Preparation for assignment 5 - Applying the techniques of illustration and narrative.

Assignment five is the final assignment for this module. The task requires us to illustrate a story for a magazine. The story should provide images for six to twelve pages and I will also be required to provide a magazine cover. Words for the story are not required but captions for the pictures are.

I should be pulling together all the techniques and experience I have learnt so far. The final part of the brief states that any theme that has a narrative element could be suitable.

As this is the final piece I have decided to combine it closely with my interest in fashion style photography and a fairly large project that I have just started organising. It is clear from the assignments in part five that the planning and ability to get the shots required are important aspects. This post deals with some of the organisation required for this shoot.

The Concept
The concept is that of two women, friends, that are on a small road trip in their Volkswagen beetle. The style is 60's and the various scenarios depict incidents that happen on route. I will be using a make-up artist who specialises in vintage make-up. I will also be assisted by another photographer.

The Assets
OK, so we obviously need a car. It is no coincidence that we are using a Volkswagen Beetle as a friend of mine has a 1966 restored model. As previously mentioned the story revolves around two friends so I need two models. I also require a certain amount of props such as clothing and smaller items such as bags etc.

Planning Shots
Planning ahead I have several ideas for shots:

• Filling the car with petrol 
• Checking a map for directions. Maybe by a sign post?
• Photographing sites
• Trouble with the car - looking under the bonnet.
• The car has broken down. The girls are trying to push it.
• They give up and decide to Hitch hike.

Some of the items have been sourced already. There are also some images here for inspiration and ideas.

A date has been added to the diary (weather permitting) to carry out this shoot towards the end of November.

Check List of items already obtained
Dress 1
Dress 2
Car
Maps
Camera's (vintage for models)
Coca Cola in glass bottles
Accessories

This post is somewhat organic and may grow as the project unfolds!

Narrative by other photographers - Darcy Padilla

As part of the suggested reading, I have been looking at the work of some photographers who have produced some important narrative work. The first of these I have looked at is Darcy Padilla, who over the course of a number of years photographed and documented the life of a woman with aids. The project was called 'The Julie Project'. I have made some notes to refer back to for my final assignment which is also a photographic narrative.

1. Mood.
The project has been shot entirely in black and white. The first thing that strikes the viewer is the perception of time of the images. Darcy started his project in 1993, that's 18 years ago at the time of writing this post. The very first image gives the impression that the photographs were taken a lot longer ago than that, the black and white re-enforcing the 50's look of the old building. This combination has set the tone for the rest of the images that follow.

2. The journey
We are not distracted from the journey by the shape of the photo's either. All are presented in landscape format which here leads you from one image to the next without any 'awkward' jumps in the process.

3. Information
Each shot shows enough information to put it's subject in context. Interestingly, this mostly seems to have been achieved by focal length and by light on the subject. Depth of field is used to direct the viewers attention but nowhere near as much as other artists make use it. take for example the year 2008. The attention of each shot is grabbed by the lighter main subject with DOF playing much less of a role. Note also that as well as showing enough of the surrounding of the subject, the images have been carefully crafted so as to not show too much.

4. Narrative.
The occasional insertion of a newspaper article or some other document gives a break in the images.I do find the written notes a bit distracting though.