Questions, Answers & Research

  1. Why did I choose landscape rather than portrait? I chose landscape because most of my chosen images are landscape, therefore a landscape book gives me more creative possibilities. However, I try to shoot all my images a combination of landscape and portrait to give me the option of choosing one over the other or to be able to choose both.
  2. Does black and white or colour work better to tell the story I have created? Whenever I want to shoot black and white, I always shoot in colour because if I want the project in colour for something else or if I decide I want to see it in colour I can. Shooting in just black and white would have limited my possibilities.
  3. Images with the bath panel on or the bath panel off? When I first began shooting, we had, had a leak so the bath panel was taken off to look for it. So, when I first shot the bath panel was stood up at the top end of the bath up against the wall. When Nik my lecturer had seen the images, he thought they were great but, he asked me to make some changes. He wanted me to make the images clean, by taking all the clutter away like bottles, sponges etc. He also like the bath without the panel as it is less distracting and keeps the images cleaner. However, I wanted to try with the bath panel on and off. So, when it came to reshooting, I chose to do the first half of the shoot with the panel off and then for the second half I fitted the panel back in place. I found the images were nicer to look at without the panel on, but I also found that with it on it gave more context. So, I decided to have a mixture of images where the bath panel is in sight and out of sight. I found this gave a slight mystery to my series.
  4. Why did I change my project more than once? My original project was to photograph people living with invisible illnesses and how they cope. I was planning to get in contact with GL11 Invisible Illness Group and asking if any of them would be willing to let me photograph them, however I wasn’t able to do this due to contracting Covid-19. I was very poorly and as well as isolating I could no longer begin shooting. As this project was short, I didn’t have time to waste. So, I chose to photograph myself living with Covid-19 which shortly went onto my mum as well as she came down with it too. Within my photographs was a bath shoot I had shot of my mother, showing her have a bath to feel better. Once I had shown these images in class and Nik had a good look at them, he explained that these images were beautiful, and I had created an intimate body of work with my mother and thought that I should explore this as not many people have such a close relationship with their mother. So, I decided to give it ago. I needed to reshoot anyway as I had accidently shot on auto ISO and all my images were far to grainy. I think sharing the same invisible illness has a great part to play in why we are so close and that she is a single mother.
  5. Why did I choose Bookwright instead of InDesign? I had a go at InDesign with help from my peers, a lecture on it , and the internet, however I did not find it very user friendly. I have always struggled with Adobe Software; I don’t find it easy at all. I don’t think it’s all that user friendly in terms of people with learning difficulties. I found I was not getting anywhere so I decided to give Bookwright a go. I had to look a few things up, but I managed to follow the tutorials well, so I decided to stick with Bookwright as for me it is user friendly.
  6. Why did I choose Blurb over Lightening Source? Even though Lightening Source was an option in the brief, it was talked down on so much by lecturers about their printing quality, I decided Blurb was the best one to choose.
  7. Why did I choose QUICKSAND as my preferred font? I chose Quicksand as my preferred font because it is the most like my mother’s handwriting and like my preferred fonts for my course work as it reads easy. I was going to get my mum to write out the quotes she gave me on tracing paper and then scan them in as a photo. However, after some consideration I chose not to do this as my pictures are so clean, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get a clean scan as scanners pick up everything, like grease and dust. So, I chose a font closest to my mother’s instead.
  8. How did making digital layouts and physical layouts affect the final outcome? By viewing two formats of images gave me a wider idea of what I was producing. Physical layouts meant I could lay out all of my images on the floor and could view all of my images at the same time, whereas on my laptop due to the size I could only view so many images at once. Printing my images out on paper gave me an idea of what they would look like printed and gave me the chance to see whether when the images are printed do, they look any different and if that affected my decision. After getting a new laptop I also colour calibrated my screen to make sure I was seeing the images colour to its fullest potential. Even though my images are black and white I did shoot in colour as I had not yet decided if I was going to pick colour or black and white.
  9. How would I use my work to get commissioned and how could I use it to help my Final Major Project? By creating and publishing my first book gives me a more professional element to add to my portfolio. Creating a book also shows my commitment and dedication, which shows my professionalism and skill. Now knowing how to create and publish a photo book, it gives me the opportunity to upskill during my FMP and create a book for my final piece. Having a book shown at the degree show or/and on my website adds another body of work for future employers to look through and show off my skills. It is an additional way of promoting myself and my commitment. When I bought my book, I also bought a PDF for £2.99. Having a PDF, means I can print out on A4 and attach to portfolios and CVs for jobs.
  10. How could I contribute this project into next year and graduation? I could contribute to this project by continuing it on after hand in, developing it or reproducing it slightly differently, maybe changing it into a slightly different project. I can also use my new booking creating skills to produce a book for FMP if I would like to, or a PDF. If I created a book for FMP, I could use it as self-advertisement at the degree show to promote myself. Also, I can upload a teaser to my website, and I could also put it for sale on my website. With advertising I could sell online to make money on my work.
  11. What is to photograph the real? To photograph the real means to photograph what is around you and document real life. For example, street shots and photojournalism.
  12. What has come to be considered ‘natural and correct’, in documentary image, showing the truth? The view that you’re capturing in front of you is true, real and in the moment. Documentary images shouldn’t be considered natural and correct if they are candid shots.
  13. What is (the) Real within photography? The Real within photography is what is true and real around you in a moment in time. For example, shooting an emergency, like a fire or a natural disaster or shooting a protest.
  14. What is to photograph objectively? To photograph with no bias and not creatively. Photographing what is already there, in front of you and the camera.
  15. What is to photograph subjectively? To create a staged image, the image gets changed behind the camera.
  16. Documentary photography issues: Practical …Are these involved with photographing ‘objectively’? Got to be able to shoot in the moment and change settings. No time to take a light meter or set up a tripod etc. Have to take lots of photographs because you can’t grantee the images are right.
  17. Documentary photography issues: Ethical …Are these involved with photographing ‘objectively’? Taking picture of people that I don’t know and make sure that they are okay with me taking pictures of them. It would be ethical to ask permission. Your images could be against someone’s religion or children. Need to think of any ramifications of your image.
  18. Documentary photography issues: Social …Are these involved with photographing ‘objectively’? It’s not socially acceptable to go into someone’s funeral, private wedding, private party etc. without permission?
  19. Documentary photography issues: Representational…Are these involved with photographing ‘objectively’? Having a varied category of subjects, shots, and angles.
  20. Can documentary photography ever be objective? OR is it inherently subjective? Yes, because your taking pictures of more than one thing. Depending on the subject, are you focusing on just one topic/person or have you used a variety.
  21. Is a photograph able to represent ‘reality’? Yes and No. It depends on whether or not it has been released with context or not. Any image really is subject to interpretation however an image with context can still interpreted differently however the real interpretation is present for acknowledgment.
  22. Does it project a ‘fictional moment’, in time, rather than represent the ‘decisive moment’? It depends on whether the image has been staged or had been taken in real time. An image of a film would project a fiction moment whereas a documentary image would project a decisive moment, for example shooting a natural disaster.
  23. Is it pure fact or fiction? One image can be pure fact for one individual, however one image from different points of view can have more than one interpretation. For example Photographer Takes Pics Of People In Public From 2 Perspectives And It Shows How Easily The Media Can Manipulate Reality | Bored Panda
  24. Is it only concerned with the now or conversely with the past, OR does it pose questions about the near future? Documentary Photography for me is concerned with all three, the present, the past and the near future. It is an ongoing story of histories throughout time.
  25. Need to express critical self-awareness of current debates about documentary practices and the photobook. Photobooks have come so far in the contemporary world. Rather than just photobooks themselves there are now photobooks about photobooks which demonstrates their availability, success, and popularity. For example, ‘Phaidon’s recent Magnum Photobook: The Catalogue Raisonné’. In the 21st Century all types of art forms are critically scrutinized and judged. This can be very good for globalization, however also very bad, because any negative coverage is out in the world and is easily accessible. But with any and all criticism easily accessible it gives a wide audience the ability to collectively up their creations to make them better, which creates more of a competition. As well as creating harder competition, it also gives the art world more alternatives such as works, finance, pre and postproduction. It has become increasingly noticeable that artists are starting to experiment more and creating visual stories outside the norm. In 2017 an artist called Gerry Badger helped to curate the Photobook Phenomenon’ exhibition and wrote about how photobooks have had issues and ‘relevance’ in history.
  26. Why did I choose premium luster paper? I chose premium luster paper because of advice given in class and my own experience with paper types. I find that sometimes matte images can take some quality away from images, however glossy images are easily damaged by grease, dust, and fingerprints. Luster paper to me is a combination of matte and glossy, so for me you get the best of both worlds with less negative outcomes. Glossy pages have a higher chance of sticking together and then damaging the images further.
  27. Soft cover, Hardcover Dust Jacket, and Image Wrap, why did I choose a dust jacket and was this the right decision? It was an easy decision to discard the soft cover, because damage to the spine happens very easily and gets worse over time, with the creases and the bent covers. I found it very hard to choose between a dust jacket and an image wrap, this was because they both have a similar number of pros and cons. I decided to go with the dust jacket because even if the dust jacket is damaged the book itself stays in good condition, whereas if the image wraps get damaged that’s it, but also, I wasn’t sure if there was going to be an image wrap underneath the dust jacket or not. I had the opportunity to view a Blurb image wrap book from another peer which helped to inform my decision. To me the quality did not look great, there was slight blur, and you could see grease on it easily, so I decided solely based on that, it would be beneficial to protect the book itself and create a dust jacket, however since my book has been delivered, I see already there are problems with the dust jacket. For example, before taking my book out of the postage box the edges of the dust jacket already had slight edgewear. I am considering buying a protective cover for the book to protect the dust jacket, or a archival box.
  28. Why did I choose a 10x8 book size? 10x 8 is a popular professional photobook size, it’s not too small and its not too big. You have the added benefit of being able to have it on a table, to travel with or to display. A smaller photobook also discloses to me that an image doesn’t have to be huge to matter, it can be smaller but still have a huge impact.
  29. Far Away and Close to home Summary in own words: This theme touches on Eggleston, Schmidt, Evans, Frank and Shores projects of documenting a world that is few and far between. Some of them are far away from home and some of them are close to home and each photographer shows parts of the world that at their time were not being discussed at length, they almost went unnoticed, for example Frank disclosing to the world that racial tension did/does exist and exposing it to the naked eye.
  30. Comparison and Classification Summary in own words: This theme touches on science and humankind. Sanders, Nixon’s, Sheikh’s, Becher and Becher’s, and Struth and Thomas’s projects explored the ‘unflinching gaze’, ‘the passage of time’, engineered structures’ and ‘mugshots of college friends’. They began to look into separate areas of humankind and their effects on the world itself and other people.
  31. Industry and Consumerism in own words: This theme touches on the camera itself. Renger-Patzsch’s, Gursky’s, Adams’s, Friedlander’s, and Grahams projects begin to break down how we interact with the world through our lens’s. From ‘chimney stacks’ to ‘the external landscape’, these photographers have documented our developmental histories over the last 100 years and how have we learnt from these mistakes and success’s. They have also I believe have added in a political stance to each of their projects.
  32. Caught in Lens in own words: This theme touches on the real but the less spoken on. Such as Arbus’s portraits of transvestites, and Dijkstra’s portraits of bullfighters. These very lesser spoken topics can be uneasy to look at due to their sensitiveness. These images are literally caught in time, not staged, completely true. They are images that are hard to dismiss and stir a widespread conversation.
  33. From the four Cruel and Tender Exhibition Themes I have chosen… I have decided that my project has bits and pieces from both Close to home and Caught in the Lens. I have decided on this because of the nature of my project. I have created a body of work that shows the intimate connection me and my mother have as mother and daughter. Its common for daughter to be close to their mothers, however in the setting that I used (nude in the bath) shows an unspoken connection. I think lots of children of any age from childhood through into adulthood will most likely go into the bathroom and have a chat with their mothers, even if its just for a quick question or to grab something of a shelf for them, like say shampoo. But to photograph this, I found the reality of the strong bond my mother and I actually share. Some of my images were indeed caught in time however some of them were half posed and half natural which brings me back to close to home. I think my project is mostly based on Caught in the Lens.
  34. Problems with the shoots: Camera settings, timing, lighting, space/lens, steam/humidity, bath panel: Throughout my shoots I encountered a few problems. I hadn’t shot much inside with my new camera and have been getting used to it over the last year. My camera sometimes resorts back to auto ISO, which at first I didn’t realize and then I found it’s something I keep forgetting to check. My first bathroom shoot I photographed with my mother I couldn’t work out why my images were coming out so grainy, it turned out that my camera had reverted back to auto ISO and I hadn’t realized. The majority of these images were really great however I decided that I shouldn’t use them because they were far too grainy and I had not yet decided whether or not I was going to shoot in black and white or not. If I decided to go with black and white the images could have been used however I knew it wasn’t my best work so I decided I was going to reshoot, making sure my ISO was around 100-400, depending on the light as there is only a tiny window in the very small bathroom. Furthermore, due to the accessible space and camera lens, there was not enough room for the images I would have liked to have experimented with. Next time I will take out a lens from the stores with a longer focal range, so the distance between me and my mother wouldn’t have been such an issue. Due to my mothers chronic pain conditions she could only stay in the bath for so long which meant because she also had to actually have a bath I didn’t have much time to shoot. I also couldn’t expect her to keep having numerous baths, just because I wanted an image. If I were to do this project again I would do it over a longer period of time to allow for more shots and shot types. Shooting in a small bathroom with only a little window and a hot bath meant, I had to deal with the humidity creating my lens to steam up, this meant that some of my closer shots would steam up because I only have a 28-77mm lens so I had no choice but to get that close. Whilst shooting this project we have had a leak coming from the bath through to the kitchen ceiling so the bath panel has been on and off. Initially when I first shot these images the bath panel was stood up at the top end of the bath and their was products around the bath itself. Once Nik had, had a look through he pointed it out that these images would be more powerful and beautiful if they were clean, e.g. no products, no bath panel etc. So with this when I re shot I took everything that I could out of the image. However I decided to play with the bath panel. I created some shots with it stood up as before, some with it missing completely and some with the panel back on the bath. I wanted to do this so that I could compare the images on my laptop afterwards to see what was actually working for the project. In the end I decided to keep a selection of the 3 shot types as this meant keeping the project real.
  35. Camera Raw in Adobe Bridge vs Adobe Photoshop/Lightroom: I have never found Adobe particularly user friendly and have always struggled using the software. However, I’ve found that especially for slight changes that Adobe Bridge’s Camera RAW works very well for me and its user friendly. For the images shot for this particular body of work only lighting changes an crops were needed.
  36. Problems with timing, e.g., work, family commitments over the Christmas period, illness, and lectures: Due to my poorly timed weeks, between working, driving, sleep, family commitments, illness and lectures, I hadn’t left myself much time for actual shooting. Next time I will allocate myself more time for not just shooting but for research too!
  37. Problems, photographing my mother nude in the bath and solutions: I found that photographing my mother nude posed some issues for myself. I didn’t wanted my body of work to be seen as creepy or as just nude imagery. I had to shoot this project in a way that was intimate but that was also censored. Which wasn’t as hard as I had initially thought, however it was a challenged for me with the space I had.
  38. Pros and Cons of printing at home vs printing at uni (contact sheets and layouts):Printer ink is very expensive, along with printer maintenance and paper. And home office printers so print very fast ad the quality is very often not great. So printing layout images and contact sheets at home became very challenging, especially with the amount of sheets being printed at once. I had chosen to print at home originally because the printer in Hardwicke is terrible especially for a photographic department. The printer marks the paper and the colour is never correct. However due to the ongoing issues with printing at home I reverted back to printing at university.
  39. Problems with FedEx (Delivery) and Delivery fees from Blurb: Standard delivery costed £8.99 but for it to come only two days earlier it was £21.99 which is disgusting. I decided to leave a review for them to discuss the high rise in the price for only a two day difference. I decided to go cheaper as their was only two days in it. However, it was going to be delivered on the 3rd of January 2022, then it was delayed to the 5th and then delayed to midnight and then delayed to the next day I found that this did not reflect well on Blurb or FedEx and I found it very stressful. However I am aware that I ordered over Christmas and in a pandemic.

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