Final Evaluation

The purpose, aim and overall goal of this project was to reflect on my adaptation as a photography student, in terms of my knowledge and my technical abilities. A brief was assigned, stating that the project was to be entirely down to the student in terms of what it’s about, how they might go about shooting it, what equipment they might use, what obstacles they may face, and how they organise this unit as a whole given the amount of time they have to complete it by. I believe that I have managed to accurately achieve these goals in my Final Major Project and in my overall final image, and believe it to be one of my favourite outcomes of a project in my few years as a photography student.
I was initially stumped as to what I could portray in my final project when told that it could be about anything I would like. My first mental ideas were along the lines of a portraiture shoot of my peers, as when asked to focus on something I am passionate about, my immediate thought was to base my project on sexism, homophobia or racism, three topics that I am very adamant about preventing and raising awareness of. However, I realised that my I had already done a few of these shoots in my first year of photography, and as a result, such a shoot would not show my progression or adaptation as a photographer. My second idea was to simply take pictures of the Northern Lights as I knew that I would be attending an Iceland trip with the college in the weeks following the beginning of this unit. Again, however, I found this quite simple and not stretching my skills, especially in terms of the post-production stages of my work (i.e Photoshop, basic/professional editing). My third idea, however, was one that I had decided both fit within the requirements of my brief, would show my progression as a photographer, and would be a task that I would immensely enjoy, making it the perfect idea for my Final Major Project.

I’ve always been fascinated and interested in the existence of the ‘photomosaic’. A photomosaic, as explained throughout my project, is a collage of photographs that combine to create one large photograph. This idea is a modernised version of a very old form of art called a ‘mosaic’, in which small stones would be placed together to create one large picture. I also knew that I wanted to somehow incorporate the Northern Lights into my Final Major Project, as it is such a special and unique experience to behold, and would be a shame for it to not be a part of my work. I decided that a combination of these two ideas could work really nicely, and thus set to work figuring out what could be portrayed in the photomosaic and how it could show my progression and adaptation as a photographer since I began this course. I realised that the majority of work that I had completed over the course of my life as a photography student has been documented somewhere on the internet, and is therefore accessible and could easily be implemented at some point in the process of creating my final image. This allowed me to form an idea where the progression of my photography knowledge, skills and overall abilities can be shown in my actual final shoot.

Before I actually created this image, I needed to do much research, planning, experimenting and general practicing, as this final image was going to be shown in an exhibition at Harlow College, and I wanted it to look quite professional before it was made public. I researched multiple artists, whose work was similar to the outcome of my Final Major Project, such as Robert Silvers, and Emma Biggs, who both worked on various types of mosaics in their career. I also kept a bibliography of sources that I used when conducting this research, which came particularly in useful when I would take a break from researching, and come back to it at a later time, needing to find where I was getting my information. Whilst Biggs and Silvers were both technical artists, both of whom helped me discover and adapt my knowledge on mosaics as a whole, I also researched two photographers whose work could be described as ‘conceptual’. These artists were Eric Cahan, and Tom Hussey, who both could easily be linked to my project through multiple aspects of their photography projects. I found all of my research to be very helpful, and created image bank solutions and artist responses to show my understanding of the feelings and meaning behind the particular artists I have researched.

When it came to the experimental shoots, I had multiple ideas that I wanted to try out before I even attempted to create my final image. The majority of these experimental shoots were related to the creation of photomosaics and thus are very much linked to what my final image is supposed to represent. Other experiments that I created during the Final Major project include photographs of the sky, photographs of mosaics from around the world, and photographs of the Northern Lights that I captured on multiple days during the college trip to Iceland. Out of all of my experiments, my favourite is an experiment where I did a step by step set of instructions on how to create a photomosaic, using screenshots of Photoshop to show and prove how I achieved each stage and came to my result. I also love the fact that my experimental shoots took place in three countries for this unit: Iceland, Italy and England.

After the completion of my artist research and experimental shoots, I knew that I would need to begin my final image. So, as planned, I used my blog from A Levels, and my WordPress posts from the past two years to orchestrate a collage of photographs that show both my progression as a photographer and also have somewhat of a personal nostalgic feel to them. Once I had completed the basic template, I then moved onto editing the Northern Lights image that I had chosen to be the background image of this photomosaic, knowing what to do due to my earlier experimental shoot focusing on the post production stage of a Northern Lights image. Combining the two images using the correct Photoshop tools that I had learned over the course of this unit, (and having written instructions concerning how to do it, and being completely knowledgeable about this type of photography), I finally created my final image. The final result can be seen below:

Although I am quite happy with my image, there are a few imperfections that I would improve up if given another chance at this unit. For example, I found that I was unable to create an image with the correct opacity to satisfy me, wanting both the Northern Lights image and the photo collage to be equally visible. Peer reviews that I collected stated that I should make the collage part of the image more see through than the background image, so perhaps this is what is preferred from an audience’s point of view. I have printed off my final image, and it is distinguishable in terms of what both the background image is, and the photographs within the collage that are easily noticeable, however, the fact that my final image did not turn out exactly how I wanted it is quite a shame, and I will endeavour to achieve all of my goals in future projects and experiments that I will take part in, especially at university. I found this entire unit quite challenging, and also felt quite a lot of pressure, given that my final grade is based off of this project more than any other unit in the course. However, I think that I managed to achieve all that was asked of me, making sure that I completed the tasks and goals that were necessary in order to pass the course. If I were to do anything differently this time, it would perhaps be to conduct more research and add more experimental shoots than I completed for this unit. Overall, though, I believe this unit went quite well, and I now anticipate the exhibition that will take place later this month.

 

Website

  http://dylanmannhazell.weebly.com    

Presentation Case Study

At the end of this unit, there will be an exhibition, displaying everybody in my college class’s final image from this Final Major Project. There are a multitude of ways in which artwork can be displayed, and in this case study I will write about what the most common forms of exhibiting photographs and paintings to the general public are, and what specific method I shall be using in the approaching exhibition taking place in the reception of my college.

The most well known and commonly used way of presenting artwork is by framing it, and hanging it up on walls. This is used in museums, galleries, and just generally in common areas such as schools, stores and houses. I recently attended a David Hockney exhibition in London, Southbank, at the museum of Tate. In this exhibition, the paintings, drawings, and videos were propped up in frames or screens on walls. I find this to be the most convenient form of looking at artwork, as it tends to be at eye level with the typical adult human, and allows the artwork to not risk getting damaged, e.g, if the art was instead placed on the floor, it is susceptible to damage upon contact. This particular way of presenting artwork is what I intend on doing in the exhibition later on this year, and to my knowledge the majority of the class will also be following this basic format. An example of what this famous style of displaying photographs and paintings can be seen in the images below:

Another way in which art can be displayed is through the form of a 3D (three dimensional) sculpture. I know that at least one member of my class is presenting their work through the means of a sculpture of an elephant. The meaning behind this is due to their project being on mental health issues, and the elephant represents the ‘elephant in the room’ in terms of the ignorance of the general public’s knowledge of mental health issues. I briefly considered this at the start of the unit, but given that my idea was a photomosaic, I found it difficult to think of a way in which I could present this idea in this format, therefore I stuck with the 2D print. I am very interested, however, to see the sculpture that my peer has created, and how it will be presented along with the rest of our photographs in the exhibition in the next few weeks.

Below is an example of artwork being presented on a sculpture, this particular form of art can also be seen in museums, galleries, and when it comes to large statues, can be found in largely populated and public areas, such as parks, streets, towns, schools, universities, graveyards, churches, and public gardens. Whilst perhaps not the most convenient way of showing a photography or painting project, sculptures are nevertheless generally very creative, fun, and interesting to behold, and they are my personal favourite way of showing and displaying the artists feelings, message and overall reasons behind their art.

Shoot Plan 6

I will shortly be travelling to Imperia, a large city in Italy, where I have researched and found that mosaics are very common on buildings, the floor and sculptures. I am very excited to do this shoot as the experience will be unlike any other I have done before. I will also attempt to edit the mosaics in a different way to the mosaics that I found and captured around Harlow and Essex. I’m sure that the difference in the type of mosaics I will find will be immediately noticeable, however, I wish to edit them in a different way so as not to make my experiments too similar to each other. This particular experiment will take place in the next few weeks, and will also be the final experiment that I do in my Final Major Project before I move on to creating my final Northern Lights photomosaic image.

Shoot Plan 5

For my fifth experiment, I will edit and enhance any photographs of the Northern Lights that I managed to capture whilst on my college trip in Iceland earlier this year, shortly after the beginning of the Final Major Project. Not only will this help me figure out what Photoshop settings are the best for editing my final image, but this will also help extend and improve my Photoshop knowledge in general, which is necessary for any future shoots or projects that I will eventually take part in. There were multiple days on the Iceland trip in which the Northern Lights were visible, so I have many contact sheets, photographs, and various shoots of which I can choose from to edit on Photoshop.

Shoot Plan 4

After researching the landscape photographer ‘Eric Cahan’, I had the idea to do my own shoot of the sky. Not only will this help me in a technical manner (in terms of practicing framing the image in the viewfinder, finding focal points, and calibrating my DSLR camera correctly), but will also fit nicely into my project of ‘ progression’. The clouds and sky are constantly changing and progressing onwards, being quite a good metaphor for my own progressions in life, especially in terms of my progression as a photography student over the past 2 years. There is no specific budget needed for this shoot, however, I will need to find an area of land where I can photograph the sky without buildings or tall sculptures getting in the way, and I will need to do this shoot on a particularly bright day, and at the right time, so as to get the best quality photographs.

Shoot Plan 3

For my third experimental shoot, I intend on looking around college, Harlow Town and Essex in general in order to find some mosaics. The main purpose of this shoot would be to show how common mosaics are in society, the variety of mosaics that can be seen, how they’re created, what they mean, where they are, why they are there specifically, and what they represent as a whole. I will then use Photoshop to make the colours in the mosaics more vibrant and brighter, unless the meaning behind the specific mosaic suggests I should do otherwise.

Shoot Plan 2

For my second experiment, I have the idea of creating some kind of instruction manual, displaying how to create a photomosaic using Photoshop. I think this would be both a good way of practicing creating photomosaics so that the technique is perfected by the end of the project, and also as a way to show exactly how I will have achieved my final image. This will be an experiment quite unlike any other experiment I have done before, or will do in this project, as it is an idea that is almost interactive in the way that it speaks to the reader and helps them understand how to achieve something.

Pro-Forma

At the start of this course, I was quite concerned about how well I would pick up and adapt my learning on the subject of photography, having studied it already for a year during a levels. However, I immediately felt on the same level as everybody else, as the course was taught in a way that assumed the student didn’t know anything about photography in the first place. I remember learning the basic settings of a DSLR Camera, which would obviously become extremely useful later on in the course, right up to this day. I do not think I would have predicted, at the start of this course, the majority of shoots that I have taken part in over the past two years. This is mainly because a lot of the shoots I did were using photography techniques that I was not even aware of before the start of this course. It is quite amusing to look back and realise how little I knew about the subject, and comparing it to nowadays where I am much more knowledgeable when it comes to taking a good photograph.

I’ve thought for a while now that the concept and main aim of my Final Major Project could be to describe and display the progression of my knowledge, skills and overall ability as a photographer. This links to my earlier statement about looking back at the difference between being a beginner photographer, to being far more skilful nowadays. This would be done via a photomontage of sorts, quite like a collage, of photographs that I have taken and been proud of over the past two years in this college course. This idea would require Photoshop, or any other post-production programme that can be found on computers. I would also need access to the internet in order to gain access to these specific photographs, but I should be able to access both Photoshop and the internet using utilities found free at the college. I do not think there is any such budget or even any required models for my final shoot, though this may come into play when I begin experimental practice shoots for the final image.

As always, the blogging website WordPress will be where I document my research, practice shoots, various experiments, project proposals, plans, evaluations, and anything else that I need to complete the Final Major Project. I intend to document the majority of what happened during my Final Major Project within my Final Evaluation, which I will do right at the end of my project, reflecting upon what I did, what went well, what could have been improved and whether I find it to be a worthy project which reflects my progression as an artist and a photography student in general.

Weekly Reflective Journal 11

This week I made sure to complete everything in time for the Final Major Project deadline on the 13th of June, including my final evaluation, and any outstanding work that needed refining or completing. I also completed my bibliography, which is a list of the sources used when researching the various artists in this unit that were required to gain knowledge about my chosen genre of photography.