Evaluation

I believe my fairytale fashion photography project has been very successful! I have learnt a great deal throughout the project and I feel a lot more comfortable using the studios. I was able to do things much smoother and with ease by the end of the project. I feel I have a far greater understanding of the technology and lighting. Although I knew I loved fairytale fashion photography, I now believe that it is definitely what I want to focus on when I leave university because I really enjoy it. The whole concept is really exciting and you can experiment so much with it.

When I first set myself this task I was excited because I love fairytale photography but I was also so nervous because I had no idea how to get round the issues I had in the studios. I knew that I was not very confident with the lighting and general equipment and in the fashion business it is vital I know how to use it.

I decided from an early stage I would have to plan a great deal to make it easier for myself. This really helped and I found I was much more organised with the Photoshoots. I was however still very disorganised with my blog work. I'd forget to update it and it got quite confusing. I think because of this I have missed out quite a lot of research I did for each individual shoot. I focused a lot on lighting in my research but because of being disorganised I have misplaced it. So this is definitely something that I need to work on. Fashion Photographers need to be organised because the industry is so fast moving and growing constantly. I will have to be up to date constantly to be at the top! Hopefully in my next project when I have to team up with someone else it will encourage me to be more organised because I have others relying on me.

This project has enabled me to learn a great deal of skills that I needed to be a fashion photographer. I Spent a great deal of time editing the images as well, making sure to research how to do it so that I can become what I want to be. I have studied a vast amount of airbrushing youtube tutorials as well as adding objects such as wings and playing with different effects.

I worked really hard at this project for my university grade but also to prove to myself that I can do things when I put my mind to it and to be able to gain the skills to be a fashion photographer.

I was genuinely terrified of going into the studio by myself with people I didn't really know. The project has built up my confidence a great deal. I now don't feel as embarrassed or stupid to ask people from the streets to model for me or to tell people what to do when I need their help. This project has also helped me to see what its like to be a proper fashion photographer. I had to study poses and fairies a great deal so that I knew what to create. It’s clear that the field I wish to go into needs a vast amount of creativity, which I’m happy to say I believe I have.

Confidence is really important when being a fashion photographer so this has benefited me in many ways. I have also learnt that when I get into the industry I need to always arrange back ups, or make space and time for things going wrong. A lot of the work is based on other people turning up and making as much effort as you do, so you need to be a good people person so that they want to do the best for you that they can.

I have also learnt quite a bit about styling and make up which is always useful in fashion photography because if the make up artist or stylist drops out it means the shoot doesn’t have to be canceled if I can offer the other skills needed.

I really like my final images, they follow my brief very closely and I love the editing I have done. The images are not all edited exactly the same to make them more individual and magical, it implies inconsistency and randomness, which shows the care feel of the fairytale world that I wanted to show. I didn’t want to make them too serious and depressing because I was feeling low myself so I thought I would lift myself by lifting the mood of my project and I so feel happy when I look at them.

I think I should have made prints of my final images so I could have seen what they would look like in a magazine and also because many fashion photographer’s have to print their work for portfolios and magazines. However after researching a great deal I found that more and more employers are doing things digitally so it is not the end of the world that I haven’t printed them.

In conclusion the overall feeling of my project is very positive and I really believe that I have gained a lot. Since I have done my fairy photoshoots I have also started offering help and shoots to other students that need it, which proves that my confidence has grown and I am far more willing to learn now that I have got through the initial barrier. I’m excited to go on to my next project where I will gain an even greater understanding of fashion photography. I think the best way to be good in this industry is practice and experience, so the more I get the better.