Evaluation

For this assignment there was two parts to it, the first deadline was to capture one image that tells a story on its own and show it in a group critique. The second one was to create a series of images that again told a story but this time it had to be a presentation shown in front of both groups.

When we had first been given this brief I automatically started to panic, as I had never concentrated on anything like this before. I began to think of random things that I could do and this is where I went wrong. I should have started by looking at other peoples work, got inspiration and develop ideas that I would want to do. Rather than starting something then changing ideas every other day. I ended up starting three different ideas; by going from one to the other I didn’t allow myself enough time to make one of them really good. So instead I rushed the final idea of taking photos of the train station with the highest suicide rate in the Northeast. Even though I had something to hand in I wasn’t happy with it. If I had a chance to do it again I would have done more research and stuck with one idea that I was interested in, even if it wasn’t a great idea I would stick with and make it something worth presenting.

When it came to the second part I decided this time I would stay with one idea. That was to take photos of the fishermen in Hartlepool. I made myself a rule that I wasn’t allowed to change it and I had to just go and take as many photos as possible. So for two weeks I went to the marina to take photos, for the first couple of visits I couldn’t find anyone working there to take photos of, but by the end of the couple of weeks I had managed to take a couple of photos of some of the skippers (owners of the boats). But I had still mainly just got pretty pictures of boats on the water and I wanted more documentary photos. So by talking to a few people about how I wasn’t getting very far with taking photos of fishermen they suggested I went and asked at a local fish shop where they get there produce from. I made a visit to a fish shop called Hodgson’s and asked about the fishing boats and that is when the lady behind the counter gave me the number of her boss who was in charge of Hartlepool fishing co. I gave him a ring and he was more than happy for me to pay a visit and take some photos.

I made my way over to the fishing key and met the guys who ran it. They were very busy so they said that I could just have a wonder around and please myself. I got to talk to a few of the men working on their boats; it felt that some of them were a bit unsure of me being there but once I started to make conversation about what it was they were doing they change there tune and were more than happy for me to take there photo.

Once I had put my presentation together I felt like I appreciated the photos in the series more because I had taken time in getting them and I had enjoyed finally getting the right pictures. Rather than taking an image for the sake of it, like I had done for the signal image task.