Final Images: Individual Project

I have decided to name this series ‘Graham’s Routine and Thoughts on Paper’ this is because he literally had free reign with his notes he simply wrote what was on his mind so I thought that this was an apt title and this series literally documents various aspects/routines in his life. I compared all of my final layout experimentation and resulted in a final 8 images for my edit which I believe are the most effective and best portray my Grandads life, routine and quirks. The 8 images are below:

Overall, I am pleased with how this project resulted, it allowed me to continue my documentary skills and to progress the idea of combining image and text further but in a more relaxed, organic way. I chose to print the images at home on uncoated paper on an inkjet printed as I liked the texture and grittiness it gave the images, I tried printing at uni but the laser printer made the images too shiny and perfect I liked the inkjet ones better. I will upload these to my website under the ‘documentary heading’ within its own sub-heading with the title of the series. I think that the strength of this unit was my experimentation and trying of new things with the presentation, I usually stick to digital layouts and use photoshop for my final images but this project pushed me to try collage and arranging physical prints. A weakness for this unit was that I didn’t come up with my concept straight away, I began the unit creating portraits so had to delete all of that research and images off my blog and restart because I wasted time on a theme which wasn’t really my style.

Final Website Design

After attending my final tutorial with Ed and making minor tweaks to my website I have finished designing it. All I have to add now is my final images for this unit hence the gap on the documentary page.

My Website URL is: elliethomasphoto.com 

When you first enter the website, there is a slide show of three images seen above (one for each category).

This is a sample of my documentary section, the gap is for my final series for this uni but I haven’t quite finalised the images yet. As you can see I put one image for each project then when clicked on it opens up a page with a description of the project and a slideshow of the final edit.

My portraiture tab is also a slide show which shows some of my favourite portraiture work from various projects/commissions.

My family/ weddings tab show cases some client work which I have been building up over the past couple of years, I selected my favourite images and put them in a slideshow.

Finally, my about and contact pages give a brief overview of my photographic style and how to contact me alongside my instagram feed.

I am very happy with my final website design, I have taken inspiration from the likes of Ophelia Wynne, Damon Baker and Rinko Kawauchi to emulate their clean, minimalistic style. Now I just have to add my current project, then it will be complete.

Final Layout Experimenting.

I have photographed my final layouts for the hand in for this unit, I experimented with a variety of ways to collage it but resulted in one or two images accompanied by one quote stuck down by masking tape. I will post the initial experiments that I didn’t like below:

I felt that two busy images like these were too much for the composition, also the brown tape didn’t work either I felt it was too distracting.

This was my set up, I places the images on white card. I used Canon 5d MKIV and my 24-70mm f2.8 lens with a speedlite.

I will post below all the compositions I tried and then I edited them all so I could compare and choose my final 6 for the hand-in.

I will now compare them all and decide which ones best sum up my project and are most effective for my final edit.

1st Collage Experiments

I experimented with some layouts combining the image, notes, diary pages and post-it notes. I am happy with these as a first experiment as I only took them on my phone with my desk as the background. I want to continue experimenting like this but with my camera and proper lights and I want to experiment with tape and things to stick the images down with.

Hand written notes

For my last piece of writing to collage with, I wanted some hand written notes/ anecdotes by my Grandad which coordinate with the best images. I printed my best images and dropped them round to my Grandads and asked him to write out some notes with his thoughts of what comes to his head when he sees each image. I left it with him and went as I didn’t want to prompt or rush him so I left the images with him for a few days and gave him no direction apart from that I wanted his inner thoughts on paper about his life and routines.

Here is what he wrote I have attached the relevant image with each quote:

 

Grandads Diary

I also asked if I could rip out past pages in his diary/ planner of key dates (e.g. his moving in day) etc. for more things to include in the final collages. I liked this idea particularly as it is a visual representation of routine/ everyday life which is a big part of my project.

Hand-Written Post It Notes

When I went to my Grandad’s house most recently, I asked if I could take some of his post it notes he has stuck on his fridge and mirror in his bedroom which he uses to remind himself of things. I have 4 which were out at the time, I am going to save them and try and incorperate them into my collages. His note taking is another characteristic of his and nods to his organised, obsessive streak.

Shoot 03- Grandad at Home

For my next shoot, I took photographs of my Grandad again but this time in his home environment. Like I did at work, I just shadowed him carrying out his everyday tasks and things that may seem banal/ ordinary. I want this project to highlight the beauty of the ordinary and show every aspect of my grandad’s life and what makes him, him. I captured both images of him, and of his environment at home as he has lots of little quirks in his house which sum him up so I captured a mixture of everything so I have a lot to work with when creating my collages with text.

Like my previous shoot, I decided to present all the best images in monochrome, I am doing this with all my final images as I like the aesthetic quality they bring to the image. Also, I think that the monochrome will tie in better with the text when I add this in.

I used the Canon 5D MK IV and a mixture between my 50mm f1.4 and 24-70 f2.8 lens.

My Grandad lives alone so I captured images all with him on his own as this is how he spends most of his time I wanted to encompass this feeling of loneliness in the images.

I captured his signs which he has up around the house reminding him about the low ceilings and not to bang his head as he always cuts his head as seen above.

My Grandad likes everything in order and neat so I captured all of his belongings in perfect formation. Like his socks in pairs from a matching set hanging in a row and his wardrobe organised perfectly into categories.

I wanted to capture details in his home which make the series unique to him, like this zebra ornament he has in his living room.

I am really happy with this shoot, I believe it is really successful in capturing moments in my Grandads day which may seem ordinary to some but as a collective and when presented with my Grandad’s personal hand-written notes. I now plan to collate the best images of my Grandad at work and home and then get some personal hand-written notes from him and create some collages incorporating both text and image to scan in and present as my final images for this project. This will build upon and combine the previous work I did in the identity and image-making units with both text and quotes direct from my subjects.

 

Shoot 02- Deirdre at her Allotment

For my second photo shoot, I spent the day with my Great Aunt Deirdre. She lives alone in a flat since my great nan died who used to live with her in their house so she doesn’t like to spend much time alone indoors so I only captured a couple of photos of her indoors then I went to her allotment with her which is where she spends most of her time.

I think for my final collages with text I am only going to use my Grandad’s photographs as I think it is most effective to base the final product on just one person and their story but I wanted to capture my Aunt’s day for further experimentation and exploration into my theme and documenting what is usually seen as someones ordinary/ banal routine.

I have decided to shoot the entirety of the rest of my project as I like the quality it gives these images and it ties them all in together nicely. Also, monochrome images aren’t something I worked much within my last project so I want to experiment with this again like I did at the start of the course.

I just shadowed her as she worked on her gardens at the allotment, I captured detail shots and candid images to capture her day. I used the Canon 5D MKIV camera and switched between my 50mm f1.4 lens and 24-70mm f.2.8 lens.

I tried to capture important details/ quirks like her name wrote on the bin and her muddy shoes to show things that are personal to her. I also capture close-ups of her produce which were starting to bloom/ grow.

She went in her shed to sow some seeds so I took some images of her in there. Like in the previous image of her in the greenhouse, I like incorporating both outside and inside into images so I shot some images through the door and through the window. As this is quite a personal project, shooting through doors adds to this private feel like your spectating on someones everyday life.

I think that these images shooting through the door and windows worked well, I like how deep in thought she seems and how occupied with sowing the seeds she is. Also for the viewer, it feels like we are watching from afar, and as she seems busy it doesn’t feel contrived or staged at all. This links to her telling me how she feels content at the allotment and enjoys being amongst nature in her own little world.

Overall, I am happy with how this shoot went. It sums up Dee’s daily routine and I have captured her in her natural element.

 

SHOOT 01- GRANDAD AT WORK

For my new project, I started by joining my Grandad for the day at work as this is a bit part of his life so I wanted to document his normal day. He drives commuter coaches for Clarkes of London so has an early start so I caught his 6am coach and stayed with him for the day. A large part of our day was spent at the ‘yard’ which is where the drivers and coaches wait for the day until their evening run home so I just followed my grandad around and documented anything he chose to do with his day. To progress my reportage/ story-telling skills from throughout the year, I captured a wide variety of shots both candid and posed, environmental and close-ups.

I took photos when he was driving on his morning run up to London, I wanted to capture varied angles so I moved seats to both sides once all the commuters had got off.

Cleanliness is a very important thing to him so he cleans his entire coach every day when waiting around at the yard. I captured this lengthy, meticulous process ‘fly-on-the-wall’ style.

I captured some environmental portraits of him at the work station as well.

I captured some detail shots as well to ‘set the scene’, I can include these images within the collages I plan to make.

Then we went to the local cafe to the yard which my Grandad frequently visits, I captured some images of him with his breakfast. I turned all of these images into monochrome as the cafe was brightly coloured and had a busy, hectic background so the images looked stronger in monochrome.

Then I finally captured some images of him indoors and also took a photograph of the detail on the wall of all the original drivers certificates (including my grandad’s certificate) on the wall.

Overall, I am very happy with this shoot overall and I believe it is a good start to my project. To develop this further, I want to take more images of him in his home involving his life outside of work and also I want to potentially take images of my other grandparents. I want finalise this project making collages of images and hand-written notes by my grandad so I am going to experiment with this also.