Assignment 5 EYV – Self Reflection
Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills:
These images were shot with a range of cameras over a several visit to the ferry, sometimes a small compact EOS M mirrorless with 35mm Equiv lens. Other times with a full frame DSLR with a range of focal length lens.
Reviewing the shot on the Mac one day shoot most of the outside shots were in my opinion unusable as the light was too flat and grey. The images were shot in aperture priority mode, taking are to have unclipped highlights and shadows.
Post processing was very minimal across the pictures, just to make the RAW file pop and keep a consistency to the shots.
I lost count of the ferry journeys that I took over those days; I did keep swapping from the Wan Chai and Central ferries and the upper and lower deck for two reasons different views and to keep suspicion level down.
Quality of outcome
Photography is simple; of course, it is you just point your camera and viola, if only that were true. I have learnt a lot from the past for assignments, and I think that new knowledge was what made the picking of a subject and concept difficult.
The photography in a way was easy, but the tying the elements together that were a different story, but I like the final images I have submitted for this assignment, and the set was received favourable comments from peer review in the OCA Facebook groups and course message board,
A lot of thought went into the final images and their presentation order. The set is designed to reflect the direction of travel from getting on at Tsim Sha Tsui. Although, the set is not intended to reflect a single journey, it symbolic of the sights on that journey that have left happy memories, with the final image symbolizing that the ferry continues to run and will always be there for me when I need it
I conflicted, on the pictures, to pick, the brief was to show new information with each shot, but there was a need to show context and keep the feel set together. I have stepped toward the more eclectic set to show progression, and I hope that my tutor and assessors see it the same way.
Demonstration of Creativity or Imagination
Here I have explored the happiness that they I have felt by riding the Star Ferry, I was once quoted as saying as long as I could afford a coffee and the price of the ferry, I would always be happy in Hong Kong.
I have tried to explore that by showing where my mind takes me while on that 10-minute journey, to show the peace that ferry travel brings. This something you can’t experience any other form of transport – in my opinion. Perhaps for a future project a series of diptychs, partnering the ferry with another form of transport would be an idea to pursue,
Context
My research for this was the work of Alex Soth and Olivia Arthur, how they have captured the lives and expression of different cultures in their projects. Both those photographers have used people extensively in their project, but I just wanted to distill that idea to my ferry journeys but without focusing too much on the human aspect. I also was working with Robert Franks – Americans in mind as well.
Perhaps my the level of research isn’t quite right, with this Assignment as I was more focused, on achieving my aims visually. A ferry journey is a trip road, if only for 10 minutes; it is a journey I have tried my best to convey this fact.
There are element about the ferry I would have liked to have included that would have taken the set down a different viewpoint that is the finance’s behind the ferry, but I struggled to find a way to illustrate this.