Blog- Sherrelle talks about her experiences at UAL

http://sherrelle.myblog.arts.ac.uk

Interesting Blog, worth keeping an eye on as Sherrelle talks about her experiences at UAL http://sherrelle.myblog.arts.ac.uk/

http://myblog.arts.ac.uk/ is UAL resource similar to process.arts you login using your UAL user name and password!

Alright so here starts the third week of uni, and i appear to be getting more stressed by the day, argghh. But besides that i suppose i need to write up my progress of whats been happening so far.

Week 1 – Told about our first project triptych & diptych, thought about some possible ideas in my head but nothing solid. purchased a sketchbook but when i tried to start getting some ideas it just wasnt happening, felt so uninspired.

Got introduced to some Canon equipment including the lovely 5Dii, im a nikon girl myself but the 5Dii shoots lovely images, shame about the horrible shutter noise though Got to shoot a pixie haired blonde model for a beauty shoot, and a bald oriental model for a beauty and full body shoot. Doing the beauty shoot was much more nerveracking with everyone watching behind you. Also once i got handed the camera the initial ideas you have while watching everyone else shoot seem to go out the window, haha, hopefully i’ll get more confident with the camera and being in those situations that i can relax and feel more creative with the camera and directing the model. We then had a seminar with people from Calumet as well as a few working photographers about bridging the gap between photography and moving image. It was interesting to see how it is becoming more and more available for people with a DSLR to shoot moving image.

Week 2 – Introduced to the written side of the unit, the part i will likely struggle most with, I always put off writing until the last minute – I tend to be very slow at reading and writing, plus my general dislike for both. Searched the library for a short while to find a suitable photograph but with so much to look at in the library it can become overwhelming, I took a book out but have now decided that the photographer is not well known enough for me to feel confident to write about. I also took out the book on critisizing photos which is helpful but there is just so much information I dont know how I will get through it all.

Tuesday was a lecture where we were detailed about a history of photographic images, photographers that I was interested in were:

David Octavius & Robert Adamson, Lady Clementina Hawarden, Julia Margaret Cameron, Baron Wilhelm Von Gloeden, Edward S. Curtis, Baron Adolf de Mayer, and Lewis W. Hine.

Thursday was good as I learnt about the different types of light and was able to fix them onto the flashheads, this was particularly useful as this was something i was previously quite nervous about as I feared it would be a difficult and a time consuming process, but was relieved that lighting was much easier and straight-forward than I thought.

I bought another sketchbook for the photographic side as I found the aesthetic of my previous sketchbook so uninspiring and distracting to work in. As much as I wish i could just get on with my work it seems i am not able to unless i feel the presentation of my work is right. To get involved with a project i need to be involved with the book through its asethetic. Im worried now however that I will end up spending too much time on how my work looks instead of just doing it.

By this stage im fearing that im already falling quite behind, i do have some ideas circling around my head but none such as how or when i will go about them.

What needs to be done:

- choose an image to start the essay on and research journal, so far im torn between Albert Watson and Duane Michaels, i will visit the library again, take out both books and get a good look for the image i want to write about

- plan my work flow and write a plan to go about the photographic side

- start getting down inspiring works into my book and sourcing possible items and locations that could influence an outcome

I should:

- start a flickr account to organise my previous work to be able to advertise myself to possible clients

Personal expericence:

im finding it quite hard to get back into the flow of doing work, the holidays were perhaps too long. Being at uni is very overwhelming. some people have alot of proffesional experience and I always worry about how my work will compare with that. thats something i need to try to stop, its not about being on the same or higher level as everyone else, its about me getting better, making connections, becoming confident and gaining experince to be able to go out, get work and pay.