LO1: Produce convincing visual products that communicate your intentions, using accomplished techniques in complex and unfamiliar environments, with minimal supervision from your tutor
Once the final theme was selected or decided on the editing and formatting needed to be addressed. As previously discussed the way the work was to be submitted for this project was important and I have always considered it to be an exhibition with a printed book as a gift for each of the women who took part. I would also like to include a local writer to provide an introduction to the book. I will therefore leave these to SYP but have discussed extensively within my Work in Progress and Thoughts and Reflections blogs the research and considerations around this. The online apps and software didn’t really work for this project and so a draft book will be produced.
Editing has been a key part to the run up to submission of this assignment and I have documented my process and thoughts within my Work in Progress blog here and within the submission. Printing and working with physical prints really helped and pinning them to the wall allowed me to arrange and rearrange to see the flow, style, links and formats.
The book seemed to fit into natural sections/chapters one for each of the women however I needed to link them to the community, show the isolation and their strength and the fact that they were surrounded by an invisible male presence. The chapters were divided by a change in image format and pulling images from my initial location shoot and the cray boat trip (images here) I applied these to the start and end as a way of introduction and closure.
LO2: Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of your area of specialisation and be able to situate your own work within a larger context of practice in your field
Once I was happy with the layout I provided this to my peers for feedback and the responses can be found here.
Throughout the months and as I have changed and edited I have documented this in my Work in Progress blog.
I also completed an extensive review of different book styles and layouts.
LO3: transform abstract concepts and ideas into rich narratives and integrate them in your images
I continued to research other photographers who have a community-based theme, and these have been documented in my Work in Progress blog. I was pointed in the direction of Tessa Bunney, a documentary photographer who is interested in the different environments that are shaped by human intervention. More detail can be found here. Her most current project ‘FarmerFlorist’ looks at the ‘artisan’ cut-flower farms. Looking at the images on her website I like how she is an observer, not disturbing the farmers as they go about their daily working life. The portraits are in the environment, often not seeing the subjects face, hidden behind their flowers, no direct camera interaction. This is very much the style I’m trying to achieve with my own images. She uses text and this is something I will leave to SYP.
LO4: Critically review your own work and evaluate it against desired outcomes
A critical review of my work formed part of my Assignment Four submission and can be found here.
LO5: Demonstrate management, leadership and communication skills and have deployed them during the negotiation and production of the final body of work with your tutor and third parties
I have continued to work alone and manage my time between both courses which at times in not easy. I have ensured that I have kept the women involved in this project fully informed as to progress and my plans for SYP.
Showing my work to my peers has been helpful as it has highlighted areas in the series that work and those that don’t. The latter often meaning letting go of images that I think are stronger but when viewed with the series either don’t fit the flow or don’t add to the narrative.
As I don’t own my own printer I was given a small postcard type printer which enabled me to print and pin the images to the wall, this was such a help as I was able to see the total series at once, easily replacing and rearrange the order. I have also been working with a printer for the final set for the mock book production and agreeing times for SYP exhibition work.
Communicating and keeping in touch with my peers for feedback on my series and to help them with feedback has been very important to the run to this submission and for the final assignment. Putting my work in front of others is not easy but has been extremely valuable. Allowing time to let the images sit and review on the wall has been an important exercise and listening to how other photographers achieve this has also helped my own thoughts and processes. I have continued to a range of talks and presentations from around the world and these have been documented here.
Michele Usher 