#heatherrowan

Initially I found it difficult to settle on an idea for my story book narrative. Finally  I chose my sisters polyamorous relationship as an interesting thought provoking topic. During the planning process I contacted my sister to ensure that all parties would be agreeable to participating in the project as it would be very personal to them. After all parties agreed I had to arrange my flights to suit my models schedules as they all live and study abroad. During this process I hit a wall. I encountered many difficulties for booking flights. There were many elements to think about; I felt uncomfortable traveling alone, finding appropriate affordable  flights, and my sister/other models class scheduling times. However, I was able to settle a time for 28th March to the 1st April 2019. Sadly this time frame over ran into my graded unit, but I worked hard to make it work. Within this project I was focusing on my sisters relationship with her boyfriend and long term relationship with her girlfriend. Sadly her girlfriend was unavailable for my project, but she was happy for me to use old photo’s and personal letters/notes. On the first day I arrived late in the evening, and prepared for the next day. On the following two days I walked around Zurich with my sister taking pictures of places that were significant to her within her relationships. The Sunday was the only day that her boyfriend was available. I shot around Zurich and within their flat. In the evening I shot both candid and more posed images in the bedroom setting to give me a variety of intimate images. In the morning before the flight home, my sister skype called her girlfriend, where I took photographs to show their continuing relationship. As soon as I got home the editing/post production process started. After I selected my final images I then searched for a photo book making company and settled ‘Blurb’ as it appeared to be high quality and value for money. I selected the soft cover as I wanted my photo book to be gentle and intimate to reflect the subject. I laid the book out following the story line; Long-term Relationship with girlfriend before she left for Switzerland > Arriving/thinking of Girlfriend > Meeting Boyfriend and the Beginning of their Relationship > Staying in Contact with Girlfriend > Open Ending. I wanted to show the progress and intimacy of the relationships. I entitled the book ‘Knöpfe Lieben’ which translates to ‘Buttons Love’ this is in reference to my sisters pet name scene with the letters given to her by her girlfriend. However, I spelt it wrong and didn’t realise until i got it back from print. to fix this i would send it back to print with a fixed title. Another improvement i would make to this project is shooting images with both my sister and her girlfriend together however the timing/scheduling would have to aline. Overall, i am really inspired by this project and am really proud of my final project.