This is my reflection on Assignment 2 ahead of receiving any tutor feedback.
Demonstration of technical and visual skills – Materials, techniques, observational skills, visual awareness, design and compositional skills. (40%)
For this assignment, I made use off shallow depth of field to highlight the subject of the photograph by choosing a long lens, wide aperture combination. Compositionally, I also made sure that crowds were always in view (the theme for the assignment).
To begin with, my approach to capturing the images was exclusively on these two aspects (Depth of Field and Crowds) and this resulted in subject-less images. Over time, my observational skills came into play and I began to take interest in specific actions of specific people. And this is what I started to capture. I think that this has led to a set of images that deliver interest value within each individual image whilst at the same time working well as a cohesive set.
Shifting my attention back to the technical and compositional, I think skills were used to:
- Create an image that delivered on the topic (crowds)
- Deliver interest value in terms of the subject (as learned from Winogrand); and
- Achieve pin sharp focus on the subject whilst displaying the crowd in the background.
I think my abilities in all these areas grew during the assignment and are best displayed in Image 3, Image 4, Image 5, Image 6, and Image 7.
Finally, the choice to present my images in colour was influenced by Leiter and I am glad I chose to do this. The golden glow of the Cotswolds is a characteristic of the area and would have been lost had I switched to black and white. Thinking of compositional skills, I was aware of this choice as I was conducting the shoot and deliberately avoided any obvious colour clashes. I think this approach has worked well as the consistent hues of the images helps to pull them together as a set. I wrestled with the choice to include Image 1 for some time as it was taken at a point in time when the sun was covered and therefore has a slightly different warmth to it. I chose to include the image due to its interest value and I decided that the hue was not sufficiently different to detract from the set.
Quality of outcome – Content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner, discernment, conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas. (20%)
I am very pleased with the quality of the outcome. I think each image holds its own interest, that each image fits well within the collection and clearly displays the focussing effect I set out to achieve.
Conceptually, I described in the assignment write up itself that although I wanted to capture the crowds, and I believe I did, during the 6 hours I spent watching the town, I came to realise that the crowd is made up of families and individuals there to enjoy themselves for the day. I think my set captures this idea and thought process very well. Even Image 9 (the traffic warden issuing a ticket) seemed to be enjoying himself!
Demonstration of creativity – Imagination, experimentation, invention. (20%)
What I am most pleased about in this area is that all of my images are different. My initial submission for Assignment 1 contained several images that looked very similar to each other as they had a path or other space running up the middle of them.
In this town, it would have been very easy to create nine images that looked very much like Image 5 or Image 6. These two images are different in what they are trying to show so I think sufficiently different, but without my learning from Assessment 1, I think I might have submitted nine images that all looked like this; it is the classic view of Bourton-On-The-Water as an image search on Google quickly shows..
I am pleased that I used my creativity, to identify many different ways of capturing what in reality is a 200 meter stretch of river with just 4 bridges across it.
Context – Reflection, research, critical thinking. (20%)
It is very clear to me that my research into the artists contained in the course text and specifically Winogrand and Leiter have influenced me greatly in this piece of work. Without this research, I would likely have captured black and white images of en-masse crowds with little thought to the subjects, colours or what I was trying to say. In fact, before my research, I had started taking test shots on London Underground using very little technique or thought other than standing on a busy platform with a wide aperture lens and taking indiscriminate shots.
The difference in my approach before those test shots and where I have ended up is huge and directly the result of my research. In Assignment 1 I experienced a similar effect with my research into Deadpan.
Going forwards, I am sure that this module will continue to give me a far wider context from which to express myself and introduce new techniques, in both single images and in editing. Moving beyond the pure aesthetic is giving me an extended range of new tools and thinking to explore.
This early in the degree programme I am deliberately choosing to continue to broaden my perspective further rather than now attempt to narrow down on my own specific style or voice. It may well be that ultimately, I will create a personal style that is a blend of many of these new perspectives and I feel it would be wrong to try and define that at this point.