Project by: Madeleine Louisell (10th Grade)
Project Advisor: Susan Now
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Stephen MacGillivray
Description of the Project: For this honors project I hope to photograph my everyday life by documenting my routines as well as places and moments I experience by myself or with others. I want to take on this project to explore how shadow, color, framing, and subject affect the mood of my photograph. Through photographing moments in my life that I consider “normal” I will be less likely to overlook them and find beauty in everyday things or places. My end result will be a photo essay.
Final Product (e.g., documents, images, video, audio, poster, display, etc.):
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Open in new tab Final Reflection on Learning: Looking back at my reflections over the past weeks, I noticed that despite this being an independent project, getting feedback from others is really what helped my work come together. Part of this learning experience was getting better at taking feedback, and knowing when it’s beneficial to my work. I can now better express my liking for a photograph, like the composition or subject, while also being able to critic my work. There is something beautiful about taking a “raw” and unposed photo, which I think I was able to succeed in for some of my images.
Update on Progress from Weeks 1-3 (include any photos or video if relevant): These past weeks I have met with Susan to discuss what I like and or want change about my images and how to properly edit my photos through changing saturation and exposure. We also discussed my camera settings and when to increase the ISO speed. The moments I captured were everyday events in my life, which reflects back to the origin of the project: moments I overlook. I uploaded my images from my camera, created a folder, and separated my images by date. Right now I am focusing on taking photos, but plan to edit or experiment with different edits in the coming weeks.
Update on Progress from Weeks 4-6 (include any photos or video if relevant): In weeks 4-6 my progress included taking more photographs, reviewing and discussing them with Susan, and starting to pick out the strongest photos that best fit my project to be edited and included in the photo essay. Susan and I have discussed what we like and dislike about the photos including but not limited to the lighting, subject, and composition. I have looked over and discussed the works of Martin Parr, who is known for documenting ordinary but intriguing moments in people’s lives. I plan to collect my work and start creating my slides and continue to experiment with editing.
Update on Progress from Weeks 7-9 (include any photos or video if relevant): For the final weeks of my honors project I primarily focused on editing through Photoshop. I chose my final 20 photos that I included in my slideshow and that best reflect the goals I originally had for this project. In each meeting with Susan, we went through all the photos I selected for my slideshow and discussed ways I can make the lighting or blue/yellow tone better in order to make each photo look like a part of a collection instead of just being individual. It was really valuable for me to learn more about using my camera, expanding my editing abilities, and learning to get inspiration from other artists, because going forward I will now be able to use those skills independently. I was slightly uncertain when choosing the photos that would be included in my final project because I wasn’t sure if all of them best represented the simplicity I was hoping for, but I am happy with the end result.
