Term 2: Digi Tech // Aaron K Response

Aaron K has much to say about the Photography industry and is a prime example of someone who manages to traverse many areas of the industry in an expert manner. In fact it was such a diverse talk it was difficult to decide how to respond.

As a photographer he has a relatively varied approach, although it seems his work (at least on his website) does tend to be taken in a studio. He work is glossy and smooth. He clearly knows how to get the best of out lighting and for that matter everything else.

But something in particular that Aaron mentioned was 'concept' and it's use in an editorial shoot. I completely agree that a concept driven editorial is far more interesting than just cool clothes in a random and non specific location.

Research: 
Concept Driven Editorials can be found everywhere. I went straight to the big guns of editorial budgets and had a look at Vogue. Vogue pushes the limits of editorial with often obvious concepts but with the use of big production scale images they are able to do what younger magazines can not, creating elaborate sets and using the extent of their prop budget.

Vogue // Alice in Wonderland

These images take the characters and locations of Alice and Wonderland and dress them in the latest trends to create an extensive editorial of images. They are beautifully detailed and have successfully created images that stop and make you look. The familiarity of the story draws the viewer in, it's not until closer inspection that the clothing is even noticeable.

Vogue // Terry Richardson and Crystal Renn

The overt sexuality of these images is pretty clear. Crystal has a piece of food in her mouth in every image. They are disturbing, you want to look away but you want to know what she is eating and why. The concept here seems pretty clear. Gluttony + Housewife Styling = Sexual.

Contextualise:
Context. We generally want it as humans and it's easy to see how just looking at pretty girls in pretty clothes sort of isn't enough after a while. By creating concept driven editorial you can generate a relatable series which makes viewers take a second or even third look at the spread.

Experimentation:
After looking at a variety of concepts I deiced to opt for a simple photographic response. I wanted to create 3 images that were connected and could be part of the same editorial. I chose to include possible pieces that could be part of a fashion editorial mixed with the concept.

Concept: Empty Fairy Tale
- All imagery to be taken in a natural setting
- Each photo to include food element from a different fairytale + buyable item

Snow White

Cinderella

Little Red Riding Hood

Evaluation: 

The images above are pretty basic. I think it's relatively obvious what the fairytales are, however I don't think they are particularly interesting to look at. I think that better lighting and probably a model would have brought life to these ideas. In fact they probably work better as a test shoot to show someone where the idea could go before placing a model in the shoot. Although there is something in the idea that we never see the heroine of the story only their aftermath. If I was to do this again I would like to have more food in each shot, emphasising on the magical and unreal quality of the stories. What I like about conceptual editorial shoots is that there is room for the view to put the pieces together themselves and figure out what connects them.