Self Imagery Project Proposal First Draft

For this project I have been asked to produce a final photo shoot to show 'Self Imagery', to do this I am going to first research what 'self imagery' means to me personally. I will do this by observing other photographers and artists, to gather ideas of creative ways to portray me. I will also need to do  lot of self reflection about what makes me, e.g. where I come from, my family and experiences, also my interests and hobbies. I have already produced a mood board of different photographers to show their portraiture work, which has inspired me to use similar techniques and compositions; this will then lead on to me developing my ideas to show my own 'self imagery'.

Other research that I will be doing to lead up to my final outcome will be mind maps, photographer research and technical research. I will create a mind map to explore what makes me as a person, so I can narrow down my creative ideas once I work out what would work the best in a photographic environment. Photographer research will also be helpful because I can learn the meaning behind their images, find out what techniques they use in their images and to get inspiration for photo shoots. Technical research will also be an important part of inspiring me for my final shoot because I can learn different skills on Photoshop when editing my images, and also I can play around with the settings on my camera (Nikon D810) to ensure my images come out in the best quality possible, learning skills such as white balance and exposure will help immensely when photographing because I can learn how to get the most out of my images if I am using the correct settings, such as shutter speed, aperture and ISO.

Before I do my final shoot, I am going to have to do a number of experimental shoots, these will help with techniques I can use, and also help my creativity. My first shoot is going to show a part of my personality, I will probably do this in a location setting. My second shoot, I plan to do in a studio setting to experiment with different lighting techniques. My third shoot will be an experiment using Photoshop to explore the different ways I can use editing techniques in 'Self Imagery'. My final experimental shoot will be done by taken inspiration from a photographer that I have researched.

I will write up the experimental shoot plans on separate posts after I have completed the research, after that I will evaluate my experimental shoots, to see what works and what could be improved; this will help with my final shoot because I will understand the most effective techniques and compositions for the best possible outcome.

This is all leading up to a final shoot combining all the techniques and research that I have done. I will use similar ideas that I used in my experimental shoots but they will be much more effective because I have already practised them. Again, I will finish this unit off with an evaluation and self reflection to see what I did well and what could be improved.