Reflection  on the Zenith Project

In life few things stay the same. People and places remain in a constant state of fluidity. I’ve changed quite a bit since I came to exist. For one, I longer live in a country where I could be kidnapped to be someone’s bride. And every day it seems as if nothing stays the same. That’s a good thing. If everything stayed the same, I wouldn’t be ‘me’ nor would you be ‘you’. A passion of mine since as long as I could remember has been fashion. Despite being a constant it has developed along with me, it started as something to hide my insecurities, something I could use to tell others, “See? I am good enough”. Shallow perceptions of beauty and worth aside, fashion has grown to be something far more than plea for validation. Fashion, at its core, is the elevation of a basic expectation to something more: a deeper expression of the self. That idea fascinates me.

Often times people may create a list of things they want to do before they die. Mine includes: getting a tattoo from Dokgo in Seoul, living abroad in sprawling metropolis, being part of a super niche underground community, and traveling the world by touring fashion weeks while working as a photographer. I practically dream about that last one. And only recently have I even been able to conceptualize what it would be like to combine my love of fashion, travel, and photography. Through fashion photographers such as Adam Katz Sinding and Tyler Joe I’ve reached the conclusion that while I’m young and full of passion and energy I need to get out there do what they’re doing.

Now I’m not a very patient person. When I want something I want it immediately, and I’ll do anything to get it. That poses a problem for me because I have barely any experience with photography. I can get plenty of nice shots and make people look good, but I’ve only just scratched the surface. There are too many things that I want to know. So, when it turned out that I had the opportunity to take three months to focus on something I was passionate about, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

My personal goal was more reasonable than learning how to be an expert photographer in just three months; it was to learn how to photograph people, especially in a studio setting, learn lighting and experiment with gels, and finally, to get a grasp of editing techniques one could expect to use in a professional setting.

When it comes to working with models, I’m not a complete novice, but I wouldn’t call myself a professional. I’ve primarily had experience working with friends on a day out or on a few occasions going out and doing an actual photoshoot. Usually what would happen is I would grab a camera and some friends and we’d go out and shoot, when I got home I would maybe put the photos into Adobe Lightroom and upload them to instagram. I wouldn’t call that very professional. Something I did differently this time was that I had a plan. I sketched the makeup looks beforehand and thought of what I wanted weeks in advance. Now I didn’t get to do everything I wanted to, but I feel like what ended up in my final zine was a better starting point. I decided to simplify many of my concepts in order for the focus to be on the model and the tone expressed through the poses, makeup, and clothes. I took much inspiration from Jean Paul Goude, French graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, and advertising director as well as Lithuanian photographer Aleksandra Kingo. Both of their styles hold a lot of appeal for me as they experiment with the unusual and bold and they walk the line between strange and sexy. And so, looking at their work for guidance I sketched what I wanted from my photos. I kept the clothes vague, but I tried to work with strange poses and unique combinations of objects and people in order to convey some sort of meaning or story.

To me, the series of pictures explored the greater interaction between people and their emotions and the outward expression of those emotions when words don’t do or thoughts justice. Lately in photography gels and “painting with color” has become vogue. While I didn’t use any of these photos in my final product, it was a valuable lesson in how to use lighting to evoke a certain mood. One of my greatest struggles was keeping each color as distinct and vibrant as possible in order to better differentiate depth in the photo. Often times the colors would get muddled and sometimes under exposed with the sheer amount of color present. What I primarily focused on was getting the hang of the 3 point lighting system and I’d say that I accomplished that. What I would like to do moving forward is try other lighting techniques other than the classic 3-point method in order to convey a greater amount of moods and meaning. Yet another part of the photoshoot was working with models. In total I worked with three people Chingun, for test shots, Tinomuda Tugwete, for a guerilla type photoshoot, and finally Nicole Hu for the final zine. All three people have very different personalities and levels of comfort in front of the camera. For some people such as Chingun there was more coaching involved in order to work with props and to figure out how to pose. With Tinomuda it was very easy plenty of poses since she’s very outgoing and is used to being in front of a camera. She was also very comfortable trying new things and experimenting with more avant garde poses. Nicole was very easy going and was very responsive to any directions given. Working with her was the most fulfilling as she really handed the reins over to me and allowed me to really take control of the photoshoot while maintaining a cooperative atmosphere.

When it came to editing, I was curious to see what non-destructive editing looked like. Editing in fashion is a hot topic right now as there are plenty of controversies and scandals surrounding fat phobia and racism in editing. Right now non destructive editing is in. What that means is editing for the sake of making the photo the best it could be, reducing dark circles, fixing contrast, brightening dull skin, and fixing backgrounds, stains, and smudges. My favorite editing technique was using the high pass filter in Photoshop to smooth skin while retaining most texture. I also learned how to edit out dirt and smudges on a background or on a person. By learning these subtle techniques I was able to achieve a more ideal image while maintaining realism.

The purpose of the Zenith project for me was to learn something I want to do professionally. To demystify an entire genre of photography. I believe I achieved that. While I’m not on par with my idols, I feel as though I have a better platform to move forward from and to exemplify my skill level and creativity.