Photographic Shoot - Magazines

 
For my photographic shoot I wanted to portray how woman may feel overwhelmed by the media’s representation of women in magazines. For example the way magazines depict ‘beautiful’ women and tell its audiences how to achieve this and what techniques to use. For example magazine’s give make up tips, fashion advice, beauty tips e.t.c. It can be said that women may feel pressurized to conform to what they see if magazines thefore hiding their true identity and who they really are with the need to fit in. ‘People have trouble defining beauty, but they know it when they see it.  And, they actively look for it.  Consumers are constantly on the prowl to acquire the latest products and services that will help them to attain this elusive quality (Englis, 1994, p. 49).’ 

For my photographic shoot I made a collage of magazine cuttings of women and stuck it onto the models face. I did not make the divide of magazine cuttings down her face even, because I wanted to show how she feels engulfed by what she sees in magazines; and how it is obstructing her identity of whom she really is. It can be said that women regularly see photographs of models or celebrities whom they believe are beautiful in magazines and feel insecure about their personal appearance. Thefore one may want to change their appearance to achieve this ideal look they see in front of them.  In the bottom photograph I wanted to portray how the girl feels smothered by representation of women in magazines.

Englis, Basil., Solomo, R. And Ashmore, R. (1994) The Journal of Advertising. Beauty before the Eyes of Beholder: The Cultural Encoding of Beauty types in Magazine Advertising and Music television, Vol. 23 no 2.

Before my photographic shoot I looked at many different magazines and analysed how they portray women in them. In the majority of magazines all the women are very ‘pretty’, almost ‘perfect’ and idealised. The magazines give a lot of advice on how to ‘look your best’ and improve your appearances. As a reader I can see where all this pressure comes from to ‘conform’ to what we see in magazines or why we may want to buy certain products that are being advertised to achieve a certain level of ‘beauty’. ‘Consumerism plays a great part in magazines. The reader is constantly being told to buy products which are supposed to make them look better. Products are no longer sold for their uses, for example it promises to make you beautiful (Anon).’

Above are a couple magazine covers to show the type of women that are on the covers to attract their audiences. Also on the front of the magazines it tells their audiences what type of material is in them, for example 'Best beauty buys', 'Smart beauty tips', 'Little ways to your best body.'


Anon. Beauty and Body Image in the Media [online]. Available from: http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm [Accessed 25 October 2011].