Group Crit

I thought I had a solid idea ready to discuss with everyone at group crit, however when I got there I realised I actually didn’t. My idea was still very vague and had no solid direction.

I explained how I am trying to produce a visual diary of my life, exploring the relationships and closeness with my family and my experiences/ events. 

James noticed how I’d photographed a lot of my grandmother and perhaps I should stick with that. I feared to continue producing work on my grandmother because I didn’t want to replicate work. However James said that’s all part of improving. 

I discussed what style of images I wanted to create: warm, soft and grainy. However one of the students mentioned that the previous images, which are a lot sharper, worked better and that he preferred them to the film. Also the image that he liked was beside another image on the slideshow. He said the pair worked well as a diptych. 

My initial ideas were to photograph only the happier experiences/ events in my visual diary because I felt my previous projects were quite depressing when in fact I don’t find myself a depressing person at all. But I enjoy the making work with a narrative and presenting that theme within my images. James commented on how actually I could work with both. It could work just as well by showing both good and bad experiences and events if I was to photograph about myself or my grandmother. 

Overall James believes I should push the images of my grandmother further. At the minute I have around 20 images left to take on my film camera therefore I will carry on with the visual diary on myself and see how the images turn out. If I still feel as if I’m not getting anywhere then I shall go back to photographing my nan. 

Photographers advised for me to look at:

Lydia Godblatt

Richard Billingham

Book:

Lysette Model by Diane Arbus… More Personal More Universal