Madeleine's Portfolio

 Following the fathers almanac moon calendar, I decided to edit the moon phases onto the photograph I took. 

In order to prepare for the project I intending on doing (creating a graphic of the 30 moon phases), I decided to enhance the photographs I took of the pink supermoon. Learning the skills for doing this in Lightroom has given me more confidence in the future when working with photography. I now understand the process that happens after a photograph is taken and the potential that it can have when edited after.  It's amazing seeing the details come through in the moon and finally seeing it in such depth after studying it for weeks.

 I recently had a mid-point assessment with my tutor that I found extremely helpful for the development of my project. This is what I wrote: My tutor has advised me on my project so far during my mid-point assessment. These are the points I have gathered: I should actualise the context of my work and own the purpose of my project: which is to reflect a personal journey of discovering perceptions and educational information behind the moon. And to develop skills and my creative practice along the way. The reason I am learning about these scientific, religious and historic perspectives is because I want to portray a holistic representation of the moon and use this as a way to reflect my personal connection. My research is investigative, sustained and strong. To improve, I should look at artists that are looking at similar ideas or mediums to me. Be inspired by their techniques as well as their outcomes. The development is sophisticated and considered as each development links well ...

 I decided to photograph the pink super moon that was happening on 26th April 2021. I organised borrowing a Canon 250d camera with 600mm lens from my college and taught myself how to use it- notes shown below. I feel that learning the basics behind a camera and photography has expanded my skillset and set out new possibilities within my creative practice. I can now independently use a camera when required for an outcome and this has expanded my ideas for future projects as they can now involve my own photography. Below is a documentation of my experiences whilst photographing the moon. I found it a greatly inspiring process as I got to see the subject Ive been studying in such detail and depth. This is the contact sheet for all the photographs I took. If I were to do this again, I'd take more photographs so I could use the editing technique of layering several photographs over each other to create more detail and clarity in the image. These were the 4 photographs I chose as the fin...

  Last Thursday we were set a 15 minute development task and this was my outcome. I found that the task really taught me to consider my work in terms of an active, purposeful piece that is opportune to development. I now feel that I should work on every idea I have, no matter how small it may seem. As it can lead to discoveries and outcomes such as this. I really enjoy working with a range of mediums, and using these to develop my digital work. I feel it adds a new layer to the outcomes. I also benefited from the 15 minute time scale as I work well under pressure. I noted that having a restriction on the time forced me to think fast and to act on the first idea that comes to mind, which ultimately teaches me to be active and efficient within my creative practice.

 Whilst experimenting with the microscopes in my workshop, I decided to research the upcoming Supermoon and specifically research it's connections to nature. I made the discovery that the pink moon (upcoming super moon) was named after the Phlox flower. Which I was able to view through the microscope on a sample slide. This link felt very exciting for me and I immediately wanted to experiment further. This resulted in a change of plan to my workshop that day, as shown below. Below are the microscope pictures I took of the phlox leaf. I find it both interesting and inspiring to look at nature (which is majorly affected by the moon) on a much smaller, scientific scale than I usually do- the scale by which they are affected by the moon: cellular . Viewing these samples on such a microscopic level inspired me to research the science behind them further. I really felt that doing this research would bring my understanding closer to the moon and its scientific and natural relevance on thi...

I discovered through secondary research that there is folklore around the images that people see within the moon. Different cultures and religions see different images depending on their beliefs and also where they are in the world. This links well with my theme of the face in the moon that I've researched so far and I want to take this concept further by finding out what other people see within the moon and producing an outcome from this. Using the secondary research into pareidolia within the moon , I wanted to do my own primary research and experiment within the images I see within the moon myself. I used a picture I took myself. It's interesting to me the image I depicted and the images I could see within this; duck, hand, dinosaur.

 Following in from my research into faces within the moon and also the imagery I produced during my risograph workshop, I decided to look into the imagery within the 1902 Silent Film: 'A Trip to the Moon' by George Melies.  I learned from my research the history behind the production of this film. I found it inspiring to discover Melies' process when generating ideas as well as techniques for filming. It has inspired me to be more experimental with my work and unafraid to make mistakes, as these often lead to great discoveries- much like how Melies invented a new editing technique by operating his camera incorrectly between shots. It was one of the goals for my FMP to become more confident in my ideas and to take more risks. I enjoyed sketching from the significant scenes I identified within the film. It's interesting to observe how audiences and producers at the time would be perceived the moon considering no one had landed on it yet. I find it inspiring to see how we ...