Natasha Holt

Fashion and Editorial

Natasha Holt is a final year Photography student who executed six fashion photoshoots for her final major project, encompassing her self development.

Photography - BA (Hons)

Give us a brief overview of your project

The final production of this project consisted of six fashion photoshoots that strongly represented my appreciation of fashion, my photography style, as well as an overall empowering portrayal of the models that I photographed. I also incorporated video into this project through shooting a VHS-style fashion film that candidly showed the nature of the photoshoots behind the final photos.

I wanted the focus to be the development of a fashion portfolio that best represents my photography style, which is assisted with refined professional research about the industry that I want to work within, to support my transition into my career after university. When I graduate, I really want to start photographing for fashion brands in an e-commerce and hopefully campaign manner, as well as possibly producing fashion editorials for magazines, which are my two favourite forms of photography to consume and produce. Therefore, to hopefully start getting commissions with fashion brands and magazines after I graduate, I wanted to develop and prepare my workflow and portfolio through investigating the current fashion trends fresh from Fashion Week, as well as performing in-depth research of different fashion brands and magazines, reflecting what I learn into my photoshoots through the overall critiquing of my photography style.

Why did you choose this concept?

I decided to choose this particular project due to the freedom that it allowed to experiment and define my overall photography style. Through only focusing on fashion photography, I was able to pinpoint factors within my shooting process that were the strongest within my work, such as my bold use of colour, complex lighting set-ups, expressive posing and an interesting editing style, without having to necessarily find a conceptual meaning behind my photographs, which had mislead some of my work in the past. Furthermore, with my in-depth research of the fashion industry and the paths that I could follow after graduation, it gave my shooting process and final photos a good structure, which will aid me post graduation.

What processes have you been using?

Throughout this project, I developed a strong process when producing each photoshoot. I first gathered visual inspiration from different practitioners, which I displayed in the form of a mood board that allowed me to interpret an idea of what I wanted my shoot to look like. I then further researched the primary practitioners within the visual inspiration, researching their overall style of photography, as well as analysing their photos to see what parts of their work can influence my own photoshoot. I then structured the creative direction within each photoshoot, pinpointing locations, lighting setups, the equipment that I needed and any editing requirements in post production, as well as building a team of fashion designers/stylists, hair and make up artists and models. I then applied all of my acquired research and creative direction to my photoshoots and within my editing process during post production to produce the best possible final photos.

What do you hope to achieve with your project?

From my Final Major Project, the main component that I wanted to achieve, was a career-ready portfolio that best represented my style as a fashion photographer. As this project had such a heavy focus on the fashion industry and the paths that I wanted to take after I graduated, it was necessary that my direction was reflected within my final photographs and overall workflow. However, from looking at all of the final photos from this project, as well as the portfolio that I physically created, this was definitely achieved.

How has your course helped you to prepare for working on your project?

Throughout my four years of university, my course has always been incredible in giving me the freedom to experiment and push the boundaries of my skills within photography, which was particularly recognised during my Final Major Project. My tutors were brilliant at noticing the potential within my photography and helping me to define an overall direction and style. Overall, I think the production of my portfolio wouldn't be anywhere near as strong as it is without the access to the incredible university facilities, as well as the fantastic teaching and advice from my tutors.