I felt that the exam title ‘Variations and Similarities’ fitted my style of photography well because it meant I was able to explore landscape photography and produced a wide range of images that looks at the movement of the sea. I found that this project was very successful because it allowed me to explore the beauty of nature, and also explore the science behind tidal movements and what forces have an impact on the sea. For my final presentation, I have decided to present eight (four sets of two) of my images in window mounts, size A4. I have used a black mount board because I felt that this framed my images without taking anything away from the photographs. I have also decided to create a photo book which I plan to capture the feeling of movement throughout.

The key link between my project and the exam theme ‘Variation and Similarity’, was the contrasting images and the differences between high and low tides. The photographers that inspired me throughout this project were Hiroshi Sugimoto because of his simplistic ocean landscape photographs, and Michael Marten‘s contrasting images of landscapes and different times and tidal levels.

If I was to do this exam unit again I would keep to the same concept because enjoyed being able to explore tidal movements as a whole as well as landscape and movement photography. However, I would want to extend my photo shoots so that I could produce a wider variety of contrasting sets of images for my final presentation. Having a wider variety of images would allow me to create a final presentation and photo book at a higher quality. Also, I would include some of the research I found and this would allow me to develop the text elements in my photobook.

CCA gallery

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The CCA Gallery was an expedition “showcasing the unseen aspects of photographing celebrities, from behind the lenses of Carinthia West, Rupert Truman (Storm Studios) and Mike McCartney.” The expedition also showed an insight into the lives of other 60’s icons such as Mick Jagger by showing their album covers.

The image that caught my attention however was “three”, an image that was on the front cover of Archideep and the Monkeyshakers’ taken by Rupet Truman. This work appeals to me as I feel it can link in with my work showing that not every one is the same and have different story’s shown by the masks similarly to how the car boot stalls tell my subjects story.

Although I like this image, much of his other work is quite bland and rarely links with my work. This can be shown in this work Bones and Mirrors, which is quite bland as it is just a tree with objects hanging off it.

Private Gallery

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The Private Gallery was very different from the CCA Gallery as it contrasted greatly by showing pop art rather than the more abstract work of the CCA Gallery. The Gallery was called ‘Pop icons in the 20th century, Britain and American pop art’, which I believe it showed in the contrasting colours and abstract shapes in the work. The pop art movement was around in the 1950’s and peaked in the 60’s but is still widely recognized and practiced today. The work at this gallery had a very contemporary style to it – a lot of the work was art rather than photography but was still relevant as the themes and styles used can be transferred into photography.

One image that I liked was the ‘black bean soup’ image. this is because is is simplistic which appeals to me visually. This image was taken by Warhol in the early 60’s, the height of Pop art and followed a common theme of painting soup cans and cola bottles. Even though these were paintings rather than photographs they still apply the same rules of variation and similarity which I believe to be important.

This post covers my first and main final outcome of the ‘Variation and Similarity’ exam project.

As I intended to do I have produced my 38 inch x 48 inch postcard display which overall I am very satisfied with, I am happy with the fact that following my plan for this display, I have managed to produce exactly what I was planning to. Although I thought I may have to rearrange some of the prints from how they were composed on my plan, once I had set it up I found that actually it looked great as it was and so I left them in the same order as I had in my plan. The display successfully shows my outcomes in an unusual way and overall it is much more interesting than if I had just mounted or framed these prints up, as it really does show that I was going for a classic postcard aesthetic with a twist of my own. The way in which I have spaced apart different prints such as landscape/portrait, black and white/colour or front/back is very successful as although they appear to be randomly spaced this is what i was intending and was in fact harder to make the order look random as I had to think carefully about things vertically and horizontally when spacing everything apart. In my original project specification I stated that I would produce photographs surrounding the theme of chaotic imagery. I planned to do this by creating photo-montages, collages and edits in response to the artists and photographers and movements that I have researched. I said I would relate the work to the issues of overpopulation and capitalism which have and still continue to play a big part in the overpowered development of the world. And that I would photograph all kinds of things relating to this theme as rather than limiting myself to one specific subject matter this will not allow me to produce pieces with chaos as the main part. I also went on to state that these issues of overpopulation and capitalism are something which closely links Jersey with the rest of the world, through trade, immigration, politics and culture, planning to explore this link and how it has developed over time, looking at the past and how it has become the present. And then how the future may look in terms of these issues. This would be executed by the use of archival and found imagery mixed with my own purposed photographs through means of collage and montage. And overall in terms of how I believe this final display has come out I would say that I am confident in the fact that I’ve closely followed my specification and plans in order to produce something which reflects this to a full extent, along with my A3 print display.

This is my final layout for my photo book:

‘Tidal Movements’

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As well as being great story-telling devices, diptychs, triptychs are visually pleasing and help make use of photos that may not work on their own or perhaps enhances a single image with the method. There is no right or wrong when it comes to these composites so my main aim was to use the method with single images as appose to using multiple images. This idea was inspired by Nadav Kander’s work that I have previously looked at. I am inspired by this method and think it enhances the viewers appreciation for the image due to the fact it is constructed into two or three separate images instead of only one.

I think that this method of presenting my work, implies the passage of time and timelessness, echoing the oceans perpetual cycle of change and renewal. This idea also reflects how the view we are looking at has been experienced by many of our ancestors despite the change in time period. This shows a sense of underlying beauty in what otherwise would be a rather boring landscape, linking to my studies on zen Buddhism. The notion of time created emphasizes how the landscape is always changing and brings a focus to the external factors that i have tried to portray in this project such as lighting and weather change.

This is a link to my complete photo book.

The Colour and The Shape

How do you want your book to look and feel? I want my book to look and feel like a common fashion, beauty and lifestyle magazine, with glossy pages and masthead on the cover.

Format, size and orientation: portraiture/ landscape/ square/ A5, A4, A3 / number of pages. I will have the format as a portrait Just smaller that A4 size with around 25-40 pages

Binding: soft/hard cover. Image wrap/dust jacket. Saddle stitch/swiss binding/ Japanese stab-binding/ leperello. It will have a soft gloss cover to fit the conventions of a popular magazine

Cover: linen/ card. graphic/ printed image. embossed/ debossed. letterpress/ silkscreen/hot-stamping. The cover will have a printed portrait images which is distorted similar to the other portraits inside. It will also have a masthead of “UGLY” which is a controversial word which is used as a label for people not seen to conform to beauty ideals. It will also have a cover line to introduce it and add context to the title.Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing.

Structure and architecture: how design/ repeating motifs/ or specific features develops a concept or construct a narrative. I will repeat similar page structures throughout the magazine to give it momentum whilst looking through it. This will reduce the chances of it being repetitive.

Images and text: are they linked? Introduction/ statement / use of captions (if any.) I am creating text to overlay over some of my close up images, this text will have various meanings and will link ti the idea of perfection and beauty.

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I have chosen this font for the repetitive text because it reminds me of computer code that is used to control and power phones and electronic devices. I have done this to comment on the idea that modern technologies have made pressures on beauty much worse for example social media enforcing ideas of on the ideal body image through influencers and celebrities.

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Over the ‘Variation and Similarity’ Project I have explored photographers, artists and movements that have inspired me when creating my photography and led me to create a final pieces that represent my theme and have had a successful outcome. I Started off with my project focusing on the power of a brand looking at commercialism which then lead me onto looking at Commercialism of which i infused with Typology photography as well as looking at pop art, inspired mainly by the Becher’s photography and Andy Warhol artworks.

When I first approached the topic ‘Variation and Similarity’ I had the idea that I wanted to look at Commercialism and Consumerism as a theme to explore how Brands and products make up everything that we do in our everyday lives. I started this looking at an interesting way of exploring this which was to show how brands end up becoming part of everything and are everywhere to represent this in my photography I created a night-time shoot in a woodland area where i projected brands into the landscape to represent how people are consuming brands so much that they are loosing or forgetting the outside world around them. I experimented the images i took creating GIF’s as well as editing their colours to give asthetic qualities to the images.

These images were successful, however i thought that i could explore this project in another way which was more obvious with the message of consumerism behind it. After Looking at the Becher’s for their Typology I realised that this would be an interesting way to incorporate into my work. I then also explored the pop art movement looking particularly at Andy Warhol and his prints of the ‘Campbell soup tins’ which then led me onto the idea for my next shoot. After this i decided to photograph lots of different products that would be found in everyday homes. To keep the images focused on the products I photographed them with a white background so that it was only the products with a clean background. This fit with the theme of commercialism perfectly as it highlighted the brands which would just be consumed without much recognition of the actual product. In the editing i experimented with typologies as well as creating pop art within photograph editing the hue colours of the images. The overall outcome of this final outcome of this shoot clearly fits with the exam theme ‘Variation and Similarity’ as it shows the variations between the products in the way they are produced to fit to the demand of consumers as well as showing the similarity between the way they package their products.

Concluding my project, I believe that my work successfully represents the Exam topic ‘Variation and Similarity’ which is visible in my final outcomes. I feel that my final outcomes and presentation shows an aesthetically pleasing view of everyday products and brands that we all consume without realising and they bring a closer view of these products to the consumers. The use of very vibrant Images as well as presenting the opposite of black and white images shows two different dimensions to the products.

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For my book, I have decided to entitle it ‘Moonscape’. Due to the content matter and what I am presenting to my audience through my photographs, I feel it is quite a suitable title and a title that has meaning. Despite my images aren’t actually of moonscapes, it will bring surprise to the audience which will stimulate thought processing of how the moon affects tidal movement. The main idea behind titling it this is because I don’t want to give away the content matter through the front cover. Also it has significant meaning with the scientific way in which the moon effects the ocean movement which is a key idea within my project.

Official definition of the word : a landscape resembling the surface of the moon, especially in being rocky and barren.

Wikipedia explanation – A moonscape is an area or vista of the lunar landscape, or a visual representation of this, such as in a painting. The term “moonscape” is also sometimes used metaphorically for an area devastated or flattened by war, often by shelling.

Scientific explanation :

While both the Moon and the Sun influence the ocean tides, the Moon plays the biggest role because it is so much closer to our planet than the Sun. In fact, the tidal effect of the Moon on Earth is more than twice as strong as that of the Sun, even though the Sun’s gravitational pull on Earth is around 178 times stronger than that of the Moon. The gravitational force of the Moon and the Sun pulls the water in the oceans upwards making the oceans bulge, which creates high tide in the areas of Earth facing the Moon and on the opposite side.

At the same time, in other parts of the planet, the ocean water drains away to fill these bulges, creating low tides. However, the oceans’ water is also constrained by the continents and varying ocean depths. As a result, the tides behave more like water sloshing around in an oddly shaped bathtub than in a smooth and even basin.

Over the course of the ‘variation and similarity’ I have taken inspiration from many different photographers and sources which I think has helped me to produce one of my best works. At first I was looking looking a variety in weather locations and different times of the day. However I didn’t feel as if the topic was push my photographic ability enough. So I felt my choosing a topic that delved into the realms of the sublime was the right choice for my final project as this was a project that I had never looked at before.

Looking back at my project I feel I have presented an interesting alternative insight of the elements/ nature. And how well they work with one another and the sublime beauty of them which would would miss if we didn’t take the time to stop and really look at what is in front of us. But I also feel that this book represents a sense of a journey and a sense of growth, I feel that all of the images are small passing events that one moment are there and the next are not which conveys a sense of movement, which I reflects the work of Rinko who I have been looking at for most of the project.

To conclude I think that my project reflects the topic of ‘variation and similarity’ as I have taken abstract stance of photographing the the elements and presented everyday landscapes in a way that conveys a sense of beauty and life and is a variation of the way that we normally look at the elements. And I have been able to find a similar link between the four elements and convey a sense of unity.

In this final display of my project I have chosen three water images, three earth images and two fire images and visually I thought that they worked well and connected together. I wanted this to be the main product of the project as well as the book. I feel as if the book is more of an in-depth view to the elements, where as this poster of the images is a summary and the smoke images are supporting the project. Looking at the images now I see that subconsciously I have picked the image that feature the colour blue very predominantly. I feel that the images work well as a group together due to the cool contrasting tones of the blue which flows throughout all of the image and in a sense connects them all together. All of them are different shapes and textures that work well juxtaposing each other are as well as complementing the other. I printed off the images at a range of different sizes as I thought that it would bring attention to the images which I wanted the onlooker to look at first and then they would get closer and see the small details in the images. In the central and smallest images, there is a bee pollinating a flower, I wanted this to be the center of all of the images, as I feel as if animals are the 5th element of the planet and I felt that it was a nice way to bring the project together