MEETING ASH // VLOG

Ashley Grimshaw is a 26 year old art graduate who will be an integral part of my documentary. After weeks of planning it was finally time for me to journey to Sheffield and meet him.

From very early on in the process I always knew I wanted to film Ash. His funky and flamboyant fashion sense is like anyone I know, and I believe will prove invaluable to the narrative of ALPHA. I met ash through his girlfriend and also my friend Karis, who he lives with in Sheffield along with their other friends. At 5 foot 2 with long curly hair, Ash not only looks captivating - his attitudes and opinions towards gender and style are just as a interesting. Which is why I knew I had to speak to him.

VLOG explains my thoughts and feelings toward Ash + Why I wanted him to be part of the filming process

POST FILMING UPDATE:

My few days in Sheffield was a roaring success. Ash and Karis were a pleasure to film and could not stop talking about masculinity and ideas about gender and sexuality - (a directors dream). I managed get some great shots of Ash’s bedroom, which is the basement of a lofty Sheffield town house with some really cool art work and furniture. Ash also showed me around his infamous wardrobe which I will be making a key part of my interview with Ash as he talks us through some of his favourite clothes.

One thing that I really wanted to convey in the Ash segmant of my documentary is his girlfriends opinion about his masculinity. The reason I am highlighting Ash’s sexual orientation is because I feel like in our society straight men are expected to blend in and conform to gender stereotypes, and to defy this and act feminine equates to being labeled as ‘gay’ or not 'manly enough to be deemed attractive’... which is something I want to debunk in my documentary, as sexuality and whether you have more masculine or feminine traits are not in correlation with each other, they are completely unrelated and different.

As men, I think we place high importance on how the opposite sex view and see us and this can in turn have an effect on the way we act with some guys wanted to be ultra masculine/lad like eat... I chose Ash because he is a straight male who’s girlfriend completely supports him and appreciates him as an individual, I think this is so important for a man to be happy and confident and it's also great to see. Love is about complete acceptance which is what I tried to capture on camera as Karis opens up to Ash.

Another thing I highlighted whilst filming was Ash speaking about how music influences his fashion style. From Disco to Funk to hip hop, items such as his open buttoned shirts and flared jeans all come from a place of love and admiration for music and the different genres style of clothes.

All in All filming with Ash was an eye opening and enlightening experience. It was great to see a straight man my age defying gender boundaries and having the confidence to stand out.