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.