Reflection on last year's feedback

I was really pleased with my grades from last year's photography module, however I am quite the perfectionist and constantly try to improve on as much as I possibly can,

Therefore, I want to take last year's feedback from my teachers on board. 

The first aspect I could improve on is the technical quality (fluency of technique, design, balance, clarity) of my work. Last year my project included the influence of Julia Margaret Cameron's use of soft focus in her portraits, so the comment regarding this aspect was to be careful that I did not use too much softness as to not risk alienating the viewer. 

With my project this year, I'm not using the same soft focus technique so that shouldn't be an issue, as my images will (hopefully!) be in focus. 

I suppose then, that I will have to be careful in terms of framing my photos to ensure I get the exact images I intend on achieving. As I am shooting close-ups, this makes it even more important that my images convey exactly what I want to be shown - a jagged/messy fringe, a messy mouth, playing with toys, etc.

I'm currently thinking of ways in which I can display/hand in my photos. Last year my photos were all A4, however this year I want my photos to reflect the theme of child innocence. I will post separately about my ideas regarding this. Hopefully the design element of my photos will be enhanced through a more carefully thought out way of displaying my images.

The balance of my images will hopefully come naturally, in that the images will all relate to one another, but will look part of a 'set' of images. They will all focus on the same subject, Arlo, but will displaying different aspects of his 'innocence' and childlike nature.

Similarly, the clarity of my photos should also hopefully come naturally. Both the quality of the photos and the theory behind them should be clear through theoretical explanations via my blog and carefully planned out photo taking.

Another aspect that was suggested from last year was something that I am also doing this year. The comment states "some of the barriers that may exist when taking portraits of the unfamiliar people were not present and perhaps this is an area that could be explored further in future projects."

I do understand and accept this comment. I can appreciate completely how photographers that take photos of strangers are capable of producing intense, exciting photos that may not be able to be created through taking photos of familiar people. However, as mentioned at the beginning of my blog, my whole idea for my project came from last year's project. I enjoy taking photos of my own family or friends, as I feel comfortable and like to think they do too. Where I usually only take photos of my family and friends at 'events', I really enjoy taking photos of them for projects, as it shows a different side to them that usually wouldn't be captured. Besides, there are millions of strangers that I could photograph, but there are only a handful of my friends and family. For these reasons, I like to take photos of the familiar. I like to think that I enable the viewers of my photos to view a different side of my friends/family, who are obviously strangers to them, in a more personal way.

As David Bate says, 'The pleasure of recognition is at work, whether it is the re-finding of a loved one's picture... or the uncanny impact of a stranger's face. In identifying the sitter, the viewing spectator derives a pleasure from the act of recognising and identifying' (2009, p.81). Hence, where I may know the subjects of my photos, the majority of the viewers won't, and therefore will still find pleasure in identifying them as strangers. 

I've also given myself my own feedback. I admittedly don't like to experiment with lighting. I am a real lover of natural light in photos, especially as most of my photos are 'in the moment', natural, not forced. I like to capture real moments, as opposed to set up, posed moments that wouldn't have happened if I wasn't there. However, I am aware that a flash (which can be attached to my camera) is generally not too intrusive. I would not like to set up soft boxes or reflectors, etc, as that is too 'studio' for me. I don't want to force my nephew to sit in front of a white screen and them faced him with harsh flashes. Besides it not fitting in with my project theme, I wouldn't want to frighten or force my nephew into doing certain things.

I may be able to set a room up with a reflector and place certain lights in places to make it not so obvious when photographing my nephew. He wouldn't be completely unaware but at least I wouldn't be forcing him to do anything. My brother, who is also a photographer, has quite a lot of equipment I can borrow, so I will probably try these things out when I next see my nephew. 

Other than these comments, my feedback for last year's work was really good and had no other suggestions (not that I'm suggesting there could be no improvements, I'm sure there could have been many, but there weren't any other comments on improvements in my feedback). 

I've always believed that a good project stems from a good idea. My ideas have always come to me randomly. I hate to force an idea as I don't think they will flow as well as an idea that happens naturally, so to speak. Everyone obviously works differently, but this formula seems to have served me well in the past, and hopefully in the future too!