Over the first 3 parts of this course, I’ve found it difficult to get myself in to an order I find easy to work through. Approaches I’ve tried include;

• Doing each exercise one after the other.
• Making notes on each exercise to refer back to when I get to that exercise.
• Writing up my research (hand written) quickly/ in note form, and then writing up properly on to here.
• Reading through the whole of the part, e.g. part three, making notes along the way.
• Setting a weekly deadline of “must complete exercise 1.1” etc.

I think I’ve now found my way. Above ideas were all ok. Although some seemed time consuming and as though I was doing something twice – writing notes then writing those notes up properly. Doing each exercise one after the other doesn’t work for me. I find it slows me down and I get very caught up on fully completing each exercise before I move on to the next. Setting weekly deadlines also hasn’t worked, as I’ve found when I was at work or now I’m on maternity leave, things get in the way and plans change. I then get so caught up on the fact I’m missing my own deadlines that I start to block it out and seem to fall further behind out of guilt for not being on top of things.

The path I’ve now found that works for me is as follows;

1. Read through the whole “part” – so I know what it’s all about and have an idea of what I’m supposed to be heading towards achieving by the end of the assignment.
2. Open a draft post for each exercise – copy the breif and my setup of headings to get a continuous setup for each exercise & assignment.
3. Start the research – for any/ all exercises. This allows me to go back and forth between tasks without being held back by feeling I need to complete one before starting the next.
4. Take the photos – when I upload my photos for each exercise, I add my approach and reflection too. That allows me to write up my thoughts at the time rather than trying to go back and remember later.
5. Re read the breif.
6. Re read my whole exercise – to ensure it fulfills the breif and I have not missed anything.
7. Post to blog.

I find this method to work for me. It allows me to do all my research if I can’t get out to take photographs. It also allows me to drop in and out of each exercise so I can work on something when I find the opportunity, rather than missing it just because I’m not at that bit yet.

I know my blog often looks untouched for a while, and then I upload a few exercises in one go, or an exercise and assignment together. I just find it works for me to have all my draft posts available to add to when I can instead of lots of notes which I have to come back to find the relevant bits. It’s also quite satisfying to post a few exercises and feel a lot has been accomplished/ finished off/ submitted.

Practicing Shutter Speed

All images were taken with canon 1300d, 55-200mm lens, on an overcast day.

On this day, I went to my parents house and tried to capture images of their dog, Jack, playing ball. I was trying to capture Jack mid air but didn’t get the shot I wanted. We only played for approximately 30 minutes, but I was happy with some of the photos taken.

I have cropped and edited in Snapseed to get a better result.

Although some images came out well, there are some where I caught a fraction too soon and have cropped part of the dog from the frame. This was something I was aware of trying not to do but he was very quick and his direction of travel unpredictable. There are also frames where the focus isn’t quite right, as the eyes aren’t in focus totally. That’s something I need to work on when trying to photograph moving objects/ things- focus. There are also frames where Jack had run past too quickly and I missed him! The first few frames were a blur as my shutter speed was too slow. The rest were taken at either 1/400 or 1/350. With f/18.

It was a challenge trying to capture such a quick subject, but I had a lot of fun trying! If I were to do this again, I would possibly use a tripod to try to take the camera shake out, this may have added to the blur in some of the images. Having said that, the background blur in the last image was due to my panning of the camera. This is another style of photography I feel I could benefit from in the future.

After publishing Assignment 3, The (in)Decisive Moment, I went back to re read the assignment before submitting to my tutor, in the hope I haven’t missed anything obvious. Part of every assignment is to write a reflection. I put this at the end of my assignments.

This time I feel I’ve spent more time writing reflectively than on the previous assignments. I think that may be because I found myself learning as I tried to take the photos. I also found myself thinking about my photography in a way I hadn’t before starting this course. I previously took photos of things because they looked nice, but wasn’t entirely sure how to get the best in each frame. Occasionally I got images as I imagined them, but mostly they were just ‘ok’. However, now I find myself planning the shot more and being recognising things I have learnt through this course so far such as composition. Although I may get the right shot sometimes, I still want my images to be more consistent, which will come with practice, hopefully.

When logging in to my student page I noticed a link to Andrea Norrington’s “Reflective Writing: Taking time to invest in your work.”

This article made me think about my reflective writing. I wanted to make sure this time I was answering the kind of thing expected when looking back over your own work. In particular what I’ve learnt and what I’ll take forward with me. Before reading the article I hadn’t thought too much about what reflective writing means to my studies… Other than it being necessary. Whereas now, I understand it more. Obviously I knew the underlying idea was to make me a better photographer. Now I see that I can do that by learning from my mistakes, and from what went well, to influence how I do things going forward and how I can hopefully use it to change my photography in the moment rather than looking back and thinking “should have, would have, could have”.

Reference

Norrington, A. (2020) : Reflective Writing: Taking time to invest in your work. At: https://www.oca-student.com/ (Accessed 08/06/20)

I just saw this little news video on Facebook about artist, David Zinn, creating art on the streets. What a lovely way of bringing a smile to people’s faces. Also, a way of making art from the smallest details. Although it is not photography, photography is art too. Photography can also be created from a small detail.

This video reminded me how important it is to look for inspiration in everything. We take photos because we enjoy it. We take photos to create art. To provoke a reaction. And my reaction to this? It made me smile. That is why I enjoy art; it brings an emotional reaction.

“It’s all creativity and it’s all good for the soul“

This reminded me to continue taking photos because I love it, not just to complete an exercise for my UCA work. I also found this yesterday when I posted photos from my early morning walk. Because I took the photos for fun, I felt it put me in a better mood for the day.

“Science is how we solve problems, but art is how we deal with them”

References

[1] BBC West, David Zinn, The street artist making us smile during the pandemic (2020) [online news clip] At: https://www.facebook.com/pointswest/videos/632113347374138/ (Accessed 05/06/20)

This morning I had a very early wake up call from a very awake baby. I decided to take the opportunity to go photo natural light. In the hope of catching “the golden hour”. However, by the time we had walked through the woods, we’d missed it. Lesson learnt.

However I still took the opportunity to take some photos to add to my learning log.

All photos were taken in manual mode, with a 55-250mm lens. 1/250, f/18.

All were then edited in Snapseed to accentuate the colours.

Whilst in isolation with a newborn, I took the opportunity to try to capture some of her movements while she slept. On This particular day she was very lively while sleeping! I set my camera to various shutter speeds just to see what it would catch. I picked out the two I found worked best, in my opinion, to show movement. She threw her arms around a little, which seemed a good opportunity to practice. Both of the images I thought worked well were set at 1″. All were taken with a 18-55mm lens.

I chose the 2 below as they have so much movement, it obscures what is actually there. Yes, you can see it is a baby, and you could tell it’s her arms which are causing the motion. However, I like that you can look at the image and still not really know exactly what she looks like. You can see she has dark hair, you can see she is wearing yellow, but you cannot see her face clearly. It also shows her learning to wriggle, learning to use her arms, learning to communicate. As I am also learning. Learning to use my camera, learning shutter speeds.

I’ve found it a struggle recently to get my head in to photography with the worries of pregnancy and all the appointments that come along with it.

Photography is still something I want to pursue, I’ve just struggled to find the time whilst I was working full time. I have now broken up for maternity leave but obviously that brings its own upcoming events.

In the last few weeks my parents have had a puppy. I took a few opportunities to take photographs of the new addition to the family. I also used the opportunity to experiment with editing the photos. I used an app called ‘snapseed’ for this.

I was trying to drown out the clutter of a bright colour / distracting background. So, in both photos I blurred the outer edges and made the shadows darker.

I took the photos while he was sleeping. As a lively little pup, it’s pretty hard to get a good photo while he’s playing. Perhaps that’s something I can use for part 3, to experiment with shutter speeds.

I really do want to pick back up where I was and find my love for photography again. I think I need to rethink my approach and perhaps realise completing it as quick as I first thought I could, isn’t going to happen. The course may take me longer than the 3-4 years I was hoping, but I would still like to get through it and my aim is still to achieve my degree.

Part three, Traces of time.

This project is a little scary to me. I’ve tried to use shutter speed priority in the past and just haven’t got the hang of it yet. Getting to this project, I decided it’s definitely one I need to do some research in to before being able to start the photographs. I wanted to make sure I understood at least the basics to get worthwhile photos.
I watched the following 2 links to get a better understanding. I also had a look on Pinterest and found the photo below showing suggestions of which shutter speed to use in certain situations.

My Research Notes.

Shutter Priority – “TV” or “S” – “Time Value” or “Shutter”
Use shutter speed to either blur or freeze the frame
Camera will automatically set aperture and ISO to create the correct exposure
In low light, may need to increase the ISO to allow the camera to adjust the aperture.
Half press the shutter button to allow camera to select other settings
Flashing aperture will allow you to take the photo, but camera is suggesting it won’t be the correct exposure – may be too dark or too bright. Solutions- 1. Edit later. 2. Adjust the ISO. 3. Change the shutter speed.

Uses for different speeds.
Movement – to tell a story.
Busy places – use a longer exposure to blur movement of people so as not to distract from the image you’re photographing in the background.
Light painting- use a light, eg. Torch, to move through the frame with a long exposure which would pick up a trail.
Use a flashlight with a long exposure to capture a person in a few places within the frame, by only lighting them up in different places, and moving in the dark in between.
Trail lights- e.g. Car lights, use to accentuate a long winding road.

“Neutral density filter” – daytime long exposure.
“Motion blur” – caused by the subject moving. The background is probably sharp.
“Camera shake” – the whole photo is blurred.
“Noise” – graininess – caused by ISO being too high.
Use the lowest shutter speed possible to get lowest ISO. Creating a sharper photo with less noise.

So, for the last 6 weeks or so, I’ve found it difficult to get my head back in to my degree for a few reasons. The last week has given me my focus back, also for a few different reasons. I thought I’d share a post on the reasons for the above as a way of breaking myself back in now that I feel like I need to do some serious catching up.

At the beginning of July, my husband and I found out we are expecting our first baby! The month was filled with excitement (and also nerves!), doctors appointments, midwives and migraines. Feeling ill over the weeks following really knocked me off my stride, but, hopefully all will now get back on track.

I read through Part three and that’s partly my reason for putting it off. Shutter speed / Tv has always been the mode which scares me most. I have tried in the past but have never felt I’ve grasped it and really don’t feel confident with it. It seems theres so much to consider when shooting in this mode that I’m anxious to start it.

However, the last week has given me the encouragement, I didn’t realise I needed, to get on with it. I took 2 weeks holiday away from work. The first week I wasn’t feeling so great, so it was good to just stop and relax. Then we booked a few days away in St. Ives. which was the perfect, pretty location to remind me why I love photography. Whilst down there, I received the feedback for Part Two. Good feedback gave me the boost of that “I can do this” feeling, with a little constructive criticism to show me what I need to work on.

My feedback confirmed the one thing I already know. I’m not so good at self assessment. I find it hard to boast about the things I have done well, but also don’t feel I know enough to pick out the little points which make a good/bad difference in photographs yet. I know this is something I need to work on as it’s an important part of the course, it’s just something I’ve always struggled with.

I have used a bullet journal this year, which I’m now finding helpful to keep me on track. At the start of each month, I draw up my monthly diary, add a *things to do* and a *university work* box and add myself little goals for the month (see below for September). I make all of my notes in the same journal so that all is in the same place and I don’t have to go looking for all different notebooks etc for my notes & aims. I plan to start using this monthly page as a reason to add another post to my learning log, perhaps as my aims for the month. Part of my feedback was that I don’t use it enough, so that’s something I need to add to, and this would give me a monthly focus.

Going forward, I need to keep myself focussed, stop worrying about the things I don’t need to do – as that’s why I’m studying, to learn. I’m sure the next 5 months of pregnancy will bring its ups and downs, but this degree is something I really want to work towards, and need to remind myself it’ll all be worth it – and next year I’ll have much more time whilst not working full time (around the baby of course!).