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Notes and Commentary By: Robyn Barnette
NOTE: THIS PROJECT IS BEING OVERHAULED IN SPRING 2009. It has been over eight months since I completed my previous Bratz Photography Project "Queen Nevra," and it feels great to be doing these projects again with my newest and most recent project "Too Funky For Kumi." This project was one of the most fun projects I have done in quite some time, and much of that fun came from the doll itself: Bratz Ooh La La Kumi. She is absolutely one of the best and most beautiful Bratz dolls ever conceived and created by MGA Entertainment. And when I purchased her at my local Wal-Mart Supercenter, I knew that something good was going to come out of it. I captured a few test photos of my Bratz Ooh La La Kumi doll, just to see what would come of them, and it was from these test photos where a project devoted to my Bratz Ooh La La Kumi doll was inevitable. The primary objective that I wanted to attain in doing "Too Funky For Kumi" was not to surpass what I had accomplished with "Queen Nevra," or even "Funkin' Out Fianna." All I wanted to do was to simply have a great time and shoot photos of Kumi in various settings and backgrounds. There were times when doing the photography for this project was frustrating, and it was mostly due to a lack of really good and really creative photo ideas. "Too Funky For Kumi" required me to sit down and think about what types of photos that I wanted to capture. One of those photos was of Kumi standing on a platform with the Italian water fountains in the background. This photo is one of the best photos I have ever captured of this or any Bratz doll, and I am still trying to figure out how I was able to capture such an incredible photo. However, there was an even better photo of Kumi that I captured: It was the photo of Kumi standing on the edge of a wooden bridge, with the Italian water garden in the background. The photo itself is amazing; what's even more amazing about the photo is how Kumi did not fall off the bridge and into the water throughout the duration of the photography. I will not reveal how I was able to accomplish this, even though most people will easily figure out from the photo how I did. But I will say that this particular photo took four tries and over 300 shots to capture correctly. And after looking back on all the hard work and effort that I put forth for just this one photo, yeah, it was all in a good day's work. Since Kumi is Japanese, what I wanted to do for "Too Funky For Kumi" was to capture a couple of photos reinforcing Kumi's Japanese ethnicity and background. These photos feature my Bratz Ooh La La Kumi doll dressed in the robe and kimono from the Special Collector's Edition Bratz World Kumi doll. The first of these photos was shot in an arborteum located about five miles from my house, and the background was perfect for what I was trying to acccomplish in the photo. Even if it wasn't perfect, the image of Kumi standing on the stone path and modeling her robe and kimono makes up for it in a big way. But if that photo of Kumi was outstanding enough, the other photo of Kumi that I captured is even more outstanding: It features Kumi standing in a room, surrounded by Japanese symbols and jasmine flowers. The photo was actually shot inside my house, and what I did in order to capture this photo were two things: First, I purchased a couple of pillow covers with Japanese symbols on them; second, I grew a plant inside my house that sprouts jasmine flowers. The jasmine flowers gave off a refreshing and pleasant smell, even though the smell was not strong enough to last long. And, there are two reasons for those jasmine flowers in the photo: First, Jasmine is the daughter of the president and CEO of MGA Entertainment, Isaac Larian (her name is actually spelled without an e at the end); second, there are eight jasmine flowers, in tribute to the original eight members of the Bratz Pack (i.e., Cloe, Dana, Fianna, Jade, Meygan, Nevra, Sasha, Yasmin). I had a lot of fun doing "Too Funky For Kumi." It's a lot different than the previous Bratz Photography Projects that I've done, but I do not consider this project to represent my best work. Perhaps the reason for this is because I tried too hard to make it my greatest project ever, and it fell just short of expectations. Or, perhaps the reason for this is because this project took a lot longer than scheduled to complete. "Too Funky For Kumi" was scheduled to be completed in four weeks, and I wished that it took me that long to complete it. Instead, "Too Funky For Kumi" took me approximately two and a half months to complete. However, I'm pleased that the project turned out as great as it did, especially after the really slow and disappointing start I encountered when the first five photos I captured of my Bratz Ooh La La Kumi doll were rejected. And, I'm even more pleased that this project is over and I can now move on to my next Bratz Photography Project. My Bratz Ooh La La Kumi doll presented a great challenge for me not only in terms of what types of photos I wanted to capture, but also what I wanted to accomplish for this project. And if there is one thing that I hoped to have accomplished with "Too Funky For Kumi," I hope that it's how this project reflects how beautiful my Bratz Ooh La La Kumi doll really is. | |||||||||||
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