Technical and visual skills:
I think these are present in this piece of work; certainly in the shooting, but I'm aware there's more to do and learn in processing - particularly with respect to black and white landscape. Before starting my next course, I'll take a month's break to focus on learning to use Nikon Capture. In the end, I think one of the most technically good shots was the second one of my aunt's house in Orwell Road. This worked well in both shooting (which involved me sitting in the road to get this angle!) and in processing. Had I not clipped the top of the chimney pot (that happened in straightening), it would have been better!
Quality of outcome:
My tutor has been trying to encourage me to work more on presentation, connotation and denotation, and to consider who my audience might be and how it would be displayed. I think that with this piece of work, there has been a significant improvement. I have conceptualised my thoughts, attempted to live out an idea and to produce the output from that in a manner that is visually pleasing and also user friendly. I would also be able to submit prints from this in the form of a panel. I think the two shots that really convey the time gone by and happy nostalgia are the inside of the pier and the deserted fairground. I also really liked the extreme dynamic range of these two.
Demonstration of creativity:
I think this is my most creative piece of work to-date. The whole body in itself holds together to tell a story. In fact, I would have liked to have included more photos, and also I think on reflection that I would have preferred colour for this exercise; for example, the beachhuts image is better in colour (and in square format but I wanted to be consistent on that throughout the production) although the graphic shapes of the hut roofs are nice in b&w.
The other shot that worked better in colour was the one of the Martello Tower - particularly with the contrast of the green grass against the purple sky. But, like the beach huts, the conversion to black and white makes you focus more on the shapes than the colours. Incidentally, I think if I was going to photograph this structure again, I think I would stand a lot further back to make it smaller in the frame and add a sense of isolation to the scene. Particularly if the sky is dramatic like was on this day!
Have I found personal voice? I think so on this occasion. Because of my insight into the subject matter and the object of the exercise, I took very personal photographs. I don't know if this is a personal voice that can be replicated on another occasion. That remains to be seen. I however, I intend to move further into the direction of documentary, so maybe.
Context:
Research; I didn't do as much research as I had intended, but then my list was very long, and also a lot of what had been suggested to me turned out to be not as directly relevant as I'd hoped. Because the bulk of it wasn't relevant, it hasn't been written up or cross-referenced in the way I usually would. This was not a rephotography exercise (I was too young to have landscape photographs), nor was it an exercise about family frames. This was about the location more than anything else, and the memories associated with that location. I would say that this is more of a personal and instinctive piece of work. I now asked my family if any of them have any photos (I didn't want to see them before I went so as not to ruin the rediscovery moment) - so if they do, I'll add this as a ps to the exercise.
The only shot that I didn't get that I was really hoping for was to find an old man walking with a young girl along the beach in search of stones. I'd had visions of converging diagonals and the pair of them walking into a high key background, but unfortunately I didn't spot anything like that.
Assignment Brief:
I chose this subject for the reasons explained in Preparation, the ideas for which were conceived three months ago now. I wanted to examine the relationship between my childhood memories, and the reality of the location now, and whether new memories would replace old ones. The conclusion from this is that my memories were quite accurate and that I have created a new memory on top (not replaced) - although helped by the 30 year gap!
In terms of what I set out to achieve photographically, i.e in black and white, I think on the whole the images in my final selection worked well (not all that I took worked this well). I looked for clear graphical shapes and strong lines, as in beach huts and the Martello Tower, and inside the pier and the dodgems, and also looked for strong diagonals as in the perspectives of the houses and pier, but I also found that strong colours (with some assistance in some cases) also converted well, for example the red on the signing of the pier. The sky on the day really helped to add mood and drama to the photography, which hadn't necessarily been my objective but it came through on the day. I had thought the b&w might add a sense of history, but I don't think it did in the end. I think Felixstowe actually does that on its own with its Edwardian structures and feel of longevity. The question I'm asking myself now, is that I am considering submitting these to the LIP exhibition this year: do I rework them in colour or retain the mono? Do I also drop one of the pictures to make a panel of 9, which is more pleasing as a display?
Overall, I'm very pleased with this piece of work and the experience was very enjoyable. It might be a place I revisit in the Landscape module to do more long exposure and atmospheric work, and this time I'll stay the weekend instead of rushing around!
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