Reflect on your final design ideas and explain in some detail how well you realised your intentions and reflect on what you learned/ What could you improve? How?

Picture story 1:

After editing all the images seen above, I realised exactly what I wanted to do for my first picture story. I really liked the blue in the right picture so I knew that I had to have blue and I also liked the images that I produced in black and white so I also knew that black and white had to be included in my picture story. I learned that boarders make the picture story look better so I applied this realisation towards all of my picture stories. I realised that I had produced many pictures of people and landscapes of St Malo, so I knew that for this picture story I wanted to include loads of people and little landscapes as I thought that St Malo was about the people. However making the landscape in blue meant that even though it was the only picture in this picture story that had no people, the colour attracted attention towards the image. The title was definitely my highest point. I really loved the contrast of fonts in the title and I think that it look perfect. However I think that the placements of images, especially the ones in the left, could have been better and more spaced out. The picture story could have been more colourful to attract even more attention. Like putting the boarders around images as the colours of the french flag.

Picture story 2:

In all honesty, I don’t really liked this final product. The random shapes and colours make it look quite tacky and strange. My intention towards this paper story was to make it as colourful as possible to show how bright and important the French are, hence the title. I wanted to have the images in colour with the people highlighted to highlight the ‘aura’ they have. However I think it looks quite random and boring. Although I like how colourful the picture story is, I don’t like the different colours. I feel like if I had used different shades of the same colour like pink, and placed the shapes more strategically, the picture story would have looked bette. However I do like the contrast between the people being selected in colour and the background being black and white. It looks really unique. I learnt that I should have taken more time and patience towards this picture story so that it would reach the potential it had.

Picture story 3:

For this picture story, I realised that most of the images I produced for this picture story, had brown tones, so I knew that I wanted to make a picture story that had a brown theme. However I soon realised that I shouldn’t have decided a brown theme as the two photos on the bottom had nothing to do with brown so those two images look quite random and out of place. I should’ve looked for images that had brown tones or brown obstacles. I definitely knew that I wanted to make the title brown and French so I did and I really liked the outcome. It makes it ‘authentic’. The two images above were one of my favourite images I produced and edited. I loved the tones and aesthetic of the images. I loved everything about it. This picture story would have been perfect if I had all the images in it with a brown theme. I do like this picture story but I think that this picture story could’ve had many improvements.

Evaluation:

Overall, I’m satisfied with my final picture stories. My images are high quality and edited nicely. I also think that I had good concepts and ideas towards my picture stories.

In summary, my picture stories has many improvements to overcome, improvements that I need to take into consideration in the future. My picture stories could’ve been more creative and out of the box and so could’ve my titles. I think that my second and third picture story, specifically, lacked creativity. I need to incorporate different styles and techniques like cropping and maybe presenting the images differently, like formatting the images into shapes.

However, I think that when it comes to simplicity, I was really good at doing that even though it is something that I need to change. I feel like the simplicity of my picture stories make them quite firm and willing so I have to admit that I am satisfied with that.

Lastly, I should have thought better about my picture stories, I should’ve planned them better and I should’ve made sure that I knew exactly what I was doing and what I was intending to do. Having this certainty, would mean that I would be more confident and maybe even more creative as I would have more time to create a plan of what I really wanted to do, especially in creativity terms.

Experimentation 1, 2,3,4 and 5 of picture story 1 :

1: in this experiment, I layered a bunch of different shapes with a various of shades of blue, thickness and opacity and although I liked the blue, I found it overwhelming therefore started to add different shades and colours. I also didn’t really like how the shaped overlapped the images, so this was rejected. I stuck with the title throughout the whole of the experiment because I really liked it.

2: For this experiment, I stayed with the blue shapes and didn’t change much from the first experiment however decided to add a black shape but immediately disliked it.

3: I started to find what I actually wanted to create with this picture story, in this experiment. I played with different colours like pink and grey and also played with the opacity and thickness. I liked how colourful it was getting and realised that I wanted to make it colourful so I carried on with the experimentation with colours.

4: Now her was where I was really having fun with the colours, I liked the contrast between the feminine colours and masculine colours and the different shapes. However I still did not like how the shapes were overlapping the images so thus was rejected.

5: This was my final product. I had finally figured that the coloured shapes would stay as the background and the pictures would overlap the shapes. I also decided to ass some shading and frames that coordinated with the images to enhance the images and really highlight the title in the mention of ‘aura’

Experimentation of picture story 2 (didn’t really experiment as I just went with the flow and liked the end products so kept it like that)I did however, play with the colours of the outlines of the photo frames. I debated wether the left side should be black and the right side all blue, however my main picture had lost of blue, so I put the larger frame on the left as blue to form a correlation between the image and frames. I also played with the thickness of the title especially the part where is is cursive. I thought the cursive words gave it a ‘Chique’ tone to it:

Experimentation 1 and 2 from the 3rd picture story :

1: with this experimentation, I played with the title in terms of size and font. I really liked the font and the size of it, especially the thickness and as seen on further blog posts, this ends up being my final product. I noticed that lots of my images in this picture story had brown in it so decided that I would put the frames for the image in brown.

2: in this experimentation, I changed the thickness and font of the title to see if it gave it a more rustic look to it however, I did not like the look that the font made the picture story look like. It made it look like really messy and childish, therefore it was rejected.

I picked these pictures because I like how they are in black and white and I really like the format of the picture stories. The formats of these pictures stories are more focused on photos and most of the text is minimum to basically none which is something I really like and want mirror in project.

Background research:

Bangladesh faced and still faces serious challenges related to refugees, mostly the Rohingya crisis. Since their arrival in the early 1990s and then again during periods of persecution in Myanmar in the 2012, 2016, and 2017, Rohingya refugees have progressively hunted safety in Bangladesh. The invasion has had severe demographic, socio-economic and environmental impacts.

In July 31st, in the year of 2017, Bangladesh officially secured 33,542 Rohingya refugees in cramped camps like Kutupalong and Nayapara, whilst over a million lived outside these factions. Despite numerous international efforts to banish the crisis, the situation remained and still remains complex.

The Rohingya, is a Muslim ethnic group with a unique language, have lived in Myanmar for many centuries but in 1982 were citizenship, labelling them stateless. This has refutation fuelled their persecution which led to forced migration.

The connection between Bangladesh and Myanmar is fatigued due to the Rohingya crisis, which has been dragged on since the late 1970s. Myanmar’s military government has labeled Rohingyas as illegal immigrants causing in the promption of violence and displacement. The military has operated many attacks against the Rohingya since 1948, accelerating the widespread of human rights abuses.

Visual examples:

Response:

The exhibition trail was all over St Helier where it showed a various of informative images. The images had a clear and serious message and it made me feel really upset that these innocent people are living these harsh, underserved lives. The images shows me this different perspective towards the whole situation and my attitude towards it has definitively changed from the first time I heard about it, especially with how informative it is. The format of the images show the organisation that sponsors the Rohingya people

1 x landscape crop

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1 x portrait crop

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1 x panoramic crop

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1 x square crop

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1 x circle crop:

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1 x multi – circle/porthole crop

1 x polygon crop

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1. Both could be described as landscape pictures. What kinds of landscapes do they describe? These two pictures describe a type of landscape that is called seascapes.
2. What similarities do you notice about these two pictures? In these two pictures, they both show the sea and types of rocks.
3. What differences do you notice? I noticed that the first picture is more sea based, it shows close ups and selections of sea, sand and rocks. The second picture shows a seashore with some type of peer and with large waves and rocks. The second picture also is in black and white whereas the first picture is in colour.
4. What words/phrases best describes each of these landscapes? The words that best describe the first picture is complex and unique and for the second picture I would describe it as textured and rustic
5. In which of these landscapes would you prefer to live? I think that I would prefer to live in the second landscape as I think that I have a clearer image what it actually is and It just looks better in general.

selection and rating

BIOGRAPHY

Henry Cartier-Bresson who was born in August 22, 1908, Chanteloup, France who then died on the 3rd of August 2004, was a phenomenal photographer whose photographs helped show Photojournalism as an art form. He expresses his theory towards photography, where it implies that photography can capture the meaning beneath outward appearance in instants of extraordinary clarity, in his book of images à la sauvette 

He attended school in a village not far from Paris and in 1927 until 1928 he studied in Paris with Andre Lhote, an artist associated with the cubist movement. With Lhote’s help, her placed Henry a lifelong interest in painting which was a crucial factor in the education of his vision. Then in 1929, he went to study literature and painting in the University of Cambridge.

Some of Cartiers images had been exhibited in 1933 in the Julien Levy, Gallery in New York City. In the same year, in partnership with the U.S photographer Robert Capa and others, founded the cooperative photo agency called Magnum photos. This amazing organisation gifted periodicals global coverage by some of the most talented photojournalists of the time. This is where Cartiers concentration towards reportage photography became at its finest. The following three years, he was found in, India, Indonesia, Egypt and China. The materials taken in this time and in 1950s Europe, allowed him to create subjects to his many books which were published between 1952 and 1956. These publications majorly helped his reputation as a master of his craft.

In mention of his crafts which is best known as, Images à la sauvette, consists of an important statement with great meaning, utility of photography and technique.

“I prowled the streets all day, feeling very strung-up and ready to pounce, determined to ‘trap’ life – to preserve life in the act of living. Above all, I craved to seize the whole essence, in the confines of one single photograph, of some situation that was in the process of unrolling itself before my eyes.”

THE DECISIVE MOMENT

The decisive moment is described as something that explain Cartier-Bresson’s influential publication. This concept is said to be internationally one of the most critical photobooks in the Twentieth century.

Robert Capa, described it as “a bible for photographers”

Originally titled as “images a la sauvette” which means images on the run in French. The book was published in English with a new title the decisive moment. It is Frequently described as “capturing an event that is ephemeral and spontaneous, where the image represents the essence of the event itself”. However, it is the complete opposite because it is about taking pictures in a dynamic and moving world.

“Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

MOOD BOARD:

Why is a camera an extension of the eye?

it is believed that the camera is an extension of the eye because it shows what one sees and is able to capture what one sees. Its also an extension because it can capture something that is not seen up close by the human eye but is captured by the camera.

What is the physical pleasure in making photographs?

The pleasure of being able to create an image that has simplicity or depth. The pleasure of producing images and capturing a moment to remember and romanticise. The whole process of producing an image is rewarding and quite fulfilling.

How can photography be links to hunting?

In photography, some hunt for a certain subject or a certain scenario or person. Like hunting, where they wait for the prey to come in sight, its like taking pictures. You wait until you capture the perfect subject, scenario, environment etc. Photographers are hunting for the ultimate picture. Its a decisive moment.

Images prt1:

Images prt2:

Image prt3:

Presentation

Presentation 1:

Presentation 2:

Presentation 3:

Evaluation

Overall, I think that my pictures are obvious and powerful. This is proven in my images prt1 where it is a series of pictures that show different areas, highlighting the amount of population in the area, etc…populated and unpopulated. This whole concept was created by myself. I did this to show how different developed and not so developed areas look like and to bring some realization that, the images that show an area where it isn’t as developed, will gradually become areas that are overly populated due to the fact that population is rapidly increasing. In these images, I cropped the area where I wanted the focus to mostly be in, so I basically created a focal area for audience to look at instead of getting distracted with the landscape of the images. I think that when it comes to the editing of these images, I did really well, especially enhancing colour and meaning. However, I think that these images could’ve had some more creativity to it, like AI generated stuff to make the images more interesting and maybe some type of design on the picture or some type of zoom in to the part of the image where is showed the population, to spotlight what I was trying to show, even more.

In images prt2, its shows a trio which consists of a photo where there isn’t any monkeys, a photo with one monkey and lastly a photo with loads of monkeys. This was to show the past, present and future of what animals in captivity look/looked like. I think that my colouring in these images are cold and sad which was intentional as I wanted to portray what the animals in captivity feel like. I wanted the audience to feel a sadness wash over them, to make them feel bad for supporting or stepping foot on a business like that. I think that my presentation is clear in terms of what I wanted to communicate. I also think that the meaning is influential and firm. However, I think that there is some improvements I could have done to these images. I could’ve made the image that represents the past (no monkeys), as a little brighter to imply happiness because no animals are being held captive, the image that shows the present (one monkey), I could’ve shown the image slightly more gloomy and cold to display the sadness the animals feel, being held captive and last the image that shows the future (loads of monkeys) I could’ve made it really dark and miserable to indicate how the animals will feel as they gradually get stolen from their families in scary amounts.

Lastly, I believe that Image prt3 is a really captivating image. It has creativity and uniqueness and I think that the image is pretty self explanatory. The use of contrast between black and white and colour really makes it eye opening. I also think that the use of AI generated litter was powerfully used as it shows a world full of rubbish, which foreshadows what earth will look like in the future. The urban landscape behind the earth, in black and white, suggests a certain fault towards urbanisation. However, I strongly believe that the intention behind this image could’ve had a more obvious meaning. This could’ve been done by adding some text to the black and white background, like ‘reason?’ or ‘urbanisation’ plastered all over the background. I could’ve had some text at the bottom of the image to explain what the image is implying just in case people didn’t quite get it which would be alarming because the message is quite clear.

Finally, I think that my overall projects were really good. I think that the message I wanted to portray in my images were really clear and had depth. However small improvements that lacked in my images could’ve really made my images better and more understandable.

In terms of the compare and contrast, I believe that my 1st image has an evident inspiration through Mandy Baker, the photographer. I think that my image shows that complexity that Mandy bakers work has and this is definite through the use of cropping litter and placing the litter in precise formation to create something etc…Earth. I am also able to prove my influence of Mandy Baker in Image 1 by having bright, eye opening colours. However my work is quite different to Mandy Bakers. First of all, my litter is AI generated and her litter was litter that she physically found. I also outlined the colours on the plastic earth to give it more depth and obviousness of what I was trying to show, which was an earth created with plastic to bring awareness of what earth might look like if we don’t change. Finally, a difference my image has to Mandy Bakers work is the fact that I have a black and white background instead of just black which shows an urban landscape. My intention was to show what earth was gonna become and the reason behind it, (industrial related things).

For my image 2, it shows a series of pictures which one of them including loads of monkeys, the other with no monkeys, and the last one having one monkey. This trio was to show what captivity might look like in the future and what it looked like before. The picture with no monkeys, shows the past where captivity of animals wasn’t a thing and it was a time where animals thrived in their natural habitat, then the image with one monkey shows the present, which is where humans are stripping animals from their life and family for solely entertainment purposes. Lastly the picture with loads of AI generated monkeys, shows what the future will look like, humans will not get enough of captivating animals and will create crowded enclosures. These images are meant to bring consciousness towards animals who are being forced out of their home. This image is heavily governed my Zed Nelsons work especially in his work “The Anthropocene illusion’, where it shows images of animals held in captivity where their enclosure is painted or manipulated by humans to make them ‘feel at home’. I liked how he captured the animals in captivity and his message. My work is obviously themed by his work because not only do I captivate animals confined, I also show that exploited background created by humans . However my work is different because instead of leaving the picture as it was originally taken which was the single monkey in the artificial habitat, I created a startling reality of what humans will do to poor, innocent animals.

Lastly, Image 3 creativity was mostly mine. I took pictures of different places in Maderia island, some where it was overly populated, unpopulated, slightly populated and populated. This was to show how different places can be more developed or not as developed and populated. These set of images were made to also bring knowledge of that fact that the pictures that are showing a slightly populated or unpopulated environment will become the populated or overly populated over time, which should be alarming. However these images all have one thing in common when it comes to Nelsons and Bakers work, they all explore Anthropocene and bring awareness directed at the wrong that we are doing.