Day 1

So today is the start of my final major project, this course has gone so quick! I'm really excited to make a start on this project as it is something I have chosen to do myself so i think i will have more focus to get all the way through it. Plus I haven't really ever had a chance to photograph dancers before so I am really looking forward to starting shooting! First things first, today I have set up my working method, I have chosen to stay away from a sketchbook as i know that i always struggle with them, i hate to admit it but it is because of the dyslexia. Hopefully doing it this way will sort that problem out for me! I have set up my statement of intent as the first post so i can refer back to it when needed and The bibliography second so hopefully I dont forget to do it! High hopes for this project and 6 weeks to complete it in. sounds like a long time but I know it will come around fast so i really need to keep myself focused and get on with it!

Day 2

Today I have sent the day finishing setting up my blog and making sure it works properly and researching ballet studios for where I could potentially find models. I think it was really important that i actually took my time to get the blog set up properly, I didn't want to get halfway through my project and then realise that it wasn't going to work.
After I finished up the blog and got mike to look over it to see if it would work okay I then moved onto finding ballet studios in the berkshire area, which to my surprise was actually quite difficult! There were a lot of dance studios but having to trawl through ever one to see if they offered ballet was a nightmare, at least I know now that my model research is going to take a little longer than planned.
Tomorrow I would like to get started on artist research and visual inspiration.

Day 3

Today was a total nightmare! I wanted to start by getting research done and out the way then move onto a little bit of visual inspiration... research did not happen. I dont know what was going on but I just couldn't find a single dance photographer that I found any interest in! I think it might have been because the studio was really noisy today so from now on I am going to bring in head phones to try and cancel out at least a little of the noise. I did however manage to find a couple of images that really spoke to me, They really capture what I have in mind for this project so at least I got something do today.
Tomorrow Emails!!

Foundation Evaluation

Foundation Evaluation

After spending two years on a photography specific course I opted to join foundation as I wanted to make my images more artistic and learn how to be more creative with studio lighting, hoping that this would allow me to come away from commercial photography and to move into fine art.

Doing the exploratory stage of the course I found that drawing really is not my forte. However during this stage of the course I expanded my knowledge in creating shadow, texture and depth and how important these factors are within art. This has given me a new appreciation for fellow artists and their artistic ability. Within the silk screen process I learnt importance of colour, composition and a clean working process.  I also found that silk screen was a more efficient way of working for me than drawing as I was able to constantly develop my work and I learnt how important it is to speed up my development process if I am to go onto a career in the art and design world.

During the pathway section, I learnt how to be more creative with studio and location lighting and how to be more experimental with both props and concepts. It has helped me develop confidence within my ideas and putting them into practice. I have also grasped the skill of being able to make my thought processes easier to understand to others. This has practically become useful to me as I can now expand my options with the amount of knowledge I have and I now know the possibilities are endless. I am capable of so much more than before I started pathway and I have now learnt to transfer my knowledge from commercial to the more controversial fine art photography. I now realize that photography is a maze of ideas and opportunities.  

I believe my FMP was successful due to the combination of my white on white project in pathway and my final project idea. I found in my first project that the force behind each throw could create ether a masculine of feminine outcome and taking that into consideration I chose to continue using the dust within fmp because I liked how it could create an extension to the femininity within the image. I started off with just the basic beauty and movement of the female body, by adding the dust idea from pathway it has emphasized the graceful movements of the model and I believed it made a good series into a great series.

I believe that this course has given me a broader knowledge of both the photography and art industry as a hole and the different avenues that are available to me. My confidence has grown in all aspects of my work including shoots, concepts and final imagery and I now have a greater understanding for other artists and their work. It has given me the opportunity to expand my own techniques and ideas which in the future I will be able to call upon this new skillset. This year has given me a thirst for knowledge and taken me from my original plan of specializing in newborn photography and made me realize that my dream of being a fine art photographer really is attainable.