Evaluation

Evaluation

Overall I think this project went quite well, I was able to get a series of images of what I set out to achieve, even after initial struggles at the start.

The biggest problem I found was transport, I had to rely on other people to get me to and from locations and so this meant I had to go to the places at times that suited them and not when I would of liked to ideally go, such as times around dusk and dawn for the ‘golden hour’ mentioned in my research. This meant I couldn’t go to shoots on some days that were planned, I could only stay a certain amount of time at the location, and so had to rush what I was doing, or go where they wanted to go.

The other major problems I found was keeping with the chosen aesthetic of a minimalistic style. I found it quite difficult to find locations where my subject could be portrayed with all the desired empty space around it. I found the scenes were often quite cluttered and contained more than I wanted to show and struggled to find compositions which isolated my subjects in such a way that I wanted to portray them.

It took a lot of research and going to many different places to shoot but in the end I was able to come up with some relevant locations where I was able to capture my subjects in my desired style while keeping everything within the brief and intent I set myself.

When it came to editing the images I tried to keep things as simple as possible, for most of the images the only changes I made were small adjustments to correct exposures, boost contrast and adjust the highlights and shadows when needed. Two of the images however I did make quite dramatic changes, both to composition and even the scene itself in one of the images. The image containing the bridge was the first to undergo a major change to composition, for this one I flipped the image so it led in from the right instead of the left. I did this because I felt it made a more interesting composition than how I originally took the photograph, I think it was much easier to follow and more pleasing to the eye.

The other major change I made was with the image of the tree in the field, with this image I adjusted the path so that it led towards the tree instead of away. With the original image the path was a leading line that led the viewers attention away from my subject, and I needed to stop this, so I flipped the path to lead to the centre drawing the viewers attention straight at my subject. I think editing the images in these ways could be quite questionable to my project, but I think I needed to make them in order to make the images stronger and portray my point more. As it was more of a fine art project and not documentary I think the changes are justifiable.

Overall I’m pleased with the images I produced and think the project went quite well. If I was to do another landscape project again though, I would look into alternative transport methods that are more reliable, and ones that mean I can get to the locations at the times I wish to be there instead of been dictated by others.