Why I feel the nineties were better than the eighties?

1. There was less emphasis on the past, the cold war ended in 1991 and with it came renewed determination to plough forward. This meant people worried less about the society of there decade which gave them the courage to be themselves, and from this came of the style "Grunge"
2. The popular culture changed, too: yuppies gave way to longhaired musicians, grunge and rap seized the music charts and, on TV, two FBI agents named Mulder and Scully told Americans not to fear the Russians, but little grey men instead. Nobody could have predicted American Idol. Somewhere along the way, the change stagnated, and the stagnation led to the cannibalizing of the past. While HBO screens documentaries about Kurt Cobain and Fox prepares to reboot The X Files, the world gears up for 2015’s summer blockbusters, which include sequels to Jurassic Park and The Terminator as well as another Fantastic Four movie. 
3. Reality TV had not yet taken over. Classic sitcoms were the high demand of the nineties! Fresh prince of bell air, Friends, Family Matters, Everybody loves Raymond and many more.
4. Social Media wasn't a problem. From this I mean no conflict was caused! Peoples self confidence was much higher in the nineties as I believe that social media is a torment and creates a stereotypical look of what people should now look like which lowers the standards of people being themselves.  
5. Technology boom exploded in the 90's with inventions like laptops, cell phones and Internet. 
6. The music generation brought us chart topping singers like Rob Thomas, Gwen Stefani and Beyonce. Boy bands were at an all time high in the 90's with groups like Backstreet Boys and NSync.
7. Unemployment was low and the budget was balanced.

90's Trends: Comeback

For my primary research I have collected a series of images from a website called "In the Style". The website itself portrays fashion from different perspectives one in particular being nineties trends that have returned to today's decade. Even thought this research is secondary I have incorporated primary within this piece by finding these specific trends such as flannel shirts, chokers, denim, scrunchies and many more. The images from the website are of celebrities, the left side is of a celebrity based in the nineties representing the trend then and the right side of the image is a celebrity of today and portraying how the trend is seen today.

This is the layout of my page for the returning trends from the
nineties. The photographs with a tracing paper layer are from
the website used for this research and the images surrounding
them are my own photographs proving that these trends are still
trending! As well as backing up my theory that trends are returning
I also decided to practice different skills in the photography studio,
such as developing my skills with different lights and equipment. I was
also able to practice and develop my skills in photography specifically
with compositions, e.g portraits and full length shots.

second pages of my research.

From this part of my research it has helped decide that I do not intend to work in the studio for the rest of this project as not only am I limited with facilities within the collect environment but throughout my college experience I have kept myself within my comfort zone, this being the photography studio. So I am happy to say I will no longer be using the studio as I need to be experimenting more and pushing the boundaries within myself and the project. As well throughout my sketchbook I plan to documenting all my photographs through contact sheets.

Problem Solving

To document my problem solving when experimenting with lighting I have added in contact sheets, to show whilst experimenting I was faced with problems with lighting for instance being poorly lit. To over come this problem whilst in the studio to develop my skills I googled lighting techniques whilst to create a well lit photograph whilst in the studio. Whilst doing this research also I struggled to think of how i would take it forward within my research and I overcome this and decided on taking elements such as the clothing forward and use them in my further photo shoots.

1990's events.

1990

• Gardner Heist: The Biggest Art Theft in History
• Germany Reunited
• Hubble Telescope Launched Into Space
• Lech Walesa Becomes First President of Poland
• Milli Vanilli Lip-Synch Scandal
• Nelson Mandela Freed
• Stampede in Pedestrian Tunnel in Mecca
• United States Invades Nicaragua
• U.S. President Bush Announces That He Doesn't Like Broccoli

1991

• Arsonist John Leonard Orr Is Finally Discovered
• Basketball Player Magic Johnson Announces He Has HIV
• Collapse of the Soviet Union
• Copper Age Man Found Frozen in Glacier
• Israel Airlifts 14,000 Jews From Ethiopia
• Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines Erupts, Killing 800
• Operation Desert Storm
• Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer Is Arrested
• South Africa Repeals Apartheid Laws
• The Tallest Structure in the World, the Warsaw Radio Mast, Collapses

1992

• Bosnian Genocide Begins
• Official End of the Cold War
• Riots in Los Angeles After the Rodney King Verdict

1993

• Cult Compound in Waco, Texas Raided
• Lorena Bobbitt Takes Brutal Revenge
• Use of the Internet Grows Exponentially
• World Trade Center Bombed

1994

• Channel Tunnel Opens, Connecting Britain and France
• Nelson Mandela Elected President of South Africa
• Rwandan Genocide

1995

• Auction Website eBay Is Founded
• Final Calvin and Hobbes Comic Strip Published
• First Successful Air-Balloon Ride Over the Pacific Ocean
• Million Man March in Washington D.C.
• O.J. Simpson Found Not Guilty of Double Murder
• Oklahoma City Bombing
• Sarin Gas Attack in Tokyo Subway
• World's Deadliest Subway Disaster Occurs in the Baku Metro in Azerbaijan
• Yitzhak Rabin Assassinated

1996

• Centennial Olympic Park Bombing During the Olympic Games
• Dolly the Sheep, the First Cloned Mammal, Is Born
• Mad Cow Disease Hits Britain
• Mount Everest Disaster
• Six-Year-Old JonBenet Ramsey Murdered
• Two Royal Divorces
• Unabomber Arrested

1997

• British Au Pair on Trial for Murder
• First Harry Potter Book Is Released
• Hale-Bopp Comet Visible
• Hong Kong Returned to China
• Pathfinder Sends Back Images of Mars
• Princess Diana Dies in Car Crash
• Scientists Clone Sheep
• Tallest Buildings in the World Built in Kuala Lumpur
• Tiger Woods Wins Masters

1998

• India and Pakistan Test Nuclear Weapons
• Titanic Most Successful Movie Ever
• U.S. President Clinton Impeached
• Viagra on the Market

1999

• The Euro the New European Currency
• Fear of Y2K Bug
• JFK Jr. Dies in Plane Accident
• Killing Spree at Columbine High School
• NATO Attacks Serbia
• Panama Canal Returns to Panama

1980's events.

1980

• January: Rubik’s Cube debuts at the International Toy Fair.
• April 24: U.S. rescue attempt to save hostages in Tehran fails.
• May 18: Mount St. Helens erupts.
• May 22: Pac-Man video game is released.
• June 1: Ted Turner establishes CNN.
• June 9: Richard Pryor sets himself on fire while freebasing cocaine.

• November 21: 83,000,000 viewers tune in to find out Who shot J.R.? on “Dallas”. 
• December 8: John Lennon is murdered “9 to 5” starring Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin is released.

 1981

• January 12: “Dynasty” debuts. 
• March 30: John Hinckley Jr. attempts to assassinate President Reagan.
• April 12: The Space Shuttle Columbia is launched.
• May 13: Mehmet Ali Agca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II.
• July 29: Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer.
• December 28: Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first U.S. IVF baby, is born.
• AIDS recognized by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
• MS-DOS released.
• The first IBM-PC released.

 1982

• April 2: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.
• June 11: The movie “E.T.” released.
• September: Jane Fonda releases her “Workout” video.
• November 13: Vietnam War Memorial opens in Washington, D.C.
• Calvin Klein’s first underwear ad featuring Tom Hintnaus stops traffic in Times Square.
• 14-year old skateboarder Tony Hawk joins the Bones Brigade and turns professional.

 1983

• February 28: “M*A*S*H” ends after 251 episodes.
• March 23: President Reagan announces defence plan called Star Wars.

• April 18: U.S. Embassy in Beirut bombed.
• June 18: Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.
• October 13: The first commercial cell phone call is made.
• December 2: Michael Jackson releases “Thriller”.

 1984

• January 24: Steve Jobs introduces the first Macintosh computer.
• September 14: Madonna performs “Like a Virgin” at the first-ever MTV Awards.
• September 20: “The Cosby Show” debuts.
• Huge poison gas leak at Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India.
• Two bodyguards assassinate Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
• October 16: Bishop Desmond Tutu receives Nobel Peace Prize.
• Lee Iacocca appears in television commercials for Chrysler.
• Bernhard Goetz shoots four would-be attackers on a New York subway.

 1985

• January 28: “We Are the World” is recorded in Los Angeles.
• May 24: Steve Jobs leaves Apple Computers.
• August 20: Iran-Contra scandal erupts.
• September 3: Bob Ballard discovers the wreck of the Titanic.
• November 20: Microsoft introduces Windows.
• Hole in the ozone first reported.
• Nike releases the Air Jordan 1.
• Mikhail Gorbachev calls for glasnost and perestroika.
• “Back to the Future” starring Michael J. Fox is released.

 1986

• January 28: Space Shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after lift-off.
• February 20: USSR launches Mir Space Station.
• April 26: Chernobyl nuclear meltdown occurs.
• July 4: RUN DMC releases “Walk This Way”.  
• Oliver Stone wins Academy Award for best director for “Platoon”.

 1987

• April 18: “Headbangers Ball” debuts on MTV.
• October 4: U.S. and Canada sign free trade agreement.
• October 19: U.S. stock market plunges on Black Monday.
• December: Eli Lilly Drug Company receives final approval to market Prozac.
• DNA first used to convict criminals and exonerate innocent prisoners on death row.
• West German pilot lands in Red Square.
• Motivational speaker and firewalker Tony Robbins publishes his first book, “Unlimited Power”.

 1988

• February 20: Salt n’ Pepa’s “Push It” peaks on the Billboard charts at #19.
• May 15: Soviet troops begin to withdraw from Afghanistan after nine-year occupation.
• November: George Bush Sr. elected president of the United States.
• December 21: Pan Am Flight 103 is bombed over Lockerbie, Scotland.
• “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” is the top-grossing film of the year.
• CDs outsell vinyl records and tapes for the first time.
• President Reagan names Ben and Jerry Small Business Persons of the Year.

1989

• March 24: Exxon Valdez spills millions of gallons of oil on Alaskan coastline.
• June 4: Student protesters killed in China’s Tiananmen Square.
• September 20: F. W. DeKlerk becomes president of South Africa, promising apartheid reforms.
• November 9: Berlin Wall falls.
• September 22: “Bay Watch” debuts.
• December 17: “The Simpsons” debuts.
• Gameboy is released.
• The Internet goes global.

Civic Exhibition: Fashion and Freedom

Since the era's I am focusing on aren't as far back as some I was limited to primary research. However, I have over come this from looking at the high street stores of today, my families past photographs, people watching and an exhibition at the Civic Gallery in Barnsley. The garments were designed and made by fashion designers such as Vivienne Westwood, J Js Lee and many more designers and also fashion students from a variety of universities, portraying the 1914-1918. Even though the exhibition itself was not focused on my specific eras for my project I still went and gave it a visit as I feel even though its not from the time I am focusing on it still relates in a way, as I feel that fashion is a cycle and that styles and trends never die out, as a result I did find similarities of trends and styles from my eras focused on in the garments displayed at the exhibition. Furthermore, I feel the exhibition was more for high fashion, where as I am going down the path of street styled clothing. Overall, I feel I didn't benefit from this exhibition unfortunately as It was more for the opposite of what I was looking for.

Portrait Lighting

As I have chose to go down the route of my final piece to be a magazine cover I found that I needed a reminder on portrait lighting and different types, both in and out of the studio. So I decided to ask my photography instructor if she would do a workshop with me. From this I was reminded of multiple lighting techniques used when taking portrait photographs, as well as lighting I decided to use a different lens so I switched from my regular 55mm lens to a fix lens which means I the lens cannot zoom in or out as it is a macro lens specifically good for close ups. Firstly, I decided that I wanted to stay out of the studio for the first part of the workshop as throughout my 2 years of college I've noticed I've limited myself to the studio because knowing I'm so comfortable with it as I know what I'm doing when it comes to studio photography, Its clear I've restricted myself and have over used the facility. Working on a different location for this workshop was exciting and extremely good for my experimentation and development. Showing I have experimented with different light techniques and to take these forward develop them into my own photographs. During the workshop to recap the lighting techniques, my instructor would first show me how to produced the lighting and what it should look like, as well as using a light meter enabling me a easier way to know what settings are needed on the camera for that type of lighting. Then after I would then practice on her. This happened for every lighting techniques we did. Lighting techniques we went through were: Split lighting using ambient light, Back/Rim lighting using a reflector, Rim/Split using ambient light from a perspective, Split lighting in the studio, Butterfly lighting in the studio using continuous light, Rembrandt lighting in the studio and Rim lighting in the studio.

Split Lighting using ambient lighting taken
by myself using a Cannon 750D with a
Fixed lens.

Split Lighting using Ambient light.

Back/Rim Lighting using Ambient light
with a reflector.

Back/Rim Lighting taken by myself using

a Cannon 750D with a Fixed lens.

Rim/Split Lighting using Ambient light.

 

Rim/Split Lighting using Ambient taken
by myself using a Cannon 750D with
a Fixed Lens.

Primary research: Photographs from the past

For my primary research I collected a range of past photographs of my family members from the specific eras I am focusing on throughout my final major project. I asked multiple family members if they had any old photographs I was able to use for my research, showing what types of clothing they wore back then and comparing them to today's clothing, backing up my theory that trends/clothing from these eras focused on are returning, along with the accessories. From the photographs I was given I then photocopied them and stuck them to black card creating a Polaroid look as back in the eighties and nineties photography was more film than digital like we use today. From this I discovered that brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Nike and Adidas were just as popular as they are today. One brand in particular I wasn't expecting to see what "Kappa" as back then it was seen extremely uncool but today's generation seems to think different as the brand today is seen in high fashion stores such as Urban outfitters, Topshop and many more. 

I thought it was interesting looking through past photographs as my parents reaction to them today is quite amusing as they look back and think "oh my" indicating it was a bad choice of clothing or just the way they looked back then.Other reactions being "those were the days" suggesting that they loved the clothing back then but wouldn't wear it now, reason being is because the clothing back then was actually trendy and now its only just picking back up in style. Or is it? I feel as if the brands seen in these photographs have never actually gone out of fashion but the way the fashion cycle works makes it seems like they do. For instance, today you see models such as, Kendal Jenner, Gigi Hadid and many more wearing these brands!  

From these photographs they not only give me an insight on what fashion in the eighties/nineties was like but what the photography was like. Looking at these photographs you can see slight part of the faces are exposed with light and some extremely exposed and the reason this is these photographs were taken with a disposable film camera which requires a flash to take a photograph being the reason they are overly exposed with light, but not only that comparing to today's photography and the quality on the image the difference is remarkable. It really does show how much photography has developed as a field of work. However, to show further development and experimentation and take this research forward, I plan to start to play around with multiple camera's both digital and film, to show that I am stepping away from what I already know and maybe from experimenting take these elements forward in my work.