Sebatião Salgado movie

I have to be honest and say that I cried watching the movie. Is a wonderful movie and in it you can see how his photography evolves at the same time that he does, it is not always the same and that is something that made me think about my own practice and how it changes as I learn new techniques and skills. It was a really good movie to watch.

Work experience with The Ocean Corner

Since the beginning of 2016 I have been doing some work for The Ocean Corner shooting their designs for the website an for their promotions. Here are some pictures of the work I have done.

Interview techniques

Before we did our interview with a practitioner we had a practical class in which we practice how to interview someone between each other. It was really helpful because we learned how to connect questions to the answers given and also know haw to ask new things when some of the questions we wanted to ask are turned down. It was really helpful for me. 

Clara Copley Lecture

Clara's lecture was very interesting. She told us that we don't need to wait for things to come at us, is us who need to look for them.

She also give us a workshop on how to use the action frequency separation on photoshop, it was very interesting because I had never used it before and I thought it would be useful for me in the future.

Doom More Lecture

When Doom came to talk to us he give us a lithe workshop on how to use the correct focal length. We set up two flash with softbox in the back lighting the back of the subject and put a beauty dish in the front. The camera was set down the beauty dish. We started taking portraits with different focal length to see how it affects the image. At the end we got the chance to try a ring flash and see how it works.

It was very good.

Underwater

 The underwater workshop was very interesting. The first day it was difficult for me to stay put under the water, but it was really interesting trying all the different cameras and equipment. It was an awesome experience and if it is made again I will try it for sure.Here are some of the pictures I toke.

London Symposium

On the 23rd and 24th of January we got a series of lectures in London by different practitioners, fine arts and commercial ones.

During the two days I tried to learn from their experience, there were some lectures that I wasn't to much interested in but that wasn't because they were boring it was simply because it wasn't in what I am interested. 

The Lecturers didn't just talk about their job but they also give us advice in how the industry is right now. I have to admit that the first day I got really depressed, there was a moment that I didn't like any on my pictures but later everything was fine. 

Pitch and Present Lecture

I struggle a lot doing presentations. That I know, I get so nervous that my hands start shaking really bad and if I don't control it my voice starts cracking. I always try to have some kind of guide with the key points so I don't forget what I want to say, but that don't always works.

When Jack came and give us the lecture on how to improve or make it easy for us to present our work in front of an audience it was really helpful to me and I will try to put some of the tips that he give us in my following presentations. It was really helpful and easy to understand.

CV workshop

During this work shop I learned how a CV is done in England an that is really helpful for me because is very different than the way is done in Spain. All in all I have to say that besides the fact that it was helpful it was also a little tedious. I don't know if it was the way the person give us the lecture or what exactly but it became a little slow in the end. Also it was interesting to see how the job descriptions are so we know what to look and expect when we start searching for a job.

Subculture

What is a subculture?

'A group that has beliefs and behaviors that are different from the main groups within a culture or society' Merriam-Webster Dictionary

'The way of ​life, ​customs, and ​ideas of a ​particular ​group of ​people within a ​society that are different from the ​rest of that ​society' Cambridge Dictionary

One of the countries with more types of subculture is Japan. One of them is the Lolita style.

Lolita is a street fashion primarily inspired by the Rococo and Victorian periods fashion. Lolita started in Japan in the 1980’s and has evolved since. Nowadays Lolita has grown to be popular all over the world.  The different types are :

• Aristocrat

      This style is a lot more mature than lolita in general. It has a lot in common with the western ‘Romantic Gothic’.

 

• Casual Lolita

      A more toned down version of the style, while still retaining the basic lolita elements.

 

• Classic Lolita

      The tamest of all the Lolita styles as many Classic dresses could pass for a garden party, church or summer dress.

 

• Cosplay Lolita

      Also known as  ‘Costume Lolita,’ is not a subset of Lolita fashion, but it is still important to know the difference between Cosplay Lolita and the actual fashion.

 

• Country Lolita

      It is derived from the Sweet Lolita, and is often a little hard to distinguish due to the use of the same sweet patterns, but the Country Lolita can be recognized by straw baskets, hats, fruit, and gingham patterns.

• Ero Lolita 

      Although it does sound that it may be a little less modest, and a little more tongue-in-cheek this style does not involve suddenly being naked, and wearing only an Alice-bow. It contains more fetish elements such as leather, collars, and corsets that one may not be able to pull-off in any other Lolita style maintaining at the same time a fair amount of modesty. Skirts may be a little shorter than usual, but nothing overly provocative.

 

• Gothic Lolita  

     This outfit like all Lolita, is very modest in today’s standards, it can usually be recognized by the bell-shaped skirt, and puff-sleeves. It is usually comprised of black or rich dark colors such as burgundy, purple and navy. It is common for this style to involve details in complementary or contrasting colors, such as black and white.

 

• Guro Lolita

      Also known as ‘Gore Lolita’ is exactly like the name sounds, gory. How much gory is always up to you, and can range from anything to some bandages, a sling, or some blood splatters on your clothing. It is a style that tries to portray a ‘broken-dolly’ sort of look, a gruesome yet innocent sub-set of Lolita.

• Hime Lolita 

     Also known as  ‘Princess Lolita,’ is a very elegant style of lolita that often involves miniature crowns, tiaras, and extravagant or large hair, and dresses. Because it does reflect a sense of royalty, and class, it is hard to pull this style off unless you are very well preened, and have done your best to look ‘Princess-like.’

 

• Kodona 

      It is often called “boy style” because it involves more masculine clothing. In Japan they usually use Ouji (prince) and not Kodona, that is a western term.

This style can be either laid back or very extravagant. The people who wears this style are actually women and not men, but both can dress it. The men sometimes refer to themselves as ‘Dandy’. Sometimes this style has feminine touches, such as more feminine shoes and accessories.

 

• Kuro Lolita 

    Also known as  ‘Black Lolita,’ is an outfit made-up of co-ordinates of one colour, in this case; black.

 

• Punk Lolita 

      It is perhaps one of the most challenging styles of Lolita to pull-off, because it takes someone with a lot of knowledge of Lolita fashion to be able to fuse the image of a Lolita with that of the Eastern punk style.

 

• Sailor Lolita 

     It is a very nautical-themed style of Lolita that is very much inspired by Japanese Sailor-styled uniforms.

 

• Shiro Lolita 

    Also knoen as ‘White Lolita,’ is an outfit made entirely of white/cream/off-white co-ordinates. They often pair themselves with Kuro Lolitas in twin outfits to create an interesting contrast.

 

• Sweet Lolita 

     It is the most over-the-top style and includes aesthetics nearly exclusive to lolita. It is also the most child-like of the lolita styles, using many bows, ruffles and light colors to make up an outfit. The most common colors used in it are pink, white, and powder blue, but an outfit can be made with nearly any pastel or plaid color.

 

• Wa Lolita 

     It is a style that is often recognized by the Kimono-esque look of the outfits, and is for those who may love to get in-touch with the country that brought the Lolita fashion.

 

Advertising & Media

Today even if we seek for equality between men and women in advertising and in the media there is always an stereotype in gender representation. Men are always strong, charismatic, etc., and women are always showing to much of their selfs and being sexy. It is just recently that there are starting to apear gender fluid models. Also in advertising is always used the colour pink when it's addressed to girls and blue when it's addressed to boys.

Some times there is also cultural appropriation. Some one may not think that is offensive but for someone of that culture it has a deep meaning and they find it so. On the same level is the racism, some times may not be intentional but I can offend people.

Environmental Portraiture

In an environmental portrait both the subject and the background are important, you even can see some of only the background in a sequence to support the story that is being told.

To give more importance to the subject the background is always out of focus (blurry) but not to much that you can't distinguish what is there, and at the same time it can help you give some context to the image.
This type of portrait is used to tell the story of the subject without the need of words, that way whoever watches it can tell which is their profession, where they live, etc.

©Donald McCann

 ©Bill Cramer

©Brian Smale

©David Clapp