I chose these topics because it fits in with what I attempt to do with my photography: raise awareness on issues, often ones that are stigmatized. I explored how these affected different people to gain insight on them and used that to influence how I approached it from a photographic standpoint to help me remain sensitive to the issues at hand.
As a photographer, I feel like it is my responsibility to highlight these issues, respectfully, to start a positive conversation.
My title “Re:CLAIM!” symbolises mine and my model’s response to these issues, “reclaiming” them. It allows us to be creative, how we can change it, take back and make it positive. I felt inspired by their stories and wanted to help these models tell their stories.
My project is called ‘It’s a small world’ and is inspired by Joel Robison. They are photoshopped images that are raising awareness to the lack of care that humans treat the planet with.
It explores the idea that we take not only Earth for granted but also animals that you might not typically see on a day-to-day experience. If you wouldn’t expect to see these animals in these environments, then why are we treating them like that. You might just walk past an empty coffee cup in the wilderness and not think much of it, but what you don’t see is the impact of that object is.
Photoshop was a big part of creating my images as they are not realistic. I used a large vary of tricks and skills to form the fiction I wanted. Most of the animals I used photos of, were taken in Dudley Zoological Gardens. I have worked with zoo many times before and have won a competition with them.
I have also used ‘more common’ animals like a seagull and a lamp to so its not just animals you would find in a zoo, but it’s affecting these animals more so as they live where we do.
All I want from my images that while they are in a comedy setting, to take them seriously as well. Learn that the world needs us to act better and live more healthily, not just for us, but for them too. It’s not just our world, it’s their world too.
The theme I have chosen for my final project is mental health, particularly portraying the effects of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Whilst I don’t have the condition myself, one of my closer relatives has been diagnosed with the disorder.
Getting diagnosed with BPD is very similar to autism in the way that it’s a long process, especially as a woman with either of the conditions. Doctors are not as well trained to spot the signs in women as they are men, and I don’t think this is something that should be ignored.
The disorder is often heavily stigmatised by the media and the psychiatric field. My project is a visual representation of the condition as, my subject whom the project is related to is uncomfortable to be showcased in images.
My project consists of a series of images that reflect the unacknowledged parts of cities. I wanted to convey my perception of areas and how I think they should be showcased. We often take no or very little notice of what surrounds us, and I feel as a society people want things done almost immediately and the most efficiently, so it’s easy to let things go unnoticed.
I would hope my FMP can show that if you pause and look at the environment around you, that there is a lot more to places than just convenience. My idea for this project was to photograph parts of cities that no one takes time to acknowledge because those seemed to be the parts that held the most character and the most interesting stories.
I wanted to do this by taking quick snapshots of city streets, not just main high streets but side roads too. I felt unplanned shoots helped reflect the realism of the community as they were genuine shots, not posed. My images don’t have a lot of people in frame however a lot of my work, for example, in Birmingham a lot of the photos I took were showing people’s art that they had left for the public eye. Society’s views are often tainted by social media, and I think having a platform for public expression in whatever form displays the true opinions of the public.
For my FMP project I chose to depict the things I see daily through a first-person perspective. One of the reasons behind this was because I feel that a personal element can often make a project more memorable.
I decided to choose this idea for my project, as I think that the most important part of photography is to create. Often, the things that inspire you the most are the things that surround you at home. I feel this is an honest way of showing my creative vision, as the technical approach ensures that I include every single detail.
Sometimes when we focus intermittingly on the banal and the ordinary, in a fresh almost forensic way, it becomes exciting and a new way of seeing.
I have decided to do this for my FMP because I wanted to do fashion photography, but I wanted to make it different, so I have made them into magazine covers using the rolling stone title because I feel that it fits the pictures better than the vogue title.
What I have gained from doing this project is more experience with fashion photography and I have gained more skills within photoshop, I have also learnt to use natural lighting for my photos because all my final images were shot outside in Birmingham.
I feel that this project has helped me excel with photography because it allowed me to explore a range of different things such as using the studio for test shots and using the lighting in the studio, it has also helped me gain confidence with location shoots and having the confidence to take my camera out in public.
For FMP I wanted my project to show the more creative and artistic style of photography, combining illustration and photography into one. I love all forms of art, drawing especially so I involved the two together to create a 2d image crossed with 3d objects.
Combining drawing and everyday objects into an image brings a unique and creative flair into photography. Exploring different medias of art creates unique images and I wanted this to show my creative side. I have delved into all styles of photography from street to portrait to still life and now wanted to put a spin on it and try illustrative photography.
