Final images

Yaaaay

I can't believe I finally managed to do my projeeect in time!! I have changed it for so many times that I am surprised I managed to do it!! Yaaay! Very proud!!!

I have got almost a month till my deadline. The best way to present this project is by making a book as prints won't do their job in telling the story. By doing the book, everything will be together and in order.

Now, my job is not done yet..I have to design my book as soon as possible so I can get it in time for my deadline!! Right, back to research..ahhh!!

Just wanted to share this image with my props that I used for this project... so much to carry around London!!! It made my back ache so much considering the kit that I also had to carry!! Auuuch!!

Final image

This is my last final image:

I am so relieved that this time I managed to find a good picture. I am running out of time so I wouldn't have time for another one. 

This image presents Andrea in her last cycle, in her elder years. She managed to do a great make up and the whole scenario I think was good. 

She is on the bed covered with the duvet as that's how elder women usually prefer to sit to relax and to get rest. I tried to find the most appropriate clothes I have got in my closet to fit with the scenario.

She is looking out the window because she is thinking about her life and what she once had: she was young, she met the love  of her life, she had kids. She was happy because she managed to achieve something that in her teenage years was unstable.

She wants to be young again and beautiful. That is why she keeps the wig near her bed because it reminds her of those moments. She had a beautiful hair back then. She is alone again and thinking, like she always did throughout her journey in her life.

Part 2 shoot

Part 2 - trouble again!!

Last shoot. We couldn't finish this project without another unpleasant event - just like a present for us to remember this particular day.

Such a weird experience with the last shoot!

A couple of weeks before the shoot, I spoke with a lady from the Yorke Lodge in Canterbury, asking if I can use some of her rooms to take some photos. She wasn’t unsure from the beginning but in the end she said yes but now I can relate that to what happened. The day of the shoot – my friend did her old lady make-up so we can be ready to shoot once we are there. We got there, the same lady made a joke that we didn’t understand anyway. She took us upstairs to show us some rooms but still I could sense that she was not feeling ok with that. We decided on  a room on the 3^rd floor, a very small room and simple again because it had a mirror, a table and a chair all together. She said she would leave us to do our job. We had around 1 h as the lady said that she has to go somewhere.

It was fine with us because we were ready to start shooting when we got there. We closed the door and we started. We had to move some things but like small things that you can put back very easily like a chair or a tray with mugs. The first ideas didn’t work out very well so we said to use the bed. There was like a very thin duvet that was put at the bottom of the bed. It was white and quite nice and we said to use it to cover my friend. We started shooting, tried different poses when someone knocked on the door. It was one of the housekeepers. Apparently, she had to put a bathrobe in the bathroom but I know 100% that she was sent to check on us. At that moment, my friend Andreea was on the bed covered by that duvet. The woman looked at her with a weird look. I knew something was not ok.

After she left we carried on shooting. After not even 3 minutes, someone opened the door without even knocking. The lady, probably the owner, was very nervous and she was like:”You moved everything. You said you only need a chair and a mirror. It smells horrible here. Did you smoke here?” She was so nervous and I personally felt like I was caught stealing something. I was so surprised by her reaction. I told her that we would tidy up everything when we finish (and we didn’t move everything, only small bits) but she was like "All my staff has gone home. You can’t tidy up because you don’t know how. If I see any make up stains, you will have to pay!” I was so scared by her reaction, everything was so sudden. Me and my friend looked at each other after she left and we decided to pack and go for our own good. 

We had some images so the best thing was to leave. As promised to the lady, we tidied up everything, the room looked like it was when we came there. Clean and tidy. No make - up stains, nothing. I went downstairs to tell her to come check the room but she said: “I am busy. I have things to do. I will send my stuff upstairs”. Didn't she tell me that her staff went home? LIAR! Anyway, I went upstairs, grabbed my stuff and we went home scared and surprised. I will always remember that day! I never felt like that in my whole life, like a thief! HAha! The best thing about it was that I forgot some slippers there haha! “Hey! I left you a present!” It was alright in the end. It had to happen something!

this is the make up that Andreea did  for the last shoot. That's amazing!!

Final image

The final image is:

I chose to shoot in a park because a park means peace and relief. Usually, elder people go for walk in park to relax and remember the good times when they were young, to bring back their memories.

The suitcase is very important in the scenario as it holds a lot of meanings. It contains all her memories from when she was young until now: from her journal,and teddy bear to the kids' toys and the apron.

She keeps all her memories in a suitcase because she doesn't want to loose them. She takes cares of them, she is precocious just in case. The suitcase is more like a figurative element rather than an actual item. It just holds a lot of meaning.

She reopened her journal to remember all the beautiful moments in her life that she cherishes so . There is another woman on the bench behind her and her body position might signify that she is in pain or she is sad. The same things feels Andrea remembering all her memories. The weather resonates with her inner thoughts and feelings as well.

There seems to be no one else in the park apart from them 2 which brings the idea if loneliness and solitude. 

Last 2 shoots

I can't believe it's time to do the last 2 shoots for this project. Of course, it was time for my exhausting trip to London again. I do like going to London but not when I wake up at 5 in the morning.. ZZZzzz


Part 1

This was one of the funniest shoot we had. We had so much fun. Andreea was supposed to look like an old woman, around her 50s so I tried to dress her with clothes that elder women would wear. This scenario is about memories. Going for a walk in the park is usually what you can do to relax or think about the past or future or even present. So that’s why I chose to shoot in the park, a simple environment but very nice, aesthetically speaking. The idea of obsession for her memories comes from the suitcase: wherever she goes, she takes that suitcase with her and inside she’s got everything that reminds her of her past: from the teddy bear from her childhood to the toys and apron in her later stages of her life. 

In the final shot, her suitcase is open because that’s the moment when she wants to remember and think about everything that happened in her life. We tried many poses and it was funny  because people were staring at us and some of them starting recording or taking pictures of us. We had a good laugh but Andreea as she is a professional, she didn't care and I didn't either. We just did our job and then we left. I was nice outside as well but from time to time  it was cloudy so I managed to catch that in my image to show the similarity between what’s happening in her heart and mind and the weather outside.

Props for next shoot

I found this beautiful suitcase in a charity. It is so nice that I didn't care about the price haha 

Andrea's outfit

2 more

I have got another 2 more obsessions in my mind that I would like to portray. The next cycle in Andrea's life would be the moment when her kids are already grown up and gone from her to live their life which resonates with the moment whee she had to leave from home.

It's the obsession for memories.

Now her memories try to connect with the ones she had when she was young.

When I come up with these obsession, they come from real life events that happened. For this one, I know my mother tells me from time to time when I talk to her that she looks at pictures with me from when I was a kid or there are a few things left home that are mine and she takes so much care of them. That is why I thought this would be the next cycle in Andrea's life

And the last one would be the obsession for always being young. This one is more about holding on to some things that influenced her during her life, holding on to her past and to her memories as she has done when she started her new life somewhere else.

Final image

This is the final image:

So, this image is much better than the one in the park. I still wanted to use the idea of housewife to be able to show her thoughts better.

The reason why I have taken the image through the door of the Laundromat is because I wanted to portray everything from outside the situation or at least give that impression. It's like someone is inside the laundromat looking, observing.

She is thinking again and she's miles away. I tried to shoot at the same level again to let the viewer get an insight into her thoughts and to be able to get closer. 

The right shoot

So this time I did it the right way, no more police involved and freaking out. I stay normal this time haha

Even if the idea of housewife might be a stereotype, I wanted to use that to show a fact that exists and it’s real and also that influences women when they get to that stage. Initially, we went to that park but I decided that the message was too straight- forward so I changed it. We went to a launderette in Kilburn, London. The people there were very nice compared to another launderette that we went to and the owners were rude (as many other people that I have met with this project). I tried to take some shots through the Laundromat door to show the image that you see from outside the situation, like someone was watching her. She is in that mood that she wants and she is desperate to do her job as a housewife, to take care of her family, but at the same time she would like to do something else, maybe take care of herself or even try to develop her own hobbies and interests. But the obsession to be a good wife, to be an example for her children is bigger than anything else. So, she tries to accept her situation and deal with it.

backstage