Evaluation of Personal Project

HERE IS MY EVALUATION FOR THE PERSONAL PROJECT!!

The brief we were given was to follow the same theme as we had in our Enhanced Image Project, mine was architecture. Then we could do anything we liked within that theme. I had many ideas for this project and produce 4 idea sheets. My ideas were quite different to each other but all related in one way. From the start of my idea sheets there were lots of experiments that I tried to achieve - different angles, slow shutter speeds, collage making and light. These were the main ideas for my ideas sheets.

The creative journey that I took was to experiment with lots of different techniques and see what could possibly work the best with architectural photos. With the ideas sheets I research into two different architectural photographers Ben Thompson and Royna Galka. They inspired me to use different angles and using long depth of field when I'm taking my photos. After looking at their work, I wanted to do lots of different experiments with different techniques that I have come across before, for example pinhole, ink toning and solarisation. I found this experiments really easy to create and follow the right steps to get the best possible experiments.

The photographer that has inspired me the most for this project is Graham Holland. Holland is a photographer that creates photomontage with cityscapes. When I was looking for collages to help me get inspired, I came across his work and I really liked it. The technique he uses is to take individual pictures of the buildings and the street views of people walking and merging them together to create a new image. I fell that this inspiration has definitely influenced my outcome, in the way that I have presented my work.

What I think that I have done well is they technical skills that I have improved on through out this project. I feel this because of the detail and contrast that has gone into taking the photographs; the different angles and depths of field, that I have taken into consideration. I decided to shoot in black and white instead of digital because I feel that I have a better range of photographs and have a better skill at taking black and white images. I am really happy with my final outcome because of how simply presented it is and have different elements to the piece for example cutouts of landmark photos.

If I could improve anything within my final outcome it would be to maybe expand it with more photographs and more cut outs, to get more eye-catching effect when people look at it. Also to have more photos of different buildings around London instead of having the same area photographed.

Overall I have found this project really easy to complete. I mean this by I made the decisions to make a photomontatge and where I went to take the photos. I found the techniques and effects I used really simple but I found that it really worked with the photographs that I had taken. Hopefully in the future I will be able to use techniques again and maybe create another photomontage like this.      

Final Inspiration: Graham Holland

After going through some experiments and seeing what work well and what didn't. My final outcome is going to be a collage/photomontage of buildings and scenery of London. I feel this will benefit my photography skills in the taking the photographs and in the darkroom with different experiments such as solarisation, double exposure are photograms. This photo collage will also benefit my graphics skill by maybe incorporating some graphic techniques into it, also my cutting skills as I have used in the previous project. 

This image above was an inspiration from the start of the personal project, even though I had a few changes along the way with thinking of ways to present my outcome and with different experiments. I feel that this idea is very simple but I could hopefully achieve so much in how carefully I cut around different sections of the buildings and how well I place them on the mounted sheet of paper. I want to achieve something where you can look at my outcome and not realise where the cuts and joins from each photos are. I want people to look at my work from a far and just see a massive 'photograph' but as you look closer you would be able to see that the London Eye is next to Nelsons Column ect... 

I will be developing lots of photographs all in black and white, in a range of large, medium and small images. I will also adding some solarisation pictures to the collage with also  a possibility of photograms of train tickets and a tube map. Hopefully this simple idea will be able to get me the best possible marks, and enhance the key areas that I am more successful in.

This website was the reason for my inspiration: Graham Holland. His website is full of different landscapes of architectures, around the world such as New York, Blackpool, and also collages of celebrities. Definition  of City Scape's...  

Graham Holland is an award winning photographic artist, who specializes in creating photo montages of the urban landscape. He has worked across the world for different companies creating photomontages of different scenarios but his main intentions are to create Cityscapes. Photomontages are about putting together images of buildings or people or objects that would not necessary be put together or are not even relevant towards each other. I feel this is a really unique and original idea, that really just shows off the photographs that have been taken, without any dramatic changes or experiments added to the photos. 

Experiments...

Solarisation - Here are my solarisation prints, I have selected two images that I thought would work really well with the effect. I love the outcomes because you can still see the definition in the image. I love the tones of the images, because it gives it a slight bit of contrast between the detail. Even though I have used this experiment quite a lot in, I really enjoy creating solarised images, because of the outcome that you achieve, I almost looks ghostly and adds a bit of shimmer to the picture.  

Ink - With this ink effect, I only wanted to add it to sections of the photo, but as I soon realised it was much better when the ink was spread all over the image to get a whole new look giving them a define tone to the image. I chose turquoise and pink because they are really vibrant colours that grab your attention immediately, and I feel with the images that I applied the ink to, really created a new image completely and really captures your attention. 

Pinholes - And finally with the pinhole dots, I chose three different images that in my opinion would work with light shining behind them. I feel that each image has a uniqueness about it with having different amounts of pinholes giving the the images a shadow behind them. And again gives it an almost ghostly outcome. 


These experiments have been really useful because I shows that just by adding something some like a few pinhole dots, can turn that image into something completely different. With that in mind I may only take a the solarisation method to use in my final piece. I do like the other effects but I feel that this experiment will benefit more with my idea rather than having lots of different experiments all in one. Hopefully i will be able to use this techniques at some point in the future 

My Possible Intentions...

My intentions for this project is to be able to develop a collection of photographs with four different effects adding to them. I feel I will be able to broaden my design ideas by using four different effects adding to a range of architecture and documentary images of buildings and moving cars.  

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For the different techniques that I want to use in my final outcomes, are four different techniques that are solarisation,  ink and pinholes.

My first effect that I want to defiantly us is solarisation. This  is one effect and technique that I really enjoy doing because you can either do it digitally or in the darkroom. I really think solarisation will work really well on my negatives because of the architecture and documentary photographs that I have taken. Also another reason why I like this technique is because of the shadows and the greyscale that is being processed right in front of you. The amount of detail that is still shown through the effect, can create a new image entirely with the amount greyscale and shadows that have been formed.     

Another effect that I may also use is by adding an ink layer. I have used this effect before but I want to expand it slightly so that it gives me a better effect. I want to use this effect so that the ink can stain the image, to give you a colour and black picture, to make a sort of water-colour effect over the top of the original photograph. 

For my possible final effect is pinholes. This is a effect that I have used previously, but didn't really work out in my favour, so I would like to try again at creating this effect with better images. This is because I feel that the image I worked with before with using the pinhole dots was a little bit blur and was on paper not on photographic paper. The buildings and places that I have taken photographs I think that some of them would work really well, by adding another element into the photo. 

Hopefully I'll be able to use two out the four effects, if not all of them to use in my final outcome and will presented in a way that they all of the techniques and the photos will be able to be able to stand out.

Here on my Pinterest is some example of the effects that I want to use :) 

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The presentation of this final outcome is important because it adds to your final ideas all rolled together. I want it to be able to show off each individual photograph and also 
with the techniques applied to them. 

One way that I want to present these images is to add them to foam board, so they are placed on to the board so the pictures are slightly raised off the page to make it look slight 3D, which will hopefully get peoples attention to look at my final piece. 
Another presentation idea was to have the photos with the same effect, hanging on a piece of string with a boarder of a film strip around in so it frame the final pictures. I really like this idea because once you can add the pieces of sting to a hanging mobile to it will be able to hang from a hight and maybe spin slowly in the air. 

Hopefully I will be able to achieve one of these presentational devices, even though just having the images stuccoed down to a piece of card isn't really appealing, with the effects that I have chosen it my look simple but effective.   

Process Review

1. Which materials and techniques have you experimented with during the this project? 

2. Have you explored and developed your ideas imaginatively? How have you demonstrated this? (give examples, link to posts or include images) 

3. Have you research a diverse range of photography and completed this on your blog? Who have you analysed? is you analysis in-depth? (again give examples and link to posts) 

4. Have you explored a range of ideas around your theme within your experiments? What are they? How have they informed your ideas?

5. Have you refined / developed your outcomes through experimentation? How? 

6. Have you annotated, in detail, your experiments and developments on your blog and used this information to help you improve? 

7. Which techniques / experiments have been most successful? Why?

8. Which techniques / experiments have been least successful? Why?

9. Which techniques / experiments will you be developing further for your final outcome? Why? 

10. What else can you do to further develop the techniques / experiments you want to use for your final outcome? 

1.During this project I have experimented with Instagram effects, digital solarisation and darkroom solarisation. I want to develop my skills further with a lot more experimentation and use of different materials.

2. So far on this project I haven't really explored the imaginative side. Meaning that I haven't had a idea for what other techniques to use or what my final out come could be. Hopefully with a little bit more experimentation work with effects and materials, I want to create the best possible display. 

3.The photographers that I have looked at who have inspired me for this project have be documentary photographers Ben Thompson and Ronya Galka. Their photos are of life around London including buildings and people. I have taken some black and white images as well as digital so there is a wide range of effects. 

4.My theme is Architecture but I have also Incorporated in Documentary so it gives you a wide range of images within architecture. My ideas have ranged from a collage of the London buildings to the Christmas lights on the building and houses. I have switched between the two. 

5.I have had many ideas for this project but I have I have decided that my final idea is of all different buildings and adding different effects to them to get a range of photographs. From solarisation, to stitching to inking the image.

6.I have annotated all of my experiments and have uploaded them to my blog. I feel as though my in depth analysis is my down fall so if I have time, I may need to go back and write a little bit more fully about that I want to achieve and have I like about a particular photo. 

7.My most successful experiment was the digital solarisation, this is because of the amount of detial that the effect still gave the image. You could still see the outline of the houses and people, even with the alteration. And it was quite simple to do and follow. 

8. My least favourite experiment has to be the darkroom solariation, only because you cannot predicted whether or not the outcome will be perfect. This does take up alot of time and patients, but eventual outcome is great. I feel I just need to work a little harder on getting it right even if it takes time.

9.For my final outcome, I would like to use the solariastion technique and I would also like to use other experiments that I have done in the previous project such as ink stain the image, stitching in to the photo. I wan tot make a collection of images that have been experimented on differently with different materials and effects. 

10.The further development that I would like to achieve would be to keep on experimenting with my final photographs and with all sorts of effect and experiments to see what works really well and what does not.