Final Project Evaluation

When I first began Unit 2 I had a tough time trying to find ways to show evidence in ways that were interesting. I began with an idea of what I wanted to shoot but at the time I did not have the resources to do it. The result of this was a rather average shoot that was mainly full of repetitive examples of evidence in boring locations. In my second shoot I began to understand my environment more and had ideas about what I could do to show evidence in more interesting ways. It was after this point that I began to incorporate a better structure for my shoots by assigning specific genres of evidence such as graffiti or ageing to go out and photograph. I followed this simple structure up until shoot six when I thought that my work was about to start repeating itself unless I found other ways of expressing evidence without the same environment.

I looked to start setting up my own studio shoots while using photoshop to show more visually interesting examples of evidence. I looked at using photoshop to show evidence of ageing while using some contrast to produce a more visually interesting outcome. For my next shoot I wanted to think about the emotional weight of the subject that I was shooting instead of just photoshopping any image that I could take. I thought about lighting and emotion when I was shooting injury and how it would impact the individual that I was photographing. I used low-key lighting in order to show that the individual might try to hide while revealing the injuries. I was also able to incorporate some interesting formal elements such as form, tone and contrasts as well.

For my final two shoots I wanted to explore a topic in multiple ways to produce to visually different outcomes. I focused on movement for both shoots. For my first shoot I wanted to capture the same person/object  moving throughout the frame using photomontage. I was able to produce some interesting results that was able to feature some interesting formal elements such as tone. For my next shoot I knew that I would like to take my approach to movement in a different direction that would capture a more free flowing representation of movement. I looked at using multiple flash photography and different shutter speeds to accurately show the range of movement that I wanted. I was able to get some interesting results as I was able to successfully feature the same person interacting with them in different ways.

Overall I feel that I had a rough start to the project but as I began to gradually understand the subject and the different directions I wanted to go in, I began to produce a better and more consistent quality of work. After my first couple of shoots I was able to direct my focus in a way that forced me to experiment with different techniques. Incorporating the studio and photoshop along with my location shoots has caused me to produce some of my most visually diverse work that I have ever created.