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Final Photographic Campaign!

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Week 11 - 12

Below is an image of me rearranging images of printed photos to see how the images should be arranged in Photoshop. I decided not to rescan the images into the digital space as I wanted my campaign to be a bit cleaner and precise.

Below is what I presented during week 12's class.

I got feedback to edit some of my images a bit more and to experiment with some of the feedback suggested, such as minimising or taking out the road in between the last image, as well as flipping some of the pieces of the images to be more of a mirror reflection.

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Week 11 In-class

I printed out a draft mockup of a photobook featuring my images and gave it to Zoe, Noesheen, Jackson, and Mikayla to review and provide feedback on. Noesheen pointed out that the use of colour grading would help my images convey better, as well as changing some of the layouts and composition of my images.

I spoke to Natalie at the end of class, and she told me to try a different technique of cutting up my images and rearranging them physically on the table rather than composing them digitally, which really helped me decide what I was trying to convey through my photo campaign and how I wanted it to look.

This technique of physically manipulating images made it easier for me to manipulate the images digitally, as they also remind me back to my main artist inspirations of Michael Wolf and Laura Romero, as they have a strong manipulation style of repetition and mirroring images.

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Week 10 - Work In Progress

I was unable to attend class this past week so below are some images I have been working on to put in my campaign. Experimenting with different framing and compositions of my layered images. I am still tossing up between the images being all black and white or to leave some colour within it and will discuss with my peers for next week's class before my photographic campaign presentation in class.

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Week 9 - In-Class Activity

Part 1 - Photo Rubric Self and Peer Analysis

I was paired up with Tammy for a peer review of our work and images.

Specifications My subject is new housing subdevelopments and their encroachment on nature and natural landscape. I am unsure of how many images I will use in my campaign, but I am currently testing out different layouts and compositions of my images.

Composition I am working on my leading lines within my images and making them align with one another for an easier understanding of my concept. I am working through the layering of the composition of my images at the moment, and framing out what is important within the shot. Concept / Content / Theme I feel I fall into the middle of strong and weak in this campaign and I am working on creating a more cohesive body of work that my concept is strongly evident throughout.

Image Quality My Image quality varies as I believe I have the correct exposure for some images but not all as the positioning of the houses in the images varies from facing the sun and facing away from the sun making it more difficult to edit the images more cohesively

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Week 7 In-Class Notes

Annotated Documentation Guide Discussion…

Go beyond what you like and don't like…

Is it what I wanted to achieve? 

Is this a new method? 

Why am I interested in this person's work? 

Detailed notes on development and my making thinking

How does my documentation hit the brief?

What are the significant points in my development journey?

Key significant moments/breakthrough moments

Go deeper into the things that didn’t go well and explain how it helped with my development

Explain into technical troubles that happened with my shoot (only 1 battery was charged)

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Week 8 In-class Activity

What are the 3 main challenges you are currently facing in your project, along with your current plan to address these 3 challenges? 

My current main challenge I am having with my current project is the decisions regarding composing and manipulating my images. I feel conflicted between manipulating all of my images with layering and composition, or just a select few to convey the message more. I intended to layer my images by composing a mixture of pre-developed townhouse sites showing the nature and greenery that is residing there before the large development companies come and trample over it all to fully built townhouse communities. 

Another challenge I am facing is the tonal range of these images. In my pitch presentation, all of my images I presented were in black and white to bring a more cohesive flow to the images I had manipulated. While presenting, I got the feedback to try and experiment with colour as I could use it to manipulate the image's tonal range, creating a bland, mundane feel to the images.

Also, a challenge I am facing at the moment is how to compose and frame my images to be impactful and strong. I historically compose my images to be full bleed and symmetrical lines. I want to experiment more with framing a portion of the manipulated images.

Notes -

Add a positioning statement to the bio of the Tumblr Blog - 800 minimum.

Include a reference list in the canvas submission- 

Blog feeds the positioning statement, positioning statement feeds the reflective account

Reflective account - 500 - 1000 words, 

MUST INCLUDE Reference to research on other photographers' campaigns and how analysis of these has influenced the development of the project

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Week 7 Image WIP

Below is another image I have been editing. This image has only 2 images layered within it but I feel like it is just as impactful as having a compilation of images within the shot as these images bring context and importance. I am planning on discussing my project with Natalie and my peers further as I feel that many of my images I have taken for this project are successful, so I am currently undecided on if I can have some manipulated images and some none manipulated images but I would worry about the consistency of the images and how they would vary in story and quality.

Work In Progress - Image 2

Framed Composition Experiments

Work In Progress - Image 3

Framed Composition Experiment

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Week 7 In Class Catch-Up

Noesheen, Zoe, and I all shared our images and cover sheets from our Week 6 photoshoot and any additional shoots or research we found. I shared my work in progress image, shown in the last pos,t which they added that I should edit the shots into more of an abstract, frame-type look. Similar to the research shown in this blog, many of my artist models will take parts of different images and cut them together, framing the image as a part of a house.

Notes from In class

Annotated Documentation Guide Discussion…

Go beyond what you like and don't like…

-Is it what I wanted to achieve? 

-Is this a new method? 

-Why am I interested in this person's work? 

-Detailed notes on development and my making thinking

-How does my documentation hit the brief?

-What are the significant points in my development journey?

-Key significant moments/breakthrough moments

-Go deeper into the things that didn’t go well and explain how it helped with my development

-Explain into technical troubles that happened with my shoot (only 1 battery was charged)

-What does my composition do to support my concept??

-What strategies will I try next?

-Create a new calendar

-Update skills matrix

-Upload notes from PowerPoint discussion

-BACK FILL BLOG - FILL IN HOLES

-Allan McDonald, NZ Photographer, Urban Photography

-Frame up image

-Can use images from whole semester

-Keep Colour…..

From this chat.. I started experimenting with different frames I could get within my composed images. Below are different ways I framed the image to see which one would be the most impactful. I am seeking advice from my peer on these compositions.

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Mid-Semester Break Photo Editing and Composing

As I am manipulating the images in my campaign, I have begun to compose and layer images I have collected over my photoshoots. The experiment below is a result of my study of my artist model, Laura Romero, who uses a mirror technique while manipulating her images, which I was intrigued by and wanted to try for myself. I am still working on this image, but this is a work-in-progress shot. My images are all edited in Adobe Lightroom for minor adjustments and Photoshop for post-production compositing.

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Mid-Semester Break Photo Shoot 1

During the break, I wanted to capture some more landscape-style images for a background of one of my layered images. I wanted this contrast of landscape to be prevalent through the images by using the nature in the shot to combat the harsh architecture in the compositions. This shoot was taken at a large empty plot that will be developed into more townhouses. I could not find any information online about how many townhouses will be placed or a timeline for it, but I found it eerie to see that the nature that abides there is blissfully unaware of the gentrification to come. This shoot was a quick one, as I noticed the spot while driving by one day and had an impromptu photoshoot.

Cover Sheet

My best images...

These were my most successful images from the shoot. I plan on using these images to set the scene of my photo campaign and to contrast against the overwhelming architecture taken from my other images to bring the sense of overpopulation destroying our natural landscapes.

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Mid-Semester Break Research

Laura Romero - Intervals 2020

During the easter break, I came across a digital photo series titled Intervals (2020) by Laura Romero. This series explores the themes of identity, home, memory, and transformation through architectural photography and manipulation. Romero’s images are composed using mirrored symmetry, often reflecting vertically from top to bottom, and constructed through digital collage, fragmentation, and repetition. 

What drew me to intervals was how closely it aligns with the early direction of my photo campaign project. Like Romero, I'm interested in using architectural imagery and composition layering to express emotional and societal transformations, in my case, the influx of townhouses in my neighbourhood. While Romero’s work is symmetrical, mine intentionally leans into the disjointed compositions and overlapping layers to convey the overwhelming feeling I experience watching my familiar surroundings shift into something uniform. Her series helped me think more deeply about structure, visual language, and the emotional weight embedded in the built environment. 

http://lauraromero.com/en/gallery/intervals/

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Week 6 Shoot!

During week 6, I did my planned photoshoot and reviewed the images to see what I was missing and if I needed to still shoot anything. Below are the cover sheets from the shoot

I explored the areas of Hobsonville Point and am still planning to re-shoot Selo Place as I wanted more images from the test shoots I made of them a few weeks ago for my pitch presentation to convey my concept. I struggled the most with setting up my shot, as I felt slightly intimidated that I might be invading personal space by photographing their homes. I achieved the planned shots I had in my run sheet. My next step is to find my best images and start composing and overlaying them for my campaign. I need to reshoot some construction sites that are intended to be townhouse developments to help contrast my images to convey my concept from my pitch to my photographic campaign.

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Photography Week 5 - Peer Feedback

Through my presentation pitch to the class, I received lots of feedback on my concept and what I could explore moving forward, which I found extremely useful for developing my pitch. I hired a camera from loan central the following day of the pitches for my photoshoot.

The following are notes I wrote during the feedback session

The monochrome images are successful, and I could explore some townhouses that have a pop of colour to them, such as a colorful front door. I could include some colour within my images, which I want to experiment with.

Consider using a drone for construction sites and empty plots where townhouses will be developed; this could be something to explore.

Hobsonville area, as it has 7094 houses within the Hobsonville Point area

Plan for Week 6 Photoshoot

Photograph in daylight in Selo Place, Hobsonville, Bruce McLaren construction site, to get many images to edit and compose for my photo campaign.

Take wide-angle images, set up identical to achieve cohesive final images once edited and compiled into one image. Bring Tripod to shoot.

Bring an extra SD card and batteries. (charge up night before)

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Photography Pitch Week 5 PDF

I am an aspiring architectural photographer who aims to take images to highlight the rapid growth urbanisation of through subdivisions and townhouses and how they are a threat to my paradise of my local area of the Waitakere Ranges. My target audience for this photo campaign is urban developers, local community and

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Experimental

Below is a coversheet with me experimenting with contrasting my images to be black and white to convey my trouble in paradise with more context and feel.

Experimenting with Photo compositions and layering for my photographic campaign.

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Contextual Research

Through my research of the Selo Subdivision in my local area, the speed and amount of these houses can leave us questioning the integrity of the developers or council. These homes are made up of brick and wooden weatherboards all in different shades but are these materials good for longevity? Are they protected against Auckland floods?

Flood Map of Subdivision with overflow flooding predicted for the area.

Building a House on Sand

In the bible, there is a metaphor in the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew 7:24-27 as follows...

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

This references that a wise person would build their home on rocks representing a strong foundation whereas a foolish person would build their home on sand, easily destroyed. These development companies are causing rapid urbanization and resource strain.

House of Cards

Another relevant metaphor is House of Cards. A House of Cards also addresses instability and fragility as when cities grow too quickly there can be negative effects to follow. Although these structures appear to thrive on the surface but are vulnerable to collapse. This metaphor emphasizes how overcrowding can create unsustainable living conditions and put pressure on resources and surfaces. Which we are seeing as a result in our healthcare system and roads.