Week 1 - Planning and Research
This week was focused on getting prepared for the FMP, getting my concept solidified, and getting things organised to make sure the project runs smoothly. I'm pretty happy with my progress so far, and the workshop with Maddy on Tuesday was really helpful to expose me to new artists and inspire my research, which will start next week. I've skimmed over a few of the artists and started to create a list of photographers I want to look into. The peer feedback session on Thursday was really constructive and it was really nice to talk to some classmates again. I think the feedback they gave me was pretty detailed, and I think future feedback sessions will be really beneficial in my progression. Most of this week has been used to create this website and set it up to be used for the 10 weeks. I think I've included every page and section that I'll need for the near future, and I've gotten used to the software so it shouldn't be too hard to add anything else I might need.
Next week I'm going to research into my themes, create rough ideas to explore, research artists that interest me, find some more artists that relate to my theme, investigate my grandparent's lives, and try to finish my family tree.
Week 2 - Pre-Production and Idea Development
This week started with our first drawing session, where we looked at shadow and light in some Brassaii and Weston photographs. It was surprisingly successful session, and it was a really nice break from writing and typing all day. I also came up with some good ideas for my final outcome, and I have been brainstorming various ideas throughout the week in my notebook. The main focus of my week was research, both in researching my family and interviewing my grandparents, and getting some artist research done. I feel like I'm behind on artist research because I've been too focused on learning about my grandparents, so that's something I'm going to get up to date with next week. However, I'm really happy with the research I've done, and I think it relates to my work really well. The research sessions with Maddy have helped me quite a lot, as they give me ideas of people to research, but I've been very distracted from artist research by my family research. I've had a few communication issues as my family expect to be involved and kept up to date, which is sweet but exhausting. Getting photos and information from my grandparents has been difficult as they aren't the best at technology, which has slowed down my process. In hindsight, I think I should have got all the information and images I needed before the project started.
'Days with my father', 'Visual Poems of North America', and Billie Blossom's zines
Next week I'm going to get my artist research done, and do some more experimentation.
Week 3 - Pre-Production and Development
I'm pretty pleased with my progress this week, as I started it not knowing what images I could possibly make for my outcome, and I finished it with a solid plan, and I got a bunch of experimentation done. I got to play with a Polaroid camera for the first time this week, which was really interesting and it allowed me to try emulsion lifts, which I haven't done successfully before. My 1:1 with Maddy on Thursday was really helpful, and she told me I'm very much on track, so I'm going to try and write a plan for next week which allows for more free time, as I think I might be ahead of schedule. I want to make sure I'm looking after myself and don't get too carried away with working and ignoring my mental health. I'm getting some more photos from the Read side shortly, plus some prints from the Irwin side, which I'm really excited to see. I still think I'm behind on artist research, but since it's an ongoing thing I should be okay. The emulsion lifts and experiments I did this week were really fun. I missed doing practical work, so it was nice to do some from home. I've asked my sister to do some writing about our grandparents for me, and I need to get the rest of my writing together. I managed to get a photoshoot done this week, and I developed the film at home. I'm looking forward to going on campus on Wednesday so I can scan the film and see the photos properly. At the end of the week, I made some mini zines so I could get used to the format and experiment with the layout, and I hope to continue this experimentation next week.
Week 4 - Pre-Production and Experimentation
This week was a lot more relaxed for me, as I know I can get more work done over the Easter break. I had a good feedback session with some peers on Monday, which gave me some ideas for when we're back on campus. I actually took home some cyanotype paper when I was on campus at the end of the week, so I'm going to try to do something with that next week. I'm planning on continuing my bookbinding experimentation over Easter, as I'd like to try more materials than cocktail sticks and paper, although I'm pretty pleased with what I started. I scanned a lot of film on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, as well as scanning the physical family photos I have. I've also borrowed the Polaroid camera again so I can do some more emulsion lifts and chemical experiments, as well as a medium format Bronica. I'm going to use the next two weeks to get organised before production begins, and finalise my outcome plans.
Week 5 - Production
I spent most of this week processing and scanning film, including film from my grandparents. I also made another draft book which allowed me to practice book binding, but I still need to fill it out with the correct page layout. I started to experiment with my self-portraiture section to get a sense of what I need, then I can try it out in the studio next week. I think the self-portraiture should be pretty straight forward, as long as I can get someone to help me set things up, and maybe I can get a cable release from the equipment hire. I think I've fallen behind a little bit this week because scanning took up so much time, so I've written a list of things to do next week and I'm going to try really hard to get them all done.
Week 6 - Production
This week was mostly practical work, as I started with a paper-making workshop, portraiture workshop, and finished it with some Kensuke Koike experimentation. I also caught up on some writing and started filling in my second book draft with content, which makes me hopeful that I'll be able to get this book done. It's been a bit of a slow week since I had a cold and I'm getting used to going to campus, but the portraiture workshop was very helpful and I'm excited to get my self-portraiture done. I've missed a few peer feedback sessions, so I'm hoping to catch up on those next week. I've done some artist research this week too, which has been inspiring and motivating, as they've given me new ideas and a clearer sense of my outcome. I'm excited to get my book done, although I'm contemplating presenting my work in a different way, such as a diptych or going back to the zine idea, although I think this will become clearer as I progress in the next few weeks.
Week 7 - Production
I've been thinking about my final outcome presentation and I'm starting to get all my content together, which means I'm on track to my original timetable. I'm really happy with the self-portrait I did with Sam on Monday, and I'm really happy with the editing that we did. After my 1:1 with Maddy, I'm thinking of filming my final outcome, especially as there's no in-person exhibition this year. I've done it before with a dodgy home setup, but campus is open so I could do it properly with a tripod and a set. If I film it I'll have to think about audio too, but this is something I'm going to figure out next week. I got some writing from my mother which will help to fill up the pages in my book and I can write some of what she said over the disposable camera photos that my granny sent me. I did some of this on Wednesday, and made some page mock-ups which I'm really happy with. I'm going to have to learn how to make them in Photoshop, but the physical ones were fun to make and helpful. I have another portrait I want to recreate, so I've booked in for studio time next week to do that. I did some colour darkroom work on Thursday which I'm really happy with, and I'm grateful that I got to do it. I finally redid the family photos shoot and I'm pretty happy with those images, so I think they'll be the final ones to go in my book. I've gathered a bunch of quotes from my grandparents' interviews, my grandma's book, granny's letter and from my mother, which will help me as I collate everything into one publication.
Week 8 - Production
I've been able to be on campus more often this week, and I've used my time there to scan in my collages ready to be formatted for my book, as well as scanning darkroom work for documentation. I attempted contact prints of my self-portraits but unfortunately they didn't come out as I wanted, which was disappointing. I spent a lot of time trying to get it right but in the end I decided to reshoot on film. My motivation and energy were really low this week, so I was a lot less productive than I wanted to be, but I was glad to have some time in the darkroom, even if nothing I made is actually useful to the project. I've had some doubts about the presentation of my final outcome which I will work hard to resolve next week.
Week 9 - Post-Production
I started this week by developing my film from the self-portraiture reshoot, but I wasn't happy with it, so I took time to shoot it again. This also didn't go as planned, so after two 35mm attempts, I decided to fall back on my digital portraits instead. This was a bit of a setback for me, but I tried not to let it get in my way, and I continued to get my layout sorted. At the start of the week, it just looked like a photo album, but after working on it and swapping out images I've ended up with something I quite like. I'm mostly doing collaging, as this is a way that I can put myself back in the narrative of these photos, which links back to the whole reason I started this project - to get to know my grandparents better and be more present in their lives. As my motivation has been low, I spent some time in the colour darkroom, which was a nice refresher to get me feeling creative again. On Thursday I had a really good in-person peer crit, where I got to look at everyone else's work and interact with their pieces and make suggestions, which is another thing that made me feel inspired again. This lead to me making a few new collages, which I then incorporated into my evolving layout. I sorted out front and back cover images which I'm very happy with and I think they match the aesthetic and theme of the book really well. Next week I plan on making some of the collages again with better quality paper, then scanning them and formatting my final publication. I'm cutting it close to the deadline, but I think I can do it.
Week 10 - Post-Production
This week was definitely the most hectic week of all of them. I had to collate my content, figure out a final layout, put that into InDesign, and then work out how to get it to print the way I wanted. I also had to do some admin work, like getting my final evaluation done as well as the candidate authority form. Once I finally got my outcome finished I filmed myself flicking through it, which means I get to control the pace.