Continuing from my last post here are a some further reflections on Assignment 2.
The start of assignment 2 was a continuation of my confusion when it came to collating a set of images that sat well together. I spent hours shooting pictures of crowds which were appalling pictures and did not fit the brief at all. I had failed to read the brief clearly and was not using the right combination of lens aperture and viewpoint.
My research was inadequate for this assignment and the idea for the assignment came from an image I took while I was out shooting.
I love the idea that came out of it, the humanity of litter, but after that original shoot, I should not have just sat down and edited and processed the images into a nice looking set of images. I should have started more research and tangents, looking how others have shot this type of subject. But I had just returned from a 6-week trip backpacking in South America and decided against spending a further few weeks on research in addition to the time spent on my trip pursuing a failed ideas. Therefore, I rushed to get something “down on paper” and to my tutor.
If I had researched the assignment or even simply returned home written out an artist statement, I feel that the assignment would not be quite a one-trick pony that it is. Although I do stand by this assignment, I have an enormous amount of pride it. It has its faults but from fumbling beginning it is is one of the most cohesive pieces of photography I have ever produced.
I feel I wasn’t clear enough initially with the artists statement, I eventually created, about what I wanted to show this was caused by the slightly retrograde nature of the writing.
Perhaps starting the set with an image of litter being dropped and ending with a piece of litter being swept away would have enhanced the assignment Or even taking a longer time and focus on a particular type of litter – cigarettes for example.
As the course has progressed, I have found myself being drawn back to this assignment and the potential it has. While I have been conscience not to be drawn into overly rehashing; I will look to continue this a longer term personal project.