Still life inspiration

clean | simple |  calm

These are images from Tamunu Oil Lab, an online brand that promotes their products via their Instagram page. I think the simplicity is so effective in creating a beautifully calm image. I like the cool grey tones in the images of oil bottles in contrast with a warmer, natural light image of the flower. This is something I'd like to recreate with different lighting set ups, camera settings and post production to create the balancing effect. 

It is interesting that cool and warm tones contrasting are emerging as a trend that I am hoping to achieve through my photography. I attended a Wella hair show around five years ago when I was studying a year of hairdressing. I didn't realise at the time but it was trend forecasting for 5 years into the future. One of the trends was named Celeste, a futuristic macro trend that combines cool and warm tones together in hair colour techniques. Five years on and I am looking at this trend, I just find it so fascinating. 

The warmer tone in the flower image really freshens it up in comparison to the others, I think fragrance images would benefit from a warm tint to enhance the mood.  

I found these images scrolling through Instagram, i follow a lot of organic beauty stores online from the UK, US and Australia. The simplicity and perfect placement is what I want to achieve when shooting my images. i have ordered some dried lavender seeds as I like the pile of Himalayan salt in the second image in. 

 Colour is something I will enjoy experimenting with, the colour pallet is something i have thought about a lot, looking at pantones is something I plan to do when designing. 

FMP proposal feedback...

Proposal Grade & Feedback

I received my grade and feedback for the proposal, I felt I worked really hard on the assignment and put a lot of time into both the research and writing of the paper.

I received a B1 for my efforts and I was at first a little upset I hadn’t got a slightly higher grade, but over all after speaking with Emma I’m really pleased with the grade and the feedback.

The feedback is both positive and helpful, I’m pleased that my concept was explain well on paper as I struggle to tell my peers or tutors what my project is about in short.

Thinking about harmful ingredients and brands the comments about being delicate in this area are helpful, I wasn’t planning on naming and shaming individual brands but rather being transparent about what ingredients regular beauty products contain and their effects on health/wellbeing. After a chat with Emma I have decided a list of harmful ingredients would be more helpful than focusing on products.

It would have been helpful to have more website layouts- I did create a mock site on Wix, however it did not reflect what I envisioned so did not include it in my proposal; on reflection I should have included the link for a general idea.

This is it...

The Final Major Project Development & Evaluation brief was introduced today and I met my mentor group, which I am pleased with. I am also happy to be in Emma’s mentor group as I like her teaching style and find her very easy to talk ideas with.

I feel positive about the reflective journal, as we were able to look at past examples around the table in our groups, I feel I can achieve the reflective writing style but at the same time feel apprehensive about keeping up to date with the entries- especially after busy days. This is something I really need to be organised with as my time management has let me down in the past.

I enjoyed hearing my peers concepts and ideas for their projects; I look forward to seeing the developments they make as well as what I produce.

I am bursting with ideas and cannot wait to get started with the project, though I am busy with the writing of my dissertation I feel confident I can manage the two projects along side one another. I made the conscious decision to base my projects on the same concept of organic and natural beauty in an attempt to benefit my studies, as previously I have struggled to multitask and think this is the best option for me to succeed. 

in the first meeting today we all gave an over view of our projects, I have been given some home work to look at still life imagery. I am excited to get started and be inspired...

The Brief

Objective

To develop a natural and organic beauty and wellbeing blog that promotes positivity and wellness through holistic approaches, such as aromatherapy, crystal healing and spirituality. The promotion of ethical brands taking corporate social responsibility will be a key feature in demonstrating a conscious approach to consumerism; Environmental issues and health concerns are at the forefront.

Still life features as the main visual imagery alongside beauty content, natural form is embraced and ideal beauty standards rejected. Transparency is essential.

Roles

• Creative director
• Photographer & post production
• Web designer
• Social media manager
• Writer

Work-through

Start by sourcing and purchasing props, make a call sheet with potential models, photographers, web designers and make-up artists. Start designing website and test shooting, make decisions about articles and blog content.

Consider social media platforms to support the blog, including an Instagram page to be launched before the blog for promotion. Continue photographing still life imagery and arrange photo-shoots. Write articles and continue web design, retouching images when required. Plan and shoot beauty images, leaving time to re-shoot if necessary. Finalise articles, web design, and social media. Launch site…

Final Products

• Online blog
• Social media platforms i.e Instagram, pinterest, twitter, tumblr

Criteria for Success

The online blog and social media accounts showcase my professional skills as a designer, photographer and potential employee. The aesthetic is simple yet maintains a high design standard.