Innocence

This set of images was a project for an elective I did a little over a year ago now. The elective was called Fashion Film and Photography and it studied the way that film, fashion and photography all inform and inspire each other.

These images were based on a small genre of films that I don't think really have a specific name but I like to call "unsettling-films-about-girl's-schools" such as Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock, Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures and (more specifically referenced here) Lucile Hadzihalilovic's Innocence. 

 All these films reference the relationships shared between close groups of girl friends, which is a theme I will be revisiting for my Final Major Project that I am shooting next month, though the shoot will be very different from this.

These pictures specifically reference the cinematography of Innocence, shot on 35mm Portra-VC they mimic the saturated colours used in this film, though the poses chosen are reflective of all three of these films. 

I think the fact that I chose a film with this title Innocence is quite interesting in hindsight because looking back on these images they were a far more innocent way of working than my working process now. The models features are myself and my best friend at the time Holly, and my boyfriend Dan (who is also a photographer) took the photographs for me. We modelled because we were down in Cornwall where there are no model agencies, and because though we were 21 at the time of this shoot, we are both short and both look very young, reflecting the innocent theme. 

 We styled ourselves to look like characters from the films... it was like I was playing at being a fashion photographer, though I guess I still am, but now the game seems less innocent, more considered, more like I have so many other people to please, not just my friend who is posing with me. 

 I feel so blessed and lucky for the progress I've made in the last year - I have learnt a lot and learnt quickly by throwing myself into that learning full of blind faith and a positive attitude. However I feel that through this learning process I have lost a little of the innocent creativity I was so full of when I first moved to London.

  Now because I am working with bigger teams there are so many more people to consider and while I love love love working collaboratively sometimes when there is so much more to organise I lose sight of the creative impulse that drives me to produce work in the first place.

 That's something I need to hold on to, the reason I love fashion photography:

The potential to tell stories, express ideas and explore what I feel is beautiful in the world.