Reflection on Early Assignments – Assignment 1
At this point in the course, I find it appropriate to revisit the earlier assignments, reflecting on them from where I stand now, after completing all the assignments.
I was initially excited about Assignment 1. It seemed to align perfectly with my passion for photography, and I felt confident that it would be a chance to showcase what I could offer as a photographer. However, I quickly realized how wrong I was. In our first conversation, my tutor emphasized that the assignment was about finding something I wanted to illustrate and exploring that theme. This idea was confusing to me and left me unsure of what to shoot. My research into the suggested artists only added to the confusion.
What should have been a straightforward assignment ended up leading to procrastination. In the end, I pieced together a set of images that, while individually nice, lacked a cohesive theme or concept.
From my tutor’s feedback, I learned that there was no consistency in my images, either in style or theme. Initially, I didn’t understand what this meant, and it wasn’t until the post-feedback telephone discussion and as I worked on the re-edit that it started to make sense.
For the rework, I focused on revising the images, first correcting the inconsistent crops, and then following my tutor’s advice to concentrate on a clear, individual theme. The most prominent theme from the images I had captured was signage, so I honed in on that. While I could see a stronger consistency in the revised set, I still felt conflicted. The original set had flaws, but I connected with them more as a cohesive group than I did with the reworked set. It wasn’t that I disliked the new set, but rather, my heart was torn between the two.
My tutor praised the reworked set for its improved consistency, which was reassuring. However, I still felt somewhat confused. It wasn’t until I worked on Assignment 2 that I began to see more clearly why the second set had been better. Looking back now, I understand the value of focusing on a clear theme and how that shapes the overall quality and cohesion of a body of work.
