DPP - Tutor's Response to draft Assignment 5 and my reply

Had my tutor's response to my draft submission for assignment 5. He raises a number of issues to which I have responded.

• Whether or not having a consistent aspect ration - i.e. all images of the same proportions - would be beneficial

I am never sure about this because images often lend themselves to a particular ratio for example letter 'box'. I know it exercised my mind a great deal when I was preparing a submission for my LRPS as it was deemed to be important that the panel presented a coherent whole. I can try both the present form of layout and the consistent one and see if either is better than the other.

• The inclusion of black and white images.

My tutor understood why I had included black and white images to show what I had learnt. He went on to suggest that I should consider using black and white images for a specific subject matter within the portfolio. I had not thought of this and the idea is appealing and well worth trying. It clearly would add a level of coherence and would avoid the impression that Black and White images had just been added because I thought that I had to include them.

• Think about the relationship - in design and competition terms - between 'empty spaces' in your images and areas of interest - the man-made features.

I have undertaken to look again at the pictures in terms of relationship between empty spaces and the object.  I made a deliberate choice to emphasise the vastness of the sky and sea whilst including the obtrusive elements. I felt there was a risk of over-emphasising the intrusion of the man-made objects if the ratio was wrong.

• Weather. Would shooting in varying weather conditions add an additional element of interest.

I did try different weather shots (practically unavoidable this summer!) but my thinking on this was to keep the concept of happy sunny times at the seaside that is how many remember their childhood trips. Although probably more representative of the British weather cloudy days, or rain, 'dampened' the hoped for idyllic picture.

• Your man and the coast theme is mainly concerned with man-made objects. As a theme it works well but I wonder if you explored the possibility of also focusing on activities that people do.

This comment made me realise that I had unconsciously shied away from the inclusion of people. For some reason I am uncomfortable with those type of shots and so try to avoid them. I need to step outside my comfort zone because the exclusion of people is to miss the fact that often it is the crowds of people that flock to the Coast that can have a major impact on everything, particularly the enjoyment of the individual.

Whilst typing this blog and considering the tutor's response to my draft submission I realised that I had created a portfolio that, by choice of images, had lent weight to my initial premiss. In a sense there is an element of misleading the audience, not by the alteration or enhancement of the individual image but by the overall presentation. The world presented exists but what is offered is not representative of what would be considered the 'real' world. Superficially it seems a harmless deceit but is not all deceit wrong?