Maisie Howse

When going through all of the Blog Posts in order to find one that struck me the most to then review it, I came across Red Quentin Gardner’s ‘Blog 3 – Project Outcome and Personal Development’. This blog post in particular stood out to me as the way in which Gardner spoke about their experience within the Better Lives unit seemed deeply personal and gave me a much deeper insight into how the project itself has changed their view of their creative and professional practises in the future and how the themes may impact these from here on out.

The very first thing I noticed when reading through the blog post for the first time was the fact that their project was ‘Make-up Breakdown’, so as a Hair, Makeup and Prosthetics student this immediately caught my attention. I was first interested in finding out what their view on Makeup was, and how they seemed to cope with the project itself, which, from the blog post, seemed to be very interestingly out of their comfort zone and something they didn’t ever see becoming a part of their future profession. Gardner’s approach to portraying how the project worked for them and what they expected before beginning is very well presented within the blog post, giving the viewer a sense of reluctance regarding the topic as it was out of their comfort zone, but also something they willingly chose to do because of this fact – wanting to step out of their comfort zone and learn more about their future colleagues, as stated in the post.

Another area in which I feel Gardener excelled is within the approach they took to actually completing the project, as stated in the post, working with a chosen mix of ‘Imperfections’, ‘Fashion Mistakes’ and ‘Power’, a mix that works extremely well together when looking into both the makeup and fashion industries, seeing the imperfections and the importance of both from a whole new perspective. I also wanted to acknowledge the fact that Gardner seems to take on board what they have learnt from carrying out the project and to “make a conscious effort to keep what we have learnt in mind” in both a creative and professional future in industry.

Within the blog post, Gardner states that they didn’t immediately see the personal progress they made or were making within the Better Lives unit, further adding to my point from earlier regarding the blog post having a very personal and raw approach, admitting to having moments of personal doubt and even stating that they are “not one hundred percent proud” of what they have achieved due to the current state of our world and educational changes.

One last thing I, as a big Make-up lover, want to commend is the picture portrayed alongside the blog post. Not only did it draw me into reading the piece to begin with, but it is also a truly striking example of the work that Gardner managed to create alongside their project brief even within such unforeseen circumstances. Gardner had clearly stuck and worked with their chosen mixed theme, using textures from plastic bags to create a really striking, contemporary and very fashion based makeup look, displaying the insight that they personally had into the industry, both good and bad.

References: Gardner, R., 2020. Blog 3 – Project Outcome And Personal Development. [online] 19/20 Better Lives SMC. Available at: https://1920betterlivessmc.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2020/04/30/blog-3-project-outcome-and-personal-development-2/ [Accessed 1 May 2020].

Over the course of my Better Lives project, Contemporary Portrait Photography, I have noticed a great deal of personal development in my ideas regarding the better lives themes, and also my own growth in stylistic ways. After joining together as a group within this project and collectively looking at examples of photography, practises and techniques, it allowed me to think out of the box in which my style was confined in before, allowing myself to express my views and creativity through methods that best enhance my ideas and using techniques that I hadn’t thought to use before.

Within the project, I ventured into stylistic techniques given to me by my lecturers through the use of examples from photographers who gained recognition for their individual methods and their out of the box way of thinking regarding portraiture; it being much more than just the human body. For me, I learnt that portraiture is more about the element of persona, representing the idea of a persons spirit, personality and soul far more than just showing their features. For example, one of the first pictures I had taken to experiment within this unit was for Home Portraits, I feel, truly captures the essence of a person despite not even being able to see their features; allowing the audience to create an idea of what the person may look like or what they stand for as an individual.

Home Portraits were something I had to grow accustomed to, as in normal circumstances I would have gone out and photographed on location, but due to Covid-19, as mentioned in my previous blog post, I had to work with what was around me within my home. With this in mind, I captured the image displayed below; working with texture, depth and having my sister face away from the camera. This deeply interested me as soon as the idea struck as I had thought of portrait photography being simply a person facing the camera; yet it’s so much more. The bed and the mess upon it directly reflects who my sister is as a person, her style being shown through her clothes whist bringing in the contemporary element through her being sat simply staring at her phone amongst the “mess” surrounding her.

Overall, I feel my experience within Contemporary Portrait Photography has been knowledgeable, especially in the sense of working with what you’ve got instead of more ‘planned’ images. It fits nicely with the Better Lives theme of Sustainability, not using transportation (i.e Cars or Trains), has lead to me finding other means of it, such as; walking or cycling whenever I did go out, or simply just staying indoors which helps the worlds pollution levels even if my actions are minuscule in the grand scheme of the issue. After working the majority of my Better Lives project around the idea of Sustainability, and going through the experience of not actually needing the ‘unnecessary travel’ to function in a creative way, I feel that in whatever practises I do from now, whether it remains in photography or in Hair, Makeup and Prosthetics, I will continue to work in and around the idea of Sustainability.

Having looked at the Power and Empathy lectures when writing my first blog post, I now have other areas in which I am focusing on; the broader theme of Sustainability being the main one. It’s an area my mind keeps running to when thinking of the Better Lives themes and how they could possibly link to our current world. It’s something that lately I have been urged to look into and feel I need to focus on more. Without the excessive use of vehicles that we had before Covid-19, the world had a chance to heal; e.g rivers becoming clearer, less air pollution. The idea of sustainability slots into this as I hope that this could be a turning point for the human race, that people will dwell on the unnecessary travel done before, and how it would have effected the planet and society. This comes with the idea of unnecessary purchasing also. Society enjoys retail therapy, many, myself included, being fortunate enough to buy more than we need. Although I tend to buy from charity shops and secondhand as often as possible, I am guilty of buying from brands who may not have a sustainable approach to the industry; unsustainable items, or the treatment of employees.

The current state of the world changed my state of mind, encouraging me to make changes within personal life and creative practises, taking a more sustainable approach in order to give the planet a “break” from the torment it receives from society, also to allow those who have greater need for the items I purchase without the need of having them in my possession. As a Hair, Makeup and Prosthetics for Performance student I feel there are elements in both fashion and makeup industries that are to the point of being unachievable and unrealistic, making it harder to keep a sustainable mindset when working in industry. This links to a lecture in my first Blog; Power. We have the power to make changes in our personal and professional lives that could help to change the industries.

Companies, brands and individuals are realising that changes need to be made, and, though the virus didn’t begin due to lack of unsustainability, the methods to try and stop the spread have given an insight into ways in which the world could be bettered. Shops, companies and brands are willing to make changes; free delivery, discounts or differences for NHS staff, and even the closing down of companies. A lot of companies and businesses will have great loss from this, which is why I try my hardest to buy from local businesses and support them within this time. It’s interesting to see the world in a different light, and to try and adapt to changes that I want to make within my personal, creative and professional practises.

Within my Better Lives project, Contemporary Portrait Photography, we have already begun to look into how different photographers work with the ongoing situations around them and still get eye catching and impressive results; much like the situation we are in now, causing us to experiment more with Home Portraits. During the current pandemic, this was a way in which to work with what we have at this given time to produce photographs full of self expression.

I felt gripped onto two lectures in particular whilst watching; Power and Empathy. These two lectures were greatly appealing to me as they delved into the issues surrounding modern day society, specifically surrounding the idea of the mainstream media. Both topics provoked the thought of the large influence that the media has on the fashion industry itself in the modern world, but also within the past and how it gradually becomes more inclusive yet remains lacking. They both also touched on ideas of Rationality; making the right choices for sustainability and within yourself. Making a choice for the greater good of the planet when it comes to fashion is a concept that I can say I don’t necessarily always think about, so these topics have bettered my mindset and will ensure that I make better choices now that I can empathise regarding paid wages, paid overtime, the economical impact etc; thinking about all negative elements of the industry alongside the positives.

The power lecture delved into many different sectors; money, media, the consumer, and protests. The consumer; the idea that the roles reverse somewhat from what we assume; the consumers holding the power. Julia Crew stated that ‘without consumers, fashion is nothing’ within the lecture, which provoked a different mindset for me, never having thought that way before; consumers fuel the fashion industry. A topic raised was in regards to the inequality within the industry, even to this day, for an individual to become wealthy within fashion, many have enslaved others to do the majority of the work for them; some of the wealthiest individuals coming from the fashion industry being older, white male CEO’s.

The main bulk of the lecture revolving around Empathy described it loosely as a whole and how designers over time have challenged the idea behind the feeling, raising it through the use of experiences and “Empathy Things”. Lorraine Gamman gave first hand knowledge on the idea, the DACRC being her own professional take on it, working with users and mis-users in order to understand the underlying emotions of both parties, to gain an empathic feeling for both to understand the reason behind actions. This sparked my interest, as the theory made sense; people will always have underlying issues or reasons for their actions, stepping into their shoes and gaining a form of empathic emotion toward them as an individual is a genius way to feel what they feel. 

The empathy in fashion sector of the lecture consisted of Lorraine discussing the use of empathy within the industry; advertisements, campaigns etc. Sparking my interest, my thought process was suddenly very conflicted. Is it empathy we feel or is it inclusion? The use of more diverse models, body types, religions etc is a prominent idea within today’s fashion media industry; but as a white, British female, I often feel empathy towards these members of society. Inclusion is a positive step within the industry, yet I seem unable to help feeling a form of empathy, a human instinct, towards the people who were once disregarded as I imagine how that must have felt before diversity and inclusion was brought into recognition within the media. 

– Maisie Howse