Since year 12, I have developed a lot on my knowledge and experience in Photography. I understand more about the techniques, history, and meanings etc behind Photography and I feel very comfortable in this current stage of my education. I have made quite an effort to get where I am at currently, with all of my essays, research, and most of all my photographs.
Anthropocene:
I think, out of all of my topics/projects, the one that I was the most successful in was the Anthropocene project. I believe I utilised various techniques very effectively, things like deadpan and rule of thirds were some of many. Also in general the things I took pictures of were very appropriate for the theme of Anthropocene, the estate/urban photos in particular worked very well in terms of the themes and quality.
Some photos worth mentioning are:
I also believe that through Anthropocene in particular, I have learned many different editing techniques made through photoshop, such as levelling, cropping, cutting and pasting, colour balancing etc.. The list goes on and on.
Landscape:
During my landscape photoshoot, I believe I took some really good quality photos that contained a lot of detail. I took advantage of the composition and level editing the most and I think the majority of these turned out just the way I wanted them to.
Some highlights under Landscape:
Very happy with these, I like the textures in the grass, concrete and clouds a lot and they make the photos so much better. The sky having many different assortments of shapes and colours adds a lot too, makes the photos feel different from one another.
Urban:
Huge fan of this one too, this is when I went to Harve Des Pas and took photos of the buildings all around. Some of these really hit the spot, in terms of quality and rule of thirds I think these are one of the strongest.
Best photos under Urban:
Love the composition, framing and depth in these images, the are all clear quality and have their main subjects clearly in view. The colours, while mostly absent, are yet present in just enough amounts of quantities. Really happy and proud of this chapter.
Headshots:
This one is probably the best photoshoot of mine taken in the studio, I love the colours used and the contrast, along with the sharpness as a whole. The lights being shone in the background makes the subject, who is a different colour, stand out and make their facial expressions more visible. This also appears to be the first photoshoot where I experimented with the shutter speeds.
Essential that students build on their prior knowledge and experience developed during the course.
Develop your written dissertation in the light of your chosen focus from the practical part of previous coursework and projects.
From all the coursework (Personal Investigation) that you have produced write an overview of what you learned so far (both as Yr 12 and Yr 13 student) and publish on the blog.
1. Describe which themes (Nostalgia, Anthropocene, Home, Feminity/ Masculinity/ Identity etc,) medium (photography, film), approaches (documentary, tableaux, conceptual), artists (incl contextual references to art history, movements and isms) and photographic skills, processes, techniques and methods (incl learning new software) inspired you the most and why.
2. Include examples of both previous and current experiments and imagery to illustrate your thinking.
Ideas for Personal Study
Within my personal study, my plan is to do something linking to Vienna Bakery, a family business. One technique of photography I would like to include TYPOLOGIES, using the workers from different parts of the bakery i.e the shop, production, night shift and dispatch. I would like to take them in the same deadpan style of Ed Ruscha, the only difference would be that instead of taking images of buildings, it would be people.
Another technique I would like to use is Environmental Portraiture, taking pictures of some of the main workers in their usual working area, i.e the foreman, production manager, the manager and even some others that may have been there for longer periods of time than others. I’m hoping to take these images in the style of Michelle Sank, an artist who actually did a project in Jersey at one point called Insula, using locals workers from local industries to create environmental portraits.
I am also hoping to use some ideas linking to the still life aspect of our HOME project, taking images of some of our most popular products whether that’s the cakes or the bread taking inspiration from Mary Ellen Bartley, I will be taking the images in her simplistic style as I want the focus to be on the product and not the background or anything else. Within this I will also be taking images of the bakery and shop, hoping to capture what they look like while people are working and while it is empty.
The final concept I will be using is photojournalistic documentary style images, taking inspiration from Mitch Epstein, more specifically his photobook “Family Business“. In the middle of the book, he has stills of an interview with his father about the business, I am hoping to do the same with the owner of Vienna Bakery, David Dodge, my cousin and maybe even his daughter, Sarah Dodge, who is now the director of the company.
‘Overall, this module was a new style to me and therefore quite challenging. I created a small number of images I am proud of but I don’t think that they are at all my best work as this was one of my first experiences with photographing objects, and often my intentions were not entirely clear to me when I set about taking and arranging my images. I am also aware that I did not really employ Photoshop to the best of my abilities as I was a bit out of touch with it and probably needed to use it a bit more often. I hoped that in my future projects I would be able to act with thorough forethought (in choice of objects, placing of objects, background, lighting etc.) and ensure that I took enough images on each photoshoot – as I think this was one of my biggest shortfalls in completing this project. I have included my favourite images in this Virtual Exhibition.’
The above is an adapted version of my final evaluation of the Home project – images that may inform my choices and inspire me in my personal study are below.
Romanticism
I enjoyed creating images for this project because I think that the beauty of the countryside and its emotional impact on us as people is something that can easily be emphasised through careful use of light and colour. I also really liked the work of the artists we looked at here. Images and artworks of the genre strike a certain chord in me as someone who grew up in the countryside and I think that the slightly sad, nostalgic effect of this is something shared by a lot of viewers, no matter their personal experiences. The work of Fay Godwin, Ansel Adams and Don McCullin was my favourite purely because their use of the camera as a tool through which to project and amplify the drama of the landscape is evident in each of their images respectively. I may well be inspired by my final outcomes to create a romantic element in my personal study, as I think my final results were very strong.
New Topographics
I like the images I took for this project because I think they all respond well to the brief of New Topographics because they all have a very muted and desolate tone. I also think that there is a lot of alignment between my images and those of the most famous artists of the movement. I was intrigued by their efforts to portray the damage inflicted on humans to the beauty of the landscape, and my interest was only heightened by the impact of context on my view of this work. The population boom of the 50s, and the consequent sprawl of suburbia across America, demonstrates exactly why artists like Robert Adams felt the need to document the endless array of buildings being repeated all over the country. My key and most inspiring images from this project are shown below.
Typologies
I did not produce many typologies but I do like the one shown below and I feel that this technique could be explored further in my personal study.
Anthropocene
I enjoyed the Anthropocene project because it gave a lot of opportunity to explore different avenues and approaches to the brief. I think that my final outcomes were very obvious in the message they were aiming to portray and therefore work effectively. I chose to present my final images as diptychs and this hence amplified the contrast I was attempting to display. In my final critique, I said this: ‘I think that my images are all really strong and I am happy with my editing choices. I think that all of the images that I put together do compliment and contrast each other in a productive manner. However, it was quite frustrating to not have been able to take as many strong and varied images as I would have liked; and I think perhaps a more clear framework in my head would have made this a little easier. On the other hand, I do still feel that the weather made things quite difficult during the week and this did invalidate a lot of my images that I actually took for the project. I think I did use the camera to the best of my abilities, but there is definitely more I could learn and settings I could utilise to take more interesting images… In conclusion, I enjoyed this project. Taking the time to research the different aspects of Anthropocene and its effects was really interesting and I feel that I have learnt a lot through doing so. I am proud of my outcomes, despite feeling that my idea was not as strong as it could have been, and I am aware that there is room for improvement in all areas of this kind of task for my future reference.’
Environmental Portraiture
I really enjoyed creating images for this project because I think the concept of Environmental Portraiture can produce some very personal and interesting material, depending on how one chooses to approach it. I think that I will be inspired to use this technique in my personal study, as the images I have already produced have been some of my strongest.
Studio Portraiture
I think that I need more practice with photographing in studio as I sometimes struggle with camera/light settings, however I have created some very strong images in the past which I may hope to use as inspiration for my personal study.
My original critique said this; ‘Overall, I am happy with my outcomes for this project as I feel that I was able to access a range of techniques and styles to build up a portfolio that will reflect my various talents in different fields of portraiture. I enjoy the more documentary style imagery and I feel like I was able to explore this on a few occasions over the past few weeks. Additionally, I was able to experiment with studio photography which was fairly new to me and I have created outcomes that I am proud of. I think that there were certainly improvements that could have been made across this project, and sometimes my plans were not executed as I would have liked, however I can say that I have also created work that was really successful.’
Saint Malo – Nostalgia
I think that the images I created in Saint Malo were strong and they certainly responded to the brief of Nostalgia, especially after editing to make them appear more reminiscent of older times. Thus, I think these images could provide inspiration for my personal study as this will also need to respond to the same brief.
Some of my favourite topics that I have done in the pat year and a half is predominantly portraiture focusing on identity, around masculinity and femininity and environmental portraiture.
For my first shoot on environmental portraiture i took it on film which I really enjoyed I love the process of film and taking photos on film as there is a certain nostalgic way the photos come out and the excitement you get as you don’t know the outcome of the photos till you get them developed, if I was to focus on this topic for my final piece I would like to incorporate film into it.
The shoot I did around femininity I really enjoyed working around and with my friends I feel like the outcomes of these photos show the a bong witch girls get with each other, which for me reflects my own friendship group as we are a close group there for making this topic relatable.
I enjoyed researching Justine Kurland and her work as I found it really inspiring for this shoot and found her work fascinating and I believe I could add some aspects of her work into my own.
For my final project I would like to incorporate these two themes as I think they go hand in hand with each other and would create a project which I would love and enjoy to create I believe I would be able to create a project where people would be able see themselves in and shows natural beauty.
