My first personal study was portraiture inspired by Arnold Newman, it focused on photographing people in their own environment e.g. bedroom this shoot taught me the importance of good planning as without it, this shoot probably would not have turned out the way I would’ve liked e.g. my main source of light was from the window so planning the correct times was crucial.
Identity
My second personal study was identity, I got inspiration from Annegret Soltau a German visual artist. Although i like the idea of this, i believe the images are quite boring on a computer compared to in real life hen you can see things such as the stitching details.
Anthropocene
These images are inspired by Andreas Frank, while being well thought out, still feel to me as if they are lacking. If i were to do it again i would delete the writing inspired by Barbara Kruger and leave the image to be interpreted by the viewer
My rock
The my rock project turned out very well, i enjoyed creating a zine and learning to use InDesign. For this project, we photographed different rocks and general coast related things in various places around Jersey.
The environmental portraits project was our first photography project we did at Hautlieu. I explored artist such as Jimmy Nelson who would travel to tribal areas and photograph members of the tribe with an interesting landscape in the background.
Identity
For my identity project I didn’t take that many images and have a very limited amount of close up headshots and studio shoots. Personally, this wasn’t one of my favourite projects because I found as if it was not interesting enough and the images didn’t show much detail.
Anthropocene
For my Anthropocene project, I took a much larger range of images from urban and rural sites that involved some sort of man made structures. I really enjoyed this project because of the many options for photo shoots around Jersey.
My Rock
This project was our most recent one. For these images I went to St Ouens bay, Grosnez and La Hocq. I took a lot of images of close-up rocks, rock formations, rock landscapes, and beach landscape. I took around 500 images overall for this project and have many edited images on Lightroom and photoshop.
A crown dependency is defined as “A self-governing possession of the British crown”, this includes the Isle of Man, the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey. This means that Jersey decides its own laws and is also protected and represented by Britain.
Jersey’s connection to the crown is due to an event in 1204 where the island had to choose whether to align themselves with the French crown or the English, despite being a part of French territory for the past hundred years, Jersey decided to side with King John of England.
King John
Because of this, King John awarded islanders with the right to govern themselves which led to the creation of the Royal Court and the States of Jersey, and political positions have now become democratic as people have to elect representatives in.
My first independent photography project ever as I had not taken GCSE Photography. I decided to explore my personal heritage and looked at photographers Dryden Goodwin and Carolle Benitah as artist references for the project. My final images were pretty limited as I had not taken as many pictures as I would have liked, however I do still like the end result.
Anthropocene-
I took a lot more pictures for this project so had a lot more to work from, I experimented a lot more with my editing style and tried to make images that are unique. I especially liked my work from the Havre Des Pas shoot, as I feel like these had some of my best edits. I chose Yao Lu and David Thomas Smith as my artist references and I especially liked my work inspired by Smith, using the same editing style in work past the Anthropocene project.
My Rock-
I enjoyed this project a lot and continued with shoots both in and out of school with even more experimental edits. I looked at David Hockney’s joiners as inspiration during a shoot and do like how the end result looks so might look at doing again in a future project.
Overall I have really enjoyed being able to use Lightroom and Photoshop to edit my images and develop my own photographic style. I enjoy alternating between portrait, landscape and object images as I enjoy shooting each in different ways.
In order to get a better understanding of how I am meant to write my own personal study, I read through Shannon O’Donnell’s personal study ‘Shrinking Violet’, which aims to challenge the perceived role of women in a western society. As of now, I do not know what the theme of my personal study will be, so I may or may not consider this as a theme for when I do create my own personal study.
Does the essay address its hypothesis?
O’Donnell’s essay very clearly addresses their hypothesis, as they clearly mention, and link to, Claude Cahun and Cindy Sherman’s work throughout, as well as linking them to the theme of gender politics and female stereotypes as outlined by the hypothesis.
Does it provide new knowledge and understanding?
The essay provides a large amount of context into feminism, its role and history, as well as Cahun and Sherman as artists and feminists, without swaying from the subject of the hypothesis.
Is the essay well structured with a sense of an introduction, paragraphs and a conclusion?
O’Donnell’s essay is very clearly structured, it has a clear introduction that explains the main points of her essay before they go into further detail, the paragraphs are clearly separated and informative and the conclusion offers the main point of the essay with links to the hypothesis.
A snippet from the clear conclusion at the end of the essay.
Use and flow of language, prose, punctuation, spelling.
The use of language and grammar in this essay is very clear and portrays O’Donnell’s points very clearly.
Use of specialist vocabulary relating to art and photography.
There is some usage of specialist vocabulary which O’Donnell uses in order to point out how the photograph/painting portrays women and/or gender stereotypes.
Analysis of artist’s oeuvre (body of work) and key work(s).
O’Donnell’s main images (from the photobook tied to the personal study essay) clearly link to the theme of the essay, and also matches the style of Cahun and Sherman’s work, suggesting they stuck close to the ideas presented in the essay.
An image of Claude Cahun’s analysed in the essay
Evidence of wider reading with reference to art history/ theory, political discourse and/or socio-economical context.
O’Donnell links her points to historical events and figures, such as the suffragettes, Claude Cahun’s activism during Jersey’s occupation, as well as the traditional perception of women’s role in society.
Use of direct quotes, summary or commentary from others to make an informed and critical argument.
O’Donnell clearly uses several quotes from both artists mentioned in the hypothesis, as well as from other appropriate persons, to strengthen her main points.
A quote taken from Claude Cahun used in O’Donnell’s essay
Use of referencing system (eg. Harvard) and a bibliography.
The essay does not include a bibliography (on the same document(s) as the essay is shown on), however it does include suitable footnoting.
The footnote on the first page
Use of illustrations with captions listing name of artist, title of work and year of production.
O’Donnell’s essay does include images portraying her point(s) and selected images from the artists chosen all with captions.
An image used by O’Donnell in the essay
Marking the Personal Study
In order to get a better understanding of how the mark scheme works and how to apply it to a body of work, I marked O’Donnell’s personal study.
One of the images included in O’Donnell’s photobook
After reading and reviewing O’Donnell’s personal study, I can safely say that the marks would be within the Level 6 range (16-18), as they can clearly communicate their point using specialist art/photography terminology that expresses complex ideas. O’Donnell’s response is clearly well thought out, personal and meaningful response. I would give it a 17/18 for the personal study
How does Jono Rotman and Danny Alexander use portraiture to represent different identities.
Does the essay address its hypothesis?
yes, the essay addresses its hypothesis by making a link between themselves, tattoos and identity. They highlight the prejudice towards them as well as the signifiers let off.
Does it provide new knowledge and understanding?
Yes, the person has researched the history of tattoos and the origins. This shows they have done their research giving them first of a all a broader understanding of what their project means but also a greater understanding of the importance.
Is the essay well structured with a sense of an introduction,paragraphs and a conclusion?
Yes, the introduction gives a clear explanation to what they will be discussing and also a strong reason to why they have chosen this topic. The paragraphs are spaced nicely, new paragraphs for each new thing they’re taking about. The conclusion is good as it is honest of the photographers work and also links back to the original statement.
Use and flow of language, prose, punctuation, spelling.
The essay contains high level vocabulary and correct punctuation and spelling.
Analysis of artist’s oeuvre (body of work) and key work(s).
They have included images, given strong analysis’s and even quotes the artists.
Evidence of wider reading with reference to art history/ theory, political discourse and/or socio-economical context.
Discusses history e.g. the history and symbols behind tattoos.
Use of direct quotes, summary or commentary from others to make an informed and critical argument.
quotes from the artist
Use of referencing system (eg. Harvard) and a bibliography.
they have included a bibliography on the final page
Use of illustrations with captions listing name of artist, title of work and year of production.
Yes they have referred to the name of the image and the artist.
This is the mind map which I have constructed of initial ideas which I can use to refer to when gathering ideas for photoshoots and photographers for my personal study. In my mind map, my ideas range from weather in the countryside and woodlands areas to photos being taken in town of different weather conditions and movement of people/Christmas lights. This is because I want to experiment with both ideas beforehand to help me decide on a main focus fort my personal study whether it be in town or the woodland/countryside areas. In my photoshoots, I want to consider focusing on different textures in trees, fungi, leaves, rocks, water, etc when in woodland areas because there is a range of different textures which can be found. Whereas when I am in town, I will focus on reflections in puddles/windows, mo9vement of people and experimenting with the bokeh effect on Christmas lights and other lights around town. I have referenced a range of photographers in my work who all have experienced with these topics within their work which I can use later on to reference when considering what to do for my photoshoots.
Mood board –
This is the mood board which I have created in response to my mind-map to showcase my ideas of what I want to achieve in the end for my personal study. I liked photos which experimented with different weather conditions in a variety of locations, amounts of people to create movement in the photos in different locations because I think that these factors can transform the composition of a photograph entirely as there is a shift in the focus of the subject in the photo. This mood board incorporates photos from the photos which I have briefly mentioned in my mind-map who I want to do a deeper analysis on of their work to decide who’s work I prefer more and want to use as inspiration for my own photoshoots, while also experimenting with different filters such as black and white, gloomy dim atmospheres which drain the colours in the photos or dark locations that are brought to life trough the colours being brightened in photoshop to create different hues on the walls and floors which is reflected in the rain.
For my personal study, I intend to explore youth culture in Jersey to show life on an Island as a young adult and how it impacts people differently – I want to document the hedonistic tendencies of teenage life through a set of images depicting youth at their highs and lows whether it be a group of people at a houseparty, or just one person in their room, i want to explore the feeling of euphoria and isolation that comes with growing up and capture it in my images. I am inspired by photographers of youth culture through the years, especially artists like Tobias Zielony or Gioia De Bruijin, who I wrote about in my previous blogpost, as their candid style images depict a very accurate, in-your-face idea of youth identity, which has inspired me to recreate within my own work.
WHY DOES IT MATTER TO YOU?
My chosen theme matters to me as i feel it is important to have representation of youth, especially on an Island like Jersey, and i want to give a raw and unfiltered document on teenage life through the eyes of myself and my friends. I feel the best way to tell a story and get the point across is by sticking to what you know best, and therefore I want to give an account of exactly what goes on around me.
HOW DO YOU WISH TO DEVELOP YOUR PROJECT?
I plan to develop on my project by interviewing my friends and getting their perspective on day-to-day life as a teenager in Jersey. I plan to lay out my images according to mood – lighting will play a key feature in my project, as growing up you feel a lot of emotion, and i want to depict that through the element of colour in my images. To further develop my project, once i have taken all my images i will create a layout inspired by photographers such as Nick Waplington or Dennis Olanzo, featuring grids and double-page spreads.
WHEN AND WHERE DO YOU INTEND TO BEGIN YOUR STUDY?
I intend to begin my study by visiting friends’ houses or attending houseparties and documenting the activity that goes on there. I will photograph according to setting and lighting, as i feel both play a vital part in creating narrative within an image – my first ‘photoshoot’ is completed, i started my study whilst on a car drive, taking candid images of my friends to document the journey we went on. I have planned my project in different stages depending on location – i will dedicate certain photoshoots to groups of people to depict the feeling of euphoria you get in places such as houseparties, and on the opposite end i will show feelings of isolation by photographing my friends in more desolate locations such as car parks or in their rooms.
WHAT MAKES JERSEY SPECIAL TO YOU?
Jersey is special to me as living on an Island, i feel there is both a heightened sense of togetherness and isolation – when around friends in busier places of Jersey e.g town, there is a chaotic and rushed atmosphere, however in quieter places e.g lanes forests or fields there is an overwhelming sense of peace, which is why i appreciate living on an Island, as in a big city you can never escape from the busy landscape, but in Jersey you can.
