evaluation

Over the course of professional practice, I feel that I have learnt a lot. I have been able to learn things about the working industry that one day I will be a part of. It has been very interesting interacting with new and different people as well as being out of my comfort zone doing things that I would not normally think of doing. Although that is what being in the art industry is about. Collaborating with new people, working together to create amazing work that you couldn’t have done by yourself.

I have enjoyed everything about this module and am disappointed that I wasn’t able to attend a few of the outings and activities that were provided for us. I am glad that we were shown a range of different possibilities and outcomes to what our photography degree could lead to, some of which I had never thought of.

Although initially dreading it I am glad that we had to interview a photographer/practitioner and do a one days negotiated work experience. This is because it meant I had to interact with people I would not normally speak to and put my myself in an uncomfortable position that I had to overcome. From this, it has made me a stronger and more confident person where I feel I could speak to the people necessary.

Another thing which I have enjoyed from this module is that I went and visited lectures at Plymouth university and visiting photographers in Plymouth college of art. I was able to listen to artists speak about their work in a way you cannot read. I was able to listen to the way they described their work and how passionate they all were. This made me think that I had to be more passionate about my work and that I normally have a hesitation and unconfident feel about my work. That it is not good enough to talk about that way, but it made me realise that I need to be more confident about my work.

I feel that if I could I would change the confusion about the course. Not knowing or understanding which parts were professional practice and which were a part of a different module? I got very confused at times during the lessons as it was not made clear.

Over all I enjoyed the module and the way that although I did not getting the lessons sometimes, when it came to writing up it was easy and simple, the same goes for the interview and the work placement. I am glad that I was able to learn so much and have so much experience I can take with me into the future, as everything we were taught is useful, even if that included just a informal conversation.

exhibitions

Exhibition about Elemental intervention. – We decided that this was work that we had all completed and all had work for. We initially decided to put it on the walls, but last minute changed it to the table. This was for many reasons. The first reason was that walls are normal and boring, exhibitions are always on walls. This was why the table came in, it also meant that instead of just standing and looking at it, they have to interact with the work. walk around it and bend down to see it. Finally we decided to keep the table as wood instead of putting a white sheet on it because the wood looked more elemental.

Overall this small exhibition went well. All of the people that took part collaborated well together to create a piece that was visually aesthetic and interactive, as well as interesting. As you can see only 8 people contributed towards this work, this was unfortunate as there were 15 in total for our group. Although this was handy as it meant there wasn’t too many people interfering with lots of different opinions. I think the reason this worked so well is because there wasn’t that many people working together.

 

2nd exhibition

This exhibition was less about the concept and more about the medium we printed onto. We decided that we wanted to do something original and creative. We decided that we wanted the viewer to again interact with the work, to be able to see the exhibition from all angles. We wanted to fill a normally mundane space with imagery that you could see from wherever you were in the room.

Overall i am happy with the outcome of this exhibition, we all collaborated well and worked together equally. Again the whole group was not there so we were missing about half of the work that should have been up. Although this worked again in our favour as the images work well together. It is not too crowded although there is still an adequate amount of work shown to make it interesting. Initially we did not agree on a concept for our exhibition. Others wanted to put up what work we had for the Essencene project, although as a new project not everyone had work to show yet. This created tension between the group, even though we over came it and ended up with a well designed exhibition.

 

Overall i think designing and creating these small exhibitions has given me experience for future exhibitions. I have learnt how to collaborate and work together, compromising to encounter everyones ideas and feelings. I have learnt that your way is not always best and other people have good ideas too. I enjoyed creating these exhibitions, as well as working together with people that i don’t normally interact with. This was a new experience which i am glad i did as i believe is has made me better for the future.

Bibliography

Hanssie (2014) Model release form template. Available at: https://www.slrlounge.com/model-release-form/ (Accessed: 13 May 2016).

Photographers’Gallery (2004) Photographs by terry O’Neill. Available at: http://www.photographersgallery.com/by_artist.asp?id=101&gclid=Cj0KEQjw9tW5BRDk29KDnqWu4fMBEiQAKj7sp7aqqdmlhrP0mibIMu8ntic3-9BUVZDYP37X7T_Pwc4aAt5b8P8HAQ (Accessed: 13 May 2016).

Phillips, I. (2016) Terryo. Available at: http://www.terryo.co.uk (Accessed: 13 May 2016).

Tristan’s gallery – terry O’Neill (no date) Available at: http://www.tristansgallery.com/showPhotographer/16 (Accessed: 13 May 2016).

HomeNews (no date) Hot topic. Hot debate. Available at: http://www.thecopyrightcorner.org (Accessed: 13 May 2016).

Foundation, A. (2016) http://aperture.Org/exhibitions/. Available at: http://aperture.org/exhibitions/?ataperture=Current (Accessed: 13 May 2016).

Guide, F. (2013) National union of journalists: For photographers. Available at: http://www.londonfreelance.org/photo/index.html (Accessed: 13 May 2016).

Greenfield, L. (no date) Entry. Available at: http://www.louisegreenfield.com/Entry.html (Accessed: 13 May 2016).

Home (no date) Available at: http://www.loisgreenfield.com (Accessed: 13 May 2016).

Greenfield, L. (2016) Lois Greenfield: Moving still. Available at: http://www.loisgreenfield.com/moving-still-book (Accessed: 13 May 2016).

Taylor, C. (2015) Photographer interviews by crash Taylor. Available at: http://www.interviewsbycrashtaylor.com (Accessed: 13 May 2016).

model release forms

you need model release forms when taking pictures of people, when they are visible within the shot.Whenever the person within the image is recognisable or identifiable.

They are a legal document between the photographer and the model you are shooting. A written form of permission to the photographer saying that they allowed to use the images how they want to/ whatever is specified within the document.

Model release forms can be used in as a form of defence in a lawsuit. It can be used in a civil liability lawsuit. It protects both the photographer and the person being photographed.

Model release forms should be signed by both photographer and model. If the person is under the age of 18 then a parent or guardian should sign. The forms should also be dated – either from signature or date when the image was taken.

 

EXAMPLES –

I hereby assign full copyright of these photographs to the above-mentioned photographer (and the related representatives and assigns) together with the right of reproduction either wholly or in part.

The Photographer and licensees or assignees may have unrestricted use of these for whatever purpose, including advertising, with any retouching or alteration without restriction.

I agree that the above mentioned photographs and any reproductions shall be deemed to represent an imaginary person, and further agree that the Photographer or any person authorized by or acting on his or her behalf may use the above mentioned photographs or any reproductions of them for any advertising purposes or for the purpose of illustrating any wording, and agree that no such wording shall be considered to be attributed to me personally unless my name is used.

a critical review of Terry O’neill

Terry O’neill
Raquel Welch

voted most desired woman by playboy magazine

Portrait photographer. He began photography by applying to become an air steward to travel the world. At that point they did not have any vacancies in that department but did in the technical photographic unit. This led to him starting freelance photography at London airport.

With this image ‘Raquel Welch’ it looks like it is supposed to symbolise Jesus on the cross. She is dressed in similar ‘slave’ like clothing. I like the aesthetic of this image. The way that the lights are, it looks like fashion or model photography. Although, I don’t like that he has took a religious image and sexualised it.
Even though I am not religious I still find it offensive. Not only that but it is demoralising to women. Showing her in a sexual pose, showing her tied up and covered in oil. You could though see resemblances to Jesus as it could show her as strong just as it was with Jesus. But from my point of view the way she is posed with her legs crossed and tied up it shows her as weak and fragile. As if she was submissive in bondage. This image is contradictive and offensive to many people, and many faiths as well as beliefs. Most people that wouldn’t be offended by this image would just be sexualising her and looking at her in a sexual way. This is backed up by playboy magazine saying she is the most desired woman.

 

 

Another image from Terry O’neill
Audrey Hepburn

This is a very different image to the last. It is using natural light and is very sophisticated. I like the aesthetic of this image just as much as the previous, except I like the whole image including its meaning and what you read from it.
In this image O’neill has made Hepburn look very sophisticated but also sexy. I like the way that he has managed this but she is fully clothed. Using just the power of her beauty.
From this image I read that she is relaxed because of the way she is dressed but tense because of her body language. Usually when people cross their arms its means that they are being defensive. Although the dove symbolises peace. This image is full of contradictions.
I like the use of the depth of field. Making only her and the bird n focus, making nothing else matter but them. It means that nothing is taking focus away.
I like that this is not showing the sexuality of women and demoralising them.
I think that the light colour and not strong contrast show the delicate side of the image, making her seem more feminine without having to undress her.

 

When looking at O’neill nothing is similar within his work apart from they are all portrait photography. He does not stick to one type of portrait photography.
I don’t like the way that his photography is full of contradictions, that his images can both be calm and defensive or strong and submissive al at the same time.
Overall i like the aesthetics of his work. I like the way he takes the image and the surroundings and you can clearly see that he is good at what he does. I like the way that even though they are contractive you can clearly see his intentions within his images. I like the way that within his black and white images he caters for their meaning. Like for a rock and roll band he will make high contrast or when its supposed to be feminine he doesn’t make the contrast as strong. I also like that his colour images are bright and colourful but still keeping a natural aspect to them.
After looking at his work I am liking him more and more. He is soon becoming one of my favourite portrait photographers.
I am able to learn lots from his images, and take away more than i would normally looking at other photographers. The main this that i have learnt is to connect the image with the post productions. Making sure that the whole aesthetic connects with the meaning. As i have previously mentioned i like the way the he lowers or higher the contrast of the image to connect with the feeling and i will definitely be keeping this in mind for future work.

work placement -South West Colour laboratories

South West Colour Laboratories

Justine – part owner with Jim. Jim has worked at South West colour lab for 34 years and Justine took over from her dad 8 years ago.

Justine’s dad founded South West colour laboratories.
He started off as a photographer then started there film developing business 40 years ago in Brixham. It all began where him and his wife where they would process and develop film outside in their garden over night.
30 years ago they got too much business and had to move to larger premises. They went from industrial to also doing commercial work.
They started as all film but since then digital has got more popular they focus on digital. They till process film but only once a week.
From film and digital they now also do large format printing as do work for large companies such as Riverford farm, stover country park, and more. Their main clientele is wedding photographers. Mostly do work for commercial but also have personal non-commercial work.
They do exhibition work for students, This includes the hard rain project at Plymouth university.

They make it their business to keep up to date with all of the latest printing technology.
2nd in the world after Japan to have flexible inks – where you can put it onto moveable materials without the ink cracking. It also prints up to 3.2m long by 1.6m wide.
– can print on wood, metal, leather, (any flat surface up to 2 inches deep).
Also print with white ink which not many people do. Most people just print onto a white surface, but because they can print with white ink they can print onto clear surfaces and black and any colour. You have more flexibility wit white ink.

spent £95,000 on an LED printer so years ago but now it is old and they can’t get the parts for it, there is only one technician in the UK but he is now retired. As soon as this printer is broken it will no longer work, but the printing quality is better than the other ink jet printers.

print E6, C41, Black and white film. technolab printers £2,500 each. 20 years old. Began not knowing whether printing E6 would be beneficial but once they got the machine it was very popular. They would do 400ft a day or 70mm film – (40 square meters). Since digital came a long they barely do that a week.

scanning in the film negs they use a Epson V750 – use a neg carrier to hold the prints and move it a long one at a time.
When developing the film, they use a colenta machine. they turn all of the lights out and put the film into the right side. After about 10 minutes and the film has been fed into the machine you can turn the lights back on. In the first 10 minutes you have to carefully check on the film making sure it does not crinkle of scratch as that will ruin the film.

They are very careful about privacy and the images they use. As they also do personal photos they need to make sure that everything is in the law. Making sure that is they see indecent of illegal images that they with notify authorities.

Having this work experience has made me open my eyes to the different possibilities printing offers you. It has definitely helped going into a working environment, showing me that there is many different factors to photography. Without printers we would find it hard exhibiting out work. So many different kind of photographers and businesses use south west colour laboratories.
Everyone that works there is so friendly and helpful and they do the best the can, to make sure the work they produce is perfect. They have even worked through the night to meet deadlines and make sure the work is perfect for their clients.
i would like to go back to learn even more about what they do, and next time help them with some of their projects. Today i learned more about how they work and what they do as a company including the history behind. This is because i could not do much in case i did something wrong. Now that they have taught me about what each of the 4 person team does i might be able to do more.
Everything was so interesting, including learning about how much the equipment they use costs and how much they can profit or lose depending on what equipment they buy because it is all important. They need to make sure they make a profit.

Overall I think I learned a lot from today. That printing is an important part to photography and something i would like to look further into.

Sian Davey

visiting lecturer in plymouth university

‘looking for Alice’
‘the river’

•  take camera everywhere
•  make all work personal
• photos have to have a deeper understanding, make sure you understand your pictures – why have you taken it.
• what are you hoping to achieve, what do you want people to understand
• communicate experiences
• use eyes as a reflection – an invitation to truly look at yourself
• authenticity

assignment process

Research – study and investigation into artists/ techniques/ technology/ concepts/ practice requirements/ legislation.

Development – ideas/ concepts/ experiments/ skills/ understanding/ work.

Realisation – bodies of work, printed outcomes/ skills/ understanding/ written work.

Reflection – evaluation, critical thinking about what has been produced and what has been learned.

photography

• photography interlaced practice of creativity, technology, expression, aesthetics and new media.

• driven by curiosity and desire to experiment, create and find out about how the visual world operates.
• openness – sharing, open environment embrace collaboration.
• use social media to share your creativity.

• transformation – how the world is represented, forms of significant port of how we understand the world.
• anticipate the future of imagining explore and re-purpose the imagining of the past.

• Exploration – ask the questions we can’t answer.

• Photography has a dual function of distraction and entertainment. On the one hand and has a tool of discipline on the other.

 

Marcus Davies

• documentary photography (black and white)
• go out of your comfort zone – go past the first space – talk to people and get in further than the outskirts.
• auto chromatic film – non sensitive to red light – best on a sunny day – high contrast
• Mario Jaquamelli
• slide film
• photographers in galleries
• division of space

http://www.marcusdaviesphotography.com

http://www.nathaneldaviescollection.com

http://www.galleryvassie.com