CONTENTS PAGE IDEAS - 12.05.2014.

Here are a couple of ideas as to what my contents page will look like for my portfolio. I'm still in the middle of playing around with the layout as I might choose to spread it out over two pages instead but we'll see how it goes!

PAGE LAYOUTS / EXPERIMENTS - 4.05.2014.

Here are some more developments for page layout ideas. I scanned in some sections of a couple of scarves that belonged to my Grandmother and placed them alongside the more simple collages. I'm not too sure how I feel about them to be honest. Part of me feels like they work and the other half feels like they don't! Maybe I should try placing them next to my other images or even some of the photographs to see if that works better. 

I quite like the third one down where I have put two collages together. I think this could work nicely as a double page spread within a book or even as an A3/A2 print. I started introducing my photos from Italy since I was unsure as to how to use them within this work. I think they work really well when next to my collages or even another photo, as seen with the angel statues. These are all places and monuments that my Grandmother would have visited, spent time in and taken her family to numerous times throughout her life and bind my images together nicely.  

EXPERIMENTS - 4.05.2014.

These are a couple of images that I have been playing around with. You might recognise the second one from my previous post where I had incorporated text into the image as well. I thought these would be nice to have next to some of my more cinematic/powerful collages since I plan to turn this into a book for my exhibition space. I think it would be interesting to have a mixture of full bleed imagery and simple collages like these throughout the book. 

DEVELOPMENT - 28.04.2014.

I decided to take a step back from my current work since I am happy with the images that I have already made thus far and didn't want to keep editing them to the point where they become overworked. I wanted to experiment with using shapes to create some more abstract pieces. I played around with adding a little bit of text which I really like and would like to explore this further by using different words perhaps and maybe a repeat pattern. I think these would work nicely within one of the book format ideas I previously spoke about to break up the imagery slightly too. 

MOTION BLUR - 18.04.2014.

Here are some different variations for the top image that I made a few days ago. I'm always keeping in mind the lack of identity that my Grandmother would have felt being an orphan  and displaying this through the distortion of certain images. The distortions and changes I make are sometimes quite obvious and some have been very slight, almost blending into the original photo itself. I like having the contrast of the two so I have been making sure that I have kept that balance running through this side of the narration. 

BELONGINGS - 11.04.2014.

I thought it would be interesting to create some collages by using the few belongings that I have of my Grandmother I don't have many items left other than photos, a couple of purses, some jewellery and a watch. For this collage I scanned in a pair of her gloves that she'd used for her communion since I really liked the lace fabric and wanted to see what it would look like after being scanned. I manipulated the image by moving it whist in the scanner then afterwards I played around with the smudge tool on PhotoShop as well as adding layers of colour. 

DISTORTION 2 - 27.03.2014.

For these images I used a mixture of a photograph of my Grandmother as well as scanning in parts of my own hand and combining the two together. When I moved the photograph through the scanner it created this striped dragged effect down one side which I love since it feels like what a barely there memory would look like or one that is only partially remembered but is fading away. The idea to add in scans of my own hand was to represent holding onto a memory but also how I was never able to meet her. 

DISTORTION 1 - 27.03.2014.

Here's the first image that I chose to work with from the experimental scans I made. I played around with making the subtle glows of colour more visible as well as adding my Grandmothers name in the bottom corner. I think this image works nicely since I haven't settled for my usual A4 layout and actually really enjoyed working on a longer, more rectangular scale. The blurriness of the images and warped look create a sense of broken memories and in this case a broken identity. 

EXPERIMENTATION - 27.03.2014.

Since this project focuses around memories I thought it would be interesting to play around with blurring images and blending them together with others. Certain memories can be clear as anything whereas others can become mixture. I experimented with using the Blur and Smudge tool on Photoshop to see what effects I could create and add to my own images. I particularly love these two images since they were purely accidental to see what would happen. 

The top image was made using the Blur tool and it slowly created a soft focus effect which added a dream-like quality to the photo. I'd like to play around with adding other images to this but I feel this is a powerful image on its own. The second image is a photo of my Grandmother added over the top of the above image. I like how her arms have blended in with the water to create a pleasant calming feeling. I'd like these images to be used for the first half of my narrative idea to show my Grandmother enjoying her family and living her life. 

EXPERIMENTAL SCANS - 27.03.2014.

I have been enjoying the way I've been making my images but thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if I experimented with how I scanned them through instead. I really love how these have turned out! It was mainly a mixture of trial and error but they came out a lot better than expected! I particularly like the second and third image down since the faces merged into each other and created some warped effects that I am excited to work with. 

BEACH HOLIDAY - 8.03.2014.

I've really been enjoying cropping into certain sections of my images and here's a collage I made today. I decided to play around with an old photo of my grandmother and thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if I layered it with another photo of the sea. I layered the sea photo over the top and played around with it's opacity and found that the 'Screen' option allowed it to merge into the background as well as filling in the spoon and knife too. I then decided to make a second copy to then enlarge and layer again but this time I concentrated the 'rock' section into the bottom right corner of the photo. The rocks frame the photo nicely and overall it has a lovely dream-like quality. I thought I would zoom into the spoon/knife corner since I love the subtlety of the water taking over their form hinting at the holiday atmosphere.  

WEDDING - 28.02.2014.

I experimented with adding translucent layers of colour over the top of my images and playing around with the contrast, saturation and exposure ever so slightly. I really like the pinky hued photos since they've become even softer and more ethereal looking than the rest.