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NCEA Level 3 - Visual Arts 2011

Examples of Candidate Work – 90668 Photography

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Excellence

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ExcellenceSubmissions that are grounded in the student’s personal identity or personal history guarantee ownership of the work. As a result the student is thoroughly engaged in the pictorial and conceptual aspects of their work, and this is clearly expressed in this excellent submission.

There is a clear generation and establishing of the proposition at the top of panel one and this is built on with the study of the traditions of portraiture at the bottom of the panel. Established practice references are clear, particularly in the series of works in the second and third lines on panel two, however these are used to springboard idea development, rather than as ends in themselves.

Photographic conventions such as viewpoint, format and especially depth-of-field are used with great purpose to make interesting, arresting pictures on the bottom of panel two and the top of panel three. This further extends throughout panel three, using photographic and pictorial devices to show considerable depth. What is particularly successful in this submission is that the work could have gone in any number of directions, as the student understands so many different ways of making pictures and conveying their options. The sequencing and grouping of related works aids this process.

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Excellence

This submission successfully operates within the genre of photo documentary. This genre requires students to engage with the subjects in their photographs with an empathetic and objective eye in order for this type of work to be successful. Many lesser submissions that attempt to work within this genre at level three are often confused between narrative and documentary work. Understanding this distinction is crucial.

This submission documents the living conditions and environment of the protagonist. His isolation is established in the works at the bottom of panel one and this becomes the principle around which the documentary operates.

The repetition of the motif of the hands is a useful device that is used to underpin pictorial issues. This enables the student to show that they understand the place of photographic drawing with the genre of the photo documentary. The sizing and placement of these cropped hand images, running the entire length of the submission reinforces this, as does the use of the reduced colour palette.

The considered use of viewpoint and switch between being the observer and the observed allows the viewer to participate in the documented life of this man.

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Merit

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Merit

This submission involves an exploration of family history and family relationships. It does this in a logical and sustained manner with references to photographic established practice: Kenneth Josephson, George Woodman etc and contemporary collage practice: John Stezaker, Ava Seymour and Greg Sand, for example.

At all stages the sequencing and editing aid the pictorial reading of the images and the steps that develop are clear. There are some series where the pictorial development is somewhat predictable and may have benefited from more editing or varying in size. There are some really successful images that use depth-of field, particularly those on the bottom of panel one and three. The shift between a two-dimensional approach in the collaged images and an understanding of three-dimensional space is to be commended and shows that this student is operating well within the range of merit level. Further extension and a more in-depth approach would be required for excellence.

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Merit

Personal identity, whether through self or other forms of portraiture are a recurring and popular subject for students of this examination.

This submission starts in black and white, referencing both photographic tradition as well as established practice in the work of Robert Mapplethorpe. The switch to colour is logical as the subject changes and the use of colour as an ethnic identifier is considered as part of the concept. This is reinforced through the use of the tartan, which also serves as a strong pictorial device linking the panels throughout. The choice of model is superb to both reinforce the Celtic identity and the searching for adulthood.

In order to do this type of work successfully, a rapport between the photographer and the subject need to be established and maintained and the photographer also has to take on the role of director. In this submission, the mood and attitude is sustained throughout as a variety of ideas about personal identity, sexuality and appearance are explored. The shifts are interesting, clear and appropriate, without sentimentalising the subject, model or the issues. The final work on panel three, a kind of amalgamation of the ideas, is perhaps somewhat obvious and suggests either a shortness of time or lack of understanding of how to progress the ideas in an in-depth manner.

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Achieved

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Achieved

In this submission the theme of personal identity is explored initially through memento, object and pattern that relates to the students heritage. These images reference a range of photographic conventions involving viewpoints that establish drawing ideas such as birds-eye view, close-up and limited depth-of-field. The use of the text and script as a means of establishing identity is useful on panel two, however this is rather repetitive and more considered editing could have helped develop this idea further. Many students at this level use the addition of an artist model to try to develop ideas, and here, the use of Lorna Simpson as a reference has resulted in a successful set of images questioning the subject’s ethnicity on the bottom of panel two.

Panel three introduces another model in the form of Shirin Neshat to continue clarification and some regeneration occurs here with the script transferred from the document to the hand of the model.

On panel three, there are new ideas and these ideas enable the student to continue to make new works and find solutions, thus avoiding the repetition problem on panel two.

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Achieved

This submission uses a limited range of subject matter but employs pictorial and photographic conventions with sufficient knowledge to achieve at this level.

Panel one introduces all the traditional devices associated with this type of still life subject matter; viewpoint shifts, background colour changes, tonal considerations, lighting etc. The strength here lies in the student’s ability to control these elements and to use series of works to explain these formal properties to the viewer.

The more successful pictorial devices are developed through to panel two with the idea of framing and how this affects the objects taking centre stage. More ideas are introduced with the crushed eggshell and the oval plate offering slight shifts and alternatives.

The decision to move into a study of three-dimensional space at the bottom of panel two has allowed the student to explore depth-of-field and figure and field relationships on panel three sufficiently to get a sense of the regeneration of the ideas. Scale considerations and the diffusion of the pictorial surface mean that the images continue to develop and avoid too much repetition.

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