My Cover Photoshoot

I asked permission to hold my photoshoot at my friend Alex's house, for various reasons including he owned guitars, amps and other musical props, his house is mostly painted white or neutral covers (which I thought would make good backdrops to cut out of) and a lot of natural light comes in through the windows and because of the lightly coloured rooms it just has good lighting.

I decided with my other friend Rachael, who is in my media class, that we should have a joint photoshoot for our original photography as it would be more efficient. It saved time, as it needed to be done on a specific weekend in order to reach the deadline and it allowed us to use the same models. We spent a lesson setting a schedule for our photoshoot, as there were some problems. Because we were making completely different styles of music magazines, there were some hair and make-up issues, which would have been sorted out easily had we not been on a time limit because our models Jemma, Fuchsia and Alex had prior commitments (driving lesson, interview, work). We eventually came up with an effective schedule, divided up into separate shoots for each artist and gave them an estimated time. I then divided my shoots into cover, contents and DPS, so I could write about them separately here on my blog. We also listed things we needed our models to bring, and things we needed ourselves to make sure we were mostly prepared for the day, but not overly detailed as we still wanted some spontaneity.

My cover photoshoot was just of one artist, Pink, as I wanted to keep it conventional with one image covering the whole cover. For her costume/outfit I didn't choose a glamorous simplistic one which would have been obviously more grown-up, but I feel that what I did pick was true to the artist's actual style and very modern. I also think it would attract more peoples attention by being a bit more out-there and it has more "cool" connotations as it may evoke associating thoughts from my audience of gigs or festivals, which I think may be useful if I trying to portray non-cheesy, but not too serious pop - a problem that possibly would of occured with something too glamorous and not similar to my audience's personal style. The specifics of my outfit are;

• Patent red heels - which do provide a juxtaposition of that classy style through the connotation of this pretty common arbitrary sign


• Simplistic black leggings - a big trend and something I consider to represent confidence to wear them by themselves which may also be thought by some of my audience


• A grey leopard print belt - to make the whole look more drawn together


• A white abstract design t-shirt - the simplistic edge of just the white t-shirt combined with a more intriguing design which I actually don't understand and have no opinion on, so fascinates me further

I kept jewellery to a bare minimum, as often those on real covers don't wear much as I think they need to draw attention to themselves and who they are rather by being swamped in jewellery and intricate clothing.

I took a few photos of the different stances I'd planned and I've picked the best ones here;

• Plain medium close up - The very simplistic pose, we even chose to have a basic black vest to get that full sense of simplicity, but I just don't think it's interesting enough for that cover placement, although a suitable emergency back-up.



• An innocent medium close up - I requested my model to still look into the camera, but I still don't think this has the desired effect, but seems very prim and proper, not exactly the vibe I want to give out on my cover.


• Close up smile - My suspicions about the smiling were right, it just doesn't work. I feel it looks less professional, and although it encourages relation and a connection between reader and star, it loses all sense of celebrity and looks far too casual.



• Sitting on floor - I do think this is a good photo, and is an effective stance as I described, but maybe isn't suitable for the cover because of it's causal vibe, but is definitely something I'd think about in my DPS. Maybe it's the fact she isn't sitting on anything, after all she is a celebrity, not a tramp.

• Sitting on an amp - I really think this would be an effective image as it just seems to have that conventional look. Because of the size of the amp, this is different to how I planned, but this way it means the logo is clearly on show. Thinking of my cover, I could have flipped it to make it fit, but then all the writing on the image would be backwards. I may just have to rearrange which I will look into. I think the amp is a good signifier with many meanings, and provides a bold musical/celebrity element, especially with it's metallicness. It also acts a visual metaphor, like a musical throne, which I think would subtly enforce that coverline idea of them having authority and power. Yet the pose is still fairly laidback and spontaneous which helps it come together well.

• Standing on an amp - Although I still like this, the photography went a bit wrong. I couldn't get far enough back in the room and by this time on the photoshoot, it was quite a rush before my model had to leave, so I decided to make do with the "shower shot". It's likely that I won't use this although I like meanings and connotations it has, but I prefer the sitting one at the minute.
  

I'm definitely swayed towards the sitting amp photo, as not only is it the most intriguing and interesting idea, I think it's also my best shot, like it's a sign telling me to use it. I will go ahead using this and will hopefully be successful, but at least I know I have the rest of this range as safer back-ups.