Object and Body Summative Assessment

Body Concept
For the entire unit I looked at a sports group called the Rochester Blind Bowls Group (RBBG). This group of people are a visually impaired sports grouped that comes together around three times a week to play bowls. They compete against other visually impaired and fully sighted clubs. As well as this some have other disabilities or illnesses to cope with. I feel as society we cast aside people like this into a certain type: we do not acknowledge them the same and act as if their lives are less fulfilling. I want to put these people back into the norm and show them as just a person.

ROCHESTER BLIND BOWLS GROUP

I had a link into this ports group: my granddad, so it was easily accessible for me. They were more than welcome for me to come and photograph them. When I got there they were so happy I was doing a project on them, and you wouldnt know they were blind. They bowled exceptionally, even though I dont understand the sports it was good to each, and the main thing is they were all having fun and laughing together. They came together celebrating what they have in common.

Contextual References

Richard Avedon

Irving Penn

With styles of lighting and creating that definition in the face I wanted I look at lot at Avedon and Penn. But also looking at how this gaze creates that relationship with the viewer. I am more attracted to Penns image here as there is an interaction with me and the sitter, where with Avedons image I think more about what the sitter is doing and why.

Lucian Freud The detail in Freuds images, the tonal range just simply of the face helps define the wrinkles and lines created by the expression of the sitter. This in turn creates more depth with the sitter and has a much more textural feel to the image. Also this tone on the background separates the sitter from it creating a foreground, middle ground and back ground: depth.

Also I to help me I simply looked a nursing home image or photographs of the elderly as the sitter I was using were all in the latter stages of life. Here I noticed how engaging the subjects with the camera creates this relationship. In the image on the left they are all looking directly into the camera, creating this interaction with us as the viewer. In the image on the right its mix and match, the sitters that are not looking at the camera appear bored and not bothered by the cameras presence: I want to have everyone engaged in my own image, creating a neutral relationship with the sitters and viewers.

Task One
I shot this task numerous times: and each time something wrong happened. Firstly I only got the portrait shot and I wanted the same person for both images, then I over-underexposed the negs, and in the end I rushed the photograph near the latter stage of the unit. This means my final images are not up to standard and I am unhappy with them. The background has shadow so I did not consider the distance between the background and sitter, one is slightly darker and out of focus, also I did not consider the background well enough as it was against the wall. None of this is good professional practice. I had to crop the images to try and get as much of a neutral background as possible, so with this task I dont think I fully met the brief. I am disappointed with both images and I feel time management is what let me down.

Task Two

Although I shot indoors under ambient lighting my print was not as difficult to print as I imagined it would be. Technically because of these issues it could have been better. Also the bar in the middle ground runs along and through many of the sitters. I should of moved the sitters or had them sit higher up, it appear to cut them in half. Also there is one person in the right of the frame not looking into the lens: I feel everyone else's engagement makes that less of an issue but it is not what I anted in my images. The image also appears slightly of balance but I fixed this when printing.

Task Three

This is the image I am happiest with: I feel the concept is strong in this image, and I think being in a known environment of the studio and having an assistant to help me increased my confidence.
With the printing I think I chose to increase the contrast which helped portray my concept within the image, it also gave greater definition to the sitters expressions and the lines on his face. I also would have possibly like more tones within the background of the image to create more of a separation between the sitter and the background: although he is in white and the background is grey there is only slight tonal differentiation.

Object Concept
I tired to link my object concept with that of the body, keeping the idea of less able people. I looked into the new Work Assessment Scheme and how the terminally ill and disabled are being told that they are fit for work. This new scheme has led to early deaths and many who have committed suicide. I wanted to portray this new scheme and the effects it has had on its victims. By using the simple object of a wheelchair I wanted to convey this idea of a person diminishing, having someone choose their lifestyle for them, and in turn vanishing from society.

Contextual References

Tina Roeder

Christopher Wool

I wanted to use a wheelchair as the basis of my image and being the main object, so I wanted to look at chairs in different contexts, seeing how this changes the way in which we visualise a chair. We know a chair as an object we sit on, but placing it in a different context changes this expectation of the chair and therefore we have to consider how we represent it.

Phedia Mazuc: "Nos Chairs Disparues"

These prints highlight this idea of placing chairs in different contexts. But also the use of lighting around the chair. A chair in harsher lighting creates this intensity of who might have sat in that chair, but evenly toned lighter images just document the chair as an object rather than a belonging of someone.

I pictured my image with a direct spotlight on the chair, creating this dark negative space around it, sectioning it off from any environment. The negative space highlights this idea of being singled out and being in the darkness like the victims of this new work assessment.

Final Image

The lighting on the chair is what I wanted and creates this negative space, but I feel the desk ruins the image. I wanted to create this office space, but it just looks like a table with some books on it. I tired to portray the concept more by including the laptop and books relevant to the concept but it has just cluttered the image.
I think I should re-shoot this image, possibly just using the chair on its own, suspending it. I also would prefer to create a much larger negative space around the chair, making the chair a lot smaller in the image.

Self-Evaluation
This unit has taught me lot about representation, taking and object/person and placing them in a different context changes the way viewers saw them before, and so we must be careful not to confuses the viewer. A gaze in portraiture can define the image and its concept: it creates the interaction with the viewer and determines whether or not they understands the image. Throughout all the tasks technically I could been better: but this is mostly down to my time management, I have rushed takes and therefore not done light readings correctly or focused well enough. I feel I need to improve on my research, getting more conceptual references so people understand my work more and my work develops further. I also need to technically analyse my own work and references more to once again develop my own work. Plan my shoots and overall schedule with work creating false deadlines so I finish work to a higher quality. Overall I think I can improve of every aspect of my work by carefully using time, carefully planning out what I want and taking more time on shoots and with all aspects of the work.