Sunday, May 18, 2014

Fruit & Veg brief

This brief was simple enough, our requirements were 5 digital prints that included fruit and veg. This open brief left me scared if i'm honest. Its nice to have an open brief but thinking of an exciting idea is not my strongpoint. I left it for a few weeks thinking of ideas in the background and it got to the point where i just started shooting. My first veg was iceberg lettuce, this is where my idea came from. Be literal iceberg lettuce, after the test shoot i wanted to freeze the lettuce in the ice to create iceberg lettuce. This had me thinking of other ideas. My final five were, iceberg lettuce, button mushrooms, spring onion, butternut squash and runner beans. This brief had me scared but by the end of the brief i found I really enjoyed it, possibly because I was really happy with the outcome to the point I feel I want to show it on here.


WassinkLundgren

Thijs Wassink came in to talk about his books and his journey though university and how his likes and wants in life changed to being a photographer and showing the world his works along with his friend and partner Reuben Lundgren. The work that they produced was rather impressive from books to images to the creative ideas that drive there work. One of my problems is coming up with ideas and i find myself saying why didn't I think of that more often than not. But it seems that ideas don't just happen but it happens you go out and shoot images and build of an image and begin to shape an idea. 

The talk was very informative as around the time of the talk we were all creating our own book, he gave us all advice on creating books and what the possibility and purpose of photo books are. Overall he was an inspiration, he came from an alternative degree and just liked photography and turned that like into a degree. I'm sure the whole year can relate to this, i defiantly can. My aim is to turn a love into a living.



Printed page - Pause (my book)

My book finally came from blurb, very happy with the outcome of my body of work, the cover is slightly off, not quite centre for some reason but that doesn't take away the fact that the images inside are great and can safely say this brief is the one i have enjoyed the most and got the mot out off. More than that it was the most relevant brief, introducing me to a whole new way of publishing and getting my work out there. 

The idea was inspired my a paper on how people need to take more pauses from there continuous lives. Just to look around and evaluate. The book is a visual representation of this with images of people doing just that. The book is very positive but also shines a light on the culture of Leeds and West Yorkshire through the characters that are captured in the images.

Below is my favourite image from the book ( although this has changed since i first got the book)


Converting my Brownie model D

I found the Brownie in a charity shop for £10 and couldn't resist, I knew the model only takes 620 film which is extremely hard to get hold of. But there is a way to convert it to shoot 35mm film. After asking Sam the technician i understood how. I took a 120 spool and snapped it in half and began to file down so that the 35mm would fit then it was just loading and closing. I choose to load colour film that was over 10 years out of date and successfully shot the film but still haven't developed the film.

The images that i were capturing were of around Leeds, however i were limited as the button to open and close the shutter was rather clunky so the camera had to be placed on a hard surface and force placed on the top to insure that they were no movement during the shutter movement. But this all added to the experience of using a camera that is over 50 years old, great fun and loved the challenge.



Thursday, May 15, 2014

Adjective view mini-brief

The one day brief had the group shouting out adjectives and creating a list that we selected from and then captured an image for each word and then creating a zine with all the images in. The way I approached this brief was to go out and just enjoy taking good images without restrictions and constraints to any genre or any of the words. I then after all the images were taken put the words to the images to answer the brief and create the zine. My final work was presented in powerpoint form not on the website that was recommended.

I was really happy with the work that I produced in a short space of time, I seem to work more efficiently under pressure and produce the work that is needed, after shooting it was a case of a small amount of editing adjusting the levels and converting them from raw to jpeg. I have really enjoyed Maria's mini-briefs, it piles on immediate pressure but relieves you of the long term pressure of producing work files and slide after slide of research.


Size matters collaboration with Liam Bailey (graphic designer)


For this Liam needed some images for a brief he was completed, the idea was based around the borders and only capturing sections of his body at a time, I just set up a simple setup, two lights on the background with reflective umbrella's to evenly spread the light on the background and two lights facing his face and body. He was impressed and in the end used my images as part of his brief. The images showed of his quirky, sarcastic look to life which matched his idea. 

It was great to work with someone outside of the photography degree, they give you a alternative perspective on your images as well as the process of taking the images during the shoot, I am not ashamed to say that he gave me some great ideas when capturing the images aiding me in creating the images. The shoot was short notice, he asked me and I happened to have a slot booked that i didn't need so I squeezed him in and did it over about 90 minutes of shooting. I gave him the images to edit but kept of few of the images as evidence of the shoot.




Thursday, February 27, 2014

Visiting speaker - Rose Butler

Rose Butler

Rose Butler is a senior lecturer of fine art at Sheffield Hallam University, she visited Leeds College Of Art during February of 2014. She came to discuss her previous and current works as a practicing Photographer that also has taken to film and moving images. Her work was like nothing I have ever seen, totally caught me by surprise and immediately caught my intrigue. The combinations of still images and audio she used in the sequence of mouse traps was possibly my favourite work that she showed. Reminding me of the on edge moments you get so often in modern horror films. She also talked about the manner she works in when producing her work and the method she used to come up with her ideas. It was just what I wanted to hear, she explained to the lecture hall that she uses her instinct as a photographer to capture images and then compiles them to come up with a relevant idea that relates to modern times and is new and creative. All in all Rose's lecture was inspiring and left me wondering what I would like to become after the three years I will spend at Leeds College Of Art.  

Online Portfolio - 500px

Online Portfolio 

In recent months I have taken to uploading some of my images to 500px, in doing this I have began creating an online portfolio that has followers and good viewership. As well as a tool to get my work viewed it helps me to test opinion on some of my work and ideas before I proceed with whichever project. After recent briefs and crit's I understand the importance of insuring that you have an online presence, it may not be so important for the big names such as Martin Parr but if your like me an unknown photography student this is the best way to get you on your way. The website is also great for research and seeing what is trending in he photography world and what is popular amongst the community. The ultimate aim is to get on the popular page, you achieve this by likes, favourites and comments as well as a large amount of views on the image. I am proud to say I have had half a dozen images on the popular page.