6/6/13

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Jeanine.Marteau

A general update aaannddd the next installment of my food photography venture! June belongs to bacon wrapped cheesy chicken with leeks, with Lincolnshire based Lymn Bank cracked black pepper cheddar. Nom.

Unlike last time I got this one done in one shoot but I put a lot of planning into it, so that probably helped a lot. I experimented with the lighting a fair bit- starting with tungsten and going onto flash, I’d thankfully got everything set up before the food was plated then it was just minor tweaks with composition and framing. However, I did that classic thing of noticing things I could have done or changed after I’d sent them off… little things like turning the bottle around just a little bit so you can see the fairtrade logo… annoying, but I’m hoping that’s signs of improvement

Update wise, I’ve been going through my old blogs and articles I used to write for The Focus Project (I’ve yet to have a stint through my hard drive, not particularly looking forward to that…) and I’m thinking about moving them here onto this website under their own “focus” tab; mainly because I want everything in one place as I’m planning a website overhall and I want to be able to direct people to my written work, this may also mean publishing my dissertation on my website too along with my full CV. I’m also going to go through my old personal blog on blogspot and pick what I want to keep from that before I shut it down as I don’t use it and I think I can just write everything on here, really. Other than that I’m also planning a flickr update once I’ve got a few more shots for the co-op under my belt along with an etsy and tumblr update- yes it’s got to that point. I kind of figured that with the CV update I should also update my online presence as everything links to everything else if that makes sense…

Craft wise, I’m looking into doing some of my own lampwork if I can keep the cost down, I also want to make my own paper for my business cards but we’ll see! Currently making a few bits for the summer markets:

I actually got out in the sun this week as well we took a bike ride to whisby nature park (it was only a 13 mile round trip, wasn’t dying the next day or anything..) and had a picnic at the wild flower preserve I’d happily do that every Monday.

So as well as hunting down old blogs to publish here, I’ve also been thinking about writing up more about my photography projects; as in sort-of artists statements as well as my usual research and idea generation.. I’m just a bit annoyed I haven’t come as far with my tableau pieces as I’d hoped I guess, so I want to write it all up with illustrations. It’s not much progress but it’ll help me get it all straight in my head, and if I have any models or anyone interested I can send them directly here to read about it.. I dunno- I’m still unsure.

Finally, Keep an eye out for my newly published article in PVB Magazine as there will be more to come

31/5/13

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Jeanine.Marteau

Thought I’d have another update of the crafty sort.

I’ve been getting back on track this week after my last couple of hectic weeks traveling around, which means the to-do list has grown considerably but I’m looking forward to getting through it I’ve even been good and organised my workspaces

Sooo! Here’s what I’ve done recently:

prototype

Future projects include the beaded beard and an array of bracelets and stuff to sell at a couple of markets over the summer I decided to make handmade business cards as well with homemade paper, it seems only fitting! The stop motion is on it’s way soon too

I’m also writing a couple of blogs to be published and featured on a couple of websites and I’ve been given the opportunity to write articles again for a magazine! very excited- I’ll write more about it once I’ve started properly.

Next blogs include the next installment of the food photography I’ve been doing and ideas for the summer recipes!

Light Night and London

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Jeanine.Marteau

I’ve been traveling around a lot recently which makes a nice change, especially when you’re off to exhibitions and festivals and photo shoots I could get used to it! I miss writing about things like this so I’m making a point of going out and seeing more like I used to do and not letting the work rota rule all.

So first off, I went back home to Liverpool last week for The Light Night Festival which I’d been planning to go to since April, and it didn’t let me down, however there was so much to squeeze into one evening! Damn time restraints. Anyway, I met up with mum after she finished work and went for coffee, naturally, then we were met by the Brouhaha International Carnival making it’s way down Church street with a gathering of on lookers:

It was a fun sight- the colours, the smiles, the dancing and the drums; it was a bit mesmerizing against the grey sky and it was great to see people on the streets joining in and getting their photo taken with those involved in the parade.

Next, we made our way down to the central library as it was holding it’s grand reopening. It’s beautiful! I hope the people dressed up as Alice in Wonderland characters stay all year round, especially the flamingoes. I used to go there quite a lot when I was revising for my GCSE’s and A Levels; I’m a bit jealous now that it’s all changed and improved and I can’t spend all of my time there now, though mum said she will be there everyday on her lunch break

Personally, I thought it looked like a cross between a new modern university library and a newly polished, glossy grandeur traditional library, but given the fact that there were several levels and rooms that opened up into the library out of Beauty and the Beast, that’s pretty much what it was. I’ll shut up now and show you the images:

i would happily do my dissertation all over again if i could do it here

view from the top

Apologies for the low quality of the images, it’s just for the blog- I’ll be uploading them full size onto flickr soon.

Next was the Walker Art Gallery for a look in at the Look/13 international photography festival and the exhibitions; Alive: in the Face of Death and Every Man and Woman is a Star. We continued the photography festival tour the next day at the Bluecoat gallery, another one of my old haunts, for exhibitions I Exist (In Some Way) and the Sander/Weegee Collection. As this festival continues until June I’m hoping to go back and produce a more in depth article To be honest, it’s been a few months since I’ve written an analysis and I’m feeling a bit rusty; it’s definitely time to throw myself back into it!

I hoped to see more over the one-night arts and culture festival, like the Do You Remember Me exhibition at the Pier, Fragments at the Cathedral and many, many other exhibitions, but time caught up with us and before I knew it, after hours of walking, we were at La Vina so next year I think I’m going to have to plan a route!

So my next trip this week was to London for a photo shoot. If you’ve been reading recently you’ll know I’ve been taking photos for the Lincolnshire Co-Op’s Recipe of the Month which appears in the Lincolnshire Echo, and I was given the opportunity to see a shoot done by an experienced food photographer for the Co-op’s Members Magazine (you can read more about my shoots here). It was a great day- I haven’t been to London for years; my last visit was for a school trip and we stuck to the art galleries so it was great to see a new side to the city. The shoot itself was a valuable learning experience- I haven’t seen many professionals work in the studio so it was great to see it all done in front of me and to see how to match colour palates. I won’t say too much about it or the food, but it really helped me see where I can go the next recipe is all done and you’ll see that soon! The next couple of months consist of meatballs and ribs so I’ve had a lot of inspiration and idea for what I can try out with them.

Other than that and spring cleaning the house and an interview this morning, I’ve made a Dr.Who bag charm and completed my HP bead piece ttfn!

Research/ Inspiration Blog

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Jeanine.Marteau

I want to start up a couple of new themed blogs with their own categories: one will be documenting the new bead woven jewellery and accessories I’ve started to make; the designs and process etc. The second will be inspiration or research blogs which will kind of be like scrap books- images I find interesting, their influence, artists statements, their origins and methods used. I used to write blogs like this weekly for the focus project and feel the need to start writing again! There’s a couple of blogs like this on this website already but they’re mostly about my old college or GCSE work- pieces and research, so for this one I thought I’d round it off with my last batch of sixth form art and design course work; one of my favourite sketch books! I’ve looked back on this book before and there a few pages in here that want to make me paint again- they’re not great but I remember how much time went into them and how much I enjoyed working on them. So it’s not so much gathering inspiration from the image it’s self, but the process I went though and the sense of achievement afterwards even if it’s just from working from a photograph and practicing painting technique (like I did here) it still motivates me to get creating again.

Casting Call- Personalised Portraits

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Jeanine.Marteau

Bonjour!

One of the projects I’m hoping to start this year is a portrait series which focuses on an individuals creative interests/ past-times and hobbies, course or creative careers. To express their passion as well as their personality, in the environment where they feel most creative or inspired- be it the garden, studio or spare room. This project is a celebration of what we love- of doing what we love- an imaginative, crafty, artistic and expressive activity or outlet that makes us happy; something that makes you who you are.

This is a casting call for anyone interested in sharing their passion, documenting their work/ work space or even if you just want an image of yourself at work for your website etc

The final piece will consist of two images from two types of photo shoots. One will be of the subject at work in their work space, involved in their hobby or profession, be it a staged or candid shot. The second will be the traditional portrait itself; it will be discussed beforehand how this will be made as personal as possible to the subject- be it their outfit, preferred colour scheme, their chosen location or style.

I’d love to experiment in multimedia in this project! Especially with the portrait itself- I’m more than happy to collaborate so that others artists work can be incorporated

I’m also interested to see how people work in different areas of the creative fields and the process or path people take in a project from conception to completion, so this could be another route to go down

Please get in touch if you are interested! I’m also looking for a few models for other projects; I need a dancer and a couple of princesses and a couple! If you know anyone who would be interested in any of the above please pass it on

2/4/13

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Jeanine.Marteau

Howdy.

Another update! I’ve decided to go ahead with the shoots regardless of missing one model- it’s annoying but I can at least do a test/practice shoot with a friend modeling instead. I’m planning on drawing up and painting the scenes anyway

I’ve also been thinking about what I want to do with this website- I want to have more content, but I’m unsure about whether to keep it solely to my photography or have categories so I can upload and write about EVERYTHING. It won’t be a personal blog- it’ll all be work related. I’ve been thinking about starting a separate blog about the bead jewellery and accessories I’ve been making as I’ve started selling them now, and I kind of want to document each piece and design and make research blogs, but maybe without having to find another blog site. I’ll have to have a think!

The new inspiration blog and photo blogs are being drafted

I’m steadily re-learning French.

Thinking about taking my theory driving test.

Finished my vegetarian diet month

Now thinking of starting a new “month-of” but unsure what to do next…

My trip home was lovely too designed some leaflets and went to the coast, now looking forward to mini breaks over the summer. Fingers crossed I’ll have the moulah this year.

Finally, I’ve had the opportunity to try something new. I’ve been given the chance to try my hand at doing some food photography in this case, the first shoot is jammy dodgers! nom nom. The test batches turned out great yesterday (I spent my easter weekend spring cleaning, drinking 8% cider and baking; housewife central lol) so I’m shooting this week! Hopefully the sun will stay out for me. I’ve done a bit of research about tricks of the trade when it comes to product and food photography but if anyone has any tips relating to photographing these biscuits that would be great!

Other than that, just tracking on. Incidentally my etsy shop is named Let’s Make Tracks

10/3/13

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Jeanine.Marteau

I couldn’t get back to sleep, hence the early sunday morning typing. I thought I’d have an update!

Progress for the photo shoots is slow I’ve had plenty of interest from a few suitable models but I’m still missing some :/ it’s a bit frustrating seeing as locations are secured, props are here and set design is done, I just need one more person to say “yes, I can do that”. I don’t like waiting on other people- not to the point of I don’t like waiting to see if they’re free on certain day, I just don’t like how shoots have to wait until you find the right person. I can see why, obviously. Ideally I’d have a network of people I’d work with- on their projects on my own, but getting to that point is far off!

I’ve been keeping busy anyway

Thinking about selling them on Etsy, I’ve only made a few- most have been gifts so far but I’ve got a list I’m slowly getting through and I’ve been enjoying making them it’s quite therapeutic! I seem to always have something crafty or creative going on or at least something that I want to do- I guess I need that outlet, the problems are letting it become too much of a distraction that you don’t get anything else done or that you flit to one to another so quick you don’t stick or anything or finish any pieces completely.

Haven’t forgotten about the inspiration blog or photo blog I promised either, I kind of want to spend a full day on them instead of trying to squeeze them in one evening when I’m not in the mood to write so that they’re rushed and half-assed and you can tell. I found an old inspiration blog on my old blog though:

http://neeneenoodle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/inspiration-blog-number-one.html

It’s not as thorough as I initially wanted to make them, but then again I did intend on making more! I felt a pant of guilt when I went back onto that blog page for not updating it in so long :/ I had a list of things to write about for that as well. I will get through the lists, I’m determined to not have any unfinished projects including blogs, shoots on the backburner and any crafty or art projects I want to do. It just takes time. And time management. And motivation!

omg old scooby doo just started. The perks of getting up early on a sunday morning spongebob is on soon as well, and ugly betty! hmm choices.. nothing too distracting though, I need to finish mums present happy mothers day by the way!

On a lighter note, I’m off home soon for my Gran’s 90th birthday and I’m due a tax rebate so I’ll be booking a short break away soon and advertising and looking into getting a tattoo hehe! The vegetarian diet is going fine as well

I’ll leave it there for today, I need coffee!

24/2/13

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Jeanine.Marteau

I thought I’d make another muddled blog- I quite enjoyed the last one, except this one will have no mini-rant I also kind of wanted to say look what I made yesterday:

I’m excited to make more- not just jewellery either, I figured with the bead loom i could make lil bags, belts and things like coasters. I’m also going to plan and make photography related items or things for photographers, then I’ll make my way through the arts- I haven’t finalised anything yet but I have a few ideas and something batman related for Graham, of course.

Another reason I wanted to quickly write up this blog was to remind myself to make more inspiration blogs. Jeanine- write an Inspiration blog. Ok. I used to create inspiration blogs on my old blog page- which I probably should update, it’s been about a year now- and they were kind of like scrap books (but neater- no glue) or research in sketchbooks- kind of like a mood board or pinterest. I miss them I’ll have to find my old ones; they were basically just images of what I found inspiring or interesting that week for whatever project I was working on, be it craft, painting or photography. I’ll have to start them up again. I think I wrote a couple when I was writing for the Focus Project- i’ll have to find them too- in fact, I wrote a couple of blogs based on inspiration and creativity now that I think about it… I need a research session apparently!

The last thing I want to remind my self to do/ write down is that I’ll be posting a casting call (and a photo blog, Jeanine!) for my personalised portraits project- and I want you creative people or anyone with a creative/ artistic hobby to come forward and have your portrait taken it’ll be a double portrait shoot I think- one portrait of you with your tools/equiptment and a candid one of you in your workspace/ working on a piece. Sound good? Please keep your eyes open for my casting call or get in touch if you’re interested

I’ll leave it there for tonight- I have a to-do list to get through and some leaflets to design

Wakey Wakey

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Jeanine.Marteau

I’m feeling a bit drained today- it’s like I haven’t woken up all day, but I thought I’d sit with my lemsip and write up an update seeing as it’s been a month since my last post.

I’ve made a fair bit of progress with my projects- I really pushed this month but it seems I’ve hit a couple of speed bumps with all of them; mainly because there is a lack of models and locations. So I tried to cut down the workload (I have a habit of trying to do everything at once but then it all piles up, I get overwhelmed as there’s so much to do then i end up doing nothing) I even scrapped the locations I wanted but couldn’t get and switched to places that I had available, but it still leaves the problem of who to actually work with model wise. I’ll just have to keep pushing seeing as I’m pretty much ready to go.

I don’t want to write too much about the projects at the moment, mainly because for one I’ve written an essay and artists statement and I want to release them all at the same time with the publishing of the shoot a couple of the others are collab projects which are looking to be awesome- we’re still in planning mode but it’s looking good

Still perfecting the business plan and still looking for voluntary work. Been feeling the need to get back on with making jewellery regularly more recently as well, so I’m going to get on top of that. I’m determined to start drawing again- I failed my last drawing project so I’m going to start again but do something easier.

I’ve also decided to March will be my month of no money (I’m even handing my bank card over to Graham so I can’t spend anything- I want to save for summer) and the month of no meat; I want to have a vegetarian month partly because I want to know that I can actually alter my diet in such a way and stick to it, I don’t think it’ll help me loose weight (that’ll be the no dairy month I’m dreading) but it means sticking to a diet and certain foods- I’ll have to be more creative with meals instead of just sticking to pasta- which I’ve never actually done, so here it goes. The exercise has started again as well, which kills me but hey what can you do

Other than that I’ve been traveling around with graham to promote his business and expand the customer base- next is leeds! It’s also come to light that a lot of people out there will not reply to you about anything unless you complain… which is a shame really- what happened to a quick email or phone call out of courtesy?

A final thought- I don’t think I’ve discussed or mentioned it on here- what makes a professional? Especially in the creative/arts fields… What is it that qualifies you to be a professional photographer more specifically; is it an equipment or experience thing? I got thinking about it a couple of weeks ago when I was applying for work experience and researching photographers in the area, I came across a few abysmal websites and galleries from people that were calling themselves professional… they were just people who had good cameras… that automatically makes a professional? The worst parts were the “fine art” galleries… if I see another flower or tree labeled as fine art I’m going to throw my camera in to the fish tank and start my life as a shit pavement artist hippy. Those wonky chalk sheep on your street? All me, baby.

Ahem. So yeah, also been applying to competitions, need to buy some more photography magazines, want to pick up learning a language again… We’ll see. See what I mean about starting too much at once? I’ll have to drop the chalk sheep thing I guess.

I’ll leave it there for today. If you know of any independent boutiques in leeds could you give me a shout please, and a couple of my projects are up on model mayhem if you know anyone who would be interested: http://www.modelmayhem.com/1813300

Thank You! TTFN DFTBA

Photo Walk in the Snow

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Jeanine.Marteau

As it says on the tin!

See the rest here

I’ll keep it short and sweet here for today, hopefully it won’t be my only snowy/wintery photo walk either. Also got a few new ideas; one involving personalised portraits which I won’t divulge into now but it’s in progress

TTFN

editing and make-up

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Jeanine.Marteau

Time for a blog update between shoots up and coming projects include the next installment of images for Optic Apparel, a couple of rolls of double exposed 35mm film, some long exposures I’m planning to do one morning and my next lot of tableau ideas. I’ve also started the 30 day drawing challenge I’m only on day two but enjoying it already and hopefully I’ll see some progress at the end Other than that the business plan is coming along fine and there will be a new photo blog soon too.

So today I thought I’d talk about a subject I touched on last time that is editing images. I use editing in the same way I use make-up; to enhance, not cover up. I don’t photoshop imperfections out; either keep them in or remove them before you shoot instead of airbrushing or whatever, that just seems lazy to me :/ well not lazy as airbrushing is a long process but it belongs in editorial and/or commercial pieces, not in landscape or lifestyle etc but that’s just me. (Obviously this type of editing is different when talking about the likes of digital manipulation and such techniques or concepts within, of course). Personally, I don’t particularly like heavily edited images- it’s unnecessary a lot of the time and I’d rather see more natural images, especially in high fashion because I think it would be interesting. But hey, you can’t tell the media what to do. In fact, they tell you what to do, what to buy and how you should supposedly look.

I’m reverting back to my teenage self now but instead of going all “the media dictates what society should deem important- the perfect weight etc… unrealistic representation of beauty due to editing… unreachable goals… imposed social values” blah blah etc (which believe me it would be easy for me to go down that rambling route), I’m going to shortcut and get straight to the images.

These are images from an old GCSE project of mine in which I was introduced to the idea of anti-advertising. It had a lot to do with looking at natural vs edited photographs and reading in between the lines of advertising and product descriptions (in this case; make-up and moisturisers) and basically taking their effect on the skin and exaggerating what it would do so instead of beautifying the face, it would distort or decay. If that makes sense? I don’t have anything here I could use as an example.. This had a lot to do with products we buy not living up to the image we see in the advert itself- how these images were used to make us buy the product and sometimes to make us want to look like the model.

Apologies for the poor quality images. Thinking about it, I could have edited these effects in on photoshop instead of working into magazine cuttings with paint and oil pastel but that wouldn’t have been as fun I carried on with this theme of distortion though and initially carried on using magazine cut outs of famous faces, ripped and rearranged theme to create these little faces:

So I became a bit obsessed with the image of “the face” and it’s power in media throughout all countries and cultures. When this face we all know is distorted in some way, it has another power- we cannot look away: something is wrong. Or imperfect.

This lead into taking photographs of faces and ripping them up too. An off shoot of this involved distorting the face whilst photographing which was a lot of fun;

I tied all of this into creating the final piece: one giant collage board of images of distorted faces of models, on which I wrote over it “You are not acceptable the way you are. The only way is to buy our product and look like our model. It is your only hope.” Dramatic, yes. But it did have an effect, especially seeing as at the time I was attending an all girls school, I hope it made at least one person think. I wanted to go further down the route of eating disorders as well, but that’s a different project entirely.

Either way anti- advertising projects are fun and I guess this spawned my dislike for heavy editing and covering up mistakes through editing. I think this all also lead to my emphasis on attraction in my narrative photo shoot ideas.

I’ll finish up now- just one more snippet from another past collage gcse project; this time a bit surreal:

Again, poor quality I know but it’s a source for my next shoot with Optic Apparel who’s next design was generated from a quote from salvador dali worth keeping an eye on!

Actually, one last image from ye olde school days- I want to be able to create work like this again so I think some sketch book time will be in order over the next few weeks!

The Prince’s Trust

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Jeanine.Marteau

I figured I’d carry on with the blog updates this week as I have more to ramble on about aanndd I’m aiming to get another photo-blog written by the end of the month.

Unfortunately I don’t know where to start, my brain feels a bit tired today but I wanted to start this anyway to get something done before work- I’m going to have to get used to doing more than just reading and working each day.

Okaay, I guess the main point of this was to get down my rough ideas for Jeanine Marteau Photography. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m currently involved in workshops and meetings with the Princes Trust and at the moment I’m on a program which will hopefully help me on the path to self- employment; officially I mean- not odd jobs, an actual business. This means bank accounts, market research, and a whole lot more but most importantly; a business plan. Dun dun duuuun.

My favourite part of this so far has been writing up my aims which I want to document on here and by all means- comments, thoughts and feedback are welcome. Although I’m probably going to be quite distracted now as Graham’s just put on an episode of Bob’s Burgers I love Gene, it’s like when I watch a Roger heavy episode of American Dad- I barely get anything else done hehe! Anyway:

Short-term goals; general trading haha, growing client base (I’m aiming to cover all types/areas of photography as well as carrying on with my own projects), driving lessons (fingers crossed), and small exhibitions.

Mid- term goals; having goods in stores (prints, framed pieces etc*) and in cafes and galleries, selling is a possibility perhaps even an online store whilst continuing to freelance and hopefully travel around to expand customer base.

Long term; I’ve thought about having my own studio/ gallery, wether it’s in Lincoln or not is a different matter entirely but seeing as anything can change in the next few years I’ll have to wait and see- especially as the first couple of years of self employment are going to be tough!

Well, my main goal has always been to exhibit my work anyway, so as long as I can still do that I’ll be happy even if it means the back up plan; working whilst producing my photography projects, painting and crafting, which is pretty much what I’m doing now but some work experience in the photography field wouldn’t go amiss. I’ve also thought about skipping off down to London to look for jobs with my portfolio, but again, it’s a back up.

*This little star needs an explanation. I thought about selling other products eventually as well as images; things for photographers and photography related handcrafted items. I’ll probably come back to this at a later date as it’s still in the very beginning stage and I haven’t really ran it past anyone yet, but a possibility none the less.

I’ll leave it here for today feel better that I’ve accomplished something today that isn’t reading through Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince and getting ready for work..