For unit 1 I focused on the theme ‘The Natural World’ the reason I chose to do this instead of the other themes was because with nature I could use different processes and techniques to turn the photographs I take into what I want. When I first chose this theme my thoughts were that it would be easy as I thought it would just be taking photographs of plants and trees etcetera although the natural world is based upon that, it is much harder than that. As time progressed I developed more skills, which helped me to become better at photographing, and also refined previous work, which resolved the personal problems I had when I wasn’t sure of how to improve on certain areas. During this period I discovered that the natural world wasn’t as simple as I thought, although I could’ve asked to change themes I decided to stick with it as photography is all about taking risks.
I researched photographers such as Will and Matt Burrad Lucas, David Taylor and Nick Tsiantinis. I discovered them by searching for naturalistic photographers and also asking peers in my class to recommend photographers linked to my theme that I could research. From studying their work I’ve leaned that the photographs they take are similar to photographs I take and what I aspire to take. Later on during the term I played with the use of light. I did this by experimenting with the use of flash, instead depending on natural light. I mentally compared the images with natural light to the images with flash and came to the conclusion that I prefer using flash. The reason for this would be because when you take a shoot of images close up with the flash it shows effects you wouldn’t catch in natural light. In my opinion the flash digs deeper into the picture and uncovers the truth about it.
I tackled Threshold Concept 2 by exploring the idea of using light in my photographs without using a camera. I did this by making photograms and increasing and decreasing the exposure of light the photograms had. By doing this I felt like it was me taking a risk and slightly having control on how I wanted the image to look. I also tackled threshold concept 9 through the exploration of other artists. By viewing photographer’s work I could see what the photo meant to them. Taking similar photographs helped me developed my own meaning and how I wanted the image to portray the world.
During unit 1 I conducted different experiments to see which one worked best with my ideas. One experiment I thought successfully worked was creating my last set of photograms in the darkroom. I followed through the first steps of creating the photogram but when it got to the chemicals I followed through a different procedure. Instead of placing the whole image in the developer, I placed it in an empty tray. I got a sponge and lightly dipped it in the developer making sure not to soak the sponge in the chemical. I then softly wiped the sponge across the paper mainly in the middle and not on the edges of the paper. By doing this it developed the image but not fully therefore it only developed where the sponge was placed around the paper. My idea was to show the same photogram in two images although they weren’t created in the same way. On my website it shows the original photogram which was formed the original way compared to the second photogram which was formed slightly different. This was successful because it helped me to understand that you can create the same image over and over again by using different techniques. This has resolved future issues I may come across because I know that there are many different ways to show one thing. What I found most challenging was waiting for the certain areas to develop and being impatient. This became a problem when I creating photograms as I had to dispose of one photogram. This was because I became too impatient and placed the developer everywhere hoping it would help speed it up, I then put too much on that it developed too much and the image didn’t turn out how I wanted it.
For this personal project I formed and finalized my final outcome, which was a collage of different images I have taken during the course of this unit. When the pictures were mounted on the card and a picture was taken with me holding the outcome, instead of using the normal camera taking the picture we used and app called Hipstamatic, this gave the whole photograph a more vintage look. What I was hoping to create was the set of images mounted with the edited versions next to or underneath the original versions, this would of shown the process of how I created a new image with the same picture. This didn’t work because I soon came to a conclusion that if I followed through with that idea I would most likely have to put on the card how I edited the images, which would be too confusing on one piece of card.
In some ways I think I have successfully explored this theme because I’ve played with different techniques to see how I could change each outcome of images I have taken. But in some ways I think I could do further exploration. A way I could developed my skills would be to try more experimentations and think outside the box. I could also try to make similar pieces to artists, which consists of me trying new things. Finally I could use techniques from other topics for example I could add Pinhole Camera into future units and I could link this theme to others.
If I had more time I would want to create a second final piece, which would be a selection of chosen images and place them in a book. I like this idea better than just placing it on card since everyone will mount it on card therefore using and idea no one has used is more creative and the sound of placing them in a book is interesting to me.