24/09/12

So first day of University, second year. Nice that they start us off with a lecture from 3pm til 8pm. Anyway, that aside, this actually turns out to be a really interesting and enjoyable lecture.

The lecture itself was by photographer and magazine contributing editor, Peter Dench. In the lecture Peter talked about crowd funding/sourcing as well as his own experiences with it. For me this was a very interesting lecture as i had never heard of crowd funding or Peter Dench for that matter. Peter Dench is a documentary photographer who specialises in photographing the english and their drinking habits. Dench’s work is often humorous and funny to look at and even understand. I think that i personally admire him a little bit as i have never been able to, or had the guts to document people as closely as he does. It is something that I dont really feel comfortable doing, but i commend anyone who does it.

Peter spoke abut crowd funding and how it worked for him. Dench was trying to publish a book of his images of the Uk and its drinking habits. As his theme was very english orientated he wanted it to be published at the specific time around the Queens jubilee and the Royal wedding. However this didn’t look like it was going to happen with conventional publishing. There for Dench turned to crowd funding/sourcing. Crowd funding/sourcing are websites that help you to promote your project and what you want to achieve to a wide audience. The purpose of crowd funding is that people who like your idea/project will invest money into your project and help you to reach your target inorder for your project to succeed. Usually if you dont reach your target then you dont get any money, but this differs from site to site. There are many different sites that can be used for crowd funding. The ones that Dench talked most about where: Empas.is, Indigogo and Kickstarter.

overall this lecture was really useful as it kind of opened my eyes to other ways of funding and achieving my goals within my projects.

Week 4 of Semester Two.

This week has been undeniably busy. I have never been so exhusted as I am right now. It started with lectures as per the norm, they were as ever useful and interesting to take part in and I learnt alot. But the most interesting parts of the week were undertaking test shoot after test shoot and seeing how much work I can fit in, in one week. As it turns out I can do alot. However I still dont feel like I am doing enough to get everything do. Some of my projects are slipping and I really cant afford for that to happen. Also all this blogging that I do takes up alot of time and it is very distracting!

I dont realy know what else to say about this week it has just been busy and there have been lots of different things that I have enjoyed and not so enjoyed. The weeks are becoming more and more similar and this is a problem when blogginf because I dont want all my posts to be the same thing again and again. I shall have to think of something..

Week 3 of Semester Two.

This week has been a very busy week. I have undertaken effectivly three photoshoots and and really got started on my workbooks. It has been quite ptoductive. Which is always a good thing! However I must admit that it did take quite awhile for me to get going. I seem to be really stuggling at the moment, with getting my work/life ratio right. I seem to be spending so much time doing nothing or rather I seem to be spending most of my time blogging. But hey its an important thing to do. It helps me get everything out of my head and somewhere else!

Anyways back to uni, it has been a long and hard week of non stop work really. The lectures where fun and interesting but I just want to get on with my project now. I find that working in a studio takes up so much of my time. Although its fun, boy, does it take forever! However this week has been tame compared to what is going on next week. Next week I have three/four photoshoots to either assist in or direct on which will be fun.. But the write up afterward wont be! Onward and Upwards!

Advanced Processes – Landscape, Test Shoot 2

Yesterday I went on my second test shoot for Advanced Processes. The purpose of this shoot was to experiment with both colour medium format and digital photography. My idea for this test shoot was to walk around my location, a task i really dont like doing, and finding and photographing the rubbish that is left behind by mankind. This is my way of creating landscape imaergy that isnt what most people would think of. I dont like landscape so this is my way of channeling my dislike for landscape into something remotlly creative and challenging peopls perception of landscape. Maybe make them think about the impact we have on the landscape surrounding us. Overall this test shoot went really well and I am very happy with what I think the images will turn out like. I worked really hard on making sure that the exposure and zone system things were right before I took a photograph. Hopefully I will be right!

Because I have used colour film this time, I have to wait to get it developed. So images form this shoot will be up some time next week! The digital will be online as soon as I can find my SDHC card adapter.

09/02/2012…

University today.. Started with us giving a powerpoint presentation. This was in Introduction to Narrative. The powerpoints were about us understanding and talking about imagery and we can begin to break down the clues and understand what and why the images were made. It was a really interesting morning, and I am begining to understand better what Roland Barthes means when he talks about understanding imagery. However, I am still alittle confused. But I am sure that in time I will understand better than I do now. But for now I am happy.

After that we had Advanced Processes. In this lecture we are split into three group. One group does colour film, another black and white and the thrid digital. I was in colour film. Today we discussed the zone system and how it relates to colour film photography just as much as it does for black and white. This was really interesting and I think I finally understand the zone system. Or at least how it relates to colour and how I can use it for colour. I guess I will understand more in the weeks to come.

02/02/2012…

Today was a busy day!! I always feel really tired on a Thursday and Im so greatful thats its Friday tomorrow. Anyways back to university.. Today I had Introduction to Narrative, which I still have no idea about! Followed by Advanced Processes, which I have too many ideas for!

Anyway, in Introduction to Narrative we discussed Roland Barthes Rhetoric Of An Image. Which is a essay that Barthes wrote about understanding and analysing the meaning/narrative of imagery. He broke down an image and explained how each part of it worked together to build a story with the image, as well as, how each part means something else. This was really interesting but at first I didnt really understand what on earth Barthes was going on about. However writing this now, I understand exactly what he was talking about. Perhaps sometimes you just need to hear it a second time in order to understand it!

In Advanced Processes we were inducted into using the medium format cameras. This was really quite boring for me as I already knew how to use one, but I know its important!

Week 1 of Second Semester

So this week has been my firts week of the second semester! All in all it has been a create week. I have met two of my favourite photographers this week and found out that I am going to be taught by them this semester. This was amazing and I am so excited to be working with them. As well as this I got all my new modules and project for this semester. So I am really looking forward to and others I am less than enthusiastic about, But Im sure I will do just fine.

I would like to say that I have done alot this week but I’ve not really done alot. Its just been bits and pieces here and there all week. I guess that its because I have only just started and only been back a week. Im sure that this will change in the forseeable future! All in all a brilliant week to start university with again! Bring on the rest of this semester!!!!

Holiday Project 1 – Images from Test Shoot 3

Here are the images from my third test shoot. Shot again using the digital process.

Holiday Project 1 – Test Shoot 3

After I had analysed the images that I took from test shoot 2 I realised that I had found my the element that linked all my images together and provided a continuety that runs through out the series of images that I am creating. I felt that for this test shoot I would continue using digital because I really liked the contrast that was created by exposing for the light and not the shadows. The contrast in my personal opinion adds depth to the images and is the right level of contrast as the light parts are light, but there is still detail there, and the dark parts are dark, but once again there is detail present.

Overall, this shoot went really well and I cam very happy with the end result. The images have similar qualities to the images from the second test shoot but are different enough that they arent identical. My next test shoot however will be with colour film and I am curious to see what qualities colour film will bring to the projects feel. Images will follow. Feel free to comment.

Holiday Project 1 – Test Shoot 2

After analysing the images form test shoot 1 I realised that they images, although I liked them, didnt really fit with what I was trying to create. The images were simply showing the light patterns. They didnt explore the use of the room at all.. In fact I dont think that you would be able to tell what the room actually was because there are no indications, which is really what I am after. After deciding all of this I decided to undertake a second test shoot and focus on having elements of the rooms function within the image itself. for this test shoot I once again stuck to using the digital process as I hadnt achieved what I wanted form the first test shoot, and felt that experimenting with different processes might not be wise at this stage.

Overall, the shoot went much better than the first test shoot and my images really started to show what I was trying to create with them. I felt that the images were improving and getting better the more I thought about the composition and the general layout of the images. Overall I think that after this shoot I can begin to experiment with different processes to find the best qualities that each proves and see which one works best for this project. Images will follow in the next post. Feel free to comment.