Skills and Branding Audit

This will identify skills and interests that I have built up and those I need to develop as well as consider your approach to your professional identity. 

The skills i have gained while working on this project, include working with others that i wouldnt necessarily work with in day to day life. This has helped me because when it comes to family and portrait photography i will be photographing people i dont know, so this has widely helped me gain in confidence. 
Another skill i have gained while working on this project, is finding natural leading lines and frames within my work, which adds to the overall affect making the viewer look at what they are supposed to  look at. 

One interest i have gained within this project is the use of polariods and film photography, while i am still getting to grips with using the polariods, i have fallen back in love with the aspect of analogue and the anticipation of whether my images will turn out or not. 

the skills i need to develope further come with the technical aspects of photography, unless im using a prime lens i can never quite tell what settings my camera needs to be on, or whether my images are at the correct exposure for what i want. I need to develop my knowledge and maybe start using a light meter in future to aid in this. 

I have learned that my professional identity lies in the candid, natural/ follow me around images, images that capture a persons true nature, rather than the posed aspects of a studio shoot. I have found using a prime lens has also helped to add to the intimate candid moments i live to capture. 

One to One with Ellen

From my one to one with ellen she suggested i looked at photographers like
1. emily soto- lighter fashion images
2. matt holyoak- Jack wills campaign
3. Annie Bundfuss- children
4. cabbage and roses clothing campaign
5. lina schynus?
6. Anette Pehrsson

Ellen suggested these photographers because they were more in keeping with my style of photography and sense of intimacy in my work than the photographers i had previously looked at for this project.

I found this one to one helpful because it reconfirmed to me i was heading in the right direction with my work and where i am going in the future.

Proof Of E~folio

Here is my proof of creating my Efolio, I used the 3 best images from each shoot compiling them together in one place to create my Portfolio

Updated website Proof

 http://becky626.wixsite.com/beccaedwardsphoto

my website has only just gone Live so it is as up to date as it possibly can be while still being relavent to my practice

One to One with James 31-03-17

Unfortunately I was unwell for the show and tell before easter so the next day i had a one to one with james to make up for it so i wouldnt get marked as incomplete, this is the feedback i got...

1. look at taylor wessing Portrait prize 
2. personal angle- Larry Sultan- family-lydia Goldblatt-Alec Soth- Joel Sternfeld- Thomas Strath- August Sander-Walker Evans 
3. look at framing your subject 
4. light for framing/ Quality of Light 
5. Use a Tripod 
6. Tina Barney Vs. Larry Sultan Vs Lydia Goldblatt

overall i think this one to one was helpful because it gave me a direction and James gave me photographers to start looking at and further my research contextualising my practice 

Presence on a moving image platform proof

I have decided the presence I will have on a moving image platform will be on Instagram I have created a stand alone account purely for my professional pictures that is separate from my personal account 

Membership on Professional Network Proof

Here is my proof of membership on linkedin

Professional email proof

Here is my proof of a professional email for my practice

Learning agreement tutorial

This was an opportunity for us to feedback to a tutor about what we planned on doing how we were going to do it and get feedback from a tutor on the work.
I found it helpful to an extent as it made me think about what audience I wanted to view the work think about where it would go I.e. magazines, stand alone work, portfolio, I also go suggestions on working with graphic students to make a mock logo if I wanted to make up a campaign for a company... I was told to maybe focus on a specific concept if I wanted to do a brand campaign i.e i focus on jeans a lot in my shoots so to look at levis and do a campaign around them if that was a direction I want to go in.

I learnt it was ok to have restrictions but it's good not to and focus on what I want to do...

Most of this feedback I got from other students I didn't really find tutor feedback very helpful, whether this wasn't the intention of the tutorial I don't know but I found it very of putting at times when no one was saying anything and said tutor was just sat there staring at me rather than offering up advice or different references to look at like they did with other students in that tutorial.

I did write down some thoughts about my work that I had when I was listening to other people talk....
•On location shoots would work better
•cintact companies? 
•focus on model rather than their clothing
•focus on one aspect of the image- I.e a piece of clothing or object.
•what makes the model who they are?-tattoos/style- could pair this with a sentence on how they see themselves or what their goal is.

Collaboration part 4

After our day at Norwich Fashion Week we decided to all meet up and go through the work we had got decide on a colour balance and start getting the work ready for uploading.
However I was the only one that had gone through my work picked the ones that worked best and edited them the way I thought worked best with what we were trying to do initially and also warm them up so they didn't look 2D.

The way I edited them was liked by the others but they decided it was "too warm" for what they wanted. However the group was split by who liked what colour balance. I was made to change one of my images because "it didn't look professional enough".
I think it was good for us to meet up and go through everything but it felt like my opinion didn't matter or was overruled to an extent. I had to go away re-edit and choose a different picture. At the end of the day it was a group project however it would have been nice to have had some say on the way my own pictures should look like.

Day at Norwich Fashion Week- collaboration part 3

So this was the third time we all managed to meet up during the course of this project.

The university put on an event and Norwich Open in conjunction with Norwich Fashion Week. The events we were scheduled in for were:
~production talk with Tamsin Morgans/east coast production
           This was helpful because we learnt        what the most important things to have ready were when doing shoots for example: mood boards are good for building a story, think about permits, think about how many shots you want and allow time for  hair and makeup, hair and makeup can take up 50% of the shoot, put everything down on a call sheet; make sure everything is written down so if something goes wrong or off plan you have the written plan to refer back to and people need as much notice as possible.
~ Wex Photographic talk
         We were told a good application/handy application to invest in and get was set-a-light Pro because you are able to create a virtual environment and that can tell you what conditions you need for studio shoots and settings the camera needs to be on for the lighting you want.
~how to communicate drama and narrative through direction and style with Kylie Griffiths and Sophie Lachowycz
        I didn't really get a lot out of this talk, I felt it was set up more for the fashion students and would have benefitted from it more than one of the other talks. A few things I learnt from this talk were:
1. It's not just about collaboration it's about making friendships and networking
2. Pinterest is good for getting your ideas together
3. Always have a shot list
4. 2 weeks is the bare minimum you need to prepare for a shoot but be flexible with your time
5. Be optimistic with what you can achieve but try pushing for more
6. Connections are one of the most important things
7. Don't be scared to follow up with a company or a photographer if you have emailed them.
8. Be your own works biggest fan- if you don't really love something it will show
9. It's important to assist
10.  Always try and network to build your own work.

In some talks from this day I got a lot out of them and learnt a lot however other talks I felt that they were more suited to the fashion students more than others I understand they had to have something for everyone however looking back at it there wasn't really much on offer for the film students as it was more aimed at the photography and fashion production side of things.
Overall I thought this day was helpful to an extent but in other ways it just wasn't at all helpful, I like to think I took a little bit of information away from every talk that would be helpful for myself in future
       

Collaboration - Part 2

Our second meeting was the day of the shoot.
The plan was to get to Cley Next the Sea for 11 and set up and be ready to shoot by 12 and to all intense and purposes we managed to achieve this, even though I got slightly lost and missed the turning because I wasn't completely sure where I was supposed to be going, I don't think this was very good organisation on our part because I had an address our fashion student gave me but we were meeting in a different place.

I found it hard to collaborate with the film students because I wasn't really sure where I could help or what they needed the help with because I don't have experience with that kind of equipment. It was hard to judge if I would be in the way or in shot because I didn't know how wide they were shooting. But I did my job as a photographer shooting and then feeding back to the fashion student and other photography student about the shots I had captured, which ones I liked from a quick glance and so on, I tried to help as best I could and at the end of the day I feel we all came away with something we could work with and in some cases work we were really pleased with (ki can only speak personally here) that made this project as clean cut as possible.

Personally I don't really like doing fashion  shoots so I was kind of dreading having to do something like that but I approached it as if I was doing an on location portrait shoot and started to really enjoy what I was doing.

I realised that all I had to do, is if it wasn't something I was comfortable doing, change my mind set and treat it like something I do enjoy doing and I plan to do more shoots like that for future projects

Collaboration Project- Part 1

From the start to the end of that first lecture, I felt very nervous and filled with almost anxiety and dread at the thought of working in a group of people I didn't know. Previously when working in groups it hasnt worked out due to lack of communication or just not getting on at all. So it made me nervous that there would be a repeat and the exact same would happen again.

My mind was then put at ease when the group I was in headed over to the playhouse and started to talk everything through.

Initially we discussed what theme we all wanted or felt comfortable to do and landed on something that rested between two of the themes Sci- Fi and minimalism and chose to focus on a justaposed modern say girl in a world you wouldnt normally associate with her.

For convienience we decided our location would be cley next the sea. It has the old style setting and Liv our fashion student had a family home there where we could take rest break for lunch or charge batteries.

I then had to run of for a family thing so left the rest to chat and fill me in later deciding all our communication would best be done over facebook messenger.

Cambridge E- Luminate Festival

"e-Luminate Cambridge is a contemporary arts festival for a city at the forefront of technological research, 

offering the opportunity for residents and visitors to discover the richness and diversity of the city’s

 iconic buildings and public spaces in a new light. The 2017 Festival will again be taking 

place in venues across the city, and will include for the first time an innovative conference

 in the Corn Exchange and Guildhalls. "

one to one with Juneko 07/02/17

Points Made:-

• make it a bit more clear what and how research is informing you, shoots for still life e.g. in the style of carol sharp
• make as dynamic range as possible in your final shoot
• if you have time reshoot with the same setting but hopefully with different compositions of roses (stage different)
• try shallow depth of field with still life too 

one to one James Cant 18-1-17

points made:-

• Investigate Crops 
• Key features of your favourite picture- soft natural light, tonal range restricted, shallow depth of field, colour strong/muted burgundy red of rose, monochromatic(ish) green tinge background- Reletively simple/clean background (not lots of objects) but has textual qualities 
• look for similar approaches- Laura Hynd- Burnham niker agents 

One to One with Ellen 06/12/16

Points made:-

• slightly match the yellow tones in the images to make them equal 
• depth of field matched and tone mood 
• look at Annette Pehrsson 
• film inspiration:- atonement, amelie and big fish 
• botanical drawings 

peer review

L/O 1- 

What has been done well?:-

• Good development of ideas (especially still life) 
• good range of artists 

what do you think needs to be done:- 

• focus on perfecting style and creating a final image

L/O 2- 

what has been done well? :-

• good amount of detailed research to inform your shoot

what do you think needs to be done?:-

• look at your work in terms of professional contexts 

L/O 3-

What had been done well?:- 

• annotation of shoots are clear

what do you think needs to be done?:- 

• start to work on visual coherence 

L/O 4- 

What has been done well:-

• critical analysis of your own work 

what needs to be done?:-

• When referring to an artist your images need to be visually coherent, show that you have taken inspiration from them.

L/O 5

what has been done well?:-

• good use of lighting diagrams from your shoots 
• good annotation and communication through your logbook 

what needs to be done?:- 

• look at landscape photographers 
• take inspiration from others- not just flower photography 
• discuss your landscape shoot and what inspired it 

L/O 6- 

what has been done well?:- 

• every shoot has a plan, even including health and safety 

what needs to be done?:- 

• consider your visual approach for your three types of images-keep it coherent 

Approaches to Learning and developing a creative practice task 1 & 2

Task 1: Approaches to Learning and Developing a Creativity Practice

Within this brief I want to achieve images that I am proud of and can add to my portfolio of work, because it will help in future practice to show what I can do, in order to help me get work, I can achieve this by managing my time. Making lists of what I have to do, and set a time in the day each day to sit and do that work. This will help me keep on top of everything I have to do so I am not leaving my work to the last minute where it may be rushed and not be to my full potential. So I can not say it would be work I am proud of. I want to produce work that is creative and inspires other to try something different, to approach something in a different way than what they would normally do. I want to achieve this because, well isn’t it everyones dream to make a difference to at least one person? In some way or another? If my work inspires others to pick up a camera and start doing photography then that is making a difference. I don’t know how I would achieve this otherwise, other than to keep making work I am proud of and get it out there in some way so that someone can see it and be inspired by what I do.

I need to approach learning by being critical, creative and cooperative, to help others when they need help, to get involved with feedback in the group crits and manage my time so I don’t leave everything to the last minute and rush to get everything done, which is when mistakes are made.

Word count: 286

Task 2: Subject and Experimental Approaches

I have chosen to photograph a family to show how they interact with one another and to show the personality of each individual person, when doing this the five approaches I am going to look into are:

1)    Painting directly onto photographs  because I have always liked the idea of doing it but never had the right opportunity to try it and see how it works in my images.

2)    Overlaying tracing paper over the image to obscure parts of it because I want to obscure some of the images so the viewer is only focussed on one part to show personality this might be too distracting but I wont know until I try it.

3)    Burn into the photographs because this seems like an interesting technique to use and I just want to try it, I’m not sure whether it will be too sinister when it is done and not fit in with the rest of my work but like anything else you don’t know until you try it.

4)    Stain, smudge and erode photographs using water because I liked the affect it had when I was doing research. This might not work physically because it is hard to erode images with water in a short space of time, you have to leave them for extended periods of time to actually get any water damage to the pictures.

5)    Creating a composition which creates a narrative or story. I think this will be the easiest one to achieve out of the 5 approaches because really it is already what I am aiming for when I am out photographing this family. I am creating a narrative of who the family is within each picture.

To see examples of this work please see research in visual log book

Word count: 297

Creative Process Task

When given this first brief I thought to myself, what would best fit all the criteria while still being fun to make. My go to thought was then to look at flowers how they fit in to a still life, landscape and portrait and how I could also make a moving image that worked too. For this I looked at work by Carol Sharpe [1] I looked at Sharp because I liked her use of soft lighting which almost reflects the nature of the flower. Which in a sense is something I want to reflect within my images while still getting a sharp focused image and having that shallow depth of field. For the landscape images I tried to follow the work of Collier Schorr [2] because due to the time of year we are producing this work there was no way I could find flowers out in a natural landscape.  My next step was to tackle the portrait side of the brief. I struggled with this one because I couldn’t find any photographers that did exactly what I wanted to do. Only Pinterest pictures taken from here and there that other people had put together.

[1]                                                           [2]

I decided on using the visual approach of a shallow depth of field with soft lighting because from all the research in to different photographers I did, I felt like it looked the best visually and I felt it was the style that fit my personality and way of photographing more than any other way. I feel like I was quite successful in combining my visual approach with my subject because I managed to keep the shallow depth of field in each of my images while still creating a soft lighting. This approach didn’t work too well when it came to photographing my still life images in the studio. I found it very hard to control the lighting the way I wanted it to keep the light as “natural” and soft almost flat, as I wanted it to be. In hindsight I believe going into the studio to do this probably wasn’t the best idea and I should have got a ranger kit out, bounced the light of the ceiling and let it fall onto my subject that way.

Work count:375

Bibliography 

[1] http://www.professionalgardenphotographers.com/portfolios/carol-sharp

[2]https://www.pinterest.com/pin/561753753494521131/