Saturday, 27 July 2013

BUILDING MY WEBSITE :D

So, for the past few weeks I have been in talks with a website designer, and finally I shall be having my own, brand spanking new website!
I've had the palava of trying to make one myself and failing miserably, but with their expertise I shall finally be getting one!

With that in mind, I have had to seriously sift through my portfolio in the attempt to find some images to put on it! I originally set up this blog to kinda discuss my "shoot planning process", talk about the shoot itself and then to debut my images, but whether it is a time thing or me not bothering, I have never got into the swing of using this blog!

Anyway, once my website is up and running (within the next fortnight), my website shall be used to primarily show my work, and this blog shall be all about the process, kind of behind the scenes!

Some of the images that shall be featured on my website...all photographs taken by me!


















KITTY COWELL & THE UNISEX MODE

Had the pleasure of shooting musician and all time fashionista Kitty Cowell for her fashion blog "The Unisex Mode;. With a passion for unisex fashion and sharing her insights into the activities she gets up to in London, her blog makes an awesome read!

Anyway, we met in Covent Garden and from there we took to the streets of London to shoot the clothes she had been sent by various clothing companies. Naturally, she wanted a "lookbooky" feel to these images, so from my point of view there wasn't that much planning involved in regards to angles and perspectives, however I enjoyed the shoot nonetheless and look forward to shooting her again soon!

Here are some of the outcomes...





Model- Kitty Cowell for her blog www.theunisexmode.co.uk
Photographer - Anna Bending (myself)

Monday, 17 June 2013

Just stumbled across this beautiful photograph I took of the stunning Rebecca Bone last year!




Model - Rebecca Bone

Photographer - Anna Bending (myself)
Location - Farnham, Surrey.
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LONDON PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION - OPENING NIGHT THURSDAY 20TH JUNE 6-10PM!


After finding Photography during my GCSE's, I embarked on a 2 year BTEC course on this subject and from there I managed to score a place on the BA (Hons) Photography degree course at the University of Creative Arts, Farnham. This was almost three years ago, and almost like a "right of passage"as a year group my course shall be exhibiting our photographic work at The Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, from Thursday 20th June- Monday 24th of June.


As a collective we are called Folka, and we consist of 69 photographers .The work on display ranges in genre, methods and presentation which allows the viewer to be privy to an eclectic mix of photographic imagery. I find myself feeling very lucky to have spent my time on this degree surrounded by such talented and motivated individuals. I'm a strong believer in "Life is what you make it", without quoting the babe that is Hannah Montana, but the people I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with during my degree definitely have made my university experience, and I am excited to be exhibiting my work alongside theirs!

THE WORK I SHALL BE EXHIBITING...

For this exhibition I shall be displaying some of my photographic work taken from my most recent series titled "Interlude". This particular collection of images were captured during my last university project called "Resolutions", however the idea had been with me for a while to explore intimate space and the notion of interrupting a private moment, and overall I am very pleased with the outcomes.


Examples from the series Interlude...

Essentially, by interrupting a private moment this collection of photographs provides the viewer with an intimate insight into the act of bathing. The images look at the bath and how others use this personal space by documenting this deliberate and considered pause from the norms of day to day life through capturing the various activities that take place within this setting.

Although I have 6 prints, I shall be showing only 3 of them at this exhibition and this is simply due to personal preference. After getting my 6 finals professionally printed, I then reconsidered my edit and felt less is more in regards to physical, photographic prints! As well as my prints I also created a book via Blurb to act almost like a visual diary, cataloguing the full of extent of female subjects I had captured during this process. By having this on a plinth, it shall encourage the audience to delve deeper into my project and become familiar with who and how I photographed my many subjects.

Interlude book.
To buy your own copy click here

COME ALONG TO OUR OPENING NIGHT - THURSDAY 2OTH JUNE 6-10PM

A great deal of hardwork and money has gone into our degree show and it would be great if lots of people came along, had a complimentary glass of wine and celebrated the end of our degree with us! There is no entry fee, you are guaranteed to see a vast collection of work and you shall definitely be putting smiles on all of our faces! 


If you unfortunately cannot make it to our Opening Night, don't worry as our exhibition is open until Monday 24th June.

OPENING TIMES

Thursday 20th June - 6am -10pm (OPENING NIGHT)
Friday 21st June - 10am -7pm
Saturday 22nd June - 10am - 7pm
Sunday 23rd June - 10am - 7pm
Monday 24th June - 10am - 4pm

FOR MORE INFORMATION...

Website - www.folka.co.uk
Twitter - @whatthefolka

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Saturday, 1 June 2013

Friday, 31 May 2013

Model - Gemma Stafford
Photographer - Anna Bending (myself)
Location - London
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PHOTOSHOOT WITH MODEL & MUA GEMMA STAFFORD.



Yesterday, I had the pleasure of photographing model and MUA Gemma Stafford on the streets of London. I have photographed this beauty on a number of occasions dating back to 18 months ago, where we have explored both glamour and edgy portraiture within our previous collaborations, however this time we wanted to go down a more "fashion/street" route. She jumped on the coach from Somerset to London, and we met at Covent Garden just after midday and from there we grabbed a Starbucks and discussed the day ahead. 
Starbucks, going through my research folder and Gemma's iPad

The weather itself wasn't looking too great but we were adamant that we wouldn't let it dampen our spirits (literally) and decided to start shooting as quickly as possible before/if it rained. Gemma and myself has previously discussed different outfits for the shoot, and we decided that the staple items would be a "gurlie dress"for some cute, fashiony type photographs, a pair of leggings (discopants) for some edgy portraits against the walls of London, and another outfit for some "lookbooky", street style images. Location wise, we didn't have anywhere we specifically wanted to go, but we had a vision of where we would like to shoot, and once we started shooting the first idea, this encouraged us to keep going and got the ball rolling, so to speak!


       One of the contact sheet's for the first idea...


One of the contact sheets for the second idea...

One of the contact sheets for the third idea...

We relied on natural light and despite using an obviously busy and happening location we managed to attain some stunning images! Edit wise, I shall play around with a few from each idea, and then maybe create some edits that involve more than one photograph being the final outcome, so pairing two images together to exaggerate the street/lookbooky feel we both desired when shooting. 

Gemma is always a pleasure to photograph she is very laid back but an extremely motivated gurlie and with us both being on the same page (this was achieved by organising the shoot in advance, planning it etc) the shoot was an enjoyable experience and it acted almost like a "test shoot" as we are planning to shoot in London again next month! On our shoot we scouted out future locations that we shall be returning too for the next shoot, and I am already excited.

Images to come...

To see our previous collaboration, head to 2011 Collaboration
Check out Gemma Stafford's official website at www.gemmastafford.com
I have recently returned to Flickr and am planning to continue to use it, you can check it out here.
Keep up to date with my photographic antics via Facebook here