'Hot Scot' Exhibition

 

Last week I finally got a chance to visit the Portrait Gallery after its recent face lift and I was impressed. I have always loved the galleries in Edinburgh and I would definitely recommend a visit. I went with a group of girl friends who all study fashion and some fashion photography specifically so it was no surprise that the two exhibitions we were most looking forward to were 'The Hot Scot' exhibition and the 'Romantic Camera' exhibition both of which have been open since December and will be until June.

'The Hot Scot' exhibition features the current stars of Scottish culture from Devid Tennent to John Kitchin in a series of portraits. I was especially looking forward to seeing the portraits by Albert Watson one of my favourite Scottish fashion photographers.

If I am honest I was slightly disappointed as I expected a larger collection but it was still very interesting to see. For such a small collection there was plenty of variety in portrait style; some had a 'watercolour painting' like appearance which I do not really like when it comes to photographs, I prefer a more lifelike portraits though my favourite was the picture of John Byrne the artist and director as it was realistic, showing deep emotion while still showing theatrical elements in his pose and appearance.

The second exhibition was the Romantic camera exhibition, a series of large scale photographs in the style of the Romantic era. Familiar scenes like Glencoe were featured and although not all beautiful they were impressive. It is always interesting to see the different ways of using photography as a medium especially when I am constantly bombarded with fashion it is nice to be reminded of other forms (though let’s be honest nothing beats fashion photography).

The galley itself has a lot to see and worth a visit even just to take in the atmosphere of the new space.

(All images sourced from Google images)

Spring in my Step

Today was the 1^st of March and although Scotland may still experience snow in the coming weeks, in my books it is officially spring. I for one cannot wait for warmer temperatures and in celebration of the milder season I even went barefoot in pumps today.

Perhaps the real reason behind this year’s excitement is these beautiful Marc Jacobs sandals; so pretty I am even wearing them as I blog in my pyjamas. Rescued from a charity shop I have been waiting for the rain to stop long enough for me to wear them out. Even though they are green canvas, both a difficult colour and somewhat impractical material in our Northern climate, I love them. With a tennis white stripe and open toe they might just be this summer’s obsession.

FOR THE LOVE OF...fashion comms!

 
I feel I have very much been neglecting my blog...in fact every part of my life other than University for the past two months. I hope however that this will change as my fashion comms magazine is finished! On Monday we present our final magazine to our tutor along with Hywel Davis and I am excited and slightly terrified to hear their thoughts. Therefore I feel it is important to use the little time left to feel proud of what my group and I have achieved in case we are ripped apart during our presentation...

Our magazine L is designed in the style of ELLE and is a fashion magazine based in the borders and is targeted at all women over several generations, like ELLE. We chose the theme 'Liberty' taking inspiration from the story of Eve. This is the first of what I am sure will be many magazine projects and I have learnt a lot in the last 5 weeks. Not only can I now use indesign (Horrrahh!!), I also feel I have learnt a lot about the areas of comms that I enjoy. Though I love photography I definitely think the writing, editing and perhaps PR and advertising will be the road for me?? However it is still early days and I am just enjoying working with the people here, while doing something I really love.

So here it is...after many hours in the CAD lab and more than a few late nights studying Elle we have our magazine! Have a look and let me know what you think.

Very productive for a Monday!

This morning I shot the advert that will be part of our magazine. It was to advertise Heriot- Watt School of Textiles and Design and encourage students to come to study here. We obviously wanted to appeal to the 'Elle market' (our model magazine) so we wanted something clean and fashionable. This idea was one of the groups but the picture, editing and design is mine. I am really happy with it as i think it goes well with the whole look of the magazine and as editor that has been my main priority I think i might have another look at the text as I am not totally happy with it.

I just hope our tutor likes it too!!!

Catch the Cover

With my magazine deadline fast approaching there is only a few final tasks this week, one of which is our cover. Following the 'Liberty' theme we wanted a soft yet confident cover that would engage with our audience. Elle (the magazine we are working from) always has very strong covers that are also famine and chic, just the right amount of edge to catch attention yet not offend any of their huge market.

We tried two different looks for our covers. We wanted to keep with the idea of Eve (our main spread in the magazine) so our first cover focused on the innocence of Eve early in the story. We used the apple as a prop along with pearls creative an almost angelic pose. I like the first shots but as a group we agreed they were not quite strong enough for a cover. They are slightly too posed and the hair etc is too perfect. If you look at any Elle cover there is always an element of freedom/ life.

Our second cover was a lot more successful. Using a different model with a stronger profile we styled her in white to keep in line with the softness of the original idea but had her hair was looser and more relaxed, showing a confidence and self assurance. All cover girls have got to have an identity that is captured in the picture. Though we wanted a classic Elle styles cover we also wanted to incorporate some of their edge, so rather than an apple we used a snake. The famous sayings”never work with children or animals" will be remembered in the future!  Though our snake was no man eater, it had diva traits. Once we had managed to stop both the model and snake from wriggling away we managed to get some good shots. Though these are not the final edits it will give you an idea of the look we are going for.

Capture the 'Elle' girl

With my current university project based around Elle, each of our features has to capture the Elle girl for the Elle girl. The challenge is however that our magazine must be based around the Borders, which is not the 'glossy-est' place in the world! But we feel we are managing slowly but surely and it is really helping me to develop my 'creative eye' as it is important to remember it is not where you are that matters it is how you focus and shoot the look. So for one of the features we are doing an Elle travel styled article on a local village we felt is very Elle as it's pretty and country chic. So here are some of the first pictures I took to go along with the piece. We are calling the feature 'A day in Melrose...just for you' and it is a girl about town/ladies of lunch look.

Fashion Communication

This term at University has been nonstop since the word go. I was extremely excited to begin the intro to my own course this term and though very busy, I love it! Our brief was to create a magazine in the style of Elle based on the area we are living in. This required a lot of creative thinking to make the borders high fashion magazine but we are raising to the challenge and working in groups of 8 we are now two weeks until the magazine goes to print we are making good progress.
As though this project wasn't scary enough we also had to pitch our initial ideas three weeks ago to Hywel Davis, a writer and lecture from CMS. We had heard horror stories from last year’s first years so everyone was feeling the pressure. However after a great lecture from him I figured he would be profession but honest in our pitch and I just hoped he liked our work...and I wouldn't break down in front of him!
The pitch could not have gone better and it was one of the best experiences of my life! The next big challenge was delivering all of the ideas we pitched. We have done three shoots around the theme of Female Liberty. With Eve being the first women our main shoot was based around the story of a girl being tempted and rebelling and in that finding independence and freedom. Here are few of the first pictures from the eve shoot and I will post the final magazine up in a few weeks!