Garance Dore.

After browsing through one of my favourite Fashion street photographers, Garance Dore's, online blog, I came across this photograph which she had taken in Italy on Friday. I felt it just works with my whole idea that I'm creating in this project:



Below this photograph Garance has put "Italy in Autumn, is happiness" and goes on to talk about Italy at this time of year but also how the two women in her photograph are her friends and how she gets to have fun with them on her projects.
To me this photograph represents friendship and the happiness it can give people - Garance has managed to caputure the closeness these two women share and this is what I want my photographs to capture; the close bonds that people share.

Heart.

After being inspired by the photographer Matt Stuart's image of a material heart in the middle of a street, I decided to feature some thing similar in my photo shoot, so I made a heart out of an old red jumper that I found:

I wanted the heart to feature in the background of the shoot - behind the models, to add more depth to the shoot and almost make a statement for the photographs of what the pictures are about. The heart also represents the something red in the photo shoot from the brief that the British Heart Foundation set and I feel a red heart is fitting to the theme.

Setting.

After considering the setting for my photo shoot in depth I've decided to have the shoot take place on a park bench; I feel the setting links with my idea better of portraying relationships and people in their natural states within each relationship, and the natural lighting will be easier to work with, rather than having to manipulate it if I had the shoot take place on a sofa. I just feel the setting will look less fake if in a park as the aim of my shoot is for each photograph to be natural.

After arriving home for the weekend yesterday I went out to a local park I had in mind to use for the photo shoot and took pictures. I got to experiment with different settings on my camera, to see how the park bench idea would work and which camera setting looked best:

Landscape setting: Normal / Black and white

Close up setting - Normal / Black and White / Sepia:

Backlight setting - Normal / Soft:

After looking at some of the photographs I've taken and experimented with (some examples are above) I think the 'backlight' setting works best; the pictures are a lot clearer than the other two settings I tried out and the lighting looks the best / would work with the models more so than the others - it just generally looks a lot more effective.

I also am really happy with the setting I've chosen for the photo shoot, if the weather is similar to how it was in these pictures that I took yesterday then the shoot will work really well. The bench with it's surroundings matches the natural look I want to achieve. I feel the photographs will look really effective and I'm feeling inspired / excited for the shoot!!



Imagery.

Some images I've found whilst researching on 'Google' that are inspiring my idea:

Each of the photographs illustrate different relationships people have with each other - the idea I want to achieve in my shoot, whilst all in a similar setting - a park bench which at the minute I'm considering strongly for my shoot. The images are helping me to gain further inspiration for my shoot.

People and Portrait Photography Tips.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-tips/portrait-photography-tips/#page=1 

Here I've found another website with some useful photography tips that I read through.

Websites like this are helpful as they have made me think of parts of the photo shoot that I hadn't really considered before hand, such as anticipating the behaviour of the models I'm using - especially as i want the shots to be as natural as possible, and predicting how the people in the relationships I'm using are going to act to ensure I capture the shot I want.

Matt Stuart.

After researching on Google for photographers who shoot people in a natural state I found a photographer named Matt Stuart. Below is a caption from his website of how he describes himself and his photography style,

"I am not sure which came first, being nosey or an interest in ‘street photography’, but a fascination with people and the way they live their lives is why I enjoy the business so much.
I can’t hide behind lights and technology, I am reliant on a small Leica camera, patience and lots of optimism. But what I get in return is the chance to make an honest picture which people know immediately is a genuine moment and which hopefully burrows deep into their memories."

Above are some images I found on his website, I've featured these particular three as i feel they fit with my theme; photographing people in their natural state, where they're comfortable. Although they don't particularly feature relationships they capture the natural element I want to achieve in my photographs and I wanted to show an example of this. Again I really like the black and white effect on the first two photographs and I feel I may use this in my photographs.

Above is another photograph taken by Matt Stuart which is featured on his website. I've chosen to feature this one as it fits perfectly with the brief; to have something red in the photograph which in turn represents what heart means to me. I just think the whole feeling to the photograph is really effective and I really like the idea of having a not so obvious heart - in red - featured in the photo. This is an image I'm really inspired by and I'm thinking of maybe incorporating something similar into my photo shoot. 

The link to Matt Stuart's website:

http://www.mattstuart.com/

Natural Photos.

http://www.photographyblog.com/articles/how_to_take_natural_photos_of_children/

This is a link to a useful photography blog I found, giving you tips on how to get the best out of the photographs you want to take, if you feature children - which I think i may do in my photo shoot.

I also found it useful for just some general tips when trying to create a 'natural' photograph - the style I'm trying to achieve - like keeping the natural light behind the models and not facing them, and generally setting up the 'right' backdrop to the shots so they look natural yet professional at the same time.