Evaluation

As it has come to the end of my collaborative project with Penarth, I am going to do an evaluation of what I feel were my strengths, weaknesses, challenges and rewards whilst working on this project.

I would say that my strongest aspect of this project has been my ability to change to a different idea, as my original idea didn’t work out for me. Originally, I wanted to photograph a working farm in Penarth, however when it came to contacting the farms to ask for permission to visit them, not one got back to me. As I couldn’t wait around due to the fact I had 3-4 weeks to complete this project I therefore had to come up with a different idea.  Normally, I would of struggled a lot with changing my idea, however because of my previous projects I think that I was strong enough to deal with the fact that you can’t always have your photography exactly how you initially imagined. I also think that by changing my idea to photographing Penarth pier, it reflected far more on my given title of ‘industry/commerce’ due to the pier being the biggest industry and attraction in Penarth, from which I found out during my research into Penarth.

The biggest challenge that I found was finding relevant photographers that have worked on ‘seaside’ photography but not in a stereotypical ‘holiday maker’ way. Therefore I had to use their techniques mainly as influence such as their compositional framing, computer manipulations and viewpoints. I do think that if I was given more time then I would have been able to experiment far more, however due to the three week deadline for submission I wasn’t able to as much. I do understand that I have to balance my time far better next time, I think that I was just expecting a longer date due to it being my last project for my first year.

Whilst working on this project, I really did enjoy the collaborative side. I think that by working in a group and that group having the same title, you are able to feel far more comfortable, and help each other out with theirs and yours ideas. I was lucky enough to be put into a group with four other girls who were very helpful and interested in what we were all deciding to do.

Working with the town of Penarth was also very rewarding to me. As I have never worked on a collaborative project before, this has made me want to continue working on them as I think that working in a team and creating a good working environment with others is key. Before the project, I had never been to Penarth before and since it has become a favourite place of mine.

The final outcome for this project was a fully up to date blog showing my research and journey throughout my collaborative practice work, I have also got four professional printed images that will be my portfolio to accompany my blog. The images I have chosen are my strongest and I think would work very well as postcards.

Final Photographs

Here are my four final images for my Penarth collaborative project.

I am very happy with my final images and think that these 4 as a set going very well together. I wanted to keep my composition as strong as possible throughout, I did experiment with centring the main focus in my images (as you can see on my contact sheets), however I felt that when it came to selecting my finals that the use of rules of thirds were stronger and the framing was far more tighter, ensuring everything was within the frame.

The first image is my favourite out of the four, I really love the clouds definition and the elderly woman sat on a bench enjoying the beautiful Penarth view. The slight desaturation is exactly what I wanted, especially from my previous artist research. I would of liked to not have the bench on the right side poking in, however I didn't want to crop the image. 

For this image, I was highly influenced by William Eggleston for the low angle viewpoint and Martin Parr for the British stereotype and humour. As you can see in the top right of the frame the Welsh flag is blowing in the wind which I made sure was kept within the frame. I think that the lower angle viewpoint works really well and gives the image a much better viewpoint. 

The two last images above work very well together as a set I think, as the first image shows a sign saying 'No Fishing' and in the last image you can see an old man fishing over the pier, I thought this was showing a humorous side much like Martin Parr and definitely fits in with my commerce/industry title that I was assigned for this project. 

Photoshop Tutorial

When it came to editing my images I decided to edit them using the same techniques so that my 4 final images worked well as a set of images. Because of the dull weather I knew that I wanted to pay close attention to the clouds whilst editing and definitely show the clouds definitions.
I found an online Photoshop tutorial that helped me enabled to define to clouds and make them 'pop out'.

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-editing/photoshop-sky/

Below, I have print screened one of my images through its manipulation, I didn't do this for every edit because I am using the same technique through and I didn't want to overpower with print screens all looking the same.  

This is the image when I began my editing process. 

The first I made was to make a background copy and then adjust the levels of the image to change the exposure. 

Next, I went onto to layer - new - layer which created a new blank layer over my levels. 

To enhance the clouds, I went onto the 'gradient tool' and chose 'foreground to transparent' as my gradient

Next, I used the gradient tool and pulled down from the top of the clouds to the metal railing which then created this black covering over the clouds, I then simply changed the filter in the top right to 'Overlay'. 

Finally to finish the image I saved it as a Jpeg under the best quality.

And here is my final image… I am very happy with the way that this turned out as I think that the simplicity and empty space creates a very mundane atmosphere which I was hoping to achieve. 

Contact Sheets

Below are the contact sheets from my recent shoot of Penarth pier. On the day that I went to photograph, the weather was very overcast and cloudy which is did initially want as I didn't want my images to be overpowering with people which it would of been if the weather had been sunshine and warmth. From the images on the contact sheets I have chosen 4 photographs that I think are my strongest and best chosen, I have edited them and will put them up shortly. 

Whilst taking the photos down the pier, I wanted to photograph the different elements of the pier, including the pier itself as it is the biggest industry in Penarth, ice cream stalls/shops and fishermen. 

When photographing the fishermen, I was lucky enough to talk to one of them and he was more than happy for me to get closer to photograph him fishing and retrieving the fish. 

Nick Wapplington

Nick Wapplington is a artist and photographer who currently lives in New York City. 

He is most known for his series of images, 'Living Room' which documents the lives of two working class families in Nottingham over a four year period. Wapplington's photography is saturated capturing narrative and unexpected humour much like Martin Parr's photography. 

His work isn't to show a dramatic social statement, instead it's more to look at the daily struggle of working class families. 

These two images are my favourite taken from the Living Room series. I really love Nick Wapplington's unexpected humour and his use of clear composition within the frame. In the first image, I particularly like that the ice cream van isn't to the side of the frame in the rule of thirds, I think that sometimes using off compositioning can be really effective, especially by centring the main attraction instead. 

Within my photography, Wapplington's use of composition and 'off colour' will really influence my own work. I particularly like his use of centring which I have noticed that he uses a lot within his portfolio. 

Martin Parr

Martin Parr is an English photographer who is most known for his contemporary images highlighting the British stereotype. 

Parr's images are full of propaganda and humour which reflect brilliantly throughout his series of images from The Last Resort. This album looks are the British stereotypes of families and individuals from working class backgrounds, many enjoying days out and holidays at a seaside resort in England. 

"With photography, I like to create fiction out of reality. I try to do this by taking society's natural prejudice and giving this a twist."

The images above are taken from his Last Resort series, and personally these are my two favourites. I have chosen Martin Parr as an influence because I love the slight desaturation in the images and his clever use of British humour. Although in my images I don't really want many people in them, I still want to use Parr's use of humour so hopefully I will be able to show the Welsh stereotype or elements within my images. 

Paul Tucker

Paul Tucker is an 'up and coming' London based photographer, he works with a range of different galleries, artists and designers to ensure a comprehensive photographic service. He is capable of working across many different genres of photography rather than sticking to one individual genre. 

I have chosen Paul Tucker as one of my photographers to influence me because I love his images from his 'Beside the Seaside' project. The series of images show such a beautiful colour tone to them, slight undersaturated which I think works very well for seascapes to stay away from the typical over saturation. 

These two images are my favourite from his series.

As you can see both the images are in square format, from which I noticed that Paul Tucker has done for the majority of his projects, which I think makes a nice change when looking at landscapes in square format.  

In the first image I love the depth of field leading towards the end of the wooden pier. I also really admire his toning of the image and how the natural lighting has brightened up the image so much that the whites almost disappear. 

When looking at the second image I am immediately drawn to the framing with the sign post pole positioned directly in the centre of the frame, I am a big fan of centring when best and the symmetry that it creates when it splits down the frame.