Evaluation

Evaluating

This is my overall evaluation for my project. I am going to look back at each stage of my project and evaluate how well I have done and what I could maybe improve if ever comes a next time.

Research

To start off with, I was given a brief in which I had to  complete my own photos in the style of an photographer. The theme this time around was documentary photography. Which is basically what the title says, It is when you document things around you, and turn them into photos. Sometimes they have meaning. Sometimes they mean memories. So I thought it would be very interesting to see what I could come up with.

To start with I had to chose a photographer. I instantly chose Nan Goldin when I found her on a list of photographers on a Wikipedia page. I liked her style. I liked the way the photos looked and I liked how cultural and how brave her photos were. Some of her photos were quite raunchy and quite explicit. But there was more to her that I saw. And  the other thing about her photos I liked were how young they were. And how I could do something with her style, and still make my photos my own. The first step was conducting research on her. That did not just mean reading her life story, but also looking at her photos. The colours, the tones, the shots, and everything like that.

Taking the photos

My challenge after conducting research was taking the photos. I had to take five photos in the style of Nan and then take one re- enactment photo. I knew what re-enactment photo I wanted to do. It was the first picture I had ever saw of her, and it was the one that made me want to use her for my project.

When it came to taking the pictures it was about getting the right time. Nan’s pictures are a mixture of staged photos (where for example the people are smiling towards the camera) and non-staged photos (for example when people are doing different things and Nan just takes the picture of the doing it.) So I did a mixture of both. I told the people I was going to take a picture of them because some people may have not wanted their picture taken, but sometimes I would tell them to carry on with what they were doing and sometimes I would tell them to pose for the camera, or look into the camera. For example the two pictures I took of my friend Louise, one I asked her to pose for the camera and the other I told her to carry on doing her makeup.

When it came to editing them I looked at the colours  Nan uses contrasting colours a lot as I saw. Sometimes her pictures had a warm feeling to them. For example using oranges and yellows, and some of her pictures gave off a colder feel for example she used blues and greens. I thought when it came to taking my photos I wanted to establish those differences.

What went well and improvements.

So what went well? I think I was really proud of my analysing. I have always been good at analysing things, but when it came to looking at Nan’s photos I could see so much. That’s the great thing about documentary photography, because these pictures these photographers are taking mean something to them. And you can see it in their work. It was liked a learned something about Nan and that was really something I liked.

Improvement wise, I think I could of improved my pictures. There is always room for improvement. I could of been a bit more daring maybe. I could of asked people to do more..But I think that is something to look at in the future.

Conclusion

I had a lot of fun on this project. I learned a lot of things I did not know and I had fun taking the photos. There are room for improvements and if I ever get to go back to this in the future. I would defiantly try some new things.

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