Onesie Task for HND Photography Students

David was another HND Photography student who completed the task Kate had set for the students, which was to create unique onesies to fit alongside each student’s story telling projects. David wanted to look into the idea of 'Saint Bede'. He also wanted to scout for religious, iconic settings in Northumbria and the possible locations for Bede, such as Jarrow, Durham, Lindisfarne, Tynemouth Priory and Warkworth. 'I wanted to use a famous North East person. I thought of Bede and the impact he had on the world.' Bede, also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede, was an English monk. In 682 AD, Bede moved to the monastery at Jarrow, where he spent the rest of his life - travelling no further than Hexham, Lindisfarne and York.

 By the age of 19 he had become a deacon and was promoted to priest at 30!

St Bede’s most famous work was his “Ecclesiastical History of the English people”. He was the first writer to adopt the AD dating system. His scholarship covered a huge range of subjects, including commentaries on the Bible, observations of nature, music and poetry, which was completed in 731 AD. Bede died in his cell at the Monastery in May 735 AD.  He is buried in Durham Cathedral. The present tomb, built in 1831 is inscribed with Bede’s own words:

“Christ is the morning star, who when the nightOf this world is past brings to his saintsThe promise of the light of life & opens everlasting day”

There is a now a museum in Jarrow “Bede’s World” dedicated to the memory and works of St Bede.   David researched Saint Bede and found a lot of pictures of monks, this is where he got his design idea for his onesie from. He found that the classic look was a brown or black, long robe. He also discovered that a lot of the pictures contained Saint Bede writing in a book, which made David think 'What would Bede do in today's world? Maybe a laptop would suit it better.' After researching, David then designed his onesie on The All-in-One Company website. He designed a onesie in one of our Brown fabrics, completed with a custom made cape - because his friend was going be his model, he was able to design the onesie to fit. David then went on to do a location shoot at Lindisfarne. David took around 35 photos of the location and decided on the few that stood out to him. He then went on to do a location shoot at Quay Side, but found it had no connection to Monks.   David then researched a photographer Chema Madoz, who seems to combine a lot of random objects and positions, but in the end result they come together and rise to a new meaning altogether. This inspired him to take a more modern approach on Bede. He thought of all the props he could use, such as iPad/laptop, smartphone, transport, etc. Halfway through his project, David found himself stuck in a rut. He cleared his mind by writing out another mind map of new ideas. David started to think about symbolism - this included things like Bede’s Lindisfarne Gospels, Onesies - all the things that linked together Bede, the North East and The All-in-One Company.     After doing a still life shoot, David decided that it wasn't working as he felt it was 'too much religion and not enough onesie'. He also found that he had problems with his monk suit onesie, he had originally wanted his friend Kirby to model the suit. 'I wanted a twist, as you don't get female monks. The onesie was ordered for 5'5" Kirby, who is an active Service woman, and thanks to extremely bad timing, she was put on very short notice month long detachment course in the Midlands. When the onesie arrived, I decided to see if it would fit - amazingly it fit my 6'2" frame surprisingly well (although a little snug in places)! So, the quick and easy answer to accommodate the 'who will wear my onesie' question was easy - I would produce self-portrait images'. 'At first I did find it hard to take self-portraits until I used a remote trigger for my camera. The camera was set on a 30 second self-timer delay so I was able to trigger the shutter using an infra-red remote control. Obviously, I now had 30 seconds to hide the remote and strike the pose I wanted.' 'I'm glad that things turned out the way they did for two reasons;  the more research I did, the more it pointed to having to use a male model who more closely matched the image of Bede, so the onesie  might not have been shown off to its best if Kirby was to model it'. Now David was back on track! He did some location shoots, and selected the ones he thought were the best. He wanted to do a few mock up images with a digital illusion of a figure. David wanted to put his Bede into a stained glass window effect. He took several photos in different poses before choosing his final one. He then cut himself out of the picture and refined the image to clean up the edges, and copied it into a new layer. For his background, David used a sunset image that he had taken from his back garden. He then drew up, on a new layer, using lines and shapes, his glass window. He also drew a black line around his Bede. Using Photoshop, he was able to use the 'stained glass window' filter, to create the effect he wanted. He then created a 'halo' using the same technique he used to create his window. After combing all the layers together he was able to create his final image. David then went on to research the artist Pejac. Pejac is famous for his street art, and is often known for his love of silhouettes. His work can be very simple, and minimal, yet have great meaning and powerful stories behind it. He then looked into the story telling aspects of Joshua Hoffine. Hoffine is known for his 'horror photography' and his dark and sinister stories behind it. It was then time for David to create another one of his final images. Again, he took one of his studio shots, and cut himself (Bede) out of the background. He then took his chosen background image and placed it into a new layer. David was then able to take his cut-out Bede and place into the background layer. He noticed that in his background image there were a lot of shadows so, in order to make it look realistic, he would have to create a shadow for Bede. He created the shadow by selecting 'drop shadow' and a shadow was then added into the picture. After playing around with it by resizing and repositioning, he got it perfect David then started working on the rest of his final images. He came up with the idea of the past inspiring the present. He re-created an image of Bede drawing and instead used himself in the onesie, and instead of the Monk drawing, he had him using a laptop. "I do like the idea of this one as to me it's showing a connection between then and now'. However, David decided that it wasn't strong enough to use as a final image. After a lot of thought, he then came to a conclusion that he needed to use more studio shots to show off the onesie. He then thought about the research he had done on Hoffine and his horror imagery, and then Bede the Monk and how he is now dead, that he could use a studio shot as the ghost of Bede as the past still influencing the present. David had then completed his three final images. At the end of this project David was graded 3 distinctions and a merit!