Your Externally Set Assignment (ESA / Component 2) exam time is 10 hours.

Exam Dates

• Wed 24th April Groups 12A (ICT Media) and 12B (Photography 1)
• Thurs 25th April Groups 12C (ICT Media) and 12E (Photography 1)
• Thurs 2nd May Groups 12A (ICT Media) and 12B (Photography 1)
• Friday 3rd May 12C  (ICT Media) and 12E (Photography 1)

Exam Times (5 hours per day)

• 9-10.15am Session 1
• BREAK
• 10.15 – 11.15am Session 2
• COMFORT BREAK
• 11.20-12.20pm Session 3
• BREAK
• 12.35-1.35pm Session 4
• LUNCH
• 2.20-3.20pm Session 5

What you do in the exam

Day 1= Edit and finalise final images for “Journeys and Pathways”

• decide on your series, sets, sequences of images
• add files to the print folder in the M : Drive (must be high res 4000 pixels on the long edge)
• all images added to the blog should be low resolution (1000 pixels on the long edge)

Day 2=Frame, mount, present and display final prints

• complete any unfinished blog posts
• check your work against the marking criteria
• ensure you have used photo-lingo throughout you annotations, analysis, evaluation and critique of final outcomes

Exam Rules

• No talking / communication with others
• No use of mobile devices / social media

Weekly Schedule

Week 1 Mon Feb 4th = Mindmaps, moodboards, research / case studies plan and carry out Photoshoot 1

Week 2 Mon Feb 11th = Edit and experiment with images from Photoshoot 1

Feb Half Term = take more photos!

Week 3 Mon Feb 25th = edit and experiment with initial images / responses

Week 4 Mon March 4th = move onto idea 2  / refine initial idea / plan photo-shoot 2

Week 5 Mon March 11th = edit and experiment with images from second photo-shoot

Week 6 Mon March 18th = review and refine progress…change plan if necessary

Week 7 Mon March 25th= develop and plan ideas for final photo-shoot

Week 8 Mon April 1st = explore display and presentation ideas, complete all available blog posts and drafts

Easter

Week 9 Mon 23rd April = Exam Week 1

Week 10 Mon 30th April = Exam Week 2

Always ensure you have enough evidence of…

1. moodboards
2. mindmaps
3. case studies (artist references-show your knowledge and understanding)
4. photo-shoot action plans / specifications (what, why, how, who, when , where)
5. photo-shoots + contact sheets (annotated)
6. appropriate image selection and editing techniques (lots of experiments!)
7. presentation of final ideas and personal responses
8. analysis and evaluation of process….justify your final images
9. compare and contrast your outcomes to a key photographer
10. critique / review / reflection of your work

Always explore, describe and explain :

• who (is in the photo / took the photo)
• what (is the photo about?)
• why (has the image been made / displayed / connected to other images or text)
• where (was the photo taken)
• how was the photo taken (technical attributes)
• when (was the photo taken)

LINKS to high scoring A GRADE exemplar EXAM PROJECTS 

CHARLIE CRAIG YEAR 13

TOM WEBSTER YEAR 13

STANLEY LUCAS YEAR 13

NICK GALLERY YEAR 13

ORLA WORTHINGTON YEAR 13

Journeys and Pathways

As humans we constantly make journeys. We travel along pathways (both literal and abstract) each and everyday. We are fixated with documenting journeys too (travelblogs, instagram etc) and become very adept at observing unique and fascinating aspects of “our journey”.

Example : Political instability can often cause mass migration of populations and considerable human distress, which provoke artists to respond with powerful visual statements. Mona Hatoum’s displacement from Palestine to Britain influenced many of her pieces that comment on her personal experiences of such a traumatic event. Ai Weiwei and Sebastião Salgado recorded compelling accounts of refugees and their plight, whilst Dorothea Lange documented the devastating effects of the Great American Depression.

Assessment Objectives

You should provide evidence that fulfils the four Assessment Objectives:
AO1 Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed
by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical
understanding
AO2 Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and
processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops
AO3 Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically
on work and progress
AO4 Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where
appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.

Preparatory studies

Your preparatory studies should show evidence of:

• your development and control of visual literacy and the formal elements (tone,
texture, colour, line, form and structure)
• an exploration of techniques and media
• investigations showing engagement with appropriate primary and secondary sources
• the development of your thoughts, decisions and ideas based on the theme
• critical review and reflection.
Period of sustained focus
During the 10-hour period of sustained focus you will produce your final outcome(s)
responding to the Externally Set Assignment theme, based on your preparatory studies. The period of sustained focus may take place over more than one session. You will not be able to access your work outside of these sessions. Once the 10-hour supervised period
has ended you will not be able to add to or alter your work

Inspiration: JOURNEYS AND PATHWAYS

In his installation Nantes Triptych Bill Viola simultaneously shows three videos of people at different stages on the journey through life.

Other photographers and film makers are also interested in recording changes brought by the passing of time. Richard Linklater’s film Boyhood was filmed over 12 years to show the actual development of a boy into a young man.

Christian Boltanski shone lights on fading images of people killed in the Holocaust.These suggest an interest in the journey that the photographs themselves make on a path to obscurity.

In the book We English Simon Roberts records a two year journey in a motorhome around England. The resulting images are lyrical and calm, as he often found beauty in mundane situations and in the exploration of the relationship between people and place. He
purposely avoided the tendency to satirise the English class system in ways that have almost come to be expected by photographers such as Martin Parr.

Walker Evans, David Meadows, Guy Bourdin, John Davies, Dorothea Lange and many other photographers have gone on extended journeys to record their view of the country or their immediate surroundings.

Creative journeys can derive from ideas that link diverse objects in unexpected ways. These reflect the individual preoccupations of the photographer. Edward Weston’s obsession with abstract form led him to transform vegetables, chimneys and toilets into
objects of great formal beauty. Rinko Kawauchi’s image of a dead wasp on a windowsill and a drop of milk on a baby’s chin are both connected by her interest in the poetry of ordinary moments.

The daily grind can be a test of endurance. In Tokyo Compression, Michael Wolf recorded the extreme discomfort of Japanese commuters pressed up against windows dripping with condensation on their journeys to and from work.

In Harlem Trolley Bus, Robert Frank showed the divisions within American society in the mid-20th century. Dryden Goodwin
took pictures of exhausted travellers on London night buses and wove a protective cocoon of blood capillaries around them.

Matt Crabtree transformed commuters on the
London underground into 16th century portraits of praying saints.

Richard Long walks through landscapes, making subtle changes along the way.

Theo Gosselin documents friends / models / muses on various journeys in urban and rural areas

J.Grant Brittain, Warren Bolster and Craig Stecyk documented skate culture throughout the 1980’s and beyond…

 

Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore and Henry Wessel, Jr. explored man-altered landscapes…often connected by road and rail systems in the USA, UK or Europe.

Ansel Adams explored vast areas of America’s National Parks, preserving the notion of their grace, beauty and purity despite changes to their condition and use…

Miklos Gaal employs tilt shift techniques to create toy-town-esque scenes of everyday hustle and bustle life in urban areas, distorting our sense of space, proportion and time.

Here are some other suggestions that may stimulate your imagination:

• trains, cycles, boats, planes, coaches and cars • hiking, camping, caravanning, hotels • obsessions, desires, pursuits • adventure trails, treks, mazes, maps, tunnels, caves • oceans, rivers, canals, motorways, bridges, corridors, staircases, packed lunches, service stations, mobile cafes, drive-thrus, airport lounges, bus stations, train stations • escapism, fantasy, science fiction, books, comics, quests • tracks, footprints, jet trails, bow waves, oil slicks • detectives, clues, pursuits, bloodhounds, foxhunting, treasure hunts, geocaching, orienteering • Pied Piper of Hamelin, Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk, The Hero’s Journey • internet, optic fibres, cables, communications, text messages, emails • letters, shipping containers, parcels, presents, trade routes • protest marches, processions, pilgrimages, hustle and bustle, street life (street photography)the journey of life > death

Remember that you must : 

• Complete 1 x response to Journey and Pathways
• Complete 3 x Photo-shoots
• Take 150-250 photos per photo shoot
• Tackle each part of the marking criteria
• Provide a minimum of 10 x thorough blog posts
• explore the use of semiotics, metaphor and inter-textuality in the work you research and the images you make

Always ensure you have enough evidence of…

1. moodboards
2. mindmaps
3. case studies (artist references-show your knowledge and understanding)
4. photo-shoot action plans / specifications (what, why, how, who, when , where)
5. photo-shoots + contact sheets (annotated)
6. appropriate image selection and editing techniques
7. presentation of final ideas and personal responses
8. analysis and evaluation of process
9. compare and contrast to a key photographer
10. critique / review / reflection of your work

ESA EXAM DATES

23rd April – 3 May inclusive

(dates / days to be published soon)