Evaluation

Throughout the project my ideas have changed. Originally I started by looking at the five senses and everyday life such as routines and diet. From here I moved onto the human body and showing the inside on the outside. By doing this it creates an in-between state due to the internal organs and or bones shown on the body. 

Catherine Ulitsky was one of the first photographers I looked into in this project and was the reason I started to play around with string, rope and thread. She used thread in a three-dimensional way which illustrated clearly the aspect of space and confinement. The photographer that inspired my final idea and my piece the most is Patrick Hickley. I really liked the concept that was shown through his work and the use of thread to delicately illustrate the internal parts of the body. Both photographers link well together through the use of thread and had a big impact on me near the beginning of the project which stuck with me through to the end.

Through experimentation during this project, I was able to narrow down the use if techniques and materials I wanted to do for my final piece. For example, I ruled out paint due to the fact that when watered down it would not stick to the photographic paper well. Stitching and cutting up my photographs added a more textured effect to my images which I rather liked; especially as I wanted to show the inside on the outside.

I liked the exam theme as it was and is very open allowing loads of different themes within the theme enabling us to think in various different directions. I enjoyed completing experiments to see the different effects and textures I could create on my images. I think I will be pleased with my final outcome bar the number of stitched photographs I will be able to produce due to the length of time it takes to stitch an image.

Final Evaluation

At the beginning of this project, we were given the title of 'Personal Project'. This enabled us to continue on from our last project in the direction that we wanted to go in. Within this theme I had to experiment with various techniques and play around with different subject matter.

I started by making a mind map and mood board to help to create some initial ideas for where I could go with this project. I continued my research by completing analysis's on photographers. The first set of photographs I took were based around the idea of the suit (being the urban beauty) vs the casual wear (that of nature - i.e. the person's personal, natural, comfortable style). Using the chemicals in the darkroom, I did various experiments on some of the images from my film. Even after this I still felt that the images were not strong enough to depict my documentary theme of: Nature vs Urban Beauty. I did some handmade experiments involving stitching, ink and painting onto the photographs. For more detail have a look at my Progress Review Of How Ideas Have Change. I did another mind map to help me come up with some ideas for my final film. I also did more research to help broaden my idea spectrum. This gave me the idea to paint on a model and then photograph them.

Leonard Nimoy was my main inspiration for how I should light my final piece as his focus on how the light effects the photograph and the model themselves really intrigued me. The contrast of the black and white made his images more bold and added more depth to them. Jane Deschner's influence was that of the personal ties with the photographs. All of her pieces were photographs of groups of friends, family, the young and old. This emitted the sense of memories and sentimental feelings. Due to this research I decided to use my boyfriend as my model to try and show the personal connections. Lauren Baker inspired me the most in this project. She paints on models and then photographs her work. The idea of painting on the body of the model that will be the focus of the photograph really interested me as it was like documenting an experiment by photographing it.

I think that my experiments that I had done in the darkroom with the chemicals were my best prints as I love how it gives an abstract feel to the image yet you can still see the original photograph clearly... depending on how it is done. I really like my final outcome as it has a tribal type feel to it from the paintings on my model and how they have been attached together. The small pinholes in the photographs add a delicateness to the whole piece when the light shines through them.

Instead of using acrylic paint to paint onto my model, next time I will try and find actual body paint to use to avoid the paint cracking and eventually peeling off of the model's skin.

I really enjoyed the project. As always I hope to develop further my darkroom experimental techniques as I love the texture the chemicals can leave on a photograph. Improving my digital editing skills would be beneficial in this technology based world.

Encounters, Experiences and Meetings Evaluation

Encounters, Experiences and Meetings Evaluation

For this project I was required to research different types of photographic techniques, look up various photographers and explore the theme 'Encounters, Experiences and Meetings'. This project involved me looking at other photographers work and how they created some of their photographs and experimentation with different photographic techniques. The aim of this project was to explore and present a concept of 'Encounters, Experiences and Meetings' in a creative, original and personal way through various experimentation, both in the dark room and digital.

In this project, I looked at Rankin, Johan Thornqvist, Jason Travis, Michael Hallet and Annette Messager. The image I focused on when looking at Rankin's work was one of his photographs from the 'Destroy' series, where a photograph of Kyle, the singer, was 'destroyed'. I liked that Rankin did not destroy Kyle's portrait, but rather destroyed the area above her, which gave it a layered effect. The dripping paint / ink was very effective in portraying emotion felt from music although I was unable to find a meaning for the image. When looking at Johan Thornqvist, I was really enthralled by what he did as I have not seen a professional photogropher draw on their photographs. The image I focused on consisted of a fire hydrant with a city drawn on it. I found this really interesting through the fact that so many interpretations could be made of the image, one being that water helps run a city. When looking at Jason Travis's work, I focused on his persona series as I have never seen a project like it. It was really interesting to look at as you could see whether the portraits looked like they would carry what was in the photograph connected below them. I also liked this series as it showed that even if people look completely different, we can have similarities even just by what we carry around in our day to day life. I also looked at Michael Hallet's work who took many photographs of one area at various different angles to make a more three dimensional image. I like his technique as its not commonly used and is a very nice idea and fun to experiment with. Finally, I looked at Annette Messager who has focused her work on the view of how women see the world. 'The Vows', being the piece that I analysed consisted of many images all hung from string. I really liked this idea as it gave an impact to the images as they were various parts of the human body.

Having analysed Rankin's Destroy work and Johan Thornqvist's work, I decided to work into some of my photographs using paint, an ordinary biro pen and also by using Adobe Photoshop. From looking at Rankin’s work, it showed me that photographs can still be photographs even after working into them with other various materials. So, when I came to experimenting with working into images I had taken of myself, I worried less about ruining the photograph and thought more about recreating the image. Johan Thornqvist’s inspired me to draw onto photographs by using just a biro pen. Although in his images it looks like he has edited them and drawn on them using a computer software, I preferred to draw by hand as I had experimented with Adobe Photoshop when experimenting after looking at Rankin. Unlike Thornqvist who drew people and cities on his photographs, I drew plants and animals as I wanted to add a natural effect to my photographs. Both these photographers made me think outside the box when looking at my prints, which was what led me to overlapping two negatives in the negative carrier in order to create another layer to some of my photographs. Jason Travis did not inspire me much however, I did enjoy doing my own, mini ‘persona series’. By looking at Michael Hallet, his work encouraged me to experiment by taking many photographs of the same place at slightly different angles and placing them together to create a more dimensional image. Annette Messager was very inspirational for me. The photographs she takes are all very powerful from the use of hard light created from well contrasted images. Her presentation of her work was even more influential to me as I have not seen a well-established photographer hang their work before. Her piece, ‘The Vows’ was very cleverly constructed to hang so that the images created a circle. Although I did not create a particular shape when hanging the images on my final piece, the idea for hanging them did come from her work.

I have enjoyed this project as it was an ‘open’ title that allowed me to experiment in many directions, allowing me to come up with more ideas for my work and research a broader range of photographers to be inspired from. In this project, I have been generally pleased with the quality of how my still life photographs, concert photographs, edited / worked into photographs, castle photographs, overlapped negatives photographs and reversals came out; some taken with my film SLR camera and others with my digital camera. Although, when I was working into some of my photographs after looking at Rankin and Thornqvist, I feel now that I could have gone further into experimenting. If I had taken more dramatic photographs of facial expressions then it would have perhaps widened what I did to each photograph. Also, when drawing the small plants and animals, it would have been good to of attempted this on Photoshop as the drawn images would be clearer.

I was pleased with how my final piece came together in this project, and I would definitely enjoy making a more complex hanging system for photographs in the future along with drawing onto images. Mainly from looking at Messager’s work, I consider the presentation of photographs very important has they can help to portray an emotion or to make a particular impact. I would enjoy experimenting further with drawing on images, but should plan exactly what I want to draw so that I can take the base photograph in the particular way I want, so that it benefits my drawings.

Light Project Evaluation

Light Project Evaluation

For this project I was required to research different types of lighting and photographic techniques, look up photographers and relate what they have done in their work to mine. This project involved me looking at other photographers work and how they created some of their photographs and experimentation with different photographic techniques to portray the use of and meaning of ‘light’ in as many different ways as possible. The aim of this project was to present the concept of ‘light’ in a creative and a diverse way through different lighting techniques and different personal views of how ‘light’ can be used and portrayed in a photograph.

In this project, I looked at Crystel Lebas, Pablo Picasso and Patrick Rochon. The image I focussed on when looking at Crystel Lebas’s work was a photograph taken from her book: ‘Between Dog and Wolf’. I liked that Crystel Lebas had chosen the particular area that she had to take the photograph, as the rocks to the right of the image add a sort of heaviness to the image that wouldn’t have been achieved if the image consisted of all trees. The meaning of the image was unclear but that made me like the photograph more as there were so many interpretations to be made such as the battle between the domestic dog taking over from the wolves. When looking at Pablo Picasso’s light drawings, I was pleasantly surprised as I was used to viewing his paintings and did not know of his photographic work. I mainly focussed on his ‘Three Picassos, One Version’ as it showed Picasso in three different positions drawing with light. I liked this effect as not only what he was drawing was part of the photograph, but Picasso himself was caught in the various stages and positions he was in when creating the photograph. This added another dimension to the light drawing. All of Patrick Rochon’s work consists of light drawings or ‘light paintings’ as he likes to refer to them as. I focused on two of his photographs, one coming from the series ‘SUPERNOVAE – Fashion Through the Eye of Light’ and the other photograph from the series ‘Nude Light Paintings’. Both photographs involved a model in which the light was created around and over them. I really liked his work that I looked at as he tends to focus on creating an emotion through the light painting by use of colours, shapes and of course the models is used.

Having analysed a photograph of both Pablo Picasso’s light drawing and two photographs of Patrick Rochon’s light drawings, I decided to play around with the different shutter speeds on my camera and also used an online program called ‘Glow Doodle’ to create my very own light drawings. From looking at Picasso’s photograph, it was clear to me that if you unintentionally get caught in the image when producing a light drawing, it doesn’t matter as it can add to the effect whether it helps explain your light drawing or adds an eeriness to it. So, when creating light drawings in the dark room and on Glow Doodle, both my models and I can be slightly seen in some of my light drawings. Patrick Rochon inspired me to use tissue paper over the torches I used to create colourful light drawings. On both Glow Doodle and my digital camera, I used a combination of white torch light and coloured torch light to create more interesting effects. I also then experimented using Adobe Photoshop by placing an image of a model that I had already taken onto the canvas and edited the image so that it looked like I had created a light drawing around her, when in fact it was a pen tool I had used on Photoshop. Crystel Lebas did not inspire me as much as Picasso or Patrick Rochon, but she did inspire me to not just take photographs during the middle point of the day, but to look to take photographs towards the beginning of the day and towards the end of it. A few days on my way to college, I stopped to take a few photographs of the morning sky as it had hues of blues, pinks, oranges and yellows in it. I also went outside during the evening a few times when the sky was particularly clear of cloud formations to capture lovely sunsets when the sky was filled with brilliant oranges and yellows.

I have enjoyed this project as it was an ‘open’ title that could be taken in many directions (almost like light when it is bounced off of mirrors or other shiny surfaces), allowing me to come up with more ideas that could be linked to the title ‘Light’ and the photographers I have looked at. In this project, I have been generally pleased with the quality of how my portrait photographs, still life photographs, light drawings and photographs of the lighting in the sky taken with my film SLR and digital camera came out. Although, when I was taking the still life photographs with my film SLR and my digital camera of various objects in my classroom, I feel that there was not enough light experimentation with the lamp. So, in the future, I will move the lamp (or whatever light source I may be using) more often and into more unusual positions to create drastic shadows and soft highlights.

I was pleased with how my light drawings came out in this project and would definitely enjoy experimenting further with this technique.Mainly from looking at Patrick Rochon’s work, I would most certainly want to experiment further by creating light drawings involving a model as a focus of the photograph opposed to a template used in the creation that does not show up in the final outcome as I feel that I was just focusing on how to manipulate the light rather than incorporating models into the manipulation of the light.