Ornstein (1975) describes the eye as the most important avenue of personal consciousness’ and it is estimated that 90% of the information we receive about the external world reaches us through the eyes.’
My project is about students. I feel through the coronavirus pandemic we have been ignored and pushed aside, left to deal with college/school on our own, forced to adapt quickly to online learning, which has been difficult for many people. For my project I have photographed a range of different students, showing how different and individual we all are. I find that eye photos are quite uncomfortable to look at, but they’re so interesting at the same time, you can’t look away from them. With this project I want to force you to look at students for once – don’t ignore us, we are all talented individuals, we should be treated as such. Don’t look away from us.
For this project I decided to focus on documentary style street photography with my subject of interest being graffiti and other similar street arts including murals, tags, slaps and paste-ups. I wanted to reveal to my audience that not all types of graffiti are specifically vandalism, because I think that if done well even graffiti types that are typically considered vandalism can make a plain building look more interesting. I like the look of graffiti however I know a lot of people only see it as vandalism. With my images I would like to challenge preconceptions and encourage debate around the topic of graffiti.
This project is based around commercial, still life photography. I decided to base my project on more commercial work as I am fascinated with how companies create advertisements in such unique and creative ways. I decided to venture into many different styles of commercial still life. I have experimented with taking photos of many different things such as alcohol, high-end consumables such as shower gel and even coffee. I also had the chance to take part in some extra work taking some images of Indian street food, which I have decided to add into my final 6 images. My final 6 images are going to show the different products I have chosen to advertise and how every product is showcased in different ways.
My final 6 consist of 3 food Images and 3 that have a concept of water.
This work looks at slow shutter speed outside. The idea of movement has always interested me, so that was my aim for this project. I photographed trail of of movement that became a blur, the images with blur shows a passing of time and a business. This work started as experimental, but I managed to capture and recreate the aesthetic of motion. My inspiration came from abstract work with slight distortions. This makes it harder for the audience to make out what the actual image is.
My project is to show that fruit is precious and should be protected because we need five a day to properly function. Most people overlook fruit because of what it looks like so I wanted to show/ represent it in a different way to what you would see in a shop shelf. I chose to use certain materials because of their bright colours and textures which makes it eye catching. The wrapping of fabric creates a layer of safety from getting bashed or bruised and helps preserve the fruit for consumption while traveling. I wanted to show this in an arty/ abstract way.
My Independent project is called ‘As a Woman’ and explores the women in my life as well as things women are expected to do to fit into the patriarchal society we live in. My project also looks at topics like misogyny, stereotypes about women and looks at small details in women’s lives. I want to show how all women are different yet we are all brought together by feminism and issues regarding how women are treated and seen in society. My project aims to bring women together and educate people on feminism but also illustrate to women how the stereotypes and standards for them shown in media and fed to us everyday has brought about a patriarchal society and ‘as a woman’ we do not need to comply with these rules to be fulfilled or happy within ourselves.
My Independent Creative Project is called ‘Dreamscapes’. The project presents a series of edits that I have created in photoshop, that reflect dreamlike, subconscious images. I have tried to create edits that are surreal, while still retaining a sense of realness to them. Throughout, I have tried to make pieces that are relatively open to interpretation in regard to meaning. However, they all have meanings that I intended to show while working on them that all relate back to the subconscious mind or dreams. I researched many photographers at the beginning of my project, which influenced a lot of my work moving forward.
My creative independent project title is Perspective. The project includes topics such as feminism, gender stereotypes, toxic masculinity, and LGBTQ+ community. Raising awareness about these topics is important in my eyes as it needs more recognition. I have included macro photography within my portraiture work as this is what I started with and it developed into my project. I want to raise awareness about these serious subjects. I want to show the negative stereotypes of some of these topics and show that we need to change our views on this and start looking for the positives.
Within this project I wanted to express the importance of normalising mental health issues portraying this from a young person’s point of view, mainly using environmental portraiture and documentary photography. I have created a collection of cohesive images all linking towards the overall subject. I believe that the subject about mental health is still very taboo and stigmatised, it was my intention to create a project where it encourages the viewer into thinking about themselves and issues others may be dealing with. This is very personal to me. Due to this I have put a lot of thought into this project, wanting to approach this topic respectfully.
My final project focuses on the idea of society’s view on how people ‘should be’ and showing that being different is normal. It consists of topics such as body positivity, toxic masculinity, and feminism. However, it also celebrates culture and fashion. The aim was to raise issues in society, similarly to Richard Misrach’s landscape work that illuminates world problems. I aim to evoke emotion from the audience, I want to help them gain more understanding surrounding the ever-changing complexity that is society.
