Planning:

Concept-

For my photobook I’m basing it off of my grandparents marriage and the idea of their two very different cultures coming together and them forming this new life together as a union. My grandmother is from Germany and my grandfather is from jersey this is very important because they met very shortly after WW2 this meant their relationship was very frowned apon due to being on “different sides of history” however this didn’t stop their love and their marriage. Therefore i would like to show aspects of their culture and families but also what they have in common despite their differences for examples their love of sailing.

editing and sequencing:

For my photobook the layout is very important I would like to try and use the collages I did inspired by Christian Boltanski almost like chapters to separate my images and show what they are centred around.

Process:

For my photobook I had explored many different ideas surrounding how I wanted to present my image. For example, I originally used a single page for these collages however after looking at Duane Michals work, they use double page spreads within their photobook. I thought this would work best for these pictures inspired by Christian Boltanski as he used incredibly big canvas’s when presenting his work so I liked the idea of imitating that style.

Finished Product:

Evaluation:

Overall I’m extremely happy with how my photobook has come out. The only thing I would have liked is for it to have been a bit longer for me I initially wanted to have around 25-30 pages however I felt that I needed to cut out some of the images in order to make the book look cleaner and more effective. I’m happy with my decision to organise it by doing a collage on a double page spread and then having two pages of my own image by doing this is creates this rhyme when looking and going through my book.

editing process:

final image

Process:

This photoshoot is inspired by Christian Boltanski and his collages of different families. In order to acheive this i will be using the photos from the first photoshoot i did and will be organising them into groups ( Grandmother, friends and family, Royal Airforce, sailing, together) and editing them to be like a mood board.

Editing process:

The first thing I had to do was make a custom page on photoshop so it would be exact size of my book and because I wanted it to be a double page spread I doubled the width size from 20 to 40cm and kept the height the same 25cm

The next step is to just finalise the exact images I want to use and start arranging them on the page. I found I liked it best when i had the sizes of the images used varying I felt that it made it so i could better present and draw attention to the images i found to be most interesting and important.

Grouped images:

Grandmother-

Friends and family-

Royal Air Force-

Sailing-

Together-

Evaluation:

Overall im very happy with how this photoshoot came out. Orginally when i started the editing process i wasnt using an exact template for the size and i found that when placed into the book it didnt have the right effect i was tryung to acheive and there ended up being lots of empty space around the photos which was drawing your attentuion away so im happy with my descion to matcg it with

Process:

For my fifth photoshoot I would like to try and get an image of my Grandads camera which he used to create his images.

Contact sheet:

Editing process:

final image:

Process:

contact sheet:

Editing process:

Final image:

Process:

For my fifth photoshoot I have chosen to try and recreate some of my granddads original photos

Contact sheet:

Editing process:

Final images:

Evaluation:

Overall I’m very happy with this photoshoot editing it so that she was looking back at me was difficult due to the quality being very different but by decreasing the opacity a lot it helped blend the two images together.

Process:

For my third photoshoot I am planning on experimenting with embroidery inspired by Carolle Benitah. I will be doing that both physically (which I will be using a final images) and digitally. For this I have printed off some of the images I took in my first photoshoot and i will be printing them off onto heat transfer paper. The next step is iron the photo onto a piece of fabric (I chose to use recycled tote bags).Once the picture has been ironed on and the top layer peeled off the last and final step is to start with embroidery. For this I have chosen to do my grandparents flags behind them additionally on two separate photos I will be creating some waves behind my them to represent his love for the sea and sailing.

These will be the images I’m going to use…

Editing process:

In addition to the physical copies I wanted to do them digitally. In order to do this I will be by drawing onto the picture some I have done through using the straight line tool (the picture with the flags) as I wanted straight consistent lines. However, the others (picture of grandmother on the bench and grandad with waves behind him) I used the paint tool as the required more detailed lines with curves which I was unable to do with the shape tools I was given.

Final images:

Evaluation:

Overall I very happy with how it came out. although the waves were difficult to do use to the curved nature of them I think they came out quite well its very clear what they are meant to be. Something I would have liked to change was the flag images this is because although you can tell they are flags i wish I had been able to potentially fill in more of the background son it was more obvious.

Final Images

Final Virtual Gallery

Final Evaluation

When I first commenced the project, I researched and thought about various different ways I could explore the theme Union. I knew that I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and once I read that Union was the selected topic, the first thing I thought of was relationships and family however, after having done more thinking and research, one theme really stood out to me. Cultural fashion, this really caught my eye, once i found many different series from Hassan Hajjaj that’s when I really got inspired to do this and it was something I was genuinely interested in.

The first step I took with this project, was finding available models and their potential cultural background. This was challenging as not many people are willing to be a model for a photography project however, after researching more about Hassan Hajjaj and looking at Omar Victor Diopp`s work, I had planned my first photoshoot out. The model named Nigel was willing to be a part of my photography project and he had an intriguing cultural background with many different traditions. I then went on to do self portraits which were quite strong however I did not have many strong final outcomes which appealed to me.

The next part of the project was going to be a different fashion style, I ended up selecting the streetwear style, taking inspiration from Jamel Shabazz but replicating it in the modern day. I chose to do this because it contrasts completely the cultural traditional clothing. I do like this side of the project and I enjoyed exploring this theme however, In my opinion this side of the project is weaker than the cultural aspect. I think the photos taken in the streetwear could possibly have a lack of meaning.

Overall this project was a success, I stepped out of my comfort zone and started doing portraiture rather than landscapes or street photography which was what I was comfortable doing. If I could change this final project, I would have done the whole project about cultural traditional clothing blending with modern day designer brands and use various. I did not do this for the project because I could not find many models which were accepting of showing their culture and background. In conclusion, I find that this project clearly represents Union through the unity of traditional clothing and modern day clothing comparing the two.