Overall feedback
It is important to continue to document the feedback you have received from the various portfolio reviews you have completed – both good and bad. Remember to reflect on the comments and explain how you have addressed the comments, suggestions and advice even if you haven’t taken it, explain why and how this affects your project. You need to show your journey to the final product be that an Exhibition, Book, zine or video presentation.
The zine you have sent is part of you presenting your work and forming networks with industry, remember to show all the stages to its development and feedback you have received on your blog. What have your learnt from this process? Make sure your intensions for it are clearly articulated and linked to your work. It looks clean, layout is nice and a good start for self-promotion.
The Assignment you submitted is based around your intension to complete an exhibition of you work. You have selected probably one of the most expensive methods of alternative processing. Make sure you detail on your blog the conceptual reasoning for this. This will be expensive and I think you know that but keep a track of costs and provide details and up dates as you progress. It is important to show how your initial assumptions change. Are you considering additional funding options? If so provide details on this and your progress.
Have you selected the images you want to use in the exhibition yet? It would be worth considering how those selected for the zine, book and exhibition will differ, show examples and document you selection process. Remember how you tell your story will be different in handheld format compared to that on a gallery wall, you have more control how the viewer looks at the book/zine.
The selection needs to tell your story of these women, the community and the place. The editing may change, consider how you can experiment more, how you can represent these women without direct portraits. Remember what you leave out is often more important than what you include. Note – you can’t leave yourself out of this project, this is your interpretation of their story, how you see them. You are in a unique position to tell that. ‘Whatever we record has happened, nothing has happened how we record it’ (Johan Wolfgang von Goethe). Document your experiences, your story can only be told by you, you are the author, don’t leave yourself out of this project.
The bespoke book sounds like a good idea but have you considered making something smaller? This seems to be a very intimate project, holding something smaller might give it a more personal feel. Also consider the use of postcards which with the selection of just two images could be printed relatively cheaply and a great way to advertise your work and you as they will hold your details on the reverse.
Now for Assignment 3, you have stated that you are unable to undertake a work placement and that is fine, a number of students are unable to. We discussed a number of options as an alternative. The first forensic photography is fine, but think about what you would ask them, what interests you and how this relates to photography. The second option could be based around the gallery you are planning on using for your exhibition. This has a clear objective to promote local artists and works well from a community perspective as it relates to your work. You could clearly relate this to your CS, BoW and current SYP. The types of questions you ask are important. The third and final option could be as discussed around documentary photography. Find a photojournalist you like/follow, contact them, introduce yourself and ask for some of their time. All three options are possible and worth pursuing. Document progress on your blog.
Feedback based on Learning Outcomes
LO1 You have continued to progress your core ideas and shown promising ideas in the form of an exhibition, zine and book. You have progressed your ideas to booking a location for the exhibition and thought about its location, space and the importance of community to this project and the gallery. You will continue to progress selection of images depending on the audience of the work and this will be seen on your blog and in the final submission.
LO2 You have show a clear direction and through re-editing and selection of images how these will be presented in the different formats you would like to pursue. Offering different media such as prints, book, zine and postcards will allow you to expose your work to the community. The use of platinum and palladium will demonstrate your work well and fits with the narrative. You understand that this is not the cheapest alternative printing methods but are prepared for the budget to grow.
LO3 You have demonstrated that you have considered all areas of the work up to the point of exhibition and shown evidence of consideration of budget. A contingency has also been included. This may need adding to as you start printing. It is understood that you have received money from OCA in the form of a grant to go towards the book and you have included other students as part of a collaboration piece. Other funding will be sort for the exhibition and you will document your lessons learnt on you blog. The overall proposal was well clear and well presented. It is important that as you progress you document and reflect.
LO4 The inclusion of the zine you are developing is a great way to disseminate your work and shows how you plan to work to deadlines for submission. You also aim to continue to do this through the course but in a more targeted way that fits with your project and the narrative. Learning how to interact, make judgements and selection criteria are all good learning steps in your photographic life. Learning how to deal with negative feedback is not easy but you have demonstrated how you addressed this and moved on.
LO5 You have shown evidence of your interactions with both fellow students and experts with the reviews you have completed. Some have not been as constructive as you would have hoped but finding other avenues you have learnt how to accept these and move on. You aim to continue to seek peer review as you develop the exhibition prints, zine and book.
Action points
- Document and reflect on the feedback of your portfolios as a whole
- Experiment more with images, representation, go out and enjoy your photography
- Progress your three options for Assignment 3, coming up with different sets of questions depending on the recipient.
Michele Usher 