Mid-Project Evaluation

My personal project is based around the influence that literature can have on photography and vice versa.   At the point of writing this evaluation I have completed three shoots all of which have been focused around creating visual representations of phrases and idioms through the use of surrealist photography.  I have targeted surrealist photography through my use of props in my first shoot “Bite the Bullet” which focused around the inclusion of shot gun shells in my image as well as using special effects makeup in the latter of my shoots “Lips sealed” where I create the illusion of the subjects lips being sewn together and in my most recent shoot “Don’t cry over spilt milk” where I have added white tears to my face to create a self portrait.  

I feel that the shoot I have completed which has been most successful was "Lips sealed" due to the fact that I feel that the lighting, makeup and camera settings used have combined to make a very thought provoking series.  I feel that the least successful shoot in my series was "Bite the Bullet" which featured high key portraiture for this reason it is unlikely that I will attempt to complete another shoot featuring high key portraiture and have appropriately adjusted my shoot plans to accommodate this change in approach.  I find that the shoots I complete with the use of a block colour background such as black are very effective in the way that they are able to add a sense of darkness to the image which translates into the imagery and emotion perceived by the viewer.

I would like to further develop my variation of shots in this project as I feel that looking into a wider range of shot types would give my series a better and more engaging appearance.  One way that I may look into would be using a macro lens and possibly colour gels in later images to create a more engaging image series producing a more detailed look at the techniques used to create the images as well as using emotive and symbolic colouration.

I aim to complete a series of seven portraiture shoots and then later three still life shoots as I believe that the addition of still life flower photography would add an additional link to my project and the English Language due to the way that Victorian flower language has imagery over time in photography, media and literature.