22) Photoshoot (part 2) for 'Steps to Happiness' Manifesto - 1/11/17

On Wednesday I finally got to cut the TV in half in fabrication which meant I could continue and finish off my first shoot for this 'Steps to Happiness' manifesto I found. In this shoot I wanted to depict still life shots for these happiness steps:

4) Exercise more.

5) Cut your TV viewing in half.

- I also tried re-shooting the 'Plant something' step with a different backdrop (which you can see in the contact sheet), however I didn't think the yellow and blue backdrops complimented each other, and I feel if each image I take for this series has either a blue or pink backdrop in it then they link to each other better than having different colours in each still life. I think they look better as a related collection rather than stand alone images.

Again I had a variety of different props for the shoot and I wanted to almost deconstruct some of the purposes of the props which relate to these different happiness steps. I also used the same lighting set up as I did in my 'part 1' to this shoot, which was helpful in creating visually similar and flowing images. My contact sheet from the studio session can be seen below.

These are my finished images for each different happiness step:

4) Exercise more.

I had four favourite final images for this fourth happiness step, which you can see above. To create this still life I used a pair of running shoes to represent the act of exercising, and then I added some green carpet to imitate grass or astro turf, adding another layer to the composition. I think the props work really well with the blue backdrop, because it compliments the blue laces of the shoes, and the blue and green colours also imitate the sky and the grass, which you'd usually see while running. As you can see I created various different compositions with the laces of the shoes, and the 2 photographs with hearts included are definitely my favourites. I think the compositions of these images look really playful and display feelings of happiness through the heart I fabricated.

5) Cut your TV viewing in half.

I had three favourite final images for this fifth happiness step, which are above. I like this close up composition on the TV itself, because I really wanted the viewer to see the incision through the TV and the marks that had been made when cutting it in half. Before shooting the object I wanted a more zoomed out perspective of the TV with one half stood up and one laid down next to it, but it just didn't do the two pieces of the TV justice I thought. So I experimented with different positions of the two pieces, for instance in the first image you can see half of the 'Philips' logo which I like, and in the second image the insides of the TV can be clearly seen, for instance the batteries and circuit board. I also like the third image a lot because of this reason too, but mostly I love how the edges are more jagged and rough, with the details of where the incision had been made.

Overall I'm really pleased with how part 2 of my photoshoot went, and I think I have 5 strong images to represent the BBC Lifestyle Happiness Manifesto in a playful, deconstructing way. Below are the 5 finished images I've picked to represent each step.

1) Treat yourself.

2) Plant something.

3) Phone a friend.

4) Exercise more.

5) Cut your TV viewing in half.

For my next steps I'm going to depict the other 5 happiness steps that I didn't think fit into a still life studio setting. I'm doing this on a small point and shoot film camera, taking photos of everyday life which represent the other 5 steps. I'm also going to continue on with my research and hope that it influences how and what I shoot on my film camera.

#obsessions #photoshoot