I can say I won't be using photoshop again - it was complicated and I wasn't getting the result I wanted. I ended up watching a YouTube video on basic photoshop photo editing which helped me with the basic editing but I still didn't get the result I wanted.

I tried several attempts to darken the light behind Vicky so that her face wouldn't be competing with the light. I used the lasso tool to draw out and separate her from the light but it honestly looked terrible every time I did it so I settled on basic editing for the photo.

I still like the result but the kind of editing I wanted to achieve for this photo proved to be too advance for my photoshop skills.

She was concentrating on driving which shows on her face, and the speedometer being in the photo shows how fast she was driving.

I really like the angle that I captured this - it it quite reminiscent for me as when we first started dating, she would drive us around to our destinations and whilst we were in the "honeymoon period", I would catch her looking through the mirror at me and it would make us giggle like little girls.

Architecture come with lines and shapes that can create other shapes. Open windows can create differences that draw the eyes to certain spaces in the photo. Age has an effect on architecture that can be of interest. I am going to play with lines and cropping to see what I can come up with.

I decided in the end, edit the sound from clips I had taken of home life and “smush” them together to have a sound file that shows my home life with my family.

Starting of with portraits is something I haven’t really ventured into - I was a street photographer when I worked with photography last - taking photos of the streets I grew up on, graffiti, the distinct differences between the “nice parts” of town and the council estates. I am looking forward to seeing what I can come up with!

Moving into and towards the end I want to focus on the high street I think - I can focus on the shop fronts, the people of the high street and the culture of the streets. Being in Hull means diversity, there are many backgrounds that live here and it shines on the high street. I need to find some artists that focus on the shops and people of the high street so I can gather some ideas for my work.

Specializing in black and white photography, his favorite subjects include landscapes, cityscapes, and abstractions from nature. He is especially drawn to places with intrinsic mystique: historic places, old houses, and the soft light of gloomy days. (https://keithdotson.com/pages/about-keith-dotson)

I played with the editing features on my iPhone, made some films shorter, played with the volume and effects so that they appear more visually pleasing to watch. I won’t be carrying on with filming further into the project as I can’t see it fitting in with my brief.

I used SKRWT to change the perspective slightly so it was more symmetrical and cropped it down so it is less visually busy. I also wanted to crop the bottom out as you can see I took this photo out of the car as we stood in traffic. You can see the angles are slightly off and the skwrt app was great for fixing those angles.

I then went into VSCO which has a lot of preset filters. It has smart technology which recommends filters for the photo however I didn’t choose to use this and chose to edit the photo manually. It gave a more professional result whereas the filter was a bit “instagram”. It would have looked great with those filters on social media.

This building is unique in that it is triangular in shape which gives this lovely corner to photograph. The angle is a bit off but to get it would have included me standing in the middle of a busy road to achieve. I would have also preferred for the cars to be out of the shot but this wasn't possible due to them being parked right next to the building.

I also decided to crop this photo down to be a lot more like one of Dotson's photos which I included in my research.

I also edited it to look slightly more moody than the original - the windows next to the door are actually painted panels and it felt a bit uneasy so I wanted to get that across in the editing.

We sat in a lecture regarding portrait photography and the subject of indirect self-portraits was taught to us. I liked the idea of compiling everything that I liked into a collage for my self-portrait, so I used the Canva program to achieve this. I used the graphic feature to find logos of brands and hobbies that I enjoy and incorporated some of my own photographs that I have taken of the people and animals in my life.  

I then took a photograph of my side profile and used procreate on my iPad to black it out to create a silhouette of my face. After printing and cutting out the graphics I chose, I arranged them and stuck them down and finally cut out the shape of my profile to give it the shape of me. 

I really enjoyed this process, it not only felt creative and fun in the sense of it being quite a childlike activity – the cut and stick process- but I really had to reflect on what I really enjoy doing in life and what means most to me – something that gets forgotten in the busy schedule that I call my everyday. 

A perfume advertisement for example could show a young woman with flawless skin and makeup, high end clothing, a perfect manicure and holding the perfume bottle in a field of flowers. This would indicate that the perfume is designed for young women, smells floral and that it will make you feel like the woman looks in the photograph.  

In the photo below taken by Seamus Nicholson, it shows a woman standing in the street in front of shop. Using the elements to analyse this photograph we can guess what the photographer was thinking when taking the photo. We can see a young woman, dressed in quite revealing clothing on the street on a nighttime. The signs behind her indicate that there is a sale in the shop, but this could be interpreted as the woman is for sale, especially since there is a large bed in the shop which could indicate prostitution. Using the elements we can assume that this is what the photographer had in mind for the viewer to see when looking at the photograph. 

After discussing portrait photography, we were tasked with experimenting with taking our own portrait photographs. I looked forward to this task as I have plenty of people to photograph in my life and it should make for a nice portfolio of photographs. 

This allows for some interesting angles to be created and shapes that wouldn't be possible by just photographing regular architecture.

It was interesting to experiment with and I really like the results I managed to get from using the app.

When I went out to take photographs, I kept this in mind and ended up getting some photographs I am happy with in terms of being symmetrical. I used some buildings corners and others I focused on the center of the buildings. I edited all the photographs in SKRWT and VSCO due to the ease of use of the apps and they turn out excellently. 

The arches that I chose for my portfolio do just this - decorate the building and frame other things. They provide vanishing points in the centre the photographs and leading lines that the eyes can track through the photograph. I really like the photograph I got of the alley way that has arches going down in - when looking at it and tracking those lines, you see little details like the flag that aren’t necessarily obvious upon first glance.

It has a heavy metal look to it with crossing metal frames and supports - it’s almost cage like. With my photos I really wanted to capture the web of metal that keeps the bridge held together but also to feature some more abstract shots of the metal web. I am thrilled with the shots I got of the bridge and they made for some really fantastic FX shots where I mirrored the images to create even more intricacy. I took a great shot of the large wheels that pick the bridge up where you can really see the mechanisms which was fascinating to really look at whilst I was out taking the photos.

In the end I feel like I have produced a body of work that I am happy to turn in however, going forward, I need to plan my time better and use it wisely as I never know when something might happen that throws me “off course” when I am already not really “on course.”

• Family photography - I really enjoyed photographing my family and capturing their emotions through the lens. I now have some lovely photos for myself and my family to look at.

• Architecture photography - Now that I have spent some time taking photos of buildings, I notice them a lot more now. I notice their shapes, sizes and angles or how they’re placed with other buildings. It’s interesting to see things I usually look straight past and some of the architecture in Hull is really quite extraordinary.

• Indirect self portrait - I mentioned the enjoyment I felt with the work previously but the crafting element of producing that work was nostalgic and therapeutic.

• Editing - I really enjoyed editing the photos I took, I would say it was my favourite part of the project. I liked seeing the photos come to life with better contrast and clarity or changing the colours with tones. I especially enjoyed the FX editing that produced the mirrored images - I am really proud of the editing I did on my photos.

Things I didn’t enjoy

• Sound art - I really struggled to find inspiration for this or see the point in it when I tried it. Some of the examples show to us were interesting but I just couldn’t get into it at all.

• Filming - Taking movies is something else I didn’t really enjoy - again a lack of inspiration didn’t help and the examples I did see were strange. I just don’t think it was for me.

• Cyanotype - I didn’t include my cyanotype process in this unit. Whilst I did try it I couldn’t really get into it and the results were lacklustre. I can see for some forms of art how it could be used but for my project it wasn’t suitable.

Things I wish I’d done but didn’t

• 35mm photography - I didn’t plan my time well enough to be able to explore with using a film camera. I am disappointed that I didn’t plan well enough but I have the camera at home and I may use it in my personal time to create some shots.