Reaserch Project Proposal

BA (Hons) Photography

Sally Jenkins

 

 RESEARCH PROJECT PROPOSAL

key words:

 Personal, Identity, Past, Future, Digitalisation, Social Platforms , Curiosity, Social Documentary , Voyeurism, Portraiture, Tradition , Memories , Subjective , gallery space , Expressive , Contrast , Juxtaposition, Emotive, Relevant , Gender specific , Public Vs. Private , Panopticon  theory , Polemic , tangible, age .

overview / Topics of Interest(S)

I knew I wanted this project to be both personal and polemic, as a photography student I feel the need to comment on our ever developing society and lifestyles. Yet all my work has a personal and subjective manner. I have a love for portraiture and the majority of my work is based around this genre of photography. This project like my previous will be heavily based around this genre making my final piece a series of portraits. I also like to challenge the notions between traditional and contempry and how with the constant development of technology there is an unnoticed loss of tradition. In this upcoming project I want to study the physical becoming digital and whether through the use of social media platforms our memories should remain private or become public.

Title

Memories … Who Cares? The digitalisation of our memories.

INTRODUCTION / RESEARCH QUESTION

 Is there still a place for tangible memorabilia or have digital platforms replaced the need?

For the fourth coming negotiated major photographic project module I want to combine a number of interests that I have explored throughout my photographic career so far. I like to confront the ever changing realisation that the world is becoming digitalised, and what social changes might be happening as a result of. Also I have a keen interest in portraiture and social documentary which will massively influence the project at hand. As you can see through my advanced research strategies blogger that I have wanted to include family portraiture in my work for quite some time and I feel like now is the perfect opportunity to do so. "We are in danger," Martin Parr wrote, "of having a whole generation that has no family albums, because people just leave them on their computer, and then suddenly they will be deleted." I want to expand on this quote and explore more than just photography but also memorabilia and keep sakes .

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

• I intend to produce a series of high quality portraits fit for gallery exhibition.
• I will be exploring the place of memories in modern day society through the use of my own family and there memories.
• I intend to challenge the idea that our memories have become public rather than private and investigate if this is a positive thing or a loss of tradition.
• I intend to investigate if memory boxes or scrap booking is dead and instead of keeping items/ photographs of sentimental value we photograph them and share it online instead.
• I intend to experiment with video and sound alongside my still portraits. I feel that maybe the subject’s voice or the items them have kept in memory boxes would complement the imagery and make it more real/ personal to the viewer.

RATIONALE

As I have mentioned above I feel we are in the middle of a social change when it comes to saving our memories, I feel that this will be interesting to document .I have asked a handful of people if they keep memory box/memorabilia and the answers has varied .From birth to early adult hood parents generally capture, record and store memories of their offspring’s journey through life. I.e. First birthdays, first day at school, family gatherings, family holidays etc. As young people make the transition into adulthood , I’m finding that there is a tendency to start collecting their own memories which would include first concerts , autographs , love letters ,valentines cards etc. All first experiences without your parents and they generally develop from there. Through the transparency of Facebook and other social media platforms is there less of a need to collect object but instead record images through digital photography,

PREVIOUS RESEARCH

I have started collecting research on my online Blogger. I have briefly been looking into the phycology of why people collect but I would like to research this much further when the actual module begins. I have also looked at social media examples of the digitalisation of our memories through Facebook, Twitter and Instragram. Pervious to this advanced research strategies module I have had other projects with similar traditional vs. digital themes so I have a basic concept on some theory’s for example Roland Barthes, camera Lucida will be massively influential during my research stages .

GENERAL METHODOLOGY

I will be conducting this project like every other; I feel I have a work method that works. Alongside my final series of images and possible short films I will be keeping an online blog for all my research and developments. I intend to for this module keep a hand written reflective daily diary  that I can submit separate to the blog so I can hand in a physical and a digital all based around the subject at hand. I will spend set hours on library research, online research; blogging and development which will be pre-determined in my break down weekly planner (see blogger or print out). Then I will schedule time for test shoots, development shoots, post production (Photoshop), printing, framing and hanging.

QUALIFICATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS

 So far at this stage I don’t envisage any restrictions. Even though I will be using my own family as subjects I will still need to complete model release forms.  I have kept this project purposely close to home to avoid restrictions and so the module can run as smooth as possible. I feel like my family will be reliable and willing to help in any which way.

SPECIALIST NEEDS  - EQUIPMENT ACCESS, WORKSHOPS, TRAINING ETC

I currently own a canon 60D but I will be looking into borrow a better camera from university to conduct this project preferably the canon mark D Just so I get the best possible quality image and video. I will also be looking into borrowing some voice recording equipment form the music or film departments so that I can conduct a clear interview with my subjects over their belongings.  No special needs , workshops or training needed at this stage.

Initial BIBLIOGRAPHY: BOOKS & REASONING

Roland barthes- Camera Lucida

Susan Sontag – On photography

Ian Jeffreys – Photography a concise history

Thomas Hillard – Places to go, People to see

Damian Sutton- Photography, Cinema, Memories

Train your gaze – Rosewell Angier

Initial BIBLIOGRAPHY: NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES & JOURNALS ETC

The guardian Online

·         Initial BIBLIOGRAPHY: WEBSITES & REASONING

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11900774

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=my+memory+box+&sm=3

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jan/04/dear-photograph-pictures-travel-time

http://enlighteningthoughts.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/essay-the-memory-box/

http://cla.calpoly.edu/~cslem/101/7-C.html

http://www.cs.carleton.edu/cs_comps/0910/memorybox/gatz.pdf

http://www.hinchingbrooke.nhs.uk/hinchingbrooke-news/?p=28

http://www.nhs.uk/ipgmedia/national/Macmillan%20Cancer%20Support/Assets/MemoryboxMCS4pages.pdf

TimeTable

As apart of the module we have had to create a timetable with consideration to all aspects of our Final Major projects. I have included categories such as theory , practical , contacts, framing and exhibition I have conducted this from an example set so i didn't leave anything forgotten. I feel that with this already created before we begin the module this will really help with my time keeping. I'm excited to begin.

Thank god its Christmas

Inspiration comes from the most unusual places .Being home with the family for the Christmas break has lead me to the unfortunate conversation with my mum about giving my bed room a good old pre-holiday spritz! Naturally as a procrastinator before attempting to do the main things that need doing like attacking my floordrobe I like to open ever draw and just have a look at things I forgot existed. Up on doing this I have a stack of antique hatboxes which for some reason I forgot what horded. The third box down is my memory box filled with inadequate objects to anybody else but can bring back great memories for myself. Looking though the images, old concert ticket stubs, miscellaneous pieces of jewellery I noticed that I hadn’t undated the box with anymore goodies since I was around 18. It got me thinking about how our memories have recently become digitalised through the use of social media platforms .Instead of saving a gig ticket we are now tagged in online and instead of printing and saving important images there are masses uploaded daily. I am guilty for allowing my memories to become digitalised but is everybody else? Is the need for tangible memorabilia a dyeing tradition along with other thing? Martin Parr wrote We are at risk of the family photo album dyeing and I’m questioning are more than just photographs at risk of dying because of ever developing technology. Keep sakes? Scrap books? Family air looms?  I would like to further investigate this matter I would also like to look in to the phycology of collecting in general and why miscellaneous objects can have such a strong nostalgic effect.

 I have started by simply searching memory box on-line to see what information it has to offer . I noticed that there was a number of you tube videos named My memory box which I though would be interesting to view. I have included the two most watched videos below who clearly this isnt there first video. I find it interesting again that there boxes haven't been updated recently. Jack Gaps memory box is from when he was a younger child and Teawiththreesugars is more or less the same as mine (through our teenage years). The effect looking through my memory box had on me id like to think was the same as the reaction the too you tube subscribers have. Its nostalgic and sometimes can be embarrassing and other times just makes you laugh out loud. I wonder that in my project i could try and evoke similar emotions within my viewers? Although i am talking about the pros and cons of our memories becoming digital my project seems to be going down the awareness route i like this to have a feel good twist.

Jack Gap

Teawiththreesugars

Here are a number of different links to do with the theory behind memory boxes which I have read and are starting to think about .I don't want to analyse them now because there is limited information on the subject and i don't want to risk cross referencing when the project begins.  Some of these links are not directly linked to memory boxes but are with memory and how / why it works which i also thought is extremely helpful for this project. There is also  medical research on how memory boxes can can help with phycological interventions . I would like to find out more about this research at a further date.
http://enlighteningthoughts.wordpress.com/2013/02/28/essay-the-memory-box/
http://cla.calpoly.edu/~cslem/101/7-C.html
http://www.cs.carleton.edu/cs_comps/0910/memorybox/gatz.pdf
http://www.hinchingbrooke.nhs.uk/hinchingbrooke-news/?p=28
http://www.nhs.uk/ipgmedia/national/Macmillan%20Cancer%20Support/Assets/MemoryboxMCS4pages.pdf






http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11900774
I found this artical by BBC news Particularly interesting because of its link with death . When a person dyes generally the family have to spend time sorting through there belongings leading to them finding memory boxes creating family air looms but what happens when it is all on-line ? Does the death of a person mean the death of there online personality and now memories ? David lee writes how a Mr.Banks thinks he has come up with a solution. 

 I feel like i am going to go with my gut instinct on this project and follow this idea through to my final major project. Because of the former research i have undertaken for my previous ideas iv had the idea to study my families memory boxes . I could do portraits with them holding the boxes as well as conducted interviews videos and pictures of individual items . I wonder because i am just studying my family physical memory boxes if there will be a link between them or if it will all be individual? I have already called around to briefly ask if they own one and all the women said yes and all the men said no . Coninscience or is this a gender inspired activity ? Because of the former messing around with my failed ideas i feel like i am still much further behind everybody else when it comes to research but i now have a concrete concept to be writing and personal proposal on and im excited to begin the module. There is a gap in our timetable between this and begginig the final major i fully intend to fill this with catching up on research . 

Feedback

Feedback Morecambe football club

So this is an interesting turn of events, as I was pitching my presentation many questions were asked as to how I got there. The group I presented to last saw my ideas from the first week about family portraiture and didn’t understand why the complete change of mind. I had told them that because my ideas were still up in the air and everybody else had started defining there’s I was advised to take a step back , stop panicking and do something clearer which is what lead to the Morecambe football club idea . They disagreed and thought the way I spoke about the project at hand was too impersonal and to be honest I’m not that excited about it. The only problem I’ve got is this was the last session before hand in and I’m back at square one. Thank god for the Christmas holidays! I’m going to give my brain a few days off then just start reading things and looking at photographers work and hopefully that will inspire me. I’m sure as soon as that killer idea comes to mind it will become easy and enjoyable.  I know this project has to be personal and probably I would like it to include family portraiture. The research I underwent whiles begging this project has still be the most interesting and I really like what Roland Barthes wrote about tangible images in camera Lucia and the idea of a photography symbolising dyeing maybe I should start here.

Presentation

Well I have been a busy bee this week conducting this presentation at the same time as putting together a separate exhibition at the Corn Exchange Manchester. Because of my confusion earlier in the project about not knowing what solid ideas I defiantly want to do my tutors have stressed to me that this is just a draft presentation and it can all still change afterwards. Below I have included my presentation slides and just bullet pointed the notes I had to go along with them.

Slide one -Good morning I’m sally Jenkins and I’ve been having a bin of a nightmare so far and stressed that this is still a work in progress draft concept.

Slide two- I explained how at the beginning of the project I had a bit of a panic and tried to fit my life’s work in one assignment and that I just needed time to simplify my ideas and how I felt quite far behind but I will surely catch up

Slide 3- Back to the beginning, what I enjoy , my interests , inspirations ,themes I have explored in the past ect

Slide four- how I work in a football club and how there is so many things I would like to document. I explained about the strong sense of community spirit and how I feel that the experience for the fans is more than the football itself. I also vaguely explained about the higharachy and the importance of status in the building .

Slide five- I spoke of my knowledge of James Mollinson and his series the disciples and how i feel the concept would work just as well with a club like Morecambe football club because of the different floors.

Slide six- Idea for an editorial. talked about how I have access to everywhere which is rare for a football club and I also feel I have strong connections with all the staff and most regular fans in the club so it wouldn’t be a problem to get people to participate .All this until I remembered the reason I haven’t done work for the club before

Slide seven- I genuinely dislike the footballers and the game itself. It’s all positive and buzzing on a match day but for the 13 days in-between it’s fanatically struggling and there is often a bad atmosphere between management .I don’t feel like I should just show the classic picture story of a football club I feel it’s been done before and if I’m honest editorial isn’t my strongest genre of photography. I feel it needs to be a bit more gritty and real. Preferably portrait based.

Slide eight- All in the best possible taste Grayson Perry. The series I am concentrating on is a Pictorial display of wealth and status through the use of tapestry. I spoke about how his working middle and upper class tapestry’s could relate to the different floors of the club.

Slide nine- showing the physical hierarchy and how it is spit. Still relating it to Grayson Perry’s work

Slide ten- Different ways I could achieve this .getting my subjects involved so I’m not too intrusive resulting in an untrue image. I was going to ask the selected people have chosen to take home a disposable camera and take pictures of their own life from a shot list I give them. Very simple things that could signify class such as transport, front door , garden ,family etc.

Slide eleven – so my idea is to have strong portraits of them within the club environment and have them take outsider pictures of their life outside the club and sit them next to each other . As you can see its not a fully refined idea yet but I’m working on it. Any comments and advise would be very helpful. Thank you for listening

Morecambe Football Club

Working at Morecambe football club to me is just a part time job to help me through university. I have never been a huge football fan and neither have I followed the Shrimps (nickname for the team). I started my job there a few months after the new stadium was built allowing plenty of job opportunities and a fresh start for the club as they moved up the league table. Before the end of the season 2010 the club was an all standing, tired, dated lower league club with not the best reputation. There was a fans bar and burger van on match days and little office space. When being promoted the club moved its location from the Christie Park site and build a brand new stadium named The globe arena. So from a park to an arena was a pretty big move. We now have a large function suite, hospitality on matches days, 10 executive boxes, a fans bar, 4 concourses serving award winning homemade pies and a half seated stadium. Although we have gone up a league and have a complete brand new set of staff the fans have remained the same just in a better surrounding. The club is known for its community spirit , 4 regular fans come each match day without fail with brass instruments and play on the home stand throughout the game . The teams song is “Bring me sunshine” a tribute to the world wide famous classic comedian Eric Morecambe. The move from Christie park to the globe arena to me has appealed to businesses to Morecambe to become involved and through this a physical higharachy has been created. Ignoring the players for the moment there is a bottom floor bar where all fans are welcome it also leads onto the terraces then the middle floor is a sponsored function suit called wright and lord suit who are a local solicitors who helped fund the development. This floor is accessible to anybody with a season ticket or for our hospitality guests then you have the third floor which is executive boxes, the board room, sponsors lounge and offices. Although using the same draft alcohol thought out the building the prices increase the higher up in the building you go . I find this fascinating. At the bottom floor it starts at £3 a pint, middle £3.30 and top £4 . Maybe there is something visually to explore between the floors .

Len grant

Len Grant is a Manchester based photographer who likes to tell a story within his image. I have stumbled upon a series named Trafford Town Hall which I find particularly influential. I like how through working and posed portraits also through the use of detail shots he has captured the spirit of the building and people who work there. This is a great idea and would work perfectly in Morecambe football because of the amount of diverse people who work and visit there. I particularly like Len grants image of the two young boys with their face painted and holding flags. I can see this as a situation in the home stand in the club. The supporters all wearing red, make banners , paint faces ,wear matching scarves and even bring instruments to really create a classic football atmosphere. With inspiration from Len grants series Trafford Town Hall I could attempt to create a picture story capturing the essence of lower league football.

Moira Lovell

I remember on one of the first days starting university our tutors showed us samples of their work so we could get an insight to the type of photography they were interested in. I remember distinctly having an interest in Moira Lovell’s work because I feel I am interested in her subject matters.  She has done a series of images I similar settings except I think hers was a rugby club. She photographs the female’s rugby team individually with their male coach exploring power relationships and the way the girls composed themselves around the older male coach. If I do go ahead with the Morecambe football club project I want to avoid working with the football players. I feel that there is so much more to football than the game. Moira Lovell’s series ‘Stand your ground’ has made me want even more to explore the relationships between the floors of the club. Could I shuffle people around and swap some of the bottom floor punters and top floor directors for a match and see how they adapt to the different environments? Could I take the manager Jim Bentley and see how the different levels of people in the club approach him to be photographed.

Although Morecambe Football club is a community gathering place where everybody shares an interest I can’t help but think about the fans lives outside of the stadium and how differently they all are outside. I have wondered recently after writing about the physical higharachy inside the club do the floors the fans choose to be on reflect on their personal worlds. Do the guys who turn up in face paint and stand in the freezing cold rain on the home stand drive away in an expensive car and vice versa do the men who stay on the top floor, wearing suits and watching the game from the comfort of a heated room go home to a bedsit?  I could ask to follow a handful of fans into their personal lives and photograph there daily routine.

Another thought I’ve had is, do their status within the club match up with their careers? I would imagine the majority would because people generally live within their means but will there be a few shining exceptions where there successful business men who just enjoy the banter of the cheaper seats.

Grayson Perry

All in the best possible taste

In 2012 I remembered watching a 3 part series on channel 4 “In the best possible taste” with the turner prize winning Grayson Perry. In each episode he explored the brutish “Class” hierarchy and whether or not it was still in play. He created 2 large tapestries for each class starting at working then middle then higher. He looked explored there lifestyles, fashions, houses, hobbies to create a solid overall tapestry to portray those people. I wonder if the floors in the globe area can directly relate to the class system and what Greyson Perry is portraying? I am currently revisiting all three episodes on 4OD for inspiration and incite as to what the different classes are and how to identify them.

 

 

Brain storming session with my group

On attending the feedback session iv left feeling slightly more positive and I’ve found it extremely helpful. I was asked to re- propose my proposal and show my test shots. I was actually slightly embarrassed to show my very bad self-portraits and this must of come across clear as day.  I started talking about the concept and completely mucked it up as I just rambled on about irrelevant things. The best advise iv had was that I seem to be over thinking it and it’s not really progressing. I couldn’t have agreed more but luckily I’m not worried as I have a few other tricks up my sleeve. As others in the group talked about their concepts I threw together a quick mid map showing my interests and other ideas I have floating away in this way word brain of mine .

On the group looking and asking questions there was a clear cut path I should explore. Morecambe football club. I have worked as a barmaid/ waitress for the club for roughly three years and I love it. I have behind the scenes look at the football industry, granted only league two but, the politics, higharachy and just the people of the club are fascinating. I been wanting to photographic projects on the club for a while now but I’ve never felt it’s been the right time. The different types of events we hold bring in interesting people and of course there’s the everyday people who I love to do a series of portraits on. I have been given some suggested research points to go away with and get inspired. I know I can do my piece on the club bit what about the club is it that interests me, can be contextualised and is visually interesting. I’ve got a week to work on this before I have to present my ideas in a PowerPoint. So plenty of time to get reading and inspired.

 

 

Experimenting with self portraiture

After undertaking bits and bats of research I thought it would be best to experiment with self-portraiture. I am a complete novice, never attempted it before unless drunken flip cameras with friends counts. I already had studio time booked so I thought it would be a great opportunity to get practice. I set my camera up on a tripod, set up very basic lighting and clicked away with the remote. I mastered the “selfie” so I thought I would bring in a friend to see how we interact in front of the lens. I tried different things such as positioning myself and letting her decide how she wanted to pose with me and also talking to her, distracting her from the situation, playing with the remote resulting in some funnier images but the outcome isn’t positive. I feel like because of the unfamiliar / uncomfortable situation it became silly and wasn’t taken seriously by either of us, this is not the result I want in my work. Possible reasons for this could be my friendship with the other model and the fact she is a photographer and is comfortable around the camera so it didn’t have the same effect as I had desired but probably the more realistic reason is because I felt so disorientated being in front of the camera rather than behind that’s I couldn’t take the experiment seriously. When I get nervous I tend to get a little silly and you can see through the result of these test shots. I also tried taking myself and the other model out of the harsh studio setting and into a neutral space where we both feel comfortable but I don’t feel that this worked either. I’m glad I have conducted these test shoots so early because I feel a complete shift in concept needs to be done because after this I really don’t want my final major project to include self-portraiture. We need a revised proposal for this week but I’m starting to feel a bit lost. I’m going to wait until the session and ask the opinions of staff and my peers . Have a brain storm .

Feed back and developing reaserch

Well I’m not sure where to begin with the feedback, I went in feeling confident and like I had loads to discuss but for some reason it just didn’t happen that way. Well to begin with I feel I pitched the idea all wrong and that my actual intensions and motivation for the shoot were cloudy. I think I went in and panicked, can’t tell you why but anyway it’s done now. The tutors seemed interested and so did the other students but I found the more I talked about it (I just rambled on for an eternity I think) the more I realised there was holes in my project and although I knew I was studying reactions in front of the camera, the relevance of it being family and me including self-portraiture doesn’t make much sense. I thought it did but one of my tutors asked a reasonable yet car crash of a question. Why? And I couldn’t answer it. Why can’t I answer why I’m doing it? By the end of the feedback session I had completely muddled my own mind up, never mind anybody else’s. The best thing to do is to research some reference points I was given and be proactive, maybe try some self-portrait test shoots and get a feel for what I would like to create.

Firstly I was advised to invest in a book called “Train your gaze By Roswell Gainer. It’s a practical and theoretical introduction to portrait photography. I’ve been doing my research before purchase and found the blurb online.

“Portraiture is one of the most enduring and compelling of photographic genres. Above all others, it signifies a relationship between the photographer and the subject that is not explicit in other genres. What is common to all portrait photographs is a situational element. In portrait photography, the presence of the photographers gaze also becomes an integral part of what the picture is about: the activity of one person looking manifested in a moment that can feel like the blink of an eye or a small eternity. This book offers for the first time a complete text that combines the theoretical with the practical”

It sound perfect for my practice in general and fits into the themes I want to be exploring so I’m defiantly investing. Just got to wait for its arrival.

I have expressed my interest in looking at reactions in front of the camera. How the camera or photographer presence is different to all people some people are naturally comfortable and others naturally awkward/ uncomfortable. I know this doesn’t directly link to what I wish to practice but it’s a viral phenomenon and although just a group of silly pictures a lot can be said about the power relationship between the photographer and its subject. It’s on Facebook, twitter and even has bought out a series of books “Awkward Family Portraits” started by mike bender and Doug Chernack is funny, embarrassing and extremely awkward. They have just collected dodgy family portraits for the world to look and laugh at. It’s made me think that if I ask my subjects to pose exactly how I want them to will it put them at ease or will like the mike and Doug’s collection of portraits be uncomfortable. If I still intend to do self-portraiture with my subjects could I ask they to pick a pose out a hat? Playing with the roles of the relationships with the friends and family I want to be photographed with. What if my boss were to have to hold my hand or my closest friend to stand next to me almost like a stranger? I think it would be interesting to play with this and look at the results in my imagery .

Trish Morrissey

Family remade is a three part series by Trish Morrissey. I am concentrating on the part in which she replaces the mother role in other people’s family portraits. I have been looking into her process and the images aren’t staged which they look. If she sees a family in ideal setting she will ask if they are willing to participate. The person she replaces (the mother) takes the photograph. Trish also asks to wear her ring and an item of her clothing. I find the images really interesting but wanted to know exactly why she was doing it . I have extracted the passage below from an article in Source magazine which makes me want to dust off the family photo album and analyse the construction of my family.

“In reminding us of the conventionality of the family album, though, Morrissey is also intent on examining the dramas and tensions which lurk within them, and which we attempt to disguise behind the image of the 'happy family'. In this sense, her work resonates clearly with that of recent practitioners and theorists such as Jo Spence and Marianne Hirsch. Morrissey is interested in the ways in which feelings and emotions are betrayed by body language, or 'leak into the body', as she herself puts it. Our attention is drawn constantly in these photos to gestures and poses, and in particular to facial expressions, gazes and glances - whether it be the ones they address to the camera or to each other. We are invited to imagine the narratives to which they point: what are we to make of the look directed by the young mother to the proud father, for example (April 16th, 1967), or the bored antagonism of the girl standing with her smiling mother (September 20th1985)? In this intriguing set of images, then, Morrissey succeeds in making us reflect on how families are constructed, and how they present themselves for consumption.” Edward Welch

 

 

First draft preposal

 

Draft initial project proposal

I would like to create for my final major project a body of work based around social documentary with themes of identity and time. I am extremely interested in the relationship between the camera and its subject and also the image and it viewer and how they can provoke reactions. I love uncomfortable portraiture; and the idea of breaking the stereotypical “camera pose”. I also have an interest in family portraiture and family albums. All these aspects I would like to merge together and work on for my final major. I have also previously conducted projects around “capturing a time” though photographing people in the now. Studying fashion, trends and even 21^st century interior/ exterior design, again this is another factor I would like to include. By doing this my pictures will gain value ironically with time.MY pictures will be developing worth rather than losing it in years to come.

I would like to create a series of self-portraits, immediately taking myself out of my comfort zone. I come across quite a confident person but in reality I can’t be quite socially awkward, I feel like adding me in the composition will add to the tension im trying to create with the other subjects I will be photographing and the viewer. If im uncomfortable in a situation its shows clearly and I can’t hide it.  I want to be photographed with people that I know or have known and lost contact with . From my child minder who I haven’t seen or heard from in 19 years through to ex teachers , ex-boyfriends up to current work members / friends and family who I see daily . I want to study how they compose themselves around me whether it be comfortable or uncomfortable.  As well as placing myself in confortable situations with people I feel comfortable with I would like to also place myself in awkward situations maybe with people where our relationship has gone sour to see if it shows in the image . I plan on travelling around and visiting my subjects in places where they feel comfortable ie there house , place of work, or mutual ground like public space.  

By no means am I going to purposely make my subject uncomfortable I am just interested in the mix of self-portraiture ( so it would have to be a set up, tripod / camera / trigger/ possible additional lighting) Comfortable surroundings being adapted though the placement of my camera and my subjects reaction to this . Will it be a heart-warming reunion or will it be a slightly strange scenario for us both? And what will be the result in my imagery? Also another factor I have started thinking about was it could be completely comfortable to people due to the access of photography now and the fact that we are photographed daily, doing everything. Will this change with different age groups I photographing, will the younger generations be more adapted to life in front of the lens than the older.

I am taking inspiration from a number of different sources both photographic and theory. My main initial inspirations are Cindy Sherman, Daniel meadows, John berger and Roland Barthes. Cindy Sherman “bus series” and Daniel meadows “June street “practically visually appeal to me for different reasons. Daniels meadows because of his “capturing of a time” I would like to bring his style of composing up to the now and photograph my subjects in similar setting ( there homes) and whilst composing I will pay particular time making sure I capture in the background something that I feel will capture a time and representing the type of people they are. I’ve got ideas of photographing my nan in her colourful, unique garden which is a mirror to her personality or my other nan and granddad outside their two up two down terraced  house where they have lived for my entire life.

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Obviously I find the “bus series” by Cindy Sherman extremely helpful because its self-portraiture but I also like the physical appearance of the trigger lead . She has made no attempt to hide the lead and I feel it gives the picture depth of field. To me it also makes the viewer very aware of the location of the camera. Hopefully if I do the same with a physical cord leading back to the camera it will the viewer more of an insight to the situation and am putting myself and my other subjects in.