For this shoot I am going to capture photographs in the style of Lord Snowdon and Cindy Sherman. Lord Snowdon captures images that are very laid back and taken purely for the memory, a variety of his photos are candid styled and I am aiming to take this technique of his and use it in this shoot. I am also cooperating Cindy Sherman’s concept of using myself in these images, I will use the self timer located in my camera settings, whilst also having the assistance of someone with me to help me make sure the camera is positioned right. I know that Cindy Sherman worked alone on her Untitled Film Stills project but I want to leave that to another shoot when I fully focus on taking the images myself as well as being in them. As I am also influence by Snowdon in this shoot I am only focusing on the concept of being in the photos.
To achieve this shoot I will be doing it on location at my house, specifically in my bedroom as I imagine my photos to look best situated at my dressing room table. Due to not having an additional lighting equipment I will have to make do with the built in flash on my camera. I use a Canon 1200D camera to complete my shoots. As I am taking these photos myself I will need to place my camera on a tripod in order to keep the camera steady and in the same place without me having to hold it. I am going to adjust the camera to where I think looks best as well as be in the photography myself. For this shoot I need assistance for now to make sure the camera always has me in shot as I feel it will be more difficult to achieve this shoot as my bedroom is smaller than a usual studio. I will use self timer and automatic flash when doing this shoot whilst I sit at my dressing room table applying my makeup as I look into the mirror. There are some photographs that Cindy Sherman had taken as part of her Untitled Film Stills project of her looking into the mirror, there is no camera or any equipment in the reflection of the mirror, she would have had to think about the placement of the camera to make sure it wasn’t seen. I want this shoot to look like the build up to getting ready for the front cover, it will be the contrast between the front cover and inside spread. The inside spread will be filled with more laid back types of photos to achieve the society style that Lord Snowdon uses.
Here are examples of both Snowdon and Sherman’s work:
Rachel Jacob 