My Final, Final Evaluation!

When I first started my Final Major Project I was really stuck on what to produce and found it really hard to think of a concept. I researched into documentary photography but after realising that my idea for documentary photography wasn’t going to work I moved on to the idea of a slightly different type of documentary photography, researching the landscapes on the moors. When I had solidly come to this idea then I started to research into different artists and photographers that had based some of their work on similar things. Two artists that inspired me were Leeming and Paterson. Leeming and Paterson are two artists that are husband and wife who live in Scotland, they believe in protecting the world around us so they decided to build their own house using only sustainable products. When they were doing this they decided to take landscapes of how the weather on the moors changed in a short space of time from their doorstep. This really influenced me with my project as I don’t live too far from the moors so I wouldn’t be creating a big carbon footprint by driving up to the moors and I knew that I could get some amazing photographs.

On the news quite frequently there is always news about how we are damaging the atmosphere with car fumes etc. I started to think that this is true and with what I was doing for my Final Major Project it wouldn’t have a huge impact on the environment, of course it will but I was hoping that it wouldn’t have such a dramatic effect.

In my opinion I believe that I did a lot of research into my Final Major Project and covered all the areas that I could. I did as much research as I thought was necessary into my four locations that I visited, finding out the history of each place and what it is most famous for. I then went on to research in to quite a few artists and photographers that have taken my concept in different ways.

During my Final Major Project my idea have changed very slightly as when I first wrote my proposal I said that I would produce a series of images that show the beauty of the moors at different times of the day. This didn’t all go to plan as I didn’t end up having enough time to stay at one location for the whole day. Instead I went to each location once and then revisited the locations that I needed too. From the beginning I had said that I would present my work in either a book or on a PowerPoint type slideshow but I was more drawn towards a book and that is what I have been able to do.

During my Final Major Project I have been experimenting with a polarizing filter on the lens of my camera which I believe has made my images come out better. One thing that I have been experimenting with throughout the duration of my project is a tripod. I have never been very good with using a tripod because I could never attach the camera to the tripod before but now I can as I have practiced so much. I have also used slightly different camera settings to what I would normally which has pushed me out of my comfort zone slightly. The only thing that I think I pushed myself with is probably with my camera settings as I had done most other things before but I would also say one thing that I have done that I have never done before is drive up to the moors as I have recently passed my driving test so I would say that, that is quite a challenge.

While I have been working on my Final Major Project I have also been thinking about what I want to do when I finish my college course here. I have discovered that my interests have changed as I am now interested in the more commercial and advertising side of photography so I have been looking into courses that specialise in that. I surprised myself as before I couldn’t imagine myself being interested in anything like that.

I think I managed my stress levels fairly well. Some parts during my project have been quite stressful to fit things in around my time plan but I have managed to complete everything on time and to my best standard. In terms of meeting deadlines I believe I have been very successful as I have stuck to my time plan as best as I can in order for me to reach my deadlines on time and that has worked as when I created my photo book I created and paid for it 2 weeks in advance. I think my time management has been well organised as I have had to organise when I go to the moors and when to edit them etc. I have attended every college lecture that I have been able to which has been every session but one I think. A couple of afternoons I was out on a shoot but I was still present at college for the sessions.

I have put all of my effort into this project as I do with all of my projects but this project has been all about putting as much effort in as possible to produce the best quality images that are at the quality to be put up on the wall to be exhibited. I would evaluate my overall productivity as good. I believe I have produced enough work as I did a total of 5 shoots and got a lot of good quality images, enough to be able to make a 20 page book. I took care and pride in how I presented my work as I am very particular about how I want people to see my work. I made sure that my picture was hung up straight and that it was nailed in to the wall with no bends in the picture. One thing that I should have got done earlier was my print to go up on the wall for the exhibition as I did leave that to the last minute.

One challenge that I came across was on one of my shoots my images came out really over exposed so much so that I couldn’t use any of the images from that shoot so I had to overcome that by re - visiting the location to re shoot. Thankfully after going back to the location a second time I managed to get some pictures that I could use for my final images. One thing that I think helped me to produce better images was that I used a polarizing filter.

As far as my future at university goes I have been researching into different courses and I have a couple of courses that I am really interested in but I still haven’t come to a decision. I have looked into going to universities up country and the financial benefits and disadvantages and I have come to the decision that it is probably better to stay where I am.

I am aiming for a merit at the end of the year because I believe that I have produced work that is of merit standard and that is possibly maybe even a low distinction. I have worked my hardest to try and produce work of a merit standard and I believe that I have as I have produced work that includes 5 shoots.

Overall, I am most proud of my Dartmeet shoot and my Widecombe in the Moor shoot final images as they are the ones that I believe show the true beauty of the moors and what you can find when you go searching on the moors to find locations. I am least proud of how many contact sheets I have included on my blog as I should have uploaded every contact sheet on to my blog and analysed every one.

Next term, I want to work on my portfolio ready for my university interviews. I want to focus more on fashion photography as I would like to see myself in a BA (Hons) for Commercial Photography which is more fashion based.