Unit 2 Evaluation
The theme I chose for Unit 2 was Ritual. I chose this because, after some thought and consideration about my other choices, I thought this would most allow me to develop my skills in street photography as it is my favirot genre of photography. At first I chose to do Human Condition: Relaxation, mainly because at the time I was in a cast because I had broken my foot. I thought it would be a good choice because being in a cast restricts movement and as a result, forces relaxation. I Began to document my life in a cast and put it on my website but came to decide that it wasn't the best route as there was not much else I could do with it and I found it increasingly difficult to find any kind of reference or Photographers who's work focuses on Relaxation to which I would be able to relate. However, I decided to do ritual. I had plenty of ideas that I could pursue. I was and am very influenced by Nick Waplington's book "Living Room". In the book, he has documented the life and routines of a family over what seems to be like christmas some of his images were of food and the family "dining" together. His images are warm, intimate, a bit cringey in the sense of a less intense loathing but also partially relatable. When I was younger, I remember going up north to spend christmas with my family and there is a particularly similar set of photographs that that my mum took one year and many of them are similar to Waplington's ones. I really like this idea of seeing ritual in this way Because ritual refers to patterns in life and therefore does not just mean something that you do daily. As you can see on my unit 2 page, my first 3 images were on my initial idea on Nick Waplington and food being a Huge part of ritual. I made about 5 images using sliced fruit, my hand and a cut off from a doily. Three of those are on the page.Although most of the planning and ideas for this one branch of the topic are conceptual, I still think it was one worth considering.
Although, my main idea throughout the whole unit was to portray daily ritual in a more subtle way. My idea was to simply photograph strangers in their comfort zone, doing what they always do, going where they always go. So through these photographs I got small snippets of peoples lives. On Instagram there is a group called Humans Of New York. This page shows photographs of people sometimes in pairs but usually alone, sometimes their face's are covered, But they all have a quote as the caption. Sometimes the caption is very funny and sometimes happy. But also, you get a few that talk about drug abuse, sexual harassment, war and other very depressing emotional topics. Although my photographs are in no way direct as these are, nor are do they have quotes, they are still interesting segments of something you don't know. In some ways, this is what photography is. Maybe I could have made some or maybe used just one word, similarly to john Baldessari, I would have liked to experiment with this technique further as it can really get the viewer asking questions. The photographs I used in my final piece were all taken in NYC over 6 days. Over this period of time, I took over 300 photographs edited down to around about 70. I mainly attempted to capture everyday life in the city, as I would have done if I had been in London at this time. This experience was extremely helpful for me developing my skills in photography. In the lead up to being there, I was so excited to take hundreds of photographs because I thought they would all be brilliant. But when I was there, yes this was still apparent, but I realised that if I had been from NY, I would be saying the same if I were going to London. This made me really change the way I look at taking photographs and made me arrive back in London excited to make some more brilliant images. Before I went to NY, my family and I went to Nebraska to see my step family that live there. Here I took 515 images total, that you can see in the hotbar at the top of the page. I edited these down to a more selective number and you can see that collection too. In an attempt to find an interesting way to display my images from NY, I was looking At Peter Fraser for influence because I knew he had done some triptychs that I liked. His triptychs seemed to go by a formula that is that each piece contains a person, a subject/ object and a setting. Incipiently, I didn't intend to use the photographs I had taken as a triptych but I wanted to create one in response to Fraser's work, so I did. And the outcome was worth being my final piece.
Throughout the unit, I found it hard to find many photographers that linked with my theme and who's work I liked at the same time. Even with the constant referral to Pinterest. That is why I only had two examples of triptychs, both by Peter Fraser. The camera I predominantly used was my dad's Canon G12. It's fairly heavy for its size but easy to carry, has all the camera settings I could need and has a "vari-angle" screen making it easy to shoot from hip and from high up whilst maintaining a good view of of what you're shooting. This has helped me take photographs quickly when Iv'e needed to meaning that I missed less opportunities when I am out taking photos.
Overall, I am very happy with the progress I have made. When I started this corse, I said I wanted to improve my general understanding of photography as well as learn and from my experiences during this unit and the last, I feel I have definitely done that. From Refining my technique whilst Taking street photography to learning to painting with light, I have thoroughly enjoyed my GCSE corse.
Although, my main idea throughout the whole unit was to portray daily ritual in a more subtle way. My idea was to simply photograph strangers in their comfort zone, doing what they always do, going where they always go. So through these photographs I got small snippets of peoples lives. On Instagram there is a group called Humans Of New York. This page shows photographs of people sometimes in pairs but usually alone, sometimes their face's are covered, But they all have a quote as the caption. Sometimes the caption is very funny and sometimes happy. But also, you get a few that talk about drug abuse, sexual harassment, war and other very depressing emotional topics. Although my photographs are in no way direct as these are, nor are do they have quotes, they are still interesting segments of something you don't know. In some ways, this is what photography is. Maybe I could have made some or maybe used just one word, similarly to john Baldessari, I would have liked to experiment with this technique further as it can really get the viewer asking questions. The photographs I used in my final piece were all taken in NYC over 6 days. Over this period of time, I took over 300 photographs edited down to around about 70. I mainly attempted to capture everyday life in the city, as I would have done if I had been in London at this time. This experience was extremely helpful for me developing my skills in photography. In the lead up to being there, I was so excited to take hundreds of photographs because I thought they would all be brilliant. But when I was there, yes this was still apparent, but I realised that if I had been from NY, I would be saying the same if I were going to London. This made me really change the way I look at taking photographs and made me arrive back in London excited to make some more brilliant images. Before I went to NY, my family and I went to Nebraska to see my step family that live there. Here I took 515 images total, that you can see in the hotbar at the top of the page. I edited these down to a more selective number and you can see that collection too. In an attempt to find an interesting way to display my images from NY, I was looking At Peter Fraser for influence because I knew he had done some triptychs that I liked. His triptychs seemed to go by a formula that is that each piece contains a person, a subject/ object and a setting. Incipiently, I didn't intend to use the photographs I had taken as a triptych but I wanted to create one in response to Fraser's work, so I did. And the outcome was worth being my final piece.
Throughout the unit, I found it hard to find many photographers that linked with my theme and who's work I liked at the same time. Even with the constant referral to Pinterest. That is why I only had two examples of triptychs, both by Peter Fraser. The camera I predominantly used was my dad's Canon G12. It's fairly heavy for its size but easy to carry, has all the camera settings I could need and has a "vari-angle" screen making it easy to shoot from hip and from high up whilst maintaining a good view of of what you're shooting. This has helped me take photographs quickly when Iv'e needed to meaning that I missed less opportunities when I am out taking photos.
Overall, I am very happy with the progress I have made. When I started this corse, I said I wanted to improve my general understanding of photography as well as learn and from my experiences during this unit and the last, I feel I have definitely done that. From Refining my technique whilst Taking street photography to learning to painting with light, I have thoroughly enjoyed my GCSE corse.