David Lazar

David Lazar is a famous portrait and travel photographer. He is drawn to locations that have a rich cultural background where he can capture moments of life and beauty. His pictures, like Steve McCurry have a big emphasis on the eyes of the subject. Which again I think draws you in and makes you feel connected to the photograph. This is something I would like to achieve in my work as I think it is a really effective technique as I think it will make my series of portraits look stronger as a piece if they all have the same focus.. To help me capture all the detail I will to research which lens’ are best suited.

Annie Leibovitz

Leibovtiz first gained recognition for her excellent work as a photographer for Rolling Stone magazine. Later in her career she began working for the magazine Vanity Fair, continuing to produce images that would be deemed iconic and provocative. Her portraits are less serious to Steve McCurry’s but still have a big impact on the viewer. All these portraits were shot for Vanity Fair and you can tell just how diverse her talents are. And how different levels of colour and black and white can create a very different impression on the image.

Steve McCurry

McCurry is arguably the most iconic portrait photographer for more than 30 years. His picture ‘Afghan girl’ is one of the most recognizable portraits. His series of work called Eloquence of the eye attracted me to the extreme detail in his portraits and how much eyes really do stand out. When looking into someone’s eyes they tell a story about that person. The quote; “Fall in love with someone’s eyes. It’s the one thing that never changes.” Came to mind when I was looking at this piece of work.

Where to take my idea..

After researching further into identity and trying to think of ways to integrate it with a surrealistic aesthetic I have started to realise that with my time frames and lack of software it is going to be difficult for me to do both these things. So I have decided to continue with the identity theme but I would now like my work to be shot in a portrait style. I want to be be able to capture my subjects personality/ background in a single strong image. To make these stand out I will need to experiment with lighting as this is very important when it comes to portraiture and do a bit of research on lens' to determine which will give the best effect.

Amanda

Again, I sourced Amanda through a page designed to find models. I explained my shoot to her and asked some questions about her hobbies and what she studies. She told me she is a student studying Cosmetic Science which I thought if she could bring her lab coat to the shoot would be quite interesting. She also told me she enjoys modelling and would also like to continue it when she leaves uni.
On the day of the shoot I started off by doing her makeup quite natural and then gave her a darker look towards the end to show the different way she would make herself look in different situations.
Unfortunately she couldn't bring a lab coat but she did have some glasses she uses so I had to work with that instead.
Overall the shoot went well and Im excited to experiment and further my editing skills to create a final picture that shows the different aspects of what Amanda considered the important aspects to her character.

Contact Sheet -

Edits so far - 

Shoot with Time

Time is a dmu student who I sourced through a page created to find models, photographers and fashion design students.
He was keen to get in touch when he saw my post asking for people who had something quirky or unique about their personality.
He told me that during the day he dresses pretty normal but is quite fashion focused and then when he goes out he feels more comfortable in heels and a crop top. I found this really interesting and immediately wanted to show this in my photos.



Contact Sheets-

Edits so far- 

I have done basic editing so far, using photoshop to clear up the skin and adjust levels. I would like to experiment further with this photos and to take more from my contact sheet to bring out his fun side and make them look more striking.