Tuesday 28 April 2009

FMP !

Havn't done this in ages but I now feel the need to ! So i'm about to start my final major project at college ! This is the only thing that actually gets a mark so it's a pretty big thing ! We had to write a statement of intent on what our project will be about / what we are going to do in it which i've included below.....

Final Major Project – Statement of Intent


Section 1
Is it the amount of control involved when taking a picture that stops people from being particularly creative when it comes to photography, and thinking literally “outside of the box”? What would the effects be if this control was to be somewhat broken? I plan to explore these effects by investigating different ways of producing a photographic image. This exploration will include producing a series of pinhole cameras in a variety of different ways and observing the effects which they give. I also plan to introduce new aspects into what is considered a “normal” camera such as experimenting with the effects of mirrors and different materials. Experimentation into different developing options and materials which I can record the photographic images onto will also be carried out within the project. (129 words)

Section 2
The starting point for this project spanned from a college project on “Light” explored earlier on in the course. Artists researched within the project such as James Loftus have been very influential to my initial ideas and in particular how he records multiple images at one time using a self made pinhole camera. Further research and experimentation using this idea will be carried out along with researching other artists who use pinhole photography in their work such as Thomas Hudson Reeve’s “PaperCams” and Steve Pippin’s “Laundromat” series. The idea of introducing mirrors into this project came from ideas I had during a “Site Specific” project I also carried out earlier in the course. I’m interested in the different effects they can create such as the kaleidoscope and never ending effect. Artists I will research in relation to this idea will include Yoyoi Kusama, Mike Nelson and Olafur Eliasson and how they explore mirrors within their works. (156 words)

Section 3
A large part of this project will include pinhole photography and I will therefore need to construct the different pinhole cameras in the relevant way. As I will be using light sensitive materials to record the images onto I will need to have access to a dark room and the relevant chemicals needed to process photographic images. I intend on making positives from the negatives produced by the pinhole cameras and will therefore require an enlarger for this process. Ilford black and white photographic paper will be used to develop the images onto as colour processing is a much more technical process which I haven’t yet explored. Digital photography will also be used to explore similar techniques and processes however different developing and colour options will be explored through the use of Photoshop. The images I produce digitally will be printed out professionally by an online printing company. (148 words)

Section 4
I plan to produce ongoing evaluation of my project within my sketchbook as well as producing a general weekly evaluation. I will also produce a questionnaire which will be handed out fortnightly to my college colleagues and tutors so I can gain their opinions on my work so far. (49 words)

(488 words)

There was different sections to this and alltogether it couldn't be over 500 words ! I felt this very restrictive and to be honest I don't think this is the way a project should start ! You never know where it's going to take you ! However all this said it doesn't really matter if your ideas change slightly (apparently!)

I got really into pinhole photography when I was doing a project on "Light" so I thought i'd return to it for my FMP ! I'm quite excited although i've got "artists block" atm and don't know how to get into my sketchbook / start any work etc !

To add to the stress of this i'm waiting to here back from Dundee ! My portfolio had to be there last Monday and thankfully it did get there (by post!!), i'm jsut waiting now to see whether I have got into the art college there ! I really hope I have because it looks amazing and I could so see myself there !

Anyway, i'll hopefully keep the blog updated on this project as I think it will help me aswell !