Photography L3 : Photography: Mini Brief: 5 Sequential Images.

When we were asked to go out and take 5 sequential images of anything I was unsure of what I wanted to do. We had been shown images of flower arrangements as well as abstract landscapes from artists such as Chris Friel and although I appreciated them greatly I wanted to put together something a little more socially challenging and obscure. I began to look into a range of artists for inspiration and remembered that I had previously done some research on Robert Mapplethorpe. Although he is known for his stunning flower photography I believe he is best known for his graphic sexually explicit images depicting the New York Gay scene in the 1970's-1980's. I think Mapplethorpe's work, although sometimes quite difficult to stomach, is a perfect representation of artistic freedom of expression and thus was a great inspiration when putting my work together.

I decided that for my series of 5 images I would get a friend to dress up in drag and visit various locations in Salford. Based on my experience the working class area of Salford that I live in is not necessarily the most accepting of the LGBT community. For this reason I was interested in capturing the reactions of local people when they encountered my subject. I was also interested in capturing the freedom of expression experienced by a drag queen juxtaposing against typical, mundane everyday scenes.

Based on my worries of potentially encountering hostility and aggression when on this shoot I considered some health and safety problems and solutions beforehand. I spoke with the model as well as the people who came out on location with us beforehand and told them to act calmly and professionally if we were to encounter any ignorance. We also decided to go out in the car just in case things turned sour and we needed to make a swift get away. Another potential risk we encountered was that it was a very cold autumn night. The models skimpy outfit left a lot of skin out on display and we were concerned that spending to much time out in the cold could have a negative effect on their health. For this reason we had a warm jacket on hold just in case to cold became to much to bare.

1/60 F/3.5 ISO 6400