Research
During this ‘The Future’ Project I did a lot research and looked at artists like Victoria Dawe (who was also a student at the college) and Benjamin Von Wong. I would say Dawe and Von Wong have two completely different styles of photography but I was really interested in the hyper realistic style that Von Wong produces in his images, why he uses plastic in his images and the meaning behind them. As with Dawe’s work, I really liked the way she shot and more importantly edited her landscape image (especially the new York edits) which is why I was thinking of doing something similar as I was going on a trip to New York with the college. Overall, looking at these two photographers and doing research on plastic and who it is effecting us made me realise what I wanted to do for my final piece. I also produced a short blog post on my favourite short film as we had to study moving image for this project.
Concept
The concept behind these image was quite simple. I wanted o produce an image that highlighted how beautiful beaches and I guess in a way our planet actually is. I wanted to do this without focusing on the truly negative things like the plastic. Hence why there is only one image where the main focus is the plastic and other rubbish which is contaminating the beaches. I think the image communicated my ideas well, out of the three I would say the shot with the person by the rocks is my favourite because I like the mystery that comes with the person and how if we don’t sort out the environment that person would not be able to enjoy the beach.
Core Skills
We used a bunch of different english and maths skills that included workings out for image size and we also had to use maths to compare the national beach clean survey from 2017. And obviously we used english when blogging or evaluating an image. I did not realise sometimes the little mistakes I make in my blog and have tried to become more articulate because of this.
Techniques
Throughout the project I used a few different techniques. I enjyed learning how to create panoramic images as I had never done that before and now that I think of it I feel as if I missed a real opportunity to shoot a panoramic for my final piece as tha could have been really cool. We also looked at the basics of Premiere Pro which fortunately I knew already and now have the feeling that I should definitely produce more moving image based work which was my intention for this piece but sadly I did not get round to it. I would say throughout this course I have tried new things but I also believe that I could have pushed myself way more. Even though I have been very busy with other things I still should have been able to produce something better than what I have at the moment and the only way I was going to be able to do that is by pushing myself which I did not do and being really organised which is another thing I think I lacked this time.
Enjoyment/Engagement
Although I was confused with what I wanted to produce for the final piece, throughout the course I really enjoyed learning about new things like the devistaing amount of plastic in our oceans and how it is already having a dramatic effect on environment. I also really enjoyed the panoramic work and the basic moving image based work as I have always been interested in film and going through everything really helped the films I make on the side.
High Points and Low Points
A high point of this project has definitely been learning about something I wouldn’t normally and also the New York trip I went on with the college. I would say a low point for me would be not being focused/organised enough and not getting the things I wanted to get done or to the best of my ability.
Character Development
Overall during this project I feel like I have been responsible and respectful towards my work and my tutors. I have also made sure to meet the deadline for the brief. However, I would like to point out that I don’t think I have produced enough work for this project which I know was shorter than the previous but I would have liked to think I could have reached a similar standard to the project before. This being said I shall make sure to get more work done in the future and stay focused on my task as I am unhappy with the progress I have made during this course.
ZAKARIAH 