Mock exam
The definition of Alternative is challenging traditional norms which is what my personal investigation project is all about. Throughout my work my aim is to capture those who stand out from the rest of society and highlight their lifestyles through my photography. This project is very personal to me as my subculture is a part of my daily life and I can’t imagine living any differently.
I first discovered the alternative community through my interest and love for the goth subculture. I loved the heavy dramatic makeup looks and darker elements as well as the fashion aspects that really appealed to me. This interest quickly grew as I got older and found myself struggling with my mental health.
Music has always been a way for me to escape and in a way it saved me from myself. Music always blocked the negative thoughts out of my head and made me feel like I wasn’t alone. This is where I discovered the emo music genre, the open lyrics that I could relate to really helped me to feel like I belonged somewhere. I no longer felt disconnected from the world and I no longer had a fear of not fitting in because I knew this made me stand out and I was okay with that. I still get a lot of negativity thrown at me in public due to the way I dress but I have learned to accept that we are all different and all should be treated equally.
I decided to choose this project as I want to bring awareness to the subcultures within society and show people that we aren’t like the stereotypes associated with us. There has become a lot of gate keeping within the alternative community over the last few years and with this editorial I hope to remind people what these subcultures are actually about through multiple interviews with people from different subcultures expressing their stories about how they discovered it.
The title for this editorial, reflections, is all about the members of subcultures reflecting on their past and looking back at how they went from their ordinary lives to the lifestyle they live now, looking back at how far they have come and how their music and lifestyle influenced them with interviews from members of the Grunge, Emo and Metalhead community.
To link with the topic and title of the editorial, I decided to do the layout of the editorial in a unique style where from the centre of the editorial, the layout is reflected through both the first half and second half of the editorial, like a mirror in the centre to really highlight what the editorial is about. The page layouts was influenced by the Alternative press magazines with a few pages of text accompanied by images and quotes from the artist/band.
I decided to order the Editorial through Mixam due to their high quality prints. I chose the gloss texture to keep it as a magazine type style like the English Rock magazines Kerrang and Metal Hammer. Similar to the standard magazine type binding, I also went with a saddle stitch for the magazine influenced part of my editorial however, I chose the paper weight to be 170 gsm which is a lot thicker than a standard magazine type paper just so it won't tear as easily which usually happens with thin paper and saddle stitch as I have seen with my Kerrang and Metal Hammer magazines.
Photographers who have influenced my work
Amanda Norman is one of my favourite photographers and is my biggest influence for my work. As she focuses on the stereotypical goth locations and photographs the dark sinister Goth aesthetic, she creates a lot of meaning in her work instead of just capturing what she sees. Amanda's work is not only about capturing the Goth subculture but is also about creating meaning and awareness through her photography. Due to her personal struggle with mental health, she now uses photography as a way to escape and to show how when there is darkness there is also light. The meaning behind this is that whenever you feel at your lowest, you have to remember that it wont always be like that and there will be better times as there is always light at the end of the tunnel. She shows this theme of mental health through her overexposed photography with a high contrast between the light and the dark. With my work my whole project is about trying to bring awareness to subcultures so we all get treated equally within society. Amanda has personally struggled with her mental health being part of the Goth community and I believe her photography helps to spread positive messages to the younger generations of the subculture. During my shoot, I wanted to go to stereotypical locations that are associated with the words 'Goth' and 'Emo' which is why I chose the gothic style architecture of the catholic church, the statues and the graveyard. I experimented with exposure, trying to see what changing around camera settings would do which made a few picture too overexposed. Below is images of Amanda Normans work on the left and my work on the right which shows how my work has been influenced by her not so much with my portraits but with her overly exposed images which is something I really enjoyed to experiment with.
Derek Ridgers is a portrait photographer who photographs and documents peoples lives of those who are part of subcultures and the alternative community. His documentary style photography has really started to influence my work as I have started to get more into my project. I really liked the idea of just going out and photographing people naturally, documenting their daily lives, however this became hard once the pandemic started as less and less people were going out and those who I did see didn't want to be photographed along with the restrictions making it hard to get close enough for portraits. This lead to me photographing the people I know first until the restrictions ease but I still wanted to try my best to keep it natural so it doesn't look staged. Therefore I asked my friends if I could photograph them but I didn't give them a day and instead asked them in the moment so they looked exactly how they would on a normal day instead of exaggerating their looks for a photo. The location was the most convenient to go to as it was near to our college, making it easier to go back to if necessary and meant that I would have time in my breaks to photograph them. The landscape also fit the alternative theme very well as it was a stereotypical place that you associate 'Goths' and 'Emo kids' to hang out at. The work on the left below is Derek Ridgers documentary portraits and my own work influenced by Derek Ridgers is on the right. I wouldve liekd to of done a lot more with my project with documenting peoples lives of those involved in the alternative community but the restrictions made it impossible. I worked around it by starting to do shoots of places associated with the subcultures however I still hope to get the chance to photograph more people of subcultures in a natural documentary style environment.
Initial Layout Designs
With my first designs, I already knew I wanted to go for the mirrored layout however I didn't know what the mirrored layout should be so I experimented with the layout of text and the images but wasn't keen on the text at the beginning and end as I wanted the photos to tell their own story.
I also thought the image placement was quite boring so I tried the design the other way round, changing a few things but I still thought they wasn't original enough which is what lead to my final design.
Final Layout Design
I liked the idea of having text accompanied by an image and multiple photos on a page making it look less bare so for my final design I completely changed the layout but kept the mirrored layout theme to link to the title reflections and the interviews where they are reflecting on their past.
Editorial Influences
While coming up with ideas for my editorial, I researched into the Kerrang, Metal Hammer and Alternative Press magazines to try and come up with some unique layout ideas and came across these pages in Alternative Press. Unlike other Rock magazines, the layout on each page is very different and unique with a balanced amount of photography and text. I liked the use of some mixed media with the handwritten photographed note alongside quotes and exclusive interviews. The portraiture is very strong and the images were made to stand out with the use of a light coloured background with a dark image. This influenced me with my work to add a dark black background as my images are purposely overexposed so the contrast between the light and dark makes the photos stand out. This is also evident with the text as the white text on the black background really makes you drawn to it. I also liked the idea of having a page of text with a page of photos next to it so I used this idea with a different layout in an interview like style to make the editorial more personal.
The Sophie Lancaster case has massively influenced my work with the messages I want to portray with my photography. Sophie Lancaster and her boyfriends were Goths who were victims of a hate crime which sadly lead to Sophie losing her life and her boyfriend seriously beaten in hospital. Due to them being 'different' they weren't mentioned much within the media and she never got the justice she deserved. In society today, alternative people experience a lot of hate for being different and not being functional members of society. Due to this so many people who are interested in the subcultures decide not to join due to the fear of being bullied, beaten and even killed just for the way they decide to dress and the music they decide to listen to. Within my project I am constantly thinking about how to change societies perceptions of us and I decided that Interviews with members of certain subcultures would be a good way to show people what its like. My interviews are about discussing their lives, reflecting on their past and how far they have come. Showing how it was hard at the start however they are now proud and comfortable in their own skin commenting on experiences they have personally had due to their image.
Editorial
So far I am happy with the way my editorial looks, however I won't be able to fully tell until it arrives. I chose to get my book printed in A4 so that it would be like a magazine which has what I have took a lot of my influence from. Due to this I also decided to go with the gloss paper and saddle stitch binding but instead of the typical thin magazine like paper, I decided to go for something a little thicker so it won't tear or rip as easily. One thing that I realised after I had my book sent away was that I forgot to add my name to the bottom of the last page which is something I will need to change but I checked through everything else before it was sent off such as spellings and grammar.
When choosing the paper type for the book, I already knew what I wanted to go with before putting the editorial together. Previously I have already ordered two photobooks from Mixam with different paper types and I wasn't happy with my choice when it arrived as the paper felt quite rough. During preparation for the mock exam, I experimented with printing my photos onto different paper types and my images came out a lot clearer on the gloss paper making them look more high quality as you could see every little detail and the contrast between the light and dark showed up better than on normal paper and my laptop screen. From printing on different paper types I already knew that I wanted to make my editorial with the gloss paper as I already knew that it would turn out okay. I also liked the idea as I have taken a lot of my influence from the British magazines Metal Hammer and Kerrang which both use gloss paper for the front and back covers of the magazines which definitely makes the images on the front look much more high quality than the thin cartridge like paper that's inside.
As I had to stretch some of my photos to fit exactly like the mirroring layout, I am unsure if some of the photos are going to look unnatural so that may be something I have to be careful of in the future.
Looking back at my editorial as a whole, I am unsure if I like the photos chosen on page 13 as I think the middle image looks out of place and I don't like how the sign isn't centred in the middle of the frame as I believe it doesn't work too well with the other images. When the editorial is put together it may look a bit better as you can't tell from a digital screen, however it may be something I will have to think more about next time.
The Finished Product
