Statement of Intent

I draw my inspiration from several styles and practitioners. I like to draw my thoughts and ideas from a broader range of photographers artist and styles, such as that of the Pop Art movement of the 1960's. For example Jasper Johns use of colour throughout his career. After studying for my art A-Level I felt the need to broaden my range of creative techniques, and Photography was a medium that interest in.

Since starting my college course in 2009 I have discovered many practitioners. Two photographers that stand out in particular for me, are Irving Penn and his clean clinical style and Brassai's candid approach to photography. From Irving Penn I have learned how to photograph still life effectively in the studio, whereas with Brassai I have taken away a simpler and more truthful approach to photography, such as simply capturing images as they appear in everyday situations.

I always strive to give meaning to my personal images. With client led work, I take the client's needs and wants into consideration. Some of the images in my blog have personal themes running throughout them, such as Loss of Identity and Urban Decay. My advertising images aim to promote awareness of a subject that I personally feel strongly about. I feel there is not enough awareness generated around the subject male victims of domestic violence.

I have chosen Falmouth as one of my potential universities as it is highly praised and the photography course has a great reputation. The course has been recommend to me by a current student, and after doing my research I feel that Falmouth offers what I need in a degree course.

Street Still Life

This image is probably one of the first images I took with a DSLR, and is completely based on aesthetics with no underlying meaning.

Loss of Identity

 For these images I used a opaque infrared filter, which gave me a exposure time of 30 seconds. At 15 seconds I ask my model to change positions or move out of the shot giving the illusion that there are two "ghost" in the image.

Hair Photography

Hair and Beauty students asked the photography department for images that showed their abilities as hair dressers, that they could enter into competitions and use in their portfolio.

Fashion Stars 2010

I was approached by a fashion student who needed an image of his design to enter into the Fashion Stars 2010 competition at the local shopping centre. The image was exhibited at the Ashton Arcades for a month, and the public voted for their favourite design.

Still Life

These still life images were both shot on transparency film using a Large Format camera (bottom) and a Medium Format camera (top).  Both images have their similarities, the pocket watch, but are very different images.

Urban Decay

These images are from a self led project that focuses on the way the natural environment is trying to take back the areas we have claimed as our own. The top and bottom two images have been digitally crossed processed to enhance the colours.

Live Brief

For this location based brief I had the privilege of working with young adults with various disabilities.  This taught me a lot about factors that can influence how an image is taken, such as using flash photography and the effects have it can have one people with epilepsy.

Advertising Images

These are two images I produced for an advertising brief that aims to promote awareness for male victims of domestic violence. In order to help me complete the brief, and gain a better understanding of the topic, I was in contact with the charity ManKind Initiative who works closely with male victims.

Example of Written Work.

Don McCullin – Shaped By War

The Imperial War Museum North, Salford Keys.

In the United Kingdom there are three Imperial War Museums, each representing a different theatre of war; Water, Air and in this case Earth, shown by the museum’s strong, sturdy, steel exterior. The museum opened its doors to the public on 5^th July 2002 and survives on donations made by some of the 400,000 visitors it sees per year. The Imperial War Museum North presented the largest UK exhibition about Don McCullin’s life and over 50 years work. Shaped By War (6^th February 2010 until 13^th June 2010), gave visitors an insight into the man behind the camera, and featured items on public display for the first time.

World-renowned war photographer McCullin started out in the Royal Air Force as part of his national service, then began his Photography career photographing protest gangs in London. Some of the images he captured were published in the Observer, and was probably the beginnings of his addiction to war and protest.

The exhibition was a mixture of photography from many war zones, such as Vietnam. Only a few images were shot in colour causing the eye to get distracted and take focus away from the purpose/meaning of the photograph. McCullin still uses black and white film as he feels it’s a more controlled way of working.

The images McCullin produced show events that we could never imagine in our day-to-day lives, such as the image of a motherless baby laying in the middle of the road crying, an image that communicates death in a truly horrifying way. We would probably gone to help the baby but under the circumstances’ McCullin was not allowed to step in and help, as much as he may have wanted to. McCullin has only ever manipulated one of his war images; the image of a dead Vietnamese soldier, in which he places the soldier’s family portrait/wallet in front of him, to give the image more identity, rather than another nameless soldier.

Self confessed “war junkie’ McCullin now focuses on still life and landscape photography, he feels this relieves his guilt from the things he witnessed and photographed during his photojournalism career. He recently began working with Christian Aid to help combat the A.I.D’s pandemic in third world countries. He admits that when he wasn’t documenting war, he was at home, unhappy.

The exhibition was eye opening and thought provoking, with some images that were hard to digest due to the negative feelings that were produced by the image, however no matter how negative the image may be there is always empathy for the victims in the images. I would personally recommend looking into Don McCullin’s work , no matter what kind of photography your produce, as it gives an insight into raw human emotion captured by the camera.