Above is the finished book which I received in the post. The postage cost around £20 but it got it from the Netherlands to my house in three working days, (was promised 3-5) with hourly updated online tracking. The total cost was around £60 but I could have had it sent quicker for £30 or up to 15 days for only £6. The reason for the high cost for one book is the company I used allows a minimum of one book to be printed, where as many other companies require a minimum order of either five or ten.
I’m over all very pleased with the outcome, going for the premium paper made a massive difference as it’s 35% thicker than the standard paper and adds a nice finish. There is a lustre finish as an extra but didn’t go for it on this occasion as it was an update to the site which was in the process of being implemented when I sent my book for print. The amount of work to create this small publication was indeed more than having a couple of prints produced but it was defiantly worth the experience. Nothing was printed wrong, everything about the book came the way I intended it to be and motivates me to make a bigger more detailed publication for my third year final show. It shows that if I take my time and make sure everything is correct then my work can come out perfectly.
The total cost of the book with postage was that of around two to three A2 prints, it’s far more achievable and lower cost to create the book when you think frames are usually added to prints as which also bumps up the costs. In this book I managed eleven prints instead of only a couple of standard framed prints and I’ve even included space for people to write comments directly into the book for my own future reference on how to improve. Not only do the standard black pages give a neural space for the images to be viewed on, but it also minimises the ability of someone commenting on the pages directly. I didn’t find creating the book anymore difficult that standard prints but was useful to look at a few book layouts of publications I already have to have an idea what looked best for the type of content I’m wishing to show.
Having so many images did mean more shoots which meant more location scouting, models and so forth but was more fun as I had a smaller gap to do my shots and therefore took more time with each shoot creating fewer images to post process. I even used film on some of the shots to get more variety of media content and kept my digital images grainy but using high ISOs to keep in tune with the rest of the work. The high ISO grainy approach I also feel makes the images look more personalised rather than a clean clear digital image which would look strange next to the grainy black and white film shots.
I wanted to use a number of different models, in different locations around the university to show that studios are not always required to have fun but add a little twist to make the images more interesting. Studio work I find boring now unless I’m constructing a scene or just for convince when a shoot is needed quickly. I did how-ever have problems with shoots going wrong due to models messing me about with dates, illness and poor excuses which did annoy me but I managed to get around with other ideas. This is a definite lesson to always plan more shoots than required in case of such problems. Gaining models themselves was not an issue as I have managed to build up a collection of references on various portfolio sites making it easy for me to cast models for my work. This is something I’ve built up over a long period of time, since before starting university and certainly pays off.
I hope to gain from the comments pages in this exhibition piece, I can use it as an example for future models for my main project next year. The exhibition piece has already had an impact on a few models that like the idea of being in a book publication and would consider contributing if required to. I’m intending to travel to other countries to gather my next content rather than staying in England as there’s far better models and locations out there than this overused floating rock. I intend to exhibit this piece by the way of either a floor plinth or an attachment to a wall. Attachments to the wall would depend on where the work was to be show, but would be my first choice over a free standing item. Either choice, I would screw the back cover of the book down to the wooden surface to secure it from going anywhere or being stolen as it wouldn’t be possible to place it in a standard wall mounted frame. To the book stand ill also attach a retractable pencil via a chain to enable people to easily leave comments rather than using pens
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Final images
Plinth
Failing being able to have the book mounted to a wall, my second option and probably the easiest is a plinth. If I had a height between 5ft and 5ft 4 it would be a decent height for people to be able to turn the pages while not excluding a great number of people in a height restriction. I could also attach the back cover of the book directly to the plinth base to stop it from being removed as well as attaching a pen.
Ceiling hanging
Having the book attached to a backboard which has a slight angle for the book to fit into would limit the book from keeping itself open when suspended from the ceiling. Downfalls to this will make it harder for people with height restrictions to view the book, and likley look a mess if left open as all the pages will be spread apart meaning the viewer would engage in a random page with little interest rather than starting at the beginning.
Table
Greenbank ground floor shoot #2
some examples from the shoot.
Greenbank ground floor
some examples from the shoot.
By using the strobe flash, I was able to make the scene look darker than what it actually was, infact it looked like it was night time with a side lamp. I wanted bright colours for this shot so didn't really suit my needs but gave an interesting effect which was worth taking note.
I used a wireless strop flash and a reflector as a big diffuser to achieve my strongest image (the top of the three). The idea behind this theme is to give an indication of possibly a student working to pay of debts, but as always, nothing is as easy as it sounds, hence my utilities gag with a floor brush attachment. Selected littler and trash was brought in along with my own floor cleaning cone which added more to the effect and actually warned people of the cleaning which was indeed in progress. originally latex stockings and gloves where to be used to break up the models skin a little bit, but she damaged the stockings beyond use during fitting. The top half of her clothing was hindering the shot making it look to dark, so the image was taken topless which as can be seen, helps bring out the floor brush item better and achieves better focal attention.
Media factory shoot #1/2
some examples from the shoot.
The shoot itself didn't go to badly. The ambient lighting with in the building was already interesting enough without involving a flash. A reflector was used efficiently to help light up any areas needing more light together with a high iso setting. The obvious colour theme was green and grey meaning the models skin would certainly stand out.
The above image was done as an after thought idea while we was setting up another shot and the model wanted a drink of water. I decided against using it as the most prominate part of the image is the models chest area which draws more attention then most the image. A different pose could have probably made this scene achievable but was more of a bit of fun than anything else while other stuff was being sorted.
Media factory shoot #3
some examples from the shoot.
Media factory shoot #4
some examples from the shoot.
The standard black and white approach makes the model fit into the scene far better without standing out as much as she was doing in the full colour shots. This scanned negative is the strongest image from the set in my opinion so will be used as a final shot with a little cleaning up.
Library shoot
Examples from the shoot...
Adelphi lecture building - Lift - cancled
Location: Harrington
Shoot #1 - Stairwell
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Location: Media factory
Shoot #1 - Reception
Shoot #2 - WC

On a past shoot I did, I used one of the disabled toilets to produce the below image.
I'm thinking, if I used the same model for the reception shot, with the blind fold, in a WC, looking like he/she is putting on makeup without being able to see, more questions will be running through the viewers mind like, why, where and again be more interested in the surroundings and the activity the model is taking part in rather than being distracted from clothing. Lack of clothing, regardless of any image context, causes more attention to be gained, so a simple shot all of a sudden becomes a taboo.
Shoot #3 - Computer room
Women are often thought of as objects for use but are also branded with the inability to use computers regardless of how smart they are, its a conformity within society. The last shoot therefore I want to use the mac suite in someway, as large numbers of people can related to these busy office type spaces using the same model with the blind fold, again to reduce sexual appeal. By doing this shot though ill likely need a female model I can use for all three.
Shoot #4 - Hallway
Location: Greenbank
Shoot #1 - Ground floor cleaning
The floor of the green bank foyey looks very kitchen space like in apearence with its blue and white large tiles and open space. Thinking of how I can use this in a quirky way, I have a caution cone prop, (above right) and a mouth gag which allows multiple attachments including the one showing up left. Both together would make an interesting cleaning up/maid type concept. it would also make the scene harder to guess if I shoot it up close but would either have to be done topless to stop attention being drawn away from the face or a maid style outfit to fit the scene.
The gag itself is a very odd item on its own and likley and object very few people will have seen as its not a cheap piece of equipment and with majority of the potential audience leading a vanillia lifestyle ill hopefully gain interest out of curiosity.
Since the space is used by a large number of people, shooting in the evening would be at best to lower to number of possible distubences and to keep the model more confident. Im also toying with the idea of roping of a section of the floor to prevent people from walking into my scene and to make it look more proffesional in what im doing incase im questioned.
Shoot #2 - looking down
After shooting the cleaning shots, I can use the floor space again to shoot a second scene which may look good as part of a set if I include the gag still on the model and the warning cone in the picture as well. Ill be able to figure more about this shot as I actually do it as currently its only an idea and im not sure how it would look until I position the model and get on the 1st or maybe 2nd floor. The higher I am the better the image would likley look as it would look flatter as lower levels it would be more noticeable Im not directly above the model.
Location: Library
Shoot #1 - Books
Location: Harrington
Shoot #1 - Stairwell
Location: Adelphi lecture building
Shoot #1 - Lift with monk/vicor
Both models would be male and ill use roseary beads for the monk to strengthen the apearence of catholic and a cross for the victor to strengthen chrisitanity. The shot itself is to play around with the idea of gay relationships in religeon and the mixing of the two being a even greater sin. Its the type of image you would most likley never see which is why it would be a good image to take as itll make a very engaging subject. This particular idea was inspired by the current iconaclasm brief we have out with constructed image.
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Photographer / general influence...
Steve Diet Godde
American artist Steve Diet Godedde studied film making and painting and refused to study photography for reasons being that he ad already aquired his aesthetic and visual style. I personally prefer his older work to the new more modern line of photography he has been creating, but hes a good example that simple locations are often effective.
Roy stuart
American artist Roy Stuarts first two books from the photographer "nudes of Roy stuart" which ive managed to obtain, show some interesting interpretations of sexual fantisies/ideas and bdsm asthetics which people can relate to. I like this photographers 80s feel and really simple scenes which have a striking apearence. Many of the scenes he shoots are a type of fetish and/or kink which can be linked with sexual reference making them apealing to the right people or just interesting eyecandy to everyone else.
Being another American artist, he also creates short films, strange installations and his photography goes from one end of the spectrum to another.

Allot of his images change the models figure some way or another or just makes the viewer think thats not possible. The 70s and 80s where his starting point for erotic photography and quickly women in tight skin rubber garments became his signature. - Info from The worlds top photographers nudes, by Anthony Lasala
Acording to the Tate, they also had the largest show made by any artist to date of 2005, well know for their large scale sized images and are still producing work.
Books
A small selection of recent books ive been looking at rather than individual artists.
Asia Bondage by Steven Speliotis
Nude Photography: The Art and the Craft by Pascal Baeten
Kinky Couture by Emma Deves-Broughton
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GET VIDEO OF MAC SUITE
Location idea #1 - adelphi lift
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Location idea #3 - Large lecture room
Pretty much the same as the small one except way bigger.
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Location idea #4 - Upper stair well
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Location idea #6 - Small stool space
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Location idea #7 - Floor space & coloured walls
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Location idea #8 - wall of glass
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Location idea #9 - Library
Therefore if I need the area to be more quiet I would need to aquire a student model willing to pose in the positions I need at the time which shouldnt be to much of a problem. My main interest at the moment is the book shelf areas.
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Location idea #10 - wall art
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Location idea #11 - Media factory 4th floor
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Ideas for book layout...
Ive now decided to leave one or maybe two blank page at the back of the book for comments. with relivant headings. Im most likley going to get rubbish feedback from the majority but any good feedback would be worth it. I could also write in myself improvments I can make for my main publication, any do/dont's etc and itll be kept together with the book so I can use the whole thing as a refference piece. The general black pages will deter people from writing on the pages with images on as it would be difficult if not impossible to see and would certainly limit its noticeabillity compared to the white pages.
The more expensive option is a binded cover, which the same image of the left shows which means a image is attached to the actual book meaning it cant be removed or peel.
Books which have both usualy rely on the dust cover as added protection for the book cover which is something id possibly consider on a later project. For this one im going to choose having the cover binded for a more proffesional look.
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Ideas for book content...
This got me thinking over a few days and an idea sparked when I was asked a simple question.
"do you know any locations around uni I can do a shoot". This question suddenly had me thinking of the idea of location related shoots around the university, this way it would be possible for a large number of people to relate to the scenes I shoot and for those who do not attend the university to try and work out what the scene actually is.
Content theme idea keyword brainstorming -
nudist, public, rope work, shibari, latex, clothing, education, exams, religeon, kink, fetish, non models, obsessions, body art, chains, submissive, domestic.
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Main project for my open brief decided...ITS A BOOK.
The handy company I found is http://www.blurb.com/book/
The idea I had for the blank page on the left side of each image came from a series of books I already own called Fetish Anthology. All the pages where black with the images contained within having white boarders. This style really striked me as bold and made me focus on each image individually. Blurb makes designing the book layout very easy with its own version on indesign as an option to use which is the route ill take. Im also going to choose the larger 12"x12" print so if I make my images around 10 x 8 they will have plenty of equal. boarder space wether they are landscape or portrait.
Producing this book is what I would consider a trial stage for a main publication idea for my 3rd year which will see higher quallity content along with tweaks and fixes through feedback of this creation. One of the main downsides to this company how ever is the production and delivery time which ill have to make up for in this instance with a faster delivery method which will add to the price.
Other book printing companies I looked at
http://www.bookprinting.org.uk/
http://www.bookprintinguk.com/
http://www.askprint.co.uk/
All of these other sites and various others have cheaper rates than others but snags such as a batch number of books being required or a difficult submissition process put me off using them, where as blurb with its custom design program and submission feature makes paying the little extra worth it. Perhaps if I was to print multiple copies, going through the notion of one of the batch printing servies my be a cheaper alternative which is somthing to consider.
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Tatto shoot problem...
Unfortunatly the girl has had to pospone her tatto from being finished so ill have to leave this series for another time but will finish once she has completed her artwork. This has caused me to abandon my body art work for the time being.
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Making my own props...
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Tatto madness....Part 2
Second sitting with the tatto subject. This is into her second hour of her second session making four hours in total so far with two more to go to finish it off.
This session was starting the shading and colouring in of the main part of the tatto which caused more pain to the model the further up the ribs the tatto artist got with the needle. She did do rather well without passing and this is the first image of most the shading completed before the final session.
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Music Video influence
Such as..
Manson is one of my biggest life influences when It comes to music ever since my teens when he was at his highest in the rock god scene.
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A bit of random
I decided to do some new shoots with non models. left is perfect example of a friend Ive not seen for around 10 years whom Ive known since high school. Liz has never been shot before and finally decided to come have ago. I asked to turn around and produce visually for the word I yelled. In this case I said, show me 'Horny'
The model to the right was the friend that accompanied Liz to the shoot and again, has never been shot before so had ago in the studio for an hour. I think I got a good shot of her as she was very pleased and took a fairly long time to get her used to the lighting but a good portrait came out of it and gave her something to smile about.
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Back to basics
Viki is a popular nude model Ive been looking to work with and halved her hourly rate for my client since he was a student. I was then allowed to use some of the image for my own portfolio which made it worth my while. This is one of the images and just reminds me that simple is often good.
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Tatto madness....Part 1





























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