Evaluation For this topic, I chose the theme of Openings to develop and create my own ideas inspired by the works of photographers. I chose this because it stood out to me as a theme which I could change and take photographs of objects that related to the idea but came from a different perspective. When looking at the ideas of other photographers such as Dragan Todorvic, Lee Friedland and Andreas Gursky, I saw that they used the styles of repetition, light and reflection. When creating my own work, I have used these styles and created my own opinion of the theme of openings.
When thinking about openings, I developed ideas such as the reflection of water, the light coming through the trees and the repetition of natural or manmade objects which we look upon every day. To keep this theme seen throughout my photoshoots, I went to a variety of places but making sure that the sun was out so that the topic of light could be included into my photographs. To insure that my photoshoots were related to the topic of openings, I kept relating back to resourceful techniques such as tone, colour and light to see how these could relate into the topics I was influenced by. When thinking about light, I saw an opportunity of getting the sunlight to be the subject of the image by finding areas which the sunlight can stand out in the shade or through the trees. Shade and the sunlight were an important resource which had to be carefully recognised by the viewer so they can understand why this photograph was taken so that the light can be seen through the trees.
By being influenced by Dragan Todorovic for light, Andreas Gursky for repetition and Lee Friedland for reflection, I saw how these images were presented and how they relate to one another in the theme of openings. To experiment with these topics, I saw how light was a good chance for me to see how I can think about the work of Dragan Todorovic and see what I can develop but not copying his ideas. From his work he used the style of a dark room with an unknown person reaching towards the light as it beamed into the room. However in my own work, I thought about the light coming down and from this I created an image which saw how the sunlight came through the trees and made the colour of the leaves stand out. But from the topic of repetition, it was harder to find scenery which stood out representing repetition that can be seen every day until I found that the arches of bridges was a good example which stood out and showing the style of openings as people travelled through them. When reviewing my work, I related them to how my inspired photographers developed their work and saw how by keeping to one them, I could create a variety of ideas.
To record my ideas and the photographs I have taken, I put them on to my own website from Weebly which has let me update and put in what I was thinking when I took this photo shoot. By finding and login on to this website occasionally, I was able to present my ideas to a variety of people especially when a new idea was developed into a photograph. I created this so I could see how over time my work would progress and to make it easier for myself to present my raw and edited work instead of placing them onto boards. When presenting this work, I placed it into different pages which showed my own work, the influenced photographers work and a blog which I could update with images if I was to take any photographers showing how I can use my camera and see things that stand out.
To present my ideas based upon the theme of openings, I have decided to create a Triptych using three images and using one from each topic of light, repetition and reflection. With this I will present this evaluation about my work and how it has inspired me in different ways in which I have created a variety of ideas based on the theme of openings. I have justified these by creating annotations of my own work and my edits explaining why I developed these photographs and what has influenced me to base my work on openings but describing how it stood out to me at the beginning of the project. The connections between my work and what I have written about has complimented each other in how this is one topic. From oral advice, I have seen how I could create and develop ideas which could make the image more presentable and more understanding to the audience but creating a message which shows why I decided on this theme.
When looking over what I have create through this project, I can see that this was a well-developed idea in which I have been influenced by a variety of work but I have created my own ideas which have related back to the theme. Through the Triptych, I have pick three photographs which have stood out through the topics of light, reflection and repetition by showing how these are seen as openings. The light photograph was effective because it showed how the light was coming through the trees and seen clearly in the shade. The repetition photograph showed how the pattern of the windows and the building was the same relating back to the work of Andreas Gursky. Finally in the reflection photograph it showed the trees on the water and the ripples in the water gave it an effective sharpness to the water.