Editorial Research

19thApril2014

(Lindbergh, Peter. shoot for VOGUE, Model Luke Campbell)

After experimenting with many different methods of presenting interesting visuals, I decided that a mandatory subject to cover would be to create a fashion editorial shoot. I wanted the outcome of the editorial shoot to be clean and natural, unlike the images I have produced previously. To start off this body of work I researched Boxing editorials and the first images to come up were ones of Luke Campbell, Olympic 2012 Gold Medalist who has recently been scouted for Select Model Agency. The images where perfect and exactly what I was looking for, for inspiration. I didn't want to copy these images so I continued to scour the internet for a combination of Boxing images, editorials and Ballet imagery. Once I had found a range of imagery I started to look at specific fashion magazines to base my shoots on. I discovered two called Sharp and Complex, which depict clean and uncontrived editorial shoots. 

(Complex magazine. Collection of covers and editorials)

(Authors own. Collection of imagery)

Complex is a New York-based bi-monthly magazine which reports on trends in fashion, music, art and design, technology, sports and video games with a focus of niche cultures such as street wear sneaker culture, hip-hop and graphic art.  I was quite interested in the way that they're photo shoots were set up, simple, stripped back and focusing on the subject entirely, accentuating character and personality. Unlike most of my previous work - which has been shot on location - I thought I'd experiment with some sleek and sharp studio style photography. I wanted to produce two photo shoots; one portraying more boxing related lifestyle and characteristics, and the other simply fashion based. Complex magazine did not meet the requirements of my second photo shoot concept, and this is when I came across Sharp magazine.

Sharp is a Canadian Men's lifestyle magazine which publicises style, cars, technology, food & drink, culture, street style, sport and up and coming events. The difference between Complex magazine and Sharp is the target audience. While Complex looks at the younger generation  - 16-29 years - and up and coming young talents, Sharp takes a more mature approach, depicting men in later life with established careers. Coming across this magazine has inspired me to take a new approach to my second shoot. Rather than having a typical-boxer-looking model, I think that it would strengthen my proposals initial concept to use a more feminine-fashion-like-model dressed in sportswear. 
The images shown on the right are ones that I have been collecting since the start of the project in a folder on my computer. When starting the project I knew I wanted to focus on boxing showing the male form and some how try to incorporate fashion into it, but I was completely blind to where I could take it. 

(Sharp magazine. Collection of covers and editorials)