Last studio day before easter 30/03/12

Today i have set myself a number of different tasks. I really need to make the most of being in college today as i don't want to be coming in too much over the easter holidays to use resources. I have been experimenting with turning my photographs i have taken into black and white and adding text. However i found that this wasn't as effective as using colour as it took away the atmosphere and colour away from the photographs. I will also be writing about this in my journal and i will be talking to my tutor today about the discussion i had with my other tutor yesterday. I also have a lecture this afternoon where lecturers will be talking about what we need to think about and achieve over the easter holidays. A busy day so i need to get motivated and get lots of work done!

black and white photographs

This is works of the artist Barbara Kruger. At the beginning of my project i was particularly inspired my her as i was particularly interested in the text she used with her imagery. The use of red and white writing against the black and white photographs really made the text stand out to get a message across. At the start of the project when i was writing my proposal i wanted to make a campaign where i took photographs of disabled people and then added text, like Barbara Kruger's work, so it would look like a campaign. However as time has gone on i am not as keen to persue this idea as my photographs have turned out differently to what i expected them to. Instead of my taking photographs of just their disability i have taken photographs of them doing everyday things, so it has turned into more of a documentary style of photographs, documenting their hobbies, and what they may do on a day to day basis. However i thought i would still experiment with this Barbara Kruger idea i had at the start to see what kind of outcome i could get, and whether the idea i have got now is stronger than this idea. I have turned some of the photographs i have taken into black and white and added words.

Some of my photographs which i have turned into black and white using photo shop. I realised when doing this straight away it takes away that happy atmosphere, the colour, it makes the photographs look dull in black and white and it doesn't make them look as effective. Some of the images below make the wallpaper stand out more than the person or hand and i don't think that makes a good photograph, because you are looking more at the background instead of the person. 

This is where i added words over five photographs saying don't judge a book by it's cover, which is the title of my project. Like i have wrote above i don't think this idea would work anymore. The text is detracting the photograph, when i want the photograph to be the main focus. 

evening of 29/03/12

I am happy with what i have achieved today, i felt very sleepy this morning but i managed to get motivated and the list i wrote for the next two days i have completed all today. Tomorrow i will be starting some of the tasks i set to do for easter. I will experiment with my photographs, to see what they look like in black and white, also what they look like with text. However i am not planning to do this as a final piece it is just to show that i am experimenting. I don't want to edit my photographs too much, as i want them to look very natural once i come to do my final piece. I spoke to one of my tutors today, the one who i don't normally speak to and showed him my photographs of the boy with Down's Syndrome. He said that they had potential and that i should possibly take photographs of objects such as the different chairs the different people i have photographed sit in, things such as their favourite cup, photographing toys to suggest i have taken photographs of a young child. When he was saying these things i thought it was a good idea, however now i have thought about it a bit more i am a bit worried that taking shots like what my tutor has suggested could over power the person, which is what i wanted to focus on, the person rather than objects and the background. However i am going to talk to my tutor who i normally speak to tomorrow and see what he suggests and go from there. I am happy that they like my photos but i want to be clear on what i am focusing on when taking my photographs. For tonight i will write up my daily evaluation in my journal and write any annotations in my journal that i need to catch up with.

studio day thursday 29/03/12

Feeling very tired this morning as i didn't get much sleep last night. I have written down a list of things which i need to do over the next two days and over easter. I have quite a lot to do so i need to get motivated. Over today and friday i will look into some artist research on Barbara Kruger, and David Hockney as at the beginning of the project i was considering doing a final piece using black and white photography with a slogan like Barbara Kruger's work or a joiner like David Hockney's photo montage work. Although i will probably not do these as a final piece i think that it is still good to experiment, to see whether they work or not. Since taking my photos it has become ore of a documentary series rather than a campaign, but i said in my proposal that i would look at these two artists work so i will still look into it. I will also finish the rest of my A1 sheets based on the contact sheets and i will be doing little things such as     putting lecture notes into my journal, any titles and also do some drawings for my final piece.

independent study day 28/03/12

I am really struggling to get motivated today, i didn't finish off the tasks yesterday that i carried on from monday, i got most of the titles done in my book, however there is still some that needs to be done. I also need to add annotation and titles to my most recent A1 sheets. They are all little things, but they are taking the most time, and its so nice and sunny outside. I will be taking a lunch break soon where i will begin to annotate my A1 sheets.

studio day 27/03/12

Its tuesday morning and another day in the studio. As i didn't get everything completed that i wanted to get done yesterday i will be finishing these things off today. i have completed a journal so i will be going over it to do things such as any annotations and titles which need doing and also if any pages need redoing for any reason. I am planning to take my next set of photographs on saturday of my fourth and final disabled person, and over the easter holidays i will review all of the photographs i have and then take some more of each person to include into my final piece for the exhibition.

studio day monday 26/03/12

I've just handed in my portfolio, so i haven't got to worry about that any more. My tutor also showed the class some of the final pieces that people from last year exhibited at the Chatham Dockyard. He said that over this week we should think about how we may want to display our work, thinking about things such as scale what size do we want our work to be?, quality of work, how is it going to be printed?, and multiples, is it going to be one big piece or lots of different small pieces or a bit of both? It was interesting to see peoples final outcomes and i will be thinking carefully this week of how i could present my work. Today my targets are to stick my titles in my book which i did at the weekend, display contact sheets on A1 pieces of paper and to do some drawings in my sketchbook, as well as writing my daily evaluation and writing on this blog.

sunday evening 25/03/12

I am taking a bit of a break as i feel absolutely shattered. I have sorted my portfolio out ready for tomorrow and also stuck the images down on two A1 sheets. In about half an hour or so i will write about these photographs on the A1 sheets and write up an evaluation in my journal.

sunday 25/03/12

This morning i have been sorting out what order my portfolio goes into for the assessment tomorrow. Looking back at the work i did at the beginning at the course has made me realise how far i have come in terms of presenting things and also with evaluative skills. It has made me more determined to produce good quality work for this final project. Looking at some of the A1 sheets i have done for my FMP i have noticed that some things have started to unstick, so i will revisit them at easter and amend them. For the rest of the day i will be catching up with book work and also mounting some of my recent photographs i have taken onto A1 sheets.

Evening of 24/03/12

This morning i was out taking some photographs for a friend, so wasn't able to get anywork done. This afternoon i have stuck in my photographs from the other day and also wrote out some titles for my journal as i have an assessment on Monday. It is the evening now so i am ending my work for tonight. Tomorrow i will sort out my portfolio for mondays assessment and print out the titles once i have brought some acetate and tracing paper. I will also begin to make another A1 sheet.

friday evening 23/03/12

Today i only had two hours of working on my FMP. This was because i had a taster day for my degree course for photography for next year. In the two hours i had i was able to print out everything i needed for the weekend and also by materials which i needed for the weekend. Although i didn't have much time today i did learn some useful things today when doing my taster day. I was able to talk about this project and i showed some of the photographs i took yesterday. Before i took these photographs i went up to the department, where the students were able to show me what settings i need on my camera to create depth of field. It was good to show the students the photographs i have taken and for them to see how i have progressed as the project has gone on. Over the weekend i plan to get 2 A1 sheets showing the photographs i have recently taken and also put these into my journal, where i will evaluate them. I will also have to sort out my portfolio out from previous projects as there is an assessment being carried out on Monday.

friday

Yesterday i thought i had a very successful day, i managed to get some good photographs of the boy who has downs syndrome, and was able to do some journal work and carry on creating my A1 sheets. Below are some of the photographs i took yesterday. I will evaluate these photographs to realise what was successful, and what could be improved.

Below are some of the photographs that i thought were successful. I found it a very different experience taking photographs of a child rather than an adult, as i had to communicate with his mum more and i had to take photographs in a different way. For example i didn't use a tripod for these photographs because it was hard for the child to sit still for very long, and most of the time i was following him from a distance. I also had to be quite discreet when taking the photographs, because i found that at the beginning he realised i was taking photographs of him deliberately, so i used a longer lens so i could follow him from a distance. I took photographs in various different places, to start off with i took some in the kitchen when he was sitting in his highchair, then we moved to the lounge and took some in his pushchair. Then out to the garden as he told me it was his favourite place to go, where i took a variety of different shots, some with his mum, some with him playing in his sandpit, and others where he was just walking around. I thought that it was important to communicate with the child, and i showed him the photographs every now and then, and asked him we he likes to play. I found the more relaxed he felt, the better photographs i got.

This was a photograph taken in the kitchen, where he is sitting in his highchair. I managed to get a good depth of field, and i got him to look at the camera.

Whilst he was standing up i managed to get this pose. A good depth of field and i have some shadow behind him. However there is red eyes, because of the use of flash.

A shot taken of him sitting in his pushchair. He is looking at the camera, and it actually shows him talking at the time i have taken the photograph. 

A shot of him taken in the garden when he was just walking around, but taken so he didn't know i had taken it. A good source of depth of field, however it is a bit over exposed, but could be fixed on photo shop. I realised that the lighting was different outside and i didn't have to use flash for these photographs.

I decided that taking some photographs of him and his mother would show the relationship between the two of them. It would also help me when taking photographs, because the mother would be able to keep him still, so i would be able to get the depth of field right. He is looking away from the camera and has red eyes as i had to use the flash, because this part of the garden was surrounded by a lot of trees and appeared dark.

A photograph of him when he is playing in his sandpit. Although he is looking down in this photograph it shows that it is a natural photograph, where he hasn't noticed that i have taken the photograph. The mothers hands can also be seen in this photograph, this suggests that he is not alone and that his mother is getting involved.

A close up photograph of just his face, however his face shows deep concentration, suggesting that again he is unaware that i have taken the photograph.

Another photograph of him and his mum, this time in the sandpit. I got him to look more at the camera this time, as the last shot he was looking away and had red eyes, whereas this one he doesn't have red eyes because the flash wasn't being used and he is looking at the camera.

Another close up, more showing his face this time, which shows more clearly the condition he has.

thursday 22/03/12: Midday

Earlier on i wrote what i wanted to achieve this morning, and was able to carry out these tasks successfully. I have organised a folder for all my A1 sheets to do with this project as i have quite a few of them now, to keep them clean and so they don't get ruined. Over the easter holidays i will arrange for someone to hold my A1 sheets up against a background such as a brick wall, where i will photograph them and put them onto this blog for everyone to see. I will now have lunch and organise my things to take round for the photo shoot, and then make the journey to the persons house to take photographs. When i get back from the photoshoot i plan to create another A1 sheet, based on the disorder osteoporosis, which is the disorder that the old woman had who i photographed. I will also be doing some journal work, and start to think about what the photographs i have taken would look like in black and white.

photograph day 22/03/12

Today was meant to be a studio day, but i have taken the day off to take some photographs of a boy of four years old who has downs syndrome. I will be going to his house where i will meet with his mum and we have come to a decission that she will put him in his pushchair or highchair, so that he won't move around as much. Out of all the people i will be photographing, i think todays photographs will be the most challanging because i won't be able to talk to the child as he is not able to speak yet, i will be communicating with his mum instead. I will have to take the photographs in a short amount of time because if i take too long he will begin to get restless. Hopefully with the help of his mum she will be able to help me get him to look at the camera and stay fairly still. This morning before i go round to their house, i will finish off my A1 sheets from yesterday.

21/03/12

Yesterday i was unable to write on here as i couldn't get an internet connection so i wasn't able to write on here. I focused on getting A1 sheets done yesterday, one which as based on downs syndrome and the other on leprosy. These are conditions which the people have who i am photographing, and i thought it would be good to find out a bit about their condition before i took photographs of them. I thought that these A1 pages looked visually interesting, i included writing, drawings and images to the sheet. A successful day.

photographs from wednesday successfully uploaded!

I have added the photographs onto my blog, which is on the post of 19/03/12. I haven't put all the images on, but i have put ones on there which i felt where successful and unsuccessful which i have evaluated. Please take time to look at these photographs and read the comments i have made, and make any of your own.

20/03/12 studio day

I set myself a number of tasks to do today, to evaluate my photographs that i took yesterday, annotations in my journal, research on the disorder leprosy, which is the condition that the man i took photographs of yesterday had and to talk to my tutors and friends and ask their thoughts on the photographs i have most recently taken. I managed to carry out all tasks i set myself to do today and even started on the A1 sheet that i didn't get round to doing at the weekend. I was able to get some good feedback, particularly from my tutors, they liked the fact that i had just taken hand shots and the way he was holding the cup and saucer, and the shadow which the cup and saucer created. We spoke briefly about how i could present my photographs when i come back after easter, and they suggested i do different size photographs, and lots of them, some out of focus and some in focus. However not all of the photographs i have taken i liked and my tutors liked some of the photographs that i didn't, but i got some good feedback and am heading in the right direction. A very successful day :). I have tomorrow and thursday off where i will be taking some more photographs of a todler, who has downs syndrome, and also concentrating on A1 sheets and journal work.

Monday 19/03/12

Yesterday i was able to get most things completed that i wrote down to do, except a second A1 sheet which was going to be based on drawings of depth of field portraits and still life. I hope to do this tomorrow. Today i have photographed my second disabled person, and i did things a bit differently this time. Before beginning the photographs i looked at each room in his house, to see what backgrounds would look good. I also spoke to the person about what kind of photographs i wanted to achieve, and whether he had any ideas for photos. I took some photographs of his hands, as he has a condition called lebrosy, which can disfigure certain parts of the body, in his case his hands. I also took some of him balancing a cup and saucer on his hand, as it is different to how a person with five fingers would hold it. We also experimented with him holding kitchen objects such as saucepans, the kettle and wooden spoons. I found it interesting to document the way he washolding things, and i found that the photographs have been my best yet. The atmosphere was calm and i had a better sense of knowledge on how to focus the camera properly, to create depth of field. There was unsuccessful shots as well as successful, but i will be evaluating these photographs and asking friends and tutors for feedback.

I think that this facial expression the man is showing shows his personality, but i could have cropped the photograph better, however i wasn't able to go back any further and i was zoomed out on the camera as much as i could.

I tried taking a photograph landscape, i was able to get more of the background in this way and he looked more in the centre of the image.

He put his hands together in this photograph, as i wasn't getting the whole of his hands in in some of the photographs, however it still cuts off his arm and i had that problem again where i wasn't able to move back any further.

I then moved on to taking photographs which focused on the hands, i thought these were quite successful and i got him to move his hands into different positions, to get different photographs each time.

Again i think this image shows the disorder very well and clearly, and the image is quite simple, where it is just focusing on the hand.

I included his arm in this photograph, just to make it look a bit more natural, so it didn't look as though i had just stuck a hand in the picture.

He then started to use both hands, where he did two different positions with his hands.

This photograph makes the hand look quite awkward, however this is the way he would pick up something.

I then started to get him to experiment with objects in the kitchen, where he balanced a cup and saucer on the top of his hands, which was something i found very interesting to document. My tutors also liked the fact that the cup and saucer had created a shadow, making the image look more effective.

A closer up image, focusing more on the hand and the cup and saucer rather than the background.

I shot which shows the man, showing most of his body. It shows behind him that he is in an atmosphere which is within his home and which he feels comfortable in.

Cooking is something that this man enjoys to do in his spare time, so we started to experiment with pans, where i photographed him holding the pan and pretending to stir. It shows him using his hands in an everyday situation, making the photograph look natural.

This time i photographed his face and body, also showing the expression on his face.

I got him to use a kettle to make himself a cup of tea, again something someone would do on a daily basis.

Over all i think that these are my strongest photographs yet, and i plan for them to improve when i take some more photographs of a different person on thursday. I was able to control the focus more successfully this time and i felt that i was in a relaxed environment when taking these photographs, as well as the man who i was photographing. I was able to get some successful shots, howver some unsuccessful too, which is something which i can learn from and evaluate.