I really enjoyed this assignment and this was appropriately the climax of The Art of Photography course where I could put my learning into practice. It's been an interesting four months on this course. I have always enjoyed working with words and pictures as in audio visual presentations and film. Highlights of my tutor's feedback were as follows -
"Well done on completing AOP! It was great to see you progress with such enthusiasm. You have done well to keep up the momentum and you have also taken into consideration most of my feedback even though there was little time between assignments!
Your final assignment is slightly disappointing as I feel you have allowed the image to take second place to text here. Remember that photography is a visual language and although you were asked to produce a magazine layout you fell into the trap of seeing photography as a means to illustrate the layout rather than be the main medium.
The brief for this assignment contained in the course manual was "You should write captions (of any length) to explain and link each picture." The aim was to balance the photographic content with text to link and explain the storyline and I felt I achieved this. I feel that the use of well-researched factual text should not see the demise of the images. I conducted this assignment as a magazine reportage and graphic design exercise, not one of producing an arty set of photographs - the sort of illustrated story I would submit to a local magazine if I was fee-earning. We have seen this balance achieved in magazines such as Picture Post and Life Magazine and so I have taken my lead from those successful publications and the assignment brief.
My tutor liked the cover image!
"Your front cover is an eye-catching and arresting picture and you chose well to make it full page with text playing second fiddle.
My tutor wanted some of the images bigger and most can be enlarged in this software but the intention was to use graphic design skills, that had been previously mentioned, to make each A4 page varied, attractive and with appropriate sizing and weighting on the images.
"Some of your images deserve to be seen bigger and demand more attention for the viewer. The final image is also particularly strong but gets lost somewhat in the layout, positioning and sizing."
Photographing a moving carnival is very challenging, even when you have accreditation, as it is a quick moving event with little time for posing and the need to take instantaneous grab shots.
"You do have a strong compositional eye and your use of colour is effective. Try getting closer to your subject. Some of your pictures are out of focus – the picture of the man taking a ‘selfie’ with a crowd behind him should really be in focus (try a few f stops up) or the camera he is holding should be in focus, as it stands the crowd is in focus and it leaves me wondering where I should be looking in the picture and why. These technical decisions are very important to get right at an early stage."
My tutor felt that my approach to this assignment was rather standard. Perhaps the examples given in the course manual are standard and lead students into a standard approach? However, this approach did give me access to places others did not have as an accreditated photographer and was exciting as I will be involved in ccontributing to a major exhibition next year celebrating 25 years of this carnival.
"Creatively speaking the approach you have taken to this brief is quite standard. I often get chronological reports of a local event submitted for this assignment and I wonder whether there is a more interesting and unique angle you could have taken. You could have focused your attention on one of the characters from the carnival and made a piece about transformation for example. You could then have shown us behind the scenes or given us information that we wouldn’t normally have access to. Your role as a photographer can get you to places you normally couldn’t if used well. Use the excuse of your camera to take you places!
My tutor's final comments on this assignment suggested a rework.
"I think a combination of mixed technical skills and a less creative approach to the final assignment mean that your overall outcome is quite disappointing. Especially considering it is the final assignment in the module. I would consider reworking this to demonstrate to assessors all that you have learnt in this course so far.
In your rework bear in mind -
: A more creative approach. Can you make this stand apart somehow? Is there a more pulling narrative you could show us?
: Technically how can you improve the impact of your imagery? Can you edit it down? Can you remove the out of focus shots and shots in poor / indoor lighting?
: Consider how photographs can speak for themselves and try to work without text as much as possible to enhance your understanding of the language of your photographs."
"Well done on completing AOP! It was great to see you progress with such enthusiasm. You have done well to keep up the momentum and you have also taken into consideration most of my feedback even though there was little time between assignments!
Your final assignment is slightly disappointing as I feel you have allowed the image to take second place to text here. Remember that photography is a visual language and although you were asked to produce a magazine layout you fell into the trap of seeing photography as a means to illustrate the layout rather than be the main medium.
The brief for this assignment contained in the course manual was "You should write captions (of any length) to explain and link each picture." The aim was to balance the photographic content with text to link and explain the storyline and I felt I achieved this. I feel that the use of well-researched factual text should not see the demise of the images. I conducted this assignment as a magazine reportage and graphic design exercise, not one of producing an arty set of photographs - the sort of illustrated story I would submit to a local magazine if I was fee-earning. We have seen this balance achieved in magazines such as Picture Post and Life Magazine and so I have taken my lead from those successful publications and the assignment brief.
My tutor liked the cover image!
"Your front cover is an eye-catching and arresting picture and you chose well to make it full page with text playing second fiddle.
My tutor wanted some of the images bigger and most can be enlarged in this software but the intention was to use graphic design skills, that had been previously mentioned, to make each A4 page varied, attractive and with appropriate sizing and weighting on the images.
"Some of your images deserve to be seen bigger and demand more attention for the viewer. The final image is also particularly strong but gets lost somewhat in the layout, positioning and sizing."
Photographing a moving carnival is very challenging, even when you have accreditation, as it is a quick moving event with little time for posing and the need to take instantaneous grab shots.
"You do have a strong compositional eye and your use of colour is effective. Try getting closer to your subject. Some of your pictures are out of focus – the picture of the man taking a ‘selfie’ with a crowd behind him should really be in focus (try a few f stops up) or the camera he is holding should be in focus, as it stands the crowd is in focus and it leaves me wondering where I should be looking in the picture and why. These technical decisions are very important to get right at an early stage."
My tutor felt that my approach to this assignment was rather standard. Perhaps the examples given in the course manual are standard and lead students into a standard approach? However, this approach did give me access to places others did not have as an accreditated photographer and was exciting as I will be involved in ccontributing to a major exhibition next year celebrating 25 years of this carnival.
"Creatively speaking the approach you have taken to this brief is quite standard. I often get chronological reports of a local event submitted for this assignment and I wonder whether there is a more interesting and unique angle you could have taken. You could have focused your attention on one of the characters from the carnival and made a piece about transformation for example. You could then have shown us behind the scenes or given us information that we wouldn’t normally have access to. Your role as a photographer can get you to places you normally couldn’t if used well. Use the excuse of your camera to take you places!
My tutor's final comments on this assignment suggested a rework.
"I think a combination of mixed technical skills and a less creative approach to the final assignment mean that your overall outcome is quite disappointing. Especially considering it is the final assignment in the module. I would consider reworking this to demonstrate to assessors all that you have learnt in this course so far.
In your rework bear in mind -
: A more creative approach. Can you make this stand apart somehow? Is there a more pulling narrative you could show us?
: Technically how can you improve the impact of your imagery? Can you edit it down? Can you remove the out of focus shots and shots in poor / indoor lighting?
: Consider how photographs can speak for themselves and try to work without text as much as possible to enhance your understanding of the language of your photographs."