London research trip. . . Old Spitalfields Market

I made my (hopefully) last trip to London today, I've now got all of the paper that I need to get three copies of the publication printed, as well as the card to make the packaging that Dandy-Lion pages will be housed in. I also picked up some more of the paper I am printing my portfolio sheets on as the deadline for the British Fashion Council portfolio day is looming and I've just about got the content for the pages sorted.

I took a trip to the Old Spitalfields Market by Liverpool Street station to take some photo's for the feature I am doing on the market, I picked a good day as it was the vintage and antiques market, I loved all of the quaint little stalls and some of the obscure things that you could buy, below are some of the photo's that I took whilst wandering around -

Developments . . .

Following my stage review with Tiffany and Josh and the feedback they gave regarding the shoots that I had produced, I have decided to incorporate text within the shoots, to make it clearer that it is about the story that the images are telling rather than selling the clothes that are featured.

For the bookshop shoot I have decided to use quotes from people about books and reading that relates to the image on the page, I also cut one of the pages from the spread, adding one of the images on to another page, I know think it looks a lot better, and the quotes work well with the imagery -

For the Beach shoot I have decides to incorporate the rhyme for 'I do like to be beside the seaside, again linking the lyrics to the images that are on the page. I cut two pages from this shoot, however have then added one tracing paper page with some text on so that it lays on top of the image below. I am much happier with the whole spread, the two pages I cut out were both of the same outfit, and were in my opinion the weakest images in the spread and just didn't look very natural or Autumnal.

I also picked up the last batch of clothes from Vintage Per Sempre for the Land Girls shoot in a couple of weeks time.

One feature down two more to go . . .

I received the Baking Vs Shop bought article from Lisa Tracey, there is a bit of editing to do, as there are a few too many words to fit into the layout. But I'm pleased that there is now a different writing style within the publication, as I beginning to worry that everything sounded very 'samey' and that there is no diversity when it comes to the writing styles, as I've had to write 90% of the content myself, something that I did initially want to avoid, but I found it incredibly hard to source contributors. However it is something that I would make sure happens if the publication where to ever go into production.

Vintage Persempre shop visit . . . take two

I visited Vintage Per Sempre today with Naomi to take back the clothes I'd borrowed for the beach shoot, and to get some more for the land girls shoot. The aim of out trip was to get some garments for the second outfit for the three models which will see them preparing to go to a dance. I was also hoping to get some trousers and knitwear for the first outfit when they are working on the farm, however the farmer suggested when I visited that all of the clothes NEEDED to be cleaned after the shoot, because of all germs and bacteria present, luckily between us we have most of what we'll need to put together three outfits. Below are the bits we've chosen for the shoot -

Leah wasn't in the shop today, so I left all of the chosen pieces to be written down, and a deposit worked out. So fingers crossed I'll be picking them all up on Monday or Tuesday.

Stage Review . . .

I wasn't quite sure what to expect for the stage review, so I took all of my most recent work as well as my business cards, packaging trials and paper cutting samples. It went a lot better than I was expecting with both Tiffany and Josh responding positively to the publication, there were some valuable points brought up as well, as to where to take the project fro here and how I could improve the publication - 

* Print out the publication in colour, the black and white version doesn't do it justice, show the colour version to your intended reader to get some feedback on the publication. Hand the colour copy along with the actual publication in for the final hand in.

* Editing - some of the shoots and articles are a page too long, a 105 page publication is not to expected for MP. Get someone to sit down and edit it all that is not close to the project. As they'll have more of an objective view to what should be kept and what should maybe be left out.

* Have some form of narrative running through the photo shoots, as it's not clear from looking through that the images are telling a story opposed to selling the clothes the model is wearing. Maybe a poem or a song??

* Change the two full page landscapes (Rachael Illustrations), that I've put as portraits to half page landscapes as the layout isn't in keeping with the rest of the publication.

* For hand in you need to produce two copies, producing an invoice as the uni will reimburse you for one of them. 

* Web site - find a way of making a blog not look like a blog for the web site. Although a blog is a good idea, as it's what a lot of publications are doing.

* Layout is looking really good, more continuity throughout the publication, cohesive.

After going over the feedback and reflecting on it, I definitely agree about having some form of narrative running through the shoots, and I've already changed the landscape images I'd put as portrait to half page landscapes, and they look a lot better. 

In terms of editing I am going to ask Jess (mentor) is she wouldn't mind going through and suggesting which pages I should leave out.

I'm really pleased with the comments both Josh and Tiffany said about the layout as it is something I've worked hard on since my tutorial with Jamie and I agree that the publication is all the better for the changes even though I was reluctant to the idea at first, I can see what Jamie meant.

Farm shoot update . . .

I received a text message from Phil Randell who owns Gooduns Farm, which I visited on Tuesday, and he's confirmed that Saturday 30th April is a go for the shoot, I can't wait! I'm also going back to Vintage Per Sempre on Friday to get some clothes for the shoot.

Beach shoot final images . . .

I got the final images today from Phoebe and they are so good and she's hardly had to edit them, which is a bonus as I didn't want the images to look too perfect, I wanted the reader to still be able to relate to the images within the publication. Because of the sunny weather it was a little bright, and I would of liked a few more grey clouds in the sky, something a little more representational of a British Autumnal day, but the chunky knitwear give the illusion of Autumn even though the images were shot in April!

Below are some of the final images, I've included the full selection of images under the photoshoot tab above.