Evaluation...

Thinking of a subject for my major project was something I really struggled with. I genuinely thought that I would never get there. However I feel like it was staring me right in the face the whole time. It literally took me to sit and stare at my blog before I got there. The background of my blog was my inspiration. Pigeons! That was it, something I have grew up around, had in my life as long as I have lived, and something I’m interested in. not only was it something I felt like I could explore and get engaged with, I also thought it was a way of me truly expressing myself. Projecting my feelings through my images, and telling the world in a sense, what I am afraid to say in person. What I’m trying to tell you as a viewer is that I’m confused. I have come to a point where I have 2 choices. This is what I wanted to get across in my images, hence why I have 2 sets within the final prints.

The only issues I ran into within this project are to do with choosing a subject matter. This wasn't something I could really solve overnight, it took time to get inspired and motivated. This did however cause a lack of time management, and often meant that I was unable to get involved with early group crits. However I don’t mind this as I wouldn't have wanted to choose a subject that I felt would have lead me to get bored. I’m glad I waited and came up with something I’m happy with and feel like explored exactly how I would have liked to. I also had a minor issue with what format to produce my images. I really was wanting to do 120 medium format film, this however became an inconvenience as I couldn't gain access to the required camera, and also became rather expensive. I solved this problem by switching to 35mm film, what I am really happy that I did because it meant I got a lot more images for my money and I really like the look of 35mm prints.

I think my key strengths have been really working on my darkroom skills and producing a set of prints that I am really happy with and that I think are at a quality that will ready for exhibition. I also think a strength is my research and experimentation, not so much artist research but researching my subject matter, and exploring different shots, finding influences, and really having a good explore in the darkroom.

Something I have often lacked is motivation throughout the last 3 years, however I feel that in this project, although it took me a while to get started I truly felt I could express myself, and I felt fully motivated, and I hope that shows through my prints and also my blog. I want people to understand my images, to be able to see the difference and then make a judgment for themselves on what is better. I truly think that the Bob Dylan quote speaks volumes about my work, and therefor will be incorporated in my hand in.

Overall I am so happy with my final prints and think that it has accomplished what I set out to achieve. If I was to do it over again I would just hope that I could have known the subject matter sooner so that I could have explored more, possibly different techniques and also done more shoots.