On the whole, I feel I have completed this project successfully and have produced 7 final prints that bring together my inspirations and motives from my blog. I have enjoyed studying this project as I feel I have explored and expressed my personal life within my work more than usual, as the project title was so open to personal interpretation. I chose to look at my childhood and how I used to perceive my ‘home’ and the environment in which I grew up. I believe the innovation of using a blog to document our work from the start to finish was a very good idea as I had always thought about getting my own blog after looking through other people’s blogs and enjoying seeing their ideas and visual inspirations but had not ‘got round to it’ myself. Therefore, this project made me start my own blog and I believe the amount and depth of research I have done has shown that this method of documenting is successful for me, in contrast to my usual folder or sketchbook. I am very regularly on the internet throughout the day so the convenience of my work being online proved hugely useful and rather than creating a document with pasted images, annotating, printing and arranging in a folder, I saved much more time using links and importing pictures and videos into my blog.
I experienced a few problems with the arrangement of the photo shoot, firstly arranging suitable times for both me and my model, (however this was made easier by having our Easter break in the middle of the project) but using the weather forecast to plan times also proved difficult while illness forced me to cancel our first shoot. However, we managed to rearrange for later in the week. The little amount of wind proved difficult with flying the kite but we managed for a short while. My model, Niamh, has been photographed a couple of times by her friends studying Photography at Staffordshire University, so she felt comfortable in front of the camera and needed very little direction of what I wanted to achieve.
Even though the project is for fashion photography, I wanted to make the actions of my model and the environment of the shoot more important than the clothing. Therefore, I used the same outfit throughout with only a change of footwear from flat pumps to wellingtons when it was necessary. I think this is accentuated by the style of the images being almost a snapshot aesthetic, implying that while children were playing in the fields and the puddles, they could have been taking photographs of each other and their adventures using an instant or Polaroid camera. Although my final photographs do not look like Polaroid images, they do have a slightly dark tint from the printing process with a slightly grainy aesthetic which I find attractive and is usually an outcome of the photographs of an instant camera. I wanted (and feel I have achieved) the natural beauty of the environment to be the focus and I feel the printing has added to the effect I wanted, to mainly show the un-styled landscape, a natural model and the nostalgia of my childhood.
Monday, 26 April 2010
Evaluation of my project
On the whole, I feel I have completed this project successfully and have produced 7 final prints that bring together my inspirations and motives from my blog. I have enjoyed studying this project as I feel I have explored and expressed my personal life within my work more than usual, as the project title was so open to personal interpretation. I chose to look at my childhood and how I used to perceive my ‘home’ and the environment in which I grew up. I believe the innovation of using a blog to document our work from the start to finish was a very good idea as I had always thought about getting my own blog after looking through other people’s blogs and enjoying seeing their ideas and visual inspirations but had not ‘got round to it’ myself. Therefore, this project made me start my own blog and I believe the amount and depth of research I have done has shown that this method of documenting is successful for me, in contrast to my usual folder or sketchbook. I am very regularly on the internet throughout the day so the convenience of my work being online proved hugely useful and rather than creating a document with pasted images, annotating, printing and arranging in a folder, I saved much more time using links and importing pictures and videos into my blog.
I experienced a few problems with the arrangement of the photo shoot, firstly arranging suitable times for both me and my model, (however this was made easier by having our Easter break in the middle of the project) but using the weather forecast to plan times also proved difficult while illness forced me to cancel our first shoot. However, we managed to rearrange for later in the week. The little amount of wind proved difficult with flying the kite but we managed for a short while. My model, Niamh, has been photographed a couple of times by her friends studying Photography at Staffordshire University, so she felt comfortable in front of the camera and needed very little direction of what I wanted to achieve.
Even though the project is for fashion photography, I wanted to make the actions of my model and the environment of the shoot more important than the clothing. Therefore, I used the same outfit throughout with only a change of footwear from flat pumps to wellingtons when it was necessary. I think this is accentuated by the style of the images being almost a snapshot aesthetic, implying that while children were playing in the fields and the puddles, they could have been taking photographs of each other and their adventures using an instant or Polaroid camera. Although my final photographs do not look like Polaroid images, they do have a slightly dark tint from the printing process with a slightly grainy aesthetic which I find attractive and is usually an outcome of the photographs of an instant camera. I wanted (and feel I have achieved) the natural beauty of the environment to be the focus and I feel the printing has added to the effect I wanted, to mainly show the un-styled landscape, a natural model and the nostalgia of my childhood.
I experienced a few problems with the arrangement of the photo shoot, firstly arranging suitable times for both me and my model, (however this was made easier by having our Easter break in the middle of the project) but using the weather forecast to plan times also proved difficult while illness forced me to cancel our first shoot. However, we managed to rearrange for later in the week. The little amount of wind proved difficult with flying the kite but we managed for a short while. My model, Niamh, has been photographed a couple of times by her friends studying Photography at Staffordshire University, so she felt comfortable in front of the camera and needed very little direction of what I wanted to achieve.
Even though the project is for fashion photography, I wanted to make the actions of my model and the environment of the shoot more important than the clothing. Therefore, I used the same outfit throughout with only a change of footwear from flat pumps to wellingtons when it was necessary. I think this is accentuated by the style of the images being almost a snapshot aesthetic, implying that while children were playing in the fields and the puddles, they could have been taking photographs of each other and their adventures using an instant or Polaroid camera. Although my final photographs do not look like Polaroid images, they do have a slightly dark tint from the printing process with a slightly grainy aesthetic which I find attractive and is usually an outcome of the photographs of an instant camera. I wanted (and feel I have achieved) the natural beauty of the environment to be the focus and I feel the printing has added to the effect I wanted, to mainly show the un-styled landscape, a natural model and the nostalgia of my childhood.
Evaluation of my project
On the whole, I feel I have completed this project successfully and have produced 7 final prints that bring together my inspirations and motives from my blog. I have enjoyed studying this project as I feel I have explored and expressed my personal life within my work more than usual, as the project title was so open to personal interpretation. I chose to look at my childhood and how I used to perceive my ‘home’ and the environment in which I grew up. I believe the innovation of using a blog to document our work from the start to finish was a very good idea as I had always thought about getting my own blog after looking through other people’s blogs and enjoying seeing their ideas and visual inspirations but had not ‘got round to it’ myself. Therefore, this project made me start my own blog and I believe the amount and depth of research I have done has shown that this method of documenting is successful for me, in contrast to my usual folder or sketchbook. I am very regularly on the internet throughout the day so the convenience of my work being online proved hugely useful and rather than creating a document with pasted images, annotating, printing and arranging in a folder, I saved much more time using links and importing pictures and videos into my blog.
I experienced a few problems with the arrangement of the photo shoot, firstly arranging suitable times for both me and my model, (however this was made easier by having our Easter break in the middle of the project) but using the weather forecast to plan times also proved difficult while illness forced me to cancel our first shoot. However, we managed to rearrange for later in the week. The little amount of wind proved difficult with flying the kite but we managed for a short while. My model, Niamh, has been photographed a couple of times by her friends studying Photography at Staffordshire University, so she felt comfortable in front of the camera and needed very little direction of what I wanted to achieve.
Even though the project is for fashion photography, I wanted to make the actions of my model and the environment of the shoot more important than the clothing. Therefore, I used the same outfit throughout with only a change of footwear from flat pumps to wellingtons when it was necessary. I think this is accentuated by the style of the images being almost a snapshot aesthetic, implying that while children were playing in the fields and the puddles, they could have been taking photographs of each other and their adventures using an instant or Polaroid camera. Although my final photographs do not look like Polaroid images, they do have a slightly dark tint from the printing process with a slightly grainy aesthetic which I find attractive and is usually an outcome of the photographs of an instant camera. I wanted (and feel I have achieved) the natural beauty of the environment to be the focus and I feel the printing has added to the effect I wanted, to mainly show the un-styled landscape, a natural model and the nostalgia of my childhood.
I experienced a few problems with the arrangement of the photo shoot, firstly arranging suitable times for both me and my model, (however this was made easier by having our Easter break in the middle of the project) but using the weather forecast to plan times also proved difficult while illness forced me to cancel our first shoot. However, we managed to rearrange for later in the week. The little amount of wind proved difficult with flying the kite but we managed for a short while. My model, Niamh, has been photographed a couple of times by her friends studying Photography at Staffordshire University, so she felt comfortable in front of the camera and needed very little direction of what I wanted to achieve.
Even though the project is for fashion photography, I wanted to make the actions of my model and the environment of the shoot more important than the clothing. Therefore, I used the same outfit throughout with only a change of footwear from flat pumps to wellingtons when it was necessary. I think this is accentuated by the style of the images being almost a snapshot aesthetic, implying that while children were playing in the fields and the puddles, they could have been taking photographs of each other and their adventures using an instant or Polaroid camera. Although my final photographs do not look like Polaroid images, they do have a slightly dark tint from the printing process with a slightly grainy aesthetic which I find attractive and is usually an outcome of the photographs of an instant camera. I wanted (and feel I have achieved) the natural beauty of the environment to be the focus and I feel the printing has added to the effect I wanted, to mainly show the un-styled landscape, a natural model and the nostalgia of my childhood.
Scanned Final Image 1
I have scanned my final images and uploaded them onto the blog as it is much easier!! Although by doing this, the scanning has made the images appear to have much less detail than they do, the overall quality is much less than the final prints and they look much darker on here than they do printed.I chose to have this as my first photohgraph of the set as I believe it is a good 'opener' to the series, it is lighthearted and makes the viewer question what she may be 'jumping for joy' about...I wanted my set of images to portray childhood adventures, lifestyle, innocence and a sense of nostalgia which is only seen when the child has grown up and looks at or thinks about their past and their path of growing up.
Image 2
Niamh started experimenting with different things she could do to create some good compositions and this is one which I think is succesful. She does have a bit of a grimace on her face, but this could be seen as concentration?!...it's due to the sunshine being in her eyes when she looked up. In this image, I like the 'halo' of light which is shown between Niamh's head and the falling grass. Throughout the image, there is almost a gradient of light between the top and bottom of the image.
Image 3
This is the aesthetic I initially imagined when my lecturer suggested that I put a bit of action into my images, suggesting flying a kite. I think this image epitomises childhood fun. I also like the colours within the image, giving some nice highlights and shadows while I think I have a good balance of both the ground and sky, not having too much of either.
Image 4
This picture, having been scanned in, looks very dark. It isn't like this printed! But in this photograph I like the composition I have got, especially when using a fast shutter speed. I think the model being in the right corner is effective, making the viewer look at the rest of the backdrop and how the space is being used. The dotted cloud in the sky is a nice feature giving a little pattern to the image, possibly a bit of texture...?
Image 5
Exploring...
I think its important to have 'alternative' views to a set of images, not just having a similar straight-up facing pose all the way through. So even though I have used the same outfit through the series, I have tried to added a little interest for the viewer. As in magazines, you would not always have the model facing or looking at you, but they would be photographed form the side, from behind or even upside down....all to add interest for the viewer/reader.
Image 6
Playing Hide and Seek...In this image I believe having different textures within the composition is succesful. The rough bark is contrasted with the soft cotton blouse and with the blades of grass in the background.
Image 7
If I was asked to choose my favourite photograph of the set, this is the one I would choose as i think this image (printed) shows some lovely highlights and shadows both within the bachdrop and on the model. Niamh's face has been caught in a nice burst of sunshine and therefore this becomes the focal point of the image. Plus, the colourful welies of mine combined with how she is slightly turned round and holding her dress creates a playful aesthetic to the image.
Upload of photoshoot images
AAh!! I have a mixture of both contact sheets and photographs uploaded on my blog as I firstly started to upload my photographs one by one due to the internet not coping with multiple upload due to image qulaity and file size and the amount of single photos has taken me three days to upload!! I finally gave in and thought this was a rediculous method so I have now just printed off the remainder and then scanned these in and upload the contact sheets. I recognise the images are not as good but to save my sanity they are on here.
To now put my final 7 images on here....wish me luck!!
I have realised I have not put my photoshop maniuplations on here as screen shots, giving u almost a step-by-step process of what I did, but I did such little 'photoshopping' that I thought it may be uninteresting to you! I basically just altered the brightness and contrast with a little work using 'levels' and cut the odd pigeon out of the sky so they were not distracting to the images.
To now put my final 7 images on here....wish me luck!!
I have realised I have not put my photoshop maniuplations on here as screen shots, giving u almost a step-by-step process of what I did, but I did such little 'photoshopping' that I thought it may be uninteresting to you! I basically just altered the brightness and contrast with a little work using 'levels' and cut the odd pigeon out of the sky so they were not distracting to the images.
Friday, 23 April 2010
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