Its important to start researching and designing for two Negotiated Study 40 credit modules. These will form your subject study for your final year. Both of these modules must be taken through to a finished stage of production.
So, thinking about this, and trying to work out where my strengths and interests lie, and where I want to push myself and improve, I know that at least for one of these modules, I'm considering working on portraiture.
I like photographing people - but as I have stated before, I especially like to take images that have at least a little narrative background. I like character, or some aspect of personality to be the strongest element of the photographs. So, I've been considering a 'theme' that I could apply - ideally, one that gives me the option of working both in and out of the studio.
I've thought about images that demonstrate different aspects of a solo subjects life - most of us have many roles - I am a Mother, a wife, a student, a daughter, and a friend, for example. The idea of selecting someone, finding out the 4 or 5 or 6 roles that THEY think describe their lives, and trying to capture images that reflect each of them, to end up with a finished portfolio of 4 to 6 images per subject, is one area I am looking at.
Another area I am considering is looking at all the many and different relationships that make up our lives, and producing mini portfolios, either detailing a particular relationship between 2 people, or again, selecting a solo subject and looking at the different relationships that they have . Out of those two ideas, the option of examining a particular relationship is the one that appeals most at the moment. There are so many different types of relationships to explore - couples, parent and child, work mates, friends, siblings - and within those groups (and others) there is even more variety and aspects to consider .
With this in mind, I decided to do a 'test run' - and my subject was 'Siblings', looking at the relationship between my daughters, Kirsty and Katie . There is an age gap of around 9 years between them - despite this, although there are the inevitable bouts of quarrelling, the two are really close . Kirsty has huge patience with Kate, and for the most part, Katie definitely looks up to Kirsty . They share a sense of humour, and have very occasionally been mistaken for Mum and daughter when out and about, because of the interaction between them.
So, taking advantage of a rare dry spell, during this awful Summer we are having, and wanting to also take advantage of a nearby field that is full of beautiful poppies, the three of us set out for an hour or so with the camera. I took a lot of solo shots, at first, then got the two of them together, and as I hoped, it wasn't long before they started to not bother so much about the camera, but just talk and joke, and mess around, and naturally interact. Out of around 200 photographs I took of the pair of them, I have 12 that I think capture how the two are together - some were posed as a result of something they did naturally, some were captured because I just snapped away and caught a moment between them that had nothing to do with the camera being there.
I think I managed to capture a few of the aspects of their relationships in these images - the two where they are laughing, and the black and white shot where Kate is planting a kiss on Kirsty, in particular, are really natural and typical of what the two are like together.
To pursue this would involved several shoots, in a variety of locations and situations . I need to look at how feasible this would be, in relation to any 'models', and I would also have to consider how many different relationships I could 'explore' . For this Summer break, I hope to continue photographing the two girls together, by way of 'research', to see how much time and what 'problems' I encounter. I also intend to have a search to see if any other photographers have produced images that document 'relationships'. I need to consider what other models/relationships I could focus on . One idea is - if possible - perhaps document the relationship between a Mother and new baby, during the first few weeks of life, how it develops and see if the changes can be captured - and whilst I would love to do that, I can already see how difficult it would be, not least because its an intrusive thing to contemplate doing, during what is an intense, tiring and exciting time in any ones life. In fact, the whole idea of focusing on any relationship is quite intrusive - it will be interesting to see how this works out, during this test run, when I am in a situation where I am a daily part of the girls lives anyway! I suspect that will make it a lot easier, in a lot of respects - but it also might throw up unanticipated snags !
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