So now im slightly more aware of how to operate this whole blogging affair I thought it would be a good plan to introduce my Photography..
Im a Fine Art student at the Arts University College Bournemouth (AUCB)
I spent the majority of my first year dabbling with as many mediums as possible as it was what I was used to on my Foundation Diploma at college..back there I thought I was going to turn out a sculptor for a while..im glad I nipped that one in the bud 'coz its safe to say its not my strong point!
I guess I chose Fine Art for this very reason, I wasnt massively sure what my practice actually was, I just knew im destined to be creative and I was not going to spend my life in an office!
However conceptual and broad I was trying be with my mixed media work to make the grade I kept coming back to Photography. It has always been a passion of mine but more in my free time than my education. Near the end of a pretty turbulent year I had the realiseation..finally..that, for me, its not the grades that necessarily matter, its what I am learning about myself and my work in the process that makes me feel im doing the right thing. So letting go of this grade obsession Ive finally started to make progress in the field I adore.
My second year didnt start off all that smoothly either if im honest however instead of sitting being depressed about it all I decided to tailor my first project to beating my year long Artistic Block.. I did this in the form of a visual diary. I felt i needed a project where it was necessary to contribute on a daily basis, in a sense beating the block out of me even if the task ended up being mindless towards the end after such repetition. So everyday I wrote a brutally honest diary, throwing out all the days emotion onto a page, no matter what. It was a great release. I needed a way of making art from this practice, the pages of that book were pure raw emotion which Ive always wanted to put into my work but have never known how to do so. So alongside this I took photos of myself everyday in a passport style. I wanted my words to relate to the photos which visually gave a good impression of each specific day, I was surprised at the amount of narrative these pictures had. Much experimentation came in this part (which if you are lucky I will upload to my Flickr soon) and my resulting piece was a set of 15 prints showing my faces but made up of the words from my diary. The prints were initially monoprinted, the words of my diary written in a way which builds up the corresponding image of my face. Meaning my words were now public and had a visual form however were obstructed from being read directly due to the texture of the monoprint. There are phrases which stick out but are in a sense out of context due to how they are presented. I contact printed all these mono prints in the dark room to create 15 uniform images. The photo paper acted as a seal, bound my words to the page as well as capturing the uncontrollable nature of the monoprints. I felt I was finally on the right track, by treating my projects as a challenge I seemed to create work which I was finally proud of..
I had beaten my Artistic Block and was now onto a new project..
The purpose of this entry was to lay down my starting point. I felt had to try and sum up myself as a Photographer. The answer I came up with here was 'an opportunist'. The way in which I took photos was always quite free, never leaving home without a camera, and capturing anything of interest in a sympathetic way at the time. Never planned shoots as such. In turn this means I have touched upon a broad range of techniques and my portfolio certainly shows this!
Ranging from; Extreme Sports ( BMXing,Trials,Blading,Snowboarding) Landscapes of all varieties, Macro experiments to Mixed Media.
The themes which gravitated around my more education work touched upon; Distortion, Manual editing of photo prints, Repetition, Layers and Pattern.
Have a gander if you wish
http://katatafrin.deviantart.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katarrantula/
It was all well and good shooting in this opportunist way but there's only so far it can go before it starts to feel in vain. Ive gotten to a place in life where Photography is what I want to build a life around and this is why I have decided to ask myself this question..
WHAT IS THE ESSENCE OF PHOTOGRAPHY?
So this is where I am now, I have set myself the monumental task of finding the Essence of Photography and what this phrase means to me. I want to know what it is about this medium which pushes my buttons in the way it does, why is taking photos all I want to do!?
Im a Fine Art student at the Arts University College Bournemouth (AUCB)
I spent the majority of my first year dabbling with as many mediums as possible as it was what I was used to on my Foundation Diploma at college..back there I thought I was going to turn out a sculptor for a while..im glad I nipped that one in the bud 'coz its safe to say its not my strong point!
I guess I chose Fine Art for this very reason, I wasnt massively sure what my practice actually was, I just knew im destined to be creative and I was not going to spend my life in an office!
However conceptual and broad I was trying be with my mixed media work to make the grade I kept coming back to Photography. It has always been a passion of mine but more in my free time than my education. Near the end of a pretty turbulent year I had the realiseation..finally..that, for me, its not the grades that necessarily matter, its what I am learning about myself and my work in the process that makes me feel im doing the right thing. So letting go of this grade obsession Ive finally started to make progress in the field I adore.
My second year didnt start off all that smoothly either if im honest however instead of sitting being depressed about it all I decided to tailor my first project to beating my year long Artistic Block.. I did this in the form of a visual diary. I felt i needed a project where it was necessary to contribute on a daily basis, in a sense beating the block out of me even if the task ended up being mindless towards the end after such repetition. So everyday I wrote a brutally honest diary, throwing out all the days emotion onto a page, no matter what. It was a great release. I needed a way of making art from this practice, the pages of that book were pure raw emotion which Ive always wanted to put into my work but have never known how to do so. So alongside this I took photos of myself everyday in a passport style. I wanted my words to relate to the photos which visually gave a good impression of each specific day, I was surprised at the amount of narrative these pictures had. Much experimentation came in this part (which if you are lucky I will upload to my Flickr soon) and my resulting piece was a set of 15 prints showing my faces but made up of the words from my diary. The prints were initially monoprinted, the words of my diary written in a way which builds up the corresponding image of my face. Meaning my words were now public and had a visual form however were obstructed from being read directly due to the texture of the monoprint. There are phrases which stick out but are in a sense out of context due to how they are presented. I contact printed all these mono prints in the dark room to create 15 uniform images. The photo paper acted as a seal, bound my words to the page as well as capturing the uncontrollable nature of the monoprints. I felt I was finally on the right track, by treating my projects as a challenge I seemed to create work which I was finally proud of..
I had beaten my Artistic Block and was now onto a new project..
The purpose of this entry was to lay down my starting point. I felt had to try and sum up myself as a Photographer. The answer I came up with here was 'an opportunist'. The way in which I took photos was always quite free, never leaving home without a camera, and capturing anything of interest in a sympathetic way at the time. Never planned shoots as such. In turn this means I have touched upon a broad range of techniques and my portfolio certainly shows this!
Ranging from; Extreme Sports ( BMXing,Trials,Blading,Snowboarding) Landscapes of all varieties, Macro experiments to Mixed Media.
The themes which gravitated around my more education work touched upon; Distortion, Manual editing of photo prints, Repetition, Layers and Pattern.
Have a gander if you wish
http://katatafrin.deviantart.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/katarrantula/
It was all well and good shooting in this opportunist way but there's only so far it can go before it starts to feel in vain. Ive gotten to a place in life where Photography is what I want to build a life around and this is why I have decided to ask myself this question..
WHAT IS THE ESSENCE OF PHOTOGRAPHY?
So this is where I am now, I have set myself the monumental task of finding the Essence of Photography and what this phrase means to me. I want to know what it is about this medium which pushes my buttons in the way it does, why is taking photos all I want to do!?
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