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On the first week I gathered ideas as to what I'd want to create my final major project on. I am a creative person so I wanted to link my project to myself whilst also linking wider problems in the world that I believe overcoming. Using a mind map, I noted down different ideas such as acting, beauty, social media and how different lifestyles make an impact on people. I narrowed it down to one topic by focussing on what I'm most passionate about but I also managed to link all these themes into one which took me a lot of thinking and research. This turned out to be quite a struggle for me but I eventually made my mind up. I chose the topic of Beauty and more specifically breaking down the beauty standard. As my project is on beauty, I visited the Art of Beauty exhibition in Euston and learnt more about the history of beauty but also how it has progressed over time which was fascinating to see.

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In these screenshots, I was editing a picture for my final major project and here is the original before editing on the left and on the right is the edited version which I will be using. To begin with, I set the exposure to 30 after I'd played around with it to see what fit. I then set the. brilliance to 18 and the highlights to -85 to bring out the colour of the picture. I later set the shadows to -10 and the contrast to 20 yet I knew it still was not enough. I set the brightness to 15 to emphasise my image clearly, the black point to 10 and the saturation to 30. I then put the vibrancy to 32 and the warmth to 25 to add more life into the picture. I set the sharpness to 6, definition to 10 and noise reduction to 15 just to smooth the image together and let it form properly to my liking.

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I looked up online magazines and in general the beauty industry but more specifically representation of skin texture and people who looked like myself and I realised there wasn't much. When looking on google, I struggled to see images and magazines featuring people whose faces were not blurred with skin filters which proved my idea and plan to show representation of this.

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I visited the Exhibition of Beauty in Euston and saw the timeline of beauty and beauty standards from as old as Mary and Jesus' time to 2024 modern beauty standards and how social media makes a massive impact on beauty and the way in which people express and perceive themselves. I took each of these pictures on my iPhone and I'm glad with how they turned out as I believe it catches the realism of it all.

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I gathered my friends and went into the studio and set up the lights as well as the white backdrop so my pictures would have a clear background. I first tested with a sunset orange light and I didn't like it on camera as much as the white studio light.

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My initial theme is on beauty and more specifically breaking down the beauty standard and embracing your natural beauty for what it is. I believe society holds a certain expectation of women and how they are meant to present themselves and I want to express this in my own online magazine using the pictures I have taken.

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My aims for my final major project is to present beauty in a form which embraces your true self. I want to show that skin texture, pimples and acne can also be beautiful on you as it's a part of your skin and who you are. Instead of trying to change how you look find ways to accept your beauty for how it is whether you choose to wear makeup, no makeup, show your scars and more.

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Sophie Harris Taylor is a photographer who has inspired my work as she captures the realism of women and how skin looks. I noticed that her work aligns with my project and it was interesting to see how different people interpret a picture taken and then present it in a certain way much like Sophie Harris Taylor who effortlessly managed to photograph the realistic look of a woman. I was also inspired for this project by the lack of representation for people who looked like me growing up so with my project I plan to showcase the diversity with different people being photographed. Another photographer who has inspired my work is Maxim Vakhovskiy who captures the art of natural beauty and also uses a range of models from diverse backgrounds which demonstrates his inclusivity. Maxim Vakhovskiy also focusses on nude photography which adds to the natural element as it is people in their own skin being effortlessly photographed.

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This image from the Exhibition of Beauty spoke to me and it was almost compelling me to look and understand it. There were different emotions captioned below the art and I felt the need to grasp the meaning behind this picture which I believe is showing the art of emotions within one and how the naked eye cannot see through emotions that aren't physically noticeable yet if you carefully look and analyse you may be able to. The artist cleverly proved their point using the same images and emotive colours such as purple, green and blue as well as dark blank eyes to demonstrate the lack of emotion one may see.

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On the second week, I began using my ideas and knowledge from the exhibition I visited as part of my conceptual research and looked online at beauty magazines as I planned to put my final major project in the format of a magazine. I saw the Vogue Beauty Magazine and what I noticed was that everything was absolutely perfect; there were no signs of natural skin, pigmentation, acne and it all looked so perfectly staged and blurred when I understand the reality of many people's skin is far from that yet there was hardly any representation of this. Also I saw Vogue was constantly trying to sell products which links to mass-consumerism which I believe needs to be taken down a level as social media has taken it to an extreme level. What I plan to do is defy Vogue and social media's standards of women in my own magazine which shows an accurate representation of skin and texture and that you can be beautiful with makeup and without and also that beauty is a completely subjective thing.

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As soon as week 3 began, I recognised I had enough research for me to begin the practical part of my project. Seeing as I chose photography, I borrowed a college camera previously and over the course of the holidays I began photographing for my final major project. I wanted to show representation of all people which is still something that is sadly lacked in the industry so I ensured I did this. As a woman who grew up seeing very few people who looked like her I want to ensure that never happens to any other young girl who feels the same way I once felt. Thankfully for my friends and family, I managed to get a few pictures in and then I began to question if I was taking these pictures to the best of my ability so I took a day to myself and then realised I have so much more to give and finally when I took more pictures the next day using all my knowledge of photography I felt so much more confident which was a massive relief.

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To be able to pick a specific theme, I created a mind map and noted down ideas such as acting, beauty, how different lifestyles make an impact on people and social media. To narrow this down I did choose what I'm most passionate about which is beauty yet I still managed to tie in all these ideas within my theme of beauty. I am focussing on beauty and the standards of beauty in women because I believe there is too much pressure on how women need to change themselves and not enough representation of normal skin texture which majority of women have.

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This is a picture taken by photographer Sophie Harris Taylor

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This is a picture taken by photographer Sophie Harris Taylor

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Sophie Harris Taylor focusses on photographing real skin such as texture and acne which I love to see as it should be normalised however I still see a gap of representation which I believe should be filled and it’s my plan to do this with my beauty blog.

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As I returned to college, I gathered my friends and with the support of my tutor I took what I am certain are my final pictures for my final major project. I am now left to edit and upload both my test shoots and actual pictures I will be using which I can't wait for. After much contemplating I am proud of my work and I believe it is a good representation of what beauty is for different people, not a generic group or focusing on one beauty standard. The software I need to edit my pictures is not working so currently I am struggling to stay on track as my pictures are a crucial part of my project. To create my magazine, I realised when looking at the Vogue one that it is in the format of a blog so I looked on a website called Squarespace which has tons of help for creating your own original blog.

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Since there is a lack of diversity and representation of people much like me I am now looking online on why this is the reason and ways to enable people to have access to work and knowledge which relates to them.

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This is one of the test shoots I took which I edited slightly to enhance the lighting and my friend's features. Whilst I was editing, I realised that because my project revolves around embracing your natural beauty and stirring away from filters, I decided to not blur her face like you see in magazines and photos and instead bring out her beauty by playing with the background so the attention is strictly on her.

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Here is another test shoot which I took for my final major project. I tested out a darker background in this picture and both white and yellow lighting which was not my favourite to use as I feel like they did not pair well and left a shadow as you can see in the picture. From taking this picture, I gathered that white lighting was my best friend for the pictures and it did give it a more professional studio-like look which is what I am going for in my project.

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When watching this short film, I noticed that there were signs showed that triggered a feeling inside of me which I know many teenage girls can relate to which is the fear of not looking like the rest because of your skin texture and acne and also the need to isolate yourself from others in fear of how they may look at you but also the way how ur confidence decreases when you're surrounded by people who you want to look like and envy. However the reality of this is that your acne or skin texture should not define you and instead we need role models and people who look much like ourselves for us to get inspiration from and also to help us realise that it is completely normal and okay to look the way you do.

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"SKIN" - Student Short Film About Acne (2018)

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I began the week by checking to see if Lightroom was working however it still was not so I took matters into my own hands and decided to edit on my iPhone using the editing settings which helped to fasten my work up and now use my time more efficiently so I can complete my work on schedule and deliver it to the best of my abilities if not beyond. Then, I became to look online at real skin and how social media portrays it as well as short stories and documentations on YouTube. To further my knowledge, I looked up the state of diversity in media and pictures and then read the pdf format which was useful for me. I then started to add more pictures to my test shoot and began describing my choice of editing and lighting as well as the background I chose and the impact I wanted my photos to make.

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This piece of art demonstrates how one may view themselves in comparison to how they may look and be left disappointed. The words ‘fat and gross’ show that the media generalises people who are fat to cruel words such as ‘gross’. The man here sees himself as what he wants to be rather than who he is perhaps signifying a type of an indenting crisis as he is left solely with his thoughts.

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This picture spoke to me because it was a woman painting a portrait of herself whilst having a portrait taken of her which is beautiful to see. The thought behind this is extraordinary to me as it shows the art of perception and how people create art based on how they view things.

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This piece of art was really interesting to see. It was a mirror with writing which I believe really explained a lot about society today. For example, we mix the social pressure of others and expectations people hold of us with how we actually are meant to view and present ourselves. Specifically in this generation, we struggle to realise that we do not have to meet the standard of what is acceptable and we should just be ourselves without changing.

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Here we see three beautiful women, one wearing something that says ‘Miss BLACK & BEAUTIFUL’ which shows that anyone can be beautiful and race or skin colour does not define one’s beauty at all. It also shows the change of society and how a once cruel world has opened their eyes to the issues and come forward to resolve them which is amazing to see. We see joyous women who are comfortable in their skin as it should be and completely real and raw emotions being captured here.

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Here is another test shoot where I was testing different lighting and camera settings till I found one that I saw fit. I made sure that when I was taking these pictures after my final test shoots that I ensured everything was to my liking and was looking like my best.

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This is a perfect example of what I would like my project to show. This content creator shows how makeup looks on real skin and is again breaking down the secrets of filters and the clear skin standard that many women think they need when the reality is that the pictures and videos are edited.

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This week, I started choosing out the best pictures I took that I believe will demonstrate my photography skills I learnt to the best of its ability. Using Squarespace, I started my blog/magazine.

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This content creator is a beautiful example of both embracing your beauty and also enhancing it if you choose to with makeup which no one should feel ashamed of using as it is a form of expression and creativity which is really nice to see. I recognised that this creator's entire page is insanely supportive and helpful especially for young women who would like someone realistic to look up towards and provides the representation for brown women as there is a figure out there for them, she is just not as famous which I believe is not fair as we need to make the correct people famous who make a positive impact on our future and society.

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This is a picture taken by photographer Sophie Harris Taylor

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This is a picture taken by photographer Sophie Harris Taylor

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I must admit, this is one of the only pictures I have seen taken by Sophie Harris Taylor with representation of a woman of colour. As a young brown woman of colour, i find there is a lack of representation for people who look like me. I also think by not having representative figures in mainstream media it leaves a sense of unknown because people are left to wonder why there is such a lack of diversity of people who may have the same physical traits as them. It does sadden me to see that we are in a day and age now where this issue has been brought to light yet their is such little being done or nearly not enough.

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I created a mind-map to jot down my ideas and then plan out which topic I wanted to pick by choosing what I am most passionate about and what I would like to base my project on. I always knew the concept and idea of beauty was something I wanted to do which did further help me.

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I asked a member of the public an open question to what they think of the beauty standard and this was their response.

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I also asked another member of the public an open question of how do they think we can develop peoples ideology of beauty and this was their response to my question.

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I have now almost completed my magazine which is in its blog format. There are a few finishing touches such as ensuring my final photos are up to a high standard and ready to be put onto the magazine. Creating a magazine was harder than I thought so whilst incorporating themes of a magazine, I initially created a beauty blog which I am proud of. The blog took me a few hours to edit as I wanted to present it to a high standard. The software i used called Squarespace gave me a bit of trouble with how to allow others to view so i allowed my work to be passworded instead so whoever has the password 123 will be able to access my blog.

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Password: 123

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Log into your Squarespace account. Squarespace is the all-in-one solution for anyone looking to create a beautiful website.

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In conclusion, I believe my work has been completed to the level i had been hoping for. Although i faced many challenges during my work, i managed to overcome them by listing out what i’d like to do best and constantly finding alternative ways to things so my work could be completed. My beauty blog on Squarespace finally came together and it is something i am proud of as i managed to present it both smoothly and to a professional beauty blog standard which is something i know people struggle with. The key idea for me was to showcase beauty and the beauty standard and how we collectively can overcome it and i think i managed to do this whilst still making it fun and inclusive for all women. I made sure to add where people can find help and how my blog will be useful to them as well as constantly engaging my readers and ensuring they are comfortable which can be seen on the home page of my beauty blog. I also added on my blog what people have said based on interviews I recorded with members of the public which further proved my ability of researching and also gaining an insight to the public's opinion.