Friday, May 3, 2019
Project Evaluation
When starting out this project I wanted to focus on my uncle Mark, he was the only sibling out of 6 to be born with Down Syndrome. Every project that I have produced on my course so far were no where near as personal or as important as this one, it is a project where I got to produce a collaborative photographic series alongside one of my biggest inspirations in life.
Many years ago Down Syndrome was less common to the point that you wouldn't really see a child with Downs walking around the town centres and most of them were taken into institutions instead of living with their families. My uncle had a very fortunate situation where his mum had decided that he was to live at home with her so that he could be brought up amongst his siblings and have a normal life.
I started the project by photographing my uncle in his home, performing everyday activities such as making cups of tea or practicing his singing and even swinging on the swing. I wanted to ease us both into the idea of the project before I introduced him to the camera that he would be using and I also wanted to use that time to introduce myself and the project to the staff as well as him.
I felt inspired after researching into the maquettes that David Moore made of his project Lisa and John, the maquettes gave a full 360 degree perspective of the scenes but with the presence of the photographer. I adopted the idea of capturing the presence of the photographer into my work and I soon developed my own take on the idea; whilst my uncle was taking photographs of something or someone, I was taking photographs of him taking his pictures.
After thinking about how I wanted to my final outcome to look, I started to photograph him less and focus more on what he was photographing, asking myself about what he is thinking when he takes these pictures but due to his lack of verbal communication, there is no way of knowing for sure what he was thinking about. I wanted the polaroids to be the only imagery that I used in my Image and Sound piece, there are 60 photographs altogether and I chose to replay them in different sequences in order to relay the message of how important each object or person is to him. I chose to record serval people, myself included, talking about their relationships with my uncle Mark and I asked them to highlight any changes that they have seen in his personality and the differences between him living at home with his mum and siblings and him living in his own accommodation with other residents who all have different forms of learning disabilities.
In the 16 minute film that I have created I chose to only use 4 peoples interviews, these are the people that I feel know him best, have the most experiences with him and the people who are closest to him. The project is called My Uncle, My Family and Me so I predominantly wanted it to be exactly that but I felt that Maria, the deputy manager of the home, spoke with such passion and from knowing him previously, she was able to highlight some of the key changes that she noticed from when she last saw him at his old residence to now.
I used a light piece of inspirational music in the background very quietly so that it flowed seamlessly without the intrusion of awkward silences. Although the polaroid images are nice to look at, for me personally, I feel that anyone who is moved by a subject matter as delicate and as important as this will be more inspired by what the different people say about my uncle Mark, I have included the polaroid photo album containing all 60 images alongside the film for my submission so that viewers have the option to watch the film or listen to it.
To improve this project, I would want to be able to continue visiting my uncle at home and I would also like to take him out on day trips with me where we can photograph the different parts of our day. I will be continuing this series in my personal studies as I have felt more and more passionate about the world of Down Syndrome as the project progressed, I may also choose to create a whole new project based on people with Downs to run alongside this project about my uncle, it would give the series a whole new perspective if I chose to photograph other families who have a Down Syndrome family member, it would be interesting to hear their experiences and their perspectives on the overview of Down Syndrome in todays society.
Many years ago Down Syndrome was less common to the point that you wouldn't really see a child with Downs walking around the town centres and most of them were taken into institutions instead of living with their families. My uncle had a very fortunate situation where his mum had decided that he was to live at home with her so that he could be brought up amongst his siblings and have a normal life.
I started the project by photographing my uncle in his home, performing everyday activities such as making cups of tea or practicing his singing and even swinging on the swing. I wanted to ease us both into the idea of the project before I introduced him to the camera that he would be using and I also wanted to use that time to introduce myself and the project to the staff as well as him.
I felt inspired after researching into the maquettes that David Moore made of his project Lisa and John, the maquettes gave a full 360 degree perspective of the scenes but with the presence of the photographer. I adopted the idea of capturing the presence of the photographer into my work and I soon developed my own take on the idea; whilst my uncle was taking photographs of something or someone, I was taking photographs of him taking his pictures.
After thinking about how I wanted to my final outcome to look, I started to photograph him less and focus more on what he was photographing, asking myself about what he is thinking when he takes these pictures but due to his lack of verbal communication, there is no way of knowing for sure what he was thinking about. I wanted the polaroids to be the only imagery that I used in my Image and Sound piece, there are 60 photographs altogether and I chose to replay them in different sequences in order to relay the message of how important each object or person is to him. I chose to record serval people, myself included, talking about their relationships with my uncle Mark and I asked them to highlight any changes that they have seen in his personality and the differences between him living at home with his mum and siblings and him living in his own accommodation with other residents who all have different forms of learning disabilities.
In the 16 minute film that I have created I chose to only use 4 peoples interviews, these are the people that I feel know him best, have the most experiences with him and the people who are closest to him. The project is called My Uncle, My Family and Me so I predominantly wanted it to be exactly that but I felt that Maria, the deputy manager of the home, spoke with such passion and from knowing him previously, she was able to highlight some of the key changes that she noticed from when she last saw him at his old residence to now.
I used a light piece of inspirational music in the background very quietly so that it flowed seamlessly without the intrusion of awkward silences. Although the polaroid images are nice to look at, for me personally, I feel that anyone who is moved by a subject matter as delicate and as important as this will be more inspired by what the different people say about my uncle Mark, I have included the polaroid photo album containing all 60 images alongside the film for my submission so that viewers have the option to watch the film or listen to it.
To improve this project, I would want to be able to continue visiting my uncle at home and I would also like to take him out on day trips with me where we can photograph the different parts of our day. I will be continuing this series in my personal studies as I have felt more and more passionate about the world of Down Syndrome as the project progressed, I may also choose to create a whole new project based on people with Downs to run alongside this project about my uncle, it would give the series a whole new perspective if I chose to photograph other families who have a Down Syndrome family member, it would be interesting to hear their experiences and their perspectives on the overview of Down Syndrome in todays society.
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Final Outcomes
My Final Box Presentation, the presentation box includes: My Uncle, My Family & Me (film) and the photo album containing all 60 polaroids.
Link to my film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw9sCAaRlgE
Film Editing Process
Some examples of my film editing process:
Overview of how the film is starting to come together, on the left are all of the polaroids and voice recordings that I have imported, the centre is the overview of the film so that you can watch it as you progress and right is where you change the font, text, size and add any effects or transitions.
This screenshot shows the overlap that I have created, this is where the music ends and then begins again (they fade into each other).
By selecting a part of the video (the yellow box indicates the selection) you can view how it is going to look when the film plays.
This screenshot shows one voice recording finish, then after a small gap another voice recording starts.
Many people think that film editing is relatively easy and they have this idea that you can put a couple of things together and it makes a film but it is an extremely time consuming process; the top line shows all of the individual polaroids, the second and third line has mixtures of my chosen soundtrack and voice recordings and the bottom two are other sections dedicated to my chosen soundtrack.
Small section overview of the film with thumbnails of the polaroid photographs.
Whole overview of the various film layers; the top row is the titles and polaroids, the second row is the voice recordings, and all the rest are the various overlaps of my chosen soundtrack.
Monday, April 29, 2019
Why Image and Sound?
When discussing my project progression with my tutor she advises that I look into Edmund Clark's One Day on a Saturday project which has been presented using photographs and overlapped voice recordings, she suggested that it could be a good way for me to present my work rather than submitting standard prints.
Link to Edmund Clark's One Day on a Saturday project: https://www.edmundclark.com/works/section-4-part-20-day-saturday/#1
After watching the 2 minute extract of this work I decided that not only was I going to create a film using Image and Sound but I will also be submitting the album with all of the photographs that my uncle took throughout this project alongside it. The reason I have chosen to do this is so that people can choose to watch them as a film or they can choose to look through the book and just listen to the recordings of different people such as myself, my family and members of staff talk about our relationships with my Uncle Mark as well as fun stories and how we think that he has become more independent through the years.
The only thing that I didn't particularly enjoy about Edmund Clark's work was his choice to overlap the voices, I found it very difficult to focus on what each person was saying so for me it was very distracting and disorientating. In my film I will experiment with small overlaps to avoid any awkward silences but I plan to keep all of the voices separate so that you can clearly hear each individual persons opinion without any distractions. My reason for doing this is because of the nature of the work, I feel that every opinion has a right to be heard because every opinion matters, especially for a subject as important as this one, but in order to really grab peoples attention and make them listen it has to be singular voices which, for me, will make the film more powerful.
Final Diary Entry and Polaroids
My Final Diary Entry
Polaroids From The Day
Uncle Mark
Me
Shane - a member of staff
A member of staff
Samantha - a member of staff
Cardboard cut out of Daniel O'Donnell
Cardboard cut out of Daniel O'Donnell
and Uncle Mark
DVD rack #1
DVD rack #2
DVD rack #3
DVD rack #4
A signed Daniel O'Donnell poster on
a wardrobe
Part of the office
Uncle Mark on the swing #1
Uncle Mark under the gazebo
Uncle Mark on the swing #2
The black door
A bench and the house
Uncle Mark in front of the back door
Uncle Mark on the garden swing chair
The Garden
Shane and Uncle Mark watering
the plants
The Greenhouse Plants
Uncle Mark raking the garden
Nicola - a member of staff
Uncle Marks folder
Uncle Mark holding his folder
CD boxes on a computer screen
Uncle Mark singing #1
Uncle Mark singing #2
Shane - a member of staff sitting
in the office
The front gates, a house and a
blossom tree
Nicola's car #1
Nicola's car #2
Uncle Mark and Me
Final Photoshoot Contact Sheet
This is my final photoshoot at my uncle Mark's house. I pretty much produced a shoot that was a combination of my first photoshoot and my second one, I started by taking some photographs of my uncle mark making us a cup of tea and I photographed a conversation that he was having with Paul to highlight their relationship. For the rest of the shoot I focused on showing the presence of the photographer (my uncle) whilst he produced his own photographs. I personally feel that the relationship between the photographer and his subject is key to creating a rewarding set of work. Throughout this shoot I noticed an interesting change in the way that my uncle photographed things, I remember being in the greenhouse that they've got in their garden and I was photographing him with the camera and just before he took the photograph he changed his mind and decided to change the angle in which he took the picture and he also decided to move closer to his subject, it was really lovely to see him thinking about how he wanted the final photograph to look, it shows that his skills in photography have progressed and it also shows that he really enjoys the process of polaroid photography.
Third Diary Entry and Polaroids
My Third Diary Entry
Polaroids From The Day
Uncle Mark
A family photograph - Reece, Me, My Dad, Uncle Mark,
Uncle Kevin, Auntie Suzie and My Mum
Auntie Suzie, Uncle Mark and Uncle Kevin
A quick snapshot of My Mum, Reece, Me
and My Dad's arm
Half of My Mum, Reece, Me and My Dad
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