Unit 1 Evaluation
The first part of Unit one and my GCSE photography corse was the studying of John Baldesarri's image "Wrong". This was a great introduction to photography in school for me as it got me to question the meaning of photography. Which means that Baldesarri's image worked, as getting the viewer to ask question seems to be the theme of his work. It also allowed me to explore the key components of a good photograph. After this, we moved on to the first main section of Unit one. This was called "Techniques and Processes". The first technique we studied in this section was Cyanotypes, I really enjoyed leaning about these as to me, there is something so raw about them. I looked at Anna Atkins and her work, and leaned of her contributions to the world of photography. Her work was so revolutionary nor only because she was the first to do it, but also because she found a way to make something so simple so beautiful. In my opinion, she is a great influence to many. I then went onto study Photograms and Rayograms (I came to learn both are the same thing). Similarly, both cyanotypes and Rayography consist of composing objects on a piece of light sensitive paper and exposing them to light but photograms come out black and white whereas cyanotypes, when developed, turn a unique Blue colour. After studying perfecting my technique and looking at the works of Man Ray and Laszlo Moholy- Nagy I moved onto Pinhole Photography.
Another Sub- topic of this unit was painting with light. I thoroughly enjoyed this topic as it was so much to do with playing with images in the moment they were being taken. Also, It's a very good technique to know in my opinion. With painting with light, came photography using strobe lights which was again, very fun but also fascinating. These is something about stopping a moment to that small of a time that is incredible. Also, the ability to do things like this, i have learnt, has revolutionised our understanding or thousands of events from sport related things to the way a cat drinks using it's tongue.
Although I did experiment with mirroring images, I found that I had an image in my head of what my work was going to look like by the end of the unit so I decided not to follow up on these experiments. However, i think I should have as it may have refined my knowledge and moreover, ability on photoshop. Maybe I can work on this in the next unit.
I'd heard of pinhole cameras before but never knew how they worked, and to fin out the simplicity of it was so interesting for me. After watching a video on Steven Pippins and learning of how he made pin hole cameras out of washing machines, I knew I wanted to use this form of photography. The images it creates are somehow so soft, probably because it's so hard to keep the camera still, and you need to if you don't want to ruin your photograph. I made my first pinhole camera out of a "Never mind the bollocks here's the" Sex pistols tobacco tin following the steps of the video on my pinhole photography page. The fact that I used such a small tin meant my images were small as well, I liked this. I think it makes them seem more precious and adds to their novelty.
For my year 11 Mock exam theme, I chose Natural World. I thought it would leave the most possibilities for me so that I could have more freedom should I need it. For my Final piece I came to the conclusion that using a pinhole camera would be the best thing to do. Although I had already used my tin I had made before and I thought for this particular piece, it would be best for the image to be larger. In order to do this, I had to use a huge pinhole camera in order to make the image large enough. The box I used as the camera was roughly A2. I took 4 images in one session with it as it takes a lot longer to develop the photographs and to reload the paper and the fourth was my final image. The image was between A3 and A4 and was of a tree from a low angle. Although simplistic, I think it was the best thing for me to do. I admittedly began to run out of time to continue to experiment with other techniques as i didn't work with enough urgency. As a result, through the Mock, I really got to grips with how long I would have in the real thing, how the time passes and what I can realistically produce during it. My original idea for my Mock Exam Piece was to use my smaller pinhole photographs and make a print of all of my successful ones making a Photogram of them directly onto of my larger image. This would have added an interesting layer to the image, like I was building on it- it would have been nice but it did not work the 3 or 4 times I tried it. I'm not disappointed though, I like my final piece as it is. Had I not, I would not have displayed it.
To conclude this unit, I think I have learnt a lot about photographic techniques and photography in general as well as how photography is viewed by people and how the artist can manipulate this, like with John Baldesarri and his Wrong image. I'm very excited to start to put my knowledge of the techniques I have leant of to a specific use in Unit 2.
Another Sub- topic of this unit was painting with light. I thoroughly enjoyed this topic as it was so much to do with playing with images in the moment they were being taken. Also, It's a very good technique to know in my opinion. With painting with light, came photography using strobe lights which was again, very fun but also fascinating. These is something about stopping a moment to that small of a time that is incredible. Also, the ability to do things like this, i have learnt, has revolutionised our understanding or thousands of events from sport related things to the way a cat drinks using it's tongue.
Although I did experiment with mirroring images, I found that I had an image in my head of what my work was going to look like by the end of the unit so I decided not to follow up on these experiments. However, i think I should have as it may have refined my knowledge and moreover, ability on photoshop. Maybe I can work on this in the next unit.
I'd heard of pinhole cameras before but never knew how they worked, and to fin out the simplicity of it was so interesting for me. After watching a video on Steven Pippins and learning of how he made pin hole cameras out of washing machines, I knew I wanted to use this form of photography. The images it creates are somehow so soft, probably because it's so hard to keep the camera still, and you need to if you don't want to ruin your photograph. I made my first pinhole camera out of a "Never mind the bollocks here's the" Sex pistols tobacco tin following the steps of the video on my pinhole photography page. The fact that I used such a small tin meant my images were small as well, I liked this. I think it makes them seem more precious and adds to their novelty.
For my year 11 Mock exam theme, I chose Natural World. I thought it would leave the most possibilities for me so that I could have more freedom should I need it. For my Final piece I came to the conclusion that using a pinhole camera would be the best thing to do. Although I had already used my tin I had made before and I thought for this particular piece, it would be best for the image to be larger. In order to do this, I had to use a huge pinhole camera in order to make the image large enough. The box I used as the camera was roughly A2. I took 4 images in one session with it as it takes a lot longer to develop the photographs and to reload the paper and the fourth was my final image. The image was between A3 and A4 and was of a tree from a low angle. Although simplistic, I think it was the best thing for me to do. I admittedly began to run out of time to continue to experiment with other techniques as i didn't work with enough urgency. As a result, through the Mock, I really got to grips with how long I would have in the real thing, how the time passes and what I can realistically produce during it. My original idea for my Mock Exam Piece was to use my smaller pinhole photographs and make a print of all of my successful ones making a Photogram of them directly onto of my larger image. This would have added an interesting layer to the image, like I was building on it- it would have been nice but it did not work the 3 or 4 times I tried it. I'm not disappointed though, I like my final piece as it is. Had I not, I would not have displayed it.
To conclude this unit, I think I have learnt a lot about photographic techniques and photography in general as well as how photography is viewed by people and how the artist can manipulate this, like with John Baldesarri and his Wrong image. I'm very excited to start to put my knowledge of the techniques I have leant of to a specific use in Unit 2.