Demonstration of technical and visual skills

Materials

• I have not printed any of the images but intend to do so for assessment at the end of the course following feedback from my tutor.

Techniques

• I did not use any new techniques when shooting the images for this assignment, however, I realise that it would have been useful to have had some experience of using graduated filters as even on overcast days the contrast between the sky and other areas of the images resulted in problems exposing correctly. I did try manipulating the exposure in post-production and creating HDR images, however, I was unhappy with the over-processed look so I decided to forego some detail in the skies in order to give the images a natural look. Due to the software package I use I found adding text to the images more complicated that it should have been. However, after quite a bit of trial and error I feel it is something that I could do in the future with relatively little fuss.

Visual awareness, design and compositional skills

• Although I had looked at the headlines before taking the pictures, my approach to this assignment was concentrate on creating images that met my idea of a green and pleasant land and then to combine them with the text later. I did this as I did not want to create images that were too represenative of the text. When adding the text I did try to combine images that had something of a metaphoric or contrasting quality e.g. the still punts allude to the lack of activity which is referenced in the headline ‘Biggest economic shock in 300 years’. The idea of combining that image and headline was to contast the shock in the headline with the stillness of the image whilst at the same time alluding to a lack of activity.
• I deliberately tried to capture images that featured significant amount of greenery as a literal interpretation of a green and pleasant land.
• Although I was not able to do so in all shots, the use of reflections in water is meant to compliment the idea of which is a more accurate reflection of the country, image or text?

Quality of outcome

Content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner, with discernment

• I am pleased with the final outcome, however, I wonder if the central idea that the work looking at English national identity is too oblique and that the series may be viewed as more of a commentary on the coronavirus outbreak. However, I like the fact that the images and text are at odds with one another and I think that does represent how I feel about England, a country that is definitely not at ease with itself.
• Ideally I would present the series as fairly large prints and if I were to do so I think I would spend some more time experimenting with the text in terms of font, size and position.
• Although the work has nothing in common with Jim Goldberg’s, I found his use of image and text really interesting and it is somthing I may revisit for my final assignment. Anna Fox’s My mother’s cupboards and my father’s words was a piece of work that almost gave me permission to create images that were at odds with the text rather than trying to interpret it or sit alongside it.

Demonstration of creativity

Imagination, experimenation, invention, personal voice

• Whilst I don’t think the series is imaginative, inventive or experimental , I do think it shows a personal voice. Brexit is a topic I have looked at before in Expressing Your Vision and I think this series is an evolution of that earlier work but one that looks more at the impact in a domestic context.

Context

Reflection, research

• I found Jim Goldberg’s series Rich and Poor and Nursing Home really interesting and although my work has nothing in common with those two series, I think just seeing how he had combined images and text was very insipiring. Anna Fox’s work My mother’s cupboards and my father’s words I found very disconcerting but it showed that image and text does not have to work in harmony, they can be jarring and unsettling and still engage, and challenge, the viewer. In a way I think the biggest influence on how I approached this assignment was Duane Michal’s image There are thing here not seen in this photograph. I like his idea of the text exploring what is happening outside the frame, giving the image context and encouraging the viewer to question what they are looking at.