Self Written Brief

I must admit, I have been looking forward to this project as it gives me the freedom to practice and explore exactly what I want and also gives me a push to do it. I would have done it anyway - it would have just taken an awful lot longer!

I intend to produce a series of portrait images as I don't usually photograph people, I tend to stick to landscapes and architecture. My interest to do this has been bubbling in my mind for some time now and the more I have been looking at other portrait photographer’s work, the more I have wanted to give it a go.

I am not sure what style of portraits I want to focus on, so I have decided not to specify a style, giving myself the ability to try different things and broaden my scope. I would also like to use some self portraiture in my project.

Some of the artists that I have been looking at in particular are as below. All of them are freelance artists.

Ian Phillips-McLaren
http://www.ianphillips-mclaren.com/
I like Ian’s work because it is simple yet very effective. I don’t’ feel that it is to ‘arty’ which I like as I feel that it doesn’t over-complicate his images and there is plenty of character to his models, making the images have a friendly and very personnal feel.
Among his client base are; McLaren F1, L’Oreal, Channel 4, Topshop and Firetrap. Ian has also produced album artwork for ‘Wet Wet Wet’ and provided a series of portraits for Vidal Sassoon which were published in American Vogue.



Lara Jade (see earlier post in January 2008)
http://www.larajade.com/
I love her images because they are quite surreal and very imaginative.
They draw you in to another world and I like the element of fairy tales within them that enovokes childhood memories.
Lara is also a Vis Com student working as a freelance photographer. The majority of Lara’s client base includes models and musicians as her work is heavily portraiture based. She has also provided photography for jewellery companies, fashion and produced the artwork for CD albums.

Liliana Sanches
http://princess-of-shadows.deviantart.com/store/
I also quite like ‘Gothic’ style artwork like Liliana’s photo manipulations.
Again, there is a fairy tale or fantasy element which draws you into the image and gets your imagination ticking away. I am drawn to this style of imagry though and I think it is because I am a keen fan of anything gothic and this in turn, reminds me of Paganism and all things mystical.
However, I don’t think my photoshop skills are advanced enough to produce work as manipulated as these and in all honesty, I would prefer my work to look a little more natural and photographic than artificial.