Evaluation

Evaluation – Matt Smith

International Markets & Contexts

I thought this project was best yet. Initially I wasn’t motivated at all as I’m not overly keen on shooting work for a gallery setting. However once we began talking as a group we started to throw some ideas onto the table. We first decided on Culture as a starting point and each began thinking of where we could take this. After a few sessions with the tutors we mutually agreed that culture was too broad of a subject and we would be better being more selective. We then decided on identity and I began looking for a photographer. Early on I came across Martin Schoeller and decided he was the photographer for me. This sparked the ideas for my own work and I initially wanted to get into the studio and emulate Schoellers work. I spent some time doing research for the festival and creating some designs amongst preparing for the presentation. I then decided that if I shot in the same style as him the work on display would be too similar. I began experimenting with portraits outside of a studio environment and after shooting 2 people I decided this was the method for me. I found it hard trying to balance to research and development of the festival alongside shooting my personal work so I decided to leave myself a week at the end dedicated to shooting.

On the photographic side of things I’m happy with my images. They’ve turned out exactly how I had hoped and I feel like I’ve stuck the balance between simplicity and effectiveness. The key element for me was to have the same composition throughout and similar tones/colours.  I had a clear set of aims when started I knew I could shoot 7/8 people and have enough content to create my exhibition. I was initially hoping to shoot males and females in a set age group but decided that all males worked together as a set. I only shot one female throughout and decided not to include that shot as it didn’t bring anything new to my project. I was very selective with the editing of my photos as I wanted a clean feel to them hence shooting in natural light. I used adobe lightroom to make small crop adjustments as well as correct white balance and exposure. This was made easy by the fact I shot RAW. When thinking about the framing of my work I took some inspiration from a few gallery visits and selected black frames with minimal space between complimented by vinyl lettering.

As a group I think we’ve worked very well. We allocated each other jobs and met up regularly to ensure we were all on track. I was tasked with the branding of the festival and used adobe illustrator to create an initial logo, which the group were very happy with. I then implemented the logo into the leaflet and letters etc. I took it upon myself to attend the photography show at Birmingham NEC and used this as an opportunity to research into frames and printing. I got several leaflets and spoke to several companies for pricing and then presented these to the group. We then decided on a company to use for each and began working on the budget.

Presentation

The presentation was a success and was well received by the audience. We covered everything that we set out to do.

Gallery Layout

Arguably one of the most important things at a gallery is how the images are laid out. I've always struggled with how to get creative with the placement of my images on a wall.

In this project I've seen several examples of gallery images as well as displays of frames at trade shows etc, so this time round I think I've got a fairly good idea of how I want my images to look.

The 6 images I'm going to use are all portrait shots with very similar composition. As a group we are using the same sleek black frames form Picture Bloc and overall we're looking for a very modern and clean display.

I've mocked up roughly how I want things to look in photoshop. I decided to leave a minimal gap between the images so that they can be appreciated as a collective. For the most effective viewing I felt like the images should be very uniformly placed and tidy. The sleek black frame helps draw attention into the centre and is complimented by the use of vinyl letters applied to the white walls behind.

I chose vinyl after seeing it in both Karin's exhibition and a few others. It's a very popular choice as it's a much cleaner alternative to mounting board with text on to the wall. I think it works really well, especially with the faded definition at the bottom giving an overall idea of the theme of the project without putting to much of a conceptual spin on things. I also decided to place the names of each subject above their retrospective photo. I feel this adds a connection between the viewers and the work knowing that they can put a name to the face, after all the whole show is about identity and a name is one of the biggest displays of our identity.

This is the before shot of the blank wall that formed the basis of my photoshop work. I then added a stock image of a frame and inserted my photographs and a small drop shadow to make it seem more real.

My shots

I have selected these 6 shots to form my personal exhibition. Although I didn't shoot many more than 7/8 people I had a wide selection of shots as for each person I took 5-10 images to ensure correct exposure and focus.

The first shot I took was the one below of Gaz. This sparked the idea and I loved the shallow depth of field and the way you get drawn into his eyes and facial features. This was everything I wanted to achieve without ripping of the work of Martin Schoeller and I think it's been successful!

Shooting the images outside really paid off, the shots are all bright and quite pleasant. I personally really like the backgrounds! They don't distract from the subject at all, if anything I think they draw attention to the centre of the frame which is what I was hoping to achieve. Some of the background worked better than others. I much preferred the backgrounds that were 'busy' and had a lot to blur our. The ones with simpler backgrounds were not that effective.

This makes me believe that not shooting in the studio was the right move. Having the below images on a plain white background would not have been as successful in my opinion!

In the end I decided to stick with using all males in my final 6 shots. I felt this made them more effective as a set and having a semi broad age range has helped give the set some variation.

I'm really pleased with how the images turned out!

Poster

This was a quick idea for a poster that could be used to promote the event. It was designed using Adobe Illustrator and features several elements from the original logo idea and the leaflets.

The use of the fingerprint is a clue to the theme of 'Identity' without giving too much away. The job of the poster is to entice people into the festival. Alongside the poster there would obviously be information station a website address, email, social media etc so people who are interested can find more out about the festival!

Leaflet

We decided as a group that having a leaflet that could be handed out at the event would be the best way to tell people our reasons behind it and introduce them to the themes and photographers.

We decided we create an A5 booklet with around 15 pages which would include the 500 words written about every piece of work as well as a general overview about the festival and it's themes.

We have included the printing costs for this in our budget but we feel this is an essential advertising cost. We estimated around 5000 copies would be a sufficient number to have at the event.

I have created a rough mock up of what the leaflet would look like using adobe illustrator. I've kept it quite bare purposely as we've gone for a very minimal clean look throughout the festival. The colours we've stuck with are red, green blue and yellow. Again very simple but I think it's quite effective in the above leaflet as it shares continuity with the logo and other design pieces.

Included in the leaflet is a mock up of some of the images on display which will hopefully entice people to investigate the event and pass their own judgements on the work.

Flights

Obviously with us being an international festival travel is a huge part of the budget. We have sourced flights out from the UK to Riga for £207.19 which is quite fair.

Obviously with 10 photographers we will each need travel there which will form part of the budget.

Another consideration is getting the work over there, we have opted to seek sponsorship from the framing company to see if they will cover postage costs to Riga!