Potential Female Artist Images for my Contents Page

Since the unanimous decision had been made between me and my college lecturer regarding the main cover and therefore feature image of who my artist was going to be (i.e my male model), I still had to undergo the process of finding a suitable photograph of another individual I captured during my studio shoots to use as the centre photo of the entire page. I knew instantly that I would be displaying Kate, who posed as my female model, due to the high quality images that were obtained and how she posed very confidently for the frame giving the underlying impression to the audience she has nothing to fear and is perfectly comfortable with what she has been instructed to do. There was two costume changes during her shoot, so I decided it would be necessary to search through them all and indicate the most effectively portrayed, relating to her posture, eye line and visual expressions. Below are three photos from each set that I perceived to be of the highest standard along with my opinions illustrating their strengths/weaknesses and finally my informed decision over whether I was to use it or not. The final choice can be found at the bottom of this post as to which was selected for the final outcome.

Above is one of the images I obtained during my first shoot with the model Kate, in this particular set she was dressed in a hippie styled vintage clothing consisting of a multicoloured array present on her t-shirt. I was persuaded to attire her in this fashion sense as she has a very alternative scene look about her, her messy hair and dark eye makeup is typically seen on many females who engage with the genre of music I am specifically targeting, so I felt a grungy, hippie themed set of photos would be most appropriate in this sense. A major concern that was already developing was due to how heightened the colour palette is on this shirt in particular, it doesn't conform very efficiently with the scheme I have designed for my product (which consist mostly of blues, reds, black and white) so what is witnessed here is a formal stark contrast between the two categories of shades on display. I am not prepared for the colours to clash in this way and although I felt dressing her like this was appropriate at the time, I am now revolting against that decision I previously made. After seeking my lecturer for advice she to was very sceptical about using images of Kate dressed in this way as she agreed it would most likely pan out that the colours on the contents page layout and the photograph would not convey the same message (i.e that all the conventions inside relay effectively with one another), furthermore this would leave all the editorial standards looking firmly out of place with one another, something the audience would find easy to decipher. Ultimately this could lead them to be deterred from buying my magazine if they could argue that the elements fought for dominance as this would be visually difficult to engage with, not only due to them appearing out of context together but too many colourful/vibrant conventions would leave so many points of interest to look at that the reader wouldn't have the understanding of what is the centre piece for the contents. To further discredit me from using this specific image, I feel the model is not connecting with the audience, her face is turned away and she is looking off screen at another entity, this means she is not attempting to create a relationship with them as she lacks in eye contact with the camera

Although the model has crafted her posture and facial expression extremely elegantly and friendly towards the audience, indicating she is attempting to strike an imaginary bond between them,  this certain image has been taken from the set featuring the multi coloured top which would not convey well with the neutral 'Q' themed colour palette I am replicating on my own contents page. For that matter, this photograph will not be considered for the final production.

I am slightly devastated due to the fact this is the image I wanted to incorporate onto my contents page as the main centre attraction of the spread, her expression is ideal under the consideration she emits a very complex, mysterious aura, her gaze is so transfixing that I can't pull away from it and I find my own line of focus directed immeditelly to this females face. She grasps anyones immediate attention in the vicinity and after asking my fellow peers over this opinion, they to agreed they found it difficult to defer their gaze somewhere else as they were so immersed in her appealing features. The major fall back to this was what I had detailed previously about her bright choice of costume that unfortunately did not efficiently communicate with the colour scheme I had in place. Despite this negative, I hoped to bypass it and I quried my lecturer over how she perceived this particular phoot. Whilst she commented specifically on the models expression, she instantly told me it could not be used because of the shirt and that for my product to appear more professional I would have to browse through the remainder of the photographs I had on offer to find a suitable replacement. I was disappointed about not using it, however I can see my lecturers view point, I would rather all my magazine conventions co-operated consistently with one another then oppose, so against my wishes I decided not to use the shot of my female model.

For the second shoot a costume change was necessary to provide me with a variety of different images to choose from, this will allow me to argue that I attempted a multitude of uniquely composed shots and would prevent my photos from becoming mediocre or boring to the target audience and the examiner. As I had worked through a number of shot types present in magazines, this was my favourite mid shot out of all of the ones I captured. In these sets of photographs, the model is dressed in a much darker, more neutral attire to the previous, this conforms to my colour scheme of the magazine more efficiently as brighter shades (such as the ones seen on the multi-coloured t-shirt) fought hugely with the plain but simple black,red and white I had opted to incorporate. The clothing seen on the model this time are more appropriate as they suit the requirements for the palette present on the layout, so there was no detectable issues of non conformity. her posture is fairly relaxed here and she seems confident of her presence in front of the camera. The vacant expression is nice as it connotates well with the mysterious personas of most alternative rock music artists (the likes of Lana Del Rey for one) and her face appears flawless so no major alterations would need to be made to the hue/saturation. However despite all these strengths, a obvious weakness remains in that she is staring off screen again which is becoming a problem as the personal relationship cannot be developed between the audience and artist which is a huge selling concept I highlighted in my rationale.

This image was selected out of the vast numbers I had taken due to the models very blank expression, to me as an audience member this connoatates signals of mysteriousness and security, I am intrigued to know more about her as she doesn't reveal much in her presence or her emotions which fascinates me about her personality. This can be a good marketing strategy attracting the readers focus in this specific way, as humans we are fascinated about enigma and concepts we don't fully understand, so the notion this female doesn't give much away about herself is enough to draw us all in about her history. Yet with all these positive areas in mind I do not think this is the appropriate image for my contents page, due to a slight error and that revolves around how she is looking away from the lens and to an object at the back of the studio. This was my fault as this is what I instructed her to do, if she had been facing the camera full on then potentially i would have used this photo for the main image on the document, however I feel I will have to remove it from my possibilities list for the sole reason that she is not directed to immerse herself in the audiences visual perspective, the lack of eye contact present here prevents that connection being formed and understandably this can make the artist more daunting and less hospitable to what could be previously imagined.

Out of the three photographs I selected from the grungy dark colour set of my female model, this was arguably my favourite of the trio. The expression that has been captured is striking - she is staring directly into the lens of the camera, in this effect you can imagine her mentally connecting with my target audience as her eye contact is level with their own as the read the product, essentially an emotional relationship is established as it can be perceived she is trying to make friends with them, which can make the overall look of the publication more inviitng. Despite this, hypothetically what I am most intrigued by is the vacant, yet confident expression on her face. To me this indicates she is sassy, confident and full of vigour, this conforms perfectly to the emotions I hoped to recreate as mentioned in my proposal document, as this indicates to the reader the artist is passionate about their line of work, that they are strong about what they produce and won't back down upon anyones judegement. This kind of extrovertness I would hope may inspire my audience, allowing them to believe their own dreams may come true one day as long as the fight for them. Lastly the lighting on this certain shot is quite dark and melodramatic, which contrasts nicely with the darkened clothing she is dressed in. With these thoughts in mind and compared to all of the other images I have studied, this will be the one I will use as the centre photograph for my contents page.