Saturday 18 June 2016

University: Year 1

University: Year 1

It only seems like a few months since I received my letter of acceptance from Brighton University, now I’m third of the way though! Since enrolling, the fashion side of my photography work has taken a bit of a back seat. For the duration of the year we have been working on 18 summaries, 2 essays and 4 main projects, as it doesn’t really match with the style of my other work I have decided to show them here as opposed to my website!

Project 1 – Portraiture:


For my first project I was compelled to stay relatively within the bounds of fashion by combining previous work with new portraits. I decided to take a set of imaged from previous fashion photoshoots, I then shot again with the model in a new context, this being their rooms. I wanted to portray the models as they are in their regular lives outside of fashion. Presented as a series of paired images in a two by four grid in the order of room/set. I decided to present the images of the models in their rooms in black and white, this was to contrast them from the original images but to also focus the work on the model and their emotions without the distractions on colour.


Project 2 - Landscape:


For my second project I decided to take a more experimental step. I didn’t want to just shoot regular landscapes as I found it difficult to find any meaning at the time. I decided to create a set of snapshot style Polaroid photos taken from a collection of screenshots I took many years previous in the virtual worlds within a specific video game. It gelled with the theme of holiday snapshots because I spent a lot of time playing it as a child and it is now inaccessible, an environment that has passed by with the progression of time. I also chose to shot the images using instant film to bridge the gap between the virtual and the actual. The physicality of the images obfuscated a certain amount of the digital evidence that was visible within the original screenshots such as the aliasing along the edges of the objects in the scenes.


Project 3 - Document:


After the second project we moved on to semester two and a less broad remit. For my third project I decided to investigate and catalogue a series of murders that have occurred around the BN area of Brighton. Using a combination of news archives and public police reports I was able to plot a set of homicides on a map of the area. After collating the information I then went to each of the locations and shot a photograph of each scene. For my final presentation I displayed them along with the map of locations that I had created.


Project 4 - Fiction:


For my final project of year one I wanted to continue in similar vein to my previous project by focusing again on crime, this time specifically fictional crimes scenes. I put together a series of five case files containing detailed documents such as coroner’s, fingerprint and scene reports. As well as this I included photographs of the scenes along with images of the fabricated evidence and linked correspondence. For the presentation of this final project I decided to fabricate an office environment by adding a lamp, map and laptop to the scene, this combined with the case files completed the feel I was aiming for.


Now, time for summer and some fashion shoots! :D

Monday 21 March 2016

Daisy

Daisy

A few weeks ago I met up with the lovely Daisy (be sure to follow her on Instagram :) ) for a little test shoot at Holland Park in London with the giant turtles, wendy houses and yellow flowers! Below are a few of the final images! :)


See more on the website at www.tomsimmonds.com :)

Tuesday 15 March 2016

Antenna Studio

Antenna Studio

A couple of weeks back had my 2nd shoot with the lovely Elizabeth Vartanian Collier of Gallery Girl - be sure to check out her blog! We met up in Crystal Palace for the 2nd time, although we didn't shoot in the gardens, this time we hired a quirky little place called Antenna Studios. Below are some of the final images from the day! :)


Tuesday 19 January 2016

First Solo Show

First Solo Show

4 years of work, 1 year prep, 60 images, 26 models, 15 designers, 12 make-up artists, 8 stylists, 8 assistants, 5 agencies, 5 boutiques, 2 hair stylists and 1 photographer! It's amazing how quickly things pass by, the exhibition is over and it was great fun! Thank you to everyone who was involved in creating the images, helping me set up the exhibition and also everyone who came down to visit us at the gallery!

I first started framing the images as previously mentioned, about a year ago. Collecting frames and getting prints made over the months I quickly realised that 20 or so wouldn't be enough haha, deciding what images to display was definitely the hardest part!



During the process of framing I decided to create a booklet, this would serve as a guide to the exhibition that would detail those involved in the creation of each image as well as displaying their chronological order.



After doing some research I decided to display my work at Gallery40 in Brighton. With a little help from my friends and family I got the images up on the walls in a couple of days ready for the opening night and week long show!



And with that, a week later it was time to take down the frames and drive them back home! It was such a lovely experience and if you are planning on putting on a show yourself I couldn't recommend Gallery40 more! And as a lovely surprise for the last day the Brighton based news paper The Argus printed a little article promoting the closing night, so thank you to them too! :D 



Although the exhibition is over it's my no means the end! It's time to shoot new work and build a bigger portfolio! Also I am working on opening a little shop for my website where I will be selling the books, prints and postcards that I make! You can pop on over to www.tomsimmonds.com and follow the shop link or head on over to my etsy page! This is what my shop would look like if it wasn't virtual haha. I'll be going into more detail about this in a future post so keep your eyes peeled! :)


Sunday 10 January 2016

The First Four Years

The First Four Years

As you may know I have been working on setting up my solo show for a very long time, and finally after almost a year in the planning my exhibition 'The First Four Years' is happening at Gallery40! We had the opening night last Friday and we'll be open until Thursday this week! If you're in Brighton come on down from around 11am-5pm! I will be posting in more detail after we're all done so if you miss it there will be lots of photos! :D


You can see more details on my website at www.tomsimmonds.com/exhibition or you can find the event page over on facebook! Keep an eye out there for more up to date information! :D