Final Five

Please let me know what you think in the comments below.

Thank You.

Project Evaluation

For this project I have taken my film from different viewpoints including; on the floor, eye level and looking down from an eighth floor window. I chose this theme because every bodies view on life is different, varying from just height to how people have lived.

The main artist influences I have had during this are; Alexey Titarenko, Tom Wood and Rui Palha. The artist’s work I have looked at shows different viewpoints such as from on the floor and looking down at people, researching their work has helped inspire my own photographs.

I feel as though this project has been successful because I have followed the brief to create my prints. Although I may have gone slightly off genre by choosing rural paths to photograph in contrast to the urban streets which are typical of 'Street Photography.'

My work could be improved by using the filters while I am printing as some of my prints look washed out and mid tonal, there is not a lot of contrast within them. Would also need to push my comfort zone limits, as many opportunities have been lost due to me not having the confidence to press the shutter.

This work has been taken using a film camera with HP4 black and white film, all of my rolls of been taken on ISO 400 so I have used the standard 1-3 developing method, not using push/pull. In the darkroom I started exploring filters and how to split grade, but I still need to practice more with these.

One major problem I encountered was my lack of confidence while out shooting; this is something I am continuing to work on. Another problem I had was while shooting my final roll of film the camera I was using broke as the shutter jammed this meant instead of getting thirty six exposures I only have twenty six.

Halfway through the project we had a group critique and evaluated each other’s work and I received many positive comments about my work. Plus some constructive criticism about my prints being slightly out of focus, which was because the enlarger lens was broken and when I reprinted them with a different lens they were in focus. I also got a comment about where I should go with my next shoot and that was a success.

I feel I developed skills in both printing in the darkroom and exposing photographs while out shooting. The camera I have used throughout this brief has not had an in camera light meter so I have used an analogue light meter however it was not very accurate so I have managed to estimate the aperture on my photographs.

The assignment has challenged me to push my confidence and start to ask people if I could have permission to photograph them. A few of my rolls have the back of people’s heads because I did not feel comfortable photographing them.

If I were to do this project again I would try exploring more locations for my shoots, I would also try photographing people while I am on the bus, I was not sure about the bus policy on doing this so I have not done so.

Deadline...

DEADLINE WEEK

Eeek! It's deadline week already (the project seems to have flown by) so all I need to do is now print my final chosen images and write my evaluation.

I have explored using filters and I think I have got used to them and how to work them but I am still a little unsure of things.


*Update*

DEADLINE DAY

My pints are all finished and are waiting in the portfolio box to be handed in, they have been protected and covered since they finished washing and drying in the darkroom as I had to reprint one because it got slightly damaged.

My evaluation is completed at 533 words long (I do feel like I was rambling a little though, it has been a while since I evaluated a project) 

All thats left is burning the JPEGS and TIFF's onto a CD disc.

Last rolls of film

So I'm down to my two final rolls of film now and I have gone out and shot some more from eye level as I do not feel my previous ones were very successful. However I was more cautious about who's photograph I was taking because of being asked to delete a photograph before on my previous shoot.

These photographs are not as good as I feel they can be as they are not as creative as my other rolls, I do not think these rolls of film will make the final five selection as I have more creative and aesthetic photographs. 

While I was out shooting the final roll the shutter on the camera jammed and I only managed to expose 26 instead of getting the full 36. (I'm not happy about the camera breaking, but I'm glad its on my final roll)

Getting into Deadline Week

For my final five I am thinking of comparing the rural paths to the urban streets. I will have two rural paths and three urban street prints to show the differences. I hope that I have been successful in making prints that are not the stereotypical street photographs yet are still within the genre.

I am going to explore with using filters while printing as some of my prints do not have much contrast in them and I hope to increase it.

Post Crit

So during the Crit, I received a comment about a shoot I can do in the future, so I went out and shot it (once it stopped raining and the floor was not a permanent puddle.) 

So I researched into artists who have photographs that have been taken from floor level and found Rui Palha

Just a bit of lighting

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En passant...

*Update*

It turned out quite well, I got some interesting photographs of people as they didn't seem to notice me sat down on the floor in the corner. Well one woman noticed me and asked me to delete the photograph of her but with me shooting film I couldn't, so instead I have not enlarged the print even though my tutor had told me he liked that shot.

I think a couple of photographs from this roll might make it into my final selection as they are creative and unusual.