Here is a link to my third assignment:
I had a phone tutorial with my tutor on the 3rd of April and have made some notes following our conversation.
We started by discussing the changes at the moment due to the Coronavirus. At the moment, it is impossible for me to do re-shoots and I have had to completely rethink what I was going to do. We briefly discussed my new ideas, which I will come back to later.
My tutor said my work had taken a leap forward and was very pleased with it. The use of the motifs as ‘hard barriers’ are very effective. Anything I need to change now, instead of re-shooting, I will have to use my archive of images I have taken. But this will give a chance to try new angles and images as I have hundreds of each location, so have plenty of images to work with.
The challenge now lies in the editing decisions which are key. Whilst I have a lot of choice, this is a challenge as I will have to be ruthless in cutting down images. This may take some time and experimenting with. My tutor recommended printing the images out and seeing them physically side by side and then make the decision. I think this will be very beneficial in the long run.
My tutor asked whether it was intentional that you could see the ‘rough’ work. That you could see the images have been put together and do not look digitalised. This actually wasn’t my intention but I do like the effect. It looks more authentic, like someone has actually taken time to cut out these images precisely and piece them together. My tutor also liked that the images are within one frame as it brings order. The one problem I found was with the glue, it just went everywhere. My tutor recommended experimenting with different papers and glues. She recommended trimming the brush I was using for the glue so it is more precise and try and use PVA, water it down if necessary. The key is finding the right consistency.
Looking at the images all together, they are roughly in chronological order, my tutor could see development over time. The later images are really effective but there is a noticeable stylistic difference from the earlier ones. I think this is because once I got into the swing of things, I knew what I wanted. When I was on location photographing, in my head, I was thinking of the possibilities and probably was shooting with that in mind. I think I may look back over the earlier ones again and see what I can come up with now.
My tutor advised to look about refining at the moment. Refine the craft but also think about editing. By editing, it will lift my work to another level. I need to take out the less impactful images, but look at the colour palette fo the images as well. The images should be surreal and chaotic but contain the common elements too. For the end result, possibly re-photographing the images to give a nice finish.
Other ideas I have to experiment with is to look into incorporating text somehow and even incorporating a contrast from the male domination in my main image with images of ‘strong women’. I think I will use images of women from my own family form my own archive as this is more personal and more meaningful to me. My tutor believes this is a good idea to experiment with. She also recommended I look to Hannah Hoch’s work, which I will do.
For the next tutorial, we are aiming for a video chat, where we can have printed copies of the images to look at together. My tutor also recommended seeking some form of feedback possibly from the level 3 forum or someone else. It might help get perspective from a distance.
Here is my tutor report with comments from my tutor.
Responding to the Feedback
I have definitely pushed myself since the last assignment. I took on board my tutor’s feedback and produced some collages. I really enjoyed them. Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic I may not be able to re-shoot, so I am thinking of how to go forward with this. I produced several collages for each location, to give alternative views, but now I need to edit them. My collage technique is admittedly a bit rough. I did have a bit of trouble cutting the images out precisely and gluing them without getting glue everywhere. My tutor recommend different ways of doing this. So for my next assignment I will take this on board when re-doing my collages. My tutor recommended trying to find consistency. I will try and do this, hopefully by editing the images. I have them printed out, so I will try the side by side and see how I go from there.
I rose the idea of text again, and we agreed that now may be a good time to start introducing it. I discussed how I wanted to show a contrast of strong women, in my images which portray male dominance. My tutor thought this would be a good idea, so I will be thinking and experimenting with this.
Georgina's Body of Work 
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