Twelfth Shoot

The feedback given from my last tutorial was to think about the reason for looking to the past: I want to revisit a time when things were simpler and much more innocent, compared to nowadays where everything is so uncertain, specifically where my life or relationships will lead.

Therefore I decided to photograph the cluttered mess in my room after trying to sort everything out, shooting from a variety of angles and approaches, and using natural light, in order to convey my inner reasoning behind this project.

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Overall- I think these images came out well, with the different angles giving different meanings; for example, Images 2 and 3 have an investigative approach that harkens back to forensic photography. However Image 8 is contemplative and quiet due to its colours and composition that creates an awkwardness; its split between an empty beige wall and a cluttered grey wall that evidences human activity, and depicting something that used to be there, but isn't anymore. This can symbolise the dichotomy of my life at the moment, of gravitating towards an empty and calming mentality, but being brought down to face reality, the bag, looking slightly depressed slumped on the ground, personifying myself.

Carrying on from this shoot, I may re-photograph certain images previously taken in this project, in order to refine the project, as I feel I have exhausted all possibilities of techniques whilst exploring this project. An example being to shoot Images 11 and 12 in landscape, so as to explore different layouts.

Eleventh Shoot

Following from my last shoot, I found more written work with personal comments that I thought would be interesting to depict after the feedback I got from class.

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Like before, I scanned the images on my printer, attempting to centralise them as much as possible; I like how the images show insignificant items that most people can relate to (they may have had something similar when they were younger). An example being Image 4, due to its inconsequentiality and because my last name is written wrong, which has always been the case in my life.

Overall it shows a younger and innocent perspective compared to now. Therefore this may represent the project, symbolising a need or want to reach back to the past, in search for that naïveté, considering how uncertain life is at the moment.

I will continue using this approach and aesthetic, as I think its quite successful; consequently I will continue to find more items that would be interesting.

Tenth Shoot

After collecting all the work I've created thus far and making a dummy book, my tutor advised to re-photograph the places the archive images were photographed originally, to see if anything has changed.

I meticulously reproduced the photographs as accurate as possible, by copying the angle and imagining what position the pictures were taken.

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When grouped with their respective archive image- you can clearly see the passage of time, but what's interesting is the lack of people in the shots, especially in Image 2, 3 and 5. It creates a sense of melancholy by depicting a cold outlook at present life through the lack of human presence, compared to the archive images that lovingly depict moments in time easily forgotten, symbolising the fragility of memory.

Though the majority of the images from this shoot show the same location, this may be interesting to compare and contrast all the archive photographs with their current images, similar to a typology when grouped together, by presenting the similarities and differences.

Carrying on from this shoot I will try to find more archive images that contain items we seldom use anymore, as well as show different locations, to diversify the project.

First dummy book

As I had produced a lot of work at this point, I gathered all the work together and put them in various sequences, so I could re-evaluate the theme of the project; I feel I have lost my original intentions whilst photographing in the garage, especially as it hasn't developed the project forward.

Therefore I tried to group certain images together, since they linked in some way; an example being the sleeping bag in the attic linking in with the archive image of when it was in use.

The link of the sleeping bag

Also I tried to create some form of narrative with what I had, especially at the beginning and end, wherein its an initial exploration of the attic and by the end a reflection towards myself.

Because of this, the project has now morphed into something that is personal to me, through inadvertently using items that once belonged or have some link to me.

Ninth Shoot

In shoot 9 I went back to the scanned imagery from my third shoot, after Sam Welburn thought it would be interesting to focus on sole objects that may have no value to others, but that are personal to me and have a backstory.

Therefore I looked in the attic and found items that would be interesting and easy to scan; I then experimented with using different backgrounds, trying to keep it as simple and bare as possible, so the focus would be on the objects (compared to my third shoot where I combined lots of items together and mixed backgrounds together).

Overall I think these images came out quite well, as the items let the viewers think what their significance is for being shown here, with the gradient backdrop making the images more dynamic than simply a flat background. I would continue to find items and carry on with this aesthetic, as it contrasts and complements the busy imagery I've produced thus far.

As I have done a lot of shoots, I will gather all the images I've created and compile them in a sequence, to see if the mixture of styles work well together, or think about what I can work on to make the project more cohesive.

Eighth Shoot

After receiving feedback on the images from my seventh shoot- I felt quite dejected as my tutor simply dismissed my work without giving it a chance and suggested that I photographed the images without thinking, which wasn't the case; as a result I didn't take any pictures after that and concentrated on other work. But once I spoke to Sam Welburn, a post graduate photography student, I felt inspired to photograph again, despite not feeling the most confident about my project.

Following the feedback given by Sam, I went back to the attic using a digital camera, something I haven't done since my first shoot, and photographed aspects of the attic not depicted before; I've decided to eschew using a disposable camera for now, as it wasn't giving me the images I wanted, and because it was difficult to use in a dark environment like the attic or garage.

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Using approaches harking back to my initial artists, I think these images came out well, with the lighting directing the looks of the images and the interesting choice in angles. The decision to concentrate on the attic again has focused my project into something personal again, rather than diverging off to the garage and using a disposable camera.

However if I were doing this shoot again I would try to experiment with the depth of field, specifically in Image 6 where a shallower depth of field might've worked; I may also use location lighting to see if that improves the pictures.

Seventh Shoot

For this shoot I went back to the attic as I haven't photographed this area since Shoot 2, and I approached this environment similar to my last shoot: using a mixture of flash and an alternate source to light the area. I also tried to photograph aspects of the attic not previously seen, or photographing it differently.

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This shoot didn't really turn out the best, as I remember photographing aspects of the area not previously seen, but only twelve out of twenty five images have developed. As well as this- some of the images aren't particularly good due to their composition. However, since I got these photos developed somewhere different, the images are of a better quality compared to my previous film photographs.

If I were to do this shoot again I would use a film camera to see if it created better looking images. I would also try and change the lighting so the images weren't too oversaturated.