Getting Organised!

Today was dedicated to the organisation of our sketch books, which for me was highly needed.
I proof read my research report because although it seemed quite long, I found that it contained a lot of uneccesary information which wasn't really relevant to the project, so I too these parts out.
I then continued reading my research report while looking at the assessment criteria given to us earlier on in the unit. This was helpful because it told me what I had to include and also which band I was at, at the moment.

In the dark room, I printed from the negatives which we photographed last week. Last time I was in the dark room my contact prints didn't come out very well, so I used a different method of laying out the negative in the contact holder in the lighted classroom then after transferring them to the dark room. This was more efficient because it mean't that I could see what I was doing and it saved time.

Also, last time I printed, the majority of my pictures came out under exposed which mean't I had to add more light to the paper. I did this and also made it a habit to do test strips according to the contact print pictures that look the best.

Next week, I would like to research my chosen three final ideas for my project.

Sketching and The Fitzwillam!

At the beginning of the day were given a landscape picture of a sea, boat and trees to sketch. It was interesting to see what everyone drew first. 

We then analysed a variety of pictures, some had more to say about others but they all had particular rules of composition about them. 
I had a picture which was in black and white and it was set in the town centre of some sort with two people laying dead at the bottom of the picture, and underneath them were crater holes giving the impression they had fallen hard onto the ground. 
One thing I picked up first about the picture was that it really made you think why and what was happening. It also had a lot of contrast in textures which I thought was very powerful and may try to incorporate into my photography. 

We then went to the Fitzwilliam Museum and sketched paintings and sculptures which stood out to us and embodied control. 

I ended up finding many paintings and sculptures which went along with my concept of religion and rules, for example there was a painting of the crucifixion which stood out to me because of the spiky texture of the crown of thorns and the expressions from the people watching. 

Next week, I would like to finish my research report and annotate the sketches I drew today in neat and in detail.  

Practice Photography and More Research!

In today's lesson we continued with our research reports, researching around fine art photography and 3d art installations. This gave me a clearer visual of what I may do for my individual project; it also allowed me to add to my brainstorm.

I researched more about rules and restrictions and this lead me to religion, which is based around rules and following God. The ten commandements is their list of rules in which they choose to live their lives, so I thought it may be a good idea to research how people have photographed them. And this lead me to the 7 deadly sins.
These pictures of wrath grasped me the most:

They both represent the same word but are so different, the top one is quite literal yet still powerful because of the youthly people being so evil they have cracks in their skin. Like most fine art photography, these pictures are up for discussion and debate upon their inner meaning.
The bottom ones shows someone gripping the grapes of wrath. I don't think this picture would work in colour because the pictures purpose isn't for colour.

I considered symbols within christianity and the most obvious one was the cross, but I wanted to go deeper than than that, so I found a picture of the crucifixion and annotated it and I was drawn to the crown of thorns. Which I could make and hang the pictures from.

We then practiced taking pictures of 'control' using the black and white cameras and it gave me another chance to get use to the functions of the camera, for example changing the shutter speed in order to have a green light apear on the screen.

Next week, I would like to write out and research my rules and religion concept in detail.

Introduction to Artifact!

Today we started a brand new project called 'Artifact'.
I researched about fine art photography and 3D art installations for my research report which gave me inspiration and ideas for what I may base my project on.

I found fine art photography interesting because it has no limits or rules to follow except that it has to have meaning behind the photo.  I like this kind of photography because I can express my photograpic views in my own way without sticking to a particular convention.

While researching about 3D art installations, I came across many weird and wonderful creations which gave me inspiration for what I may do for my final project. 

The majority of the time, I thought the art installations that artists had created were very abstract and to the outsider it may seem as if it has nothing to do with what the artist had intended, but what got me engaged was that each sculpture I looked at had several different interpretations and I would like to incorporate this style into my later project.

3D Art installation by Heike Webber

 

Since I had already done enlarging and processing negatives I thought I would find it easier but it I still had difficulty with getting my picture to include the right amount of black and white. The majority of the time my pictures came out either light or dark and this is something I have to work on. Also, next week I should try to make it a habit to create contact and test strips.