***All sources can be found in the style of Harvard referencing at the bottom of my proposal and production journal page***
Research into Photojournalism
Photojournalism tells a story whether that’s in a single photo or a series of photographs. We see photojournalism every day in the news without even realizing, a photojournalists job is to show us the visual photographs that backs up a writer’s word of a story. While a journalist will use their pen and paper to tell stories, a photojournalist will use their camera to capture the visual representation of a story. Photojournalists cover important events, show us what’s happening in other parts of the world and make us feel like we are a part of the scene they have captured.
Photojournalism started to be recognized once cameras were able to be transported to war zones and places with conflict. It was a massive breakthrough for media because it meant ordinary citizens could see the impact of the war in their newspaper. This became more popular and real between the Civil war and World War II. However nowadays photojournalism isn’t just about capturing war photos, photojournalism is used to capture everything important and relevant to the public. The images captured should in my opinion evoke a feeling from the audience: empathy, happiness, sadness, surprise, shock etc…
https://photographyicon.com/photojournalism/
https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/an-introduction-to-photojournalism-2688644
Chosen Social Issue- Body Image
Body image in basic terms is how you see yourself when you look in the mirror or how you picture yourself in your mind. I believe body image is one of the biggest social issues we are facing at the moment (besides plastic pollution). Its so hard to feel good about the body your in when we live in a society that promoted idealistic and unrealistic body expectations. Because of this, so many individuals experience depression, anxiety, anger, embarrassment, shame, self-loathing and self-disgust. Body image doesn’t just affect an individuals view of themselves, it can also interfere with developing healthy social or romantic relationships because some people avoid social situations. We live in a perfection-focused society and we are told to conform to impossible beauty standards by social media, advertisement, model, etc…
Everywhere you look there is something to make you feel bad about the body you were born with. We have it fixed in our minds that we have to fit a certain body shape or size and that if we are “different” we aren’t beautiful. Every week there seems to be a new diet trendy on social media and claims that it can give you the “perfect body”, Everyone try’s hard to be their “most beautiful” self by changing who they are.
This effects everyone, and no one is safe from poor body image and low self-esteem. Both men and woman have been given an unrealistic body image goal. Men should be strong, muscular, show no emotion, have a big penis, etc. Woman should be petite, delicate, slim, have a thigh gap, tiny waist, clear skin and the list goes on and on. We are all victims of social media, we have let them influence our ideas and control our minds with these expectations.
Body image has been a massive part of my life and when I look back in time, I remember having issues with the way I looked in Primary School. My body image perceptions and insecurities have changed over the years but so has trends. I think there is more being done to make people feel good about themselves however still so much more could be done especially for men and teen boys. We see plus size and curvy models but they still look amazing: perfect skin, no stretch marks or cellulite on show. Its a start much its still not realistic, it gives the message that its ok to have curves however your skins must still look good, your hair should still be shiny and thick. This to me is definitely not a solution, it is merely a start to solving this issue.
The body-positive movement has risen in popularity and visibility in recent years. This movement has and is achieving respect for all body types, regardless of body shape, age, ethnicity, weight, disability, and gender. Despite the fact that this movement is for everyone, women are the faces on these campaigns and you don’t see as much body positivity relating to men. I don’t believe that this is the intention of this movement but I think this does need to be rectified because men do suffer just as bad as women do. This also goes for scientific research on positive body image, most studies have only investigated body image among women. In some context this does make sense, considering that it is more common for women to have negative body image and that society has typically put more appearance pressures on women compared to men. I do believe that there is more work to be done in order to achieve respect and appreciation for women bodies compared to men’s, I have based this on the fact that women feel the need to wear makeup to cover their face whereas men are never under pressure to cover their face in this way.
However, it is still very important to focus attention onto male body confidence because a lot of men are unhappy with their bodies and have appearance pressures. Social media and TV creates a lot of this pressure because these portray the “ideal man” for a women as being muscular, lean and tall. One thing I have learnt from boys around me is they think they need to be more buff/bigger and not smaller, whereas women think they need to be smaller. These stigmas need to be destroyed because you can’t help the body your born into but we can try to change our perceptions on our bodies.
http://albertellis.org/body-image-issues/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/mind-your-body/201810/positive-body-image-in-men
https://themighty.com/2018/03/men-with-eating-disorders-body-positivity/
Barbie
Barbie’s and dolls in general were a big part of my childhood, I played with my dolls almost everyday. This is the same for a lot of girls (and boys), and when I had Barbie’s 
they all had the exact same body type. As a child I never paid any attention to that or gave it much thought till now. All the Barbie’s I had were tall, wore high heels, had tiny waists, thin arms, had a thigh gap and beautiful long hair. And Ken was presented to be lean, fit with perfect white teeth and well styled hair. I think this does have an impact on how girls and boys see themselves when they grow up, by playing with this one body type everyday we are taught that this body is acceptable but we aren’t taught that having a different body is ok too. Over the years Barbie has had people complain about this because how can we expect girls to feel good about their bodies when they haven’t had examples of body diversity from a young age. According to Ms. Williams author of Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History states that the new body of Barbie can have the potential to impact both girls and boys expectations of body image.
However Barbie are trying to change this and in recent years have made efforts to make Barbie dolls more diverse. In 2016, Mattel introduced a ‘new look’ for Barbie. They 
released female dolls with various body sizes and shapes, included in this new look were dolls with various skin tones and hairstyles. All of this is the first time Barbie had changed its image since the 1960’s, I can’t believe it has taken this long for Barbie to make a change. The company has stated that they ‘have a responsibility to girls and parents to reflect a broader view of beauty”, this a big step for Barbie and for improving body image. Ken is also getting a makeover with various body shapes, size, height and hairstyles too. There are now variations on Ken that include “slim, broad, or original” and with different races. Compared to Barbie, Ken has seen a change in the past several decades of different work roles but has not had changes to his height, size, or shape.
https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/blog/barbies-look-body-image
https://feminisminindia.com/2018/11/27/barbie-effect-dolls-beauty-standards-body-image-issues/
Quick Facts and Numbers
9/10 teen girls are unhappy with their body in the UK.
It is thought that our mothers are responsible for passing on their own insecurities.
Out of 2,000 girls only 8% said they were “happy” with their appearance which mean shockingly 87% said they were “unhappy”. Only 19% of the teen girls questioned were actually overweight. 67% thought they needed to loose weight and 64% of those under 13 years old had already been on a diet. Out of those who said they were unhappy with their appearance, 90% thought their own mother had “an insecure body image”. This is according to the survey for BLISS Magazine.
Among teenagers, 37% felt upset, and 31% felt ashamed in relation to their body image.
Just over one third of adults said they had ever felt anxious (34%) or depressed (35%) because of their body image.
1 in 8 adults in the UK have had suicidal thoughts or feelings because of concerns about their body image.
Just over one in five adults (21%) said images used in advertising had caused them to worry about their body image.
Just over one in five adults (22%) and 40% of teenagers said images on social media caused them to worry about their body image.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-205285/90-teens-unhappy-body-shape.html
https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/body-image-report/exec-summary
Body Image- People/brands that promote body-positivity
Ashley Graham
Ashley Graham has been taking the modelling world by storm, she is one of the most recognized plus-sized models in the industry and world. She is an American model who has become one of the most popular faces in the modelling industry and inspires many women who classify themselves as curvy to be confident with their body. Ashley celebrates what women’s bodies actually look like rather than the impossible standards set by the fashion industry. Because of this she has been described as an ambassador of the “real beauty” movement.
Ashley Graham has graced the covers of the world’s biggest fashion magazines: Vogue, Elle and Harper’s Bazaar. She has walked the runway for massive fashion brands and for major designers. In 2016, Graham made history by becoming the first curvy model to grace the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. This was an amazing achievement for Ashley and is so inspirational for others to see her on SI cover. Ashley said “It was an eye-opening experience for me in that ‘Oh my God, I can do anything I want,’ “. She demonstrates that if you believe in yourself and work hard enough it will pay off. “When you’re given an SI cover and you take advantage of it, you can conquer the world.” Ashley’s inspirational words should be repeated to every women every single day, everyone could be with a little more self-love and belief.
Ashley graham wants to ditch ‘real women’ as a phrase, she told Elle in February 2016; “I don’t like to use the words ‘real women’, honestly, I like to use the word ‘women.’ And I say that because there are so many women out there who are naturally thin, or are naturally curvy.”
https://people.com/sports/who-is-ashley-graham/
https://www.biography.com/people/ashley-graham
Iskra Lawrence
Iskra is a British model, she has struggled a lot in the modelling industry to be put into a ‘category’. Iskra has been told that she was “too big” for straight-size modelling and “not big enough” for plus-modelling, as a result of this she has long been committed to improving the image of women in the media. She believes #everyBODY is beautiful.
Iskra was included in the BBC’s 100 most influential women, she really does deserves to be in that list because she dedicates herself everyday to making others feel good about themselves. She has also taken part in: Aerie’s #AeriaREAL Role Model which included unretouched intimates, loungewear and swim campaigns and tour universities across the USA to speak with students about body positivism. Iskra is also a brand ambassador from the National Eating Disorders Association, creating the NEDA Inspires Award. With NEDA she works to generate awareness and support for individuals and families affected by eating disorders. Alongside that she is also a guest author to many publications including Huffington Post, Time and SELF magazine.
Sierra Schultzzie
Sierra Shultzzie is a YouTuber and started YouTube in April 2015, her YouTube channel has over 700,000 subscribers. She creates content for YouTube and Instagram, she focuses on fashion, body positivity, and experimenting with different styles to promote confidence. Sierra aims to inspire wiomen of all sizes to be confident and love their curves, she often does videos that show how two girl with same size clothes but different body proportions can still look just as good as each other.
Sierra has also created a movement of women who express themselves through fashion and embrace/accept their bodes as perfectly imperfect. #curvycrew x @curvycrew
https://www.famousbirthdays.com/people/sierra-schultz.html
https://store.dftba.com/collections/sierra-schultzzie
https://www.toopics.com/p/1942435812926879747_7776359034
Little Mix
I am briefly looking into Little Mix because they released a music video called Strip and it definitely screams body positivity and confidence. I really like that the video is in B&W because I want to use some B&W photos in my photo-shoot and test it out.
Little Mix are a British girl group who were formed in 2011 on the X Factor UK. Leigh-Anne, Jesy, Jade and Perrie all auditioned as solo artists and were later put into a group by Kelly Rowland at boot camp. Little Mix went on to become the first ever group to win the X Factor. They have released 7 albums since then: DNA, Salute, Get Weird, Love Me Like You, Glory Days, Woman Like Me and LM5. All of these albums include very empowering songs such as, Wings, Salute, Power, Woman Like Me and Strip.
Little Mix are just four normal girl who happen to be conquering the world, they have an incredible friendship and always have each others back. They’ve proved a lot of stereotypes wrong in recent years and continue to do so, they have proved that a girl group can have no drama. The girls openly embrace who they are and still share their personal problems for example, Jesy has been open about her body image issues over the years and Jade has opened up to her fans about her eating disorder.
Despite all of the amazing things these four women have accomplished there are still people criticizes them and trying to knock them down. “They look like strippers on stage” is a comment that repeatedly gets thrown at the girls. Jesy in particular has been targeted with comments like, “she’s too big to wear that” and has been labeled as “fat” which is far from the truth and disgusting. They want every woman of all shapes and sizes to be able to wear anything they want. People’s comments never stop them to succeed and do/wear what they want to.
http://www.safehavenanonymousletters.co.uk/2018/01/womens-wednesday-little-mix-and-body.html
http://www.capitalfm.com/artists/ed-sheeran/news/little-mix-camila-cabello-song/
https://minimalsounds.co.uk/premiere-little-mix-strip-two-fierce-fearless-new-videos/
Mina Gerges
Mina Gerges is a Canadian Egyption model and activist who is challenging traditional male beauty standards and promoting body diversity/confidence. Mina claim to fame happened in 2015 when his recreations of celebrity looks was posted on Buzzfeed.com as it top story, it then went viral. They were featured in International publications worldwide, in addition to being reposted by Katy Perry, Amber Rose, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. Mina was bullied a lot online about his weight whilst batting with an eating disorder. After this he decided to shift his focus on body positivity instead of celebrity recreations. Mina felt lonely during his struggle and didn’t want other men to go through what he was, so his goal was to combat toxic masculinity because this prevents men from speaking out about body image issues.
Mina has opened up about his eating disorder at the age of 20 and that unrealistic beauty standards in the media led him to it. Lack of body diversity in social media in the past has left Mina feeling invisible and unrepresented. He has had interviews and articles written about him in Teen Vogue, Paper Magazine, The Huffington Post, and CBC. This led him to modeling in Now’s Magazine’s Love Your Body Issue and Into’s Body Positive campaign to show the importance of representing a wide variety of bodies.
https://www.itsminagerges.com/
http://assets.businessinsider.com/mina-gerges-instagram-photos-men-eating-disorders-2018-3
https://fashionjournal.com.au/life/mina-gerges-is-your-friday-lol/
Kelvin Davis
Kelvin Davis is one of the few successful plus sized male models in the US, he has been seen in #AerieMAN April Fools’ snaful and in an ad for Chubbies. However he has been signed with Bridge Models, a curve modeling agency based in London. He has been signed as one of their influencers and models. This has been a long time coming for Davis and he deserves his big break. Bridge Models is a perfect fit for Davis because they have an entire men’s division devoted to plus size men. This also helps Davis to make his body positivity movement progress further.
Kelvin Davis blogs about body positivity and men’s fashion, his blog is called Notoriously Dapper. Kelvin’s blog displays daily looks to inspire all men to embrace who they are. He created his blog after feeling insecure about his body whilst shopping. He vowed to never feel that insecure and ashamed of his size again.
https://chubstr.com/features/aerie-man-campaign-really-hoax-april-fools/
Zach Miko
Zach Miko has a 40 inch waist and is 6ft 6inches and is the first plus-sized model to be signed to a major agency (IMG). IMG looks after models including, Gigi Hadid, Lara Stone and Freja Beha. Zach has modeled for Target and has also modeled for Yours. Zach’s signing came in perfect timing for bringing more body positivity to the media, when he was signed there was a high demand for male plus size models but there weren’t any on the books of major model agencies in the UK until Zach. Zach Miko was signed under the Brawn Division of IMG and his deal with the company was profiled by Vogue. Zach hopes his modeling will help men in the same way that Ashley Graham has for women.
https://www.famousbirthdays.com/people/zach-miko.html
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/mar/29/zach-miko-male-model-plus-size-body-image-fashion
Megan Crabbe
Megan is an inspirational body confidence blogger who is very well known for her Instagram account bodyposipanda. She also has a blog under the same name but last year started writing new advice columns for The Unedit, an online body positive magazine instead. She suffered from anorexia and self-loathing but wanted to be healthy and confident so that’s what she aimed for and she hasn’t just helped her self she has also helped others around her- she was only 14 when she was diagnosed with an eating disorder. She has an Instagram following of 1.1 million, this just goes to show how many she influences on the daily. She isn’t afraid to speak up and say when something isn’t right. For example, she wrote a piece on Instagram directed toward Oprah Magazine for being body negative.
https://www.famousbirthdays.com/people/megan-crabbe.html
Photographers who inspire me
Yumna Al-arashi
Yumna is a photographer based in London, she is also a filmmaker and writer. Even though she is based in London now she was originally born in Washington, DC in 1988. Yumna’s work has been displayed in exhibitions, screened, sold and published worldwide. She also enjoys working for brands, museums, publications, artists and working for herself. Her work has been featured in Vogue, New York Times, Artsy, Dazed&Confused, I_D, Vice, Huffington Post, The Cut, The National Abu Dhabi and many more. She has had a lot of support and praise over her work by The National Portrait Gallery, The US Department of State Office of Art in Embassies, Tribeca Film Festival, Photoville, NYC, National Geographic’s and many more again. She is represented by IMG LENS and some of her past clients include, Apple, Barneys New York, NOWNESS, National Geographics, ASOS, Topic, Warner-Bros, T-Mobile and many more yet again.
https://yumnaaa.com/portfolio-all
Sally Mann
Sally Mann is one of the most renowed photographers in America, she was born in Virginia, 1951. Sally’s work is help by big institutions internationally and has received numerous awards of which include: NEA, NEH and Guggenhein Foundation grants. Sally Mann is represented by Gagosian Gallery, New York. She also has multiple books published which include: At Twelve, Immediate Family, Still Time, What Remains, Deep South, Proud Flesh, The Flesh and The Spirit, Remembered Light and Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings. Blood Ties (1994)- documentary about her work- was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2008 and her 2006 feature film What Remains was also up for an Emmy in 2008. In 2001 Time Magazine named Sally Mann “America’s Best Photographer”.
Hold Still (Sally’s best selling memoir) received universal critical acclaim and was a finalist for the National Book Award. In 2016 Hold Still won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction. Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings in 2018 was presented as a critically lauded show in the National Gallery of Art. A Thousand Crossings addresses complex issues relating to the American South and is comprised of 109 prints and several videos.
I love Sally Mann’s portraits, there seem so effortless and in the moment. She uses black and white in almost all of her images and that’s what I hope to do with my photographs. The exposure and contrast of the black and white is different in every image and this determines what it makes the viewer see/feel. I will be heavily referring to her portfolio when it comes to my photo-shoot and editing for inspiration. When I look closely at the bodies i notice the shadows that shape and define the body, I need to make sure to have shadows and not wash the bodies out in order to create realistic images. I want my background to be as black as I can get it in some images, to do this I will need to control the amount of light I use but also the where the light is coming from (direction).
info@gagosian.com- waiting on reply
Rankin
info@rankin.co.uk
https://rankin.co.uk/biography/
Rankin is a very talented and well known photographer, publisher ad film director. His portfolio is bursting at the seems with work ranging from portraiture to documentary: with shots of David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Kate Moss, Kendall Jenner and Queen. His imagination and fearless approach behind the lens has led him to create some master pieces and build up his own business.
Rankin’s career began when co-founding the seminal magazine Dazed & Confused with Jefferson Hack. Since then he has continued to stay in publishing with AnOther Magazine, the bi-annual Hunger Magazine and over 42 books to his name, who isn’t inspired by his hard work?
Rankin is a massive film fanatic and he soon gave directing moving image a go, his directing skills have gotten him even further in the media industry. As a photographer and director, Rankin has created landmark editorial and advertising campaigns for some of the biggest brands, publications and charities. This includes: L’Oreal, Dove, Pantene, Diageo, Women’s Aid, Comic Relief and Oxfam, alongside music videos for the likes of Miley Cyrus, Rita Ora and Kelis. His skills and imagery is endless.
Rankin co-directed his debut feature film, The lives of Saints in 2002- written by Toni Grisoni. He has built his Ranking empire and is continuously expanding and growing, there’s no stopping Rankin. Rankin Film has today’s hottest directing talent, creating out of this world work for the worlds of fashion, music videos and advertising.
Rankin has also worked for a lot of charities, he has traveled the world creating powerful campaigns as a photographer and director. He’s worked for Comic Relief 2015 and again in 2017 to create the t-shirts and merchandise for a record-breaking Red Nose Day. His 2017 campaign with Macmillan Cancer Support went viral as people were encouraged to Brave the Shave.
I have chosen to look at Rankin because he took the pictures of Little Mix for there song ‘Strip’.
Rankin’s portfolio is endless but I am inspired by his portraits because they are all so different, there are some in colour, some in B&W and some with effects. The images below are perfect examples of how I can use shadows and highlights in B&W photography. In particular I am drawn to the image of Idris Elba because the use of the shadows and light makes the image edgy and powerful, I want to try this when it comes to my test shots.
Kitra Cahana
Kitra Cahana is a freelance documentary photographer, photojournalist, videographer and a TED speaker. Born in Miami but raised in Canada and Sweden- Kitra earned her B.A. in philosophy from McGill University and her M.A. in visual and media anthropology from the Freie Universitat in Berlin.
Kitra explores important social, anthropological and spiritual themes. She is a contributing photographer to National Geographic Magazine. Her work for NGM includes images taken on assignment to feature on the teenage brain and culture in the United States.
Kitra has won numerous grants and awards for her work, this includes two Canada Council Grants for the Visual Arts. TED Senior Fellowship in 2016, a 2015 Pulitzer Centre for Investigative Reporting grant, artist residency at Prim Centre 2014-2015, the 2013 International Center of Photography’s Infinity Award, first prize for the 2010 World Press Photo, a scholarship at FABRICA in Italy and the Thomas Morgan internship at the New York Times.
“I try to approach every story I work on as though I’m going to write a thesis about it. I really embed myself.”
kitra.cahana@gmail.com
http://wovexhibition.org/photographers/kitra-cahana/bio
https://kitracahana.com/hunger-suburbs-houston-2/
https://kitracahana.com/biography/
Target Audience
Survey results and analysis…
Gender?
My survey was answered by 5 boys and 5 girls with the ages of 16/17 years old. I want my survey to be answered by the same amount of boys to girls to be able to compare the two genders. I also wanted equal girls to boys because this issue effects both genders but girls open up about it a lot more than boys do. It will be interesting to see what the boys say about body image and their struggles.
Are you happy with your body and why?
This was interesting because I wanted to see if the boys had the same insecurities as the girls. It was insightful because all of the boys said they didn’t like their bodies or some parts of it. Whereas out of the five girls one said “Personally I don’t care what other people think about me, even though I may want certain flaws about myself to be gone. But love yourself before others”. What I did notice was that the boys were more reluctant to give a reason why but the girls had no problem explaining what they didn’t like about their bodies. This could be a result of the stigma around boys and them thinking they have to be “manly” or “man up”.
What do you think makes people want to have ‘perfect’ bodies?
9/10 answers mentioned social media, social standard, celebrity influence and models. Both genders could identify the source of our insecurities and all agreed what’s to blame for wanting a “perfect” body. It’s interesting to see that both girls and boys agree and can identify the problem yet every single on of them are on social media. This goes to show that we don’t do much to help ourselves or others with this problem.Advertising were also mentioned, this took my interest because it’s very true that many adverts show actors with fit figures. I think this id done in adverts to sell the image to viewers, “if you buy our products you will look like this”.
Do you look up to anyone for body positivity and confidence? If so, who and why?
I asked this question because there are so many different people that we can look up to, to give us confidence. Everyone had different answers for this question, it was surprising to learn that 5/10 people didn’t look up to anyone in particular and just wanted a desirable body and that’s what they strive for. It was mainly the girls that looked up to people for inspiration, and the boys that did look up to people, looked up to people like, the rock which is fine but is a very hard body to reach. And I think that will put too much pressure on that boy to reach those goals. I think we should all have people to look up to but not to strive to be. Everyone is their own person but looking up to someone’s out look on life is so much better for our mental wellbeing than looking to someone because of the body they have. One of the girls who took part in this survey said they look up to Jameela Jamil, I think she is a great person to look up to because she represents everyone equally and stands up for everyone’s bodies. Jameela Jamil is a British actress and activist, I think everyone could learn from Jameela’s out look at life and our bodies.
When you aren’t confident in your body how does that make you feel?
When asked how they feel when they aren’t confident most of them said it made them feel sad overall. Top be more specific 40% of the people who took the survey said they feel sad, this is a lot who are unhappy. 10% said they fell ashamed/anxious and 20% that they felt “pressured to look a certain way”. After seeing results like these it makes sense to why people’s mental health decreases from something as simple as not liking your body. These results should push people to be kinder about others bodies because everyone who took this survey suffers from poor body image. It was good to note that no one said they felt paranoid or angry about their bodies. It seems to be they are more worried about how they feel about their bodies than what others think because no one was paranoid.
Do you think more ‘normal’ bodies need to be advertised on social media/TV?
Everyone who took the survey agreed that more ‘normal’ bodies should be advertised on social media and TV. If everyone can agree that there needs to be more diverse bodies on medias than why aren’t we seeing more be done to accommodate this. Within the last few years there has been a small change but it clearly isn’t enough of a change if this many people still feels that more ‘normal’ bodies need to appear. Promoters and casting agencies go off the theory that viewers are more likely to watch a TV show or follow someone on social media they have a more desirable body or have distinctive features. Promoters and casting agents need to listen to viewers and change for the better, for the interests/wellbeing of their viewers.
Do you think males suffer with poor body image issues in secret?
Finally I asked if they thought males suffer in silence, everyone agreed that yes men do suffer in silence. If we all know this than why hasn’t more been done to help men open up and share how they feel. Should us girls be doing something different to change how men feel about sharing their feelings? Or is it down to the men to open up and share their experience with body image? Their are increasingly more men who are promoting body confidence but I still think their needs to be more male influencers with different body types and sizes. There has been links to men’s mental health and their body image, this is why it’s important for everyone to share their struggles with their body.
Primary Audience profile
I have made this audience because I had to for this assignment. However I did not want to create a audience profile because I want my project to reach everyone hence why I have used three forms of publications. I also used models of different ages, genders, body type, body size and all with unique bodies. The oldest model was 52 years old and the youngest model 15 years old. Also all of my models had different incomes, occupations and hobbies. It’s very hard to narrow down to one type of audience especially with body image because everyone has insecurities and could use a confidence boost. So I have decided to do a primary audience profile.
Focal Length
Basically focal length of your lens is how ‘zoomed in or out’ your photos are. You can tell the focal length by looking at the numbers on your lens and the higher the number, the more zoomed in your lens is. The focal length is measured by it’s the distance between the point of convergence in your lens to the sensor or film in the camera.
This diagram is a visual explanation of focal length and visually backs up what i have explained above. I found this diagram on expertphotography.com and this has helped me to understand focal length in more detail.
There are five main focal length lenses; ultra wide angle 14-24mm, wide angle 24-35mm, standard 35-70mm, mild telephoto 70-105mm and telephoto 105-300mm. Ultra wide angle lenses are considered a specialty item and are not often included in a lens kit. Ultra wide angle lenses are most used for events and architectural photography because this lens allows a lot to be captured in a photo. Wide angle lenses are commonly found in lens kits for full frame cameras. Wide angle lenses are typical used by photojournalists for documenting situation because they can include a lot in a single photo whilst still looking realistic. A standard lens will reproduce what our eyes see, this lens is used for a lot of photography. A standard lens is also quite an inexpensive addition for a camera and will provide good results. Mild telephoto lenses are still a part of a lens kit but will stop at this lens and focal length. Mild telephoto lenses are really for for portrait photos because the natural perspective of the lens will separate the face from the background without completely isolating it. Finally telephoto lenses are most often used for distant scenes like buildings and mountains. However they’re not suitable for landscape photography because of the way they flatten the perspective of a scene. Lenses in a range higher than 300mm mostly used for sport and animal photography.
Aperture
The aperture is the size of the hole that determines the amount of light that passes 
through the lens and into the image sensor/film. The aperture is expressed as f2.8, f6, f16 etc, this is called the f-number- this value indicates how much light can pass through.
The larger the aperture (size of the hole), the more light that strikes the image sensor which then creates a shallow depth of field (focus). However the smaller the aperture, the less light that strikes the image sensor which means the depth of field is deep.
Shutter Speed
In basic terms the shutter speed controls how long the mirror is lifted in the camera to allow light to hit the image sensor or film. Shutter speed is measured in seconds or fraction of a second depending how fast you want the picture to be taken. It is usually given as a fraction of a second and each shutter speed is normally about twice a big or half as big as the next shutter speed. For example: 1 sec, 2 sec, 3 sec or 1/2 sec, 1/4 sec, 1/8 sec etc.
If you want a fast shutter speed 
like 1/1000 then you need a big aperture and if you want a long shutter speed like 2 seconds then you need a small aperture. This is because if you don’t do this the photo will most likely turn out too bright/dark or white because the amount of light coming through is too much or too little.
ISO
The ISO determines the light sensitivity pf the image sensor in your digital camera or the film used. The higher the ISO number the more sensitive the image sensor is to light in the camera. Most DSLR camera have an ISO that can be set between 100-320. On a very bright day the ISO needs to ideally be 100-200 (slow film) but on a low light day the ISO needs to be 800+ (fast film).
The ISO also plays a big role in picture quality because image noise means that the image appears rough/grainy and this degrades the picture quality. ISO 200 will give you a sharp image while ISO 3200 will show quite a lot of image noise. Simply the higher the ISO number the more noise/grain the photo will have.
Depth of Field
The depth of field is the range in front o
f and behind the point of focus where objects will appear to be in focus. The larger the aperture the more narrow the depth of field becomes (lower f-number, f2.8), longer focal length lens (300mm) and the shorter the distance between the camera and subject (macro).
Exposure
In order to have perfect exposure all of the above must be balanced and work together to make sure the photo turns out good. You can control all of the factors by using manual 
settings on the camera instead of automatic, this gives you as the photographer more control on the outcome of the photo. The aperture, shutter speed and ISO must all be correctly adjusted to get the best outcome in your photography. I will be using manual settings when it comes to my photo shoot as this will allow me to get great long exposure images. I will be using the exposure triangle on the right to help me get all of the factors correct.
Composition
The rule of thirds helps to create a well balanced and interesting shot. Rule of thirds is done by breaking an image into thirds horizontally and vertically, so you have nine parts. The rule of thirds is one of the most useful composition techniques in photography and it is an important concept to learn as it can be used in all types of photography. When using the rule of thirds you should consider where to place the main object in the image, whether the object should be to the left, right, up or down.
Lines/curves are both very important aspects of composition because they can separate or connect elements, lead the eye into the image/through a scene and add dynamism and sense of movement. Curves can also guide a viewer to a point of interest and lend a sense of grace. Lines leading to a point of interest, diagonal lines, and lines coming from the corners of the frame are especially strong. Lines should be kept subtle because they are used to enhance the primary subject.
Symmetry usually refers to a line that splits an object in half. If both sides of the object are an exact mirror image of each other, then the object is symmetrical. The line that splits a symmetrical object is called the line of symmetry. Symmetry can be a powerful tool if used well because it lets you automatically create harmony and a sense of aesthetically pleasing balance and proportion in a photograph.
Viewpoint is the angle, direction or stance that allows you alter the mood/feel of the photograph that you shoot. Even a subtle change in viewpoint can completely change the relationship between the subject in the photo and can show things very differently, possibly a more unique perspective. By getting in close you can reveal more telling details and create a greater sense of intimacy with the subject. Changing your position can greatly alter the implied power dynamics of a shot. By altering the distance from your subject you can also change the intensity. War photographer Robert Capa once said: “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough”.
Background is very important in a photo because if you don’t consider the background it can flatten the image and take away the greatness in the subject. The human eye is excellent at distinguishing between different elements in a scene, but cameras often flatten the foreground and background. You’ll want to consider a background that doesn’t distract from the subject and that doesn’t obstruct the subject too.
Depth is about making the perspective of the photo more engaging and interesting. We have to choose the composition carefully to convey the sense of depth that was present in the actual scene. Depth can be created in the photo by including objects in the foreground, middle ground and background. It is also useful to overlap in certain images because the human eye naturally recognises these layers and mentally separates them out, creating an image with more depth.
Cropping is very simple and an easier component of composition. A lot of the time a photo will lack impact because the main subject is too small and becomes a part of its surroundings instead of standing out. By cropping tight around the subject you eliminate the background “noise”, ensuring the subject gets the viewer’s undivided attention.
Framing is using whats around the subject to create a natural frame. The world is full of objects which make perfect natural frames, such as trees, archways and holes. By placing these around the edge of the composition you help to isolate the main subject from the outside world. I want to try this when taking my photos because I am taking pictures in a scene with a lot of trees so this will be the perfect opportunity for me to test this little trick.
Experimenting means you can break the rules of composition like “rule of thirds” for example. Experiment with your composition – you never know whether an idea will work until you try it. By not sticking to the typical rules you could end up with capturing you best photograph or creating something your really proud of.
Legal and Ethical Issues
What legal and ethical issues affect my publication? Considering NUJ and IPSO?
Being a journalist comes with a lot of rules and responsibilities because journalists write/photograph for the public and are the ones who deliver the information. This is why journalists should be accurate, fair and objective. Journalists need to be accurate because we must publish the correct facts and even the spelling of a person’s name should be correct and should be double checked. A journalist can make sure they are accurate by double checking their sources, using other sources to back up a statement and getting an editor or someone else to check you work. Journalists should also be fair, journalists can be fair be evaluating both sides of a story and not be bias. As journalists our job is to deliver the relevant and important facts to the reader from there the reader should develop their own opinion and not be swayed or influenced by the journalist’s opinion. Even images should show the facts. This leads to the next point of being objective when delivering information; being objective means that we should not be influenced by personal opinions or feelings when representing facts. Journalists are judged on the accuracy of the journalism they produce and it is both the journalists and editors job to make sure nothing is published that breaks these ethical rules.
Information should be well sourced, then supported by strong evidence, examined and tested to make sure it isn’t miss leading to the viewer or that it doesn’t break any laws. When writing make sure to be open, honest and straightforward especially when dealing with contributors. Also if allegations are being made the organisation or individual has the right to reply and defend themselves. Additionally, journalists must be impartial, however journalists are human and do have their own opinion and this occasionally comes through in their writing.
Defamation
Defamation is false communication which causes harm to a person’s reputation. A person’s reputation can be damaged by: decreasing the respect, confidence or regard of a person, or that causes hostile/disagreeable feeling or opinions against a person. Defamation is a chargeable offence in criminal and civil court. Defamation is both written and spoken communication, false written communication is called libel and spoken is called slander.
Contempt of Court
Contempt of court is the act of someone deliberately disobeying or disregarding regulations or laws that public authority has put into place, for example legislative body or a court. Individuals can be charge for contempt if they fail to comply with a request, disobey an order, impede with a case, withhold evidence, tamper with document or hold it up to ridicule and disrespect. A good example of this is the James Bulger court case because a man leaked suspected new identities online about James’ killers, this was illegal due to the contempt of court over protecting the anonymity of the two men.
Reporting of Minors
Extra care should be taken when reporting about children because you want to avoid putting the child, their siblings or peers at risk or in harm. To avoid this journalist shouldn’t publish their personal details/identities or an image of the child.
Copyright
Copyright is a legal right that has been put into place to protect the use of your work once your idea has been physically expressed. It stops people from using your work and claiming it as their own, also known as plagiarism. Copyright, Design and Patents Act is the current UK copyright legislation. You don’t have to register your work to ensure your rights are protected by copyright, copyright protection is automatic as soon ad your work is created.
Rights managed is a onetime charge for the use of an item (music or photo for example). The buyer cannot use the item for additional projects, the item will need to be re-licensed again. However they are allowed to use the item multiple times under one project (this goes more for photos).
Royalty free does not mean you can use someone else’s work for free, it means after purchasing the item for copyright you can use it multiple times on multiple projects with few restriction.
Creative commons is a set of various licenses that allow people to share their copyrighted work. That means people are allowed to copy, edited and build upon that work, whilst retaining the copyright to the original work. A lot of non-profit organizations and company with have this approach to copyright.
Moodboard
This mood board of images is a summary of my concept and ideas, these images show the body parts I want to include in my photoshoot. It also has different angles and light direction that I will test with test shots. It is also interesting to see the different contrasts I can use with the B&W filter, this is something for me to consider in my photoshoot and when I come to edit.
Costs and Budgeting
I need to consider the cost of a website (with personalised domain), hire equipment, print my book and editing systems. All of these thing cost money but fortunately because I am in college I am able to hire equipment out for free, my models are friends/family so they’re free and website, college systems have editing software for me to use free of charge and I have the option of using a free website maker without a personalised domain.
Cost of a website
Wix offer a little bit for everyone, if your someone like me who’s only just building their website/brand/portfolio the free version is great to get you started and focused on your look. However their are 4 other options available which open your website up to new possibilities and less restrictions.
Connect Domain gives you 1GB Bandwidth, this basically mean the more media you add to your website the more Bandwidth needed. This option keeps data downloading smoothly and keeps visitors happy because everything is fast to load. With 500MB storage you can download a lot of media, photos, videos and audio with few restriction in terms of storage. And with this option you can have your own personalised domain connected. However this plan does display Wix brand ads on your website. This plan is only £3 per month.
Combo is an upgrade from connect domain plan and is considered for personal use because it gives you 2GB Bandwidth, 3GB storage, connects your domain and a few added extras. It allows you to have 30 video minutes so if you are into film/directing this would be a good start for a website plan You can remove Wix ads and you also get a free domain for 1 year- plus you receive a £75 ad vouchers so you can advertise you website. All this for £6 per month.
Unlimited is recommended for entrepreneurs and freelancers because it offers unlimited Bandwidth, 10GB storage, connect your domain, 1 hour video, remove Wix ads, free domain for 1 year and £75 ad vouchers. Not only do you get this but you also get site booster app valued at £60 and form builder app valued at £48. All of this is offered to you for £8.50 per month, to me this seems like a few deal.
And finally we have the VIP plan which is recommended for first priority support so probably for big business or first growing individuals. Again you are offered unlimited bandwidth, 20GB storage, connect your domain, 2 video hours, remove Wix ads, free domain for 1 year, £75 ad vouchers, site booster app and form building app. With this plan you also get a professional logo valued at £50, Social media logo files, priority response and VIP support. All of this will cost you £18 per month.
Equipment Hire
I would hire my equipment from Lens Pimp in Plymouth because they have really good recommendations, a range of cameras, lenses etc for different prices.
Cameras: the prices for camera hire are based on 3 day hire, and they have Canon, Sony, Fiji, Lumix and Blackmagic. And the prices range from £52.00 to £220.00.
If I was hiring a camera I would look to hire the Canon EOS 6D MKII because it is highly recommended for portraiture photography and I prefer to work with Canon cameras. I can hire this camera from Lens Pimp from £125 for 3 days- I can hire the camera out up to 28 days.
Lens: Generally Camera bodies and lenses are hired separately. The lens I would hire would be the Canon EF 24-70mm 2.8 L USM because its the same brand as the camera body and 24mm-70mm is recommended and mostly used for portrait photography. This will give me the best range for zoom and angles to try out. I can hire this lens from Lens Pimp for £48 for 3 days.
If I needed to I could hire tripod, flash light and extra battery grip from £10 for 3 days.
Studio Hire
I luckily already have a studio set up kit with 4 colour backdrops, lights, reflective discs etc. So I don’t need to hire a studio but if I didn’t have my own studio kit I would use the college TV or photography studio. However if none of those were available I would have to hire a studio for an hour or two. I would go to Studio Hire Plymouth because they have everything for every kind of photoshoot, they also have a good reputation. You hire out a studio from £12 an hour depending on what you need it for and for how long.
https://studiohireplymouth.co.uk/
https://www.yooying.com/studiohireplymouth
Printing
Photo box offers hardcover photobooks from £9.99 to £45.99 for one book, this is a good option if you only wanted to print out one or two copies. After looking on Bonusprints, Snapfish, Tescophoto and Smart Photo, I have concluded if I wanted to print only a few copies Photobooks is the best option because it looks professional- however papier looks like a good company too.
Lulu is perfect for creating and self publishing a photobook and offers great prices per book, when I put what I wanted into their filters it gave me a price of £2-£3 per book. I think this is a fair price for someone like me who is only just starting up.
https://xpress.lulu.com/pricing
Editing Software
Again I’m very fortunate that the college have Adobe software such as, photoshop for me to use free of charge. But if I didn’t have the college I would have to purchase it myself for my laptop at home.
If I wasn’t a student the plans that I would be looking at photography plan and single app plan because I don’t have a big budget. The photography plan offers lightroom, lightroom classic, photoshop and 20GB of cloud storage for £9.98 per month or £119.21 per year. Single app plan offers you, your choice of one creative app like Photoshop, Illustrator, or Adobe XD, includes: 100GB of cloud storage, Adobe Portfolio, Adobe Fonts, and Adobe Spark with premium features. This is for £19.97 per month or £238.42 per year.
For now I am a student and Adobe offer teacher and student deals. Students and teachers get the complete set of Creative Cloud apps and services at £25.28/month and even at £16.24/month during the 1st year. Or get started with the Photography plan, which includes tight integration between your desktop and mobile devices so you can do your best work anywhere.
https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/plans.html?promoid=6NCS7DGT&mv=other
Research Evaluation
I have really enjoyed researching for this topic, this topic is so interesting and has so many different angles to look into (literally). It wasn’t easy researching into this topic because the more I researched the more I found to look into. The research is endless and I’m still going to add to me research both on this post and on my journal because I love seeing and exploring others peoples views on this topic.
I did a lot of secondary research, it couldn’t be helped because I had to use the internet and social media to look into celebrity/influencers that promote body positivity. I also used secondary research to investigate companies and possible causes of poor body confidence. I researched Barbie as one of the companies because they have in recent years changed their dolls sizes and colours because research has shown that the old Barbie that was one size and colour had a negative impact on girls body image when they grew up. This was especially interesting to look into because when I was younger I played with Barbie’s almost everyday. I also had to use secondary to collect most of my quantitative data because they have been many studies on the effects on people and how many people it effects. I used a few different websites to collect my quantitative data, for example I used a BLISS magazine survey results and a mental health website. Because these sources were very different it gave me a good insight to the different ways people are effected.
I have used primary research but not as much as secondary, for example, I created a survey on surveymonkey.com and sent it to a bunch of people my age because it is my age group that I am primarily targeting. I haven’t conducted vox pops and still don’t intend to because I don’t think it will be anymore useful than the survey. I made sure to have both girls and boys answer my survey because I wanted compare the two genders and their answers. I have done a little research into boys and body image because woman positivity is more openly talked about than boys but that is slowly changing. I used my survey to collect my own quantitative and qualitative data because I had a mix of open and closed questions, this meant I could get facts and opinions from my audience. My survey was one was my best sources for this research because I created the questions myself. This was good because I could ask the questions that were most relevant to my project. With more time I would have liked create a bigger survey and get more people to answer it. Most of the people that answered my survey were teens which was my primary target audience but it would have been interesting to compare what young people thought about body to what adults thought. The most insightful question of my survey was “do you think males suffer with poor body image issues in secret?” because this is a big problem with males and them not sharing there thoughts/feelings. All of the boys said that they were insecure about their bodies and this questions reveals that boys maybe find it hard to express how they feel about their body image. I think it is much easier for women to open up about their body image struggles compare to men.
Another big part of my research was images and mood boards, this is very helpful because it sums up my vision and ideas. It is also good to look into other photographers and their images because it will help me with angle, light etc and what is going to make my images look the best they possibly can. I continued to use image mood boards for my final photoshoot because it gave me ideas on lighting/shadow and poses. This was one of the most helpful parts of my research and it really helped to put all my ideas into one document.
I did a lot of research into different influencers, celebrities and activists that promote good body image. It was really easy to find women but not men. I managed to find a few male influencers, for example, Mina Gerges and Kelvin Davis. During my research I noticed that there are more and more men start to come out about their body insecurities and pressure surrounding male body image.
Research has influenced my ideas in multiple ways and the more I researched the more my ideas developed. Research helped to get stuck in and passionate about the topic. My original research looked into Little Mix and their ,music video Strip because this gave me the idea to do body image and to portray the images in black and white. After doing a bit of research into Little Mix it encouraged me to look into more people who have been affected by body shaming and doubts, these included: Ashley Graham and Iskra Lawerence.
I originally started the research with only women in mind because they were easy to research into but research made me look into male body image. This pushed me to include male models in my photoshoot because I felt like it was important to get more male body recognition. It was hard to get male models for the project, a lot of the boys I asked to model for me were very reluctant to be in front of the camera. That’s why I decided to keep all models and body’s anonymous because I didn’t want the models to feel ashamed or worry about what people will think.
I researched into a lot of photographers and look at many different photoshoot campaigns for inspiration. The two photographers that inspired the most for this project was Sally Man and Yumna Al-arashi, I really fell in lobve with Sally Man’s B&W images and how raw they were. Yumna inspired me by her self portraits and the different interpretations of photography a body. I combined both of these photographers into my final piece. How I did make sure to use my own ideas to make it my work and to put across the message I wanted people to see.
Francesca's FMP 