Further/final photographs

I took a new set of photographs taking into account all that I have learnt from my development through the project so far. In these photographs I experimented with new set ups, changing the people around to get more variation throughout the set as well as trying lots of different perspectives and vantage points, which my further visual research into waiting rooms helped me to consider.

I picked some of the more successful photos but liked certain aspects from different ones so I have decided to combine these for my Final painting. I liked the images that were from a bit more of an angle, showing a more interesting perspective and view point on the room and the protagonists of the scene.

Setting investigation/ exploration

Before I went to take my photographs for my final piece taking into account what I had found/learnt from my previous development work, research and feedback, I also decided to take some photos of the basic set up and room that I planned to use, trying out some different angles and perspectives and where I would place the chairs and protagonists in the piece. I think that this helped me prepare myself to take the actual photographs, allowing me to visualise the set up and what works in regards to the perspectives as well as what should be included in the background, considering space, and the inclusion of the door to the room.

 

Tutorial- Feedback and evaluation

I had a tutorial reviewing my progress so far, and discussing how I plan to expand upon and develop my ideas further in the next stages of my project. In relation to my time plan and the time left for the project I feel that I am relatively on track but just need to begin my final piece as soon as possible working from a new set of photos I have just taken, so that I won’t fall behind. My tutor advised me to keep on top of my sketchbook and blog as I go along, as I have been trying to do throughout the project so far which will help me stick to my time plan too and not have to do as much last minute. I intend to keep trying to write down all my thoughts and development processes, as well as annotating the photographs that I take, work I create and any extra research and investigating I do, as an ongoing process.

When discussing with each of my tutors my new photographs and the final piece that I plan to create, we agreed that a large scale would be necessary and the most suitable in communicating my concept. My tutor encouraged me to take forward my ideas from my development work of including the large white background in my piece, making this space even larger in order to add to the atmosphere of the unknown and of it being like a big white void in this ‘waiting room’, and an almost limbo state. The idea of making the people a smaller size in relation to the scale of the large canvas overall was suggested as a development on my work, which I feel could be quite successful. I also think that it could be effective to have the white space of the room surrounding the protagonists more from all sides.

I had discussed elements to consider in relation to the photographs that I had taken/ would take for my final piece, such as the different perspectives to use, how close I was to my subjects, their distance from the background and the various vantage points to try and the impact this would create overall. We also talked about what to include in the background, if anything, and how my protagonists appear in the images, focusing on their positions and expressions as an incredibly important factor in communicating my ideas. My tutor suggested that I could also look back at my artist research at this point which might help me to think about the techniques I will use and styles that will be suitable, as well as their ideas, as reconsidering this may further influence and inspire my practice at this stage.

Development- Painting (Reflection)

I chose this photograph to work from for my development painting, experimenting with my ideas, and I included the wider background and door like I had planned and sketched around the image in my sketchbook. My piece was on a fairly small scale, and with the inclusion of the wider background, the protagonists were even smaller and consequently I found painting them quite difficult, especially their faces, so I wasn’t as happy with them as I had hoped, feeling I had not successfully communicated their expressions and emotions through this. I do think that I still managed to communicate their body language though and was pleased with their contrasting positions and execution of this in the painting. I used oil paint which was good for blending colours and creating textures and shadows, however it was difficult to use when painting the tiny faces, to portray the defining lines and finer details, creating a messier effect than i would have liked. This medium is what I intend to use for my Final Piece, but I will make the piece on a much larger scale as I think this will be much more successful, as well as creating much more of an impact.

I think adding a more static quality may have changed the look of this background and could have been more successful which I could still consider trying in my further work. Luckily I had good quality photographs to work from as through my preliminary photos I learnt that borrowing a better quality camera from college was the best option. I will however try to work from a bigger image for my Final piece, especially to work on a larger scale, to help me to show the small details in the face and expression more successfully.

The picture that I have chosen was what I felt to be the most interesting out of the set, due to the different emotions, expressions and interactions between the protagonists, as shown through their body language. Their range of positions leave lots of room for interpretation but I think that one appears to be gazing into the distance, perhaps in anticipation of what is to come, focused on this and not looking to see what the others are doing. Meanwhile the other two show further interaction, with one looking towards the other, apparently very interested in what she is doing and is concerned with, who is on her phone, showing further connection to the world around and not just this ‘waiting room’ and moment that they are in.

In my next set of photos I’ll consider initially having a plain background with wider space like I had first planned, rather than having to improvise the background using several photo references as I did in this piece, which I feel will be more successful and fit together better overall. My main problem with this development is that despite being my plan and idea, I feel that in the execution of the painting I have discovered that my inclusion of the room in this way and the larger door at the side, almost takes the focus away from my protagonists which is not what I wanted, the people being the most important element to this project.

The piece has made me consider whether the room and setting I created in this case was perhaps too mysterious and unable to place, which discussions with my tutors helped me to evaluate. It could be due to this placement of the large door and improvised space, however I had wanted to communicate this large white void of the unknown with has think does come through. This provoked me to consider whether it may have been better to have left the other objects in the background of the room, such as the piles of boards for easels, as this may have placed them somewhere, putting them in their present as students at art college, which could have helped add more character and suggested more about the personalities of the protagonists. This would create a different atmosphere inevitably.

I did like the composition of the subjects in my photographs and still feel that the range of positions was a successful element to my painting. Talking with my tutor allowed me gain a further perspective on my development work and I think really helped me to evaluate the work myself, through discussing the strengths and weaknesses of this first painting, visualising my ideas, which I will now consider when moving on to my next set of photographs and plans for my final piece.

 

 

Development and Experimentation

I wanted to show the emotions as well as the interactions of the protagonists in my photographs in this scenario, through both their expressions and their body language and positions. In the best photographs they are all looking in different directions, appearing to have different interests and concerns which I felt could communicate the different directions they are looking towards and heading in, whether consciously or not. I think that the scene that I set up with the chairs to create my ‘waiting room’ atmosphere worked quite well however I plan to use a much more plain background in my future images, perhaps including a larger and wider space arounds my subjects. There was also other objects in the room, in the background behind my protagonists in the photographs, which I want to avoid in my next set of photos. In this development stage I also plan to not include these objects to experiment with further creating an atmosphere like I had initially intended. I managed to capture a range of emotions throughout this set of images, with the subjects sometimes appearing nervous, bored, confused or interested and concerned about what is going on around them, and perhaps of what is to come, in the context of my theme.

I tried capturing a moment to exhibit the way that things won’t be the same again and it can therefore never be repeated, due to the inevitable changes approaching. I selected a couple of photographs that I liked the best and stuck them in my sketchbook with plenty of space around, to then sketch in some further lines as though there was further space in the background. This helped me to visualise how my idea would look. I also tried including the door to the room, like I had in some of my other images with a wider shot, to this photo that I preferred, in order to then create a small development painting from this.

Time plan- Adjustments

Initial Time Plan:

After the Easter Holidays I have looked back at my time plan to see how well I have followed my initial timesheet as outlined in my project proposal. I have mostly stuck to the fairly general plan I had made of when I intended to have collected most of my research and began developing ideas, taking new photographs etc. However there were some slight changes to the plan, when I did things differently as I took a little longer than I had planned with my primary and secondary research, so I have adjusted my time plan document to include these, highlighting the modifications to date.

Revised Time Plan:

Development Photos

I took a range of photos experimenting with my idea of creating a more staged setting suggesting a ‘Waiting room’ in which to place my protagonists, to then use and work from in my next stages of developing my project. I tried using just one person as the subject in my images at first, still creating the appearance of a waiting room, placing other seats around my protagonist, alluding to the idea that she is in fact waiting for something in this scenario but I did not feel that this quite communicated my initial ideas.

However I then took further pictures in which I included three people as the subjects/ my protagonists in this scene. I found that these images were much more successful in their overall composition when the combination and contrast of these three individuals were place in ‘the waiting room’ together. I got my models to just sit and change positions naturally, whilst in this more staged environment, which I think worked well as through their different positions I think that their different personalities and emotions are communicated, with this combination being the most successful aspect. The most interesting photographs were when my subjects were looking in completely different directions and sitting very differently, all suggesting interests in different things and communicating different feelings and thoughts through their expressions and body language.

When I placed my photographs together side by side I really liked the effect created as I feel it suggested more of an idea of time throughout and of waiting around, through the subtle changes of position, almost like a storyboard.

In some of the photographs I included more of the background, with a wider space around and including a door in the setting of some, to suggest another direction and a way in or out of the scene that i created. The door could represent another way leading to the future.

I borrowed a camera from college to take these photographs to ensure that the images collected were of a high quality as in my previous preliminary photographs, I had simply used my phone camera as i was just experimenting with a natural, messy and unstated setting as a comparison. This however had resulted in much poorer quality photographs with some photos being slightly blurry etc, and I therefore wanted to amend that in this set of photographs, learning from my experience.

 

Preliminary photos/ Development

I chose to take some preliminary photographs to begin my development process, considering a totally natural set up and environment to take pictures of, which can be contrasted against the more staged ‘waiting room’ type settings I plan to create and use in my later developments. I thought this could be an interesting way to capture a moment with these subjects together in this way, which will not be the same again as things are constantly changing and these people will inevitably head in their own directions in life. I took these photos during my time in the studio, just taking some quick snapshots of my friends busy in their working environment, each getting on with their own thing.

Next I decided to do a sketch from one of my photographs, playing with the protagonists in the image and their relation to the background and settings around them. I have outlined the people, drawing them in fine liner, meanwhile the background and objects in their surroundings, I have simply sketched lightly in pencil. I wanted to try to emphasise and explore the idea of the people being the important aspect to the image, with the background lacking detail and seeming irrelevant due to its ever-changing nature. I considered adding colour do this quick developmental piece, adding further detail to the protagonists whilst blocking in colours on the setting and objects around, to further exhibit this and draw the attention to the people and what they are doing. I may consider coming back to this later in the project.

This practical photographic research and experimentation has helped me to realise the importance of the setting for my protagonists in my photographs in relation to this project, which I plan to stage more and consider before I take more photographs in my next stage of developing my project. This background didn’t have the right aesthetic as it was just an experiment and not the set up or composition I planned for my project, however I do think I managed to communicate my focus on the people and their activities/ thoughts. These preliminary photos were also not as good quality as they could have been, as I had only used a phone camera to capture these natural moments, therefore I am aware that borrowing a good quality camera from college to take my next photographs is a practical solution to this problem to produce technically better quality work.

Tutorial for Project Proposals

After presenting my three pre-proposals to my specialist tutors during the tutorial, it was clear that my first concept and idea of ‘The waiting room’ was the strongest and therefore is what I will take forward to form my final project proposal and presentation. We discussed my ideas of confusion and uncertainty in regards to the future, as well as the title of my project ‘The waiting room’ and how this could potentially present an actual setting of a waiting room scenario that I could communicate in my project. My tutor was also then able to suggest further relevant artists and visual research I could undertake to inspire my possible directions for the project, considering the set up of older paintings such as Diego Velazquez’s ‘Las Meninas’. As well as the more modern work of David Hockney showing an almost staged looking setting, with his piece ‘My Parents’ in particular, exhibiting a certain set up featuring his parents in their living room. This made me consider further ways of expressing the directions of the future and the confusion over these approaching changes, in a set up environment and background, as well as my initial ideas of distorted portraiture. I was then ready to go on to do my visual research and put together my presentation of my Proposed project.

Reflect and Evaluate

Since beginning the course I feel that I have gained experience and knowledge of a broader range of materials and practices within varying areas of Art and Design. I really enjoyed trying all of the different subject areas, expanding my work through each. Through the course and the Fine Art specialism I believe I have developed as an artist and a student, particularly in the field of painting, exploring a range of concepts and themes within the different briefs. I further understand the importance of experimentation, to help find the destination of a final outcome and am more willing to vary my approach to a project.  My projects for ‘The Body’, exploring fragments of the human form and its musculature, and most recently ‘House and Home’ considering faded memory and the overlapping of places which challenged me to constantly change my painting techniques, have pushed my work into new territories. I have established a different method of producing initial visual material from which to make work, rather than always simply working straight from pictures as I typically had, which I think could be very important in the development of my work.  My last project led me to consider exploring another aspect of human experience and consciousness, as a more complex concept as I found this enabled me to communicate a more engaging response than my earlier work.

I feel much more confident with using a blog to document my work at this point in the course, as I had not used one before, and through this also think I am better now at evaluating and reflecting upon my work and processes. To develop further I must analyse the work of contemporary artists at a greater level, particularly investigating the reasons behind why they make their work, which may inspire and help me in considering the deeper meanings behind a piece of work which can offer up the most interesting reading.