Assignment five: response to feedback

So, it seems my even numbered assignments are good, my odd numbers a bit pants... I’m starting to feel like a Star Trek movie!

Oh, where to begin... it was a massive decision whether or not to use this wedding for my project and I’m not sure I got it right. It was a family wedding so I was already combining business with pleasure but to add study to the mix was probably a step too far. My thinking was that, as I was already putting a concerted effort into getting the best images possible and it definitely fitting with the theme of a narrative, I couldn’t go wrong.

With the wedding done and the bride and groom happy with their album, I set about the job of reducing hundreds of wedding photos into a set of twelve or less for my assignment – but how, what element of the day would I use, an overview of the whole day, a specific part of the day, a theme... and why would my niece’s wedding be in a magazine anyway? This last question was the easiest to answer; on browsing a few wedding magazines, I discovered that they are full of stories and pictures of everyday couple’s weddings and for many different reasons. Some have had a quirky style of wedding so feel they’d like to show it off, others got married in beautiful surroundings or maybe have an interesting story fitting around the venue or how they met.

The original concept I produced needed improvement. Looking through the different layouts gave me several ideas on how to make my set feel more cohesive. 

The Knot magazine and Utah Valley Bride use a consistent colour scheme throughout, reflecting colours from the images into the background and text. In Cosmo Bride, it’s all about the editing, giving a vintage style to reflect the theme of the wedding while images in the article, ‘Rustic Romance’ have lots of soft focus fitting to the dreamy, romantic theme. I learned from this that I needed to keep a consistent background style as well as using images which work together.

While my tutor feels that my submission should show the more traditional, classic wedding photographs, I feel that this would stray too far from what I am trying to develop as my personal voice. Granted, the wedding album was full of group shots, confetti shots with the expected close ups of the rings, etc but that was for the couple; this assignment, I feel should show the shots which are true to my developing voice. With this in mind, I have decided to focus purely on the lead up to the wedding. I feel that this is an element which is rarely covered in magazines, yet it is a vital part of the day, wrought with emotion and so many moments which may otherwise be forgotten after the events of such an important day.

I also need to address the fact that my tutor had stressed that I was maybe too emotionally involved in the wedding I used for this assignment with it being a family wedding. As part of my assignment, I had discussed the emotional side of the day for me as I felt that being ‘in the moment’ enabled me to create more moving images. While I can see his point that I maybe went a touch overboard, the article he signposted made me feel quite disillusioned as the author appeared to have such bitter feelings towards some of the weddings he photographed:

<http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/aug/03/what-really-thinking-wedding-photographer>

“I see marriages doomed to fail even before the confetti falls, fathers shaking their heads in disappointment, grooms with a roving eye and bridesmaids who know too much.”

Surely, if these are the things a photographer is noticing, how can he possibly portray the love, hope and commitment which the customer is expecting to see in the forthcoming images? I’m sure his photographs are attractive and technically perfect but will they, in a small way, show the bitterness he feels? Unsurprisingly, this photographer has chosen to remain anonymous.

This article also bothered me as my one worry as I move towards a career in photography is that I lose the passion I currently feel. Granted, I often photograph things purely because they look nice but most of the time, it is because something has made me feel a certain way and I want my images to portray those feelings. I would hope that as my technical skills develop, my ability to do so will increase but if, like the aforementioned photographer, I lose that joy, that passion for showing how things have made me feel, then all the learning is wasted as I will be left with flat, meaningless images. Any artist, be it a painter, a musician, would advise that the only reason to take on a career in art should be for the love of that art form. This article, to me shows an artist who has lost that love.

To restore my faith in the true value of wedding photography, I have included a small selection of my favourite emotive images from Facebook Wedding Photographers, a group I regularly visit for inspiration:

Assignment four: response to feedback

Throughout the indoor lighting section of unit four, I had put a lot of thought into what I might use as a subject for the pending assignment; something which held interest in the four elements of the unit, colour, shape, form and texture. I was really pleased with my decision and the resulting images and even more so that my tutor appreciated the thought and effort that had gone into this assignment. Apart from a little confusion over an image I included to show the set up for the second part of my shoot, feedback was good.

My main challenge as I move towards unit five is to make my blog more accessible so that assessors can move around it more easily. I also need to add more information about my reading to my blog – although I have added reference to several photographers, my tutor feels that this area needs more depth; I intend to revisit the photographers I have studied, looking into critical writings on their work.

To enable easy access to my final images, I have uploaded to my Flickr page in labelled albums. I have also added a link to my Pinterest page for a one stop shop to images which have aided my learning during each unit.

Assignment three: response to feedback

My tutor feedback from Assignment 3 wasn’t quite as positive as that for the previous assignment; the main criticism seemed to be that the images, although fine individually don’t come together as one complete set. It’s a fair point, they don’t but I’ll try to explain how this came about:

·         Firstly, it didn’t cross my mind that there had to be an overall theme – naive I know but in assignments two, four and five, it specifies that a theme is required in the brief; however this wasn’t stated in this assignment. Having said that, I suppose I should have assumed; even if the subjects varied greatly, as a photographer it is expected that a certain style will emerge but this doesn’t show in this set.

·         The other issue was that the way I approached this subject was a little off the mark. I felt that setting out to complete an assignment in which so many combinations were necessary would be almost impossible without using set up situations. Instead, I spent a month or so, whenever I was out with my camera focussing my attention on the colours around me and capturing as I saw. I can now see that this has lead to a very disjointed set; however I still feel that I have learned more from this than a more coherent set of still life type shots. Maybe somewhere in the middle would have been the way to go.

However, even though this set is described as more efficient than creative, my tutor does say that I’ve got a decent intuitive command of colour so I’m pleased about that. As more of the technical aspects of photography become intuitive, I will be more able to concentrate on capturing the story and emotion behind my images. So what to do about it; I had a few options:

1.    Use the existing images but try to arrange them in a more cohesive way

2.    Use some of the images which work together and add more to try to create one consistent theme

3.    Find a middle ground and maybe use a few more of the images, creating a couple of separate  themes

I felt that more research was needed before deciding so I looked to the works of Eggleston, Haas and Maisel...
This research enabled me to reach a decision for this project; I decided to revisit my submission, selecting only the images which I felt were true to my developing style. Any images submitted purely as a result of fitting the criteria would be removed and replaced.

Finally, I had a plan!

Assignment two: response to feedback

I was quite pleased with the response to my ‘Elements of Design’ assignment. I had taken shots on the same beach at three different times of day; however due to the subject matter, those taken on a dull, drizzly morning seemed the most successful.
My tutor mostly preferred the images taken without people in and I can see his point. The children in the image below distract from the intended subject which is the vertical lines of the pipes. He also feels that this image would be more effective with landscape orientation to create more of a sense of space. I agree that this would make the image fit better as part of the set but I prefer the portrait orientation as I feel it enhances the vertical lines which are the main subject of the image. I will revisit the sets to see if I have an appropriate replacement.

My tutor suggested some research on industrial landscape photographers as this is an interest of mine. I found the work of John Davies <http://www.johndavies.uk.com/> interesting and especially like his image of Agecroft Power Station: <http://gb.pinterest.com/pin/353110427005940617/>. Having spent much of my teenage years close to the power station featured in my assignment, I seem to have developed an admiration for their huge, silent form and love to photograph them when possible.

Research on John Davies lead me to Edward Burtynsky where I discovered several albums which appealed to me, especially one entitled ‘Shipbreaking’, a captivating album showing the dismantling of no longer needed single hulled ships. Like the old ship I photographed sinking into the mud, Burtynsky speaks of nature reclaiming ‘even the most ambitious of human incursions into the land’. Burtynsky has captured perfectly the feel of the massive ships becoming part of the landscape, evoking visions of a vast graveyard.

In response to this further reading as well as my tutor’s comments, I feel that some of my brighter images in the set would benefit from a re-edit, making the overall mood more consistent.