Final Reflections : Learning about myself – Creative Process and Outcome
- I have learnt to navigate my own creative process. Using an investagtive approach to allow my self to flow and think through ideas. This has gone alongside my own journey navigating my focal epilepsy and own wellbeing as I learn to live with the seizures, and gain understanding of how my brain also navigates. Like the underground communication within nature they also go unseen and are often misunderstood or unknown. Whilst also relearning and adapting my creating process to see how it has evolved since level 5. In some ways my confidence has grown from Level 5, I have successfully completed 3 industry placements that have taught me new skills and allowed me to materialise my abilities that aren’t directly used within my work, but at the same time as a person my values have matured since then and my work has become a contrast between high contrast flash and expressive styling, with a growing appreciation for my surrealism my photography has shifted from a darker to more outdoor whimsical aesethetic.
Throughout my work and within my creative process I’ve continued to take an investigative approach, letting my ideas evolve gradually and exploring different paths and techniques. However, this has meant that within my creative process it has taken me a long time to reach a point where I am happy and have clear direction within my outcome. Meaning that It is becomes harder to manage my time in way a way that allows me execute my outcome in the way I imagine. Moving forward post graduating I’ll be able to adapt and evolve my creative process to be more efficient allowing me to endeavour into more in depth exploration of my concepts and outcomes.
I began my FMP by continuing my focus on nature and its powers by looking at symbols within nature, which magnetise and often act as natural landmarks for humans. Exploring how this effects how as humans we navigate nature and how spending time outdoors can also help us navigate life more clearly. Which brought me onto looking at trees and the underground mycorrhizal network, reading into Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard and How to read a tree by Tristan Gooley which helped understand the power of trees, how they can be written about emotively and illustrated in a print form.
A key turning point within my project however was finding the relationship between my photographic style and paintings.Spurred on by visiting the Peggy Guggenhiem Musuem in Venice. In which I was drawn to this following paitning untitled by Dali below and its similarities in colour palette and pose with a test shoot I had done.
From here I contiuned to explore the effect of a painterly process and how this goes hand in hand with communicating landscapes visual. This gave me a a clearer direction which opened my mind to looking back to my Research essay into Alice in Wonderland and Fashion Photography and how the book reflects the 18th Century attitude of a Bucolic idealised English Countrside.
From here I was able to maintain a focus on the theme of my photorgaphy sticking to landscape outdoor shot imagery, in an ethereal style and looking to pastoral literature and art for both visual and written inspiration for the text is my book outcome.
Graphic Design Inspiration
We Make Pictures In Order to Live Magazine :
I was drawn to jumbled style graphic design within this magazine as it looks almost like organised chaos and a mind map of images that works well as they are of high quailty.
Mental insight to photographers thought process through the staggered layout that leads the readers eye around the page almost like following a path. Fun way of forming a photographic narrative within graphic design and without text.
Overcoming Challlenges
One of my key observations within brand image that I am aware of is matching my
Shoot 2: Images
Look 2: Exploring Time for Tea concept/ritual incorpertating tea cup and table, shooting the model from a far with flash gave the most effective result, however the overall feel of this look, feel slighlt to unoriginal, styling the brown boots instead of black was a mistake as it has made the model look as if she has been dressed like a tree which is very predictable. Getting the model to pose her arms following the tree branches did create an interesting affect though.
Look 1 :
Whimsical pre-rapholite inspired
Within the time of this look I had the best lighting which meant I was able to create the more “idyllic” feel I have been exploring. The best images from this look and shoot where the ones below, where the model in making contact with the plants and objects and within her environment rather than posing next to it. I was also aware to selecting the images in which the model is looking away from the camera rather than into the lens, creating a look that is more curious than pretty.
Best Image: Connection with tree, Good composition Flash has caught leaves in bottom left nicely and trees have framed the image through different tones of green and the blue sky in the foreground. Branch shadow on dress, further burrowing model into greenery.
Look 3:
Exploring darker tones earthy warm brown tones.
Within this look I found this still lifes on the stick bouquet on the wooden table where a success as they added to the narrative of bringing outside objects in and vice versa. However the model images compared to look 1, have come out a lot weaker as the background is less densly natural and more articially placed in the scene.
1 Week to go
With 1 week to go until the final deadline I have been focusing on how I can work most efficiently managing my time to avoid a last minute panic, or at least make the panic organised! Right now I am focused on completing the outcome its self. I am hoping to do this for Monday. This will give me time to get it printed in time for hand in as I feel having a physical copy to look at will convey the book The Stix and its meaning how I want it to, with the idea of it being an artefact and the value in the preciousness of having something to hold if I have time to do so. Before printing again with a hard back cover for exhibition.
I have also been looking through a lot of photography, surrealism, fashion and landscape books (documented in sketchbookn and bibliography) this has given me knowledged and a greater insight into layouts, graphic design choices and the way text and photography can be used to compliment each other. The one I find most inspiring being Tim Walker Storyteller, although I have loved his photography and sense of storytelling/depicition of the British Countryside for a long time, I really like the skethcbook style scanned layout he uses to display his work within the book, with even the references and image descriptions being documented in a academic style way, as well as having the heavy text at the front of the book to give the reader context before delving into the rest of the book visually.
The Rosettis Exhibition at The Tate Britian
Following on from my exploration comparing my photography to landscape paintings and nature, I visited thr Rosetti’s exhibition in the Tate Britian.
Exploring Printing Options / Overcoming Challenges
Today I visited the repographics department to look into the process of getting my book (The Stix) printed. I had planned and been a working on a indesign document, in a landscape format. I had planned on making the images landscape as I felt due to my work greatly being set in rural or natural landscapes, this would show case it best and be the most escapist format for the reader. The layout I havee created is landscape A4 pages, making long A4 landscape spreads when the book is opened, which I thought would be a unique format that would encourage the readers to take time looking into the images and turning the pages. However I was told have landscape A4 side by side as a spread isn’t something that can be done easily/within university. However there is an option to create an indesign document consisting of A4 landscape spreads that when printed could be trimmed down to create a smaller A5 landscape booklet. This would mean risking the image I wanted to create within my work through scale and restrict my graphic design choices to suite a smaller format, this being said I am also seeing it as oppurtunity to challenge myself into making this smaller version of my book. Although I love the idea of scale and getting lost in photography, the idea of my work being an artefact is something that is also important to me and I feel a smaller format has the possiblity to create a more intimate and precious documentation of my work. Infitting with my influence of storytelling and fantasy. I am also aware that I will be displaying my work on a large scale at the Final Show giving me an oppurtunity in both a very large and smaller intimate format, allowing me to see how it looks and fits in different contexts.
-Take the risk and print on a smaller scale, Consider medium mg weight natural paper. Artifical Glossy not fitting with nature themen and could create glare under exhibition spotlights.
Primary Research : Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft
Visiting the Ditchling Museum of Art + Crafts current exhibtion Signs of the Seaside curated by Justin Burns. was a great source of inspiration for the exploration of typography and how it can be used to convey certain meanings, as well as how it works paired with certain colours and the change in relationship and messages this can make, that I can use within my own work – Both in my photobook Stix and Portfolio work and Logo. The “R” letter below was once the “R” that sat above and helped spell out Brighton Pier, Instantly recognisable by its funfair style Serif font, that gives it a retro classic style in the most playful way. The R given a new lease of life by artist artist Andy Doig is so recognisable that it is now its own artefact and piece of history itself due to instant nostalgia and recognisablility of the font.
Nostalgia and Connotations of the seaside – Seaside Typography is enhanced by the pastel sea and sand yellows and blues, and seaside fish and chips stereotype to bring it to life.
