Looking back on Assignment 2

(NB: I am inserting this post retrospectively, as it has been lurking around my hard drive as a Word document up until now! For the sake of consistency, I have decided to add it to my blog.)

For assignment 2, we were required to produce a series of images entitled 'A Day in the Life'. I took this title very literally (perhaps that was a mistake?) and produced a series of photographs depicting a chronological day in the life of my daughter.

Presentation options I considered included:

• A triptych, showing three images from morning, afternoon and evening - I rejected this as being not technically challenging enough,
• A mosaic of images, separated by white borders, but varying in size and shape,
• A 'film strip' of images, with each frame showing part of the day (I felt that this was perhaps too 'gimmicky'),
• A clock face, divided into segments with different images.

I rejected these in favour of a blended panorama, showing images in a rough chronological order from left to right. Not particularly original, but I felt it the best way to present the various images I wanted to include.

I aimed to capture a variety of poses, activities and moods, and feel that I achieved this. However - portraiture is very much outside of my comfort zone. It is no bad thing to be challenged, but from the feedback received, it appears that it was obvious that I am pretty much a 'newbie' in this area. My tutor commented on the lack of interaction of the subject with the camera. In just one photograph, she was looking at the camera.

My reason for taking this approach was again due to perhaps over-literal interpretation of the brief, which spoke of 'observations', rather than 'interaction'. However, having read the feedback, I can now see that the one image where the subject is looking at the camera does create more visual interest and tension. It would have been good to include more shots of this nature.

This exercise has been helpful in making me confront an area of photography with which I am less comfortable. Also, I have had the opportunity to use some of the Photoshop techniques I have learnt. There is definitely room for improvement in terms of 'people photography', and I will take onboard the comments made by my tutor with regard to this.