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06/06/2004 05:43:11 AM · #1 |
Gothic Lolitas are a group of teen-agers and young women in Japan who dress like little scary china dolls. It's a creepy- sexy- cute thing. For another (perhaps more authenic) look at them, check out PhillpDyer's porfolio. My friend had just purchased Lolita outfit for a concert next week, and I couldn't resist making her sit for me!
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06/06/2004 05:59:03 AM · #2 |
| Nice shots! Where can we find his portfolio? |
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06/06/2004 06:57:13 AM · #3 |
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06/06/2004 12:39:04 PM · #4 |
Light is uneven,shadows on right side.
Camera shutter speed maybe was low ,I see some soft focus.
Gothic is fine,why Lolita? |
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06/06/2004 01:19:03 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by pitsaman:
Gothic is fine,why Lolita? |
Lolita syndrome is men's fascination with under-age girls (from the novel by Vladimir Nabokov, movie starring James Mason); I think the idea is for the women to look like they're 12 year-old girls trying to look like 16 year-olds. |
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06/06/2004 06:47:37 PM · #6 |
Well I cant see anything gothic about any of this....
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06/06/2004 06:57:09 PM · #7 |
Thanks for the mention, Amanda! Actually, the pic I took and the ones that Amanda took are fairly tame compared to some of the goth looks you see in Harajuku, Tokyo, on the weekend. I see lots of girls with blood streaks painted all over their faces and dripping down onto their shirts (I assume it's painted on), lots of ripped-up clothes and solid white faces streaked with black lines around the eyes and mouth. I'll try to get some pics on clear day, but that might take awhile since the rainy season started this week.
The new look among hip young Japanese girls is actually really interesting. A bunch of the girls I saw last weekend were wearing traditional kimonos, dressed up with some modern accessories and either platform tennis shoes or wooden geta sandals. It was just nice to see kids embracing some traditional culture, albeit with their own unique spin. Again, I'll try to get some pics when the weather clears - probably in September. :-)
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06/06/2004 07:48:20 PM · #8 |
I did some searching and found several references to Gothic and Lolita Bible versions 1 through 5. When I tracked down some of those links they looked like they were just catalogs of clothes. Granted they had several outfits that I'd consider more gothic in nature than the one shown here. It looked like a tendancy towards victorian collars, sleeves and gowns with some charicaturish accoutrements like tiny hats or tiaras mounted on the head at odd angles or oversized cruciforms attached to clothing. I also noticed some males dressed more along the lines of 1980's punk rocker bands with a lot of red, white and blue and some Union Jack symbols in their clothing. I never found much of a reference to anime but that's what this put me in mind of; the innocent little girl look while underneath is the assassin robot that is designed to lure the evil character out into some wanton sexual situation and then lop off his head with her Austin Powers-like "machine-gun jubblies". I really thought of Gally from Battle Angel (created by Kishiro Yukito; produced by ADV Films) or Armitage from Armitage, Armitage Dual-Matrix and Armitage Poly-Matrix (created by Hiroyuki Ochi; produced by Pioneer in association with Animaze, Inc).
Kev
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06/06/2004 08:10:35 PM · #9 |
As my home "studio" is a tiny corner of my tiny apartment, it was impossible for her to stand up and still be within my background, so I went for head shots instead. Her dress is much more Victorian-era little dollish, with HUGE black boots (part of what made her too tall), but it reads terribly on film- it makes her waist look huge because of the high waistline and crinoline. But yes, this is extremely tame compared with some of the Lolitas. I'll try to get some more authentic Lolitas next week at the concert.
Beyond a bit of cultural info, what do you think of them as portraits?
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06/06/2004 08:33:40 PM · #10 |
OK. As far as your technique goes, I still think you should have to submit self-portraits to every challenge from now on.
Just wanted to get that in before you stopped reading the critique. ;)
I think the first may be the strongest portrait. You did a pretty good job getting her eyes focused and a great job setting them off from center of the composition. It looks like the camera might have focused just a hair in front of the plane where her eyes are or that it might have focused on her left eye. You can tell that this is a shallow DOF here because the lace detail on the outfit is already blurred down at the bottom of the composition. Perhaps just a slightly deeper DOF might have added but you could easily argue that point. I like the shadow on the left side of the face. Based on the cultural context of the egl I think this not only fits but adds an aesthetic tone that might have been missing had she been evenly lit.
The 2nd and 4th are difficult. Both are burdened with a hot spot right off the side of the subject's face and that is difficult for me to overlook in these compositions. Something about the subject's coloration (she's fair with freckles) suits the cultural context of the outfit but as a straightforward portrait it would be worth taking the time to consider metering a fair-skinned subject in a black outfit with a white background. I guess what I'm saying is that if I overlooked the hot spot (which i don't think adds anything here) and just considered this as a portrait, the poses are good, the angle is good for both; the real problem is that the metering seems to be just a tad off to the overexposed side (for the skin) here and I assume that's because of the dark outfit the subject wore. The focus is, similarly to the first, off by a little in the 2nd shot and by quite a bit in the 4th. As I said, I like the angle of these shots but when you're shooting up at someone like this you have to carefully consider if you're giving a cavernous expedition up their nasal cavities. I don't think you bought yourself any trouble on these, too, but you'll probably want to shoot several more from similar angles and see when you start to notice and when others start to mention it to you.
The third shot again shows some strong compositional skill, IMO. I think you got something with the shadow there and the kitty being OOF. For me, I think it might be slightly stronger if you crop it to be shorter. Bring the bottom up under the kitty's chin as though the head was separated from the body. I think that would give a certain je ne sais qui. Something about the innocent look with the shadow trailing off . . . perhaps something hidden and the smile/smirk hidden behind the kitty's head. I think you got a good shot here and a little different crop could display more latitude for the viewer to interpret this image differently. It might allow the viewer to perceive a darker intent without the subject's arm and the kitty's body.
Well, that's my $0.02. I like what you're doing and keep on sending 'em. You have a lovely model. She has gorgeous eyes and they are very clear. You might want to consider shooting some with her in a top where her shoulder structure is visible as she appears in some of these to have very graceful lines to her neckline. Maybe have her turn her body to the wall and look over her shoulder towards you. I think you might then have not only the contrast of those bright eyes and that fiery hair but you could add some smooth lines. Just a thought.
Good luck,
Kev
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06/06/2004 09:35:44 PM · #11 |
About the portraits themselves, I really like the first and last ones because of the attitude that you captured in the poses. I guess it just goes best with the outfit. It was great of your friend to pose for you like that and you did a great job with those shots. The first one is my favorite because the blur around the edges of the photo draws attention straight into the sharply focused center.
The one with the cat is cute, but seems like it doesn't belong in the series since you can't even see what the model is wearing. But standing alone, it's still a nice photo because you really draw attention to the eyes. The glare in #2 & #4 would probably work better if you really upped the contrast to add glare to the entire photo. Seems like that would enhance the attitude and clothing. Nice job!
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