The document provides a critical evaluation of the author's fashion photography project. It discusses the techniques used, including focusing attention on the subject through plain backdrops and monochrome editing. It addresses the intended young, male audience and draws inspiration from sources like Vice magazine. Historical influences, like the 1960s skinhead subculture, are explored. The author evaluates achieving their commercial aims and developing technical, creative and time management skills over the course of the project.

1. Critical Evaluation
By Jonah Adshead

2. Visual Language.
With all of my photographs I have tried to keep the focus of the viewer on the model and the clothing
they are wearing. To do this I have adopted a number of techniques and styles that I have learnt and so
believe that I have achieved my aim on the whole.
All of my photographs apart from one feature the model against almost totally black or very plain,
passive backdrops such as brickwork containing repetition, this helps to focus the audiences attention on the
main subject as there is not much to be distracted by. The exception to this use of backdrops in my final
photographs being the one where the model is placed in front of the gate with a union jack painted on it. I
do not believe this takes attention away from the model as the geometrical shapes and lines of the flag lead
into the middle where the model is stood drawing the eye in and helping to frame the subject. The fashion
style of the model in the photograph is “Skin Head” inspired, a fashion style and subculture that emerged in
1960s working class London and so associated with Britain. Because of this I think the backdrop makes sense
and works well.
A number of my photographs I have chosen to edit so they are monochrome and I believe this adds
to the photographs, sometimes giving a moody feel to the image and others just serving to further cut down
distractions and focus attention on the main subject. In the images that are black and white the model is
seen wearing a long black coat. I believe the black and white effect amplifies the sleekness of the coat in the
areas where the viewer can not quite at first see where the coat ends and the black backdrop begins. The
style of the coat is very simplistic and clean and I have tried to reflect this in the images with the almost
completely black or very passive backgrounds with the black and white effect also simplifying the image.

3. Visual Language.
I tried not to create an overly superficial look to my photographs and hoped that this would
create a naturalistic feel. This is difficult when doing a shoot but I tried to achieve it by mostly having
the model doing and moving around, as opposed to standing completely still in a fixed pose as I took
photographs of him. Examples of this are the photograph where he is riding the scooter and the
photograph of him tucking in his polo shirt. However merely asking the model to act naturally, or be
engaged in an action or activity does not always guarantee that the desired outcome is achieved. As a
result of this some of the photographs still seemed too posed and so I did not select them for my final
images.
In some of the photographs I wanted him to have a straight face and not show much emotion
whereas some images are quite expressive showing him pulling a face or laughing. In both cases I
believe the photographs worked well but in different ways; when the model is being emotionless it can
add a moody feel to the image and the lack of emotion can allow the focus to be on the clothing rather
than the model himself. On the other hand the expression a model is pulling can give a certain feel to
the photograph such as excitement or happiness and even give the impression it is the clothes
themselves causing these feelings.
The main focus of each photograph is quite clear throughout all of my images, I believe, as I
consistently keep a passive background. Occasionally the use of lines and/or details in the background can
help frame my subject or add to the aesthetic quality of the photograph, such as in the image where the
model is holding the scooter over his shoulders. The pose he is adopting is very proud and tall and the line
of lights running above his head almost make him seem important and the centre of attention as if the
lights are just there to illuminate him. The organic upward curve of the lights featured In this image is
aesthetically pleasing but overall I believe my photos consist of more geometric shapes and lines.

4. Visual Language.
For some of the photographs I have made the aperture of the camera larger to decrease
the depth of field making it so the foreground object (the model) is in focus but the background is
blurred or slightly out of focus. This again draws the attention of the viewer to the model but also
can add interesting effect to the backdrop. Some of my photographs featuring footwear as the
main subject are very close up shots and it is essential that the trainer is in sharp focus. When the
background is very blurry and out of focus it really brings the trainer out of the page and makes it
stand out.

5. Audience.
When taking my photographs I kept in mind the sort of people I was aiming to reach as an audience. I wanted my photos
to be the sort of fashion photography you would find in a “how to wear” or “look book” section of a brand’s website or a
magazine featuring the brand. One of the magazines I looked at that often features these kinds of advertisements is Vice
magazine. They have a very large readership and online following with 68% being under 30 and 63% being male. In surveys run by
Vice the magazine has found that 52% of their readers like to know about new fashion brands/designers before everyone else and
83% buy new clothing every month. These demographics show me that Vice’s audience fit with the audience profile that I am
aiming for of young, fashion conscious males. Because of this I was able to use the fashion articles and photography featured in
this magazine to gain inspiration.
An audience of young males will relate best to photographs featuring another young male as it is easier to envision
themselves in the clothes that someone of a similar age are wearing. I thought carefully about the clothes I had my model wear
by researching what is in fashion and the clothes young males are wearing or want to purchase at the moment.

6. Historical and Cultural Context.
I think my work fits with the trends of current advertisements, “look books” and “how to wear” sections released by street wear
brands such as Stussy, Supreme, Obey and Huff. The style of fashion photography adopted by brands such as these seems to be a more
informal relaxed one and shooting more dynamic scenes involving the model being active are becoming more and more common. I have
researched the fashion photographer Tyrone Lebon, who shoots for Stussy, and noticed how he uses this same kind of style and has said
he often allows the model to decide where the photo-shoot takes them so it is more of a joint adventure than a photographer dictated
task. I feel this approach gives a relatability to the target demographic and allows them to see the clothing being worn in more of a real life
context, something that high end studio fashion photography does not offer.
I tried to adopt this informal style seen in a lot of contemporary fashion photography when doing my own shoot, encouraging my
model to be active. Instead of giving instructions on how to pose and where to stand I followed him as he did what he wanted. For
example he himself decided to pick up the scooter and play with it which in turn allowed me to achieve what I believe to be some of my
most natural looking and successful shots from my final photographs.
For some of my photographs I had my model dressed in clothes inspired by the 1960’s Skinhead subculture. The Fred Perry polo
shirt, Doc Marten boots, Harrington jacket and braces are iconic pieces of clothing with heavy links to the Skinhead fashion movement as
was the union flag featured in the backdrop of one of my photographs. In some of the other photographs the model is stood in front of a
brick wall, this architectural feature has connotations of the city, in particular the working class estates where the Skinhead subculture was
born and so works well in the way it fits with the theme, but also as an aesthetically pleasing backdrop.
Following the 2006 drama “This Is England” and the 2010 Channel 4 spin-off “This Is England ‘86” the Skinhead subculture has seen
a slight revival, becoming quite fashionable and remaining so, with filming beginning on another spin-off “This Is England ’90” soon.
Because of these influences and current trends I felt it was relevant to use the Skinhead subculture for inspiration.

7. Intentions and fitness for purpose.
I have always had an interest in photography and fashion and because of this I decided to choose fashion photography as my
application as it brought together two elements that I am interested in. I enjoy following current trends and movements in society and
have quite an in depth knowledge of fashion trends both current and from the past, allowing me to gain inspiration as I did from the
Skinhead fashion movement. When setting out on the task, I wanted to use the knowledge and inspiration I had gained from certain
types of fashion photography to produce aesthetic images with my own style that could be used commercially.
I know that the presentation of the model is very important, fashion photography is, after all, mainly for promotional and
advertising purposes and so my model must look good and the photograph must look professional in order to attract the right attention.
I wanted my model’s look to seem relatable, accessible but also aspirational and have my audience thinking that in the same clothing
they could look as good. This would motivate an audience to make a purchase and I believe I achieved this quite well. The photographs I
took looked professional. I think I could have explored with the manual settings more to experiment with different effects and also
could have taken more photos in the daylight to see what effect that had on my photographs.

8. Technical Competence.
During my photo shoot I had to consider what camera settings to use in order to achieve the best results with my photographs.
I found that when shooting at night it was quite difficult to get the right settings without using the flash to help light the subject but
after a period of experimenting and trial and error I produced some good photos.
With this kind of photography a large aperture is often used to shorten the depth of field. This can blur or soften the
background whilst keeping the foreground of the image in sharp focus. The softening of the background can minimalise distraction
from the main subject and the contrast between blurry background and sharp subject can make the subject stand out and attract the
most attention. I used this theory in most of my images setting a large aperture to allow me to get a shallow depth of field. This
worked particularly well with some of my photographs featuring footwear when I made the aperture large allowing for a very close up
shot with a crisp foreground against a very blurry background.
With the majority of my photographs being shot at night I had to use quite a high ISO. This allowed the camera to pick up light
better and so illuminate my images. I used the flash in some cases and so could make the ISO slightly lower allowing their to be less
grain which in turn improved the quality of the image slightly. In the images where I did not use the flash however, the grain was not
too bad and the images still came out well as long as I set a higher ISO.
I kept the white balance on automatic for all of my photographs because, after experimenting with all the manual settings I
deemed appropriate for the light conditions present, the automatic setting was still producing the best results.

9. Creative Ability.
I believe that this photography task has really brought out and developed my creativity as it is something I am very interested
in and enjoy highly. I have enjoyed researching other photographers and exposing myself to different ideas, techniques and sources of
information and have adopted many of these new influences into my own photography.
One of the main ways my creative ability had developed is through gaining inspiration from other existing fashion
photographers who I admire such as Tyrone Lebon and Terry Richardson. Terry Richardson shoots almost exclusively in a studio with
an all white background and I think this gave me the inspiration for the very passive backdrops present in many of my photographs,
focusing the attention on the subject. Both photographers also seem to share an informal style trying to get naturalistic looking
photographs, another aspect of their photography I try to replicate.
I think that gaining a better understanding of the camera and how it works also helped with my creativity as I could get better
results with some of my photographs by tailoring the settings to my needs. Becoming better with the post production side of things
also aided my creativity as I could add effects and improve images in ways I would not have known how to do before. For example in
the photographs of the trainers I researched on how to eliminate dirt from an image and seamlessly clean it up. In doing so I
progressed from merely using the paint tool to cover the unwanted grime badly, to using the clone stamp, a tool I had never heard of
before hand. This tool uses selected pixels to cover up unwanted ones adding not only a colour match but also the correct texture and
shade blend, something that the paint tool is not sophisticated enough to do.
I have learnt more about the science of photography; what works in a photograph and why, for example leading lines bring the
eye into the photograph and geometrical shapes can help to frame a subject or draw attention to certain aspects of a photograph (e.g.
the rule of thirds). Deconstructing images in this way has helped me to decide how to take my photographs and where to frame other
elements of the shot that could help the overall composition.

10. Time Management.
I believe my time management as a whole has been quite good for this assignment of work. For the week of production I was
not at college so was unable to take the photographs but caught up quickly on my return to college, producing the photographs and
beginning my post production editing quickly. I did not feel too under pressure, but there was a higher sense of urgency to get my
photographs done quickly. This may have effected the planning and time I put into them. If I had been at college the week of
production I would have had a lot more time and may have been able to take photographs in a range of different scenes at different
times of day to see what different results I could have achieved. From here however, once caught up, I did not fall behind again and
have completed everything I set out to complete.
In the future I will formulate a better contingency plan in case of the event of my absence so I can give myself a larger amount
of time to work on my images.