My final project will be a series of self-portraits taken in my house with a focus on lighting and posing. I want to build background set-ups from scratch and mainly use sunlight to create a warm golden effect. This warmth, as well as the poses, will contribute to creating a delicate, feminine, and elegant atmosphere. The backgrounds will mostly be white and rather flat, to put more emphasis on the subject (me). My poses will be centered on creating shapes with my body and attempting to convey elegance and grace.

The series will contain a dozen of photographs grouped into diptychs or triptychs (I haven't decided yet), presented in a webpage. If I choose diptychs, I will also format the pictures as a photobook, with a cover page, margins, and a bit of text. If I choose triptychs, they will simply be displayed in rows of 3 on the webpage.

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The title of my project is "Sun & Gold" because all the photographs will have a strong presence of sunlight, and therefore will have a golden glow. I am also considering the title "White & Gold" or "White Light" in case some pictures do not end up having direct sunlight, but white will be a recurring colour for sure.

This is the final project of my Integrating Activity class, meaning it will contain a multitude of skills learned throughout my two years in Cinema-Communications. Setting up the camera's aperture, shutter speed and ISO during production will require the knowledge gained from my Sight and Sound class, whereas post-production will synthesize the skills acquired in Multimedia Techniques. Playing with light to create different atmospheres and designing the set-up and costumes are theoretical notions that I learned in Cinema Styles and Film Theory. I also have experience formatting a photobook on Canva from Media Lab. Lastly, I have been building websites on Wix, Editor X, Wordpress, Edublogs, and Blogspot in many classes in the last two years (Sight and Sound, Multimedia Techniques, Multimedia Techniques final project, Media Lab, Media Lab final project, Explorations in Cinema and Communications, Game Making, and Tangible Media).

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In addition, I have previously worked as a model with other photographers, and our pictures have been published in editorial magazines. I am aware of the requirements and expectations of magazine editors, as well as the submission process. Thus, I would like to try (keyword: try) to submit some of my self-portraits to magazines for publication. If everything goes according to my plans, I should be eligible. For this reason, my set designs need to be carefully crafted; my camera settings need to be high quality; my hair, makeup, and outfits must have different looks; and my poses must be editorial. The following are the general requirements of most magazines:

• Open theme (fashion, beauty, art, implied nudity)

• 6 to 20 images

• 3 to 6 different looks (wardrobe, makeup)

• Photos must be exclusive and unpublished

• JPG format, sRGB color profile

  • Portrait: 8.5 × 11 in, 300 dpi (2550 × 3300 px)

  • Landscape: 17 × 11 in, 300 dpi (5100 × 3300 px)

The magazines I am aiming for are:​

• Flannelle

• Moevir

• Malvie

• Lucy's

As mentioned above, I am an experienced fashion model. I found a passion for modeling in 2017, and I have been actively shooting with photographers ever since (about 2-10 photoshoots per month). As a person who has always struggled with self-love and self-esteem, modeling is the only time I feel confident and beautiful. More than anything, I love exploring extravagant and often unconventional poses to test the limits of my creativity and my body. Being a model is my dream career path. However, since November 2019, I haven't done a single photoshoot. I fell sick for a month, and soon after, Covid-19 struck the world. My household has extremely strict rules regarding the virus, so I have not been allowed to meet photographers and makeup artists to work together. I feel like the fiery passion burning inside me is slowly fading away and shifting into discouragement. I feel the urge to pose and to shoot, but I am locked in my house.

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On the other hand, I am also a student in Cinema-Communications who has learned to work behind the camera. I even own an entry level DSLR Camera and a tripod. I have always been interested in photography, but never dived deep enough to learn techniques by myself. And so, I saw this project as the perfect opportunity to explore photography with my skills as a Cin-Com student, and to satisfy my thirst for photoshoots as a model.

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The theme of the project is "Letter to Myself," which encompasses dreams and aspirations, self-identify and self-esteem, and the concept of time. My project — being self-portrait photoshoots in elaborate set designs and poses — calls to my modeling dream career, which is the only thing that brings me self-esteem, which I can no longer pursue due to the uncertain times we live in, and yet I still stay hopeful for the future and will try to submit it to editorial magazines to not let my modeling "career" crumble. 

To take all the pictures, I will be using my Canon Rebel 6Ti camera and my 150cm tripod. If the sunlight is not bright enough or casts harsh shadows on some parts of my body, I will use 1 or 2 softbox continuous studio lights. To take my self-portraits, I will be connecting my camera to my iPad using the application Canon Camera Connect. This will allow me to see myself in the iPad (as a monitor screen), and press on my iPad to activate the camera's countdown and shutter. (Since these materials will be used for all the shoots, I did not specify them under "Materials" in the schedule below).

The 2 tripod stands from the softbox lights will also allow me to hang some fabrics on them to create a backdrop using curtain rods. My backdrops will mainly consist of bedsheets, curtains, and fabrics purchased online. For some sets, I will also use extra props to add dimension to the background: plants, dried flowers, paper flowers, artificial vines, artificial butterflies, chairs, tables, drawers, mirrors, picture frames, lanterns, books, etc. All materials are listed for each individual shoot in the schedule below.

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Due to Covid-19, I will be unable to shoot outside of my home. All the sets will be built in the space available in my house, mainly where there are windows and sunlight. Those places are: the living room, my step-sister's bedroom, my parents' bedroom, the stairwell to the 2nd floor, and the basement (not a lot of sunlight in the basement, but there is a lot of space to build my sets). I will only need my parents' permission to move furniture around in the house and to have my sets stay up overnight (because it's sometimes too time-consuming to build the set and shoot on the same day, especially since the sun only shines through the living room windows in the morning, meaning I would have to wake up around 4am to start building). I will also ask my mom to help me with the set-ups, because some items can be heavy or risky to carry alone. Fortunately, I have already received my parents' permission and support for all this.

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Before production, I like to visually plan my shoots with a sketch of the set design and notes about things to include. The application Procreate on my iPad will allow me to draw an outline of every shoots (all drawings are shown below in the schedule). During production, I will be using the application Canon Camera Connect to link my iPad to the camera to take the pictures. During post-production, I will use Adobe Lightroom to adjust the colours and lighting in the pictures, then Adobe Photoshop to modify flawed elements (such as hiding the tripod stands or filling up holes in the backdrop fabrics). Lastly, if I choose to make diptychs in a photobook, I will use Canva to format the photobook (cover page, margins, etc.) Regardless of diptychs or triptychs, the final product will be presented on a Wix web page.