Without (shoot 7)- Work record

Basic information:
Date: 19/04/17
Location: My house, London, Harlow
Camera used: Fujifilm Instax mini
Editing program: Photoshop CC 2014 
Camera settings: N/A

Plans for shoot:
For this shoot may aim is to remove myself from images which I have taken by editing the images in Photoshop CC 2014 by using the mask tool.  I have decided to remove myself from Instant film images due to their connotations of memories.

What I hope to achieve:
In this shoot I hope to achieve a series of images which explore my identity as a photographer and the influence which my presence has in the images that I am in my editing myself out of images which I have taken and am in.

I will be using bright pastel colours in this series to block myself out using the mask tool as I feel that these bright colours will help to symbolise my personal identity as a bright and bubbly person as well as reinforcing the identity of youth which I fall into due to the fact that pastels are colours traditionally associated with youth and childhood.
Outcome of shoot:
I was relatively happy with the outcome of this shoot as I achieved what I set out to in that I blocked myself out of a series of images and therefore demonstrated my absence and the effect that this had on the image.  I feel however that there may have been better ways of doing this for example by taking two images one with me in and one without me in in order to convey the same message.

Progression:
I feel that I will not be revisiting this technique in my exam due to the fact that I wish to carry out more collage based shoots however I may experiment with colour blocking in the sense of collage based colouring.  

If I were to revisit this technique I would experiment with ways to improve the smoothness of the line in each image.  I would also choose images where I am posed more dynamically as in several images I appear as a coloured blob and not a human shape.
Favourite image:

This is my favourite image from the series due to the fact that I am positioned slightly further away from the camera than I am in others and therefore have a more discernibly human shape.  This shape gives the image more meaning and helps it's message of personal identity to be better conveyed.

Denotation: This is an image of myself and a friend in which I have removed myself from the image by masking the area which I wished to colour in and carefully filling in my silhouette with a purple brush tool.  The image was shot on Instant film.  The purple colourisation here compliments the other cool tones in the image such as black and beige however it bright enough that it stands out against the more muted tones featured in the image.

Connotation: This image carries connotations of removal of identity.  I chose to use purple in this image due to the fact that it is my favourite colour and is therefore a large part of my identity.  The use of Instant film suggests a theme of memory and nostalgia throughout the shoot which is important as the shoot as a whole is intended as an examination of personal identity and what is more personal than a memory.

Context: This image was designed to symbolise my personal identity as a photographer and focus on the way that I fit into my images as well as the way that I fit into events with my friends and how my absence would alter them.

Least favourite image:

This image is my least favourite image because my silhouette here resembles a E.T or a miscellaneous blob opposed  to a person.  I feel that this detracts from the symbolism of the image and project as a whole and also feel that the green colourisation here does not compliment the image.

Denotation: The above image shows my face covered using the mask tool in order to show how a photo of myself and my friend is altered through my removal.  The colour I have used to block myself out is green which provides an interesting element of contrast with the red of my friends jacket.  I have shot this image using Instant film.

Connotation: The Instant film used creates a sense of nostalgia and channels the idea of memory which is significant in this shoot as I was focused on the way that self can be displayed in photography and a persons memory is a large part of their self identity.  The bright green used here provides childlike connotations to the image due to the garish brightness of the green.

Context: This image was designed to symbolise my personal identity as a photographer and focus on the way that I fit into my images as well as the way that I fit into events with my friends and how my absence would alter them.

Easter family (shoot 6)- Work record

Basic information:
Date: 16/04/17
Location:Devon
Camera used: Nikon D5300
Editing program: Photoshop CC 2014 
Camera settings: 1/125, F6.3, ISO 125

Plans for shoot:
In this shoot I will be documenting the more traditional aspects of Easter with my family.

What I hope to achieve:
I hope to achieve a documentary series using black and white photography in order to better convey the idea of traditionalism and memories associated with family gatherings.

I feel that the use of black and white photography will create a somewhat more sombre series to contrast with friends as I feel that people have different versions of themselves that the show to both family and friends.

Outcome of shoot:
I feel that this shoot was successful as I was able to achieve various strong images and feel that my final images tell a story however I also feel that I would be happier not carrying out a solely black and white shoot again.

Progression:
In the future I would like to work with this style of documentary photography again however I feel that coloured photography is more appropriate for my exam concept of youth culture.
Favourite image:

This is my favourite image as it uses a shallow depth of field to focus on the subject helping her to stand out against the rest of the image.  The fact that the subject is looking directly into the camera also appeals to me as it allows the viewer to gain a more emotive connection to the subject.

Denotation: A shallow depth of field is used her to draw focus to the subject.  Focus can also be seen through the way that the subject is positioned in the centre third of the image as this helots to draw the viewers eye to her.  The viewers eye is also drawn to the subject as a result of the strong tonal contrast present in the image created by the high contrast black and white colourisation.

Connotation: The rural imagery carries connotations of calm and rural Britain.  This adds to the theme of tradition throughout the shoot.  The fact that the subject is holding a glass carries connotations of festivity and happiness.

Context: This image is focused around my family and personal identity from that aspect of my life.

Least favourite image:

This image is my least favourite image due to the fact that the ducks are not clearly recognisable in the image.  This makes the images subject unclear to the viewer.

Denotation: The above image uses high contrast black and white colorisation in order to create an eye catching image due to the tonal contrast present.  The image has been shot in landscape orientation and is absent of an apparent subject.

Connotation: The rubber ducks floating in the river carry connotations of Easter and fun however they are not very easily visible due to their size and the lens used on my camera.

Context: This image is focused around my family and personal identity from that aspect of my life.

Easter friends (shoot 5)- Work record

Basic information:
Date: 13/04/17
Location: My House
Camera used: Nikon D5300
Editing program: Photoshop CC 2014 
Camera settings: 1/125, f9, ISO 250

Plans for shoot:
In this shoot I will be shooting images throughout a day with my friends themed around an Easter egg hunt.  My aim for this shoot is to focus on the vibrance of youth.

What I hope to achieve:
I hope to achieve symbolism surrounding the vibrance of youth through merging colour and documentary techniques of Martin Parr and the style of David Shama.

I hope that by focusing on recording my own friends I will be able to convey a better understanding of youth as they will be calm and happy around my camera allowing the realities of youth to be conveyed opposed to the rebellious cold front often shown to society.

Outcome of shoot:
I was happy with the outcome of this shoot as it realistically portrayed youth and showed spontaneity and happiness through the content of the images.

I also like the way that cell phone culture is referenced in this series due and the importance of social media can be seen through the way that phones are used instead of socialising directly.  This is important to recognise as it is an important part of teen culture.

Progression:
In the future I would like to explore this style of photography whilst incorporating further techniques of collage and scrapbooking to create a more in depth analysis of the day.


Favourite image:

This is my favourite image as it showcases fashion of the time adding a sense of date context to the image.  I also feel that the subjects makeup does this well and these aspects show identity well.

Denotation: There is a shallow depth of field in this image which draws focus to the subject this is added to by her positioning in the centre of the image.  The vibrant and saturated colorisation makes the image appear striking and bold helping it to stand out to the viewer.

Connotation: The bright coloration of the image helps to convey the idea of joy and happiness found in youth.  The subjects expression shows the playful and competitive aspect of youth today.  The Easter egg alludes to childhood as well as showcasing a merging of cultures as Easter egg hunts are a largely American tradition.

Context: This image is focused around my friends and personal identity from the aspect of friendship.

Least favourite image:

This image is my least favourite image as I feel that it does not fit the theme of youth as well as the other images due to the absence of youth in the image.

Denotation: The above image features Easter eggs arranged on the floor the bright colours of the egg and increased saturation of the image make it appear bold and eye catching.

Connotation: The bright colours used carry connotations of youth happiness and summer whilst the egg is symbolic of Easter.

Context: This image is focused around my friends and personal identity from the aspect of friendship.

Collage (shoot 4)- Work record

Basic information:
Date: 11/04/17
Location: Harlow Town Centre, My House
Camera used: Fugifilm Instax Wide Shot, Fujifilm Instax mini
Editing program: Photoshop CC 2014 
Camera settings: 3m-Infintity, 0.9-3m

Plans for shoot:
In this shoot I will be shooting images throughout a day out and collating them in a scrap book format along with other items that I have collected over the day such as bus tickets and receipts.

What I hope to achieve:
In this shoot I hope to portray a day in my life to the viewer and therefore create a personal piece in my project.

I feel that this will be most clear demonstrated through the use of Instant film as it provides a more raw and unfiltered image allowing the viewer to see what was actually happening in the image opposed to a reconstructed version of events that is so commonly seen in modern society as a result of social media and world wide sharing.  This is due to the fact that due to our massive outreach everything has become a competition of who can have the best clothes or the most exciting day when in reality all that really matters is the memories and who you make them with.

Outcome of shoot:
I am extremely happy with the outcome of this shoot and feel that it was successful due to the fact that I captured several strong individual images.  I have found this to be important as the images are what tells the story in the piece and without them the message of the piece would not be clear.  

I feel that the final composite could have been improved by being on a larger scale but for this I would have had to organise a bigger gathering which I feel may have deducted from the unplanned appearance of the shoot and removed part of the meaning behind it of spontaneity of youth.
Progression:If I were to create a similar shoot to this again I would be interested in exploring the identity of youth as a whole as well as just my interpretation of youth and feel that this would be best translated in separate shoots.  I would like to further explore collage in my final project as it is a medium which interests me.

Favourite image:

This is my favourite collage form the series as I like the messy effect captured by the chaotic placement of the images and souvenirs.  I feel that this placement creates conveys the chaos of youth successfully making the piece more impactful.  I also like the way that this layout allows more images to fit onto the piece.

Denotation: This is a composite collage of various images and souvenirs taken throughout the day.  There is a high level of contrast in this image created by the blend of dark and shadowed Instant film images and the light background the images are arranged on.  This contrast is eye catching to the viewer and makes the images stand out and be easily seen.

Connotation: The bright coloration in the collage conveys the idea of happiness and youthful excitement to the viewer whilst the large amounts of white in the image create imagery of the purity of childhood.  The plaster in the image suggests carelessness and an aspect of adventure.  The use of instant film shows a sense of nostalgia for childhood and makes the viewer reminisce due to the fact that Instant film is often used for scrapbooking.  Instant film is also interesting to work with due to the fact that it is harder to effectively manipulate in editing programmes meaning that the final image is often truer to the actual events than is sometimes the case with digital photography.

Context: This image has a context of the desire to remember even the more mundane days in our lives and to value the important things like friendship as you are only young once.

Least favourite image:

This image is my least favourite image as a result of the fact that it is much more uniform than the previous image meaning that it lacks the essence of spontaneity of youth.

Denotation: The above image features a selection pictures and souvenirs gathered and taken over the course of the day.  The image has a regimented shape making it clear to see what is going on in each image.

Connotation: The Instant film used creates a sense of nostalgia due to the fact that this kind of composition with images is associated with scrapbooking and Instant film is a more historic form of photography.

Context: This image has a context of the desire to remember even the more mundane days in our lives and to value the important things like friendship as you are only young once.

I am... (Shoot 2)- Work record

Basic information:
Date: 11/03/17
Location: Studio
Camera used: Nikon D5300
Editing program: Photoshop CC 2014 
Camera settings: 1/125, f8, ISO 200

Plans for shoot:
In this shoot I will be focused on portrait photography and ways to explore peoples personal identity.  I plan to overlay font in my images during the photoshop process featuring one word that the subject feels describes them.

What I hope to achieve:
In this shoot I will be focusing on the way text can be used to convey personal identity in an image.  I will be experimenting with studio shoots and allowing the subjects of my image to choose the background colour which they wish to be presented with an attempt to enhance the personalisation of the image.

Outcome of shoot:
This shoot was overall successful as I found that the technique I used of placing a layer of font of the background layer of the image and then reducing it's opacity allowed for an interesting element of contrast to be present in the image.  I feel that the use of a darker background for this shoot worked best as it made the decreased saturation in the image around the world more striking and evident.  

Progression:
I feel that this shoot was successful overall as it conveyed the personal feelings of the subjects in a successful way however I believe that it may be more effective to gain a sense of personalisation through having the subjects physically alter an image.  For this reason in the coming weeks I plan to experiment with the use of Instant film photography as this will allow the subject to alter the images themselves.

Favourite image:

This is my favourite image due to the high level of contrast found between the areas of the subject covered with text and the layers without text.  This is particularly striking in this image as areas of the subject are in black and white where there is not text.

Denotation: This image features the text "Star" overlaid over an image of the subject who is posed in a dramatic way that evokes the mentality of a star this is important as it ties together the image and the text.  The dark background creates a nice sense of contrast between the subjects saturated areas crated by the text and the black and white areas without text.

Connotation: This image carries connotations of self identity and removal of gender roles in society as the subject is male and wearing lipstick as well as posing dramatically.  This is interesting as it is accepted in the current generation as a cultural norm however older generations may find this behaviour anti-masculine and odd.

Context: This images context is that of self expression of the subject and the way that the convey their identity through words and expressions.

Least favourite image:

This image is my least favourite image due to the way that the images saturation has not been decreased to a point of black and white and the fact that the text of "hyper" does not seem to fit well with the dark background of the image.

Denotation: The image features the subject with the words "hyper" overlaid over her with an energetic expression on her face.  The image is very dark and whist a good layer of contrast is created it is not as effective as the other images from this series.

Connotation: The dark colouration of the background here carries connotations of sadness and depression which contrasts heavily with the message of happiness and energy that is being converted through the subjects expression and text.  The phrase "hyper" conveys the idea of youthfulness and energy.

Context: This images context is that of self expression of the subject and the way that the convey their identity through words and expressions.

I love... (shoot 3)- Work Record

Basic information:
Date: 14/03/17
Location: College grounds
Camera used: Fugifilm Intsax Wide Shot
Editing program: Photoshop CC 2014 
Camera settings: 3m-Infintity

Plans for shoot:
In this shoot I will be focusing around portraiture and presenting something personal about the subject to the viewer.

What I hope to achieve:
I will be selecting members of the college community to photograph in the college grounds.  The locations chosen will complement the subjects outfits colourisation in order to create a visually pleasing image.

I will be using an Instant film camera in order to allow the subject to write their own name and something that they love on the white border of the image.  I have chosen to have the subject write their own details on the images in order to give the images a more personal feel as each image will feature the subjects own handwriting.

I have chosen not to edit the images in this series in photoshop other than to crop them after scanning as I feel that further editing would reduce the raw and personal appearance of the images however cropping allowed the images to have a clean and finished final appearance.

Outcome of shoot:
This shoot was successful as it allowed for the subjects to present a personal aspect of themselves in a creative way.  The most effective images from this shoot are those that featured a background with colours which contrasted and complimented the subjects outfit.  This element of composition allowed for the subject to stand out effectively against their background and therefore stand out to the viewer.  The subject also stands out to the viewer through their positioning in the frame as a central positioning was generally used throughout the shoot to enable the viewers eye to easily find the subject.

Progression:
I enjoyed this shoot and felt that it was successful as a whole due to it's personal elements such as the use of the subjects own handwriting.  The nostalgia created by the use of the instant film camera was also interesting to me and I would like to create a more more complex collage based piece in the future using intent film in a scrap book form.

Favourite image:

This is my favourite image due to the way that the subjects blue grey shirt matches the grey of the railings and the dark bricks break up the images background preventing the wall form blending into one block colour.

The stairs also create an interesting aspect to this image as they create leading lines which draw the viewers eye from one area of the image to another from the handwritten message, past the subject and up to the top of the image past the subjects head.

Denotation: This is a landscape image shot on instant film featuring the subject in the images centre third.  The flash used creates a washed out effect which is typical of instant film cameras.  There is handwritten text beneath the image which reads "Ollie- Cuddles" as the subject was asked one thing which they loved.

Connotation: The fact that there are a lot of blue tones featured in this image can be seen as relating to the fact that the subject is male as blue is a colour stereotypically associated with masculinity.  The fact that the subject has stated that he loves "cuddles" may be seen as subverting masculine stereotypes as this would be a traditionally feminine thing to state.  The fact that an instant camera has been used carries connotations of nostalgia and memories as instant film is a historic form of photography often associated with youth.

Context: In our current culture people are breaking away from specific gender norms and roles and this image can be seen as an example of this.

Least favourite image:

This image is my least favourite image due to the way that the image appears empty and the subject appears small in the image.  I also feel that the flash overly washes out the subject in this image.  

Denotation: The above images features a subject against a brick wall there are contrasting colours between the blue of his shirt and the brown/orange of the wall so he stands out however the cameras flash washes him out making him blend into the wall.

Connotation: The blue of the subjects shirt can be seen as a suggestion of gender norms as blue is a traditionally masculine colour however the subjects handwriting is in cursive which is associated with femininity in modern times the fact that the subject loves "gaming" can also be seen as a masculine interest as gaming is viewed as a more masculine hobby by society.

Context: This images context can be linked to nostalgia through the use of instant film as well as gender expression through the subjects personal elements of the image.