#self evaluation form

Project Title

(How did this develop from your working title and what was involved in the decision-making process?) 

Distortion of the urban landscape

I originally didn’t know what to call my project, however as I used light as my focus, and due to the long exposure of the lights distorting the view of them, I wanted to include that into the project title.

 Subject

(Reflect on the subject matter of your project and the background research on this subject)

 My first plan was to use bridges and the lights from the bridges to create the light distortion however it became difficult to do that due to the cars going through the shots, creating a bright red line through the photos. After walking around London, and looking at different photographs from other photographers I changed my focus to the urban landscape. I went around London, finding places at night to distort the light in front of the image, using places such as alleyways and streets to create the shoot.

 Aims, Objectives, Concept

(How and to what extent have you have achieved the aims and objectives of your project? Describe the main concept driving your project.)

 I think I’ve achieved the aims I wanted to from this project. The exposure of light work out better than I imagined, seeing as I had no idea if the process I chose would work as I had never tried it before. The main concept was to show London at night, but to have a sense of time and distortion added to it, that’s why I thought it would look interesting to create the photographs I did as it changes the landscape surrounding it, and effects the way that the colours appear, as well as the focus of the photograph.

 Form, medium, presentation

(What is the final form and method of presentation of your work and why did you make these decisions?)

I have printed photographs onto gloss paper and it will be presented as a series of prints together. I decided on using gloss finish paper because my photographs are very dark, including a lot of blacks, and after looking through different finishes of paper, the gloss paper made the blacks stand out better, and look better compared to the semi-gloss and matte paper.

Research Methods

(What methods did you use to research this work and how did this research inform your project?)

 for this work it was very difficult to research online, so I had to go out and just walk, find locations to shoot at as I had no idea what I would find. This meant going out and just finding places and areas to photograph, rather than just planning it all out specifically in advance

References

( How useful were the references you explored the artists, writers and filmmakers and how do you they helped in the development of your ideas?)

the photographers I looked at helped influence my work massively. The two main photographers were Fergus Jordan and Thomas Ruff. I had originally seen an image at Paris photo, however I could not find the image, or the photographer.

Thomas Ruff’s work helped influence my work as it made me certain of what I wanted my project to be about, it changed my view of it, and made me rethink the way I wanted to take my pictures, and what I wanted to take pictures of, giving me a sense of direction in my project.

Project Title

Unaware prisoner The title refers to man, in that what is clear from the beginning is that in each single image there is a human silhouette on a white board. Moreover, I define man as unaware prisoner because the theme of this project grapples with his inherent materialist attitude towards life, recalling the seven deadly sins.

Subject

The subject of this project is people’s inherent materialist attitude towards life. My research started with the simple observation of everyday life, but the most important writers that helped me developing this project are the philosopher Blaise Pascal and George Orwell. The realisation of this project  has also been influenced by my interest in Conceptual Art of the 1960s and 1970s, in that some of the artists aimed at criticise the world they lived in. This was particularly true for Bruce Nauman. Another central inspiration was the 1970 exhibition Information, one of the greatest shows that disclosed the emergence of conceptual artists. Lastly, it would have not been possible to make this project without having watched “Seven” directed by David Fincher and “Youth” directed by Paolo Sorrentino.

Aims, Objectives, Concept

I believe that my project has been able to convey what I wanted to deal with. Indeed, all of the pictures show an unidentifiable silhouette that represents man as a single entity. The images tend to criticise man as prisoner of himself, prisoner of a materialist reality. This is the reason why the big white board recalls the typical background for identity pictures in jail. The final picture, Trash to be recycled, is very relevant to me, as it lends itself to represent both an entity - man - which reproduces himself with the same characteristics as the one that generated it, and a dismal truth against which nothing can be done.

Form, medium, presentation

The whole project is shot with a 35 mm Nikon camera and the pictures are printed on a 10x8” matte paper. The title of the images can be found behind the prints. The work is made up of a total of eight pictures. They would be sequenced as follows. The very first row would include Mass Media 1, 2017, Mass Media 2. They would be next to each other in order to contextualise the project in a 1984-like reality, where mass media play a crucial role in shaping public opinion and increasing population’s ignorance. The second row includes Smoking clogs your arteries, The biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone, I’m lovin’ it and Fashion and quality at the best price. They share the selfsame core, reason for which they are put one next to the other. The remaining one, namely Trash to be recycled, would be positioned at the bottom as a single image.

I think that this project may be considered by a magazine such as the British Journal of Photography or Cabinet.

Research Methods

Performance Appraisal | Component of The Evaluation Process