The Square - Evaluation

The project I’ve just completed is ‘The Square’ – a self-initiated project in which we could work to our own concept within the deadline. Throughout the project I’ve taken part in workshops, shoots and research work. At times I found the project challenging and other times I flew through my work, as a whole I have enjoyed it as I like being able to think and decided what I do for myself. I liked having the freedom but at times I did struggle with thinking about what I needed to include on my blog and what I needed to complete (including research).

I learnt a lot of skills whilst completing this project as I took part in a large number of workshops including darkroom processing and developing, studio work (portraiture, still life), bias workshop, abstract art workshops, and surveys to help us with audience and a skills audit to analyze our skills. This project has definitely taught me that I need to plan what I’m doing and time everything so I have time for a backup plan if need be. In the next project I think I'll try and manage all of my time better from start to finish so I don't have to feel pressure towards the end. I'll also expand my initial idea more so I have more options.

During this project, no matter what it is I’ve completed or been doing just in general, it has all gone into my blog. I don’t mind posting on my blog as I always have a lot to say as well as taking a lot of notes in workshops and tutorials etc. I feel like my blog is laid out quite self-explanatory, it’s easy to find things as the titles are very clear. There was only a slight problem with blogging which was time management, I’m usually good at working to a deadline but I’ve been very busy recently (not just in college but also out of college). Regardless of my work not being so easy to do, I have managed to complete everything I had planned from research to workshops to notes.

Looking back at my project, I think it fits well into the criteria for the brief. I have a clear concept with research, workshops, shoots and evidence to prove. I have researched things which I thought would aid my project such as photographers who work in the style I was working towards and the evolution of the genre. I was working on a project to do with still life in cosmetics, my concept is capturing how such small objects (eg make up) can create such a bold impact in both photographs and real life. My research was very helpful to me as I was inspired a huge amount by what I found - this included photographers such as Rich Begany and Dennis Pederson. Another thing which inspired me for my final images and the design was the contextual studies we complete on Monday mornings, I really took on bored the abstract one as it was something I really like to incorporate into my work. The photograph I took of the mascaras brushes is an idea I took from when looking at abstract art. As I had always planned on competing a still life project, I really found it helpful having a still life tutorial in the studio mid-way into my project. Learning about composition and styling in still life was extremely helpful and something I thought about when shooting. Before shooting my final images, I shot a few times with backdrops and lighting as I wanted to experiment with them. I definitely wouldn’t have shot my final photos the way I did without experimenting with it all beforehand.

My final photographs as a piece of work alone are quite bold and a collective series. I feel like they were quite successful as they do manage to portray small, bold objects. The photographs in a technical sense are quite varied when it comes to being focused etc. The two photographs with powder are supposed to be focused around the center slowly fading out, even though it still works, it does fade out a bit too fast as more of a straight flush. The other images are in focus where I wanted it to be which a main majority of the photographs is. As for the exposure of my images, I think as the photos are all against white backgrounds, I managed to work with it quite well. Now thinking of the photos and what each one is and symbolizes, the topic is definitely fluent throughout them all. If there was something I could change about the way some of my photos look it would be straightening the lipsticks as they’re not in a straight line like I thought when setting up. I had a few very minor technical problems when taking photos, this included not being able manage the focused parts or my photos, I struggled to tell when they were in photos (especially with the powder photos as I was so close and it really confused me being so detailed. My concept was to portray how such simple objects can make such big impact and statements both in photos and in life. I feel like my photographs manage to portray quite big statements as the contrast from the white background make bold shadows and shapes. As for the thought of small objects creating big statements, it’s not exactly clear but you can see it. Overall I feel that this project has been successful for a first project.