The brief
- Prepare a PDF document with the intention of showing it to an industry professional and asking them politely for a short piece of feedback. This should contain an edit of the work you produced for Body of Work. You may wish to include an overarching artist’s statement as well as the introduction you wrote in Body of Work. In the first instance, you’ll use this to introduce your work and your ideas to your tutor who will give you suggestions on the submission itself and how to enhance the PDF before sending it out. Please tell your tutor who the PDF is intended for and include some background information on how you’ll contact them. Make sure that you’ve researched the form your submission should take; some organisations still ask for a CD/DVD, for example, which you should prepare in advance.
- Having taken your tutor’s comments on board, use your PDF document (or, if applicable, a hard copy portfolio) to get some feedback from a professional photographer or another professional from within the industry. This could be done via a portfolio review or by a contact you already have.
For my Body of Work I produced a new website that included a video of the book that I produced in PowerPoint, a draft physical book and additional images that were not included in the final submission. This website will be the main platform for this module and can be found here. This will be developed further and changed as I progress through the next twelve months. The original work was reviewed by my peers (here), via social media (here) and two professional photographers (here) prior to me submitting for assessment.
Submitting for Assessment is very different to finally publishing your work for the world to see and comment on and so I have developed three pdf files of images taken from the final submission plus others that didn’t make the final cut but would work in the new format.
My aim is to hold an exhibition and produce a book/zine. The latter would hopefully be available to purchase at the exhibition and on-line to help fund the overall production – unless I’m successful in gaining funding through my application to Creative NZ. As part of the exhibition, I would like to explore more the Platinum and Palladium printing I started during my Body of Work course (here). These images could be a standalone piece or part of the full narrative. With this in mind I have developed a black and white set to be reviewed:
The full selection of black and white images can be found here and the pdf here:
My concern around this set is that it doesn’t fit with my final Body of Work narrative. The set doesn’t include the women of Ngawi, the images I think do represent the location and the use of black and white help to portray the mood and feel of the location. The platinum and palladium printing will also help this.
The second set consists of a selection of the colour portraits of the women from Ngawi. The full set of images from each of the women can be found here:
The pdf for assessment and feedback is here: Inside the Shell Colour v0.1
For me this set works in the same way as the black and white set. They show the women but there’s no narrative, the viewer would be left asking who are they? Where are they from? Why these women? If I went with this set then I would need to provide text. I want to show both sides, the hard exterior, the isolation and then the softer side. This doesn’t mean that they are not strong in their own right.
The final set is a combination of both black and white to show the hard male side, the isolation, the location and the colour images of the women that hold this community together. As a set I think it’s the strongest but that remains to be seen. It is based on the work submitted for final Assessment for Body of Work and aims at linking in my Contextual Studies essay based on the observer telling their version of the truth. The pdf for assessment and feedback is here:Inside the Shell B&W_Colour v0.1
Possible Reviewers
There are a number of different avenues I could take for reviewing my portfolio. The first was following a recent on-line event (Ballarat International Foto Biennale) I reached out to one of the photographers talking about self-publishing and book design – Rohan Hutchinson (http://www.rohanhutchinson.com/ accessed 16/10/21). After a number of message exchanges about book workshops online due to the lack of ability to travel from New Zealand, I asked if he would review my work and he has agreed. I will send him pdfs of the portfolios following feedback from assessment.
My second option is exploring both the NZIPP and PSNZ – members of both to request a review as both organisations hold a large number of professional photographers such as Jackie Raken (https://jackieranken.co.nz/ accessed 12/11/21) and Mike Langford (https://mikelangford.co.nz/ accessed 12/11/21). I have attended workshops with both on a number of occasions.
For the third possible approach I spoke to fellow students about their experiences and the best on-line forums and platforms for portfolio reviews. Several expressed their disappointment at the responses they received but on the whole the experience was positive. I was pointed in the direction of PhMuseum (https://phmuseum.com/education/one-to-one accessed 01/10/21). They offer reviews on a one-2-one basis on-line in a wide range of genres. They also cover workshops and master classes in photography. A possible reviewer would be Lisa Barnard as she covers editing, contextualising and documentary all of which apply to my project and portfolio. The cost is £49 for 30 minutes. The discussion would need to be focused and I would also need to be prepared with my questions as thirty minutes is not long.
Another avenue would be J Sybylla Smith (https://www.jsybyllasmith.com/consultation accessed 05/11/21), a photographer who works extensively to promote work in the documentary and social genre. Focusing on exhibition and book publishing. She offers an initial free twenty-minute session and then a follow up which will have to be paid for.
Possible areas for discussion during portfolio review
- Format of work; framed images, book or zine;
- The use of text at an exhibition, in the book or zine or is it best to let the images speak;
- The use of platinum and palladium for the black and white images;
- The strength of the narrative and the individual images
Michele Usher 