For component 1, the themes we explored were Face value and Constructed Landscapes.
Face Value
At the beginning of Face Value, I felt very limited with the kind of work I could produce, as I wasn't very comfortable with taking images of myself, so I wasn't really enjoying the project. However as we continued to explore the theme of portraiture, I began to develop new ideas and experiment different ways of taking a portrait, that didn't show too much of my face. I was inspired by artists, such as Vivienne Maier, Ziqianqian and the Rankin Destory project. One thing these photogrrpahers had in common, is they wouldnt take the standard portrait, that you would excpect. They explored new ways, of hiding/destorying parts of the portrait, like using reflective surfaces, objetcs, or materails, like painting and scissors to cut it up. After researching and experimenting ideas, inspired by these artists, I bean to really start enjoying this project more, exploring varoius ways of taking a portrait, that I have never tried before. This then led to my inspiration for my final piece for this project, where I created a series of self portrait, photograms, combining them to their original colour image.
I think one of the main threshold concepts, that I tackled/developed, during this project was, 1 - 'Photography has many genres, some old, some borrowed, some new.' I understood the there's more than standard way of taking a portrait, inspired by some of the artists I had researched, combined with my own ideas. Throughout my Face Value investigation, I explored a range of different materials, such as photograms, lighting techniques, cyanotypes, single colour photocopying, using mirrors and photoshop. I made various different decision, challenging myself and developing my ideas along the way, creating various experiments. For example, for my final piece, I initially wanted to just create a series of photograms, but during my investigation, I made the choice, to cut some up and layer a coloured image on top, make double exposure photograms, and use bleach to further distort my portraits. Here I used my images, inspired by the work of Ziqianqian and Viviennes Maiers uses of reflective surfaces and objects to obscure a portrait. I then used the idea of destroying your self portraits, to make it your own and more meaningful to you, inspired by the Rankin Destroy Project. I think my final piece for this project does successfully explores the theme of portraiture. I think if I had more time, next time I would maybe try to explore further with the double exposure photograms, as I only created one, due to a short amount of time. When the viewers look at my work, I want them to understand.
Along the way, I think my feeling about this project was the main thing that changed. I remember starting out not really liking this project, but I began to really enjoy it and the work I produced, after learning the art of portraiture and the different ways to develop my ideas. I think one of the main things I learnt in this project, was it is goof to take risk in photography, because in doing this, I discovered techniques that I am good and not so good at. I think overall,
Constructed Landscapes
I began this project by researching a variety of artists and photographers whose work expressed the theme of Constructed Landscapes. The main artists, I looked at as a whole, was Dafna Talmor, who constructs landscapes. In particular, I then responded to the work of QI Wei Fong, as I thought his work was very imaginative and quite a challenge to respond to. I think that towards the end of the project, he had the most effect on my work, as I began experimenting, with various tools, like photoshop, photocopying, and cutting a sticking, to create work inspired by him. Throughout the whole project, I have explored a range of mediums and processes, like photograms, photoshop, slides, and diptychs. And I refined my work, considering the formal elements, of line, shape, texture, form, depth, size and colour. I developed new skills, especially with photoshop, as I taught myself how to work digitally, by watching online tutorials, to help improve my skills. For Constructed Landscapes, I am somewhat pleased with my outcome, of photograms, and photoshop images. I think that they successfully communicate the main theme of constructing a landscape, and the show a range of visual elements, like colour, size, depth and shape. I think if I had more time, I would have considered a way to display my images on, like a sculpture, or piece of card, to refine them further. I think that the main threshold concept, I tackled was 'photographs are abstractions, shaped by technology'. I mainly developed my digital skills throughout this project, and created a series of constructed landscapes, through a process of selection, editing and manipulation.