Latex

So I will mainly focus on images that I've made from September 2010 and onward (that is when my school term began). I will post maybe a couple school assignments here and there so let us get started.

I've never shot on manual (nor aperture priority, nor shutter speed priority) before entering photo school. The 12 pictures that I submitted to the interviewer for entrance were all on a point-and-shoot digital camera, on automatic. I didn't know that f/stop and aperture were the same thing until 3 weeks in! And I had to ask somebody after I made sure they will not laugh at me. Needless to say, I know it in theory (it's really just info regurgitation) but not in practice.

So in photo school we're shooting boxes and spheres etc. and suddenly our business course calls for us to display our own images (gasp) in a mock job pitch. You can feel the anxiety in the air as everyone was nervous about showing their own work to their peers. My problem was that I had pictures, but I didn't have enough pictures in one group to make a pitch towards any industry.

Armed with my camera and speedlite (still on camera) I went and got the pictures done 3 days before the assignment was due. For the mock presentation, I pretended that I was pitching to work at a latex fashion magazine. I love latex garments.

Now the one thing about latex is that you cannot touch it to metal or it will discolour. We wanted to shoot on this rusty metal chair but had to lay down this fabric to protect the latex. I really wish we didn't have to but latex clothing are very pricey (and the damages cannot be fixed). The image isn't clothing-centric and also her eyes are in shadow :( 

This was the second shoot that I did for the same assignment. Again, I realize that these will not fly in the real world because the focus isn't on the latex clothing. The shoes are also too big (the space I had did not allow for a longer lens to correct the distortion).

For both, I just bounced my on-camera speedlite off the ceiling (speedlite setting was: straight out of the box). It was the only way I knew how to do it.