The second year

Cool Hunting
I first started out by choosing a theme in which I chose Hyperrealism outdoors. For this I based my Cool Hunting photography in and around Scarborough seaside resort. I looked into unique patterns, beaches, beach huts, surfboards and textures.
From this I looked into fabrics and textures, a lot had a stripe theme to fit in with the style of the beach. I also added in chiffons, silks and linens as I wanted it to have a classy theme to fit in with my French Connection collection.
The images show photographs i have taken in and around Scarborough.



















Cool hunting stylish people
I then went onto taking photographs of stylish people at festivals and on the beach. I captured the trends that fitted in with Spring/ Summer trends.
I throughly enjoyed this part as it gave me the chance to actualy see what people were wearing, it also showed me what was popular in fashion and bang on trend.
Photographs of stylish people




Designing a spring/ summer collection for French Connection
I then went onto designing my own collection for French Connection, i linked in my research and created a swimwear theme. I used bright and bold colours. For my fabrics i used lycra, i also used a range of printed chiffon's to create layers and textures. This was to look classy aswel as been a practical garment. Two one piece sets were reversable which is great for a new look.
I learnt alot of new illustrator skills from designing my collection, as i have never used this program before i found it a extremerly usful program to make my work look professional. I did not use illustrator for my final line up but i shall keep this in mind for next time.
My final line up


My Trend Book I based my trend book on a 1940's swimwear theme using bright stripes and spots. I also embroidered the book throughout. I included fabrics, colour schemes, siluettes, style and samples.
Pictures of my trend book and other samples of my work











Drawings included in my work


Overall
Starting the second year with the project ‘Cool Hunting’ was extremely inspiring to me looking for new and original places to get inspiration for garment shapes. I chose a seaside theme which inspired me to design a spring/ summer collection for French Connection in which a lot of the garments where based on swimwear.
Designing a trend book from this was one of my most enjoyable aspects of the project and also of the two years throughout Uni. I felt that I could be more creative and add textiles into my book. I enjoy embroidery and printing, as this project was a great change to show my skills.
I felt that I had to add a lot of fabric and colour into the project so therefore added a lot of bright, cute, floral prints into the theme. Also adding into this I added a formal side with pastel shades of chiffon, silk and linen.
I felt pleased with my overall project as I feel that I put quite a lot of work into the final result and presentation.

Photography elective

Getting to know the camera
I felt that having one week to learn how the camera works and how to use all the different scenes and modes was very time consuming.
The first sessions was helpful researching into how photgraphers work. It made me look more into lighting, posture, the angle, and mode. It was great to see how different photgraphers work. Having to do a presentation on this was extremerly useful as i got to see a whole range of new designers from other members in the class.
Getting to know the camera was quite hard at first, as i praticed in the studio more it became easier getting used to all the different settings and scenes.
I focused more on fashion, to do this i got my friend Freiya to model for my in the wood. I wanted the images to look old and vintage, to do this i used quite a dull conception. I also styled Freiya in a vintage way.
By the fire
These images where mainly to capture posture and lighting, by doing so focusing on the pose and fire. I gave Freiya a mini old fashioned radio for a more vintage feel.
I also did i close up shot of her face. I was extremerly pleased with how these images turned out.













Capturing movement
I then went onto capturing the movement, i did this by capturing Freiya on a fast moveing rope swing. I dressed her in a floaty style chiffon dress as this created more movement within the image.













Posture and mood
This scene is similar to 'By the fire' instead i have used different prop's including a vintage breifcase and different ranges of garments. I have focused on the models posture and mood.











Beauty
I focused on close up shots to embrace on the mood and beauty of the model.





Down buy the river
This was one of my favourite shots as i changed the lighting to a dark scene. I wanted to capture the beautiful sunset sky, the model looks more like a siluette on the image as she is not the main focus.








Haunted
I then went onto to capturing scenes in an old building. I have used a garment that i have made in the past. I have also used prop's such as flowers. I have captured movement within the garment.
I have tried to make the images look ghost like and hanunted, i have done this by using a blur mode on the camera.






















Underwater
I have captured scenes underwater to see what the result of the image would look like. I was happy with the images as the reflection off the water gave a different feel towards the image compared to all the others.










Lighting and shadow
Focusing on ways on how i can add in light within an image whilst been a dark background.











Close up's
I took these close up images in the studio using a plain white background. My inspiration for the style was focusing on old glamorous movie starts such as Marilyn Monroe. These are my favorite photgraphs of all of them as i feel they are the strongest image with the best light, colour and posture.
I have added stronger use of colour into them by using photoshop. I have also turned some black and white for a more vintage feel.








Evaluation
My elective was Digital Photography. I have chose to do a selection of vintage based photo shoots based on fashion photography.
To complete this task I asked one of my friends to model for the shoot, which was taken place in a range of places, including: a forest, swimming pool, down by the river, an old building and on the beach.
I felt choosing more than one location would really show what I was trying to achieve within my work, and really get a feel for vintage based photography.
To achieve this I concentrated on light, posture, movement, scene and background. I also wanted to capture the fabric of the garment and features of the close up pictures. To do this I changed the light mode of the camera depending on what shot it was for. For example the range of pictures, which I called ‘Darkness’ where, set on an extremely low light with no flash. I also wanted the pictures to be blurry to get a scary like feeling of the old building. The pictures look great on the camera but have printed out a lot darker than I expected.
My favourite shoot was the close up’s of the models faces, as I feel the medium used works really well to get the feeling of an old movie star shot. My inspiration for this was Marilyn Manrow. I changed the colour to black and white for some of the shots and others I kept on a low light as I wanted the pictures to be quite dull looking. I have added Photoshop to some of the backgrounds and colours of the clothing to brighten the image up, also to show the main features which where the fabric and face, I feel that this gives it a more fashion based photography shot.
The swimming pool shot intrigued me to what the camera can actually achieve as I was expecting the flash to reflect me back into the picture, changing the settings to auto worked extremely well for the reflection of water as it gives a different surface texture to the model and shows off the chiffon fabric really well. I also feel this is quite individual and unique as it is different to a lot of other photographers work I have looked through. I feel it gives a weird sort of mystery feel towards it.
The lighting shot also worked well by adding a lamp under the models chin gives the image a half dark and half light look. I wanted to make the model look worried so therefore have placed worn makeup on her. I have also taken a picture of the model under water in the bath, which I feel is a strong image.
I feel my final images are all the ones printed on A4, which is a range of different fashion based photography, but with keeping within the vintage theme. I have thoroughly enjoyed this elective, as it was something new to me. I will take away the skills I have learnt within the studio and may use this in the future to take pictures of my garments.