Shoot 1 - Final Evaluation

Shoot 1 - Final Evaluation

Shoot 1 of my exam has been influenced by a wide range of previous shoots as well as photographer research. I like the outcome of shoot 1 and feel as though it links well with the topic of 'the passing of time' due to the fact that I have used long exposure which has worked to capture the movements which have occurred over a set period of time. 

Shoot 1 links better to the second half of my component 2 work than my first as the second half was when I began to discover and explore the passing of time via the use of long exposure. My work for shoot 2 also links to the work of certain photographers which have influenced me. These mainly include Jesus Chapa Malacara who I got the inspiration from originally for the use of long exposure and more influentially, Alexey Titarenko. I feel as though Titarenko's work was the most influential to me as I liked the way that he used the black and white to create a more interesting and slightly unnerving image. I took this idea and explored it mainly in shoot 8 of my component 2 work where I got my idea for my final shoot. I liked creating the images to make the subjects appear as ghosts as I thought this gave some added interest as well as a slightly creepy element to my photographs. In addition to this, I feel as though the editing process for these images helped to highlight the long exposure which was in places, a little subtle to begin with. I also feel as though my editing my series in the way I did, I gave the images a sort of story by suggesting that the figure was a ghost through the use of lacking colour and a blurred effect created by the long exposure.

As a result of the project and this series of my work, I feel that I have learnt a lot about my photography and also have developed it well. I have learnt the main new skill which is shooting using long exposure. I found this a tricky skill to master in the beginning but am now finding it rather simple to work out. As a result of learning this skill, I have managed to create some much more effective images which I am proud to have produced. In addition to this technical skill, I have also learnt a few new aesthetic skills. These skills are mainly through the use of Photoshop and include editing using selective colouring and the quick select tool (shown in this series) as well as creating GIFs, photo-strips and many more. All of these new techniques learnt have been essential and highly beneficial when I was presenting my images relating to 'the passing of time', as they have allowed me to produce and present images in differing and alternative ways.

In my opinion, I was successful at responding to the exam paper. To begin with, I had very few ideas but as time went on, I found myself being influenced by many different photographers, all whom had a differing outlook on the topic of time. I therefore was able to become inspired by all of them which then allowed me to create my own response, which took little elements of each artist as inspiration. During the topic, I feel as though my skills have improved quite drastically. I found that towards the end and especially during this shoot, I was more willing to experiment and try new things. Overall, I feel that this final shoot has supported the topic well and feel that it has linked on from my other work significantly. Overall, I feel that my work is strong when creating singular images as they generally look very effective and show what I want them to. However, I feel that an area which I am weaker and I would like to improve is my accuracy of framing images, especially when using a continuous shot and creating a GIF. In addition to this, I would have liked to improve my linking skills when creating a series, however, I feel that the final outcomes for shoot 1 do in fact, work very well as a series.