For component 1, we started by investigating skills in the dark room. We began to learn the basic structure of how photographs work, and how light affects photographs. I looked at various artists that worked with dark room experiments such as Floris Neusüss and Lazlo Moholy-nagy. Neusüss created images by placing bodies over light sensitive paper, making massive prints of people and often adding objects such as flowers. Moholy-nagy also created photograms, but of smaller things such as glasses and small objects. By looking at these artists, I was able to find inspiration and get an idea of how people are able to work using the materials provided in the dark room. I did a few experiments, keeping those artists in mind, which consisted of me creating photograms of everyday objects such as earphones or wires. As I continued, I realised that I needed to pay attention to things such as timings and light apertures if I wanted to get a good result. So, I went back and kept on experimenting, changing tiny things until I knew how to get the best photograph. The main thing that I learnt was the basics of darkroom equipment : how to develop images, how an enlarger works, what the chemicals do, and so on. We also looked at pinhole cameras, which wound into the processes involved with photograms. I found this topic really fun, as we learnt how cameras actually work and how light affects a photo, as well as putting this into practical use and going out to take our own photos.
For my personal projects, I investigated four different areas : Street photography, abstraction, edges and fragments. We started off our street photography investigation by experimented with different angles to take photos from. We were given tasks such as taking twenty photos relating to surfaces or 'looking down', which taught us to look at our environment differently and start to think about how photos can be seen. I also researched artists such as Boogie, who's work really inspired me, with their on the spot thinking and confident attitude towards photography. We then went on a trip into London, where we were able to utilise the skills learnt in school and apply them to the real world. I had lots of fun doing this, as we came back with authentic photographs and new skills. I also saw the difficult things in street photography, such as missing a perfect shot, or simply being too shy to take a particular photograph. When we got back to school, we chose some of the best photos that we took and displayed them on our site. I tried turning a few of them into black and white, an idea inspired by the work of Boogie.
The abstraction topic was one of my favourite. We started by simply trying to grasp the idea of abstraction, and what makes an image abstract. To get a better idea of this, we looked at artists such as Hannah Hoch, Saul Leiter and John Baldessari. I was particularly caught by the work of Saul Leiter, as he incorporated different elements such as focus and lighting in his photographs instead of solely relying on the subject. We experimented with taking photos of unusual shapes and bits of paper, learning how to approach a photograph in an abstract manor. For my final outcome, I wanted to do something slightly different, so I decided to make a film. I filmed all the clips in the video using an old camcorder because I didn't want it to have a clear message with perfect quality. I filmed different parts of architecture and people, things that even alone would come across as abstract. I then edited these videos into one movie, only about forty seconds long, complete with a soundtrack that I took from an old radio show in the sixties. This was a particularly abstract thing to do, as it gave the video a very peculiar tone and presented many questions. After I had made this video, I felt that it wasn't enough to submit as my final piece, so I started experimenting with shadows and projection art. I decided to project my video onto a wall, whilst someone stood in front and cast a shadow over the film. This last touch is what gave the video such an abstract feel. It was now not the video that captured the viewers attention, but the mysterious figure and unusual shadows. I had a lot of fun creating this outcome, and I was very pleased as it was something that I had never done before, and allowed me to explore film making in photography.
The edges project was also one that I enjoyed quite a lot. We started off the same as previous projects : practising taking photos relating to the given topic. I found myself taking a lot more photos of architecture during this period, which greatly influenced my final piece. I looked at artists such as Arthur Erikson, who I found on Pinterest, who also happened to have a preference for architecture photography. I felt like there were so many edges and lines to be found when properly looking at a building or stairs. For my final piece, I went out and took a variety of photos, making sure each of them linked to edges. I chose the best - and most complimentary - photos that I took that day, and began thinking about how I could develop them into something that was worthy of a final piece. I wanted to make it into physical sculpture, so I began with a simple frame. Since the topic was edges, I thought that I could split the inside of the frame into different sections and fill them with the photos that I took. Using measured pieces of wood, I did exactly this and I was left with a frame filled with different shapes. I had to be very accurate when measuring the pieces of wood otherwise they didn't fit into the frame and I would have to cut another piece. This happened multiple times, so I made sure that I refined my work. Once I had my frame sorted, I glued my photos onto mounting board, cut them to shape, and stuck them into the shapes of the frame. I was left with a fairly abstract piece of art, that definitely related to my given topic and I was very pleased with it. This was my first sculpture that I created and I felt very satisfied with the outcome.
The fragments project was the one that I found most difficult. Although each topic title was very broad, I found it quite hard to settle on one idea and continue my work until I had a refined final outcome. What did help, however, was the skills that I brought over from the edges project. I felt that I now had an idea of how to create physical pieces and how to improve them when things went wrong. Furthermore, my new eye for architecture also influenced my final outcome that I submitted. One of the artists that influenced me the most was Lucas Simões. He created pieces of hard with three dimensional properties; Pieces of canvas that expanded outwards and also contained many layers. This is how the idea came to me for my final piece. I decided that I was going to create a piece by layering photos on top of one another and changing colours or cutting shapes in order to further incorporate fragments. I went out and took photos in London, focusing mainly on things that presented fragments to me in any way, wether that be colours, lines or shadows. I chose my favourite photo, which by itself had many fragmented properties. I then began to experiment with changing the colours of the photograph. I used photo editing software to do this, which although wasn't difficult, still presented new material that I had to learn. I printed off four copies of the photo, each with different colour-themes. I made sure that these were as contrasting as possible so that they would be distinguishable in the final outcome. I then cut different shapes into each copy and laid them on top of each other. I was very pleased with the final outcome of this piece, as it demanded a lot of practical work cutting the different shapes and also included some new skills using software. I framed the piece.
I also did some further experimentation involving development in the dark room. I had recently started doing film photography, and I decided to experiment using a photo that I felt related to the fragments title. As I hadn't used the dark room in a while, I had to get used to using the chemical and remember the importance of exposures, so at the beginning there was a small learning curve. I developed my chosen photo multiple times and then used it as a negative to then again develop into another photo. I began to feel as if this process was getting me nowhere so I had to think of something new that I could try. I started to develop the photo and print it onto paper, which I then used as a negative to develop the image into a new photo. I found that this process greatly distorted the image and highlighted certain lines and shapes within the photograph. Whilst doing this, I had to redo things many a time, because I didn't expose things properly or something didn't look good, so it ended up being a very unpredictable process. I then decided to incorporate Photoshop into the experiment, as it would be something new for me. I experimented with cutting shape out of my image and adding different images. I ended up with two images, which I would use as my final outcome in this particular experiment. I really like the way this project combined both work in the dark room and work on the computer with the Photoshop.
For my personal projects, I investigated four different areas : Street photography, abstraction, edges and fragments. We started off our street photography investigation by experimented with different angles to take photos from. We were given tasks such as taking twenty photos relating to surfaces or 'looking down', which taught us to look at our environment differently and start to think about how photos can be seen. I also researched artists such as Boogie, who's work really inspired me, with their on the spot thinking and confident attitude towards photography. We then went on a trip into London, where we were able to utilise the skills learnt in school and apply them to the real world. I had lots of fun doing this, as we came back with authentic photographs and new skills. I also saw the difficult things in street photography, such as missing a perfect shot, or simply being too shy to take a particular photograph. When we got back to school, we chose some of the best photos that we took and displayed them on our site. I tried turning a few of them into black and white, an idea inspired by the work of Boogie.
The abstraction topic was one of my favourite. We started by simply trying to grasp the idea of abstraction, and what makes an image abstract. To get a better idea of this, we looked at artists such as Hannah Hoch, Saul Leiter and John Baldessari. I was particularly caught by the work of Saul Leiter, as he incorporated different elements such as focus and lighting in his photographs instead of solely relying on the subject. We experimented with taking photos of unusual shapes and bits of paper, learning how to approach a photograph in an abstract manor. For my final outcome, I wanted to do something slightly different, so I decided to make a film. I filmed all the clips in the video using an old camcorder because I didn't want it to have a clear message with perfect quality. I filmed different parts of architecture and people, things that even alone would come across as abstract. I then edited these videos into one movie, only about forty seconds long, complete with a soundtrack that I took from an old radio show in the sixties. This was a particularly abstract thing to do, as it gave the video a very peculiar tone and presented many questions. After I had made this video, I felt that it wasn't enough to submit as my final piece, so I started experimenting with shadows and projection art. I decided to project my video onto a wall, whilst someone stood in front and cast a shadow over the film. This last touch is what gave the video such an abstract feel. It was now not the video that captured the viewers attention, but the mysterious figure and unusual shadows. I had a lot of fun creating this outcome, and I was very pleased as it was something that I had never done before, and allowed me to explore film making in photography.
The edges project was also one that I enjoyed quite a lot. We started off the same as previous projects : practising taking photos relating to the given topic. I found myself taking a lot more photos of architecture during this period, which greatly influenced my final piece. I looked at artists such as Arthur Erikson, who I found on Pinterest, who also happened to have a preference for architecture photography. I felt like there were so many edges and lines to be found when properly looking at a building or stairs. For my final piece, I went out and took a variety of photos, making sure each of them linked to edges. I chose the best - and most complimentary - photos that I took that day, and began thinking about how I could develop them into something that was worthy of a final piece. I wanted to make it into physical sculpture, so I began with a simple frame. Since the topic was edges, I thought that I could split the inside of the frame into different sections and fill them with the photos that I took. Using measured pieces of wood, I did exactly this and I was left with a frame filled with different shapes. I had to be very accurate when measuring the pieces of wood otherwise they didn't fit into the frame and I would have to cut another piece. This happened multiple times, so I made sure that I refined my work. Once I had my frame sorted, I glued my photos onto mounting board, cut them to shape, and stuck them into the shapes of the frame. I was left with a fairly abstract piece of art, that definitely related to my given topic and I was very pleased with it. This was my first sculpture that I created and I felt very satisfied with the outcome.
The fragments project was the one that I found most difficult. Although each topic title was very broad, I found it quite hard to settle on one idea and continue my work until I had a refined final outcome. What did help, however, was the skills that I brought over from the edges project. I felt that I now had an idea of how to create physical pieces and how to improve them when things went wrong. Furthermore, my new eye for architecture also influenced my final outcome that I submitted. One of the artists that influenced me the most was Lucas Simões. He created pieces of hard with three dimensional properties; Pieces of canvas that expanded outwards and also contained many layers. This is how the idea came to me for my final piece. I decided that I was going to create a piece by layering photos on top of one another and changing colours or cutting shapes in order to further incorporate fragments. I went out and took photos in London, focusing mainly on things that presented fragments to me in any way, wether that be colours, lines or shadows. I chose my favourite photo, which by itself had many fragmented properties. I then began to experiment with changing the colours of the photograph. I used photo editing software to do this, which although wasn't difficult, still presented new material that I had to learn. I printed off four copies of the photo, each with different colour-themes. I made sure that these were as contrasting as possible so that they would be distinguishable in the final outcome. I then cut different shapes into each copy and laid them on top of each other. I was very pleased with the final outcome of this piece, as it demanded a lot of practical work cutting the different shapes and also included some new skills using software. I framed the piece.
I also did some further experimentation involving development in the dark room. I had recently started doing film photography, and I decided to experiment using a photo that I felt related to the fragments title. As I hadn't used the dark room in a while, I had to get used to using the chemical and remember the importance of exposures, so at the beginning there was a small learning curve. I developed my chosen photo multiple times and then used it as a negative to then again develop into another photo. I began to feel as if this process was getting me nowhere so I had to think of something new that I could try. I started to develop the photo and print it onto paper, which I then used as a negative to develop the image into a new photo. I found that this process greatly distorted the image and highlighted certain lines and shapes within the photograph. Whilst doing this, I had to redo things many a time, because I didn't expose things properly or something didn't look good, so it ended up being a very unpredictable process. I then decided to incorporate Photoshop into the experiment, as it would be something new for me. I experimented with cutting shape out of my image and adding different images. I ended up with two images, which I would use as my final outcome in this particular experiment. I really like the way this project combined both work in the dark room and work on the computer with the Photoshop.