Websites I love...

So in my last blog entry, I briefly touched on a website I used to gather resources together called Pinterest.

Pinterest is basically an online pin board. You're browsing the internet, find a picture you like, and you want to show it/share it/ make a note of it for later. Basically with Pinterest, you create an account, then drag and drop the "Pin It" tool to your bookmarks on your internet browser, and every time you see a photo or image you like, you click the "pin it" tool, and it pins the image (with a link to the original source) to your pin board. Think of it like your favourites list on Flickr, only you can favourite anything on the internet.

I find the Pinterest tool very useful for sharing images with people, especially creative teams collaborating on photo shoots. I think of it as being a virtual scrapbook I can access with an internet connection. Using it as a tool with my creative teams during my period photo shoots, I was able to make notes and instructions about what I was looking for, especially in relation to make up, hair, costume, poses, and so on. Make up artists usually create mood boards, and Pinterest is the sort of resource that would let you do that. Plus, you can create as many different pin boards as you like, you can follow and comment and re-pin from friends pin boards too.

As a resource, I think this has endless possibilities for anyone doing research on the web. Still stuck for things you could do? Here's some of my suggestions:


1. Mood Boost Board
Monday morning, sitting at work, feeling a bit fed up that the weekend has gone so quickly? Why not create a mood board that will help boost your mood? Collect pictures of loved friends and family scattered across the internet; pictures of exotic beaches you fancy visiting someday; your dream home/car; or just fill it with collected pictures of your favourite actor/singer to make everyone else wonder what's brought such a smile to your face so early in the day.

2. Healthy Board
It might not be scientifically proven (I'm basing this on personal experience here!) but if you're trying to improve your health, why not gather pictures to inspire you? A dress you want to buy (and fit into!), or photos of appetising and healthy food to tempt you away from the chocolate eclairs. Or photos of people exercising, or doing outdoor activities, or lush green parks, people at spas - anything that makes you want to get fit and healthy. If standing by the supermarket queue and seeing sweets tempts you to buy and tuck into something chocolatey, perhaps a healthy board will tempt you towards something a little better for you!


3. Hair Cuts
Read the beauty pages of any magazine, and they usually suggest that you take pictures of hair styles to show your hairdresser. If you're anything like me, you usually remember this when its a bit late - the day of the appointment! So save some time, and start a haircut pin board; so if you want the back of one cut with the fringe from another picture, or a particular shade then why not create a pin board of haircuts you like, and build a collection of pictures to help you get the hairstyle you want!


4. Interiors
We'd all like to have a home built up of collected and selected objects, but how many of us actually end up with a mismatched clutter instead? Why not make up a mood board to help you create your dream interior designs? Think of it as a means of drawing all your ideas together into a more organised selection, you could use it to find sofas, lights, book shelves, paint or wallpaper or curtains that would all work together into your ideal room.


5. Gardens
Same ideas as the interiors - use the boards to help organise your thought processes over your dream garden. Build up pictures of plants, shrubs, and features that could work in your garden, rather than arriving at the garden centre with a blank mind and a shopping basket filled with plants that you hope will work when you get home. 


6. Holidays
Get inspired for dream holidays and places you'd like to visit. You could also use it as a board to cheer you up when you need a daydream or two of a gorgeous beach when its raining outside. You might be surprised what you find landing on your pin board - you might be tempted to explore a new country or location that you've yet to visit; or swap your usual hotel by the beach in the Med for a holiday exploring the Far East.

7. Photos
This is my favourite one, and perhaps I'm a little biased. One of my previous brides decided to send me links to wedding photos she'd seen on the internet, to ask if I could do photos in the style she'd found. It was a great thing to do - we both then had a clear idea exactly of what she wanted and a starting point for talking about her wedding photography. Much like showing your hairdresser pictures of styles you like, this sort of board could help you get the photos you want, and helps make sure everyone is clear as to what you're after and what can be created for you!

8. Clothes
Ever see a photo of a dress, or shoes or a top you like in a magazine then completely forget about it or where you've seen it? Why not create a visual shopping list for yourself using the Pinterest boards? You could do this especially for getting a holiday wardrobe together before you go away, or maybe some new clothes for a personal make-over.


9. Events
Preparing for a wedding? why not make your own research boards of things you like. So wedding cakes, chair decorations, bridesmaid dresses, bouquets, table centre pieces; or maybe you're planning a birthday bash and want to make sure you get the right location and themes for the day? You could add design, decoration, even just a mood through a picture.

10. Things to do
Think of this as DIY and how-tos. The internet is awash with useful examples of how to make things, how to do things yourself. Sure, we all bookmark the most useful things (if we remember); at worst, we trawl through links we've posted on Facebook/Twitter, or maybe even type in a few words to a search engine. Well, what about tagging the photos of things you want to make, create, do, become, improve? the "after" photo, so you can see how its done? One of the useful things about pinterest, is that it takes you back to the source of the original image, so you can find it there. Alternatively, the how-to in question might take the form of an image, so you could link to that. Or you might want to simply make a collection of things you plan to make in the future (which as someone who enjoys knitting, usually includes "make a scarf like this"). Your things to do might not be quite so creatively minded, but more places you want to visit, local coffee shops, or days out. Make something to jog your memory, keep it fresh, and ensure you actually do the things you're planning, make it a to-do-list you actually feel inspired to tick off.

Portrait of a lady

18th Century lady, originally uploaded by Kristin Mitchell photography.

So the past few weeks, I've been kept exceptionally busy.  As you might know, I already have a collection of qualifications in photography from college, but I recently signed up to a night class for a one-off course. 

When I left college last year, there was a photograph I'd created which to be honest, was what I'd call a bit of a slow burner. It took me a while to fall in love with it, but lots of other people seemed to like it a lot.  

It's this photograph, of a kite. 

The kite photograph was originally for an advertising concept, for wind energy. The outdoor image was shot first, then projected onto muslin cloth in a studio, and a kite was placed in front of the muslin.

After leaving college, I wished I'd experimented more with projections. So, when the chance came to do another class, and a self-initiated project, I decided to use projections again.

The inspiration for my project was old paintings and portraits, how aristocrats were portrayed in front of gorgeous vistas. So I started doing some digging around and more research. I decided to create modern portraits using projections to create the idea of someone sitting in front of a gorgeous vista.

It was a surprisingly big project. Although I created three portraits, the starting point was the background. I decided to take lots of pictures of backgrounds, so that I could bring out the richness in the shadow and detail in the lighter areas, much like traditional portrait painters would have done. If you look at almost any traditional painting, even in the darkest corner, it's not actually black paint; there's tiny details, in deep, dark rich colours, so subtle but still there. I wanted to make sure this wasn't lost with a camera, and took several photos, layering them in such a way to bring out the details and make it a rich palette of colour.

Next, was the portrait. The background was projected, but there had to be separate exposures - one for the background and another for the sitter; the background needed a longer exposure time than the sitter under the studio lights.

For two of the portraits, I hired dresses from Scottish Opera.

The portrait above, drew on inspiration from the 18th Century. I also created a portrait of a one of my regular models, Vivien Taylor, using a gorgeous early 19th Century Jane Austen period costume. The inspiration behind this picture can be found on Pinterest.

Finally, I took a leap into the 20th Century. I was very much curious about this image of Elizabeth II on her coronation by Cecil Beaton. What was curious to me, initially, was the angles of the background in relation to the chair and seating position of the Queen. In closer cropped images, the background is looking up, at an angle, into the roof, while the Queen sits straight on, towards the camera. This wider angle version hints that perhaps what we see behind the Queen isn't all it seems, but maybe a backdrop.

With this in mind, the lovely Wendy from Flossy and Dossy agreed to pose for me as my regal model. Here she's wearing a dress she made, with the tiara kindly borrowed from Gioia Mia. The interior of this shot was taken inside St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, and actually I think the flags and banners add an authenticity to the final image. Oh, and if you're wondering, yes, the clothes pegs were entirely intentional in the image - I wanted to show it wasn't simply a photoshop job, as people's awareness of image creation tends to become more cynical of how an image has been created.


The whole project kept me busy for the best part of seven weeks, including writing the proposal, sourcing background locations, photographing and editing the backgrounds, undertaking the research and constructing a research workbook, finding suitable dresses and props, as well as photographing and editing the images, printing them, and finally writing a evaluation. Both the proposal and evaluation had to be the length of an essay each.

So what do I get at the end of it? Well, enough credits, in conjunction with my previous college qualifications to undertake a single year's honours degree course, if I wish to do so. The alternative would have been to have spent a year full-time doing a degree course.

At this point in time, I have no intention on going back to college. While I enjoyed my time there, I don't feel that it's the right choice for me at this time. However, I always like to leave doors wide open when it comes to opportunities for the future, especially as this was very much a one-off night class. What I really got from it was the chance to explore projected backgrounds again in a large studio, and almost exclusive use of the studio for several weeks. It was also nice to do a more academic project again, and throw myself back into writing proposals and evaluations, and knowing that my work will be heavily critiqued and thoroughly evaluated by tutors.

For now though, its life back to normal and back to 21st century portraits!