My Final Major Project and Exhibition.

Through the whole two years of this BTEC Photography and Digital Imaging course, I have covered everything I need to know in order to head out into the real Photography work and create my own work, and I have walked out of the course feeling refreshed and inspired to go on and create my own briefs. Especially after this Final Major Project, I have become incredibly aware of what I could achieve and continue in order to be successful and enjoy what I do. Areas I have covered through the course have have been Monochrome, Abstract, Stock, Fashion, Self Portraiture and so on, and each brief, I have been able to link each one into another and be able to explore and experiment. I have had a lot of freedom within this final major project due to being able to create concepts and ideas about what I am completely interested in. 

These ideas I have explored into have been the Pre Raphaelties, illustration such as Arthur Rackham, Folklore, Meditation and healing remedies. I began researching into artists such as Alice Fox, who strongly influenced me into exploring even more into Abstract work after creating some in previous assignments. 

In previous assignments I had used water and food colouring in order to create a shallow depth of field, square format and soft image which shows movement and a dream like feel. This idea was explored in an Abstract assignment and then even further explored in the Fujifilm assignment "The Colour Of." The images were popular and received great feedback, therefore pushing me to try creating stronger work. 

I was inspired from the start of the assignment, I wanted to bring in different elements of art and design. Whether that would mean I would bring illustration into my Photography through post processing on Photoshop, using Scanography and framing them making home made frames and so on. It eventually lead me into wanting to really try to bring in elements of nature into my work and make it as "homely" as I could. 

This may be done by burying my work in soil or scanning in objects and layering them on an array of images.

My idea eventually came to wanting to create some very delicate abstract images that related to healing remedies, folklore and meditation. I wanted to create a sense of calm; a "home feeling."

I then began exploring reflections, due to the calming aspect that comes from water and the sea, linking fully to my research and artist exploration. Also I wanted to explore the location of an old air field due to all the lines, shapes, textures and form, especially during certain times in the day. 

These images would be printed onto linen as I wanted it to be as gentle as it could be. I hoped to create a form of meditation, and to add an array of forms of multi sensory in it. For example, touch and smell. I spent a long time finding the correct material and eventually came to the conclusion of finding Calico linen due to it being recommended and it being the best material to print on.

I used the printing technique of gel medium, which was the most successful technique I found after attempting others such as the Cellulose thinners. This gel medium was best achieved by gently putting a thin layer of it over an image printed off on a colour laser, then stuck down and left over night which would then be peeled off with water the next day, therefore revealing the image. 

Through exploring what my material would be hung on, such as hemp string or cotton, eventually the strongest and gentlest form of string I came to decide on was simply fishing wire and I found it very easy to get. The fishing wire I had was thin and almost see through, which fitted in perfectly with what I wanted to achieve. I wanted the colours to be as calm and gentle as possible. 

Due to wanting to have elements of nature within my work, I decided on hanging my work from a branch in order to keep it looking organic and natural, as well as linking in completely with the folklore aspect and healing remedies. From this branch, my images were held by the wire and wooden pegs in order to add to the "home made" feel I wanted to achieve and each piece of linen was gently scented with aromatic oils in order to link to the healing remedies aspect.

Originally I wanted to sew the fishing wire onto the fabric, however after a few difficulties working out that the fabric was too thin in order to do this and the cotton wasn't strong enough, I found that the pegs really would work as I had a concern that it would look a bit too "out there" and wouldn't fit in with the calm style I wanted to achieve. 

Overall, I am really pleased with how my work came out. All of my work and research linked into my final outcome, and I have received feedback which I am happy with. I wanted to keep a calm atmosphere; a gentle and calming feeling that builds throughout the body of work and I wanted this to radiate on other viewers. I hoped for them to understand the idea and for them to get a sense of calm looking at it. I kept the walls completely white, and had two boards in order to hang my branch from corner to corner. This then hung the pieces of linen 7.5 x 7.5 inches in the layout of 3 images across on three rows, with the total of 9 images.  

The final putting together of my work was the adding of the business cards and adding to my installation. My business cards consisted of using wooden stamps and luggage labels in order to continue the home made, natural style that I wanted to continue throughout my work. I then stuck down my details which I had created through Photoshop with a font that matched my website. The website was designed by a friend who kept in mind the style I wanted to achieve within the exhibition and continued that style with the website, having a grainy white background and spaced out fonts, hoping to achieve a delicate and calming style.

With all my concerns and worries about my work when putting it all together, I eventually came to feel very happy about everything and how it turned out. When printing my images using the gel medium, I found working on a large scale very difficult to do and struggled getting the whole image on my material, therefore creating a very weathered look. The weathered look was created due to a lot of the image peeling off the fabric completely. Other mistakes during the printing process was leaving the threads underneath the image, therefore ripping the image, and also not ironing the fabric before hand which leaves a lot of creases and marks.

The printing process was the hardest part of the creation of my exhibition, and feel relieved that people liked the weathered effect. Through feedback, they said they prefer that it is weathered and "vintage looking." What also happened during the exhibition was a lot of curving and turning of the fabric due to change of heat and temperature in the room and also due to the weight of the clips. This also worked within the exhibition and I felt it was delicate and "worked" as well as linking in to the work.

Overall, despite the concerns about the print process, I am incredibly happy with how everything has come out and how much my ideas and concepts have all related into each other. My business cards, my installation, my website and images have all been able to work together and hopefully achieve a calm, gentle atmosphere relating to Folklore, Meditation and healing remedies. The overall exhibition has turned out really successful, due to everyone having their individual styles radiating in their work and each person has their own stories and interests that they want to portray in their body of work which they are presenting. These ideas range from exploration of Culture, Fashion, Documentary, Landscape, Wildlife, Fine art and so on. Each piece of work was strong and a large amount of students in the class had put in a strong amount of research and effort into creating their final piece of work.

I am incredibly happy with the overall course and how they have taught us about Photography. Every assignment we have been handed and every lecture we have had has all been completely essential and necessary, thus leading us onto other things after College with the right mindset and they have prepared us completely for what we could lead into. Despite my sudden change of thought with Photography, and moving on with the exploration of Art and Design, they have been really helpful, reassuring and simply brilliant at pushing everyone on the right track, including myself, to find them self and to really concentrate on areas they would like to look into, as well as courses they can go on to study after the course. For example, earlier on in the course we were to study a brief which allowed us to "make marks" on our Photography. This was for example scratching on our negatives or painting on them, and then printing them again, or soaking them in tea or food colouring. This brief was perfect for the beginning of the course due to it allowing us to realise Photography definite isn't and never has been "just clicking a button." It is an area of art, and you have so much freedom on what you want to achieve. Whether you want to do Photojournalism where you document what is right in front of you and create strong body of work exploring an array of stories, or whether you want to be a Fine Art Photographer, where you may explore a lot more of post processing, and manipulation via Photoshop. It makes you realise that you can bring Art and Design into Photography, such as illustration or sewing.

I feel I am walking away from the course with a strong idea of what I would like to continue doing, what I need to improve on, and what I feel I have learnt throughout the course, and I am incredibly pleased I came to Newcastle Under Lyme College. 

Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry is a favourite documentary photographer of mine; his style portrays so much emotion and captures moments that I find magical. For example, seconds after this photo above was taken, the child may have already ran past that corner, however McCurry photographed it.



Steve McCurry is great at observing, and this image again gives an emotive response. With his open apertures gaining a shallow depth of field, your eye is automatically guided towards to subject, especially the eyes and red outfit.


I love the mist in this image, creating a very atmospheric image. The trees in the background add to the concept and document their living conditions, and the flowing of their dresses give it clarity and culture.

Universities

Swansea Metropolitan University

Course Title - Photography in the Arts.

http://www.smu.ac.uk/index.php/faculty-of-art-a-design/school-of-photography-a-video/13-bahons-photography-in-the-arts-incorporating-hnd-award

This course is at Swansea Metropolitan University and offers a great opportunity to gain creativity and allows you to put your individual stamp on your images, whilst you bring in your own interests and explore different imaginative ideas. I would be interested in this course as creating a piece of art such as a photograph, bringing strong conceptual ideas into it and being creative with post processing in order to story tell definitely appeals to me. Swansea will be one of my choices, as the University is in a nice environment, and had brilliant connections to the Photography industry. I feel the place is inspiring, and as well as the courses they offer being strong, it is important that I would be able to work well living there and I really could make the most of living so close to the sea. Lots of experimental images and ideas I could explore.

BA(Hons) Photojournalism (incorporating HND award) Photojournalism is a course which stands out to me as I have always admired documentary and capturing what is going on around me. This course would allow me to expand my photography skills and be taught how to report, tell stories and describe. It'll also guide me into working in a competitive industry whilst developing my own individual style to continue throughout my body of work. The course is located at Swansea Metropolitan and is a beautiful place which I have been looking at for a while.

Foundation degree (Fd) in Contemporary Art Practice
Newcastle Under Lyme College

http://www.nulc.ac.uk/media/b2522e8aa5e9494c96413b8e9f9501a3.pdf

- Fine Art 

- Fine Art Photography 

- 3D Design & Crafts 

- Ceramics 

- Fashion & Textiles 

- Illustration

This course would be suitable for me to look into because of the idea I can research into an array of different subjects within art practice to find the area I would like to go into. It gives me the chance to build a portfolio and build my skills within art and design. My National Diploma in Photography over two years has taught me a lot about working as a Photographer, teaching me the skills that will build my confidence to work quickly and well. This would help me get onto the course because although I will be going over perhaps what I have already learnt, it would still remind me of the areas that perhaps I don't think about much anymore, such as Apertures, Shutter speeds, ISO etc and link into the Fine art Photography specialist pathway. I also have worked at Amerton Pottery for three years and would help me very much in the Ceramics area. 

Family

Artists Statement

From a young age, I have had a strong passion for art, writing stories, pictures and music. It developed into wanting to photograph and document what is going on in the world; the different life-styles, culture, people. People have always inspired me – I am always interested in meeting and getting to know new ones. To capture and spend time creating a meaningful photograph filled with a story, which others can look at and feel different feelings. The idea of walking through a place and be able to admire the beauty of the world and be able to capture it is wonderful. I found a fascination for natural light, and this was soon discovered after spending some time with a Photographer who lived in a really calm place, in a house full of soft colours and wooden floors. Home is where you feel the safest, and the most comfortable in my opinion, and when you admire the world as much as I do, it’s a wonderful feeling to capture the essence of the place, the light peering through the windows, and photograph the textures and tones giving it a sense of reality. I often find myself feeling a lot calmer looking at the world through a lens.

For me, I feel Photography is more than taking a photo of something or focusing incredible amounts on the technical side of everything. Of course, the settings are important, and I have learnt how to use the correct Shutter-speeds, apertures, ISO, white balance and so on in order to get the correct exposure, however what I find is the most important is to capture the emotion. The composition and vantage point can catch the eye so much better. Who says an out of focus image is a bad photograph?

Photography stands out the most to me when I am able to capture raw emotions around me – To be able to photograph that gleaming smile coming from someone’s face during an event, or capture a part of someone’s personality which strikes many people and in one frame is so inspiring.

Since a child, I was brought up with music. Folk music, especially. My mother, brother and Uncle’s all play guitar and sing and I picked up their guitar one day and taught myself. Since then, I have played an array of songs and been incredibly inspired by everything I’ve listened to, which then led to having a like for music photography. Everybody expresses themselves through something, and the idea that people can sing in melodies through playing different instruments and portraying their thoughts with something that pleases them and other people really stands out to me. I adore capturing their expressions in music, using shallow depth of field and strange angles and indicating what type of emotion they’re feeling in a photograph.

This Assignment.

For this assignment, we have been asked to portray the way we think of Family. I love the idea of using  a shallow depth of field, soft, subtle colours and focusing on documenting the way my home is. Home is where you feel comfortable and you go to when you're feeling down and I feel that could be an idea to document. When I think of a home, I begin to think about the idea of having a family. - A mother, father, sister's and brother's. For me, I have separated parents and my brother and sister are away at University. I could try and capture the essence of being on my own and get a sense of dreams and light. Another idea I thought about was to capture certain facial features that are similar to my own of my families and be able to create quite abstract photographs. Using a black and white theme and wide apertures could work really well.

Perhaps use the idea of photographing how my parents were brought up - Maybe capture teddies of my Father's childhood or clothing back from my mother's teens.

Recently, I've lost many family members and it has been a really difficult time. When both my grandparents passed away within 2 months of each other, the house which they lived in kept many memories that we had shared in. Where we went all the time as children to swim in their pool, play boardgames and spend time with them. It took me a few months to actually set foot in the house, although realised perhaps I would feel a bit better when I do. After discussing it with a friend for a while, I thought about photographing the house and document what created so many happy times for my family therefore helping me.

Another idea was to try a bit of manipulation and portray myself "living out of bags and boxes." With my parents being separated, I move to my mum's and dad's house every week. and never really get the time to actually un-pack quite often. Perhaps do some cloning or double exposures.

 I'm not too pleased with this photo, as I don't feel it's strong at all, however I achieved my dream-like edit aim and wanted it to portray the idea that I lived out of a suitcase.

Artist Research.

I thought I would talk about Nancy Briscoe again. - Her looking "through small eyes" project really stood out to me.

http://www.nancybriscoe.co.uk/projects/4323393#1

Shallow depth of field and low vibrancy catches my eye because of it's delicate, and soft appeal. When I thought more into the idea of home, it made me think of the dolls house my grandparents made me as a child. They made it to look just like their house - White with black lines. They put wallpaper, carpets, bath tubs, people, beds and all the bits and bobs you'd usually see in a dolls house.

Ideas 

I was unable to collect my dollhouse, although I'm now going to photograph my mum's puppets, which she had when she was a child. They're now all tangled after moving houses and around.

 Following from my artist research, style of my previous photograph, admiration for story telling and knowledge of my mother's upbringing, I felt this idea suited well. I'm pleased with my photographs and use of shallow depth of field giving the final images quite a dream-like, subtle effect linking into the fairy-tale, child-like theme. I enjoyed finding natural light in my house, before I took these photographs I just wandered round the house capturing any light I could see creating lovely tones on the walls and floor. Recently we pulled up the carpet and found all the old tiles underneath and they're beautiful. When the light hits them, it's wonderful.

Swansea Metropolitan University

Swansea Metropolitan's University stands out to me because I feel it's a great location and a place I'd feel very comfortable in. The courses available are great, and I've been looking at courses which would link in to my Photography but widen my options. This includes Fine Art and Illustration courses.

I have found a Foundation in Art and Design and thought it would be suitable for me to gain some confidence in my work and develop more of a skill to communicate my ideas within art. They allow you to portray your individual voice. What stood out to me the most with this course is that you are able to experiment with a variety of materials and methods in order to find the area of study you would like to continue. These areas are Fine Art, Visual Communication, Fashion/Textiles, 3D studies and Lens-based Media (Which of course would link to my Photography.) You're also provided an introduction to Visual research and historical and contextual studies.

In stage two you also get to choose between "Animation /
Ceramics / Costume
/ Crafts
/ Fashion
/ Furniture
/ Graphics / Illustration /
Interior / Architecture /
Jewellery / 
Painting /
Photography /
Printmaking
/ Product Design / Sculpture / Stained Glass
/ Surface Pattern
Textiles
/ Theatre Design
/ Video" which is perfect! I definitely consider looking at this course because I haven't been definite on what I want to go into but I've always been interested in Art and creating things. 

I have been looking at attending Art classes at Newcastle Under Lyme  college that happen in the evenings and a friend of my mothers who is an artist is interested in giving me some tips. I was also looking at attending some workshops led by the lovely Jennifer Collier who is a contemporary artist; she gives people the opportunity to come in and develop their skills and attend classes such as paper shades, printed canvases and wired jewellery. 

Here are 4 of the images I took at the race through Brocton. During taking these images, I had some issues! I was there very early, and spent a while making sure all my settings were correct and I had the correct white balance. I took some test shots of some cyclists coming past me. I did the silly mistake of shooting in RAW and not remembering it would slow down my camera, so after a couple shots my camera struggled and didn't allow me to take any photos! Using a fast shutter-speed, I kept my Aperture on around f/8 and a high iso. I attempted to give my images some more punch by upping the Clarity. 

I've learnt for next time to have a faster card, and to shoot in Jpeg perhaps if I'm wanting to get more photos. I forgot to use my zoom, too! I was too close when they were shooting past me. 

The Tour of Britain

Stage Five of the race takes place in Stoke on Trent this year and begins at Trentham Gardens at half 10. It finishes in the city of Hanley and I am going to be attempting to catch it near Cannock Chase!

My aim is to get there for around half 10. Have my camera set and ready on fast shutter speeds, high apertures (Perhaps f/7), and high ISO. For example, 1/1000th of a second would freeze the movement. Maybe if I'm feeling risky, I could try a panning shot! The card I am going to be shooting on is my 16GB, leaving me plenty of room to shoot in RAW and giving me the opportunity to get the best quality available. I am going to make sure I have enough space on the card and back-up the images on my Hard-Drive.

The reason I chose to drive to Cannock Chase instead of Stafford is because it would be in the country side, and gives it a true British concept and background. Nothing too much to really distract your eye in the photos, just beautiful trees and green!

I need to be prepared to shoot the photos, give myself plenty of time and don't try and take photos last minute otherwise I'd have missed my chance. First begin to take photos of them coming towards me, try and get as many close up photos as I can (Continuous) and then of them moving past me. I need to take chances and have good timing, and pay attention!

Here are some images that would be inspiring to look at.

This image portrays a good shallow depth of field, great composition and the lighting is soft. The photograph indicates the bike in use and the movement, and giving the image some punch with the appealing shadows and gentle colours.




This is an image I'd most likely be getting, although perhaps from the side rather than straight forward. I'd be wanting to capture all of them racing, the expressions in their faces, the movement in the bikes and all the colours, although maybe a black and white edit would give the image a more documentary feel, unless the colours signify Britain.

If I am going to be standing outside, I will bring a raincoat in case it rains. The forcast for Thursday is estimated to be Sunny but I should pack one just in case! I will bring my kit lens and 50mm, and thinking using my 50mm if I'd like to attempt a shallower depth of field.

To give the image a bit more of a difference, I will try different angles and shoot from below as well as from above.