Evaluation
Idea Development & Research
When creating the concept of my project I landed on the theme of nostalgia as it evokes strong emotions, connecting my work with the viewer. I wanted to create something that explored my own memories but also felt universally relatable to allow them to reflect on their own past. Nostalgia is also something that I feel strongly connected to especially in this period of my life as I transition out of childhood and into adulthood. As my target audience is other teenagers my age I felt that this would furthermore be more relatable as they are going through similar life experiences. I also chose this theme as it allowed me to explore vintage aesthetics and how the film camera look is so nostalgic.
I was inspired originally from a few of my own favourite movies such as The Florida Project and The Wizard Of Oz due to their visual aesthetics and how they capture the essence of childhood innocence and exploration. To start my research I began looking at photographers and different photo series' that I wanted to take inspiration from. I was particularly inspired by photographers like Martin Parr and Justine Kurland due to their composition and style of editing. I then went onto research the subject matter and theme of my project as a whole, touching upon why we feel nostalgia, the different types of nostalgia and, if nostalgia is bad.
This lead me onto researching nostalgia within fashion and brands that use it as a marketing technique in the modern day. Furthermore, I created a survey to collect data on the target audience of my project to see how I could cater it more to their opinions. Once I was aware of what product my audience would prefer, I researched some skills and techniques that would aid the quality and creative process of my photography. Finally, I looked at how to present my final product and used data from my survey to help influence the outcome.
Overall I feel positive about my research as it has a lot of relativity to my project whilst also influencing my outcome as without my research it would be very different. I am also very glad that I created a survey when researching my target audience as without the primary research it would have been difficult to source directly relevant information.
I would have liked to have researched a bit more on skills and techniques yet I could not find many relevant videos as there are not many new skills I needed to apply to my photography, although I did find some use in the editing techniques I researched. I think that my research towards presenting my final product was valuable as it actually changed the form in which my photography was presented. I think that my idea development and research went well yet if I had more time I would have created another survey as a source of primary research toward my product.
Planning & Preparation
In preparation for my FMP I created a plan and timetable detailing what I would do each week and what resources would be required. I then created a proposal discussing what I have learnt this year, my plan for next year and plan for my final major project. Following up on that I included a proposed bibliography and pitch which I later delivered to my tutor.
Based on my previous research of feelings associated with nostalgia I created three mood boards presenting different types of nostalgia through photos that I have compiled. Before shooting, a shot list and contingency plan were created alongside a risk assessment inspired by my mood boards, of the areas I would later shoot in. I found it useful to include an equipment and prop list to ensure no resources are let behind as it would hinder shooting.
I feel as though I could have improved my pitch by being more descriptive and having more content to talk about yet this is because I had a very vague idea of what I wanted my project to look like at that moment in time. I also found it challenging to deliver my pitch to a camera and my tutor as I do not like speaking in front of others because it makes me nervous. I enjoyed creating the different themed mood boards as it helped inspire me for shots and figure out which direction I wanted my project to go.
If I were to do the risk assessment again I would remember to take photos at the specific location of shooting rather than using ones found on google as it ensures that it is more accurate. I am glad that I scanned the permission forms instead of just taking a photo and uploading it is easier to read. If I were to do this project again I ensure that I would create a shot list as I found that it helped the most in terms of planning my shoot.
Production
To begin my production I travelled to Newcastle for my first, and main, shoot with both of my models. I started shooting inside the amusements then moved outside to the rides whilst ensuring not to get any other peoples faces in the shot. I found it difficult to adjust my camera settings when moving to an outside location as it was so bright outside, making it hard to see the image on the camera.
I also had trouble getting some shots as I was not able to get close enough to a lot of the rides. As the two models were my little brother and sister I bribed them with some ice-cream and candyfloss and used them as props to make my photos on the beach more interesting and add narrative. I also purchased some bubbles as I thought they would look good shot on the beach yet it was too windy so I saved them for a different shooting location.
When carrying out my second shoot I used my brother as my model and shot in my back garden, during this shoot we had the opportunity to use the bubbles as a prop because they made the photos feel more dreamy. When doing my shoots I followed my shot list loosely as it was helpful yet I often got inspired during and found other locations or things to capture. I did not encounter many challenges during this shoot except that the sun was almost set, so I didn't have enough time to take photos as I would have liked.
To ensure that this does not happen again I would plan to shoot at an earlier time. For my final shoot I travelled into Belfast city centre and visited two locations which were St. George's Market and John Long's fish and chip shop. When in St. George's Market I found it a bit difficult as I had to make sure not to bump into anyone or get their faces in the photos because it is very busy in there. I enjoyed taking photos at the fish and chip shop as that road did not have any traffic or pedestrians on it, allowing me to play with different angles and composition.
When designing my site I decided to make a header to create a cohesive visual aesthetic between my work and the website. Using my own photo I created a multi-media piece by printing it out and putting stickers on it. I tried different sticker placement as my original concept would not have fit the dimensions of the header, I then scanned the image again and edited it in Lightroom to achieve a more nostalgic film look. I have not carried out a process similar to this before yet I really enjoyed doing so and learning new skills.
Post-Production
In the post-production stage of my photos I edited them on Lightroom multiple times to try and achieve the look I wanted. I also applied some editing techniques I found whilst researching. I included the first edits of my photos onto my website and detailed what I would change in my final edit, helping me remember what to alter. I mainly focused on altering the temperature and hues of the photos to get that film photo look which links back into my previous research about editing. I experimented with decreasing the clarity and increasing the dehaze to give a softer, more dreamy feel to my photos. I like how my photos turned out yet if I were to do it differently I might have researched filter presets and added them instead of fully manually editing.
Using Canva I created a logo to promote my photography brand. I created eight different designs with black and white versions with each logo taking inspiration from the previous. I really like the look of my final logo as it is easily legible and bold. I found that Canva was the easiest software to use and would use it again if I were to make a logo again in the future as I used Adobe and Photoshop yet found them hard to navigate. On my website I talked through my design process of my logo and stated the reasons for changes.
Taking inspiration from my logo, I created a sticker displaying my Instagram handle using Photoshop. It was fairly easy to make the sticker in Photoshop despite my lack of knowledge for the software as I just used the same font as I did for my logo and added a black background. I found it a bit challenging trying to figure out how to print the image on the sticker paper then realised I needed to print multiple sets on one page so they were the desired size.
I have never ben the greatest at cutting with scissors as I always do it wonky so I solved that by using a knife and cutting board to make them more precise and clean looking. I am glad that I made these stickers as it was a fun process and it is also a tool to help me promote my work and Instagram.
To promote my project I began by making mock-up posters in Canva and trying out what photo I wanted to display but quickly knew what I wanted my poster to look like. If I were to create a poster again I would create mock-ups first as I found it very helpful to reaching my final product. Using Photoshop I inserted my image and added a border, inspired by the border on polaroid film.
I also experimented with new techniques and added a shadow to the main subject of the poster. Rather than a website link on my poster I made it into a QR code to hopefully increase the accessibility to my work. I am pleased with my poster although I feel like I could have added a bit more information through text.
Presentation
Out of all of the photos I chose sixteen final images which I thought best represented the feeling of nostalgia and fitted amongst each other. The final order my photos are presented in aren't overly important yet they do still loosely tell a narrative of childhood experiences. If I had more time I would have created more of a story. I decided to present my photos in the form of a photobook based on my research and target audience survey as there was a majority vote for it to be presented in the form of a gallery or photobook.
I am glad that I researched how to present my photos as I was previously going to print them and display in a gallery yet the cost would have been too high. I also feel as though by being presented in a photobook it links back to looking at how we used to look at old pictures in photo albums.
If I were to make a photobook again I would like to be able to professionally print it to get a hardback or smooth cover. If I were to make any other changes I would have placed my blurb in a different location yet I ran out of time since when I was printing I made a spelling mistake and had to reprint right before submission.
Final Evaluation
For my FMP I chose the theme of nostalgia, focusing on creating imagery that would connect with young adults who grew up in the UK or Ireland during the 2000s. I was so drawn to this theme as I find it interesting that nostalgia is a powerful emotion that can be perceived in so many different ways. Through photography I wanted to visually explore these feelings by capturing familiar places and objects in hope to evoke memories, either personally or as a collective. When in the research stage I found many photographers who explore memory or emotion within their work, this later influenced my approach to how I shot and edited my photos. I also found that the steps I took when planning such as a making a timetable helped ensure that I was on track.
I received feedback on my project from my Mum and she mentioned how on my home page, my text was centred with my title making it look a little out of place. This is due to the fact that my website looks different when displayed on different sized computers yet this is an issue that I cannot solve. Overall, I am proud of the project I developed as I feel that it has helped me learn how to communicate emotion more deliberately through visual media.