commission waste

8/12/2019 commission waste

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RPHC4002

The commission

waste

Jessica may Griffiths


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I arranged a meeting with a UCA Photography graduate who still lives and works in this are: Tracey Afflick. We met up

and got coffee to talk about my project, her final major project that she did on collectors and also about markets and

carboot sales in the area. I told her about the readings i have been doing into essays and the quotes that stuck out in my

mind, and what story i wanted to tell through my images.

I decided that i dont necessarily want to photograph collectors and hoarders but more the objects and people at car bootsales, where there is the activity of several people sifting through other peoples 't rash' and purchasing it. I decided that the

main story i wanted to tell through these photographs is how "the collection mirrors the collector" or in this case how the

trash and treasure mirror the buyer and seller.

We thought of research materials i could use to back up this idea and Tracey suggested looking into the 'sharing economy'

and freecycle community. Which will be my next point of research.

We talked about what exactly i was going to photograph and how it will represent my concept, and we brainstormed these

ideas:

Allowing the seller to photograph the objects that he is selling, as the arrangement of the objects on the table and the way

he takes the photograph will show exactly how he sees these objects as being his waste (by being all jumbled ontop of

eachother and put down carelessly).

I would then ask the buyer to arrange the objects he has bought on a table, and hopefully the way that he arranges them

will depict that they are of a treasure to him (by being organised and careful for example), also the way the seller takes the

picture will also represent that the objects are of much value to him.

We talked about taking portraits of the buyer and the seller to present alongside the images of the objects.

I had the idea of photographing the buyer as they pick up the objects to have a look at them, but from a secret angle in a

voyeuristic way to capture the interest of the buyer.

I also thought about photographing the dialect or the 'haggling' between seller and buyer with the object in the middle of

the discussion, in a shallow depth of field.

I considered also taking portraits of the people and images of the general atmosphere of the carboot sale.

Taking photographs of several stalls, where the arrangement of the objects and the objects themselves will discuss their value

to the seller.

I also thought about photographing collectors: the people who are out looking to purchase particular objects and how that is

mirrored in the way they are and look. Whether they collect objects from a certain time period for example like box games

and maybe they have a 90's style in att ire.

Out of all these ideas, the one that i liked the best and think would represent the concept the best would be to allow the

seller and buyer to take photographs of the objects themselves, so it is literally looking at the objects through their eyes, and

reflecting that with the lighting and the arrangement of the objects. I would then combine these images with portraits of the

buyers and seller.

And when i would present them in an exhibition space, i would present the photographs on a table like they are physical

objects rather than an image and they become artefacts that the spectator would then consider to be trash or treasure.

Tutorial; Jonathan Tutorial; Tracy Affleck


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Final concept

I realized that photographing objects from car boots and charity shops doesnt

really explain the idea of trash and treasure, because the people that are buying

the objects might just be buying them because they like them, or need them not

because they are real treasures to them. So instead ive decided to alter my concept

slightly, so that I will instead photograph the most personal possessions of friends,

get them to explain the story behind the object and why it is such a treasure to

them and then try to photograph the objects in such a way that it describes the

story, whilst also being represented in such a light that it looks very valuable.

I can take photographs of still lives of the objects and I can also take portraitureshots of the owners to give the character in the story an identity.

I will use Sage Sohierswork as my biggest influence, because of how he uses the

light to reflect the story behind the collection and I will use John Delaneys work

as inspiration for my portraits because of how well lit the subjects are and how

they connect to their surroundings with the use of flash.


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Experimental work


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I started with photographing Mrs Early because she

collects and creates miniature housing sets which

reminded me of the image by Sage Sohier with thewoman and her dolls houses. So I went and did a quick

test shoot on the Canon 700D with an extra flash just to

see how I could try and recreate the same lighting as the

John Delaney images.

I tried to photograph the subject in her work room, but I

think it is too busy and too messy overall to draw

attention to the miniature houses. Also the composition

isnt right because the subjects head is at a much higherlevel then the houses, which also distracts from them. So

to improve I would either move the subject out to a

larger space or arranged the space so she was sat down

with her head level to the houses.

In terms of lighting, I think the flash is too bright from

closer up in the first image, and there isnt enough light

in the second image. Also I dont think the backgrounds

are well lit enough, and the shadows cast by the subject

onto the background are too harsh and definitive in

comparison to Delaneys soft grey shadows.

So when lighting my subject in future I will take out a

flash pack and set up a light with a soft box head to

spread the light out over a wider space and get the flash

just right.


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These photographs were tests to represent the hoarder concept. I tried to arrange the objects in such a way that they

all became linked to one another so that the objects were hard to make out- mixed with a couple of shots where the

objects are cluttered together in a more open space. I wanted these photographs to be in black and white because thisis more of a disturbing hoarded collection, where the objects arent related to one another, they are just objects, and so

the black and white suggests the bad side of hoarding or the (trash).


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These treasures describe the bond between father and son. They are collected from shooting days in the past when

the father and son were much closer.

These two objects are obvious trophies because the owner is proud to have shot them himself, but they also remind

him of the closeness he once shared with his father. They could also be classed as trash to some people because they

are the perseverations of dead animals, which can make some people very uncomfortable.

I tried to shoot the bird surrounded by as much darkness as possible with only a bit of light on the bird itself to express

that the bird is the light in the dark: the relationship with the guys father was much brighter in the past, but now its

dwindling into darkness.

I wanted to get the same effect from the dear skull, but because of its positioning in a room full of windows, it was hard

to manipulate the amount of light. So If I were to use this dear skull for my final shot I would have to take it somewhere

that the light is more controllable- or invest in lots of curtains. But I think the bird shot explains the story more of how I

intended it too.


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This treasure describes the story of a lost loved one.

The father bought this car so that him and his son

could fix it up together and make a project out of it,

but sadly the father passed away, and the son

couldnt bring himself to fix it up on his own, so now

its sat on the driveway, gaining rust.

I tried to photograph this object in partial sunlight to

portray the idea that the father is still looking down

on his son and that his memory is directly linked to

the car. In the final shot I managed to capture some

rays of sunlight, but that was on a digital camera,

and I dont know if I would be able to get the same

effect from an analogue camera. Also a bit of the

bonnet is burnt out from the amount of sunlight,

meaning I didnt expose quite correctly.


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Finals


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My original intention was to combine the still life images with portraits of the owners to give the characters in the

story an identity, and show the relationship of the object to them. I was hoping to capture some sort of magic in

their portraits from when they were telling me the story of their objects, but unfortunately, that proved a very

difficult challenge, and the portraits came out looking very posed. Also, when I position the portraits next to the

relevant objects, there is no obvious connection and they look very out of sync together, so I have decided that I

wont include portraits into my final shots. The only sort of portraiture photography I will include will be with the

objects that need to be held or worn, and even then faces wont be included in the crop- only the part of the body

that connects the object.


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This treasure describes the story of a final decision.

My girlfriend was a stripper, and we were together for a year. I loved

her so much, but we had so many arguments over her job that we didnt

know if we could carry on. So we booked a trip to Mexico to spend time

together for the last time. We bought this figure while we were out

there, and its the last thing that I own to remind me of her and our trip.

This treasure describes the story of love, excitement and longing. I

snook out to meet up with a guy I had just met, we had fun and I knew

meeting him had changed my world. We spent the night together and

it was perfect. And we were gone in the morning. This dream catcher

reminds me of him and that night, and it changed me forever.

I think the shadows in this print were slightly too grey, so I tried burning

in the shadows on the right of the print in the dark room. But I think I still

should have burned them in a bit darker, and also I think there is a

slight green colour cast on the image.

Im happy with how the tones came out In this image, I intentionally

tried to over expose the print a l ittle bit in the dark room so that the

tones were brighter and the whites were a bit more burnt out, because I

wanted the bright white to represent the heavenly atmosphere of that

night. I also hung up some material from the ceiling, but I think I should

have extended it over that board on the left, because the corner and

shadow disrupts the serenity of the image.


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This treasure describes the story of a friend.

My friend was having a rough time in his life and decided that he

wanted to look into spirituality. He brought this bracelet as a sign to the

belief, but it wasnt the zodiac symbol of his birth, so when he realised

this, he gave it to me as it was my birth sign. I laugh every time I look

at it as it reminds me of him.

This treasure describes the story of a loved one.

Every year since I was a child, I used to go down south in the

summer with my grandparents. Every summer we would go to the

beach with my grandma to collect and make games out of the

shells. My grandma was my best friend growing up and she died a

couple of years ago. The summer that she passed away I went

back to the beach we always used to go to, and I found the best

shell, that would have won all of our competitions.

I think the composition of this shot worked well, but I think I

should have pulled the sleeves up to reveal a bit more of the

hands as it looks a bit like the shell is floating rather than being

held compassionately.

I like the shot, I think the crop works well, but I think there is too

much shadow behind the hand. I should have used a fill light to

lighten that area up to fit better in the series.


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Critical appraisal

I didnt like this project. I spent a lot of time thinking about It and not really knowing what I wanted from it or what I wanted to express. I

wanted to step out of my comfort zone in this project where I would shoot experimentally and then come up with a visual concept from thatprocess. But my brain didnt work that way and it turned out to be more counter productive than anything else because I didnt know what I

wanted to shoot. So I had to change tactics again. Then I had to stop faffing around and go back to the process that I was familiar and

happy with. That was when I decided to go along with my original concept of one mans trash being another mans treasure, but I explored

several avenues of that prospect like hoarders, collectors, car boot sales and charity shops. I was contemplating ways that I could shoot

these objects and these portraits to portray how much the objects really mean to these people, but then I thought, if these people are just

buying these objects and have just found them, then they wont really be very valuable to those people. I realized that the real value of an

object comes from the stories that we relate to it, and so I decided to ask people for their most valued treasures, to tell m e the story behind

them and then photograph them in a way that would hopefully tell the story. I also decided to combine these objects with portraits. But when

it came down to it, the portraits didn t really contribute to telling the story; but only giving the character in it an identity, so I then just decided

to concentrate on the still lives.

Overall, from the contact sheets and the digital test shots, I felt that there were only really four images that worked- where the photograph

told the story of the object, and the others kind of didnt make sense conceptually. So I have only submitted four images. I think that as aseries, the four images work well together based on the colours and tones, but the variety of compositions isnt very strong as there are two

shots in an empty space of room, and there are two close up shots of peoples hands. The shots are too samey. I think to improve on the

series I would have to include more imagesfifteen to twenty maybe, where there is more variety in composition but keeping the colour

pallet similar.

This project I have been the most disappointed with my performance and reluctance to work. I wasnt interested in the project at all because

I was so focused and energized with the fashion project, that this one got ignored. When it came to doing the work my time management

was very poor and my enthusiasm was lacking greatly. Again, I didnt shoot anywhere near as much as I should have and I left the work

very much til last minute. When it came to the exhibition side of the project however I was more focused and enthusiastic for getting things

done, because being part of a team, I wasnt okay to let them down. Letting myself down with my own work and letting the team down are

two different ideas. So when it came to organizing the group and getting team tasks done, I was much more efficient, I made sure everyone

knew what they had to do by what time and tried splitting the group roles equally so that everyone got a fa ir share of work to do that they

were happy with. My role of work in the team was around the PR pack, and I really enjoyed designing the logo ideas and posters, as this is

something that I have worked with in the past and am confident in.

To conclude, I think for my individual project my effort was very poor, unorganized and minimal, whereas, in the group part of the project, Ithink my role was important in keeping the group happy and working well as well as getting a good standard of work achieved.


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Exhibition related work


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commission waste

Documents