Before I started this component I didn't know much about photography at all, I didn't know any photographers and I didn't know how to take photos either. Throughout the course of this component I have learned pretty much everything I need to know to have a good understanding of the subject and i have now become proud about my work and have developed my own style.
Throughout the course of the component I have studied and analysed the works of many different photographers and have developed my style based on them. One of the photographers that I think has inspired me the most is Saul Leiter. I took great inspirations from the beautiful colours and compositions that he sets out in his images. I think that although I hadn't implemented the techniques that he uses into my abstraction unit his style has had a big impact on my unusual portraiture unit. I think I used his skillfull use of texture, colour and negative space in my final piece here.
Throughout the course of the component I have studied and analysed the works of many different photographers and have developed my style based on them. One of the photographers that I think has inspired me the most is Saul Leiter. I took great inspirations from the beautiful colours and compositions that he sets out in his images. I think that although I hadn't implemented the techniques that he uses into my abstraction unit his style has had a big impact on my unusual portraiture unit. I think I used his skillfull use of texture, colour and negative space in my final piece here.
I think that this image was probably the biggest success of the entire component because of the techniques that I have listed. I have also stated in my analysis of this image that I was inspired by the album covers of "KIWANUKA" by Michael Kiwanuka and "My Beautiful dark twisted fantasy" by Kanye West. I think that although I was heavily influenced by all of these things that it is also a product of my developed style, that involves the use of photoshop to create more surrealistic and vibrant images. I think that this can also be seen in this image that I also used for my final piece.
I like this image because I like the vibrance of the sky that I had achieved through the use of photoshop. For this image I decided that I wanted Harkeerat to be standing directly in front of this tree as such that his head is directly aligned with it because of this image
In the "Wrong" unit we were shown this image and asked to say what is wrong with it. Most of the students picked up on the fact that the tree is directly above the head of the man. Miss Minicucci also pointed this out and said that this is something that you shouldn't do in a photograph so I decided that I wanted to do exactly that but make it aesthetically pleasing which I believe is what I have achieved. We were also told that the things only slightly in frame were "wrong" and that we should look out for doing the same thing however I also believe that this can be done succesfully which I can see throught the photographs taken by Uta Barth that we studied in the abstraction unit.
I think that some of the images that we have studied throughout the component have really shown me the extent that photography can go to and has allowed my own work to become more abstract and not what I would have originally been able to appreciate. I would say that this is very important to creating your own photography work because if you aren't aware of all different types of the art form and the ways that it can be used then it would be a lot more difficult to find what you think is good photography which would make it significantly more difficult to create inspired artworks and especially for you to form your own style. I think that to a certain extent I have viewed a good variety of photography although I think that I could have definitely achieved more if I had spent more time viewing other pieces and analysing them. My work could definitely be improved in many ways, for example I would say my reliance on photoshop has made my work almost mechanical and I think that it is really missing some of the human imperfections that I can see in the works that I have analysed. However I believe that my work has improved since for example in the "the selfie" unit I still didn't really understand what I was doing and I wasn't really paying attention to the formal elements or taking inspiration from any other artists. I would like to say that I have improved on this on my newer units however I still see both of these imperfections in all of my work. I still don't think I've found my style as I still don't find my work that aesthetically pleasing however I would like to improve on my photography skills inside and outside of school. I have also researched photography outside of lessons. I have been to many different photography exhibitions throughout my GCSE years, most of these were at the Tate modern. One example of an exhibition that I have been to is one of William Eggelston's although I can't remember where I saw it at. I was already inspired by his work when we studied it during the edges unit but when I went to the exhibition, it was full of more of his earlier works and I was shocked at how beautiful some of the photography was despite the generally average subject matters. For example I saw this photograph:
And I realised that I don't need amazing subject matters to create amazing works. The way that this has affected me is that I now try to look around for everything that I could use in my photography, for example I was given a glass ball for my birthday and I never really used it for anything but one day I saw it and I knew exactly the photo I wanted to do with it and that became this:
Another example of this is with my final pieces. All that I needed for them is a tree from outside, Harkeerat and Photoshop (and obviously a camera). Another example is with all the photos that I did with the mirrror.
I never saw anyone else use this mirror that was just in the back of the classroom so I used it for some different pictures. I probably would've tried to use it for my unusual portraiture unit but unfortunately someone broke it. However I still used the idea of mirroring in the unit. For example this image
I used photoshop to my advantage and created an effect that would not be possible without it with the theme of reflections.
Overall I think that I have worked well and produced work that I am proud of in this component. I have learned to create my own relatively unique surrealistic style through the study of the works of others.
Overall I think that I have worked well and produced work that I am proud of in this component. I have learned to create my own relatively unique surrealistic style through the study of the works of others.