Project outcome and personal development
REFLECTION TASK – Blog 3
Throughout the Better Lives unit, we have engaged with the key themes in different ways, exploring them within our personal projects was definitely really interesting. Contemporary Portrait Photography is the one I chose and even though photography is something I really enjoy to engage with, I wasn’t sure how to link the three main themes to this particular discipline.
Sustainability, diversity and social responsibility are indeed what we were asked to reflect on, and to consider while trying to create a visual response to portraiture.
In one of the first lecture our tutor showed us his work where he collected different items from the Thames and then used them to create particular images, giving a ‘new life’ to old objects or clothes abandoned and lost. This definitely made me reflect on how we can response to the theme of sustainability in photography and how we do not need to use new and specific items to create interesting visual works. Unfortunately, because of the current situation, we had to conclude the project at home, and one of the tasks was to create some images in response to that. We were asked to create ‘Home portraits’ related of course to the environment we had available and the people we could engage with and use as subjects. This task was really inspiring from my personal point of view. I had the opportunity to stop and think what I could create with the things I had around me, something I was not used to do before that. The camera has the power to show and underline what the eye might not normally see and that’s why I think this power could be used in order to make people reflect on how they can approach sustainable elements in their own experiences.
The work done throughout the photography project helped me to develop as well the theme of diversity and social responsibility, two factors that are directly connected to sustainability. Being a photographer means being able to represent something, in a personal way and being responsible of the ideas communicated with those images. I believe this is strictly connected to the key themes of the unit. The process we went through made me understand how what I portrait in my picture can be seen from the outside, and how it can be interpreted. This is something that can be applied to different disciplines and indeed important for our generation to remember in the future. Having applied it all to a specific project helped me to shape my ideas and definitely made me aware of my responsibility of being sustainable and represent diversity through my work and my creativity.
30th April 2020 @ 5:33 pm
I was drawn to your blog post as I am interested in photography and I feel that it is very relevant to my specialism which is Hair, Make-up and Prosthetics for Performance. I think you wrote a strong introduction to your post, addressing the task at hand, your chosen better lives course and your overall view of the unit. You have addressed the theme of ‘Sustainability’ very well when reflecting on your first lecture and this sounds like something I would have been fascinated by. The concept of using items found in the River Thames in images is interesting, as you could create some really great photos that give a wider message about litter. This could also be applied elsewhere in natural locations such as a beach or forest. I think this idea largely relates to ‘Social Responsibility’ as well because as a society we have a duty to clean up our mess for the future generations, who will be living on an even more struggling planet than ours.
Similarly to me, your project had to be adapted due to studying from home and you seem to have really enjoyed the challenge of utilising your surroundings. I had a similar task and I too felt that it encouraged wider thinking and provoked more instinctive creativity. One thing I maybe would’ve done is included an image of your final outcome to allow me, the reader, see what you’ve produced from your given task, as I’m interested as to how you’ve used your surroundings for your photograph. I really like what you said about the camera picking up what the eye cannot necessarily see, because it allows us to see things differently and recognise artistic material from a different perspective. This largely relates to my specialism in the technical sense that a make-up look will always look different on camera, so you must consider the colour palette and lighting you use. You could also use this idea by experimenting with composition and perspective, to generate various images with different messages concerning the ‘Better Lives’ themes.
I agree with your statement about having control over your image as a photographer, therefore having control over what the viewer takes from it and how it makes them feel. I believe this is relevant to all other artforms, including make-up as it is an expression of the artist’s creativity and can present ideas about ‘Sustainability’, ‘Diversity’ and ‘Social Responsibility’. In your blog post I get a strong understanding of how your work relates to ‘Sustainability’ and ‘Social Responsibility’ as this is a subject I can see you’re passionate about. On the other hand, I feel that you could have explained in more depth about how your project related to diversity, for example photographing different ethnic minorities, or even varied locations. Overall, I enjoyed reading your blog post as I am passionate about sustainability, and I can see that you enjoyed studying ‘Contemporary Portrait Photography’ as your ‘Better Lives’ project.