A2 Photography Exam: FLAWS, PERFECTION, IDEALS OR COMPROMISES
FLAWS,PERFECTION,IDEALS OR COMPROMISES is the 2015 title for the A2 Photography exam project. You will have a period of 8-10 weeks (plus the Spring half term and Easter holiday) to develop your ideas through preparatory studies before spending two days in the studio realising your final outcome as part of the 12 hour, controlled assessment. You should aim to be ambitious in your final outcome and presentation.
The exam paper is full of ideas to help you get started. Your photography teachers will also set class and home work tasks that will enable you to have the best start possible for your exam project. Make sure everything is documented clearly on you weebly.
FLAWS,PERFECTION,IDEALS OR COMPROMISES is the 2015 title for the A2 Photography exam project. You will have a period of 8-10 weeks (plus the Spring half term and Easter holiday) to develop your ideas through preparatory studies before spending two days in the studio realising your final outcome as part of the 12 hour, controlled assessment. You should aim to be ambitious in your final outcome and presentation.
The exam paper is full of ideas to help you get started. Your photography teachers will also set class and home work tasks that will enable you to have the best start possible for your exam project. Make sure everything is documented clearly on you weebly.
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Perfect (Short Film) from Jith Paul on Vimeo. |
Homework Task 1
Brainstorm Go through the exam paper and highlight as many words/adjectives that could be possible starting points for further development, Use these to create a visualmind map of your ideas. Include images where possible. Below are some ideas to help you get started
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Task 1 - Facial Flaws
The quest to capture eternal youth is something that has fascinated man through out the ages. Wrinkles and marks on the face are now seen as flaws and something that need to be taken away. However the evolution from youth to old age is something that will eventually effect us all. Task Take a portrait in the the studio and then find an image on the internet of an old face. Try to make sure the poses are similar. Using the photoshop tutorial opposite merge the two pictures and create an aged portrait. |
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Task
Take a series of images that you feel displays a sense of perfection , this may be a symmetrical building an interesting landscape or a powerful portrait. Using the tutorial below take a series of your images and glitch them. The aim is a to take a perfect picture and make it flawed and distorted.
Take a series of images that you feel displays a sense of perfection , this may be a symmetrical building an interesting landscape or a powerful portrait. Using the tutorial below take a series of your images and glitch them. The aim is a to take a perfect picture and make it flawed and distorted.
Glitch art method (using audacity)
Preparation: To import the photo into audacity, you need it in a RAW format, I've found TIFF works best, you can save jpegs to tif on photoshop. 1. In audacity, click File > Import > Raw Data, select the photo and then select U-Law or A-Law and import. 2. When the photo is imported, it loads in the track as shown in the image below. To databend or 'glitch' it, select a section of the track, click Effect and then any of the effects. I've only used the recommended effects for databending so far; echo, equalisation, phaser and reverse. All of them will give different effects to the image, and the best databending will use multiple effects in different sections and layer up. 3. When finished with the effects, click File > Export As and then select Other uncompressed files. Then click options and verify you import settings (U-Law), finished! |
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TASK 3 - Hidden Beauty,perfection in the inperfect.
Penn's approach to the still life evolved over decades; from the 1930s onwards, he arranged everyday objects to create assemblages, which transcended their origins and original purpose to become conceptual works of art.
In the case of Cigarettes however, Penn literally found his subjects on the street. By bringing them into his studio and carefully creating these minimalist compositions, he transformed one of the most widely consumed and discarded products of consumer society from that of pure detritus into a symbolic representation of contemporary culture. This transformative act resulted in one of the most elegant yet direct expressions of post-modern artistic practice.
Cigarettes sheds light on the development of the still life under Penn’s lens, whereby something as disposable and worthless as a cigarette butt is endowed with artistic value.
Penn's approach to the still life evolved over decades; from the 1930s onwards, he arranged everyday objects to create assemblages, which transcended their origins and original purpose to become conceptual works of art.
In the case of Cigarettes however, Penn literally found his subjects on the street. By bringing them into his studio and carefully creating these minimalist compositions, he transformed one of the most widely consumed and discarded products of consumer society from that of pure detritus into a symbolic representation of contemporary culture. This transformative act resulted in one of the most elegant yet direct expressions of post-modern artistic practice.
Cigarettes sheds light on the development of the still life under Penn’s lens, whereby something as disposable and worthless as a cigarette butt is endowed with artistic value.
American Beauty - Directed by Sam mendes - 1998
Ricky Fitts: It was one of those days when it's a minute away from snowing and there's this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it. Right? And this bag was just dancing with me. Like a little kid begging me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. That's the day I realized that there was this entire life behind things, and this incredibly benevolent force that wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid, ever. Video's a poor excuse, I know. But it helps me remember... I need to remember... Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world, I feel like I can't take it, and my heart is just going to cave in. |
Task
Using the work of Penn and Mendes as inspiration create a series of images that create beauty out of the everyday objects that you have brought into the studio. Think about the lighting colour of the background and the relationship between the objects in your set up. Shoot the work both on digital and anologe cameras in colour and B/W.
Homework
Look for items of beauty in the world around you spend time simply looking at everyday places and objects in your local area. Capture on film cameras images of beauty that require the viewer to look deeper and beyond the apparent imperfection of the object before them to realise its inherent perfection. These images will then be developed and printed using different darkroom techniques.
Using the work of Penn and Mendes as inspiration create a series of images that create beauty out of the everyday objects that you have brought into the studio. Think about the lighting colour of the background and the relationship between the objects in your set up. Shoot the work both on digital and anologe cameras in colour and B/W.
Homework
Look for items of beauty in the world around you spend time simply looking at everyday places and objects in your local area. Capture on film cameras images of beauty that require the viewer to look deeper and beyond the apparent imperfection of the object before them to realise its inherent perfection. These images will then be developed and printed using different darkroom techniques.
Task 4 - Compromises
Dust marks, light leaks and scratches are traditionally seen as blemishes that impede a photograph’s depiction of reality. However, some photographers have taken advantage of creative opportunities to explore the relationship between these unforeseen elements and the image captured by the camera.
In her work 11 Mariah Robertson creates both a photograph and a sculpture, 11 is made on a single roll of commercially available photographic paper, one hundred feet long and thirty inches wide. Robertson makes her pictures using analog darkroom processes—combining and enlarging negatives, placing objects directly on the paper and then exposing them, dripping or painting chemicals onto the paper, and exposing it to coloured gels (sometimes with a flashlight) and to other lights. The installation of 11 may vary; the print can be draped over walls or structures, piled up on itself, or suspended from the ceiling, possibilities limited only by the architecture and the properties of the photographic paper. In Robertson’s work, the materiality of photography is called into question, at a time when digital techniques are drastically changing the face of the medium.
In her work 11 Mariah Robertson creates both a photograph and a sculpture, 11 is made on a single roll of commercially available photographic paper, one hundred feet long and thirty inches wide. Robertson makes her pictures using analog darkroom processes—combining and enlarging negatives, placing objects directly on the paper and then exposing them, dripping or painting chemicals onto the paper, and exposing it to coloured gels (sometimes with a flashlight) and to other lights. The installation of 11 may vary; the print can be draped over walls or structures, piled up on itself, or suspended from the ceiling, possibilities limited only by the architecture and the properties of the photographic paper. In Robertson’s work, the materiality of photography is called into question, at a time when digital techniques are drastically changing the face of the medium.
Task
Using the images taken in the previous task and the work of Robertson experiment in the darkroom using different paper and artistic techniques. The paper provided is old and may have unexpected outcomes when developed. As well as developing the image try exposing certain parts of the paper to light and different chemical as a way of showing experimentation.
Using the images taken in the previous task and the work of Robertson experiment in the darkroom using different paper and artistic techniques. The paper provided is old and may have unexpected outcomes when developed. As well as developing the image try exposing certain parts of the paper to light and different chemical as a way of showing experimentation.
Three strand development
Once you have completed each workshop task above you need to determine three strands (starting points) for your project. The presentation of each strand must include a rationale (reasons why and links to the theme), connections to relevant contextual information, photographers and any other visuals.
The first set of observations should include each of the three strands. Do not spend weeks on one strand before moving onto the next etc.
This set of observations must be ready to present to your class week beginning 10th March
Once you have completed each workshop task above you need to determine three strands (starting points) for your project. The presentation of each strand must include a rationale (reasons why and links to the theme), connections to relevant contextual information, photographers and any other visuals.
The first set of observations should include each of the three strands. Do not spend weeks on one strand before moving onto the next etc.
This set of observations must be ready to present to your class week beginning 10th March