WEEK 9

READING:

Culture of Connectivity - Jose Van Dijck

• Dijck starts to introduce what kind of platform Flickr is by explaining its uses and statistics. Then follows by taking apart its motto ‘Share your photos. Watch the world’. Firstly, '
•  exchanging views to achieve an agreed upon viewpoint', secondly, 'sharing pictures leads to a collective experience.' and thirdly, 'Flickr functions as collective memory'.
• 'collective memory has become problematic in the age of digital networks (Hoskins, 2009).'
• The 'technological unconscious' - We are aware of what lies on the surface of social media platforms and the basic uses of them but have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, 'What David Beer (2009) calls the ‘power of the algorithm’ could be considered the core of the technological unconscious.'
• The 'continuous present' - 'any memorizing activity takes place in the current flow of contacts between people and machines and cannot be the result of either an individual or collective reminiscence.'
• 'Culture of connectivity' - Dijck expands on Hoskin's concept by showing how 'the notion of connectivity has become to our understanding of culture.'

Susan Sontag - On photography

• 'To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed. It means putting oneself into a certain relation to the world that feels like knowledge -- and, therefore, like power.'
• This was a very interesting reading and I did really like it because of its simplicity. Sontag gives examples from history but also relates photography to today's society. 

SARAH MOON:

'Sarah Moon, previously known as Marielle Warin, is a French photographer. Initially a model, she turned to fashion photography in the 1970s. Since 1985, she has concentrated on gallery and film work.' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Moon)

- Fashion photography and colour inspiration : 

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT:

Location scouting:

1) Blue background - Tichborne St, Brighton

WEEK 8

SHOOT 2 :

Here are the photos from my second photo shoot. I am still in the testing process so these aren't perfect and I still have things to improve on. For example the composition in a lot of them is quite off and as it's against as brick wall it can be quite obvious. This is something I can fix in Photoshop though. Another thing is the focus, which I did manually but as it was quite bright it was hard for me to see if it was in focus or not.

I also think the problem that occurred here was that the photos were taken of my close friends, which made it difficult to take serious photos of them and they weren't really concentrating. 

I tried to get something out of these photos and edited some by manipulating the backgrounds:

LAURA STEVENS:

Laura Stevens created a series about the stages of a heartbreak and came out with some touching photographs which show 'loss and renewal'. I think these are incredible ways of portraying emotions and personal feelings. I also like how she uses colour as a subtle theme throughout this series which brings life into them. 

The way she uses the models as the main subject is more of what I think I should be doing in my work for this project. She poses them in a way that tells a story and I think to portray personality and individuality I need to get my models to be more of themselves in the shoot. The first shoot I did worked well because I had my friend behind the camera talking to the model which put her at ease (and the fact she modelled when she was younger helped a lot too!). 

READING:

ANALOG TO DIGITAL: THE INDEXICAL FUNCTION OF PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES -

• Marshall McLuhan, philosopher, 'the medium is the message', talking about media such as print, photographs and telephones. "for the 'message' of any medium or technology is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs." 
• Digital technology is easier for editing because its all now essentially just data changing. Editing process of film however, is scanning , printing and displaying.
• 'just because a photograph is created or distributed with digital technology does not negate its indexical function as many theorists have suggested. Focusing only on the theoretical lack of indexicality in digital images ignores the social uses of analog photography that are now performed by digital images.' 
• Overall, I really liked the reading as it gave a wide, detailed insight into the difference between analog and digital photography. I personally do prefer the authentic feel to film cameras and having the photos unedited through Photoshop on the computer but I also agree that you can get a interesting look to digitally edited photographs. The way coding works really intrigues me and is fascinating process and unlike another ways can make a photograph one in a million.

WEEK 7

READING :

The Work of Representation - Stuart Hall

• 'representation is the production of meaning through language.' p. 2
• 'representation involves making meaning by forging links between three different orders of things: what we might broadly call the world of things, people, events and experiences; the conceptual world – the mental concepts we carry around in our heads; and the signs, arranged into languages, which ‘stand for’ or communicate these concepts.' p. 46

PROJECT IDEA :

My idea for my final project follows the idea of individuality and fashion. I feel that in todays society people are afraid to follow their own personal style which takes away the originality and personality from individuals. Normally people of youth follow the crowd and go with what is on trend but don't think outside the box on their own account. Therefore, I want to express the importance of fashion through photography. I think that it is important to express yourself through fashion and the items you wear because it can make you feel good and allows you to become your own person. Capturing this through street photography can be quite difficult when I wanted to have colour schemes throughout my work so I am planning each shoot, making sure I get a perfect end piece. Before jumping into my final piece, I think it's important for me to follow through with a few different shoots to experiment with colour and the style of photography I like. For example, I really like the use of flash but in outdoor shoots it can be difficult to manage, especially with unpredictable weather! This is why planning for my specific project is ideal.

Finally, I ideally want to end the project with a photograph that equally represents individuality and personality. Personally I do feel that it is important to stay true to yourself and this is a good way to show it through photography.

PLAN :

As the weather is sunny on week 8 I could possibly change the colour scheme from shoot 3 to yellow. I would use a brick wall background and make sure the sun hits the subject. Only problem is the fashion side to it as I have limited access to yellow clothing. Nearer to the time I will decide on final ideas.