unit 1 evauation
For unit 1 I have done a variety or personal projects, but the two that stand out the most are my 'Abstraction' page and 'Street photography' page. I believe those were my most successful projects because they illustrate my understanding of the themes to the viewer in a detailed and clear way. Overall, for unit 1 I think I have learnt lot and with each personal project I was able to develop my skills and increase my confidence. I was able to carry I have I learnt from one project to the next.
My first personal project theme was Street photography. My first thoughts on the theme was that it was intriguing what the other photographers produced, but I did wonder how would I be able to do the same as it is quite daunting to out and take images of strangers. However, in the end I really enjoyed exploring the theme and taking images of the public. Although I lacked some confidence as people reactions to being taken a picture of are not great, it was always interest to be able to capture their facial expressions without them knowing. To being my research of street photographs we watched a documentary called 'Everybody Street' which featured many successful street photographys such as, Jill Freedman, Bruce Davidson, Marther Cooper and many more. The film gave me an insight of how street photography really works and out to get the best outcomes, it gave me an understanding of what to do and not to do.
After the documentary I went to analyse one of the featured photographer images, Boogie. Although I did analyse his work more I feel as though it would have been more effective to have done it in greater detail. In addition, Boogies works really captured my interest out of all the photographs because what he was taking pictures truly held a story and meaning behind them and it reflected a whole community. Therefore, I feel it would have to been better to further on research about him so that I could have developed my ideas about street photography in general. What I've learnt so far about street photography from Boogie is that, in order to have the best outcome you have to be swift and elegant when taking pictures to have the best results, surprise is the key element for many street photographers. Further research included analysing pictures by Garry Winogrand and Bruce Gilden.
I have explored a range of media processes and techniques in this project including using the DSLR, my iphone and iphotos. My first set images demonstrate different ways of taking street photographs and then adapting them. For example, the cropping method and the walk on by. I found doing this demonstrated my understanding of the theme as I was able to develop and refine my images by taking what I had already taken and cropping it and changing the contrast in iphotos. I have also refined my work in various ways. For example, I took images with the ipods and tilted the camera to change the angles and to create 'diagonals'. I did this because I felt that many of the street photographers images were not always straight and ''perfect''. Some of their images did not have straight lines in them and I thought it would be a experimentation for the theme. I found the technique was using Rule of Thirds very interesting and it challenged me to think about that I was taking photos of before clicking away.
My next personal project theme was Abstraction, which was one of my favourite themes to explore. Abstraction was a really interesting theme to explore because there is a wide variety to explore and experiment, there is no real definition of the word and I think it is how someone interprets it is what makes it interesting. I began this project by creating a pinterest on what I thought was abstract, however there is a larger amount of research further down my page, as there is not a lot to being with. I researched artist such as, Harry Callahan and Ralph Eugene Meatyard. I particularly responded to their work, their images are imaginative and skillful and I was keen to explore how to make small things the main subjects of the photographer much similar them. I learnt from them that for something to be abstract it does not have to be unidentifiable. Their images display a sense of peacefulness and calmness. They also inspired me to work with different lenses on the DSLR. I continued my research on Saul Lieter, I was keen to explore his work also because how he uses focus and shape in this images which as two main elements I've used in previous images. Also, the composition of his images are very geometrical.
I have explored a range of media, processes and techniques in this projects including, using the DSLR, photograms, different lens, photoshop and coloured taped. I began my experimentation with taking pictures that I believe portrayed a sense of the formal elements, I decided to play with photograms in the darkroom. I chose to work in the darkroom because it portrays me refining and developing my work. In addition, when working in the dark room theres a sense of risk, and you don't know what will the outcome be. I continued working in the darkroom and I kept on refined my ideas and experimenting with new ones until I came out with a final piece. Working in the dark room was very successful and my ideas kept on changing along the way. For example, instead of just putting the photogram in the developer, I painted it on. From that I cut it up and photogram that to form a negative, I continued this until I was satisfied. My next experimentation involved looking at artist such as, Harry Callahan, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Saul Leiter and Ray K Menker. I created photos inspired by those artist but I was really interested in Leiters work so I continued developing my ideas about his work.
For the abstraction personal project I created two final outcomes. I am pleased with my final outcomes because they represent how I feel about the theme abstractions.What I was hoping to create in this project is something that was that was unidentifiable, because that was what abstraction meant to me. Overall, I think I was quite successful in doing just that but also more. My final pieces demonstrate the idea that anything thing can be abstraction no matter if the audience is able to distinguish what it is. I have chosen to display my first final piece in that particular way because it reflected how I have progressed along the way and how my ideas developed. For my second final piece I chose to display them in that particular way because each pairs colors compliment each other very well. Overall, the photographs collectively work well together. If I more time I would explore the theme of abstraction more by researching other artist and creating adaptations to their work in an imaginative way. I hope that the audience of my final piece will understand that anything can be abstract, and that it does not have to be something that distinguishable. I believe my final piece illustrate this idea really well because they are complete opposites. One was made with camera-less photography and it is hard for the audience to guess how, and the other was made using a camera.
My ending project, I chose the theme fragments. My first thoughts on this particular theme was that it would involve cutting up photographs and piecing them back together. I never really thought about this theme in that much in the begining, however, as I went into researching artists and their ideas on my theme my idea of fragments changed and I was able to develop my work. I began this project by researching a varitey of artist and photographer whose work related to the theme fragments. My research included Hannah Hoch, Duane Micheals, Karl Blossfeldt and Dafna Talmor. Although each artists work were very interesting, I however, particularly responded to the work of Dafna Talmor. Her images are very imaginative and skilful and I was keen to explore how to create the images she had. I feel what I have learnt from the artist is that something cannot ''less fragment looking'' than another thing. It all depends how you view the world and what fragments means to you.
I experimented with a range of media processes and techniques for this project which included, iphone (pano setting), photograms, DSLR, cyanotypes, photoshop, and scanner. I began my experimentation with playing around with Karl Blossfeldts images and cutting them into fragments and pieceing them together. I thought it would be best to improve my ideas even more so I used the pano setting on my iphone and moved my phone fast, this created an interesting effect. Throughout this project my work developed in a number of ways. For example, when I went out to take images I paid close attention to detail and I extracted fragments from my everyday society. In addition, I refined my photoshop skills and I learnt how to combine two images together while the background one looked transparent. I found the theme of fragments in general challenging because there is such a wide variety of what fragments could really be and I did not know where to start and it took my a long time and plenty of patience to make real progress within the theme itself.
Overall, I am pleased with the outcome for my final piece of this project. My final piece shows how I have understood the theme of fragments because instead of taking big pictures of the landscapes that everyone sees on a daily basis, I took fragments from those surroundings, took away the things people do not pay attention to. I have chosen to display my images in a newspaper format because newspapers tend to have photographs of local places. I think the idea of putting the small details in the format of a newspaper is very effective because of how the news only gives you the 'big' picture not the small important details. My photographs are personal because they represent me as an individual and where I come from, the things I see. The fact that I did not live anywhere near where these photographs were taken four years prior shows how I maybe would not have produced these images before. I hope that the viewers of my final piece understand that it's the thing we ignore that are the most interesting.
My first personal project theme was Street photography. My first thoughts on the theme was that it was intriguing what the other photographers produced, but I did wonder how would I be able to do the same as it is quite daunting to out and take images of strangers. However, in the end I really enjoyed exploring the theme and taking images of the public. Although I lacked some confidence as people reactions to being taken a picture of are not great, it was always interest to be able to capture their facial expressions without them knowing. To being my research of street photographs we watched a documentary called 'Everybody Street' which featured many successful street photographys such as, Jill Freedman, Bruce Davidson, Marther Cooper and many more. The film gave me an insight of how street photography really works and out to get the best outcomes, it gave me an understanding of what to do and not to do.
After the documentary I went to analyse one of the featured photographer images, Boogie. Although I did analyse his work more I feel as though it would have been more effective to have done it in greater detail. In addition, Boogies works really captured my interest out of all the photographs because what he was taking pictures truly held a story and meaning behind them and it reflected a whole community. Therefore, I feel it would have to been better to further on research about him so that I could have developed my ideas about street photography in general. What I've learnt so far about street photography from Boogie is that, in order to have the best outcome you have to be swift and elegant when taking pictures to have the best results, surprise is the key element for many street photographers. Further research included analysing pictures by Garry Winogrand and Bruce Gilden.
I have explored a range of media processes and techniques in this project including using the DSLR, my iphone and iphotos. My first set images demonstrate different ways of taking street photographs and then adapting them. For example, the cropping method and the walk on by. I found doing this demonstrated my understanding of the theme as I was able to develop and refine my images by taking what I had already taken and cropping it and changing the contrast in iphotos. I have also refined my work in various ways. For example, I took images with the ipods and tilted the camera to change the angles and to create 'diagonals'. I did this because I felt that many of the street photographers images were not always straight and ''perfect''. Some of their images did not have straight lines in them and I thought it would be a experimentation for the theme. I found the technique was using Rule of Thirds very interesting and it challenged me to think about that I was taking photos of before clicking away.
My next personal project theme was Abstraction, which was one of my favourite themes to explore. Abstraction was a really interesting theme to explore because there is a wide variety to explore and experiment, there is no real definition of the word and I think it is how someone interprets it is what makes it interesting. I began this project by creating a pinterest on what I thought was abstract, however there is a larger amount of research further down my page, as there is not a lot to being with. I researched artist such as, Harry Callahan and Ralph Eugene Meatyard. I particularly responded to their work, their images are imaginative and skillful and I was keen to explore how to make small things the main subjects of the photographer much similar them. I learnt from them that for something to be abstract it does not have to be unidentifiable. Their images display a sense of peacefulness and calmness. They also inspired me to work with different lenses on the DSLR. I continued my research on Saul Lieter, I was keen to explore his work also because how he uses focus and shape in this images which as two main elements I've used in previous images. Also, the composition of his images are very geometrical.
I have explored a range of media, processes and techniques in this projects including, using the DSLR, photograms, different lens, photoshop and coloured taped. I began my experimentation with taking pictures that I believe portrayed a sense of the formal elements, I decided to play with photograms in the darkroom. I chose to work in the darkroom because it portrays me refining and developing my work. In addition, when working in the dark room theres a sense of risk, and you don't know what will the outcome be. I continued working in the darkroom and I kept on refined my ideas and experimenting with new ones until I came out with a final piece. Working in the dark room was very successful and my ideas kept on changing along the way. For example, instead of just putting the photogram in the developer, I painted it on. From that I cut it up and photogram that to form a negative, I continued this until I was satisfied. My next experimentation involved looking at artist such as, Harry Callahan, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Saul Leiter and Ray K Menker. I created photos inspired by those artist but I was really interested in Leiters work so I continued developing my ideas about his work.
For the abstraction personal project I created two final outcomes. I am pleased with my final outcomes because they represent how I feel about the theme abstractions.What I was hoping to create in this project is something that was that was unidentifiable, because that was what abstraction meant to me. Overall, I think I was quite successful in doing just that but also more. My final pieces demonstrate the idea that anything thing can be abstraction no matter if the audience is able to distinguish what it is. I have chosen to display my first final piece in that particular way because it reflected how I have progressed along the way and how my ideas developed. For my second final piece I chose to display them in that particular way because each pairs colors compliment each other very well. Overall, the photographs collectively work well together. If I more time I would explore the theme of abstraction more by researching other artist and creating adaptations to their work in an imaginative way. I hope that the audience of my final piece will understand that anything can be abstract, and that it does not have to be something that distinguishable. I believe my final piece illustrate this idea really well because they are complete opposites. One was made with camera-less photography and it is hard for the audience to guess how, and the other was made using a camera.
My ending project, I chose the theme fragments. My first thoughts on this particular theme was that it would involve cutting up photographs and piecing them back together. I never really thought about this theme in that much in the begining, however, as I went into researching artists and their ideas on my theme my idea of fragments changed and I was able to develop my work. I began this project by researching a varitey of artist and photographer whose work related to the theme fragments. My research included Hannah Hoch, Duane Micheals, Karl Blossfeldt and Dafna Talmor. Although each artists work were very interesting, I however, particularly responded to the work of Dafna Talmor. Her images are very imaginative and skilful and I was keen to explore how to create the images she had. I feel what I have learnt from the artist is that something cannot ''less fragment looking'' than another thing. It all depends how you view the world and what fragments means to you.
I experimented with a range of media processes and techniques for this project which included, iphone (pano setting), photograms, DSLR, cyanotypes, photoshop, and scanner. I began my experimentation with playing around with Karl Blossfeldts images and cutting them into fragments and pieceing them together. I thought it would be best to improve my ideas even more so I used the pano setting on my iphone and moved my phone fast, this created an interesting effect. Throughout this project my work developed in a number of ways. For example, when I went out to take images I paid close attention to detail and I extracted fragments from my everyday society. In addition, I refined my photoshop skills and I learnt how to combine two images together while the background one looked transparent. I found the theme of fragments in general challenging because there is such a wide variety of what fragments could really be and I did not know where to start and it took my a long time and plenty of patience to make real progress within the theme itself.
Overall, I am pleased with the outcome for my final piece of this project. My final piece shows how I have understood the theme of fragments because instead of taking big pictures of the landscapes that everyone sees on a daily basis, I took fragments from those surroundings, took away the things people do not pay attention to. I have chosen to display my images in a newspaper format because newspapers tend to have photographs of local places. I think the idea of putting the small details in the format of a newspaper is very effective because of how the news only gives you the 'big' picture not the small important details. My photographs are personal because they represent me as an individual and where I come from, the things I see. The fact that I did not live anywhere near where these photographs were taken four years prior shows how I maybe would not have produced these images before. I hope that the viewers of my final piece understand that it's the thing we ignore that are the most interesting.