When starting the environment unit, I wanted to explore elements that might not be so obvious such as including models and a deeper meaning behind my images rather than a basic landscape photograph. I began my research with a book called woman photographers which allowed a broad research of various styles before I focused my attention on a particular idea, this is where I came across Carrie Mae Weems who photographed the various activities that occurred at her kitchen table. This gave me the idea of picturing various subjects in one given location to show how many different emotions and encounters can take place depending on the time and weather, I continued my research on this idea by looking at photographers such as Yevhen Kotenko, Vivian Maier, Diane Arbus etc. These would all help me with what composition I should use in terms angles and also the relationships and emotions I should represent.
In my first test shoot I used the location of platters park with the mother and daughter relationship being shown as well as dog walking and lack of communication, I liked the ideas behind all of the images however I dislike the lighting and I didn’t feel there was anything special shown that would make my images stand out. At this shoot I took photographs from a straight on angle as well as from the end of the bench as it would create leading lines and draw my viewer in. in my next test shoot at Dulwich park I didn’t have my camera available therefore the quality of my photographs wasn’t ideal but I really wanted to capture the relationships of my grandparents and cousin, but the quality brought down these images so I decided to continue with my test shoots. The next was my most successful shoot due to the ideal background of a church as well as people driving past allowing for a basic image to become more interesting, although the weather conditions weren’t ideal, I took away two final images from this shoot. I returned to this park on 2 other occasions and had to take images from both sides of the bench so that one of my images wasn’t the odd one out, when taking my photographs on a very sunny day the best angle for my image was without the church as the sun was behind the subjects and therefore not illuminating them, I loved the pastel effect the natural light gave my photograph which would clearly show a different time and weather to the viewer in comparison to the other images.
If I were to repeat this unit again I would work on details such as each of the images having all different weather conditions rather than 3 of them being quite dull, although with the time of year this would have been difficult, other details I should have focused on is not cutting off the feet as this does affect the image. I would have also liked one of the images to have been at night perhaps with a sunset as it would have really completed the series. However overall this was a successful project as I moved away from the stereotype of the environment and what I have previously shot in other projects, so I am gradually improving my skills. The location for my shoot was the most important aspect of my project and the background did improve my images to create more for the viewer to explore, as well as showing a variety of relationships for the viewer to connect with whether its mother and daughter of sibling etc.
AmyWhiteUCA 