Miriam a very well researched assignment, once again it is plain to see how your research is helping to inform your own practice, this is very encouraging with regard to your progression through the degree route, well done. Your prints are of a good quality and have a considered presentation, I would invest in a stout cardboard envelope though! The learning log is written in an honest reflective style that documents your journey succinctly and with some emotion. Your concerns over ‘failure’ are misplaced but perhaps indicate an eagerness to succeed, which is good. I know of no good photographers that are always pleased with their work, a desire to improve and take better images exist in all of us and this is what makes the reflective process important, so well done with your writing.
Overall you have captured
some good images along with some atmospheric light that satisfies the outcome
for this assignment. I will be quite critical but you must not consider this as
personal as this is precisely why you undertake an assignment and the feedback
will hopefully allow you to reflect and improve.
I understand your aim is to go for the Photography Degree and that you
plan to submit your work for assessment at the end of this course. From the
work you have shown in this assignment, providing you commit yourself to the
course, I believe you have the potential to succeed at assessment. In order to meet all the assessment criteria,
there are certain areas you will need to focus on, which I will outline in my
feedback.
Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Quality of Outcome, Demonstration of Creativity
You have possibly given
yourself a too wide brief in choosing Regents Park, Piccadilly Circus and
Camden Market. With only six images to be ‘published’ it is difficult to
capture a complete sense of place within two images for each location. Just one
of these locations, such as Camden Market, may have been less stressful and
easier to manage. Do contact me in advance for assignment five to discuss your
ideas before you shoot. You do have some strong images that retain a sense of
place though and within your rejected images I can see that learning from the module is evident. Your
chosen six images appear to have been taken in a relatively short time scale of
4 hours, bearing in mind your quote from Steve McCurry which suggests waiting
for the right moment (as did Cartier-Bresson) it may have been useful to have
invested more time on the assignment. Returning over several days to capture
the ‘decisive moment’ in the right light! You have however captured some good
images and made use of atmospheric light, the dusk (magic hour) images are very
effective and some of the backlit images use strong light.
Camden
Market. These two
images capture some spirit, atmosphere and a sense of place, but I want to see
more images as explained above! I love your rejected image of the ‘deadpan’ row
of shops with the shoppers (Chaos, Darkside) this has a strong sense of place.
I also like the rejected shot of the poster stuck to the pole although this is
a good example demonstrating that waiting for the right moment would have made
a stronger image as the background figures could have been more interesting.
Combine these with the inside shot of the market and you are starting to get a
strong set of images telling the Camden story. The quirky image of the scooters
is great and your acknowledgement of being influenced by research is excellent.
Again this image may have benefitted from waiting, when you see such a lovely
opportunity then wait! Something magical may happen, if it doesn’t then you
have got the shot anyway, this is why you need to invest more time. You have a
good eye for light and composition you need to let them have time. With the
scooter image the strong vertical tends to overpower the rest of the image and
as such becomes the focal point, this would have been best avoided if possible.
Regents
Park. Again two images that are starting to indicate a sense of
place, you also are using techniques of anonymising people which indicates good
learning. Lovely light in the pathway image but it needs time and a tripod so
you may have a blurred jogger running in the foreground etc? The distant family
are a good element but possibly too distant. As you mention in your evaluation
you only took the one image, this points to not investing enough time on each
shot. Cartier-Bresson would take many images once he had established his
position in terms of place and light. Steve McCurry also ‘waits’ for the event
to happen. The two ladies on the bridge is a well seen moment and you show some
contact images which are indicating that you are investing time here. You
comment upon deleting images, this does raise two issues, one problem with
digital photography is the ability to shoot lots of images without thinking too
much! The second is then to quickly delete images as you are running out of
card memory with the result that you may often delete a great image! A much
better approach is not to shoot lots but to consider the scene, the light, the
subject, the viewpoint, the choice of lens and then shoot. If the moment is not
right or the light not right then do not shoot but wait or return at a
different hour or day. Obviously if you are shooting a momentous event then you
may need to shoot quickly. Rena Effendi is a photo journalist who dislikes
shooting digitally for this very reason, she prefers medium format film as it
slows her down and slows the process of photography down. When she does shoot
digitally she often covers her LCD screen over with tape and cardboard!
Piccadilly
Circus. The shot with
the taxi and bus is lovely, I really like this image, Great light from the dusk
(magic hour) and you capture spontaneity and busyness. This has a good dramatic
viewpoint and composition along with the foreground road markings making use of some negative space which adds to
feeling of a busy City road. Your contact sheets are useful here and show how
you have considered the image, the difference between the black and silver
cabs, the blurred bus and along with your commentary indicate a good decision
making process in your editing and image selection.
The street performer is
another strong image taken under difficult technical conditions. As your
research indicates a ‘Sense of Place’ can be a personal feeling and reaction
that makes a place special to you. It may arouse childhood memories or stir
other emotions. Imagery may record a place but to achieve a sense of place then
stimuli other than visual maybe involved, such as sounds and smell. Quite often
an image that captures a sense of place may well trigger sounds and smell
within the viewer of the image and as such will have a strong emotive quality.
This image does have some of those qualities as you can sense the emotion from
the crowd and smell the wintery crisp London air, again dusk lends atmosphere
to the image. You mention using the wide angle which enabled you to capture a
large area but I find the foreground space too much and the framing is not
balancing well. Cropping the foreground would still allow the important
elements of the image to work and still retain a ‘sense of place’, see
suggested crop attached.
Learning Logs or Blogs/Critical essays
Context
Some good
and relevant research that is informing your own practice, If you use Wikipedia
as a source for research then please include at least one other source. Although
Wikipedia can be good it is not recognised as being accurate especially for
academic purposes.
As already
mentioned your writing is reflective and considered, although you pick up on
some good comments and quotes that you have discovered at seminars and in books
you should let them influence you more, especially investing time in your photography.
Michael Kenna will often wait for hours for the light to be right as well as
the exposure taking hours, it is partly due to the waiting that allows him to
produce images of beauty and calmness as he captures moments that others do not
see or are aware of.
The
exercises are very good and demonstrate a sound understanding of the principals
involved in the module, I particularly like the lone man in hi-vis jacket
outside the Guildhall Art Gallery.
Your
navigation system for the blog works well but do include a few more links
either within or above ‘Exercises and Assignments’ that point to your various exercises.
At the moment you have to open the month links to discover them. I mention this
from the point of view of formal submission as the assessors like to be able to
find relevant material quickly.
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