AS Photography Portfolio Requirements

Personal Project Journal

Your personal journal will follow your investigation into your first project. This folder will document your thought process, exploring ideas and analysing photographers work. The folder will document your own images and how they have been influenced by other photographers.

You will begin your folder by writing out a project brief. This will set out your intentions and what you will explore during this project. This is often written at the end of the project. See the A grade written analysis sheet.

You must then produce a visual sheet of images on your topic and a brainstorm (see above)

Personal Project JournalAfter you have studied a photographer you must analyse two of their images in depth. ( See below)

When you have studied a

photographer using the critical analysis guide, you then need to take a series of images inspired by the photographer and what you have learnt. Print out a contact sheet of images and analyse explaining which images are the best and why.....

CONTACT SHEETf

Personal Project JournalEXTRACT FROM A STUDENT JOURNAL

Fragmenting The Self

The central theme of my final project is that the self is not the simple concept which we perceive it.We use ‘I’, ‘Me’, ‘Myself’, interchangeably every day, without having a clear definition of our ‘self’, our ‘essence’. The only premise that we have to constitute our personal identity is other people’s perception of our selves. Surely, this is non-visual, non-physical and a more abstract process. I want to be able to fragment and undermine the

external perception of the self. The self that is perceived by others. I like these two techniques, I think they are very confrontational and one cannot ignore their message.

My Experiments

My First Attempt

This is my first attempt at Clair Pestaille’s technique of fragmenting a portrait. This was a rough draft, to see whether I could use this technique myself, therefore the edges are a bit wonky (cutting and sticking persist as my arch-nemeses). I will try to

produce a version on photoshop. But, I do quite like the wonkiness, it adds a bit of character.

Gillian Wearing - Signs that say what you want them to say not Signs that

say what someone else wants you to say

For my final project I am exploring the theme of the self. That is, what

constitutes the self and what we can define as the ‘self’.I am following the view that the self is a

social construction, a product of third person perception. We can not perceive ourselves, our

essence, without referring to someone’s experience of ourselves. It seems the self would cease to

exist without a third person onlooker.Therefore, it might follow that we ourselves will never be able

to perceive ourselves in the same way as other people. The only people able to access our ‘selves’ or

our ‘essence’ are those who experience us. And since we can not experience ourselves, we can not

access our true identity.Therefore there is a certain ignorance concerning our knowledge or

understanding of the term ‘self’. We can understand other people’s personal identity, but it seems

that we are unable to pinpoint our own personal identity ourselves.

I like Gillian Wearing’s ‘Signs that say…’ because the signs have a different message from the

appearance of the subject of the portraits face. The audience receives two different messages at one

given time. For example, the man in this portrait appears to be successful from his corporate looking

clothes and his deceiving smile whilst his sign reveals that he feels vulnerable and unhappy.I think it

would be an interesting idea to take a spin on Gillian Wearing’s portraits. I would like to use my

fragmented portraits as ‘signs’, which reveal the fragmentation and complexity of the inner self. The

subject of the portrait will hold the sign in front of them, therefore asserting the physical barrier

between the biological body and the metaphysical ‘self’. The border between the subject and the

sign will also suggest a certain ignorance or oblivion between the subject and the depiction of their

inner self.

Whilst the abstract self portrait is exposed to the onlooker, the subject of the portrait remains

blinded behind the photograph which reinforces the idea that the self is something that only

onlookers see. The subject of the portrait is dislocated from their inner self and physically

barricaded.

Personal Project JournalMy Final Piece: Signs

Directly inspired by Gillian Wearing’s ‘Signs That say….’ but also a culmination of inspiration from Cubist artists (such as Picasso and David Hockney), Cornelia Hediger’s Doppelgangers, Yayoi Kusama and Annette Messager.

I really like this idea. I particularly like the top photograph since it is really stark and striking. I think this is the photo in which the contrast between the subject of the portrait and the portrait within the portrait works best.

I like each portrait because each one depicts that separation between reality and the abstract. It also draws confrontation between the two subjects since the subject behind the sign is clinging on to the sheet, but can not see what is on it.

The separation and distinction between the two portraits is very clear.

Personal Project Journal

Print out the best images from your contact sheet and edit/analyse

REMEMBER to complete ict edits and screen shoot your work

Over the project you will analyse and be inspired by at least 3-4 artists/photographers.

You will also experiment in the style of these photographers, editing and analysing your work. You must however then move on to design your own response. This could be through film or still image, but must show reference to the artists you have looked at.

Screen shoots and analysis throughout will gain you a higher grade. See the following students work for guidance.