I feel that I should put instructions here on how to view my piece of work. It should be held with a light source behind it. This could be against a window, on a light box or with a torch held and moved around behind it. Please handle with care as it is very fragile and precious to me.
Monday, 12 May 2014
Evaluation
This project has changed a lot since I first started, at the beginning I felt really inspired by the 'Day of our lives - Washing of hands' video and felt almost sure that I would produce a video for this assignment. I knew that I would be traveling to The Gambia in November, and was excited to join this with my final projects. I took my video camera and borrowed a Canon 40D to photograph with. When I got there it was too difficult really to film, photograph and have children hanging from my arms and legs so I just stuck to photographing most of the time. This meant that when I returned I didn't have enough film footage to make a video for my assignment. So, it meant I needed to have a change of idea.
I turned to look at more personal things and wanted to incorporate the 'Root's trip that I went on whilst in The Gambia. When thinking and looking back through photographs I remembered the connection and interest I had when I visited St James Island and heard of the slaves there. This then quickly became my main focus for the project. I felt really interested and excited in doing this and started to get quite creative I felt.
Then I went to a group presentation and presented my work to the group, I came away feeling really deflated and as if my work really wasn't good enough. I think, because I was so connected to the work and to the people, I didn't fight back in the way that I should have. It should have forced me to make the work better and find another route to take it and make it better but I didn't, I let it deflate me and I really did just give up on the project. This is the part looking back I think I am most disappointed about, because I am disappointed in myself for letting it deflate me like that.
However, I realised that I needed to do something so I met with some peers and re-talked through my work and showed the passion that I really feel for this piece of work. This was a massive help, because they built my confidence back up and pretty much told me that I shouldn't have given up at that point but just carry on what I was doing because the passion was so clearly in it.
From that point, I am really pleased with how the project went. I really enjoyed the experimenting and the hand's on practical part of the work. I find that I work better when I am physically making something, so perhaps a video wouldn't have been the best way for me after all even if I did have video footage.
When I purchased my fabric to print on, I wasn't sure if it would work and I knew that I was working to a budget so I only brought 1 pack. This meant that I was limited in how much I could experiment with that part, however I did do lots of test prints on acetate and sizing I did on normal white paper to check that it all was sized correctly. If I were to go back I think I would have brought more of that so that I had chance to experiment much more with it all.
I was surprised at how quickly it came together, I expected myself to be really clumsy and print wrong sizes or not line things up correctly. So I really expected to spend so much money on print credits just trying to figure out how to not be stupid when printing. But, I didn't make any silly mistakes. It took me a little while to work out how the university printers print, because I had to put the fabric in the right way so that it didn't print on the backing paper. But again, this only took me a couple of trials and then I had it and remembered it. I shocked myself.
My piece of work has to be viewed with light behind it. Originally, I was hoping to buy or make a light box to hand in with the work, but unfortunately due to costing and time I wasn't able to do it. However, it works well just being held against a window, so although that wasn't my initial plan it works and it is free, and is readily available. When it is held against a window, which isn't quite as bright as a light box, the text that I wrote in the bottom is less visible, which to be honest I quite like because it is even more hidden inside of the layers.
Overall, I am really happy with my final piece of work. I put a lot into it and it means a lot to me because it represents to me a group of people that I really hold close to my heart, the Gambian people. I wanted to do them justice and I think that I have.
If it were going on display I would buy a light box and mount it all so that it was attached to the wall. I would ideally have it so that the viewer could turn the light box on and off as they desired because I think it is interesting to view as both a single tree image and then when the light is turned on it reveals what is underneath. Or, if there was no switch for the viewer then perhaps it could be on a sensor so that when a viewer moves closer to it, the light would come on and the layers would be revealed.
I hope that people will be interested enough to want to find out the true meaning of my work, but if they just think it looks good and are fine with that much then I am happy for them to admire it in that way too. I am really happy with how it has turned out.
In terms of costing and budgeting, I did keep within my budget but there was not much cash left spare at the end. All of the items that I needed for this work I was able to buy so that was okay.
I turned to look at more personal things and wanted to incorporate the 'Root's trip that I went on whilst in The Gambia. When thinking and looking back through photographs I remembered the connection and interest I had when I visited St James Island and heard of the slaves there. This then quickly became my main focus for the project. I felt really interested and excited in doing this and started to get quite creative I felt.
Then I went to a group presentation and presented my work to the group, I came away feeling really deflated and as if my work really wasn't good enough. I think, because I was so connected to the work and to the people, I didn't fight back in the way that I should have. It should have forced me to make the work better and find another route to take it and make it better but I didn't, I let it deflate me and I really did just give up on the project. This is the part looking back I think I am most disappointed about, because I am disappointed in myself for letting it deflate me like that.
However, I realised that I needed to do something so I met with some peers and re-talked through my work and showed the passion that I really feel for this piece of work. This was a massive help, because they built my confidence back up and pretty much told me that I shouldn't have given up at that point but just carry on what I was doing because the passion was so clearly in it.
From that point, I am really pleased with how the project went. I really enjoyed the experimenting and the hand's on practical part of the work. I find that I work better when I am physically making something, so perhaps a video wouldn't have been the best way for me after all even if I did have video footage.
When I purchased my fabric to print on, I wasn't sure if it would work and I knew that I was working to a budget so I only brought 1 pack. This meant that I was limited in how much I could experiment with that part, however I did do lots of test prints on acetate and sizing I did on normal white paper to check that it all was sized correctly. If I were to go back I think I would have brought more of that so that I had chance to experiment much more with it all.
I was surprised at how quickly it came together, I expected myself to be really clumsy and print wrong sizes or not line things up correctly. So I really expected to spend so much money on print credits just trying to figure out how to not be stupid when printing. But, I didn't make any silly mistakes. It took me a little while to work out how the university printers print, because I had to put the fabric in the right way so that it didn't print on the backing paper. But again, this only took me a couple of trials and then I had it and remembered it. I shocked myself.
My piece of work has to be viewed with light behind it. Originally, I was hoping to buy or make a light box to hand in with the work, but unfortunately due to costing and time I wasn't able to do it. However, it works well just being held against a window, so although that wasn't my initial plan it works and it is free, and is readily available. When it is held against a window, which isn't quite as bright as a light box, the text that I wrote in the bottom is less visible, which to be honest I quite like because it is even more hidden inside of the layers.
Overall, I am really happy with my final piece of work. I put a lot into it and it means a lot to me because it represents to me a group of people that I really hold close to my heart, the Gambian people. I wanted to do them justice and I think that I have.
If it were going on display I would buy a light box and mount it all so that it was attached to the wall. I would ideally have it so that the viewer could turn the light box on and off as they desired because I think it is interesting to view as both a single tree image and then when the light is turned on it reveals what is underneath. Or, if there was no switch for the viewer then perhaps it could be on a sensor so that when a viewer moves closer to it, the light would come on and the layers would be revealed.
I hope that people will be interested enough to want to find out the true meaning of my work, but if they just think it looks good and are fine with that much then I am happy for them to admire it in that way too. I am really happy with how it has turned out.
In terms of costing and budgeting, I did keep within my budget but there was not much cash left spare at the end. All of the items that I needed for this work I was able to buy so that was okay.
Evaluation
This project has ended up being a sort of visual answer to the written work in my dissertation. I wrote about the representation of children, and whilst researching for it and writing it really hit me emotionally and I have had a real passion for these photographs. I have felt that I want to represent them well and fairly. Some of the imagery that is seen of African children is so horrible and sickening, I didn't want my images to show that, I wanted to show the world the African children that I know and love. I feel, at the end of this project looking back, that I have done this. I feel that my photographs show happy children, they are all in uniform which shows that they are in school and none of them look sick and malnourished, even though where they live is nothing more than mud huts which sit on top of a rubbish heap.
It was really quite daunting when I went to The Gambia without giving myself a brief, but it taught me to really look around and study everything that I saw. I found that I took a lot more in and became attached to things that I wouldn't usually be drawn to, because I had a camera and was trying to document everything I was seeing and experiencing. I think that this experience taught me a lot also about being able to photograph at such a fast pace, I had told myself before I went that I did not want to stage photographs and pose children, I really wanted to try to document and photograph in the moment. Because of this, a lot of my images didn't come out as well as I had hoped, but to me that was okay because I was taking a risk and if I didn't take risks I wouldn't push myself and progress in my work. It was really frightening, but I know in my personal development I need to push myself out of my comfort zones now and again just to see if I can cope.
I am really pleased that my images of the children came out well, because it meant that I was able to respond to what I had read and written in the way that I wanted to. The images that I captured of the children, where their requests. I stuck to my original plan and I did not pose any of the children, nor did I ask them if I could photograph them. Each photograph, the child in it had asked me to take their photograph. They asked me to photograph them, I did, and because of their beautiful smiles and the hope that they have I am now showing the photographs to other people and hopefully spreading a more positive message.
I am hoping that I am portraying these children in the best way that I can. I hope that I am doing them justice and not aiding the negative stereotypes that are so freely moving around the western world. Looking at my final series, I believe that I am doing what I set out to do, and I feel that it does respond to my written work.
In terms of cost, I did stay within the budget that I set for myself. That budget did not include my trip to The Gambia, because I did not specifically go just for this university project.
I printed my images A2 size, because I wanted them to be big so that when they are viewed they cannot be ignored. I didn't want people to be able to walk past them, or turn away from them without having some kind of connection. The children are roughly life size, probably slightly bigger, and so there is no way that people cannot have some sort of connection with them. Their warm expressions and friendly eyes draw you in. I knew that these prints would not be the prints that I would be hanging in the exhibition so A2 is big enough I feel, when in exhibition I am unsure whether I would print them even bigger or not. Cost wise, I won't be exhibiting all 10 images in the end of year show, so I will be able to budget for bigger prints. But when printing and handing in 10 images I had to cost that in and work within my budget.
Overall, I am pleased with this project. I truly feel that I have put my all into it. I think that in the future I might come back to or re-visit this project and the children. One idea I have already had is to follow the children and document the great things that they do in life, or to re-visit them in a few years time to document how things changed, what happened to them - this would be more out of personal curiosity and excitement I think, rather than to sell or have on display to the world.
It was really quite daunting when I went to The Gambia without giving myself a brief, but it taught me to really look around and study everything that I saw. I found that I took a lot more in and became attached to things that I wouldn't usually be drawn to, because I had a camera and was trying to document everything I was seeing and experiencing. I think that this experience taught me a lot also about being able to photograph at such a fast pace, I had told myself before I went that I did not want to stage photographs and pose children, I really wanted to try to document and photograph in the moment. Because of this, a lot of my images didn't come out as well as I had hoped, but to me that was okay because I was taking a risk and if I didn't take risks I wouldn't push myself and progress in my work. It was really frightening, but I know in my personal development I need to push myself out of my comfort zones now and again just to see if I can cope.
I am really pleased that my images of the children came out well, because it meant that I was able to respond to what I had read and written in the way that I wanted to. The images that I captured of the children, where their requests. I stuck to my original plan and I did not pose any of the children, nor did I ask them if I could photograph them. Each photograph, the child in it had asked me to take their photograph. They asked me to photograph them, I did, and because of their beautiful smiles and the hope that they have I am now showing the photographs to other people and hopefully spreading a more positive message.
I am hoping that I am portraying these children in the best way that I can. I hope that I am doing them justice and not aiding the negative stereotypes that are so freely moving around the western world. Looking at my final series, I believe that I am doing what I set out to do, and I feel that it does respond to my written work.
In terms of cost, I did stay within the budget that I set for myself. That budget did not include my trip to The Gambia, because I did not specifically go just for this university project.
I printed my images A2 size, because I wanted them to be big so that when they are viewed they cannot be ignored. I didn't want people to be able to walk past them, or turn away from them without having some kind of connection. The children are roughly life size, probably slightly bigger, and so there is no way that people cannot have some sort of connection with them. Their warm expressions and friendly eyes draw you in. I knew that these prints would not be the prints that I would be hanging in the exhibition so A2 is big enough I feel, when in exhibition I am unsure whether I would print them even bigger or not. Cost wise, I won't be exhibiting all 10 images in the end of year show, so I will be able to budget for bigger prints. But when printing and handing in 10 images I had to cost that in and work within my budget.
Overall, I am pleased with this project. I truly feel that I have put my all into it. I think that in the future I might come back to or re-visit this project and the children. One idea I have already had is to follow the children and document the great things that they do in life, or to re-visit them in a few years time to document how things changed, what happened to them - this would be more out of personal curiosity and excitement I think, rather than to sell or have on display to the world.
Statement
This series, 'New Life', shows 10 images of Gambian school children. The Western world has grown so accustomed to being shown images of African children dying and in such great need of help. This has become the norm, and many people have or will become desensitized to this and so it needs to change. My works aims to show that although these children live lives that are so different to ours here in the west, they are still human beings and they deserve respect. I hope to show them as people; beautiful, happy and so grateful for their lives. My work aims to break the negative stereotypes and portray the children in a fair and just way.
The series
Here is my series of 10 images, along with their individual image titles.
This little boy has such a cheeky face. I have a soft spot for each and every child that I met and photographed and the time I spent with them all is cherished. When I look at this image it sort of brings all of those emotions back to me and I can't help but smile when looking at it.
I like how the orange of his backpack contrasts against the green and white of the uniform. The pale sand also acts as such a good background.
In the editing process, I removed a small white speck from the top right of this corner. It was right about Andrew's head and I found it a bit distracting. Also, there was a piece of gingham material in the bottom left by Andrew's arm, I think it may have been a tie from the back of a girls dress. Again it was a little distracting, and wasn't any part of Andrew, it did not change it appearance to get rid of it, so I removed it. This was all I did because I did not want to lighten/darken skin, remove spots or impurities or make uniform look better etc because that would mean that I am passing judgement on that thing not being good enough. I want to document these children as they are, show them to the world without me 'perfecting' them.
I also brightened the whole image very slightly when printing because the colour profile changed the colours to be very dark. The images were also sharpened once when the image size was changed.
Again with this image I like that the bag strap really stands out against the uniform. The pose that Awa is standing in makes me smile, it is such a western stance I think. Hand on hip, bit of attitude. The pink of the scar on her head also stands out and catches my attention in this image, which I quite like. I don't like that she has a scar on her head but I like how the colour stands out and that it is catches the eye.
Again, I have no edited that out because it is part of her, I don't know how she got that scar or how long it has been there. But it is a part of her and so who am I to come along and remove it because it doesn't meet my 'standards' for a portrait. Also, I don't feel that seeing the scar on her head makes the viewer feel sorry for her. It doesn't provoke a specific emotional response, I dont think!
I have not done any other editing of this image, except sharpen after sizing and brightening after I changed the colour profile for printing.
This also is such a cheeky face. I personally can't look at this photograph with smiling at least a little bit and sort of tilting my head sideways a little bit. It engages me and makes me respond physically to connect with him more.
There is a small rip in his shirt, on his shoulder at the forefront of the image, again I did not edit this out. I like that it is not noticeable at first because attention is drawn to Brima's face, it is only on inspection or further interest looking at the rest of the photograph that you notice it. Again, it is a shame that he has a rip in his shirt, if he was in Britain somebody would have sewn it for him (probably to stop other peoples opinions from being negative!) but it does not stop him from being him, his friends didn't tease him about it and it didn't stop him from learning.
Again with this image, there was no extra editing besides the brightening and sharpening.
I really like this image and I think it is quite an important image. I took this on a day when Unicef representatives were in the school giving all of the children Meningitis vaccinations for free. The children just sort of lined up (it was more of a huge gathering) in the playground and there were 2 people at a table in the middle of the group who as the children were there and ready injected them gave them the health card and moved on to the next.
IT was interesting for me to watch because it just was so different to how I have ever experienced having vaccinations. Plus, most of the children walked away smiling and glad to have had it which is totally the opposite of Western children.
In post-production, I removed from the bottom right shadow of another child, the corner of another child's shirt and 2 white specks from the top of the image near to Fatoumatta's head. All of these things I thought might be a little distracting for the viewer, but none would change the appearance of Fatoumatta or would change the environment she is in or have any effect on the meaning of the image.
Then the same sharpening and brightening happened when printing and re-sizing the image.
I like Lamin's pose in this photograph, he is sort of twisted sideways with one shoulder slightly raised, arms by his shoulders. He is an air of confidence about him. He is not shy to the camera and with his half smile, I think if he was in Britain I would presume he had looked at models and magazines and sort of copied their poses but they don't have that sort of thing to copy from in The Gambia. As with Momodou I think he has a kind of authoritativeness about him.
In editing I didn't change anything other than the brightening and sharpening in print.
This is the son of one of the teachers in the nursery school, who I am still in contact with now. She has been a huge help to me in finding out the childrens' names and ages for this work.
Above Matthew's head there was a lot of shadow, I think from a tree. I cloned it all out but then cropped the image to make him more central, to fit into the series better, so a lot of the editing was cropped out. I didn't realize until after editing and printing that he is holding something pink in his hand. There is a slight glow of it at the bottom of the image. I don't feel that it is too noticeable or distracting (I didn't notice it in editing so it can't be that obvious) so I don't mind it too much, plus it adds a little bit of contrast to the black shadow around there.
That was all of the editing I did on this image, plus the sharpening and brightening for print.
I really really like this photo, I'm not sure why but from the very beginning it has really stood out to me. I like that he stands out from the girls in the background, he is completely in focus and they are out. In post-production I aided this slightly by blurring them a little bit more, only to try and enhance and make Momodou stand out even more. He grabs your attention because he is looking directly into the camera and he holds the viewers gaze, I think it is really great at making that connection between subject and viewer (quote from Barthes in a previous post).
It was in this image that I first noticed myself.. literally. In his eyes, there is a reflection of me taking the photograph. I have since discovered that this is the case in every photo from this series. I really like the fact because each of these children has a little part inside of me, they have impacted me and connected with me in different ways and as I said earlier I cherish them all. And so, by having the reflection of me in their eyes, it is sort of like there is a piece of me inside each of them too. It is a really personal thing that comes through in such a subtle way.
He is not smiling as the others are, but at the same time he doesn't look upset. I think he looks quite authoritative. I really like this as part of the series too because again with the title 'New Life', I can imagine him saying 'Watch out im coming, just wait'. Perhaps he will achieve great things and I dont know, become leader of The Gambia or something. You never know!
I didn't do any other editing, except for the brightening and sharpening.
I cropped this from a photograph of the nursery class lined up as we were handing out knitted hats and jumpers. They were gifts from people in the UK that we had taken over to distribute, it was so hot to us but to them it was winter and they didn't own jumpers, coats and everything else that we take for granted. So a simple wooly hat was very much appreciated by them all.
In cropping and editing this image I blurred slightly the girls that are behind Nyima to make her stand out a little more to the viewer.
I like that the colour of the jumper on the girl behind stands out, but not so much that it is overpowering. It makes the pink of Nyima's hat stand out in the bright sunshine by giving it another colour to not blend into.
The only other editing I did was sharpening and brightening for print.
There is a lot going on in this image I think, a lot of information can be drawn own of it. There is the jeep in the background with a large tyre on it's bonnet. This is how they drove around, there is no boot to store things so the spare tyre is on the front and there is a small metal rack on the top for bags. However, you could easily look at it and think that maybe it is a junk jeep, that it is broken and the wheel has fallen off so they have put it on the top of the bonnet out of the way.
Also, there is a boy standing behind Rosaline eating a baguette (i think). I'm not sure if you can tell that it is food if you don't already know. The boy's arm is really skinny but, he's eating.
Rosaline's smile is really warm and friendly I think, but this is juxtaposed by her folded arms which can come across as quite un-friendly sometimes. I don't think in this photo though that it takes away from her obvious friendliness.
In editing, I cropped the image down so that the top of the jeep isn't in the photo. This was purely so that Rosaline is more centered in the frame, so that it fits with the rest of the series better. I then sharpened and brightened the image in print.
This is another photograph which makes the viewer physically connect with the subject. The way that Thomas is holding his head, slightly on the side makes me move my head to see him better. I'm not sure though whether the pose that it makes the viewer take, is similar to the stance you would adopt when feeling sympathetic towards something, which is not what I want the viewer to feel towards these children. His smile and his eyes have a warm and friendly feel as well which I think just draws the viewer in deeper.
In editing I aided the blur of the girl in the background to make Thomas stand out in the foreground more. I also brightened and sharpened for print.
I am a little disappointed with how this print came out at print because the colour profile really darkened the shadow around Thomas' eyes. In the original it is much more warm which I like, but it seems quite harsh with the darker shadow.
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| Andrew, 5 years old |
I like how the orange of his backpack contrasts against the green and white of the uniform. The pale sand also acts as such a good background.
In the editing process, I removed a small white speck from the top right of this corner. It was right about Andrew's head and I found it a bit distracting. Also, there was a piece of gingham material in the bottom left by Andrew's arm, I think it may have been a tie from the back of a girls dress. Again it was a little distracting, and wasn't any part of Andrew, it did not change it appearance to get rid of it, so I removed it. This was all I did because I did not want to lighten/darken skin, remove spots or impurities or make uniform look better etc because that would mean that I am passing judgement on that thing not being good enough. I want to document these children as they are, show them to the world without me 'perfecting' them.
I also brightened the whole image very slightly when printing because the colour profile changed the colours to be very dark. The images were also sharpened once when the image size was changed.
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| Awa, 8 years old |
Again, I have no edited that out because it is part of her, I don't know how she got that scar or how long it has been there. But it is a part of her and so who am I to come along and remove it because it doesn't meet my 'standards' for a portrait. Also, I don't feel that seeing the scar on her head makes the viewer feel sorry for her. It doesn't provoke a specific emotional response, I dont think!
I have not done any other editing of this image, except sharpen after sizing and brightening after I changed the colour profile for printing.
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| Brima, 5 years old |
There is a small rip in his shirt, on his shoulder at the forefront of the image, again I did not edit this out. I like that it is not noticeable at first because attention is drawn to Brima's face, it is only on inspection or further interest looking at the rest of the photograph that you notice it. Again, it is a shame that he has a rip in his shirt, if he was in Britain somebody would have sewn it for him (probably to stop other peoples opinions from being negative!) but it does not stop him from being him, his friends didn't tease him about it and it didn't stop him from learning.
Again with this image, there was no extra editing besides the brightening and sharpening.
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| Fatoumatta, 11 years old |
IT was interesting for me to watch because it just was so different to how I have ever experienced having vaccinations. Plus, most of the children walked away smiling and glad to have had it which is totally the opposite of Western children.
In post-production, I removed from the bottom right shadow of another child, the corner of another child's shirt and 2 white specks from the top of the image near to Fatoumatta's head. All of these things I thought might be a little distracting for the viewer, but none would change the appearance of Fatoumatta or would change the environment she is in or have any effect on the meaning of the image.
Then the same sharpening and brightening happened when printing and re-sizing the image.
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| Lamin, 9 years old |
I like Lamin's pose in this photograph, he is sort of twisted sideways with one shoulder slightly raised, arms by his shoulders. He is an air of confidence about him. He is not shy to the camera and with his half smile, I think if he was in Britain I would presume he had looked at models and magazines and sort of copied their poses but they don't have that sort of thing to copy from in The Gambia. As with Momodou I think he has a kind of authoritativeness about him.
In editing I didn't change anything other than the brightening and sharpening in print.
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| Matthew, 2 years old |
Above Matthew's head there was a lot of shadow, I think from a tree. I cloned it all out but then cropped the image to make him more central, to fit into the series better, so a lot of the editing was cropped out. I didn't realize until after editing and printing that he is holding something pink in his hand. There is a slight glow of it at the bottom of the image. I don't feel that it is too noticeable or distracting (I didn't notice it in editing so it can't be that obvious) so I don't mind it too much, plus it adds a little bit of contrast to the black shadow around there.
That was all of the editing I did on this image, plus the sharpening and brightening for print.
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| Momodou, 12 years old |
It was in this image that I first noticed myself.. literally. In his eyes, there is a reflection of me taking the photograph. I have since discovered that this is the case in every photo from this series. I really like the fact because each of these children has a little part inside of me, they have impacted me and connected with me in different ways and as I said earlier I cherish them all. And so, by having the reflection of me in their eyes, it is sort of like there is a piece of me inside each of them too. It is a really personal thing that comes through in such a subtle way.
He is not smiling as the others are, but at the same time he doesn't look upset. I think he looks quite authoritative. I really like this as part of the series too because again with the title 'New Life', I can imagine him saying 'Watch out im coming, just wait'. Perhaps he will achieve great things and I dont know, become leader of The Gambia or something. You never know!
I didn't do any other editing, except for the brightening and sharpening.
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| Nyima, 5 years old |
In cropping and editing this image I blurred slightly the girls that are behind Nyima to make her stand out a little more to the viewer.
I like that the colour of the jumper on the girl behind stands out, but not so much that it is overpowering. It makes the pink of Nyima's hat stand out in the bright sunshine by giving it another colour to not blend into.
The only other editing I did was sharpening and brightening for print.
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| Rosaline, 7 years old |
Also, there is a boy standing behind Rosaline eating a baguette (i think). I'm not sure if you can tell that it is food if you don't already know. The boy's arm is really skinny but, he's eating.
Rosaline's smile is really warm and friendly I think, but this is juxtaposed by her folded arms which can come across as quite un-friendly sometimes. I don't think in this photo though that it takes away from her obvious friendliness.
In editing, I cropped the image down so that the top of the jeep isn't in the photo. This was purely so that Rosaline is more centered in the frame, so that it fits with the rest of the series better. I then sharpened and brightened the image in print.
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| Thomas, 13 years old |
In editing I aided the blur of the girl in the background to make Thomas stand out in the foreground more. I also brightened and sharpened for print.
I am a little disappointed with how this print came out at print because the colour profile really darkened the shadow around Thomas' eyes. In the original it is much more warm which I like, but it seems quite harsh with the darker shadow.
Sunday, 11 May 2014
Change of idea.. re-blogged
My purpose for this project changed after writing my proposal and I blogged about it in March so here is a link to that blog post stating my change in direction in this project....
http://sarahneuenhaus.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/change-of-idea-made-clear.html
http://sarahneuenhaus.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/change-of-idea-made-clear.html
Project Title
I have struggled a little bit with finding a title for this project. I think I was trying to make it something impressive, but not too cheesy but obvious that thought had gone into it. I also wanted it to really represent the images, so that it linked and wasn't too foreign and far-fetched from what the images are actually showing.
Also, because I really want to do the children justice through this work and I don't want to put any meaning out that I don't mean or that can be interpreted wrongly. It has stressed me out.
But I have decided that the title of this work is 'New Life'.
It is really simple and when I think about it now it is so obvious.
The name of the school that the children attend is New Life Children's Center. The British people that I traveled to The Gambia with also fund raise and go by the same name.
I also don't think that it can interpreted in a negative way by anybody, it is a positive title that pretty much sums up every aspect of the work.
These children are the new life of The Gambia, they are the next generation, they are being educated and are happy... They are New Life.
Also, because I really want to do the children justice through this work and I don't want to put any meaning out that I don't mean or that can be interpreted wrongly. It has stressed me out.
But I have decided that the title of this work is 'New Life'.
It is really simple and when I think about it now it is so obvious.
The name of the school that the children attend is New Life Children's Center. The British people that I traveled to The Gambia with also fund raise and go by the same name.
I also don't think that it can interpreted in a negative way by anybody, it is a positive title that pretty much sums up every aspect of the work.
These children are the new life of The Gambia, they are the next generation, they are being educated and are happy... They are New Life.
Tuesday, 6 May 2014
Looking back at previous research
 |
| ©Rosie Hallam, Choir Master |
His belt says 'BOSS' on it but I don't know if it is authentic Hugo Boss or perhaps a fake version that is so readily available in poorer areas. I don't want to seem as though I am passing judgement by saying it, but it is difficult to tell whether or not it is authentic or not. However, he is very well dressed and if he is paid well in his job then perhaps he can afford those luxuries.
This work would sit well as a body of work after mine, it could be a sort of .. what happened next project. In some of my photographs I suggested that the children looked as if they were quite authoritative and sort of intelligent, like they are going to do great things in life. I can imagine in a few years this being a photograph of one of the boys that are in my 'New Life' series.
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| ©Carmen Ballve, Girls in Barracon |
The washing left in the image I think suggests that they are quite poor, and because the cloth on the right is very ripped and torn.
In my images I didn't want to show this, they are rich in so many areas - for example, their love for others, how much they care and their overall happiness. So that is what I wanted to portray.
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| ©Patrick Brown, Zambia, Malawi, 1994 |
Monday, 5 May 2014
Essay
My essay was looking at the meanings which surrounded the images 'Mount Williamson' by Ansel Adams and 'Fire at Hoboken' by Henri Cartier-Bresson.
I started off by looking at different landscape photographers and photographs. I first of all came across Ansel Adams and then Alfred Stieglitz through a little reading. Then I started looking through different series' and bodies of work, eventually falling upon 'Mount Williamson' by Adams. I loved the image but didn't know what it was about, and after reading his books I was so surprised at what the meaning behind it was, so I was hooked.
I really felt that it linked nicely to my work in a way that I didn't really expect it to.
Then I found a quote from Cartier-Bresson:
I started off by looking at different landscape photographers and photographs. I first of all came across Ansel Adams and then Alfred Stieglitz through a little reading. Then I started looking through different series' and bodies of work, eventually falling upon 'Mount Williamson' by Adams. I loved the image but didn't know what it was about, and after reading his books I was so surprised at what the meaning behind it was, so I was hooked.
I really felt that it linked nicely to my work in a way that I didn't really expect it to.
Then I found a quote from Cartier-Bresson:
The world is going to pieces and people like Adams and Weston are photographing rocks.
This led me to look further into Cartier-Bresson's work where I discovered 'Fire and Hoboken'. It all sort of fit together and flowed well.
The meaning in my work I don't feel is instantly obvious to the viewer, so I sort of compared myself to Adams' work straight away (Even though his is a single image and mine is an artefact) The meaning of mine is quite a deep thing and I think that it is quite an important thing, the same as Adams' image being about the Japanese people being held in imprisonment.
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