Contact Sheet

For this photoshoot I did exactly what I had intended on doing, my first photoshoot was planned to be inspired by Omar Victor Diopp and Hassan Hajjaj. To take similar images to these two artists / photographers, I decided to use a model who is from Kenya and I got him to bring some of his own cultural clothing which resonates with him and shows off the Kenyan traditional culture. For this photoshoot I used a studio with artificial lighting and captured 146 images of the model wearing different pieces of clothing.

Clothing / Patterns used

Original Studio Portraits

Photo Selection Process

Photo #1 – Raw Form – Rembrandt Lighting

Experimentation & Development

Photo #1 Experimentation

Photo #2 Experimentation

Photo #3 Experimentation

Photo #4 Experimentation

Initially, I did all the basic editing in Lightroom Classic. The screenshot below shows roughly what most adjustments were made to most images, I used these settings as a preset as I thought it was working the best and then I would alter it slightly for different photos if I did not think it worked too well. I increased the vibrancy and the saturation for most of them to highlight the clothing and make it stand out.

For these 5 experimentations, I used the clothing photos which is shown at the beginning of this blog post and I selected key areas of the clothing using the quick selection tool, once I had selected the key patterns or parts I wanted from the clothing and did layer via copy. After I had the pattern as a separate layer, I then put the selected studio portrait which had its background removed and the pattern into the same document in photoshop. Using the layers tab I put the pattern in the background and the model in the foreground resizing both layers to make it look perfect. Finally, to finish off the process I did some slight changes and added drop shadows and effects to ensure that the foreground blends well with the background.

This experimentation was quite complex and required me to have some photoshop knowledge however, in my opinion these final outcomes came out great and they link perfectly to my artist inspiration (Omar Victor Diopp and Hassan Hajjaj.)

Photo #5 Experimentation – Double Exposure

Photo #6 Experimentation – Double Exposure

Photograph #7 Experimentation – Hassan Hajjaj Inspired

For this experimentation, I tried to recreate a famous image which Hassan Hajjaj captures, the photo taken by Hassan Hajjaj consists of models in a mix of traditional clothing and modern clothing outside Dior, a high demand designer brand. To recreate the image I had to take 3 different photos with a tripod in the same place but the model moving spots in the frame, as well as changing shirts for each one. I told the model to keep his shorts on as Jorts are a modern trend which is extremely popular in current time. I did this to replicate the mix of traditional clothing with modern / popular culture just like Hassan Hajjaj. The editing process was simple, just like the other images I had to select the model and layer via copy him and then just drag each layer onto the same document, then doing slight adjustments to ensure the model fits in with the background and any shadows or etc are not clashing with the image.

Final Images – Hassan Hajjaj & Omar Victor Diop Inspired