Personal Development Plan

semester 2 breifing

assignment details

Semester 2 of the Professional Frameworks 2 module is designed to enhance student’s personal development and planning.

As such students will also undertake a series of briefs, assignments and workshops, which will assist them in enhancing their understanding of professional practice, communication skills, personal development and general study skills.

The module aims to engender a reflective approach towards professional photographic frameworks and students’ own personal learning goals.

There will be a number of seminars run and small assignments / workshops issued during Semester Two and students will be expected to respond to each of these in an appropriate manner.

Areas of photography practice B - Evaluation

With this assignment  “Hidden Salford” at first I did not have any ideas of what I would be doing since I don’t life in Salford nor do I know the area so I thought that it made my idea lacking because I did not know what I could count as hidden Salford. So I thought that I should get some test shoots done so that I could get some ideas from them.

When I did the test shoots with a group of fellow student I found it to be easier for me to have ideas for this assignment. So after the test shoots I could think of an idea from the images that I thought would be glassed as hidden. The image with the feature on an old pub  was something that people  really did not noticed it was hidden in plain view so I thought that would be a great idea for the assignment.

So when I did my shoot for this assignment I had the idea of photographing parts of old building that no one really noticed, but I edged up photographing not only hidden parts of building but things that are not normally noticed on a daily basis. For example windows and bricked in door.

I thought that because I was doing something that is practically the opposite of hidden I thought that I should do a small story about the idea so I mention how some of the parts that we don’t notice can sometimes be the most interesting part.

I looked at a number of photographers who are mainly journalist who focus on humanitarian stories and war. .....

Now that I am at the end of this assignment I realise that I could have done so much more if I knew the area a lot better I could have gone off on my own without worrying about getting lost. I do need more images that are linked together with the features on the building. So in conclusion I have enjoyed doing this assignment but I think I could have got a stronger amount of work if I knew the area a lot better. The photographers I have looked have all been inspiring for future photos. Photojournalism has never really been something that I thought about but I find myself thinking that it would be an interesting choice of career but with it dyeing out I don’t think it will happen

Critique-Lauren E Simonutti,

The photographer I have chosen is Lauren E Simonutti, the image is “She Left The Light on But They Were Never Coming Back” (2007) the image is from the series “8 Rooms, 7 Mirrors, 6 Clocks, 2 Minds and 199 Panes of Glass” the image is of Lauren herself sitting in a chair, in two different position indicating her mental struggle, while looking at photos on the wall. It looks like she is waiting for someone and remembering something. The image is dark and not completely in focus, the use of colour is also an indication of loneliness or fading away. The series was done during the time that she was diagnosed with rapid cycling, mixed state bipolar with schizoaffective disorder and she wanted to document her thought and feelings during this time so she kept to herself until she died in 2012.

The image is quite dark which shows how Lauren must have been feeling during this photo it indicates that she has been abandoned, which is what happened to her when she was diagnosed; her family and friends left her so she was alone during this time of her life you can see this in the image she is looking at photos on the wall while feeling in despair about losing the people she loved.

Chicago art magazine did a review on the series “8 Rooms, 7 Mirrors, 6 Clocks, 2 Minds and 199 Panes of Glass” when it was in the Catherine Edelman gallery in 2010. The review was done by Debbie Labedz she mentions how Lauren E Simonutti’s photos are calculated and almost obsessively composed because each item is carefully placed unimaginable detail. The review ends with how the reviewer thinks of the exhibition and the photographer “The resulting exhibition is a brave concept- exposing one’s mind to the scrutiny of the public (Debbie labedz, review in Chicago art magazine(2010) http://www.edelmangallery.com/exhibitions/2010/simonutti/simonuttieviews2010.htm) 

On a website called Lens culture the editor received an email from Lauren E simonutti who told the editor about her illness and how it affected and her photography. The editor “The range and richness and consistency of the work thrilled me, while the background story created a deep uneasiness of emotion. These impressions and strong feelings have remained” by saying this, the editor has acknowledged how Lauren E Simoniutti may have wanted her audience to know what she went through and how she feel which you get when you know the background to the images

I agree with Debbie Labedz with how brave Lauren E Simonutti is by exhibiting her work that has so much of her feels and thought shown in them while she was suffering with the mental illness. Also the editor on the lens culture website shines a light on the perspective of how the image makes people feel. All in all Lauren E Simonutti’s image have a very strong meaning to the photographer and to the audience in a way that it helps them to understand how she felt.