Live set from The Mercury Exhibition.

Lighting was poor hence why most of them are in black and white. But i do like these images. Put into my blog because not all photographers photograph one specific thing. As well as learning to photograph people I am also continuing in learning with taking live music photographs. Slimane did this also by not only photographing for fashion but either live or backstage gigs such as Pete Doherty, Artic Monkeys and Amy Winehouse.

http://www.hedislimane.com/rockdiary/

Rachel Hodgson

Kit Ellery

Bridget Meyne

Danni Baxter

All edited photos from my shoot. I think this shoot went very well but I did struggle a lot on what compositions would work. I have to learn to keep an open mind on poses and how to create them in different ways. I think because I had a time limit and a lot of people to photograph.

If you don't have either a specific image you want or the variety of images you are looking for it will be harder to get the final photo you will be completely satisfied with. However, saying that, having experienced people who are not camera shy and quite confident in themselves to pose also helps a lot more. Kit and Danni for example were excellent models, and working with them I could tell they were at ease with the camera. Rachel and Bridget were more wooden - still good photos come out from them but they were not as comfortable I would say.

The equipment I used in this shoot was a Canon 1000D with a 18 - 55mm lens.
Two flash heads and a soft light.

Research into Hedi Slimane and some of his work. These are from his Fashion Diary - http://www.hedislimane.com/fashiondiary/

I found it very hard to come across the type of portraiture photographers I wanted, a lot of them are plain and quite naive (looking through some flickr profiles) but saying that a lot of them were really inspiring. I  can't remember how I came across Slimane's work but as soon as I saw the hundreds of photos on his website/ blog I was astounded by it. By looking at his work, his technique and the way he composes his brilliant photos made me want to mimic his work.

By researching more of his work I was captivated by the way he composes his models. All these compositions are all very different from each other and so is the lighting. I really admire the way he has used the lighting to create unique atmospheres on all of these photo shoots.

What I also liked about his work is the fact they are all black and white - it gives such a greater impact than if it was in colour as the tones are such a contrast with each other.