Today in my crit I showed a combination of my latest shoot and my recent research. It was received well and even though James had seen my work on Tuesday, he gave me the new idea of collaborating with a dancer to help achieve the different poses I've envisioned for my models. A Dancer would be able to hold their shape and have the strength and stability to be able to hold a pose for longer, and be more in tune with their body, differently to a model may be.

I'm going to look into using a Dancer, or a model that has dance experience, Hannah, who was in the crit today is a dancer and can put me in contact with some friends who may be willing to help and collaborate with me.

" Discussing approach to BA3a, exploring geometry in landscapes and fashion work."

Points which were brought up in todays tutorial:

"Look some more at Vivianne Sassen and how she uses shape amongst the geometry. Also continue with Lewis Baltz Try and work out your relationship to colour and the type of light. How will you use light to work with graphic qualities.Look at Rodchenko and constructivism. Look at using flash on location for more contained areas. Think about shooting inside as well. Use test shoots and be willing to fail in order to extend your practice. Give yourself room to experiment and play. Then apply this to more organised shoots. Shoot geometric landscapes without people to understand what works for you. "

After my 1 to 1 with James today I feel a lot better about the direction in which to take my work, I am excited to push my ideas further, I like the look of the images I'm producing but they aren't standing out against a really tough industry, and I want to really push the limits of my ideas and experiment to find where I can take it looking forward.

How to write an introduction 

1- the Abstract, is written from the perspective of looking back. Written in past tense.
e.g. "In this investigation I did"

2- Your choice of report

3- Subject Matter and questions you're investigating.
"why is it important?"
"What gap is there?"

4- Research methods
(both primary and secondary)

5- what will be discussed in the chapters?
(Do this chronologically)

6- Analysis and Findings
e.g what is it you hope to find?

7- Conclusion

Library Introduction 

Statista- Can search for something and get lots of easy info on that subject. (e.g. Canon) can also get infographics

Bob TV- Can teach for the word photography and it will come up every time someone has mentioned it, make sure to check the box 'Include manuscripts'.

E-Journals- Art Full Text and Art Design and Architecture, click 'Full Text'


I found this session really helpful, at first I was really overwhelmed about the idea of writing such a long essay but I think having sessions like this throughout the term to help support our writing.

The new library website is a lot easier to navigate and to find more resources. The e-journals are really helpful to build up my bibliography with a wider range of sources, magazine articles for example, with an existing citation too.

Yesterday I received a second reply from one of the photographers I emailed, Amber Dixon. I wasn't expecting another reply so it was a really nice surprise. She hasn't given me any feedback so far but said she'd get back to me over the weekend. Even if the feedback isn't in time for BA2b I will still benefit from having it moving forward.

After designing one of my possible business cards with a graphic design student, I decided to change the font my name is in on all my social media and website. I wanted a bolder font on my business card to stand out more, and wanted my branding to be consistent across all my platforms and branding. I compared the current font with this one, and finally decided it was the right decision to make. My only worry was that it was too bold and took away from my images on my website, but as I looked back and fourth I realised I definitely prefer having a bolder font, it is much more impactful and still works alongside my images. Its also easier to use as its a universal ADOBE font, so I can use it on all programs whereas my former font was not. Having worked with a graphic designer to point me in the right direction and give an opinion which I value was really beneficial throughout my self promotional process.

Today I got to see the final editorial containing the images I took for Ramona Janeliukšte, a design for publishing student who also helped me when creating my own editorial. Below are the spreads which featured my work, from the final 25 page publication. They look so good and the way the entire editorial has been set out is to an incredibly high standard, and I am proud that my work got to feature.

After showing Gretchen my e-Folio in my 1 to 1 yesterday she helped me refine it a little and suggested I change the order a little, especially the ending. I added my contact details at the end, which I thought was a good idea. She mentioned maybe adding a line down the middle so thats its read as a spread but I chose to keep it how it was, updating the images on there too as it already felt a bit out of date even though I only made it last week. After making the changes I have, it reads alot better and feels more fluid, especially at the end where it didn't feel concluded.

Before starting BA2b (4) I already had a linkedin account, but I didn't use it, and didn't have a profile image or a bio. I have since made sure that my profile is up to date, and that I have both a profile image and a banner of my work. Making sure I had added my website address also means that people can see my work and find my social media links.
I'm not sure how I can currently make the most out of the platform, but I am sure as I get more work and meet more people, especially after graduating next year, it will become a really useful tool to reconnect with people I had only met once, or to reach out for potential work.

After getting my first reply, I chose to email a couple more professionals to try and get some more feedback. I reworded my email to try and get some more negative feedback which I can then use to improve.

I just received my first reply back from my e-Folio feedback emails, from Laura. I am happy that I didn't include my studio images from my previous projects as they wouldn't have been as consistent with my other ones. Her feedback was really generous, I think I was hoping for some negative feedback that I can improve upon, so I think I will find some more practitioners to send it too and re-word my email asking for things which can be improved on specifically. Knowing that will help me more to make my e-folio better.

She seems really friendly so I think I'll reply saying thank you and maybe in the future when I get a bit more confident in my own work email her and see about the possibility of some assisting work with her.

Today I emailed three photographers asking for some feedback on my e-folio. I asked Hayley Louisa Brown, James Grant, and Laura McCluskey. I went to  all their guest lectures, and I chose them because their work seemed to be the most relevant to my own. I wrote out my emails last night but sent them this morning to seem more professional; all three based around a very similar template, but I added a personal reason about how I found their lecture which I think is a nice compliment.

I hopefully have a good chance of being responded to as they came to uni to give lectures, and I have hopefully got enough time between now and hand in to receive a reply and then make any changes to my work in response to any feedback. I'm hoping for at least one reply as I know its a big favour. Of the three, Laura McCluskey's work is the most similar in my opinion to my own, so I hope I receive a response from her. Although James Grant's work isn't very similar to my own, he still shoots portraits and portrays a lifestyle through his images similarly to how I want to, and I think his feedback would still be very useful. Likewise with Hayley Louisa Brown, all her work is shot on film, but we have the same fashion underpinning both of our practices.

Any feedback from industry professionals will definitely help me refine and perfect both the content and presentation of my work in both my e-Folio and website.

Nicolas Bruno is an imagemaker from Northport, New York, a small harbor community located on Long Island. 

He suffers from Sleep Paralysis, and creates images based on the vivid hallucinations he experiences during his sleep.

To construct his images, he sets up a tripod, and shoots continuously, allowing himself to be all the characters in the scenes he depicts.

I really like this work, because despite having seen so many surrealist photographers who use self portraits within their work, but all of the scenarios have been pure fiction. Bruno keeps a dream dairy to use as inspiration and each image is a replica of what occurred in his dream. By creating these photos, it gives him control where he feels as though he has no control within his dreams.
I think making these images is a brave thing to do, facing his nightmares and taking control. Using photography as Therapy has really helped him express what he is going through to others and brought awareness too.

I recently worked alongside a stylist to create some images for an editorial. I haven't worked with a stylist on set before and I knew this was something I really needed to do to increase the production value of my images. We exchanged ideas of how we wanted to take the shoot and she had a clear idea of the clothes she wanted the models to be wearing. The initial idea was that she wanted the model to be wearing her own (the stylists) clothes, and a working title for the images would be ‘out of the wardrobe’ I really liked the idea and was excited to see how the shoot would go. The desired outcome was for these images to appear in a small zine that she wanted to create as an end goal for her after graduation (She is a fashion promotion and communication student) is to be an editor of editorials for a top magazine or to put together her very own bi-annual publication. 
My one concern for these shoots was the potential difference between locations, as I was under the impression she wanted them all to appear side by side in the same editorial. I expressed my concerns but the stylist was still happy as the clothes were consistent and that they would still work. 

Today I had a 1 to 1 with James, I showed him my images I had taken so far, and how they looked in a spread.

He strongly suggests I work with a stylist on shoots, he pointed out that some of the clothes were not completely flat and caught up in a jacket or creased at the ankle, I really appreciated how picky he was because I was struggling on how to develop and now I know what I need to do to improve the performance value of my images.

He also suggested that I experiment with cropping, I want to see the different ways an image can look at different sizes, and making sure any lines are straight for full impact.

He urged that I look for inspirations beyond fashion editorial- film, music video, art, literature. I think this will be quite difficult for me as I am always only really looking at current fashion imagery, obsessing over the latest editorials in magazines that I have delivered on the day they're released. I think pushing myself to look for inspiration outside current fashion will really help me give my work the edge that it needs.

It was recommended that I edit down to 8 images and compare impact from 12. James was worried I was giving myself too much work and that the quality will be lost within the quantity. I want my images to be a snapshot of what I can achieve, and to only really show the best I can do within the time frame I've been given, rather than show as many as I can and have the quality disappear.
Less is most definitely more here.

For the collaboration project we made sure that everyone felt as though they were contributing and had achieved something from the brief. My role was to photograph, and to put together the Instagram feed. I also had a go at some filming during the two filming days. I feel as though I was a good team player, and helped motivate everyone to work to their full potential.

My contribution to the social media meant that it was my job to get everyone to send the images across to me, to make sure the order was chronological, and that the relevant #'s were used to attract attention to our work. On our second to final post production day I had to make sure everyone was sending me the content, one of my team members had a close family member pass away, and we were all very understanding about the circumstances. This level of compassion for one another was lovely to see despite us all being total strangers to one another less than just two weeks before.
The strength also to return to university a day later and stand with us to present our work was also very admirable, and we managed to get all the content, including theirs, on the Instagram feed before presenting.

We never had any fallings out as a group, and largely were all co operative and we all knew what we were doing at any given time. If at any point I didn't understand anything or was unsure, I felt as though I could have asked anyone in my group for help and they would be there to help me.

This was the first time I had collaborated with such a big group of people, and the work I produced as part of this brief reflects how much thought and planning went into our shoots and any post production. My team member Maddie played a big role in the shooting and editing of the final video, and the final outcome looks professional and is really impressive. I couldn't have produced and put together such a well rounded moving image piece, which really shows that our decision to delegate different tasks to the right people was one of the best decisions we made as a group.

Throughout the process, me and my group demonstrated resilience, responsibility, and resourcefulness. I don't think our collaboration experience could have worked so well without a solid group of people who all seemed to have good communication skills, probably the most important thing when working as a group.

It was really fun to see all the other groups fashion films and the variety of different points of interpretations of the same brief. The whole experience of the last two weeks I found really beneficial and fun and I feel lucky to have been part of a group who all pulled their weight and all equally contributed to what turned out to be a really high quality final outcome.