... Is that I prefer black & white! I think I do. I love how it shapes shapes and lighting changes and removes the image from reality further. The book I wrote about earlier this evening on Lillian Bassman and Paul Himmel is filled with the most extraordinary black and white images. And I can't wait to move onto a section where I can start to try and figure out how to do some of the things I've seen there. So, perhaps it's been good for me to look at colour like this as it's forcing me to open up how I work.
I've really struggled to find a way to do what is required for this assignment. I am not sure what I've planned is right - I know there is no 'right' but I keep worrying I'm really missing something. I think the only way to do it is with four sets of photos as we are asked to use different lighting, subjects, still life and found images, colour that is about light and colour that is about object based. But the other work I have seen has very similar photographs which is why I'm a bit worried.
I have tried to stick to the original thoughts I had where childhood is the main theme. I'm not sure I'm going to achieve the objectives but since the assignment is due in fairly soon I think I've got to go with what I've got planned. I've a busy few days ahead.
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I've been feeling really strange about photography lately. Recently I was just so cross about some dumb mistakes I had made at a shoot with a family. And I'd been feeling disappointed with much of the work I'd been doing for a while, so that by last weekend I was really questioning whether or not I was cut out for that sort of work, but if not that then what? And I knew that just giving up and walking away from one type of photography was not the answer anyway. I actually know much of what was informing this mood was totally non-photography related but it was affecting my work nevertheless.
Mistakes, however, are really important sometimes because they can act as a powerful stimulant to getting things right next time. For various reasons I feel less despondent now having resolved that I actually just needed to take a bit more control over what I was doing. And some clutter seems to have shifted from my mind.
Colour has been quite important to be honest as I have realised how much of a difference it will make to the images I take when working with families. So I've started being a lot more proactive with clients about what they wear and giving them clear instructions before I turn up about choosing a simple colour palette and mixing patterns with block colours. So although some of my lighting has been a bit ropey I can without a doubt see that when client's follow those instructions it has contributed to a more cohesive image and set of images. I just hadn't thought about this before embarking on this section of the course. So that's good!
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