Assignment Two Feedback

I received my feedback from my tutor a couple of days ago, and have spent the time since then reading and rereading her comments, making sure I understand where she’s coming from. I think I do, but I’m still rather disappointed that she wasn’t too thrilled with the assignment.

Having said that, I understand where I perhaps went a little wrong and can change that. I’ve emailed my tutor about any issues I may have, and am waiting to hear whether or not any amendments need  to be made.

Here’s a quick run through of her comments:

First of all, my tutor  complimented  the use of colour in the images and said they were technically good. She thought that I’d captured some nice moments and a variety of emotions, but that a couple of the shots were a little too touristy. She thought that it was a good idea to bring the pictures together under the theme of Shinto, but that the images were a little disparate and didn’t quite capture the essence of the temple or what Shinto represents. She would have liked to see more of an internal point of view.

Nobody doing this course wants to have their images called touristy, so that hit me fairly hard, but having thought about it, I can see her point. Living over here, I’ve got a wonderful opportunity to get in deeper and produce more subtle work, so I now know that this is area I have to work on. My TAOP tutor mentioned something similar for Assn. Five of that course, so I should have taken that more on board.

With hindsight, I think that this assignment would have benefitted from focusing on a particular part of Shinto and the shrine, instead of a more general position. I could have gotten more under the surface and delved deeper into more specific areas.

My tutor mentioned as one example Image 9 (Below):

She liked this image and wondered whether it could function as a starting point for another series built around the theme of the subjects occupying a different world than I, the photographer, and the viewer. She liked the image’s quietness.

I can see this theme now she has mentioned it, but I never thought of it myself and that’s what worries me. I think it’s a good idea though, and will certainly try to work on it.

My tutor also comments on the fact that some of the subjects were shot from behind, and wonders whether it was because I was shy about shooting people, or if there was a a specific purpose behind it?

Neither, really. As I mentioned in the report submitted with the assignment, it was impossible to get another angle without alerting them to my presence and perhaps offending them. I’d have had to go directly in front of them, about a meter away and into the shrine itself to shoot them from the front, and as the priest had cautioned me to be respectful, I didn’t think it would be acceptable. Mind you, is photographing them from the back anymore respectful in such a setting? That’s a question for a different time.

Moving on, and my tutor recommended I look at the work of Joel Meyerowitz and Wendy McMurdo (amongst other photographers I’m interested in) to open greater creative responses within my own practice, and I agree that this essential.

Due to lack of time, I don’t get nearly as much reading or research done as I’d like to, so that has to change. I sat down last night and looked at Steve McCurry, whose work I find fascinating due to his use of colour, and posted about that earlier today.

This assignment wasn’t all bad, but my tutor recommended that for the next one I should try to really hone in on the subject and keep shooting until I have a cohesive set of images that do what I want them to do.

I’ll take more time over it and really try to get beneath the surface – I don’t know how I’ll do that yet, but I have a few ideas that will be need to be developed further so I’ll keep working on them.

Tags: Assignment 2