FMP DIARY - 7.6.17

Its been a little while since I updated the blog so I thought I better write down what I've been up to for the last few weeks. A lot of my time has been taken up with preparing for the exhibition which opens this Friday but heres what I've been doing in between...

So I finished editing my final images for the exhibition. There are 22 images in total which I had planned to make into a small photo book however that didn't work out. I spent hours scouring the internet for reliable places to print my book but nowhere could produce an A5 portrait size book for a reasonable price. As I have planned to sell a few books I really needed to be able to print them quite cheap but it turns out thats not really achievable unless you order the books in bulk. I didn't end up ordering any photo books however it is something I will look into in the future. 

Out of the initial 22 images I edited for the exhibition 6 are going up on the wall. Between my tutor and I we chose the images we felt would work best together and show diversity. Below is one of the images I will be showing in the exhibition.

After choosing my final 6 I had to print them, mount them to foam board, and then trim that down to size. It was a bit of a nightmare if I'm honest but I did it in the end and I don't think they look too horrendous. Once my work was finished I had to put it up in the exhibition space. I was given a rather small area to hang my work which I wasn't particularly happy with but I didn't have much choice. Once I had accepted my fate I arranged my images on the floor until I was happy with them and hung them up using velcro double sided tape.

As well as worrying like mad about the exhibition I got around to doing another shoot. Well I tried to do another shoot at least. I had planned to travel in Birmingham City Centre to do a shoot on my 120 Lubitel camera. After doing research on photographers such as Garry Winogrand and William Klein, I was inspired to shoot a roll of black and white film. I had arrived in town, loaded my film, and was prepared to shoot. It was not until I pushed the shutter release that I realised it was not working. Film cameras are really not my speciality and I could not for the life of me figure out what how to fix my camera that day so I have postponed that shoot until I can get it working again. 

Currently I am in the process of planning another shoot which I hope will take place in town next week. As I've been using the same camera for most of the shoots I wanted to try something new with my lasts few shoots. I'm thinking of using my Instax mini camera for this shoot and getting the women I photograph to interact with their image by drawing on it. I'm still putting ideas together right now and I've been pinning on a new Pinterest board which you can see below.

Until next week

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FMP DIARY - 16.5.17

So Im writing this weeks post a little later than usual but I've been pretty busy. Between finishing up essays, planning for my final exhibition, and watching Eurovision I haven't really had much time to update the blog. So what have I actually been doing?

Well I managed to do my third shoot for my final major project last week. I popped down to London with a friend to photograph some super stylish girls in the capital. I'm not going to lie, the day was completely exhausting but it was well worth it as I'm really happy with my photographs.

As always I was focussing on diversity with this shoot, I was trying to capture girls from all backgrounds and body shapes. I think I managed to do that quite well. I photographed a good range of sizes and I also managed to photograph girls from all over the world from Sweden to America! Right now I'm working on editing those images, I'm thinking about doing something different to typical street style but for now here are a couple of unedited photos favourites from the day.

I've also spent a lot of time working out how I'm going to present my work at the end of year exhibition. I'm thinking about having two or three main photographs on the wall and then a photobook of maybe around 30 of my best images for viewers to flick through. I've spent a lot of time trying to price these up as I ideally wanted to sell them at the exhibition and online once the exhibition is finished but they are working out quite expensive at the moment. Currently one photobook will cost me around £10 to get printed and thats without the postage so I'm not sure this will be a reality without some sort of sponsorship. I've already contacted the big fashion companies such as Primark, Asos, New Look ect. but none of them have been able to supply me with any funds right now. I'm still working on securing some sort of sponsorship so I'll pop any updates in next weeks blog post! 

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FMP DIARY - 4.5.17

So its been yet another week of working on my final project. As well as doing more research I also managed to do another shoot and see an exhibition too. 

The start of my week was all about research. It seems to be all I do right now but its obviously important. I've also been working on strengthening the context behind my FMP. My idea was to shoot a series of street style images based around body positivity and while I'm pretty confident with the street style aspect, so far I've been struggling to make a good link to body confidence. After a little bit of mind mapping in my visual diary and by throwing a mood board together on Pinterest I've managed to think up a few ideas.

I also got around to doing my second street style shoot. I popped up to Manchester over the weekend to do a candid street shoot which was the most awkward uncomfortable thing I've done in a while. Although some of the images turned out okay the majority are just write offs to be honest. I'm going to put the whole thing down to my lack of experience, my lack of confidence in shooting strangers, and just how quickly I needed to work.

While I was in manchester I also managed to see an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum North. The exhibition was all about street style in the 1940s and while it was very interesting, it wasn't as relevant as I thought it would have been. I've already written a blog post about it, so if you want you can read more here. 

Right now I'm still doing research (as always) and I'm planning my third shoot which should hopefully take place in London this Thursday! I'll post some more updates next week!

x

FASION ON THE RATION - 1940s STREET STYLE

On Sunday 30th of April I travelled up to Manchester to do a shoot and visit an exhibition at the Imperial War Museum North. The exhibition which was all about fashion during the Second World War promised a display of 1940s clothing and street style photography from the same time period.

With the intention of gaining some valuable inspiration and in the hopes of maybe discovering a few historical photographers I visited the exhibition. With my iPhone in my hand and my notebook in my bag I was ready to snap anything I found interesting and jot down any photographers names I wanted to further research. Unfortunately the exhibition mainly focused on the fashion side of things with the occasional photograph thrown in to back up the information. 

There were a good selection of historical street style images however, they did not come with any context or captions. Although I found some of the photographs interesting and I left feeling quite inspired to pursue a black and white shoot based around different prints and textures I did not come away with any photographer to further research. 

I would like to visit another exhibition while working on my final major project as I don’t feel as though I got much out of visiting this one. If you are really into fashion and like your history too I'd recommend visiting this exhibition, it was not great for photography research however. 

x

FMP DIARY - 28.4.17

So its been another week, but what have I been up to? Well mostly the boring stuff to be honest. I've been researching like a mad woman and frantically adding bits into my professional practise folder - I'm desperate for more than a merit on that!

I've also been scrapbooking and moodboarding like theres no tomorrow! I'm a very visual person and as important as research and write ups are I kind of just like looking at pictures sometimes. My visual diary got a good update at the start of the week with bits I've ripped out of magazines and stuck in there. You can find a little taster of my final major project visual diary below.

I've also been spending a lot of time gathering inspiration on Pinterest. I'm honestly so glad we were encouraged to start using it last year because its just full of ideas and images that I'm finding really helpful at the moment! You can find my street style mood board here which is currently influencing my future shoots.

As well as gathering inspiration online I've also taken out 4 books to flick through this week, I'm hoping to discover some amazing photographs and new photographers! The books I've picked out are; Street Style - British Design in the 80s, Surfers Soulies Skinheads & Skaters, The street Photographers Manual, and Street & Studio. If nothing else the books might stimulate a few ideas.

Right now I'm planning my second FMP shoot which will take place this weekend in Manchester. I won't talk about it too much as I'm still finalising everything but I will put the photos on here next week!

x

JUST A BUNCH OF LESBIANS

Its only just occurred to me that I never got around to posting any of the photographs I took in Dublin at the Strike 4 Repeal march. These photographs are my finals for my Creative Process project which I started back in February. The nationwide strike was in protest of the law (the 8th amendment) which prevents Irish women from seeking safe and legal abortions.

I initially based the project around abortion rights, well the lack of abortion rights in both Northern and the Republic of Ireland. My initial plan was to interview and photograph women in an almost Brandon Stanton style to raise awareness of the issues. Due to a lack of time and resources the project developed and I moved away from this original idea.

Through my research I came across adverts for the planned strike and I knew I had to be a part of it. On the 8th of March this year I flew to Dublin to not only stand in solidarity with the protesters but to document the day and spread awareness. 

So you are probably wondering about the name of this post? Well it was how a male passerby described the gathering to his other male friend as they tried to figure out what was going on. I thought it pretty much summed up how ignorant people can be to the situation and so its what I just had to name this body of work!

As always I would appreciate any feedback you have on my images!

x

FMP DIARY - 20.4.17

Its about time I started to record pretty much everything I do thats related to photography - gotta get that distinction am I right? So what have I actually been doing apart from scoffing chocolate like theres no tomorrow?

Well I went ahead with my first shoot for my MFP for starters! I finally settled on my third idea which was all about street style. I popped up to town with a friend for support and started approaching anyone and everyone who seemed friendly. I'm not going to lie, it was super nerve wracking at first but after I spoke to the first few people I soon got used to it and managed to photograph around 14 people. I know I will need to photograph a lot more in future shoots however for my first attempt I'm pretty pleased with that. Not all of the photos were great however and I do need to work on a few things but I now feel confident enough to pursue this idea fully! Here are a few of the images from the first shoot..

I also managed to see 3 exhibitions over the last week. None of them were solely photography based and they don't relate to my MFP at all but you never know where inspiration can come from! The first exhibition was at the IKON gallery. It was a showcase of the work of French photographer and filmmaker Jean Painleve. I'd been wanting to see this exhibition for a while as I saw it advertised maybe just after Christmas. His work mainly focuses on marine life and there are some superb prints of really detailed crab claws on show. Its wasn't clear whether these were actually taken underwater or not but that was definitely the vibe they gave off. A lot of his work was actually quite unnerving and had a really sinister feel to it. I did enjoy the exhibition however the 45 minute film of the toy circus just really didn't do it for me and I felt it was quite out of place. 

The second exhibition was also in the IKON but on the second floor. I had not previously heard about this mixed media exhibition of Oliver Beers work so I didn't know what to expect at all. The exhibition features several films and sculptures, with sound being another main feature. I'm at a bit of a loss to describe his work but the man is an absolute genius! From the display of his grandmothers lino floor which shows a map of the places she stood the most, to his sculptures of everyday objects sunk into plaster to make them look like paintings I was really quite impressed. I don't think I want to write too much about it because it was such a treat to discover an exhibit like this without knowing anything and I recommend anyone who visits to go with an open mind and no expectations. I enjoyed his work so much that I've actually booked in to hear him speak about it next month!

The final exhibition I visited last week was quite small but no less enjoyable. The exhibition; We Built This City is based right at the back of the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and tells the stories of several Irish immigrants who moved to Brum in the 50s and 60s. I'm quite fond of the Irish so I was always going to find this interesting however it really did give a detailed insight into the times and conditions they lived in. There were several photographs on display as well as personal objects and a short film showing interviews from some of the said immigrants. I'd really recommend popping in to see this short exhibit if you have absolutely any Irish links in your family.

So thats what I've been up to for the last few weeks. I've also been working on some write ups and research but no one wants to hear about that really do they? I'd love to get some feedback on the images from my initial shoot!

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