Assignment 5 - feedback

Like Assignment 4, I chose a subject that was particularly interesting to me – Irish migration to London.  However, I learnt from my mistakes from the previous assignment and this time focused on a narrower brief.  This enabled me to produce a stronger set of images and to convey a stronger message.

I chose to tell the story of migration to London by use of the constructed document.  This was a first for me and perhaps my inexperience was apparent in the ways in which I dealt with some subjects in this set of images.  For example, as my tutor pointed out my treatment of some subjects was a little blunt.  Looking back in hindsight perhaps it was.  However, I think I was trying to convey a very blunt, hard hitting message and I feel that this is why I adopted this approach.  I can see now that there are others ways that are equally effective at getting my hard-hitting message across.

I also introduced text to this assignment after some advice that my tutor gave me.  I feel that this element of the assignment was successful and it allowed me to use another form of communication (one which I am more familiar with) to convey my message.  I have found from exhibitions that I have been to that I get more out of them if they have accompanying text.  I like the clues the text can give. 

Moving forward I would like to continue to work on this theme by exploring more the use of landscape rather than the still life.  I think this is something I struggled a little with in this assignment.  I was unsure of just how far I could go which is why some rather dull still life images crept in.  When I ask myself now would the image of the potato on a plate be interesting to a viewer - the answer would have to be perhaps not.  However, the opening image of the Irish landscape scene is more interesting and evokes more feeling or sentiment.  This is what I want to explore further. 

In relation to my use of black and white over colour, I can see the argument for both.  I originally felt that black and white gave an historical context to the images, a theme, which at times was difficult to work with.  I can see the case my tutor presents for using colour and I feel that I would be foolish not to revisit and explore this.

From a technical perspective some of the images were a little dark, a fact, which I have now addressed.  It would seem that my technical skills have improved during the course which is something I feel positive about.  However, there are a few little areas where I feel that I can still improve on and I will continue to work on these. 

I feel that this project was a big risk for me.  It would have been easier to focus on something simpler and employed an easier way to visually tell this story.  I think that taking a risk and stepping out of my comfort zone has paid off.  Perhaps the fact that I chose a subject that I felt comfortable with and knowledgeable on helped a great deal.  The topic was well researched and I had read a lot about it over the years.   More importantly though was the fact that I was an Irish immigrant living in London.  I had made the journey I set out to communicate. 

Moving on, I would like to explore this theme more and take it to another level.  I see this set of images as the start of something that can grow into a major project.