This is my reflection on Assignment 1 ahead of receiving any tutor feedback.

Demonstration of technical and visual skills – Materials, techniques, observational skills, visual awareness, design and compositional skills. (40%)

The style of photography used is new to me but I wanted to experiment.  I am pleased that the range of images is wider than might have been the case without adopting this style.  An example would be the “Wow” picture – I found it ironic to see such a poster with such a message pasted to an ageing bill board on a crumbling building and seen on such a grey day.  I don’t think I would ordinarlily have captured this image.  The technique seems to have enhanced my observational skills and visual awareness and is one I shall remember.

I think the composition and capturing of the individual images is sound, I have not spotted any accidental out of focus areas for example.

Thinking of the composition of the set as a whole, this again was a new challenge for me; I am more used to capturing a series of single images.  I enjoyed the different perspective that this brought and found it challenging to select images consistent as a set whilst remaining true to the brief.  My captured images contain images from home itself, the surrounding urban area, and parks in the area.  Even now I feel that the set might have been stronger showing only one of these types of image but I wanted to ensure that all three were part of the set because all three signify “Being Home” in my mind.  Framing a brief and the resultant set of images is something I will need to develop further.

Quality of outcome – Content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner, discernment, conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas. (20%)

I think I have managed to capture my core concept that builds on the base brief of “the square mile”;  my concept that home for me, after travelling for four years, can be seen differently  than for others who have been around longer.  Tasks such as catching a bus or the tube are all things that I am enjoying at the moment.  The intrigue of creating one set of images that could mean two different things to two different people is what I wanted to present and I think that I have done that.  I am also pleased that I have been able to apply new knowledge gained from my research for this topic immediately into the images produced.

Demonstration of creativity – Imagination, experimentation, invention. (20%)

The deadpan style that I adopted is new to me, I have not taken photographs like this before.  I feel that I have been creative in the way that I have shown my surrounding area using this style.  I experimented with the framing of the shots – when researching the topic, including the references given in my assignment bibliography, it is often stated that deadpan should be shot directly head-on.  Some of my images conform to this ‘rule’ but others do not as I wanted to experiment with the idea of showing more than just the core subject within the image.  I think the experiment may have produced less powerful images than some of the straight on shots shown in the contact sheet but I retained them in the set as I felt that showing the surrounding area was an important aspect that I wanted to cover.

Context – Reflection, research, critical thinking. (20%)

This is the area that I am most pleased about in completing this assignment.  I started with an approach to shot selection of ‘what looks nice’ but through some initial research I have understood some broad categories of photographic style, developed an initial understanding of the deadpan style, and located some example photographers of this style.  This research fed directly into the theme underpinning my final collection.  This is a genre that I would like to understand more but at this stage, I am happy that the sequence of actions I undertook gave me an understanding of an influence that I did not have before and that I was able to apply that understanding to this assignment.  I am anticipating that similar research into other areas will create similar outcomes as I work through the course.