Experimental Photography Project Evaluation // Experimental

What was the project brief?
The brief of the experimental photography project was to be exploiting the potential of experimental techniques from ones which are suggested to you, and implementing your own. Discover new techniques, be inventive and daring.
1. What was the project theme and what did you think of it?
The theme of the project was experimental photography, which at first I wasn't too sure about. This was because when I first started looking at photographers for this brief for research, I thought all the images seemed pretty complicated to create and to know what to say about the images with having no clue how they created them. Once I found photographers that created images that found interesting and liked, as well as knowing how to create similar image was when I started to enjoy this project. I enjoyed getting immersed with my images in the darkroom, being hands on with manipulating my images.
2. What part of the project did you enjoy the most/found most interesting (taking photograph? developing the film? etc.)
The part of the project that I enjoyed the most and found the most interesting was enlarging my images from my developed film. This is because whilst I was enlarging the negatives, I was using experimental techniques and idea to create my images for this project.
3. What new techniques have you experienced?
I have learnt quite a few new techniques through completing this photography project. These being things such as thinking more of how my composition would look, this being through creating my collage. Also creating solarised images in the darkroom, as this meant I got to manipulate my image after the enlarger but still within the darkroom and changing the shades of colours that the image resulted in. I also learnt about chemigrams and how to create them, which playing around with different substances on the photographic paper to create different effects. I created some emulsion transfers which meant that I was learning how to transfer an image from a piece of paper onto another surface. Another new technique I have experienced using is creating double exposure images through laying two negatives on top of each other in the light of the enlarger.
4. What technique would you like to develop further?
The technique that I would like to develop further is thinking more about the composition of my images. This is because composition is important for all aspects of photography and not just a specific type of photography. Composition is also a vital aspect of photography, as the composition of an image is one of the aspects that makes it a striking image that draws in the viewers attention.
5. Which photographers did you research through this project?
The photographers that I researched through this project was Man Ray, Daro Montag, Ian Egner, Akihiko Miyoshi, Peter Hoffman, Pierre Cordier, Odette England, Stephanie Jung, Taylor Allen and Robert Heinecken.
6. How have they influenced your photographs?
They have influenced my photographs for this project by using the concepts, ideas and parts of the images that I liked and wanted to use within my own work.
7. Which technique did you enjoy the most?
I enjoyed the solarising technique the most, this is because I started off creating an image in the darkroom normally. Which after only a short time in the developer, being 10 seconds, you had to take it out and shine a normal light onto it. Then put it back in the developer and continue the process normally. My favourite thing about this technique was seeing how the image came out after I had put the photographic paper through all the different chemicals to process the image.
8. What do you feel is the most successful part of your project and why? (sketchbook pages, final prints, cyan tones images? spray developed images, etc.)
I feel as if the most successful part of my project is the photograms I created inspired by the works of Man Ray. This is because I used composition to effect with them, and with me saying I want to work on my composition technique and develop it further - I feel as if I have created images focusing on my composition here. I am really happy with how the images came out with my composition of the objects on the paper, so I believe I am learning more and working on my composition more as I go on throughout this course.
9. Did you encounter any problems in your project?
I encountered a few problems during this project. Firstly, at college we ran out of photographic paper to produce darkroom prints on. This meant that my experimentation with negatives was halted for a few days, but I came in to college for a few hours on a day in which I had no lessons to get some darkroom prints done. Secondly, before this project I had never really thought about how and why things had been done within images, so I had to think about this and think of some possible reasons as to why the photographer had done what they did to their image.
10. How did you learn from them and how did they affect your final prints?
There isn't much you can do when you run out of the specific paper needed to create darkroom prints, so as soon as there was more in college I used my spare time to create the prints that I wanted / needed. I have now learnt to think how and why photographers create images, which inspired me to use these concepts in my prints.
11. What would you do differently given the chance to complete the project again?
If I had the chance to complete the project again, I would have looked more into digital experimental photography ideas and photographers. Therefore I would have more of a mixture in my work of darkroom and digital experimental photography.
12. What do you think about your final outcome and what are your feelings about the project?
Overall I am very happy with my final outcome, because I feel as if I have researched a varied range of photographers who use different experimental techniques. I have used this research of the photographers to construct my own images by using aspects of theirs. I have come to really enjoy this project as you got to see how far you could go with an image with different techniques and see what the effect of different techniques were.