A geometric Olympics

London 2012 Brand Launch from Universal Everything.

This video really sums up the design and feel of the 2012 Olympics.

I have been researching the 2012 design so that I can reflect this into my advert. The design is clearly very graphical, I would like to try working with graphics. However I have never worked with graphics before and I worry that they might look poor.

A rethink about Connections and the Olympic Advert

After the talk with my tutors I have a better feeling about my connections and Olympic work.

I know that I should have already produced some photos or some sort for the connections assignment by now but like I said in the previous post I have been making things harder for myself, instead of doing what I normally do.

As a result I now have to work on both connections and the Olympic shoot at the same time.

However I do now have ideas and feel more confident about getting them done.

For connections, we talked about the book I produced last month about Shane, How that would be the perfect example for connections. I could expand on that idea, possibly create another book. The Shane book was photographed in one day and produced the next. It's the finding of people and the organising that takes the longest time.

I may not be able to find anyone else that was on that course with me, but it will more likely be possible to find the team leader who helped us through the course. If she is still there, she would be happy to sit for a photograph. I'm currently writing a letter to her, I plan to drive over to the centre tomorrow, and if I miss her, I will leave the letter.

Until tomorrow, I want to think about how I want to take her portrait and what I want it to say. I would like to be able to justify why I have taken the photograph in a particular way.

For Olympics brief I now have two ideas. One being inspired by Daniel Stier's scientific experimental work. I would like to look at the scientific side of sport. Of course I don't want to take work that is identical to Daniels but after speaking to my tutors there could be a chance to photograph at Loughborough university, a hub of British sport education and science.

I wont know what I'm photographing until I'm there. I would have to think on my feet and photograph what I see is interesting.

I am going to think less about the the branding and slogan for now. I want to capture photographs that have a strong interest and then tie them with a brand which will transform them into a complete package.

Of course I would not be able to do this if I had been set a specific brand but as this assignment is a little more open I feel it is acceptable.

The other idea for the Olympic brief is to photograph empty spaces, spaces that could, by kids be transformed into athletic areas, such as goal posts, hurdles etc. I'd like to do something with these photographs to make them a little different, possibly add a different concept to it, add items.

Tutorial

I have just got back from my first tutorial and its surprising how buried into work you get without noticing. I feel like I have not stopped for a second to breathe in the last few weeks, however I feel a little more alive now.

This last few weeks I have been feeling like I've been working every minute of the day and not getting any closer to getting anything completed. My to do list just seemed to be getting longer and longer and no work was being fully completed.

This resulted in me not being able to come up with any ideas for the assignments that were being given to me leading me to feeling even more behind.

After speaking to the tutors today about ideas and what they think, I feel like that pressure has been switched off a little. I try too hard sometimes to be something else when all I need to do, is do what I do.

I know that I think a lot about my work and it takes time to develop my ideas fully but I feel that with longer time to think about my ideas it gives me time to connect with them and understand them more.

It's cleared my mind and I can see things that I can do this week that can really progress my work flow.

It helps to get a boost of confidence from your tutors and although I was possibly looking disinterested at the time I'm hugely grateful to be able to stop, think and talk things through with them.

Things seem so difficult in your head, and then so simple when you talk them through.

My aims after returning from the Christmas break are to get myself organised so that I don't find myself working every hour of the day. I will never get away from staring into space, thinking about my work but to be able to get away from the desk for a few hours would be nice.

I struggle with the written work but I know I can do it, its about setting personal deadlines to have specific work done so that I'm not overloading my brain trying to do bits of different assignments all at the same time.

In future I wont leave it so long to talk to someone!

Printspace

It was very useful to go down to Printspace in London today. I have ordered prints from them before which I have been happy with. What I like about them is the quality of the prints are amazing, the choice of paper and prints types you have to choose from is amazing and the fact that you can place an order and it be with you the next morning is a huge convenience.

There prints are well priced, not the cheapest option but it's clear after being to visit there lab that they take great pride in the work they do.

You can be sure that prints will come back at the highest standard and when I have received prints from them in the past I have sometimes received 2 copies, due to one being a misprint in someway (not that I can ever see a mistake!)

Dave from Printspace was kind enough to go through the variety of papers and optioned for mounting and printing. A little overwhelming the amount of choice they have on offer. However I think it depends strongly on the photograph.

While in London I also learnt about colour correction which has really made me consider how I go about the post production process of my work. I never realized how much a photographs appearance can change from screen to print.

In the afternoon Frede Spencer from Twentytwenty agency came to join us and delivered a brief. The brief is to photograph an advert for a company that is one of the main sponsors of the 2012 Olympics.

It is a great opportunity to get to receive feedback and the insight from Frede, he works in the creative business everyday and the knowledge he has in invaluable.

Laundrette - Come Clean

Another one day assignment, similar to last weeks, Sale and Return.

I thought about the photographs I captured last week. I was really pleased with how they came out and enjoyed taking them. I tried to think of an interesting business to go to this week where I could get such interesting photos from.

I was lacking inspiration. We had to use a lighting kit as part of the brief and I know it can be quite difficult to work quickly with lighting on your own, it always helps to have an assistant and so we were advised to work in a pair.

Instantly I find this harder if there are no boundaries set down as to who is doing what. I feel that when I work with another photographer on the same shoot I don't photograph like I normally do. I seem to rush and not experiment as much. When I work on my own I find I build a stronger connection with the people I'm photographing and therefor slow down and see different things, I seem to gain there trust easier. Even though I made the first contact and explained everything to the staff I didn't feel like I was totally in control.

However I set up the lighting and we began to photograph. We were photographing in a laundrette, which always seem to be an interesting location.

It was a small laundrette and once the lighting kit and tripod were up, there was very little room to move around.

I took a couple of shots but my mind was soon onto how to make a portrait work. It was obvious that the woman we were talking too was a little shy about me taking her photo. I was thinking about the washer draws and wanted to try a shot through the open doors. I huddled up in the corner of the room, squashed between a dusty fire extinguisher and set up a shot so that the time she had to sit in front of the camera would be to a minimal.

I positioned the lighting, just to fill in the photograph as the natural light was good.

I envisioned a member of staff sat behind the washer draws looking straight through the door at the camera.

Like I said, Rosaline was a little nervous about having her photo taken and was even more unsure when I asked her to face the camera. From now on I'm going to show models how I want them to position themselves. If someone agrees to have there photo taken it is likely they will be happy to position themselves in the way I show them.

This was my favourite photograph of the day. Unfortunately I don't think that the portrait works as well as I was imagining it. The photo above is what I was picturing in my head.

The remaining part of the brief was to take photographs with the intention of being published in a design magazine.

I feel that these 2 photographs above would be suitable for a design magazine but I was looking for a photograph that would take away from the obvious laundrette photos that I was getting. This is when I started to not look at the washers or the objects in the room but more about the other components that made up the room. The floor pattern is what caught my eye.

Sale and Return

Today's one day assignment was entitled "Sale and Return".

For this assignment I was expected to visit a local business and photograph the staff working there but also collect produce they were selling to photograph as still life's in the studio.

I was listening to what other people in the class were saying, where they were thinking of going. Some said chip shops, others said haberdasheries and charity shops so I wanted to think of somewhere where no one else would be going and somewhere where I could spend some time photographing.

I wanted a business that would not be too busy but still interesting. I was taking into consideration that I needed to bring back items from this business to photograph in the studio, how much could I afford if I could not borrow the items? How big would they be? What would I do with them in the studio? There was not a great about of time. I felt like I was thinking a step ahead.

The business I chose to photograph was "The Butcher, The Baker and The Ice Cream Maker" at Barton marina. I chose here because, it's outside the city the centre, it's not a chain store and it has a bit more life to it. I already knew that they produced their own produce, and I felt it would be good to get some behind the scene shots.

Driving over there in the car I was going through in my head what I wanted to get out of the visit. I wasn't nervous about going in and getting some photos but I was making back up plans in my head in case it didn't work out. My second plan was to try and get some photographs of the boat repairers and failing that I probably would have gone to a business where I knew someone who was working.

Luckily, the people at the BBIM were great! Within 5 minutes of being in the shop I fashioned a stylish white butchers coat and pretty much left to it.

I feel that this photograph works the best for what I was after in terms of a portrait. The photograph is split into thirds, the man on the left holding a pack of liver, Kevin in the foreground producing the sausages and the view into the shop from the window. I like that you can see the blood splatters on the overalls and the hacksaw hung up on the door.

I had an idea for the still life photographs which was inspired by Daniel Stiers "2 for £5" project. . I found some bright coloured and patterned wallpaper and a couple of other colourful props that on there own looked bold and gaudy yet put them all together and they create an interesting kitsch style photograph.

Portfolio

The last few weeks I have been writing down ideas to update my portfolio.

Over the last few months I have been creating new work and thought it would be beneficial to keep my portfolio up to date, especially with the number of opportunities that are coming up.

I looked at the portfolio I have currently which is an A3 prat book but I feel I need something a little different.

So I thought about a few options, creating a smaller portfolio, creating a book or using digital format to present my work, like a CD or USB stick.

The reason I am unsure about my current portfolio is because when I have showed people my portfolio in the past they have been turning pages backwards and forwards and then going back to talk about something else and then having to turn pages to get back to where they were which can be awkward to keep up. I also feel that most people on the Foundation Degree course seem to have the same style of portfolio. It looks like we have been told to present our work in this way and I feel that you have to deliver your work in a way that it will be shown to its best ability.

I really like the idea of creating some loose prints in a box. This way they can be handled separately and spread out, a good point for this is that if there is something in particular that I want to talk about I can get straight to the point instead of having to interrupt the viewer as they are turning the page.

As for Cd's and USB sticks, these would be good to produce as something that could be left behind to remind people of the work. I am currently in the early stages of experimenting with making a DVD of my work.

People have different preferences when it comes to viewing work, but I think anyone within the creative industry would always enjoy being able to hold and view a print.

Connections

Connections is the word I have been given as a brief from photographer Joe Cornish.

Connection can be inturpreted into so many ways!

I looked into what I thought connection meant to me and how I can create intreguing photos. I looked up the defenition of connection and read about links, relationship and reconnecting with the past.

I want to reconnect with a technique I have used before, cutting out, but this time expanding on the idea. I also want to link the photographic content with the format 2011 theme, street. With the intention, if I am confident about the work I will find some influencial people to show it to.

I took some street photography before and did not enjoy it, struggled to find a focus in the chaos and ended up with rubbish photos. Thinking back I was maybe trying to hard to capture something that wasn't there, whereas this time I will be photographing with a more personal technique.

With this cut out work I have done before I see now that it can be greatly improved. There is no detail in the background, there is little texture. Other photography I create can be full of detail caused by reflections and atmosphere due to light and shadows.

My intention is to take photos of street scene and print them off A3, cut out numerous object and stand them up. Use light to create shadows in order to add to the 3D effect.

What can I do with the background? Leave it blank? Experiment using a backward projector, so shoot onto paper and put cut outs in front of that? Create a collage or paint upon it? Hang in objects in order to create depth?

I'm going to have to experiment with depth of field and scale.

I quickly found a few photos I had and printed them off to see how multipule cut outs looked together. The photo above is the first attempt.

I clearly need to choose the angle carefully that I photograph from. As you can see in the photo above the lion clearly does not have the same 3D effect.The darker contrast works better, but I think this could be improved still if the cut outs were not so harsh.