Final Evaluation

My work has been influenced by photographers Fay Godwin, Ansel Adams, Rut Blees Luxemburg, and Cedric Delsaux. I really enjoyed their work and I was inspired to take photographs alike to theirs.

Personally my favourite of the four is Luxemburg, this is because her photographs show emotion through the use of colour which I thought was really impressive, I liked her photograph of the towering inferno, I think that it showed anger and sadness, which is really inspiring to see that she was able to portray that through her work. 

I also really liked Fay Godwin, I think that her photographs show British rural landscapes really beautifully and I like how her photographs were a way to urge people to keep them as they are. 

Ansel Adams inspired me because he wanted to take photographs showing all of nature, rather than just focusing on one part of the photograph, which I have taken into consideration and I was able to do this with a few of my photographs, however I couldn't create the effect he does with his camera very well because he had it on f/64 which my camera doesn't go to.

I was inspired by Cedric Delsaux because his photographs touch a lot of different subjects, especially on his collection: Nous Resterons sur Terre. He looks at deforestation, animal confinement, animal agriculture and fracking, all of which are very harmful to the Earth. I think that his photographs are incredibly interesting and I really enjoy his style, I think of the four, I am most inspired by Delsaux.

Lastly, I also looked at Zwelethu Mthethwa, although his pictures were interesting, they weren't what I wanted to take pictures of, so I didn't take the interest any further than analysing his photographs.

The research log was very interesting, it gave me a better idea of the sort of photographs I wanted to take for my preparatory shoots, I looked at a wide range of artists from Martin Parr, who documents British way of life, to Edward Rushca who took photographs of petrol stations in America. The research log gave me ideas that I could go back to and develop into actual shoots. It was incredibly useful for me.

My Technical development:
I learnt from Ansel Adam's and Luxumberg's work how to use a tripod well, he used a tripod for his photographs because he used a high aperture which meant that the exposure time was very long. I used this in my fifth shoot on component 2, this gave me some practise which I definitely needed so that I could do better tripod shots for my final shoot.

My Aesthetic Development:
I learnt from Fay Godwin and Ansel Adams that black and white can sometimes make a photograph look better, I only did this for one shoot, however I think it turned out really well so I would do it again if the photographs looked better like that, however in the final shoots I think that the colour makes them look better because the nicest bit of the photographs I took are the colour.

I was successful in responding to the exam paper because I took photographs that relate directly to the question, it is my personal opinion that sustainability is very important and I think that my photographs show that. I took photographs showing the contrast between the rural landscapes and the urban ones, as it is important to have both and too much urban landscape isn't good for the world. I think that I should have taken more photographs in an urban setting, without any rural landscape because that way I would be able to properly show the contrast between the two, however this would've needed a third location and I didn't have the time to be able to do that.

If I could do it again:
If I could go again I would go early in the morning when the sun is rising because I think that this would create some beautiful photographs where the sun is shining though the tree branches, I think that I didn't spend long enough in each place because although I have lots of lovely photographs, there are a few where I have rushed and taken the photograph without checking if the camera settings are right. I also should've spent more time taking photos using the tripod, I didn't use it in the first location because it was very bright, however in the second I only used it for a few photographs, I don't like it as much because I haven't used it as much so I don't know how to properly work it all and have it look good. I am much more used to taking photos without the tripod so I am definitely better at that.