Shoot 1.2: “Whimsy, Magical” narrative
I went to Punggol Park near my house for the lush green backdrop. I love that it has a wide variety of backdrops for me to shoot against – lakes, bridges, small clearings, a lalang field – I spent a full day shooting there, and it was super fun.
Close up shots
Close up shots of myself with object
Artist Reference
(Stylistic) AR5: Alex Benetel
His use of pastel colors contrasted with dark greens, blues and purples gives off a whimsical vibe that I enjoy a lot. I shot against the lampposts around 8pm to capture similar lighting.
However, I felt that this photograph was edging on more dramatic than whimsical due to the low angle and strong contrast in the lighting.
Full figure shots
Artist Reference
(Stylistic) AR6: Alex Currie
The greens here are cooler-toned, which gives off a mysterious, alone-in-the-woods feeling, much like the one I experience when reading Enid Blyton books. The vast fields also convey a sense of magic, and I tried a wide angle shot with my book inspired by this.
(Stylistic) AR7: Kyle Thompson
The red balloons give off a sense of whimsy and really pop against the green and yellow background. I got some red balloons, tied them to the lalang stalks for a makeshift Kyle Thompson background and shot against it.
(Stylistic) AR7: Mikael Aldo
A large proportion of the photographs is dark, lending them a mysterious quality. I shot the photographs below at night, with flash to see how a predominantly dark background could affect the mood of the narrative.
Other full figure shots that explored angle and framing:
Mid range shots
Artist Reference
(Stylistic) AR6: Olivia Bee
The stronger blues clearly signal that it’s evening time – I enjoy the moody atmosphere created. Hence, I shot some mid range shots around 7pm, when the sky was a darker blue. Coincidentally, there was some mosquito fogging going on, which gave a mystical vibe.
Other mid range shots
I tried to explore some more extreme angles, as well as more poses.
Other things I tried but didn’t really work out
(Photos from left to right are labeled 1 to 4)
- Tried tying all the balloons to one lalang stalk but it drew too much attention. Hence, I decided with spacing the balloons out, like the photos from earlier.
- Tried shooting here but the lampposts in the background interfered with the forest-ey atmosphere 🙁
- Tried focusing on the lalang stalks instead of myself and the book, but felt that again, too little attention was on the main subject.
- Tried posing with the lamppost, but I realized only natural things, like trees, and grass, go with the narrative.