I watched the Outlist as part of my research.
It was really interesting to see Celebrities who are part of the LGBTQ community, comment on their own experiences.
Critically as a video I really liked the choice of music and colours throughout. It was simplistic and effective. The framing of shots taken were quite limited. At moments of a higher intensity we see mid shots change abruptly to medium close up shots.
Initially I wasn’t happy with the briefs on offer. I very much understood, that to work in the industry as a photographer, you’re at the will of the client. Yet I couldn’t come to terms with shaping who I am as a photographer in order to fulfil the brief. The briefs seemed restrictive and at first I felt as though it had stunted my creativity. Because of this I changed my mind often in the first two weeks and wasted valuable time.
Once I had made up my mind, after discussing it with my tutor and understanding what the brief meant, ideas came quite easily to me as I used issues that I felt affected me. The brief gave me a way to express my point of view or as Charlie Phillips said it allowed ‘my voice to be heard’.
I was surprised by how little I knew about black british photographers. Its important for me to keep up to date with other creatives especially those who share my culture and/or beliefs and this module allowed me to do this. I really felt like I was doing something right when I saw that Adama Jalloh had been doing similar works ultimately it confirmed that my issues were also addressed by young photographers also.
I struggled immensely with using a blog and after using tumblr I had to change to wordpress for more freedom. As much as I loathed the idea of using a blog for my R.V.J I cannot disregard how easily accessible some of my thoughts and ideas are now and in the future I can see it being something I can regularly share with others in order to explain my work and collaborate with potential clients and/or creatives.
This module has had the most collaboration and enterprise as I have been doing quite a bit outside of university in order for me to reach my goals. I have always wanted to go into teaching photography and being able to volunteer at the creative arts council will give me necessary experience in this area. Technically I owe it to Vanley Burke and Timm Sonnenschein because if I had not been chosen to go onto the masterclass, I wouldn’t of felt confident enough to approach Richard Flatley.
Conquering fears of contacting people and getting permission was essential for me to succeed in this brief and I feel I managed to do this well. This skill is definitely something that should be second nature to a photographer. I remember watching a documentary on Guy Bourdin and how he travelled to other countries and within seconds of arriving he was on the phone on the lookout for models and locations. This just shows whether I follow the documentary or the studio route I will need to communicate with other individuals and I feel this brief really allowed me to get more confident in doing so.
Film photography will always be the ideal for me. I did not have enough time to use film but looking at Andre Wagner was a real inspiration for me. His technique when using a film camera quickly and accurately to compose his shots is amazing and I feel thats something I want to improve with practise. I admit that when it came to editing my images there was less to do in post and I like how being in university has sped up my growth as a photographer.
Over the holidays I got to grips with colour film so working with the idea of using black and white images was quite refreshing for me. I really feel the images I produced work strongly in black and white. For me it draws the attention of the viewer thanks to the contrast between the women in white and the other congregation in black but I also I feel it symbolises how the tradition is in fact old or dying. Right now the world visually is very much about colour, black and white is a symbol of the past a ‘bygone era’ and I wanted this to heighten the same meaning in the traditions of this particular church.
The hairdressers images felt to me like a snippet of something much bigger. Compared to the finals there was no obvious narrative. Thats not to say the images weren’t good, some of the portraits I feel worked really well. It gave me a chance to explore making a connection with the people Im photographing and allowing them to reveal something of themselves within the photos. This for me echoes the idea of ‘trust’ between photographer and subject and I think this theme can be seen throughout the work in this module. Starting from Corinne Day and Vanley Burke all the way through to my own images. The hairdresser images were more to do with the individual people I met, whereas my finals were about photographing a tradition or a collective, it was more to do with the culture and thats what I needed for the brief.
Learning about the National Geographic society was interesting as I’ve never paid much attention to there images. I see landscape photography as my weaker area, and I had never seen much of their work on people. Saying this I believe my images fit very much into there mission to document how we live today. Researching them along with documentary photographers has allowed me to truly see the cause of photography as an archive, and I collected aspects of my culture in this brief.
Unlike Carl de Keyzer my final images showed a level of respect towards the subject. I like this as its what sets me apart, my view is unique as I understood what was happening and was able to get the photographs without being intrusive. This project feels personal as i see try finals as a tribute or a homage to something I used to be a part of. I think I really did the tradition justice and I am reminded by Lynn Johnson’s explanation of her photography being a service to the people she photographed. My approach was humble and I feel this worked best for my images.
To sum up, Im not good with change, but it is essential for me to grow and progress. This module brought the most change and I did struggle, but for me this is the first time I feel I have a true series that i am proud enough of, to want to exhibit and its the first time Ive been able to portray my own personal experiences in my photography.
Examples of some of my images from the Hairdressers shoot were I tried to get shots from different perspectives and angles in order to appear more unusual or ‘exotic’ as the brief asks. The images are not necessarily my strongest but I wanted to show how I tried different ideas to fulfil the brief.
Although some of the images aren’t as a strong as others it was essential for me to tryout new things in order to learn what works and what doesn’t work.
“I constantly shape time and space” “I have the power to cheat death” Just some poetical phrases that popped into my head on my understanding of being a photographer. I wonder if I could explore such philosophical ideas in my dissertation…?
I like this Photo very much so. I really feel I captured this persons character. Its one of my favourite portraits. The framing is interesting as it follows the rule of thirds. But I think hat is most obvious is the connection between photographer and ‘subject’ which then translates to a connection between the viewer and the ‘subject’. This is key as it curses the viewer to question who this person is and wanting no more about them, even tough you feel as though you already do know a bit about them. The smile gives this persona friendly demeanour, she appears ‘bubbly’ and ‘approachable’.
This again is an exceptional Portrait shot. I fee again I have managed to capture an essence of who this person is. There is a smile that appears more ‘humble’ then the first and this gives you an idea of who they are. Again theres that element of trust that is key for anyone wanting to photograph people. Not so much a quick snap like some of the street photographers I have looked at but also not a planned or orchestrated shot, its truly a echo of a moment or connection between the photographer and the subject. Both portraits remind of Vivian Maiers work on the street.
Inspired by Andre Wagner I tried to play around with drawing connections between multiple subjects in a frame. I love the fact that the two women echo the painting in the frame above them. It echoes the gestalt theory and his principles of grouping were through similarity they are automatically perceived in the same group by the viewer.
Another photo highlighting the relationship. There is immediate eye contact and the facial expression suggests that this moment captures the connection. I like the fact that my photos prove I am a social person and I have a skill in connecting to people…
These are the contact sheets of the best first edit shots from my two days at the hairdressers.
For the religious images i also took some video clips of what was happening in the church my intention was thinking about my work as if it was going to be exhibited and the fact that to heighten the understanding of the culture I thought snippets of sound would work really well to accompany my images. Some of the sound I have used in a short video clip that I made in order to test my theory. (The video is on the usb)
For me I think the sound works well with the images and I definitely will be using the sounds if i am to have an exhibit.
My epiphany and a bit of how i feel about this module….
I realised why I really didnt like this module and the briefs, there so restrictive. If i were to truly apply for a job or get noticed by magazines etc i would want it to be for me. Judging from past successful photographers they all were noted for being different within their time so rather than me moulding my work to suit the requirements today i should really be challenging myself to stand out and think differently. I felt really overwhelmed by the briefs almost as though i had to stop my progression in other areas to fullfill it…
shivniv01 