WEEK FIVE and SIX

Week Five and Six (Easter Holidays):

As it is the Easter Holidays, we are left to our own devices. It begins the opportunities for first shoots and continuation of research. I feel my time over the last couple of weeks have been used productively. My sketchbook holds all the information it needs to so far, and I have completed 2 shoots and a test shoot, although I know I will need to re-shoot.

The first shoot was basically a chance to test with natural lighting/ daylight, but inside. This strengthened my ability when using my camera and the manual settings. Although I do not know for certain if I will be taking images inside or out, it was just an opportunity to work with the surroundings and experiment with the skills we have acquired over these last months. I feel it was beneficial but not certain if it was right for this project, we will see.

The second shoot was of the Foodbank, I had been there once before but could exactly remember the layout etc so was difficult to plan. Despite this I still had a variety of images layout in my head ready, whether these would happen didn't matter. A strength from this shoot was the opportunity to meet some of the volunteers and also see how things work. I had heard of it before but never seen it, or been told how it runs. Everybody was very friendly which was helpful as I don't usually feel comfortable approaching people I don't know, which is why for the duration of my visit, I shoot the surroundings first. And eventually plucked up the courage to ask for individual portraits. Looking back at the images, I see that my direction and instruction towards the volunteer was very weak, meaning they pulled the generic pose, straight forward and smiling. This is something I needed to work on, both communication with the 'model' and also figuring out what I want. How do I want to portray these volunteers? Is it too cluttered with in the offices? Will they feel comfortable with me if I ask for more portraits? I wonder what there background is? and why they're here at the Foodbank? How do I make them stand? What's normal for portraiture? 

The last shoot that I completed within the holidays, was of the Pastor. I eventually was able to have a meeting with Paul to firstly ask him some questions about the Church and himself but also take some portraits. The questions I asked and the answers he gave I feel was a positive for this shoot, on the other hand similar mistakes were made to the Foodbank's with the images making this shoot unsuccessful. I can learn from these mistakes; mainly background choice (too cluttered etc).

These two weeks have been beneficial and vital for my project, to begin my process.

First Two Shoots

My first shoot involved testing portraiture and documenting the Foodbank and the second one began with an interview with the pastor leading to portraits of him.
Below are the strengths and weaknesses of both:

Strengths of the Foodbank:
- I gathered a range of documentary and portraits images, some stronger than others.
- I was able to make conversations with volunteers, which helped them build trust and confidence in me.
- While I took the documenting images I was able to work with the manual setting and use no flash.

Weaknesses of the Foodbank:
- Possibility to ask them questions but didn't plan ahead for that.
- I felt uncomfortable with instructing the volunteers which lead to unsuccessful images.




Strengths of the Pastor Shoot:
- I gathered good amount of information from planned questions.
- With the lighting in the office being hard to adjust to I soon figured out my settings.
- I was able to take a number of portraits of the Pastor and Youth Pastor.

Weaknesses of the Pastor Shoot:
- I should have tried different backgrounds/ environments.
- The offices lighting was not as initially planned and meant they were not successful= natural/ artificial

WEEK FOUR

Week Four:

This week I feel ill, which knocked me back a couple of days. There were opportunities for tutorials to check progress and next steps. I started to get in contact with the Pastor of Bournemouth Vineyard, but he proved to be quite busy. With it nearing Easter time, he is planning different events and services of which needs his attention more importantly. On the other hand, once I spoke to him I was able to set a meeting time and date, but not for a couple of weeks. This demands for me to look into other shoot possibilities before I see Paul Nation.

WEEK THREE

Week Three:

This week we visited Amsterdam, a great opportunity to gather more research, either for our project, exhibition space or personally. We visited a number of different galleries displaying photography and art, giving us a range of work to be inspired by. Amsterdam was not what I expected it to be, I understand now when people say its a beautiful place. With just being there and soaking yourself in the surroundings and culture you feel inspired, you feel you want to learn, find and walk some more. At such a early stage of our project it was vital for us to have some more inspiration for our own projects, and with the numerous galleries in Amsterdam it was perfect. When we arrived back, there was a fair bit of sketchbook work to do,   but it felt good to get all that we saw and learnt on paper. I feel fortunate that a number of the galleries we visited displayed work that had a religious theme or aspect, and also with walking around the De Oude Kerk (oldest church in Amsterdam). So a strength would be returning with a range of relevant research for my project. The next step is to look into first shoots, contacting the Pastor firstly.

Progress

Below are strengths and weaknesses so far of my project:

Strengths:
- So far I have a wide range of research.
- From visiting Amsterdam I have been able to widen my research with artists and churches.
- I have a variety of shoot ideas planned, ready for after the International Trip.


Weaknesses:
- When looking back at my Action Plan, I do not feel confident that I have followed it so far.
- I feel more behind than anticipated, but once I start shooting, I hope my ideas and possible outcomes will start flowing.
- Due to the high demand of the pastor, it was difficult to meet with him quickly, so this made me a week behind schedule to start with. (Something I could not control.)

Amsterdam

An option on the course was to go on a international trip, I chose Amsterdam. This trip was an opportunity to gather more research as well as delve into the culture and the numerous streets/canals.With visiting and exploring Amsterdam I was able to delve into the cobbled streets and canals as well as the culture. The art culture is sparse with a range of contemporary  fashion and old century art paintings. While we were there we visited: rijikmuseum, foam magazine, and mooi.

The main strength of visiting the museums/ galleries will be for my research, especially the places of which showed work which were related to my project such as paintings by Vermeer and Rembrandt. Due to the religious based images or ones which included churches.

When there was a museum or gallery I did not related to, or one that did not fit my style in general. I made the most of it and studied the layout and presentation. This will greatly influence decisions and ideas for my own work and its exhibition presentation.





Here are my notes from the Van Gogh museum:

- ' I keep making what Ii can't do yet in order to learn to be able to do it.'
- 'drawing is the root to everything.'
- still life with bible 1885
- His style, 'Brush strokes that hold together and intertwine well, with feeling like a piece of music played with emotion.'
- He believed colours in themselves had expressive power.
- 'because instead of trying to render exactly what I have before my eyes, I use colour more arbitrarily in order to express myself forcefully.'
- Irises 1890, described this flower still life as 'an effect of terribly disparate complementaries that reinforce each other by their opposition.'
- The ruins symbolise how faith + religion mouldered away, The old church tower at Nuenen, 1815.
- 'I desire nothing other than to live deep in the country and to paint peasant life.'
- 'painted portraits have a life of their own that comes from deep in the soul of the painter and where the machine can't go. The more photographs one looks at, it seems to me, them more on feels this.'
- 'Some times it's precisely those sports that one needs to achieve calm.'

WEEK TWO

Week Two,

This week was essentially spent researching thoroughly into different works that is relevant to what I have focused on. When looking through my sketchbook of the artists and photographers I have researched I feel confident and happy with those that I have delved into. There is a range of work that has impacted my own decisions for my project and others that has built upon my knowledge. This week has shown strength in my researching process and skills, before this course I was not as interested in artists work, but now I love finding new and interesting work that can influence and inspire me for my own work. This week was dedicated to beginning strong research, looking into a mixed media selection, I am especially looking forward to finding more about painters with religious themes, they always seem to have more impact and emotion within them. Coming up is the trip to Amsterdam, briefly within this week we spent time planning for this, looking into the different places and galleries we could visit. Personally and for my project I was eager to visit a Church while there, when looking on the internet we located the oldest church in Amsterdam, I look forward to delving myself there.

Toni Greaves

For my research I looked into a number of artists and photographers each with conceptual work that I feel would inspire, influence and impact my own work. With looking into Christianity and more specifically the church for my FMP, it was a great opportunity to investigate into the different artists that have used this as there focus.
The reason for me mentioning this is because I specifically looked into the photographer Toni Greaves, one of her projects is title: Radical Love. I am pinpointing this specific work from the rest due to its religious aspect and beautiful images. I am incredibly inspired my the images she has produced but also the way she went about to get them. With visiting numerous times to a Monastic Community to photograph their environment as well as finding out about a certain young woman, Sister Lauren Franko, recently choosing to join the community.

Greaves shows commitment, sensitivity and loyalty through the process of this project, with returning after 3 years to revisit newly Sister Maria Teresa of the Sacred Heart. Toni Greaves poetically and beautifully captures the life of all the Sister's, showing the viewer what there chosen life is and that they are happy and fulfilled where they are.

If I create work in any similar way to one of Greaves, I will be proud of myself and where I have come.

Initial Research

For my project, I had a variety of different ways I could have led towards. With previous projects I always had a similar way of working and with this project being solely individual and on our own, I'm having to go about it a different way. With creating the project from scratch it ordered me to create something that I would want to build upon.

With my idea based around my faith and Church I have put myself in a good position with people I know, and certain ideas to branch from. As initial research I have started with the Bournemouth Vineyard website, looking through there various pages learning about there different groups / their vision and so on.

To ensure my artist research is at the highest standard I needed to look into a vast number of different photographers who I previously have not looked into but also artists who work with a different media. With researching into these I can highlight the influence they have had on my work; this is something I have struggled with in previous projects. I thoroughly enjoy investigating into mix media artists especially painters such as Vermeer, Rogier Van Der Weyden and Caravaggio.

With the directions I hope to lead into there are photographers that would be great to re-research back into. To look at there work in a different way to before and analyse some of there images linking to how it connects with my project. I hope from this I can gain new skills of being creatively interpretative of other artists work, unpicking it and learning from it.