holding up different materials, and how the shapes could interact with the subject. I purposely dressed the subject in a similar shaped pattern shirt and used props that would reflect the subject's expression. Overall, the visual style aimed to hide unexpected moments or surprises for the viewer, that are revealed as one looks closer at the images. Please see final layout at the end of this page for an in depth explanation of each image.
Process
Moodboard
Inspired by shape, how it interacts with other photographs and catching unlikely moments of weirdness. All inspiration images were found on Pinterest.
Experimenting
Experimenting with layouts and narrative, combining photos of inspiration and playing around with principles and themes. Last layout was the most successful. All inspiration images were found on Pinterest.
Documentary photography
Experimenting with documentary photography, pairing my own images with fashion images of inspiration. I decided that shape and repetition were the principles I was going to explore further as I took more photos.
First round of documentary photos, I decided to explore more.
Second round of documentary photos.
Fashion photography
Experimenting with patterns, shadows, subjects, props and backgrounds.
Layouts
Various layouts were explored and the selection of images was narrowed down.
Reshooting & Experimenting with colour
The cow sweater vest needed to be reshot without the background of the cows, for narrative purposes. I explored colour, but overall I decided that the narrative was stronger in greyscale.
Final layout
Final layout 250mm x 900mm
Images 1-3
Images 4-5
A closer look
With each photo, the closer you look, the more strange they seem and hidden moments are revealed.
Image 1 shows a row of cows as the focal point, however with a closer look, the viewer can find a dassie hiding in the bottom left corner.
Image 2 shows a bunch of lemons and a seemingly random sign. Looking a little closer, one sees the circle of the car wheel in the sign and the repetition of the shape of the lemon.
Image 3 shows the subject turned to the side and a fish reflecting his action, just as the shadows reflect the patterns of his shirt. This image paired well with the on going theme of groups of repeated shapes. The shape of the shadows were very similar to the shape of the bibs (image 4) and the lemons (image 2) and tied these 3 photos together easily.
Image 4, at first glance looks like a repetition of those shadows from image 3, and seems abstract. A closer look reveals a row of bibs and a sneaky leg stepping into frame.
Image 5 shows the subject caught mid wardrobe change, looking closer, the image of a cow is seen and completes the connection through all 5 images. Taking inspiration from the cows (image 1), I wanted to take a more literal approach to the theme of repetition. This time a cow sweater vest was chosen for the subject to wear, to specifically repeat the image of a cow and lead the viewer back to image 1. The background was chosen to include another form of repetition, as seen in the plants and fence.
If you got this far, thank you ! :)
