Group Crit

Todays group crit was very helpful. A couple of points James made which I need to remember when making work is… What I want to communicate and how I want the viewer to feel.

With the 1:1 I had with James he advised me to take 3/4 images from my Pinterest board and use them for inspiration. I done that and took a few images which I felt both worked in tonality and subject. However when I showed up for group crit James and others said that the images actually felt quite cold. There was not enough light in the room and the tones weren’t warm enough to create the emotion that I wanted. My images also didn’t match up as well as I’d thought with the images I’d chosen from Pinterest. He explained that they were perhaps taken at the wrong time. I need to aim for the evening when the sun starts to set. 

Some had asked whether the images I had took were digital or film. I had taken them on digital however I have considered using film. I love the effects you can get such as light leaks and scratches. As we spoke about film I had asked in terms of printing what size film I should get. I’ve only ever bought a cheap one from Asda when I go abroad otherwise I don’t know a lot about film. They recommended 120 or 4.5. However James also mentioned the Pentax cameras. I’d used one previously for a brief in second year and I loved the outcome of the photos that I had taken. The focus was soft and the colours weren’t too harsh. I really liked the quality. Obviously with the new Pentax available for us to use outside of university I’m very tempted to give that a go and see how I get on! 

Talking of soft focus James said that my images were looking sharp in comparison to the Pinterest images. I did play around with the manual focus on my 50mm but the results weren’t what I planned. I need to perhaps take out a tilt shift lens if I’m sticking to my canon camera to achieve that soft focus. 

I need to consider what relationships I’m working with and whether they are inside/ outside of my own relationships. Will they be people of my age or perhaps younger/ older. What am I trying to communicate within my image, is it nostalgia, loss, etc. I also need to put aside coherency for a bit until I’m certain what I’m doing in my project. For now James has advised us to experiment and make crap images until we find our way.