Cross Course Collaboration: feedback

Consider what you have learned from the Cross Course Collaboration

• What were the benefits of the collaboration?

I've really enjoyed working with the other students that are within my group. I didn't know anyone, even the photography students I'd never spoken to before, therefore it was a little nerve wracking to build that relationship with everyone and get started on the project. However it was not difficult. Everyone seemed genuine and happy to do whatever. We shared our thoughts and ideas and everything seemed to come together smoothly without disagreement. Working with minimalism and the few that specialise particularly in fashion it made things a lot easier. I was more than happy with the final idea and I actually thought it was a sensible idea considering the time we had to work on it as well as the availability of the group in general. We all had other projects and events happening in and outside of university and all was very understanding. 

• What were the difficulties and how did you try to overcome them?

Looking back I can't think if we had difficult with anything nor anyone! The only trouble was in the end we only managed to meet up three times out of the two week period. However we messaged almost every day during those two weeks checking up on what certain people had done and where they were up to. The group was fairly organised and made sure they kept up with the tasks set taking us towards the final piece. We had everything ready by Wednesday, just under a week before submission. That left Kirsty with plenty of time to put the moving image, voice over and background music together. It was important we left enough time for editing as there was a lot to go through which would definitely take time. Eventually everything came together Monday confidently ready for Tuesdays showing. 

• What would you do differently for future collaborations?

Overall I am very pleased with how smoothly everything went. No one let the team down, there was constant chat checking others were getting on ok with the tasks set. Everyone was nice enough to lend a hand even though they'd done their tasks. However I did feel poorly organised during the second shoot for the moving image piece I'd worked alongside with Eloise and Jade. Luckily we didn't waste any time as our models wasn't meeting us until later in the day so we kicked about for a few hours shooting ourselves. The 5D was unavailable therefore we borrowed the 600D. None of us had used it before therefore it took a while to work around. We hadn't planned locations and hadn't considered reflectors. Luckily we had good weather and so did the previous group so the images worked coherently. I felt in general we lacked at our own practice and feel we could have received better images if we had planned ahead. 

Consider how you will be collaborating in the rest of the unit

• What are the collaborations you will be engaging in during this unit?

I am actually really excited to start collaborating within the self initiated brief. When there was mentioning of collaboration instantly I thought it would have to be with other practices like graphics, illustration, etc. However I was completely wrong! I was influenced by a few people for this idea, firstly Jim Goldberg who photographs people and asks them to write about that photograph. Getting involved with people and their lifestyle. Secondly during the interchange I went on the local tour of artist studios. There was only a few people working in their studios during our visit however one woman's work caught my attention. She'd previously been sketching inside what seemed to be a doodle book. Her younger daughter got hold of it and ended up drawing on top of her sketches. However she actually liked what had been created from it and developed from those drawings. 

I plan on collaborating with my mothers close family and friends. I want to photograph objects that those close family and friends have that either she gave to them as a gift, something that was handed down after her passing or something that reminds them of her. Within a scrapbook I will present a photo on each page, relevant to the picture the individual that selected the object will write a message next to it leaving a message for her. OR my younger brother and sister will draw a picture relevant to the that picture. The subject matter is very personal to myself and my family involved and I expect it will become difficult and upsetting at times but it's an area I'm obviously very interested in and it will be nice to get my family involved. 

Opportunities

• Getting my family involved with my work
• Giving me motivation and determination as I'm working with a personal subject which I have strong interest in
• The collaboration will mostly rely on myself as it will be down to me to get in touch

Advantages

• A new area of collaboration to work within and test
• I can get creative with the layout of how I intend on presenting the final piece
• I can work both inside and out the studio depending on the object and lighting 

Issues

• For some family members and friends what I ask of them when writing a personal message could bring too much upset therefore they may reject