Final Exam Evaluation

At the beginning of the project my ideas ranged from hand made and digital techniques and they ranged from a load of different themes. The main theme of the project was inside, outside and in-between. My first main idea was to focus on every day life and photograph things in the house and things that are always there but you don't really notice them like in-between the sofa or inside a cupboard etc. I then came up with an idea based on inside vehicles and photographing the outside world from inside which linked to the exam theme. Over time my ideas developed and changed and I got rid of some ideas and developed the ones I thought would be the best and most successful. Another idea I came onto was signs and messing around with signs in weird places. I liked this idea a lot as it was funny and different, I enjoyed the thought of bringing humour into my work. I developed this idea over time and started to photograph signs and create my own. This linked to the exam theme of inside, outside, in-between as I put the signs inside places and outside and also in-between places.

My ideas were influenced by Lee Friendlander and David Shrigley. Lee Friedlander inspired me for my first idea which was photographing from inside of a car and capturing the outside world. His black and white documentary photograph gave me inspiration to try out his technique and make it into my own style and expand on it. David Shrigley gave me the most inspiration as he inspired me on the funny signs idea. I used his technique and tried to relate my images to his as much as I could and make them humorous. The trip to the exhibitions inspired me a lot and gave me new techniques and ideas that inspired me for my final piece. The photographer that inspired me the most was David Shrigley as his work related to what I wanted my final outcome to be based on.

I completed a range of different experiments from hand made to digital where some were successful and some were not so successful. I enjoyed the photoshop experiments using my own images which was my strong point. I also completed some experiments in the dark room which were successful but I preferred using computerised techniques. I felt to make my outcome hand made as it was different and I haven't done it before so I stuck with it.

Overall the project went well but it had its ups and downs. I switched between different ideas and couldn't make up my mind but I decided to go with the signs idea. The exam theme was very flexible as it allowed me to work with what I wanted to do and let me create what I wanted to create. For my final outcome I cut out the word 'SIGN' and wrapped images of signs around each letter so it appeared to be inside the word. I was pleased with my outcome but there is room for improvement. Overall the course went well. I enjoyed the prep work and looking at different techniques and building up my ideas slowly which led me to create my final piece.