Final Evaluation

Final Project Evaluation

Between the very start and end of this project, I feel as though my photography work has progressed and improved at a fast rate. I began the unit with no experience in photography, only the desire to improve my skills and explore what photography had to offer. We began the unit by looking at the ten formal elements which I found useful as it helped me to focus my photography rather than being unsure as to what to photograph. Looking at the elements helped me to understand what makes a successful photograph and also allowed me to realise what makes an image appealing and eye-cathing to a viewer.

My favourite formal element to shoot for was reflection. I liked the influence that Vivian Maier had on my work, and although she did not directly influence me and I did not take photographs which were very similar to her style, she gave me inspiration regarding what could be included into the topic of reflection. I also enjoyed shooting for the topic of colour. This was the first formal element which we shot for and I think that considering, my images were successful. Within the topic of colour, I learnt how to use and apply selective colour using Photoshop in order to draw the viewers eye to one part of the image more. During the topic, I also learnt how to adjust the curves and levels in order to make the colours more vibrant and eye-catching.

The work diaries, definition posts and image banks were rather challenging to complete at first. However, as the unit progressed, I found these assisted me greatly and helped me to improve my efficiency as it allowed me to decide what direction I wanted to go with the given brief. In addition to this, I found the work diaries to be helpful as they allowed me to see what areas I needed to improve and also allowed me to apply these changes to my following shoots. This allowed my work to progress at a fast rate.

For the unit, I somewhat enjoyed the aspect of experimentation. I liked doing the physical experiments as I feel that they allowed me to express alternative and original ideas which could not be expressed via Photoshop. However, I did not like the computer experiments. I found that my mind went blank and I was unable to decide on what filters to apply to my images. If I were to redo the computer experiments, I think I would try to select images which would compliment certain filters as I think that this would assist me in making them more effective and successful.

My overall favourite shoot was the documentary shoot which was entitled 'my life'. I really liked experimenting and shooting around a topic which was genuinely interesting to me. I found that the topic gave me inspiration and that I was able to produce a successful series which was based on my interests. I edited the images in my series using Photoshop and found this to be very helpful to make the images reach their full potential and look bold and striking. In addition to this, I enjoyed the landscapes topic. With this topic, I especially enjoyed shooting from different and alternative angles and looking at the varying outcomes. I found that by doing this, I was able to produce a much more interesting feel to the images and make them look much more effective and attractive to the audience.

My unit 1 work has been influenced by a range of artists including Vivian Maier for reflection, Helen Dixon for landscapes, Ed Thompson for documentary and Thomas Ruff for portraiture. Each individually influenced my shoots and overall, they influenced me to experiment with different styles of photography and come out of my comfort zone in order to produce more effective and striking images. I have learnt many new skills during the unit, with the most important one being how to use a camera effectively! I have also learnt about studio lighting which has helped me to create a range of effects in my studio shoots. An example is the low key light shoot which I used the setup to create a creepy and unnerving feel to my images.

Over the course of the unit, I feel as though my images have drastically improved. I feel as though this may be partly due to me learning the importance of the framing and composition of the images. Learning this certainly helped me to create more interesting shoots. In addition, the photos which I take now are less similar to one another and are more varied which I think is important, particularly when shooting for different and varying topics. During the unit, I also learnt the important skill of how to use aperture. This helped me when looking at different depths of field in images as it allowed me to change the depth of field depending on the type of image, which in turn, helped me to achieve some more effective images. In addition to this, I learnt how I was able to use shutter speed in order to control blur.

Overall, I feel that my work is most successful when shooting for a topic which interests me. For example, my images for the documentary shoot were the most successful in my opinion. This is because I am more willing to experiment and my desire for original and effective images is greater. In addition to this, I believe that I am successful when linking my work to that of artists. I feel as though my images show strong relations to the work of the chosen artist and therefore I am able to present effective images. An example of this relates to the work of Thomas Ruff and my studio shoot of portraiture using the orange backdrop. However, I feel that I am least successful when shooting for topics which I am not comfortable with and also topics which require more thought. An example of where this happened was for the topic of movement. I feel as though my images for that topic were not as successful as they could have been as I struggled with the concept of long exposure and generally did not feel happy with the shoot. I feel I could overcome this by learning to take these challenging topics and experiment with them even more than usual in order to make my images more interesting and get the best outcomes possible from challenging topic areas. In future, I would like to develop my documentary photography skills as I really enjoyed shooting for this topic as I found it both rewarding and interesting and liked the way that I could combine multiple images together to create a series. I felt as though I was able to express myself better as I had a real interest in the topic. I think that this allowed me to create better images as I was more passionate about the topic.

I really feel as though my work has drastically improved over the last little while in photography, especially considering I began the unit with no experience. I am looking forward to tackling the next unit with the same enthusiasm as I tackled this one. I hope that my photographic skills will continue to improve during the next unit and hope that my next topic will allow me to express and reach my full potential in the subject.