Blog 3 Mhari Tyler
Within Contemporary portrait photography we were given the task of creating portrait photos whilst within isolation, for me this meant attempting to photograph my boyfriend over facetime. I chose to use multiple cameras to really enhance the feeling of being trapped behind a screen and even though on technology such as facetime, zoom or skype you may feel close to someone through seeing their face and hearing their voice but in reality you are far away from that person and not with them at all. Through the better lives themes of sustainability and social responsibility I chose to focus on the idea of photographing sustainably. Photoshoots are sometimes a waste of resources we should find new ways to be innovative with creatives practices. Carrying this thought into the current situation of a global pandemic means people have the time to stop their daily routines and think about ways they can better themselves and the way they approach creativity.
We had crit feedback sessions through Black Board collaborate, this gave us a chance to really look at the way other people have chosen to photograph each within their own individual and unique situation within this pandemic. Not one person will be in a same situation as another person and the uncertainty of these times can be unsettling. However the photos that I saw from my group were such a broad variety of perspectives on the world as it is for everyone in the present day, in some ways I found it so hard to relate as I had no background information on anyone else’s situation but in another way I felt very connected with everyone’s work as we were all working to the same briefing with similar setbacks and issues to overcome. The diversity of creativity form everyone’s work was really interesting as everyone’s perception and outcome from the task was very different from the next. I really enjoyed the whole process od this Better Lives section and it led me to realise I was not passionate about my course and wanted to change course, I want to develop my photography skills and learn how to change the future of fashion photography.
The aspects from this task that I will implement into my future creative works will be to always think around the problems we are faced with and to alter the perception of them within my mind i.e. not seeing them as problems but simply as a new way of thinking. If everyone could apply the same thinking we could make real change within the creative society.