Today is the submission day for this assignemnt and I have had a massive issue, my data stick which I saved new edited images to go into the gallery as I had decided to add more has corupted and the files are unreadable. Usually this would not be an issue, I would have been sensible and made a copy file on my computer or disk but for some reason at midnight when I stopped doing last minute editting I shut down my computer forgetting to back up. The one time that I do this, th one time I forget I end up regretting it. The trouble with this is that I now don’t have time. Thr trouble is I could not make ujp my mind onwhat I was doing.

I am going to have to just leave it and send it in as it is as I do not have time to fix them all.

My final project is a web gallery containing photographic images they are a series called Impressions. A lot of my project looks at the research I have done to gain inspiration for this project. What I have learnt from it is that I am not a practitioner, I am far more interested in the research it takes to make a project. I am facinated by modern artists and documentaries. In doing this project I have experimented with something new for me, something that I was not entierly comfortable with, self nudity. I decided to do this as I wanted to do something unusual in a degree project. For me the project brought up a lot of questions about why I was uncomfortable with the idea of having nud photos of me or anyone else.  I tried to express these feeling through the use of a prolouge which is on the website to accompany the web gallery. I have linked in my 300MC research with my project as it was a strong reason as to why my project developed the way it did.

The photography is very interesting I have tried to use different techniques with the photography to allow each image to stand alone by itself but also to accompnay each other within a series. I have tired to accomplish this by using both monocrome and colour images. I have also used different light techniques to highlight particular elements of certain photographs. Looking back at the photographs now when evaluating them it might have been better if I had created two series of work, one which was all colour and one which was in monocrome. Orginally I felt shooting in monocrome added a softer touch to the images. I wanted to add a softer side to the images because I have been influenced by Ann Geddes work, she creates commerical work creativly staging peoples children in many different senarios from big stages fluffy bunny outfits to the pure and simple image of a small newborn skin to skin in it mother hands or on her back.

My orginal project has developed from a project looking at a range of people scars, photographing and documenting there stories, to looking specifically at scars realting to pregancy and birth to what I have ended up making which is a collection of images of a familys impressions of pysical and emotional changes including pysical scars. I foudn it hard to define what I actually wanted to do so changed the project as I researched more into the artists who inspired me and also found new artists who gave me further inspiration.

My documentation of this project has been jumpy and I will admit I have filled in some missing gaps in the last month or two but I have come from feeling like I was not going to compleet this project to being able to complete it. During this final year I have delt with a child who is under one in hospital, I have been admitted myself, I have been pregnat and given birth to a daughter 6 weeks early. I have also had to go back to work due to financiual reasons before completeing this project and have had to still raise my children whilst completing my degree. I am not trying to make exscuses but I do not want it to be forgotten as if you were a mother in my position who what would you put first, your family through all the above mentioned or your degree?

To make the webgallery I used a programme called Webplus 10 it is a San Serif programme and allows you to deesign webpages in a simlar wasy to dreamweaver. I foudn the programme to be hard to use even after going through hours of tutorials but I stayed with using the programme as I purchased it for home use so wanted to get the most out of it that I could. The main issue I had was that I was unable to figure out how to change the size of the website once I had added all the content as when viewed on certain web brousers it would not display all the text. I had to draw a line under it as I did not have time to finish it and submit my work factoring my work schedule. I ahve added screen shots at the bottom of this page to illistrate what I actually wanted it to look like so you can.

If I could do it all again I would use my family as inspiration from the very begining, I would spend more time trying to figure out the mothod of delivery for the project and would do more test runs of making it work. I might also chose the book method in displaying my work. The book method is something I thought about but I ultimatly wanted something more personal and obtainable. A website allows people to log on and be inspired and interested.

Web blog snap shot images of the web pages in the programme I used to produce them, Web Plus 10.

This is the Index page for the site, It was designed to welcome the person entering the site.

This is the Prologue Page, it was meant to be on the site for the viewers of the site to read and get a feel for the meaning of the site, it incorporates my personal feeling and media theory.

This is the gallery page. The gallery is designed so that the images can be looked through at the pace fo the individuasl viewing it. The advantage of having a web blog is that looking towards the future people may be using electronic portable reading devices simlar to the new Ipad but more affordable.

I am not sure If I am going to add more images, this is something that I am going to work on over the next few days.

Reflecting on these images, my favorite image is the one of the stretch marks, I love how th elight centers and eluminates the exact focus area making it clear where the eye should focus. I would have liked to have shot all my images in this fashion but taking photos during actual moments did not allow me to do this. I think that I would like to pursue this project further in the future focusing on parts of the body using the light to higlight specific areas of the body where bruses or marks are.

I have been doing tutorials on Web plus 10 and have decided it would be a good idea to work from a rough idea of what I want to create. I have learnt you can create a base which is the main background for the whole website. As usual you can then have an index page wich you can then link to other pages which you wish to make in the webpage structure. I have decided to have three pages as I want to keep it as much as a gallery as possible. It has the option to develop it further if I want it to in the future but so far I like the idea of a simplistic approach to the structure and design:

This would be the index page. I have decided that purple/grey and black would be good colours for this site. I am going to use a related image for the header and will Photoshop it into a header and past that as an image on the site.

This will be the Prologue page. I have not added the prologue yet as I have not written it yet, I need time to think about what I want to say and get accross.

This page will be the gallery page. As you can see the header and site navigation buttons will stay the same unchanged to give the site a form of structural consistancy as previously said I want this to simplist and unconfusing for the viewer to use and look at. The more there is to play with the more the viewer will be distracted from really looking at the content.

 The gallery will have a way of moving from one image to another. I have experimented with a few different choices and feel that either a push button movement to allow the viewer choice or a thumbnail view would be best. I have drawn the push button gallery in this view but as I have been preparing this blog I feel that possibly a thumbnail view might be better as the viewer is able to see smaller versions of up and coming images so they can get interested in what they are seeing.

I did not really want to have to use Photoshop much on the images I have taken but to get a particular effect I have felt it was nessesary to do so.

This is the image I took which is feature i a previouse blog post:

 I wanted exhentuate the stretch marks and take the focus off the other parts of the body.

I decided to take a look at the light balance within photoshop and was able to change the image to change the focus of the image.

 I can not explain it but I just love this image. The orginal seams harsh and is difficult for me ot look at but this image is amazing.

I have decided to use a programme called Web Plus 10, I think I previously mentioned that I would be usingthis programme to make the website. I have decided to use this because I can not travel to Univerisyt due to working committments and my children so I have purchased San Serif Web Plus 10, it only cost me $49.00 as I got it on special offer. I have over the last week been doing web tutorial on it to try and learn the programme and how to make a website. I have stated to fiddle about with templates but also want to try and learn how to get it working from scratch. I have already learnt how to add a web galley and am also currently sorting out which images should go in the gallery.

TIME TO WORK

A major issue I am currently havig is fitting everything in. I have two children under 2, a temp job and am trying to get this univerisyt project finished aswell. I am finding less and less time ot get everything done, I am shattered most of the time and my head feels full of fuzz where I am trying to fit it all together.

One of the major parts of our family life is bedtime, this might sound strange but both my husband and I work so when we get home feed the children whether this is a bottle of dinner we thenhave to bath and get them to bed in order to prepare for the next day ahead. Bedtime is a long process in our house. We spend time with our eldest daughter getting her interacting with our youngest daughter, often either myself or my husband will be on the girls bedroom floor playing with them in between getting their nappies chnaged and into their bed clothes. A recent particular evening my husband was doing it and had stripped down to his boxers because it was late and he needed ot change into more comfortable clothes has he had not long gotten home from work. I cam up the stairs to find our youngest daughter without a nappy on as she needed a bit of time out of a nappy to air and my oldest daughter was trying to get my husbands attention whilst we were talking. I proceeded to use this oppertunity as a photoshoot, its a perfect example of an impression me an my husband will have forever of how different our life is now that we have children. IT was mazing to look back at the photos when uploading them to see the tenderness of my husband and Daughter together and the curiosity of my eldest daughter to her baby sister. I am not sure whether or not people viewing these images will get the moments importants or relevance but as it is my project I felt it was a vital part of the series.

This is a gallery of both photoshoots mentioned within this blog post:

Scars

The orginal project I had pitched was around scars it orginated because of my stretch marks that occured due to my first pregnancy, they are very large, purple and hidiouse but in a way I am proud of them because to me they are the result of now my two children, they could have been prevented if the smell and touch of creams such a bio oil and coco butter had not made me pysically sick, but what it done is done. I had orginally in a previouse shoot tried to show these scars but the mononcrome had just not done them justice enough. I set up in the bathrrom of our house as I felt had the best light and I photographed my stretch marks. I was also interested in capturing the beauty of the areola and nipple on the breast as the colour changes both during and after pregnancy. I took about an hour to set up the shoot and take the pictures I wanted. I used a self timer option on the camera to get the shots I wanted, positioning the camer using both a tripod and work surfaces where I felt I could get a better shot using the naturel light resources.

I think thats its important to keep track of where I am, what I am doing and how in general the project is going. I feel a little guilty that this project is taking os long as I feel at the end people mioght wonder what I have been doing all this time as I seam to have little ot show for it. To deal with this I have decided to update you all on this to make is clear how my time is spent, how I have been making my decisions and doing work towards this project.

1. Research – Althought a heck of a lot of research and experiemnting was done before Christmas leading to a pitch of a project (well three at the time, then refining it to one). I felt the project needed more devlopment and with guidance on specific lines of interest I have been researching a heck of a lot, this includes getting hold of books, looking online, watching documentaries to get a better understanding in my mind and to tune my thoughts.

2.Research -My research has lead to developments towards the project, this includes time to think as nothing is instant, nothing good anyway. I have also been tryhing out different ways of shooting and putting things together like shots and preshoot planning into my head. Thinking about the proper explination to have a goal to ahcieve and talking to others to gage their opinions about my work. I ahve foudn this particular project a real challange as it has made me have to say YES I can do this and NO I can’t do that for various reasons. I have learnt what I am and am not comfortable with.

3. The Photoshoots - not all of which have been successful and many which did not lead to anything good at all have all taken time to do. Most fo them envolve my children, husband and family and they are not subjects you can get to do what you want easily (even thought that was not the point of the shoots).

4. The editing process – From the photo sessions that have both been planned and unplanned I have not always gotten the shots I wanted or the exact way I planned so I have had to used tools such as Photoshop to edit the images, change the lighting slightly or remove objects/marks that I did not feel were apropriate within that image.

5.Evaluating – I have taken to evaluating my work as I have been going along, going back to look again at my research, editing and decisions I have made, this has been benmificial as I have actualy changed my mind for the better picking out some images on a second edit that I previously disgarded.

Where I am I with my goals?

If you ahve been following this blog you might remember I set myself some goals, I have mentioned these in previous posts. I set these goals to begin witrh to try and give myself something to work towards that I understood, that did not change and that would help me achieve something persoanlly.

my goals were in short:

• Combine two or more mediums, ie sound, web bases technology with my chosen medium photography and possibly use moving image.

• Challenge myself.

• Team Work.

• Use a step by step approach to working on my project to see the potential pit falls beofre they happen so not to get trapped.

I set these goals up at the start fo the academic year and a lot has changed it a year, these were not ridgid goals but they were something for me to consider whilst developing and working on my project. I came into my second year knowing only one person so I found I could not merge into groups that easily. I was interested in photography and new media technology as this had taken my interest during my second year and photography can tend very much to be a solo thing unless there is a specific group project.

So what have I done so far and what have I not in relation to these goals? Well I have not worked in a team to create my final project, althought I did attend the photography cluster (except towards the end when my second daughter decided to make a early apperance). I did not find anyone who I was interested in working with and I foudn the clusters came into late I was expecting to be introduced to more people first before everyone presented and decided on there projects. I think it was harder for me as I did not know anyone due to taking a year out to do this project. I did however take a step by step approach to my project, by using this blogging process and I have to admitt a hand held scribble diary I foudn it very useful to note down thoughts, decisions and discussiong points and I could discuss with myself points I needed or were thinking about before I completed something and did not like what I had done and needed to start over. I orginally decided to combine sound with photography but have since decided against this as I feel it distracts from the audience relating to my work in their own way, making their own assumptions. I have challenged myself during this project, I have had to make tough choices, this project has not turned out the way I thought it would but then if it hads I do not think it would have expressed my way of thinking or thoughts.

I want to be confident and say that my work should be able to stand up alongside current artists who are currently out there leading the way in modern photography. Carucci, Mann and Olson (Artists I have previosly blogged about) have not used sound bites to accompany there work to make it great, interesting or meaningful so why do I? An orginal goal I had set out was to combine mediums to enhance my work further, by using sound I felt I would be bring another element to my project so taking it to another level. But my recent question is by planning this way am I ruening it, one thing looking at other artist has lead me to believe is that simple is not boring. I want  people to be abel to relate to my work and be able to feel connected to the focus not be distracted by thoughts (sounds) I have put into there minds and words or emotions that are not theirs. I started thinking about this because I was watching an NSPCC add and then I saw another one from a while back that I had accidently recorded a long with something else. One had just music and the other talking. The one with just pictures and less words I felt was more affective and emotional than the one with more chatter as you were not distracted by what the words were saying.

I found the following on Youtube to illistrate my point. Anothe reason I am thinking of removing sound from my piece is that I do not want it to sound fake or forced.

You can odviously tell the above are actors which makes it less believable and I don’t feel its as affective,I did not get the point or feel an emotional responce to the piece.

This is a big decision for me as a am tossing and turning over my thought process on this one as another part of me feels the audience need some kind of guidlines/explinations. For example my mother and quite a few of my friends who I would consider my peers do not understand or like Carucci’s work. They like the old Masters paintings with nudist figures by more becasue they feel a need to respect them. I know they are the products society as they see Carucci’s and other artisit suck as Tunick’s work as going down a taboo subject, I mean Tunickj gets arrested as stripping in public places is against the law in America, England to I think, might have top look that one up? The point I am making as sometimes I think people who are struggling with how they feel the should conform to society even as far as to what they should find offensive and what they should not, need a life line to relate, some words something to link what they see to something theyt can relate to even though they should be able to relate to that image but there brain just will not let them, the revolution or instict to find offence kicks in, its like a power over them, they can’t help it.

I know I am getting rid of the sound but should there be something, words? Is the title enough, should the meaning be in easch individually named image? Do I accompany them with some history, a poem some kind of thought behind the image?

 

 

Title:                    Impressions

Description:      Moments captured from one family group depicting the pysical and emotional elements of life as a family, private moments that outsiders of the family would never see, moments that leave lasting impressions on the family.