AS Year Evaluation

For the last 8-9 months I have enjoyed my time in AS photography.  I feel I have learned lots of new skills and have developed my photography work from when I first started here at Harlow to now.  I am happy with the work I have produced and think it is a high standard and i am eager to begin my A2 year here in September and further myself in the subject.  I think the skills I have learned are demonstrated in my practical work and I think that I have began to explore a more signature style in photography unique to me.

Personally I have enjoyed my time in photography and as mentioned I am proud of my work.  I loved the unit one work where we looked at the formal elements as towards the end of this project I was able to conduct shoots of whatever I liked, and I think here I enjoyed myself the most and developed a style.  Although at first I thought the formal element techniques that we were learning at the time seemed a little pointless as I felt I wasn't actually shooting 'proper' pictures, I can now see the value in it and what I actually learnt - these are things I think about and apply in all of my work now.  The unit two exam project was something else I enjoyed (I picked the 'issues' topic) however after a while I became admittedly bored of shooting the same sort of things in photos and felt restricted to what I could do.  From this though I think it will help me to pick my unit three project more carefully to ensure that it is something that I am going to enjoy.

I have learnt a lot about myself as a photographer during the last year about the way I shoot - both strengths and weaknesses.  These are things I am going to take in my A2 year to develop my work further.  I have also learnt other skills such as those on Photoshop - these are skills that I am continuously developing.

Overall, I have loved my time in photography and cannot wait to start next year!  I think next year will give me the opportunity to develop further and really flourish in my own unique style of photography.  I have learned that I love working in the studio as opposed to location shoots - this is something I want to apply in my work.  I want to keep my project nice and broad so that I don't restrict myself nor become bored through out the coming year.

Video

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Sequencing

Teenage Pregnancy

Friday 10th May 2013

Plans for the shoot...

I am going to be looking at the issue of teenage pregnancy in today's shoot.  I don't want to represent the shoot by showing an actual pregnant teen, but instead look at it from a slightly different angle.  I am planning on getting a model that I am going to write some of the statistics of teen pregnancies on her stomach.  I want the photo to end up looking very simple with the focus being on the stomach with the statics on written on it.

What I am hoping to achieve...

In today's shoot I am hoping to get a shot that gets across the message that I am trying to highlight.  I don't want there to but much else, if anything in the photo, so I am liking going to be cropping the final photo down as much as I can.  I also would like the photo to be desaturated a lot or in black and white as I think this brings out different emotions and gives different feel to the photo.

What I actually achieved...

Here is one of the shots from today's shoot - I didn't get much variation in today's shoot as it was so simple, but I am happy with the shots that I did get.

I love the positioning of the photo and the feel it has given off.  I like the effect that the desaturation of the photo has given off too - I think it changed the overall feel and message of the photo.  Though there is no eye contact from a subject present in this photo there is still full focus on the subjects stomach as the cropping is so tight.

I think looking back a the shoot I could have tried to add some more complexity to the shoot to get some more varied shots.

What I am going to do next...

I liked the simplicity of the shoot that I did today - I have definitely realised in today's shoot that I don't need to over complicate things to get a good photo.  I still think though that I am going into shoots with the mind set of knowing what I want and this distracts from me experimenting and getting more variation in my shots and being able to get a get unplanned photo.  This is something that I want to continue to work on in my next and future shoots,

Guns

Tuesday 30th April 2013

Plans for the shoot...

In today's shoot I am going to be looking at the increasing issue of gun crime and how such weapons are glamorised.   This shoot is going to be done in two parts.  The first part of the shoot I will be using a male subject and photographing him holding the gun in a threatening way.  I want the gun to the focal point in the shot.  In the second part of the shoot I am then going to shoot with a female subject who is going to act as the glamorisation of the weapon.

What I am hoping to achieve...

I am hoping to be able to show the glamorisation of weapons in today's society in the shoot today.  I really want to get a threatening shot where the focus is on the weapon and then a shot where everything looks glamorised.  With the threatening shot I want the subject to be out of focus in the shot so you cannot see them clearly in the photo.

What I actually achieved...

Here are some of the photos from today's shoot.


I really like the strength in this shoot.  The gun is the focal point in the shot but due to the harmonious colours in the shot where the gun is positioned, and though the subject is out of focus they are still making eye contact with the camera and this distracts from the fact that he isn't dominate in the photo.  I like the way the way the shape is so clearly seen too due to the sterile background of the shot.

This is another similar shot that I really like.  I think this shot is possibly stronger as it looks like the subject has just turned round to take a shot or fire the gun whereas the other photo looks more static.  I think the gun is more noticeable in this photo too and there is even more focus on it as the subject seems further away and even less in focus.

This is one of the photos from the glamorised side of the shot.  I don't like these shots as much as the threatening side of shot photos turned out.

I don't think the photos have the same strength and I don't think neither the subject or the weapon takes full dominance in the shot.  The photo doesn't have the right feel about it that I wanted too - I think that this could partly be down to the expression of the model.  I like the positioning of the shot though and the way there is no background seen in the photo.






What I am going to do next...

I only liked half of this shoot that I did today so I would perhaps like to revisit the side of the shoot that I wasn't as happy with to see if I can get a better end result.  I really like the threatening part of the shoot I did though and I liked the feel that the photos gave off.  I would like to conduct another shoot where I get the same feel from the photos, possibly looking at a different issue or adapting this one further.

Don't be afraid, to be you!

Tuesday 14th May 2013

Plans fot the shoot...

The issue I am going to be looking at today is the issue of 'fear'.  For this shoot I am going to interrupt it in to something I could personally relate to or understand.  I want to get the message "Don't be afraid to be yourself' across.  My plans for the shoot are to literally shoot myself wearing no makeup holding up a sign that says "Don't be afraid", and then conduct another shoot where I hold a sign that says "to be you"with my looking how I normally would.

I also want to do a small shoot in-between the two where I photograph myself with half a face of makeup on and half a face without.

I will be using the ring flash for this shoot.

What I am hoping to achieve...

From today's shoot I am hoping to be able to show the contrast in myself wearing and not wearing makeup, but give a positive message about the issue that people may have in society with the pressure to wear things like makeup all the time.

I would really like to end up with a final piece that shows me wearing and then not wearing makeup with the two signs presented together.

What I actually achieved...

I am happy with how the shoot went today.  I ended up with these final pieces from the shoot.

This first one is the one I envisioned ending up with.  I am happy with it and think the contrast is clear and the message highly dominate in the photo.  I love the positioning of the photos and the pose of the subject.  I like the way the message behind the issues has been brought across in a light-hearted manner - this has added a contrast to the rest of my work as I have represented issues so far in quite a heavy manner.

This second photo I really like!  It was just a computer experiment that I was messing around with at first but I actually really like the effect and feel that this photo has about it.

What I am going to do next...

From today's shoot I am happy with my work and the way that I presented it in a different way (in a more light-hearted manner).  However I still feel that I prefer adding more of an edge in my work and making it 'darker' and therefore I am going to continue exploring this style and stray more from the type of work I did today.

Target Post (Friday 10th May 2013)

In today's class I am going to be conducting a shoot looking at the issue of teen pregnancy.

I am also going to be working on my coursework in the hope of completing it the pieces that are outstanding.