photography one day workshop - photo icon

For our photo icon photo we were asked to recreate an image from a certain decade, mine being the 1940's. My first thought was the war and my second thought was I don't want to do anything to do with the war.  I considered inventions such as the frisbee and the slinky and advertisements featuring them which eventually led me to tupperware. Unfortunately I learn't that the first tupperware catalogue was actually published in the 1950's, later than the original invention so I couldn't use it. I then moved onto household items such as fridges before settling on washing machines. I believe this to be an electric washing wrangler although I am not totally sure as the internet isn't always reliable for factual information. I considered the image to be iconic at the time that it was produced more so than being an iconic image today. I spoke to my Nan about when she first got a washing machines, a twin tub in the 70's and before that she had a glass washboard and before that a wooden washboard, washing by hand. The washing machine now considered a chore, just two generations ago was considered a luxury.

I then went about creating my costume, spending a great amount of time on my apron, which I believed to be the most important. I tried to create an exact replica using a pillow case, an old bed sheet, masking tape, staples, paint and a bingo dapper. Throughout the process one of the best ideas I had was to create the polka dot pattern with a bingo dabber as it completely sped up a task. However when I tried on the apron with my outfit I realised that it was too long and some fabric needed to be lost however I couldn't just simply cut it. After folding the material on its self to create a shorter length I realised that staples wouldn't hold it so I eventually turned to sewing. I also decided to use the elastic cut out of the bed sheet, sewing either side onto the apron to make a perfect fit. Overall I think that the apron looked amazing in the studio and can't wait to see the photos again and start editing them!