I have provided in my folder a printed 1000 word essay amended-final-draft-its-a-lilly-1 and my Tutor’s report. shaun-mullins-512659-photography-1-context-narrative-assignment-4
For this assessment I chose to print the first page of my essay containing the image on photo quality paper through my Canon printer for better image reproduction as the image was taken from the internet and was only 72pdi in quality.
For my Formal assessment I have sent out the same photos and covering material as originally submitted to my Tutor.
I have sent this work in two envelopes one for ‘The Report’ and one for ‘The Statement’. I have also included my 300 word introduction headed Planning labeled 13 of 14 assignment_1 ,Tutor’s report Shaun Mullins – 512659 – Photography 1 Context & Narrative – Assignment 1
In the envelope for the report will be found the letter to the Newspaper and the appropriate photos, printed by a local photo printing retailer for added authenticity.
The Report the-report
In the second envelope for ‘The Statement’ to the Police, I have included the hand written witness statement with the corresponding photos, printed with the same method through a third part high-street retailer.
I have just completed a one day mosaic course with an artist called Jane Visick based in Hitchin in Hertfordshire.
It was a great experience and something I believe that I can incorporate with my photography. Jane works with all kinds of materials, glass, ceramic, stone, metal, gems, plastics, resins practically anything you can cut up and glue down. She mosaics floors pots, walls anything and anywhere. I want to use my photography to inspire ideas for images to mosaic.
The course consists of a practical workshop in which the student will have made a small mosaic to take home the course is for 1-3 and I was in fact her only student for my day with her. During my initial conversation I suggested that I send her some ideas for my mosaic and for her to advise which if any was suitable to be completed in a day. I looked through my photo library and offered up these images.
Jane suggested that all the fish and the flowers were possible and I decided upon a fish image and this was the chosen image to use for my mosaic.
This was a blown up section of a larger picture. All the fish pictures were taken using my Nikon D-800e 24-120 f/4 with an attached polarizing filter and the aid of a speedlite. I chose this image for its movement colour and shape made by the water.
On arriving Jane briefed me on the tools and materials she used and books to read an in fact by coincidence her best book to recommend that I obtain, I had already placed on order through Amazon.
We began by deciding on the materials to use and glass was the decision and she then showed me the Technics of cutting glass to shape. We then took my printed photo and laid it with a layer of carbon-paper on to the chip-board base to wish I was going to mosaic and using a pencil I drew around my fish and areas of different colours pressing so that the carbon paper below marked the chip-board with my desired design. Removing the photo and paper I now had my design to mosaic. We then selected the coloured glass and I began cutting up the glass until I had about a dozen small pieces to start choosing and gluing.
I was surprised to get the mosaic finished by the end of the day with only the grouting left to do and Jane provided me with a bag of grout to take home and this is the final result of my labors.
For a first effort I am very pleased and encouraged. The mosaic was photographed on the floor inside a homemade light-tent of tracing-paper rolled in to a cone shape with the camera mounted on a tripod above and illuminated by three speedlights operated by infrared controller mounted to the camera. the green glass is a stain-glass and is a mix of green and a white opaque which was perfect to represent the water of a pond. I chose to use a light-tent to create an even lighting without any annoying reflections. I am pleased with the result as it is a good reproduction of the actual mosaic.
In this exercise I have created an image to represent a childhood memory. I have based the idea of this project on Roland Barthes theory of mythology. It struck me that our memories are a form of myth. Our memories are never quite as they really were. We recall through rose-tinted-glasses, our childish imaginings were myths both good and bad. My memory is of being scared of the dark as a child, particularly after having watched a scary episode of Dr. Who. I was most scared of the Cyber-men and I recall dreaming of being chased and caught by the Cyber-men, I would hide under the bedclothes and peek out and being afraid of the shadows. The myths of the Bogieman, monsters, ghosts and goblins haunted my dreams and imaginings to such an extent that as a very young child I could not go to sleep unless a light was left on in my room.
D-800e, 24-120 f/4 @24mm, 1/125, f/11, ISO-6400, WB-Auto. One remote speedlight operated via Pocket Wizard, converted to grey-scale in Lightroom and cropped.
I planned this idea out first on paper, putting my thoughts down which helped me quickly find an idea. My thoughts initially were the usual happy memories of sunshine and ice-cream; but as I considered the theme of myth and I considered the darker side of childhood fancies. The final product was converted to black-and-white as I felt that this made the image more dark and sinister, I also was not concerned about high ISO for this image because the grainier the image appears the better to imply a memory.
1# I HAVE RECENTLY BEEN MADE REDUNDANT
I have just received my Formative feedback from my Tutor and am pleased to learn that he liked my work.
Shaun Mullins – 512659 – Photography 1 Context & Narrative – Assignment 2
This project like all the others I have had so far have been great learning-curves both in angle and in a sense of achievement. All good.
Fortune was smiling on me when I set-up this shot as I simply filled the waste-paper bin of paper rubbish that I had rescued from our recycling bin and the sales brochure with JUST YOU happened to find it’s way to the top of the heap or I may have most likely not noticed it!
My Tutor comments on the text captions and choice of various font size. When I came to printing I simply went by what I thought looked right. This worked for this occasion; but I take my Tutors point and must not make this a habit.
My Tutor commented on the image with the Mars bar, that the word BELIEVE on the Mars wrapper was a little too obvious. On reflection, I would probably agree. However, this was not a trick of Photoshop the Mars packaging was genuinely labelled BELIEVE on all the bars that came out of a family-pack of six Mars bars purchased from a supermarket.
My Tutors comment regarding the last two images being portrait rather than landscape is also an interesting comment to remember. I did not realize that the change in framing format would make a difference and therefore this is something I must try to keep in mind for future projects going forward.
The last image that I produced in colour, I had intentionally wanted the colour to be a dominant green to represent growth, hope and a new start (green for go). However, again his comments are all useful and his suggested idea for an alternative image is good and simple.
I still have a lot to learn about printing; but my first attempt was acceptable at least and again I appreciate my Tutors advice.
One area of my study that I have neglected is visiting exhibitions and taking advantage of study days. This I will start address from next week going-forward.
Also I appear to not be fully meeting my colleges strict copyright code, again this I need to address.
I am relieved that my assignment passed and that I can concentrate on my next assignment.
For my second assignment, I have been given a choice between photographing the unseen or using props to create a narrative. This is my learning log.
For this project I have decided to choose the first option, the unseen. My reason, is that I feel that this is more challenging and it can help me become more familiar with the theory of semiotics and how to put it into practice in my future compositions. The Unseen is another form of pictorial narrative; but this time I am going about it in another way.
Part of my brief is to make a list of at least seven ideas for the unseen. Maybe my life is a little too ordinary and dull but seven ideas was tough and all I could manage.
MY PLANNING
I first made a note of the assignment criteria to help guide my thoughts.
I then considered technical methods for image making that might inspire some ideas.
I then continued to put my thoughts on paper as to what I could conceder as unseen.
I then made a list of potential subjects.
From these general lists I fell upon the subject of depression and hope in the context of redundancy.
I then decided to write a narrative which I gave a working-title of ‘Redundant Reflections’ . Now I had my first draft of my narrative, I could then start thinking about what pictures I wanted / needed and how they might look like. Therefore, I broke it down in to sections in my mind, then made a list of the images that I believed would complement the text. I initially listed eight images then later decided that seven was enough.
I sketched out some ideas for images. a couple I used and for other images that I later produced simply came out my head as worked with my camera.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
The first image that I made from my narrative represents the beginning of my recovery from my depression. I wanted something to both represent my dog how she has contributed positively to my life. The lead refers both to a dog and walks / exercise, a toy representing fun and happiness / love and a dog biscuit that suggesting reward.
D-800e, 24-120mm f/4, @50mm, 1/80, f/4.5, ISO-320, ambient light, RAW. Adjustments in Lightroom and converted to grey-scale in Photoshop.
The second image I created is for the opening image to this project, representing my redundancy. I thought of finding something that I used and is recognized as a familiar object that would be associated with work but now could also be considered redundant as a useful object. A popular object from the recent past that is both no longer in fashion and redundant in popular use was my old Filo-Fax which has now been replaced by electronic diaries. My first idea was to photograph it with other redundant objects such as a feather quill pen and bottled ink, old stamps and old redundant currency. When I put it all together, I didn’t like it. I then realized that I was looking for a strong metaphoric message for redundancy and that was simple. Simply throw the Filo-Fax in the bin! By chance the two pieces of paper that found themselves at the top of the bin couldn’t have been better placed. An eye and a sales brochure with the words “Just You” as if to say, “We just got rid of you.” In order to get a good exposure for the white paper and black Filo-Fax, I used my Sekonda hand-held lightmeter to take an incident reading.
D-800e, 24-120mm f/4, @120mm, 1/125, f/5.6, ISO-5000, ambient light, metered using hand-held incident lightmeter, RAW. Adjustments made in Lightroom, converted to grey-scale in Photoshop.
The next image I created was the second image for the first paragraph to represent my job hunting and the market conditions. The idea for this image came strait off the page of my narrative.
D-800e, 24-120mm f/4, @31mm 1/80, f/8, ISO-4000, ambient light, metered using incident measurement from hand-held lightmeter. Adjustments made in Lightroom, converted to grey-scale in Photoshop.
For the next image I worked on, my initial idea was to play on the words ‘learning curve’ and using a stack of books to make a curve; but as you may see, I don’t think that this idea worked too well; so I stopped and read the book ‘This Means This, This Means That’ by Sean Hall, to get fresh inspiration. The final composition was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock, he has used this point of view in a couple of his films. The red No Entry symbol on the front cover of the book, I thought, would look better returned to red. by colour popping.
D-800e, 24-120mm f/4 @65mm, 1/160, f/4, ISO-4000, ambient lighting. Adjusted in Lightroom and converted to greyscale in Photoshop.
D-800e, 24-120mm f/4 @58mm, 1/80, f/9, ISO-4000, ambient lighting. Adjusted in Lightroom and converted to grey-scale and colour-popped in Photoshop.
Alfred Hitchcock.
However, when I asked my student forum to comment on my work, the consistent opinion was to keep all the pictures in grey-scale except for the last image which they agreed worked in colour; so I changed this back to full grey-scale and made alterations to the text as also suggested.
Camera settings unchanged from above.
I had an idea for the ending as something to suggest a new beginning and optimism for the future. At the time of this project it was early spring with the buds just coming out and ideal for my last image. I decided that although I have chosen to use grey-scale the last image must emphasise hope and I felt that a colour image dominated by green would suggest this. Plus I feel that this change to colour also acts as a full-stop to the narrative.
D800e, 105mm f/2.8, 1/80, f/8, ISO-125, ambient light only, adjustments made in Lightroom.
I then set about trying to create an image to suggest shock, I couldn’t find any examples on the internet other than foolish images of people looking wide eyed and open mouthed. I considered a broken cup or spilt tea / coffee but I wasn’t sure that that would suggest anything other than a broken cup or a spillage. I then had the idea of filling a cup with tea and photographing it as I banged it on a table to capture the shock wave like ripples. But as you can see, I don’t think that the image is powerful enough to convey what I was after. In the end I decided that this image was not needed for the narrative anyway.
D800e, 105mm f/2.8, 1/250, f/3, ISO-800, remote shutter control with remote speedlight in a soft-box. Adjustments made in Lightroom, converted to grey-scale in Photoshop.
I decided to move on to produce an image conveying the business travel and my choice of image with the pillow can also be associated with the sack. I am particularly pleased with this image, it’s simple but I think to the point. (I hope you agree.)
D800e, 24-120mm f/4, @58mm, 1/60, f/4, ISO-800, ambient light only. Adjustments made in Lightroom, converted to grey-scale in Photoshop.
The last image I made for the set was to convey an impression of depression and poor health. This came surprisingly easily, as I recalled that Hollywood movies often uses the symbolism of a tub of ice-cream when the heroin is depressed or sad; so why not use the same idea? My first attempt was okay; but I didn’t think was strong enough in it’s message; so I reshot using a hamburger that really represented bad diet and unhealthy living. This image I believe best represents the result of my redundancy which I think is far better than trying to create something to just symbolize shock.
D800e, 24-120mm f/4, @78mm, 1/125, f/8, ISO-125, remote speedlight in a soft-box. Adjustments made in Lightroom, converted to grey-scale in Photoshop.
D800e, 24-120mm f/4 @86mm, 1/125, f/4, ISO-125, remote speedlight in a soft-box. Adjustments made in Lightroom, converted to grey-scale in Photoshop.
Have I met the assignment criteria?
Yes, I believe I achieved this.
Yes, I believe that my images meet this aim.
Yes, I believe that I have kept within this field.
Yes, x 7 key images consistent with the narrative.
Yes, A 300 word complementing narrative.
Based upon the feedback from my fellow students from my forum, particularly the very helpful and I thought good advice from Steve Middlehurst, who suggested adding the stills as well as the slideshow for the assessors to be able to clearly scrutinize each image. With this in mind I decided to put the slideshow at the very top just beneath the title and as each image represents the unseen I feel it works well and added the large stills beneath the text for closer examination.
I sent away for my images to be printed by a third-party printing company, when they came back I found that the crop they had used was not the same as I had expected and seen on my screen then ordering through their online website. I had waited a week for the photos to arrive and decided that it was too risky to try and get a better print from this same company; so I visited my local Tesco that has a photo-lab but they could not offer a service that included a border forcing me to try and coble one up in Photoshop. Moreover, they could not offer a matching matt-paper, silk being their nearest option. I emailed my Tutor who insisted that my presentation should be consistent. At first I was annoyed and turned to my student forum for advice. They were all great, I got a little from some reminding me that I should be printing my own work anyway if I want to be a professional photographer which I needed to hear even if I didn’t at first like it. A fellow student suggested a Canon printer that he uses and I ordered one on Amazon Canon PI7250 for £50, plus paper and spare inks. Thursday, mid-morning I took delivery of my new printer and after unpacking and setting up spent the rest of the day figuring out the mysteries of printer profiles and colour profiles. Fortunately, I have been in the practice of calibrating my screen using a Colour Spyder4 and by late Thursday evening I printing out my assignment photos for my Tutor. I can truly say this assignment has taught me lots.
shauncn512659 Context & Narrative 