End of Unit Evaluation

Now at the end of Unit 2 I can confidently say that I am happy with the work produced over the exam unit of this AS year. Throughout the exam unit, I used the skills which I learnt during the first half of the year in the Formal Elements topic to produce work of a high standard. This exam unit tested my creative ability and allowed me to work independently, planning my own shoots, choosing my own photographs and deciding how to edit my photographs.

For my exam unit I chose to study evidence and with the initial idea of 'the evidence that we (as people) leave behind' in mind, I began my shoots. In my first shoot I tested this idea of human evidence by photographing my model smoking a cigarette which not only leaves evidence outside due to the cigarette butt but leaves evidence in her body, a decrease in lung capacity and a rise in craving. However, for shoot two I felt it best to try the other side of evidence before deciding on a definitive theme to study; this lead to my choice of natural evidence such as the effects of weathering where I went out into town to photograph rain damage and rust etc. For shoot three I returned to my study of human evidence but instead of damage began to look at evidence like makeup finger prints and lipstick stains, otherwise known as accidental evidence, this lead me to think of lipstick stains on coffee cups, coke cans etc. On the the theme of makeup evidence I began to question what is the evidence of makeup and food or on food? In shoot four I focused on a bacon sandwich and a tea cup, photographing the lipstick stains and the teeth marks, two types of evidence in one photograph. In shoot five, the reference here fell heavily on my research, I'd discovered a love of lipstick stains on coffee cups in previous shoots however this time I wanted to mimic my research but also my previous shoots by incorporating smoking. 

However, shoot six was a jump into unknown territory in keeping with my theme, I decided while I enjoyed looking at the evidence makeup leaves I wanted to look at the evidence of makeup in action which is why I focused on the way eight different models styled their eyes individually. This lead me on to my next shoot which did the same, except it focused on the way identity can be shown through makeup therefore I had my model come up with 12 different poses which they thought showed their personality whilst wearing their own choice of lipstick. Shoot eight was where I moved on to the idea of a routine, the evidence of routine and how routine can control you, the candid shots show the model applying makeup and show a transition throughout and all the components needed to  complete their routine. This leads me on to shoots 9 & 10 which are the same shoot (one a self portrait shoot and the other with a model) As I gave myself this idea I wanted to show my own routine therefore used myself as a practice run before shoot 10 where I focused on my model performing a transformation and going through each stage. Finally, my exam shoot was a long time coming for me, I was excited and the idea behind it is about the way personality effects everyone and partly to do with how we, as a society feel pressured to look, feel and behave a certain way. The beauty industry pressures women and men everyday to conform to their own ideals and my final shoot was a representation of a rebellion against societies 'ideals' where I smashed up makeup to shatter the 'perfect image' and painted half a models face in order to prove you should be who you want to be. 

To conclude, I have immensely enjoyed this unit and feel as though i was able to improve not only my physical skills over the last three months but also my intellectual skill and my levels of creativity. I have learnt how to develop my own ideas from paper to reality and how to develop a whole concept from the basis of one word.