Alamy Submission. Finally I was able to pass quality control, after giving up in folio 1. I decided to go with some images from the fragments project to pass quality control, and will later add the rest and I also uploaded my graded unit images from first year. It was a slow start but maybe something good will come from it. 

Business Card Final. This was my final result back in folio 1 for my business cards. I didn't want something too busy, I wanted something simple, easy to read and eye catching. I also chose 3 different images as I wasn’t sure what kind of photography I was really passionate about yet and so one was sports, another portrait and the other still life which could also just be a logo. Also, because I chose 3 designs in the one pack I had to be general so it just says Photography. I used Moo and I am really happy with the results, they are clean and smooth. I will use them again as their guide was easy to use.

EXHIBITION REVIEW

Name- Caitlin Brown                                                                                         Class- HND2A                                                                                                   Name of Exhibition- HND2 Photography End of Year Exhibition                   Location- Theatre Royal

1. How does the flyer/poster advertise the Exhibition?                                         The poster works well giving the need to know details with bold writing. It features a high class fashion portrait that is very clean and beautiful. Despite the fact that there is a variety of different types of photography it reflects the standard and quality of the HND photographers. 

2. What is the suitability of gallery space? How is the exhibition laid out?    It’s based in the Theatre Royal on 2 floors. It’s a fancy venue, spiral stairs with portraits on the first floor and landscapes on the second with space and seating around. 

3. How has the work been mounted? Is this appropriate for the work?        They are mounted on white boards with black frames on A3 canvases. The work is matched with other work that connects well. Due to the varied projects, the same black frames on canvas equally allows the exhibition to flow and connect as a whole. 

4. Who made the work?                                                                                       HND2 students of City of Glasgow College

5. Who did they make it for, who is the audience?                                            It’s the celebration of the end of the second year of HND. It’s our best work (which were chosen through a workshop of prints). The audience is other students, families and friends, artists, photographers, creatives, potential employers, strangers- anyone.

6. How does it make you feel?                                                                              It makes me feel proud, excited, relieved and anxious for the future as college is about to end aswell as grateful for what college has taught me. 

7. If the work has a title does it make you think about images differently?               I do feel like a title does impact the way you think about something or expect/imagine. This title helps people know it’s students work- diverse group of work so can attract large numbers of people that have different tastes. 

8. How would I describe it to someone later?                                                         A great collection of ranging subjects produced by talented students. Shows the hard work paid off. 

9. Does the photographs make you want to ask questions, what are these?        Some images I looked at I wondered how they took it- what equipment they used, where they took it and in some cases they were to intriguing and abstract that I wanted to know what the photo was 

10/11.  Is the photograph valuable? How do you know? Is work for sale and who might buy?                                                                                                    £120 framed, £90 unframed. A lot of hand work has been put into them and standard is high. Yes. Anyone who likes the image may buy it- photographers, family and friends, artists and creatives etc.

12. What information is available about artists?                                                           On boards our names were below frames, Poster- HND City of Glasgow and if business cards were picked up- further links to portfolio and social media is available. But overall was minimal. 

13. Who Organised the Exhibition and who selected the work?                               Lecturers selected the date, location, frames and size on canvases. Students and lecturers helped to choose images in workshop where we were to bring 6 small 6x4 prints to narrow down for final 2 per student- which was ultimately our decision. 

Fashion Brand Mood board. I thought I’d uploaded but must have forgotten. I had misplaced all of my editorial images from my board. These are a few I could find and new. The look was also tied in with the clothing brand GANT and also the chosen theme was a country/ wealthy/ hunter look. These images and more helped me to pose and direct when I was taking my images. I kept them with me on shoot as a quick reminder before the shoot took place and incase I froze. I had also split them into girl, guy and couple shots as I had so many. Greens and brown are mainly used, scarves worn and umbrellas, dogs, sticks etc used as props. Parks, hills, old stone walls- ideal locations.

Work Experience. Top image Contact sheet of test shots for the work experience, bottom left image speed lite class, last contact is the final images of Aye Write. Work experience was with Aye Write, contact was through Iain Wallace and Bob Mcdevitt. Experience was scheduled for the 25th of March, the last day of the event at the Mitchell Library. From 12-4pm. Initially was told that it would be taking images of crowds, candid, signings and portraits. The candid, crowd and signings is what attracted me to the experience and then the portraits would take me out of my comfort zone. The work experience should give me a look at what it’s like to shoot at an event and talk, make people feel comfortable in front of the camera. It will also help on my CV when trying to find little jobs. 

There was a class a little while before the events. This was working in class groups which we were given a location and told to take images using speedlites and to help each other out. Which would then prepare us for future shoots including Aye Write for light placements and equipment use. There was also a class review on all images by everyone, which was good and effective feedback which I could then transfer onto work experience. 

The work experience itself was a little unorganised- Bob was a little difficult to reach and contacting Iain instead of students. When got to the venue Bob was not there, we weren't given instruction- as other groups had been told to stay in one room for the portraits only. However we were told we could shoot during the talks. Then later on during portraits around the building- before the talks began we were then told that we could not attend the talks as they did not have permission to be able to shoot the crowds and candid shots, so just portraits. This meant that there was a lot of sitting about waiting around and taking test shots. Test shots were helpful to help each other out and assist. Anya and I worked together and took turns with the writers. We conversed well with the writers and this allowed them to feel at ease. One of the portrait sessions were put on us when we weren't set up and ready yet by Paul however it allowed us to turn it around quickly to work it out well.

I learned that taking it easy and not to rush allows me to work better. Being friendly and talking to subjects before the shoot puts them at ease- being myself out of my comfort zone. 

Self Evaluation:

I found that working with someone well at least for the first time is good to be prepared and help each other out and have a model to test on. I found it a good experience, I’m not entirely happy with the photos I took but it was a learning experience with shooting flash indoors with poor lighting. I tried to make the positions either the light further away, writer sitting at an angle so that the flash wouldn't leave a harsh shadow behind. The last image I took of the writer on the stairs, when I test shot the shadow wasn't so harsh and then when I took the images the light created harsh shadows, I did try to change it but rushed a little because I didn't want to take up too much time- which I shouldn't have done as it was my time. The first image is a little soft focussing which I'm quite sad about. Overall, it was a good experience which I have definitely learned a lot with speed lite set up and exposure. 

Both experience and class gave me a better understanding and a little insight into event photography and possible future jobs. They have allowed me to learn from my mistakes and to improve. Being out of my comfort zone is good for learning new skills, like communication, timing, set up and confidence. I am glad that I went to the event as it gave me some good experience however I was a little disappointed that I couldn't take photos during the event and candid shots as I feel that’s where my strengths lie more and would maybe had made my images stronger and less time would have been wasted. 

Major Fashion Final images. The shoot took place on the reshoot week after the block 2 hand in. I’m really happy with the outcome of the shoot, the day was cloudy and I used a speedlite on a stand to give the images a little more pop. I feel I achieved my plan on creating a loose, chill look to my images. I also got to borrow clothes from West Vintage which really helped my project greatly. I’m happy with the locations chosen as they work well with the clothes as well as give the street vintage feel. I’m glad that I experimented more with angles and viewpoints. Overall I really enjoyed this project and would love to do more like this in the future.

Kirsty Mackay guest speaker. Talk was really interesting and insightful. I loved hearing about how she began the projects and how she took the images- going into peoples houses and how people were so trusting. Really liked seeing the development of her project covers. Also loved how she said to Dream big, and not to put limitations on money and when you have an image in your head to do it and you’ll figure everything else out as you go.

Exhibition review- The Fire of Ideas. I went there after the talk from Kirsty Mackay. I loved the exhibition, it was powerful- how an idea can bring students and workers together to fight for a cause. To use their voices for change. I loved the colour and writing added to them it made them stand out and allowed the observer to understand more clearly what was going on.

This was the research for Hyper Reality Project. I really liked the street themed images and so decided to base my photos around them. I got the idea of holding a paint brush from the highlighter image and put my own twist on it and changed the focus to fixing the street rather than branding the brush. 

Test Shoot for my major fashion (unedited). I wanted to shoot at my location just to practice a bit more with the lighting, this was really helpful. Anya helped with holding a reflector while I used a light to bounce light off of, due to it being so sunny some places we just used a reflector and Catherine helped to model and both helped give advice. I’d prefer to shoot on a. cloudy day, as it’s a lot more soft and controllable to work in. I’m happy with the results of the images and have a little bit more insight of what to do when I shoot for my final images.

Documentary Evaluation. I found this project so fun to shoot, I loved walking about and looking about for people who would fit my project. Maybe I should have taken more portraits but my main focus was taken people in the moment and capturing real reactions and moods. Covers for my book above. Choosing a cover image for the book was difficult, I didn't know whether to go with a subtle photo or a big atmosphere photo. I went with subtle, however not sure I made the right decision. I didn’t want the cover to be busy, so I made concept ideas with and without words- I liked it however felt since I had no words on the inside felt I should have a few on the front. So the name of the project and then a little line below it, I’m not sure whether I should have just left it or put the words on as it makes it a little more personal. I am happy with the book and it being my first. I think some images I think I saw had a little pink tone to them but need to look at them again to make sure. I am also happy with the pairing of my images I feel they work well together, some better than others and maybe some could have been in different places but I feel the images tell the story well. 

Documentary development. I struggled with narrowing my images down due to taking so many. Some I struggled to remove, but was better to take out as they didn’t fit the pages. I ended up with around 100 images for my book but managed to drop over 100 aswell. I think I’ve paired the photos together well. I separated the images into the order of the match- before- during- after the game and then took them one step at a time which really helped reduce the stress.

Andrew Dobbie from Made Brave. Really insightful talk about creating contacts and getting work seen. 

David Eustace Talk. Found this talk one of the most inspiring, loved hearing what he's learned and how he got to where he is now. Doing things before it’s too late. “Journey and search of your dreams opens up a whole world of dreams- creates your WILDEST DREAMS- dreams you can’t even imagine. That are maybe better than your dreams”

Hyper Reality. This isn’t my strongest work. I kind of struggled with the hyper reality, I enjoyed the animals which I felt I done well which maybe I should have focussed a project similar to that. I wanted to focus my project on something to do with a paint brush and liked the idea of focussing on street lines. I then thought of having paint as if I was fixing the streets using the white paint and a paint brush. The position of the brush could be a little better and not sure if the colour balance is a little off but wanted a cold look to the image which also helps with the colour of the brush. 

Something Old Final Image. I ended up using the coloured version which was created using a long exposure and a lot of experimentation with a green torch. Having the tool elevated a little helps with the depth of field and focus of the image. I like the effect of the light on the edges as it makes the shape stand out. I also feel the coloured version is a lot better than the black and white version and also the normal coloured version. 

Fashion Brand Project. Using watches provided by Ryan James Studio. I chose the photo that didn't completely show his face because I thought the framing looked better as the watch is the main focus and you can still tell he is looking at the watch and due to the weather made his nose and cheeks a little red and I found it hard to edit. The studio shot was a little tricky to begin with, set up with 70-200mm on fobo stand and a ladder. The accessories were provided by the fashion students and the watch as my brand given by Ryan James Studio.