Final Evaluation

For my final pieces, I went into various research of artists and photographers, analysing their interpretation when it comes to my topic 'writing'. I looked at a recommended photographer in the exam brief, Nancy Hellebrand, who helped me understand a direct and simplistic presentation of writing,; though the composition was simple, it allowed a viewer to create many interpretations with just the small little details presented. I found her work lacked any challenge for me and the aesthetic didn't match my preferences in photography, so I moved onto the next photographer. Idris Khan used repetitive prints of words/sentences to create other images or present cultural messages; his work was also direct when it came to presenting writing, but he gave the words more purpose by having them create something and be more than just simply their definitions. I enjoyed his work, but the overall presentation didn't inspire me to take my own work into this style, I realised I wanted to incorporate portraiture into my work, as it is a passion of mine and felt this could be a good way to move forward. This led me to finding the artist Peter Strain, he paints portraits while incorporating writing by having the skin revealed as words; this is an abstract interpretation and the aesthetic is enticing for any viewer I felt. Strain, similar to Khan, gave the words more purpose and had them create something instead of just being their definitions, you can link this style with identity since the words in a way define the person in the portrait. I at first believed I would stick to Strain's style for my final pieces, since the style is abstract and challenged my edit skills, and also incorporated portraiture for writing; this fitting everything I wanted. But I didn't feel inspired by this style, it lacked something for me, so I found my last photographer research. Duane Michals creates bordered portraits and adds physical writing onto the photo. At first this seemed simple to me, but I further analysed his work and realised the writing interpretation this took. With all the other photographers, they present the power of words by having them create something else, Michals did this differently. I realised if the photos were not captioned, they owned a completely different interpretation, the photos premise would change because all that is given to the viewer is the photo, leaving them to interpret what is presented in this; but because Michals added in writing, it gave the photos different meanings, photos that could've appeared abstract and symbolic, became simple and humorous. Michals interpretation showed the power of what words can do to premises and presentations. His aesthetic was also soft and welcoming, something my work has never really presented, I saw this as a challenge. I decided Michals work was the perfect inspiration for my final pieces and an interesting way to present the topic 'writing'.

With what I have learnt, through my research I learnt various interpretations for writing obviously, but I also learnt new aesthetics and edits. The composition from most of the photographers I looked into was simple, but owned a powerful effect through small details, this taught me a 'less is more' following for my photos. With my research into Peter Strain, my first shoot on him I struggled to recreate his work in editing, this challenged me to try again in my next shoot. With this challenge, I was able to develop my skills in editing, and performed a complex edit to recreate Strain's work accurately. For my final inspiration photographer, Duane Michals, I learnt to change my aesthetic to something softer, my previous work typically being dark and nightmarish, by brightening the tone range in my photos and when it came to my posing for the portraiture, I was less serious and put on a brighter appearance in facial expressions.

I believe I was successful in my response to the exam paper, out of the options given I chose the topic writing, as I felt I could be very abstract and flexible in what I presented with this topic compared to the other options. In my shoots and blog write up I have been able to meet the AO's expected from me. For AO1, I presented various research and was able to critically analyse the work of others and find inspiration from this. For AO2, I was able to demonstrate and present my skills in editing photos, refining the work to my best ability. For AO3, I made my intentions clear and was able to critically analyse my work in my preparatory shoots. For AO4, I presented my final pieces that meet the intentions I made and respond to the topic writing directly. Where I feel improvement could be made is my decision making, through my preparatory shoots and research in photographers/artists I was very indecisive to what I wanted to do till the very end, this didn't allow me to present as much development on one inspiration then I could have if I made a final decision sooner. For further work I plan to have clear intentions sooner so I can present more development in one area to present my skill in self-improvement.