34) People Who Make Me Happy Photoshoot - 23/11/17

Another thing that's brought to my mind when thinking of happiness are people that make me happy, so I decided to take some portraits of people who do this. The idea behind the shoot was essentially to take portraits of people smiling and then capture them laughing. This is because I want to show that when my friends are happy that makes me happy, and I feel laughs can be so contagious so I'm hoping the shoot will bring some happiness to the people looking at my zine. I wanted to keep it to quite a minimal colour palette because when thinking of how colourful my images are from my other shoots I thought they may clash and be too much for the viewer too look at when all collated together in the zine. I went for a really simple studio set up, using the off-white backdrop and two side lights with soft boxes to naturally light the subject. I also told the models to wear quite neutral colours to fit with this natural, minimal theme. My contact sheet from the shoot can be seen below.

I decided to pick 3 of my favourite images from each individual I shot to help me narrow down which images I want to use in the zine. These can be seen below.

Rosella:

I chose these three images as my favourites because they show Rosella engaging with the camera and laughing in a natural looking way. I also really like all the different hand gestures in each image, for instance holding your hand to your face is a classic gesture when laughing. Out of all the images I think I like the first one most, because she looks so comfortable - shown from the way she's sitting, but also happy - shown through her smiling face. I also really like the first image best because of the subtle highlights on her cheeks and forehead, giving her a glow. The only thing I've realised after editing the images is Rosella is the only individual with a jumper on instead of a t-shirt, which I think is a little distracting and makes the images look a lot darker than the others in terms of the clothing she's wearing. Although I've chosen a favourite image I could see any of these being used in my zine.

Albert:

Above are my three favourite portraits of Albert. I really love how these turned out, and I tried to experiment with the framing a bit, for instance the first image he's sitting to the left, and the next two images are framed more central. I think I definitely prefer the central framing, but I can't decide whether I prefer the image of him laughing or just smiling. However I could see either two of these images being used in the zine, perhaps even next to each other because I think they could work well as a pair. Although I told my models to wear neutral colours such as greys, I really like how Albert wore a blue shirt because I think it really brings out the blue of his eyes and I think blue represents happiness more than grey does in this case.

Christina:

Out of all the images of people laughing and smiling, I love the photographs of Christina the most, because I feel her smile is the most contagious. Out of all three portraits of her the first is my favourite. This is partly because of the way its been framed to the left, but also because of the lovely highlights on her face, achieved through her facing the right soft box. I just feel like this image has so much energy, like it's almost as if you can hear her laughing. This is the sort of energy and happiness I want in my zine, so I'm definitely going to include it.

Graci:

Next up I took some portraits of Graci, which I think are my least favourite of all the photos I took. This is because I found her glasses really hard to photograph due to the reflection, and I just don't think she looks as relaxed in the images as some of the other people. I also didn't really get any good images of Graci properly laughing - it's actually quite difficult to capture it perfectly in focus at the right moment! Saying all that, I'm still pleased I got the images and my favourite is the first. I like the way she's positioned herself on the chair, and her smile looks quite relaxed from the way her eyes are closed. However I wish I'd framed her more central or to the right, because her position looks a bit awkward to be on the left hand side of the composition.

Jack:

I love all three images of Jack and I think I'd worked out the best way to position someone at this point. Again we have the classic hand over the face pose for when he's laughing, and then a nice side and frontal portrait. I really love the final two images and could see these final two being used as a pair in my zine, similarly to my photographs of Albert. I love how natural his smile looks and I think it's paired well with the natural lighting and minimal backdrop. I also think I prefer the final two images because we swapped chairs - the chair in the first image was just too visible and I thought it took away from the portrait, which is why the stool was much better for the image.

In general I'm pleased with how this photoshoot went, especially considering I don't usually take portraits. I think they'll be a nice mix in my work for the zine, and portray my idea of happiness well. I think if I was to redo this shoot to improve it I would keep the neutral backdrop and have people wearing colourful t-shirts (also no jumpers) instead, because I think brighter colours better portray happiness and having just the t-shirt being colourful would not clash with my other images too much. However I don't think I'm going to re-shoot due to the time left for the brief, and I want to leave enough time for editing the zine together.

#obsessions #photoshoot