As a distance learning student at OCA you’re not an autodidact, you have the benefit of tutor reports and a formal assessment at the end of each course. One of the ways to make the most of tutor reports is to rework assignments after receiving feedback. In fact, it’s a good idea to approach the whole course – exercises, contextual research and assignments – as an ongoing body of work, until you decide you’re ready to enter for assessment. With this in mind, Assignment Four asks you to return to one of the exercises from Part Four and develop it into a formal assignment submission.
You’ll need to submit to submit prints at assessment and sharing with your tutor at this point in the unit will be an opportunity to get feedback on print quality. If you’re hard pressed to submit the prints you don’t have to send the whole assignment, you can send a selection and submit the rest of the series via blog or in the usual way that you’ve agreed with your tutor.
Brief
Revisit one of the exercises on daylight, artificial light or controlled light from Part Four (Ex 4.1, Ex 4.2 or Ex 4.3) and develop it into a formal assignment submission. The submission requirement for this assignment is a set of between six and ten high-quality photographic prints.
There are many ways to edit and the most valuable one is probably to show your work to friends, family and your OCA peers for feedback - you are guaranteed to discover something new in your work. Another tip is to pin the work up on the wall and live with a for a few days. ‘A Quick Guide to Editing Your Photo Series using Stickies’ on the IPO (Invisible Photographer Asia) website, but bear in mind that this is not a narrative assignment - you’re not required to produce a story.
Assessment of photography in any context is an assessment of images and accompanying words so please Include a written analysis of your work outlining:
how you have developed the assignment from the original exercise in Part 4
which practitioners you’ve looked at for inspiration and how their work has influenced you
your technical approach and any particular techniques you incorporated
the strengths and weaknesses of particular photographs and your project as a whole (self-
assessment)
Conclude your notes with a personal reflection on how you’ve developed the exercise in order to meet the descriptors of the Creativity criteria. Write 500–1,000 words.
For this assignment I wanted to go further into day light and take my skills into the next level, as I usually shoot on my film camera, and I tend to favour my point and shoot and always be nervous to use my manual one. This was a good way to keep practicing my manual variables (Shutter, ISO, Aperture) and create something different.
I remembered this tutorial I really liked on Part 3 when I was researching about light and shadow:
I wanted to create something special, looking at how light falls on foreground, mid-ground and background of my images.
My initial idea was to work with the foreground being in shadow, while the foreground is framing the lit background.
I proceeded to do some research for high contrast photography, I remembered a photographer my tutor recommended a couple of times - Trent Parke.
I started researching his work and I really liked it. I loved seeing how he was using the light in his advantage, the way light falls on his subjects and how shadow cast the rest of the frame, creating mystery and drama.
"I am forever chasing light. Light turns the ordinary into the magical." - Trent Parke
I proceeded to look at other photographers and found this interesting article about Kris Desautels.
Again I love how he is using shadow and light in such a sharp way, creating a lot of mystery and drama by looking at how exactly the light is falling on his subjects and the surrounding.
I checked this tutorial which was very helpful
And I also took another course on Skillshare about creating a narrative:
Narrative Photography: Storytelling through a Photographic Lens by Desdemona Dallas, Photographer.Filmmaker
So far I had enough to work with and I wanted to see what I can find with my camera.
We happen to be on a trip down south to a beautiful country town called Denmark (WA). Denmark is situating by the ocean, with a large beautiful inlet, huge boulders and tall Karri and Tingle trees.
We stayed in a beautiful cabin, right on the inlet. Every time we go there we spend time walking along the inlet and exploring the wonderful nature around.
I started to take photos and see what I come up with. When I woke up, the sun was creating sparkles on the water, and we could see it between the trees through our window. It was stunning.
As the day went on the sky was overcast, so I had to adjust my settings and work with the elements in complete shadow and the background which was a bit more lit.
I took about 200 images on our trip, most of them trying to find interesting compositions with shadows and farming.
I narrowed it down to 22 images which I liked, all were shot over a couple of days.
I had to narrow it down so I took out even frames that I really liked but weren't fit to the narrative and the group.
I narrowed it down again and again until I was left with 11 images, and even then I decided to take out a couple of them, just so I am sure every image I chose is 100% standing alone but also great as a whole.
I really liked how I made these images with the frames, and was very tempted to try it in B&W, however I felt like in B&W it would look like the trees are black but I wanted to make this emphasis they are very dark even in colour and how the foreground is framing the background. It felt like switching to B&W will be too 'easy' to create this effect, and harder on colour as I had to make sure the trees and the foreground will be in the shadow.
I wasn't sure about this image and whether it will be better to be cropped, I decided to crop it at the end. I think it highlight the frame, and also this way it is easier to notice the little duck which is floating on the water.
I also was very conflicted about the last 2 images, as I felt like they were fitting the narrative, but looked a bit different.
I even tried to see how it will look to crop this image.
I had a long think about it and decided to keep them.
Final Images
I feel like when coming to a new place, one feels like a stranger, an outsider, and the more one spends in a place, the more they feel comfortable to merge themselves in.
I see how this narrative also reflects on us humans and nature. We forgot we are a part of nature, and therefore, since living in a very technological world or in cities, we forgot how close we actually are to nature.
Our minds and the mundane thoughts and ideas which occupy our minds, drives us away from understanding we are nature, and how special we are as a species in nature.
The story is starting in our cabin, a man made built, looking outside the window on the inlet island. Then the story continues with a path, with a gate in front, however there is a small path which is still possible to get in.
I feel like our minds create barriers for us to actually step into nature, most humans in this day and age are full of stress and anxiety, while if we just tapped in to our beautiful nature, we would find all the miracles and wonders inside.
The story continues with a few more images farmed by the shaded trees and bushes, creating a frame, almost allowing us to ‘peep’ into the beauty of nature, however there is still a barrier.
The images also become darker and overcast.
Towards the end, the images get more sunshine and the barriers seem less intense.
While the last image have the light part in the foreground, and the dark in the background, the water in the front is shallow, and almost inviting the viewer to walk in. The sun shines it’s rays over the trees, hinting for the light we can find when we step into our true nature.
The element of empty chairs, also hint on a seat which the viewer is invited to imagine him/herself sitting on. Or perhaps pointing what we are missing when we are not taking this chair in nature.
The element of birds, pelicans, ducks, all having wings, an invitation for the viewer to set free, to sail away or fly away from the stress, anxiety and other emotions which are taking over him/her life when not looking at the beauty in the world and getting ‘stuck’ in the mundane tasks, the rat race etc.
Reflection
It took me a little while to chose the right edits, as well as letting go of photos which I liked but weren’t 100% fitting to the narrative.
I think I did a good job, however maybe next time I should have made sure the colours are a bit more matching, as I was shooting from morning to evening and most of the day was overcast, I feel like I ended up with a few images which the colours are a bit different - for example the last one. However I did think it match the narrative at the end of the day.
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