Final Gallery Interior

I decided to use an online platform where you can make a 3D interactive gallery space for pieces of artwork and photographs to be viewed online.

I placed my photographs quite close together on a wall running left to right. We naturally gaze from left to right, so it seemed only right. The photographs are mounted close together to give the sense of storyline and link between them all. I also chose to put more photographs on the left hand side wall rather than the right. I didn't want my photographs to be neat and perfectly symmetrical. I spoke with Warren in a feedback session a while ago and we spoke about how the box in my original photographs makes you think about your own OCD and how much it annoys you by being there. I liked this concept, so decided to present my photographs in a gallery space with more on one side than the other, as it even annoys my slight OCD!

However, I did place all the photographs at the same height, and they are the same size!

Unfortunately, within this online platform, I could not recreate the rubbish laden interior I hoped to achieve from creating my 3D gallery. I wanted to play on the idea of OCD, and as I mentioned in my earlier post, I wanted to put rubbish on the floor, surrounding the photographs, to set off other people's OCD and giving them the need to tidy up.

Final Images

Presentation Ideas

I decided to have a go at drawing my ideas for if I was to exhibit my final idea in the real world, rather than jumping straight in and producing them digitally for my final submission.

I decided to begin with just the basic gallery layout, from a frontal perspective. I have mounted the photographs on the wall in the order I present them in my final piece. I then plan to have a table in the middle of the room, with a book on the table either showing my work in a printed form with a essay beginning and explanation of my thoughts, or a few reference books from the OCD foundation and explain the causes and symptoms, and also treatments if anyone feels they are suffering from the condition.

Here I drew the book on the table, showing that the book would be open at a page of interest at the time the person come to visit the exhibition.

Here is a birds eye view of the gallery space, the doors are on the left and right of the space, with a table and chairs in the center of the room. As I mentioned before, the table will have a book with either information about OCD or a printed version of the exhibition with text to accompy it.

I then decided to look at an alternative way of looking at photographs, and decided to play on the idea of OCD and mess and clutter making them nervous. As an idea, I would like to present my photographs in the clean gallery atmosphere, but with clutter in the corners and around the chairs. This would play on the idea of the clean gallery atmosphere, where the walls are white and the floors are usually wooden and clean, and have a messy gallery atmosphere that plays on the senses!

I mentioned producing a film as part of my final submission, and if I was to do this, I wanted to show the video in the location it was filmed in.

Experiments • Finals

I took the final images for my series of photographs today and I think they turned out fabulous (not to blow my own trumpet or anything!). I took these in a RAW format and opened them in Photoshop, I then changed the exposure up because I originally shot them dark to retain detail outside the window, I then brought the whites down to bring the outside back into detail and highlights down to 0. I then changed the clarity to +29 because I like my photographs to have a sharp feel to them, it's my signature style, and then I added +16 of contrast.

I then used the content aware tool to fill in where the box and photo frame was above the chair, as seen in my previous post. As I was using a newly updated version of Photoshop, I did not have to use the healing brush tool as much, as the content aware tool covered them up perfectly. I then copied the newly edited section onto each image, as they were all identical apart from the minor changes. I then changed the colour balance, as the light changed in the room, causing the light to go from a cold blue to a warm gold as the sun set (see the section"improvements" for more details on this)

I cropped the entire photograph down to get rid of the television in the far right hand side as well as the start of the dining table on the left hand side. I wanted the chair and the table with the vase to be the main viewpoint of the photograph so changed the composition to suit this. The crop was in the size 5299 pixels by 3420 pixels at 300ppi.

Improvements

Upon looking back at my captured images, I realise there were a few features that could have been improved. I could have shot at a different time of day, as I shot at 6pm when the sun was setting, so the light changed a lot during the half an hour I was shooting. I fixed this to a high standard in Photoshop by using the colour balance tool, but it would have been less time consuming if I had of thought of that prior to shooting.

I also realised that upon removing the petals after each shot, the position of the flowers changed, which takes away from the person noticing the slight change. However, I think if someone was looking at this in a gallery exhibition they would not be able to notice the slight movement in the flowers, and they would notice the slight movement as a element within the photographic change too.

Experiments • Cropping

Relating to my feedback in the session today, I decided to look at cropping and see if any worked better compositionally for me.

I did a "medium" crop to this photograph, where I left in the tap at the back and some detail in the background. I prefer this crop to the crop I will show in a moment, as it gives some sense of where the character is rather than just concentrating on what they are doing.

I did a tight crop, as recommended by my peers and Lawrence, and do not like this composition at all. I feel that is is too tight and we do not know where the character is. Are they washing their hands in a sink or somewhere else? In my original image, you could clearly see where they were washing their hands, it was in a kitchen sink. I feel that this made the viewer think more clearly about the path the character has taken from the chair to the sink, and gives them more of an insight into their OCD. The kitchen is clean, so the OCD element is reenforced here.

I know plan to retake my sink photographs on Thursday using the male character and the same female character shown above, but using a close crop in all the photographs (such as the "medium" crop I talked about earlier). This way, there is still a sense of whereabouts and location to the photographs but we are concentrating on what is happening rather than where it is happening.

Feedback • 15/10/2013

I attended the feedback session today with my fellow peers and Lawrence, and gained an insight into my peers' thought processes and how their projects were coming along, as well as feedback on my own project and what other people thought.

I showed Lawrence the edited version of my original photograph, and we all agreed it looked better without the distracting elements that drew our eye away from the chair. I now plan to go back to this location on Thursday and photograph the minute changes for my series, and then Photoshop the distracting elements out using the healing brush like I did to the above photograph.

We also all agreed that this photograph just did not work as part of my series and was nowhere near as good as the original image I shot. Although the photograph is visually appealing, the composition does not work, and closes some elements of what I can slightly change regarding my series.

Some of my peers commented that the shot of the hands was too wide, and I should crop as much as possible so that the hands are the sole thing in the shot. However, I really like the composition of this shot, and do not think it will work well as a cropped image. However, I am going to experiment with closer crops before I take my final images.

Experiments • Chair and Sink

I decided to experiment more with the hands washing in sink from my chosen angle that I thought worked best and the angle of the chair to disguise the box and frame on the wall.

I took this photograph from a wider angle (28mm rather than 35mm), to get more of the television in the shot. I feel as if this photograph is badly composed in comparison to my original image I took a few weeks ago, as I cut the top of the flowers off, making the photograph appear shorter. It would have been better if I could have taken the photograph from a wider angle. This week, I am going to go back with a Canon 5D mk 3 and a 17-40mm lens, and use the lens at its widest angle. Therefore, I should get all the flowers in as well as all of the television. I chose to include the television in the shot as I plan to create a short film, and then I shall play this on the television as a way to exhibit the series of work as a whole.

To cut out the box, I chose to shoot this from a side angle. I think this works well, as it gets rid of any distracting features. I also also used an aperture of f/2.0 to get the depth of field in the background, actually prefer this angle, but for my idea of changing something slight in each shot, it would have to be front facing to work fully, unless I used a aperture of f/22 to make sure everything else is in focus.

I then zoomed out slightly, as it looks better composed as a whole as the bottom of the chair is in the shot.

I then took the same front facing shot from above, still at f/2.0 so the outside was in focus. I would probably use this angle for when I am pursuing the idea of changing something small in every photograph as then you can see the entire floors and top of the chair.

I then took a series of photographs in a different sink, with an older person. The reason I chose a different sink was because I wanted to portray that element of OCD and cleanliness, and I felt that using the other sink, which had mould and dirt in the windowsill, did not fit in well with the topic of OCD. I chose the age of hands, to show the feeling of vulnerability. I feel that we would feel sorry for someone who is older that is suffering from OCD, as they may have suffered from it their whole life. Also, I tend to feel more emphatic towards older people in general life!

Thoughts • Title

I was speaking with some of my peers the other day and we got onto the subject of what we were going to title our photographic circular narrative. I literally had no idea, the title never occurred to me as I have been so immersed in the photographs and the narrative that I have not had time to think of one. I decided to relate back to my research on the illness of OCD and see if I could think of some keywords relating to it.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterised by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry; by repetitive behaviours aimed at reducing the associated anxiety; or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions. Symptoms of the disorder include excessive washing or cleaning, repeated checking, extreme hoarding, preoccupation with sexual or violent or religious thoughts, relationship-related obsessions, aversion to particular numbers, and nervous rituals. (Wikipedia)

From this extract from Wikipedia, I took the words intrusive, fear, worry, anxiety, obsession, compulsions, ritual. I don't think the word intrusive would work as a title, as it is too complicated and doesn't work as a creative thought, it would get the viewer confused about what they are intruding and why. I am torn between using the titles "OBSESSION" and "RITUAL" as a title. 

I then went to think about the symptoms of OCD and one of them in lining things up in order. I then decided to play with the titles and see what I could come up with:

• BEINOSSS (Obsession in alphabetical order)

• SSSONIEB (Obsession in alphabetical order, backwards)

• AILRT (Ritual in alphabetical order)

• TRLIA (Ritual in alphabetical order, backwards)

Experiments • Sink

I decided to experiment with different way of capturing the kitchen sink which I will using for a location in my circular narrative.

I decided to take a shot from the left, as I always seem to take photographs from the right. I do not especially like the angle that this shot has been taken from, I find the arm to obstructing, and you cannot see the water very well. I also find the dead space to the left of the photograph invading.

I took a photograph from a lower angle and preferred this, but found that the background in this shot was too distracting, having the yellow scrubber in the background rather than the foreground took my eye away from the hands themselves, and the red tins and cat food are distracting also. If I was to re shoot from this angle, I would remove these items.

This is my favourite shot from the experiment, shooting from a lower angle has made it look like someone is watching rather than a camera, maybe a child that this person looks after is watching, wondering what he is doing?

I took this shot from a high angle to represent the idea of voyeurism and someone watching them, almost like CCTV. I think this angle works well, if I wanted to make it look like someone is watching from above. However, from this series, I want it to look like someone is in the house with them, watching over their shoulder or from behind them, hence why I wish to continue with the lower angle.

I like the hand composition in this photograph, although we took photographs whilst the character was washing his hands and moving, this composition of the hands is most appealing to me. The hands are elegantly placed, and you can see the running water falling to his hands.

I also took this from a high angle, but find the yellow scrubber distracting and takes your eye away from the overall image. In my further experiments, I shall remove items that I think are visually distracting.

Feedback • Synopsis 08/10/2013

We had our feedback session today with my peers and Lawrence, to discuss the overview of our further ideas and what we had done since the week previous.

I discussed my idea of using the ageing process as an indicator as to a life struggling with OCD, however, all my peers and Lawrence agreed that just using a normal, un ageing pair of hands, would be strong enough and is minimal enough to produce an elegant, well informed series. I then presented my original photographs, and they said the composition was good, although Lawrence advised for me to move the entire scene slightly to the right, so I can conceal the box on the wall and the photo frame on the wall above. When shooting the chair series, I also plan to change something small in every frame, for example, moving a photo frame, a petal falling to the ground.

I know plan to take the chair scene again, following the idea of moving the scene to the right, as well as shooting my own pair of hands in the sink. I am going to try the concept of the ageing process, but just to give me a piece of mind that I have tried it and it did or didn't work. I also plan to use several different angles when washing my hands, to chose which one works best.

Synopsis • Circular Narrative

I have been asked to draw upon filmic processes as part of this circular narrative, as the photographic narrative is much like a story. In my circular narrative, the protagonist is the person who is suffering from OCD, silently suffering from a widely recognised condition that people often think is slight in its actions. People do not take OCD seriously as a serious, life effecting condition that can ruin peoples lives. The first shot is that of the chair that I captured in my initial presentation.

My second photograph will be that of a young persons hands, such as my own, washing in the sink, which is a main symptom of the condition. This represents the condition as a whole within the narrative. The third photograph will be that again of the chair, repeated to show the fear of change.

The fourth shot would show the hands again, washing in the sink, but they will have aged. The fifth, would be the chair again, and then the sixth would be a old pair of hands, probably from my grandmother, again, washing in the sink. Seventh, the chair standing again. Eighth will be the sink, empty, with the hands being no longer there, and then the chair photograph will conclude the set.

I decided to show the progression of the hands by using age, to show how people live their whole lives with the condition and get no help. The shot near the end, showing the sink empty, signifies the concept of death, how the person has suffered with the condition and then is with us no longer.

Research • Andrew Warrender

Andrew Warrender is a photographer who documented the symptoms of OCD and translated them into a series of advertisements for an OCD charity. It uses the slogan "Check, Recheck, Obsess, Repeat", which is a fantastic title to the set and you can instantly recognise what mental illness the photographer has captured.

http://www.a-warrender.co.uk/OCD

Research • Jim Golden

This series by Jim Golden explores the subject of hoarding, which he suffers from himself, whereby he feels the need to keep everything he owns. He constructed this creative set of photographs by using a studio and his objects retrieved from his home, to create this visually striking set of images. Jim Golden is a photographer by trade, he shoots studio imagery for brands such as Nike and ESPN, and he put his skills to the test when he wanted to photograph his collection of 500 pairs of scissors... Wow!

This is a photographers paradise, how many cameras can one guy own, and can he share?! I love the elegance and neatness of his photography, how everything is line up in order and looks visually appealing. Is this a sign of this photographers inner OCD, or is a view of everyone is societies slight OCD?

Here are the elusive 500 pairs of scissors, and again, is the structure of this photograph responding to the publics inner OCD, or is it a point made to show the photographer has OCD? I really admire how the bigger pairs of scissors are in the middle, and the smaller are on the outside, it has a good structure and is visually appealing.

The colours on this photograph are so striking! The only thing I would suggest to improve this photograph, is that the white tapes aren't collected at the bottom, as my eye is instantly drawn to them and not the rest of the photograph. If the tapes were separated, my eye would dart around the photograph and take everything in. I am going to use these as research into other photographers who have looked at mental illnesses, and see their take on OCD and mental illness as a whole.

http://www.wired.com/design/2013/09/this-photographer-is-a-high-class-hoarder/#slideid-242421

http://jimgoldenstudio.com/#/Portfolios/Collections/1/

Research • John William Keedy

"It's Hardly Noticeable" is a series of images by the photographer John William Keedy, and explores the world of a person who has an unspecified anxiety based illness, and how he negotiates situations that occur to him in everyday life.

I thought that his images were influential in looking at the mental illnesses such as anxiety and OCD, as they are very deep and explore some of the underlying conditions of the illnesses not just the ones that everyone knows about. The cleanliness of the last image represents a well known symptom of OCD, but could also relate to a different illness such as anxiety, or schizophrenia.

http://www.johnwilliamkeedy.com/art_pages/HardlyNoticeable/HardlyNoticable_01.html