Evaluation – Matt Smith
Exploring Photographic Practice
I’ve found this module very interesting and
I have really enjoyed doing it. It was nice to research a new photographer and
although challenging at first I’ve now got a good idea of what Rinko Kawauchi’s
work is about and I actually really like her photographs. I will definitely be
keeping up with her work in the future.
On the technical side of things I’m happy
with what I’ve achieved. My ideas were vague at first and although I was
excited to try photographing shadows it didn’t really motivate me to get out
and shoot. Once I chose a subject much closer to my personal interests I was
much happier and really enjoyed my shoots and editing the images.
The presentation side of this project was a
challenge for me as I’m not totally confident in front of a room of people but
once the first presentation was complete I found the second was much easier as
I could talk about my own ideas and my personal opinion rather than remembering
facts about a person and there bodies of work.
I also found it useful to talk to the group
about my ideas as I got a different perspective, which helped me broaden my
thoughts and appreciate how people would interpret my initial thoughts. Once I
had a solid idea I had a lot of fun shooting as I was trying an approach that’s
alien to me. I often use wide angle lenses and don’t really go much past 50mm
unless absolutely necessary but for this project I found myself getting really
close to objects using a long focal length as this is what Kawauchi does in her
photographs. It was also a challenge to shoot for an end result, which was a
square photo when my camera sensor is rectangular. This meant I had to imagine
the edges of my frame didn’t really exist so that my composition was spot on
and then the photos were cropped in post. I feel this was successful as I
managed to get everything I wanted in frame without compromising with cropping
elements out.
When editing my photos I tried to keep it
simple knowing Kawauchi shoots on film so there is little room for editing in
her shots I wanted to keep it the same with my shots. No cloning elements out,
no sharpening and no burning/dodging. I just used a curves adjustment layer to
make the photos feel more like they were out of film camera, which meant
increasing the blues and greens and adding a slight purple tinge to the shots.
In some of the shots I added a white vignette with low opacity, as Kawauchis
shots are often hazy around the edges. I couldn’t have used a black vignette as
I felt this was too dark as her images are full of colour and bright.
Overall I’m very happy with this project
and it’s been my favourite so far as there was a lot of room for
experimentation with my photographer and it was a bonus that I ended up really
liking her work.
