Vicky Grout
Vicky Grout is a London-based photographer shooting predominantly on analogue, however, also shoots digital and specialises in portraiture, music and street photography.
Grout is a very current photographer who has begun to make a big name for herself in the UK music scene, particularly, the grime scene where she has photographed the likes of Stormzy, Skepta, Novelist, AJ Tracey and J Hus. Therefore, because of her very current style being very contemporary, looking at her work will help me in producing similar work.
Below is a range of images that Grout has shot and these are all present on website also. The images below show shots of Skepta, Novelist and J Hus and are images that I personally really like. I only recently came across Grout’s work when exploring the internet when I came across the fashion/music magazine PUSH. I saw the photographs they were publishing and had to find out the photographers name. This is how I found Grout’s website and this was a contributing factor to what made me decide to carry out fashion work for the exam. I have bene wanting to do it for a long time but did not know how to start but I have taken the risk to do it.
Grout is a young photographer and this is another thing that I think is great about her work – that she is so young at 20 years old but is doing so well and becoming very successful at the very niche and specialised area she has found a passion for – grime music photography. From this, she has developed many friendships with the people she works with – making it a comfortable atmosphere when she shoots with her regulars. This is something that is important when shooting very intimate and collaborative portraiture and I knew this was going to be vital when shooting my own images – to make the occasion comfortable for the model, considering I have never spoken with a couple of the models I have recruited.
Grouts work has very light touch to them – the colours are not heavy or very contrasted and the look has a hazy, fade style to them – making it evident that she shoots on analogue. I would have liked to shoot on analogue also but knew this would be difficult considering the time period I had to complete the entire project in and it would mean I would have to finish a whole roll of 35mm film consisting of 36 exposures. As well, I have recently purchased a half frame camera and this would mean I would have to capture 72 exposures. I have still used a couple of my film cameras but understand I will not be able to use these in my magazine because I will not have developed them.
The image above shows the style that I would be able to achieve with my half-frame camera as a very frame captured is only half of a frame and the next frame taken will be paired with the previous to create a full frame – a really nice effect that I love the look of. It works especially well with portraits as shown above.
It is clear Grout works very well closely with her subjects to get then perform for the camera and this pays off excellently with the facial expressions and body language that is shown by the subjects makes each of the photographs – it adds character not only the image but to the actual subject.
Ben Awin
Ben Awin, although very similar to Grout, has quite a distinctive style and a much wider range of clients. Awin, like Grout is a young London photographer who photographs people who he wishes to tell stories of whose styles captures his eye and this passion for clothes and photographing it comes for his own desire to own the most sought after cotes and brands.
Awin has photographed the likes of Lazy Oaf, a London based fashion label designing womenswear, menswear and accessories featuring bold colours and graphic prints. A couple of the images that presents a half-frame like style of the solo male are for Lazy Oaf shoot to promote one of their collections. Awin has also photographed A$AP Rocky, Jorja Smith, Kurupt FM, Virgil Abloh and Bugzy Malone – a couple of these similar to the clients of Grout.
Most if Awin’s work adopts a ‘snapshot’ style and they appear less conscious of composition, framing and colour balance than Grout. They definitely have less of a heavenly look to them and they are more gritty as Awin seems to connect better with males in his work, shown from the collections that present young, adolescent boys behaving badly if you like on the streets of London – they have more of a darker tone to them as models are scene with straight, serious and sombre facial expressions.
Shown below is also an image of a confident teen leaning against a police van as Awin snaps him looking very assure of himself and confident in his actions.
This style that Awin adopts in is work is the style I aim to create in my work and what I have done thus far – my models have expressed quite sombre facial expressions as they perform different acts for the camera, either crossing his arms, leaning against a set of railings , sat on public stairs or parading around pubic car parks. My images have more of a gritty tone to them like Awin’s and this coincides with the usage of male models throughout as I aim to present their typical boisterous personas through the camera whilst, at the same time, getting the to present a more vulnerable, timid character to the camera that is often covering the confident nature bys have. I have explored this in my imagery very subtly but will emphasise it more so in my text in the end product.
Awin uses bright colours paired with dark and dull backgrounds such as London’s streets or estates. He focuses on the clothing to provide that colour burst that is necessary to complement the much more darkened background where colours in the colour palette include browns, blacks and greys.
Awin’s models are witnessed styling very bright colours in their clothing and the running them throughout is yellow or orange. These bright, luminous and neon colurs are what gives Awin’s photos a very modern tone and they epitomise the street culture of London – the UK’s capital.
Awin, as well as Vicky Grout ranges his photos from landscapes to portraits and this is a very useful skill to use in photography but I have fund that my images are mostly portraits and this is because I have been predominately using my 50mm lens that os best used for close-up portraiture imagery. Therefore, for my final couple shoots, I will make an effort to photograph more wide angle images to provide a variety among my photographs.
Saskia Ivy
http://saskiaivypuxley.tumblr.com/
Saskia Ivy, another young photographer who also photographs UK’s young youth culture, mainly on the streets of the UK where youth are most active, lovely and present because this is where they interest and can be themselves, on the streets which some say is their own – where they grew up. This is a contributing factor to the quality of images from the work of these three contemporary artists – they all have the opportunity to photograph youth on the streets of the UK where young people feel most confident and this confidence is shown through the models acts in front of the camera – something I have tried to encourage from my models in the images I have produced because it has a great effect on the outcome of a series of images.
Saskia Ivy’s photographs are shown below. Although she is lesser known than Vicky Grout, she is one of my favourite photographers in the way she captures her subjects. She uses low angles quite often where she photographs looking upward on the subject and thus has a great effect because the subject is required t look down on the audience and they it draws attention to their confidence and mature manner more so.
Ivy also photographs mainly males as well and has carried out a few mini series of works that looks at male behaviour on the streets of London – an example of this is shown in the 4th image shown – the triple exposure of a few boys sat on some stairs.
Ivy also captures much more informal and candid shots and she explores Loudon clubs and nightclubs – the rave scene of the UK capital to see if she can find any people in the moment who are enjoying themselves and do not care about anyone else but the music and the place they are in – people in the moment oblivious to the camera make great photographs and this is achieved recently by Ivy as shown below. She adopts camera angles, such as canted and tilted angles that show this candid style and uses a flash for these particular environments which work very well, especially in the image below as the camera picks ups some flare and catches the reflection of the models jacket.
