i used 45/45 lighting with an umbrella to the right and a softbox to the left.
Because i wanted these images to be a homage to victorian photography, but done in a modern style, i used a damask patterned background and a lensbaby to create a soft focus effect around the model.
I wanted the photographs to depict different types of people breastfeeding my winged doll, and i thought long and hard about who to include.
My first model was Hazel, who is an experienced model and has photographed with me many many times.
2nd was Leroy, a drag queen who dresses as a woman most of the time (and a very glamourous woman too!) who did 2 portraits, one as a woman, complete with fake breasts exposed, and one as himself.
3rd was my daughter Mia. Mia's was the only portrait with no nipple exposed as she is only 9 years old. I did debate quite a lot with myself whether i should use her at all but in the end i decided that 1) its not a sexual pictures and 2) if Witkin can cover the subject matter he does, then i can do this. I am pleased i did as i think her portrait turned out really well.
4th was my best friend Dan, who has a distinct look of jesus/charles manson about him, i think his portrait is probably my favourite.
5th was Molly, a good friend who isnt adverse to making herself look very unflattering on photographs! We smeared her makeup, and i love her pose, to me it creates a very uncomfortable picture.
7th was Natalie, a goth girl who has never posed before, i emphasised her dark tendancies by smearing her black makeup down her cheeks and asking her to widen her eyes to give it a creepier feel.
and finally 8th is Kylie, who is another who has never posed before, and who is also a breastfeeding mother. I decided when I thought of this idea that i wanted a breastfeeding mother to take part just because of the symbolism involved and i was very pleased when Kylie agreed to be involved.
Contact Sheets
These are the initial picks from the shoot, where i started whittling down the many photographs i took and picked the ones that stood out from the others.
my final picks for the 8 portraits, chosen for their composition, pose and focal point.
and my final pictures with 4 different editing styles, I wanted the photographs to have a vintage feel to them so i edited them in 4 vintage-style ways, firstly a black and white, then brown-tinted, then a colour wash and finally a desaturated green-toned image.
I finally went with the 4th option of the green-toned image as i felt it gave more of the sinister edge i wanted to the photographs. The lensbaby i wanted to give a blurred edge to the shot, which meant that in some of the photos the baby wasnt in focus-which i am happy with, as it makes the images less obvious-you have to look closely to see whats actually going on. The only negative thing about this is that on a couple of the photographs, the focus is actually ever-so-slightly off the eyes which is down to 2 things; 1) my inexperience with a lensbaby (this shoot was only the 2nd time i have used one) and 2) the screen on the back of my camera makes it very difficult to see whether its in perfect focus or not, but i'm not overly worried about it as i dont think it detracts from the images at all, as you can see in my final prints.
I also included a photograph of the doll itself, photographed by a window and given the same green-toned editing as the others to act as an anchor image to the other 8. The doll is much more visible (albeit with a shallow depth of field of F1.8 with the focal point on the wings) so you can see exactly what the subjects in the photos are breastfeeding.
All in all, i am pleased with the outcome of these photographs, I think the aim of paying homage to an older style of photography has been successful, the images are clearly modern in time but with elements of the past being brought in with it.
I love the concept behind them and i am satisfied with my fulfillment of the 'Fine Art' part of this brief.
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