Assessment time is upon us!

The title says it all... wish me luck!

Last Photoshoot!

So I have finished my last photo shoot, managed to get my main model to re shoot for me. Now I'm using her in all the images, as I think the series will work better with just one person in all the shots, as its purely representational. I also experimented with lack of flash in the studio, playing around with lights and different objects to try and go for the effect that I need. 

 Now after  printing, I'm still not quite happy just for some of the focussing isn't quite right on the main image, but I like how I'm using different sizes of image, as dreams are unpredictable so I wanted to represent this isn't the sizes of the images. 

Contact sheets

So I am uploading a few of my contact sheets up here too...

OK, scrap the last idea! not doing a different direction.

OK, so after panicking about this new direction that i thought i should be going in, I have come to another realisation. After speaking to my tutor Andrew today, and him seeing my work, he has made things a bit clearer for me. I shouldn't be doing something different at this time, and apparently my concept is clear and strong enough to work, its just about getting the images right, and we talked about what might need changing. I need to re shoot  But i can only do this on Friday! Its's going to be a tight squeeze to get everything done, and I feel like I've wasted a week trying to think about some other project! Wish i had seen Andrew sooner!
 Oh dear...time is short. Really short. I need to call up my models again, and quite short notice.

After previous photoshoot....

I Am not feeling totally happy with the images from my last photo shoot. I feel like there is something not quite right somehow. I think some of the images work well and some of them don't. My least favourite one is the one of the guy cutting off his tongue, I feel like its an awkward image, and doesn't wrk well aesthetically or visually. I really like the first image, with things flying out of the suitcase, and this is meant to be the main image that all the other dreams are extensions of. However after talking to someone else, it feels far too happy, with the colours and objects to be representative of disturbing dreams. I am thinking about going in a different direction again, and maybe experimenting more with other things flying out of the suitcase, maybe going even more basic and creating sort of structures with symbolic objects to represent the different dreams. A bit worried about this though, EEK. not much time left...

Studio work... Pandora Photoshoot

This week I spent several days in the studio on this photo shoot, using a variety of different models. I went for a few common themes as you will see in the following images.

Locaton vs Studio?

I have been battling with the idea of using the studio or doing on location shots... after speaking to one of my models, we came up with an idea for the naked photo; sitting in a lecture hall full of people, being lectured...but with one person being naked, and very uncomfortable! 

I really liked this idea and though it would be effective, however it doesn't go with the idea of the bare essentials, and my images being totally representative. 

Ideas of common dream themes?

After some research, here is some common dream themes, I just need to decise on what ones to focus on.

- Naked in Public
- Being Chased
- Drowning
- Being Ignored and in trouble
- Missing a flight/train
- Being late
- Teeth falling out
- Not being able to breathe
- Being trapped
- Having to speak in public and no sound coming out

New Direction - Pandora's Suitcase

So after my project realisation, and after a lot of thought, I have decided to go for in a much more contemporary art direction. As I feel it is near enough impossible to recreate dreams, I want to focus on feelings we feel within dreams. For this, I am going back to basics, strip my idea right down, and create a purely representational series of images, looking at common dream themes so the viewer may be able to relate.

The title of my series will be 'Pandora's suitcase' as I want to represent the mind as a suitcase, and how there are many things that we repress in the day in our minds, but when we sleep these can run riot around our heads, and hence the idea of  the mind being similar to Pandora's box. Instead, i have used as a suitcase as a suitcase also represents the idea of travel and being portable, and that is exactly what our minds our - they go everywhere with us, and pick up loads of different thoughts and feelings along the way.
 I think it is important that the suitcase is in some way incorporated in all of the images, as a way of linking the images together in the series, but also as a reminder within the picture that the mind and the subconscious is always there throughout whatever dreams we have. I want the suitcase in this sense to appear menacing somehow, and I suppose I am going to have to create that with the content, lighting, and spacial awareness within my work.

Project realisation

After all my research I have realised that it is near enough impossible to recreate dreams within images.This is not only because they are so obscure, but also because they are so personal, it is more about the feelings you get from inside the dreams, rather than what is happening within them.

                                                                     (potato dreams)