Roll on the Summer.....

My Father is amongst chaos at his house, getting his roof redone. He was told to clear his loft so that work can begin fixing a hole where the rain gets in. To my surprise My Father phones up to say that he has found a box of old film; containing, Polaroid, 5x4 Slide and Colour film, Black n' white 5x4, Slide 120 mm and Colour + Black n' white 120 mm, 35 mm Colour and Black n' White AND AND AND AND 10X 8 Black n' White Negatives. This summer is going to be an awesome one. I have an exhibition later on in the year in October, so over the holiday i shall be experimenting with the twenty year old dried up Polaroid and 10x8 Negatives, possibly pinhole Negs.

Sourcey Website, Photographic Review.....

Along with the rest of the photography gang at University, i joined the bandwagon and got a review page on Source Magazine photography website. My page will be on the site forever and can be viewed by anyone who is interested in my work. I thought that it would be a nice thing for me to have and to put into my Visual CV. I get a years subscription to Source magazine along with having my own page on the website.  

Marketing & Self Promography....

After the hand in of my portfolio, Visual Diary and External folders. I was also required to produce a promotional pack for an extra module. the pack consisted of business and postcards; a DVD slide show of work, a CD of images, an artist statement, a visual CV and a mock funding proposal for a grant from either Arts council of Wales or England. last year i made a set of Business cards and Postcards, for my portfolio and presentation module in the second year. i really enjoyed the designing of the cards and also my DVD. 


I always want my work to look slick and professional. i take time and effort with extra little details, to make the work that little more special. As a class we were shown examples of packages from previous third years. Some were good and some were bad, so i chose to spend some time thinking about how i wanted to package to look. i felt it was fitting to link to design to my final major project work, to give it a documented and archived look. It almost has a medical or evidential feel to it, in keeping with practice ethos.

To sit on my own with the Fresh Prints.....

"It's the final countdown". My time at university is soon to end, all that is left to do is hand in my portfolio, visual diaries and external folders. I collated it all into a big black brief case my father gave me in the first year. He told me it was his old portfolio case, and always got a job using it when meeting clients. he said it would bring me luck. It's brought me luck for every hand in over the past three years of study. I always excite the tutors with the appearance of the Brief case, each time i go in for an assessment the tutors seem more interested in the case than my work. It's a nice topic of conversation during the assessment, the tutors always ask for one of their own.


The assessment went well, with a few laughs here and there, i think they liked the work that i submitted. I felt confident that i had worked hard over the year and produced a great portfolio. all that was left to do now was to put up the work for the final third year Exhibition.

London's Calling.....

It has been a while since i last blogged, apologies to all followers. The work load has been hectic with lots of things added each day. It is coming to the end of a very fast few years of University. I am currently tying  up loose ends of my research and the odds and sods that need to be handed in for my final assessment. The main preparation for this final major project, is the end of year shows in Swansea and in London.  Brick Lane is the location of the london show. Free Range is an arts expo that happens every year in Brick Lane, with Universities participating from all over the place exhibiting all faculties of art. I have just sent off for some of my work to be made in Cardiff, this is one of many pieces of work that needs to be made. I am to have a 40"x40" mounted print, two Light boxes and a television installation.

So far the 40"x40" print is the first thing that i have sent off to be made. This week i need to send some image files to Brighton to make Duratrans prints on perspex sheets, for my light boxes. The Television installation i already have to hand. I need to find a plinth from University to use to hold the tele, I will make a CD of images to put into a DVD player to display the work. A book has been made and awaiting arrival, this will also go on display at both Shows. In a sense i will be using a variety of mediums to present my work. Yesterday i signed into the Free Range Portfolio profile. This profile displays my ethos and a few sample images, this 'portfolio' will remain on the site for ever and can be looked at by employers or interested parties.

Dev,Stop,Fix,Wash.....

Today was the start to the unending production of photographs. My Portfolio is to begin to grow, as of this week. I spent most of the beginning of this week preparing for printing. I'm using 12"x16" Fiber based paper for my Black and White work. i've developed (ruined) a few colour films to start on my colour prints as well. Tomorrow is the last day over the holidays to use the colour darkrooms so i will be spending the day mostly in the Colenta room.I will have a look at my Fiber prints and if there is time tomorrow i may re print one as the exposure was a little off centre of the paper. This new work will have more meaning and interact more with the viewer as i am now starting to piece together what it is i want this work to do and relate to when seen by the viewer. 

Marketing and Self Help.....

Its coming close to the end, visual diaries need filling, portfolio's need building and now a presentation and promotion package is under way. I did one last year which included a portfolio, visual C.V, postcards and business cards. This year i wanted to make my DVD look really cool.

I want my final portfolio look like a collection of medical examinations and so i wanted to make the cover look like a nice Sciencey Journal. I started by finding a nice book in the university library, preferably a book with a blank cover. This one i spotted and felt the colour was nice to use. I had found in my Fathers filing cabinet a pouch of stickers with the words,

PHOTOGRAPHS PLEASE DO NOT BEND. I felt that this sticker had a quirkiness about it and wanted to use it somewhere in my final major work. I want to make numerous covers of different colour's making in the process a mini collection of the Book/DVD's. I may even get a little bookshelf to set up the collection of portfolio's.