Extended Project Evaluation


 In this essay I will explain my intension and the subject of my extended project. I will write about the process I went through in order to create my final piece. The area that I have chosen to work with is photography, because I consider it as my strength. I tried to come up with some creative idea that would be interesting for me to do as well as for audience to watch. Therefore I combined photography, art and fashion together. In result I thought of the question to answer that will support my project journey. The question is ''Is fashion photography a form of art?''. 


A lot of people experience fashion photographs in everyday life, either in magazines or billboards, but do they see the art work behind those photographs? This is what I tried to explore. As my starting point I have researched the books that are stating the valid points and opinions about the subject I am trying to discover. I found some interesting views and majority of them are suggesting that fashion and art have a really blurred boundary. For example in the book 'The Idealizing Vision, The Art of Fashion Photography, April 1991’ Anne Hollander is saying that by ’’feeding the imagination and pushing the visual possibilities of clothing into new emotional territory’’ audience are able to fantasy about clothing product and by presenting cloths on photographs in certain ways the brains of receivers are coding the message hidden behind pure photographs. What I meant by this is that even the photograph is composing the model and cloths by showing it in special ways the imagination of audience is working better therefore it can be said that it is also an art piece that is inspiring customer to desire the product. They may not receive the feeling of art straight away, because in our days they are used to seeing the fashion photography presented creatively however at the end of the day those photos are touching their imagination, making them want the cloths or look like model on the image. So if the fashion photography is stimuling such emotions it must be connected to art, it is inspiring and tempting.


Back in the days fashion photography was different. It was only focusing on the clothing and model not the technical side of the photograph and people still had this obsession to buy presented cloths. Yet the technology developed and fashion has changed, people started to demand some new ways in order to get attract to the cloths appearing on the picture. This is where the art took its part. The fashion photographs started to get more abstract, playing around with compositions and ideas to present cloths. Some were using the ideas of 'this special moment in time' making audience have the same one once they will buy the product, others tried to create the imaginary world to as I stated before touch people imagination making them desire the cloths on the model. Of course there are many other ways to advertise the fashion now, but I think the historical developments can be seen. No one will tell me that today’s fashion photographs are similar, what they use to have back in 70s. The difference is massive, it is also because the market gone wider and there are many competitors within the business, and so whoever shocks better, wins. 


After exploring the books I had rough ideas in my head for my final piece. However I wanted to know the audience feedback about my idea. I researched three fashion photographers; Miles Aldridge, Marco Tengalia and Tommaso Nervegna and I asked my colleagues which set of photographs they liked the most and why? Most of them picked Tommaso's work as his photographs referred to art in the highest percentage. So my initial idea was to make a photo-shoot based on art-fashion photography. My first idea came out of the questionnaire, Tommaso Tengalia have the characteristics that his images have. Firstly the lighting, the artist is obsessed with the shadows and lights that are giving pictures the right mood. Next feature noticeable in his photography work are the colors they are matching to the composition and situation, when needed they are bold and bright and if the shot is different much more settled down the colors are softer and more balanced. Although his pictures are taken in day light I tried to destroy the conventions and I did plan to shoot in the evening with dark lighting to get the effect I wanted. 


In this way I have taken over the positive answer to my question, I was on the right track in order to start thinking of my product. The issue I faced during photo-shoot was that it was really hard to set the settings correctly. The images where either to dark or to light, but I manage to take few good photographs. Once I finished my photo-shoot I gathered audience feedback, which was good, but some views gave me the ideas how to make this shoot better. Usually people said that the photographs I have taken are not hundred percent reflecting the fashion art, so on my second photo-shoot I tried to be carefull and look for improvement with supporting comments. I also enhanced the model's look to make it more professional. After second photo-shoot I realized that my idea with the lights is not going quite well, so I planned next photo-shoot this time I tried to focus on composition of the photos and how to make audience remember the look of cloths. My idea was based on everyday life girl being frivolous. I captured my model on the street, but in interesting places with quite natural poses, to highlight her beauty as well as the fashion within. The colors and the background were also interesting. My aim was to connect to normal people, but showing them that they can be attractive. I was working on getting audience's imagination build their own situations instead of the model. However I still wasn't convinced with my outcomes. The problem was the colors and the subject within the photographs looked too normal, I didn't get the result I had in my mind. Therefore I gave another shot and I arranged fourth photo-shoot. This time I organized everything very well, I had the good vision in my head. I was stimulate by painting and novel ‘lady in the water', 'lady of shallot', which is about the pretty girl making the suicide by drowning herself in the lake. It was a really prestige and famous book and I tried to base my photo-shoot around this idea. On the day of photo-shoot the issue that was bothering me was the bright sun. I thought the pictures will be over exposed and once again will not give me the result I was hoping for. The outcomes that I got from this shoot were surprisingly good. Once I edited my photos and adapted them for project needs I asked for feedback once again and people responded positively. One of my colleague said ''your photos are inspiring and really reminding me of this novel and when I asked her if she is seeing the connection between fashion and art here she replied ''Yes I would consider them as a form of art, they have something about them that makes you watch them for long time and not get bored''. I was satisfied with her answer and I think at this stage I got my final piece ready. I decided I am going to print the photos and mount them on the white board to make the stand out even more and to crate this mood for the audience to see not only photographs, but something beyond that.


Throughout this project I found out that art and fashion are really close together. Especially in our days where technology has such an ability to create some good photos even with amateur not really specialized camera. So the answer to my question would be yes, fashion photography can be considered as a form of art. Even if the people are not putting much attention to them their brains are receiving the creative signals making them desire to look like the models from the photographs. The massive impact is putted on young generation as to them those photographs are exemplar and their life style. 


I hope that they will expand their imagination in a good direction. I am satisfied with my work and I am happy that I could work on something interesting to me. Also I developed my photographical skills which I want to use in my future, maybe even look for a job in fashion photography direction.