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| Flowers In focus 12 Giclee Prints on Lustre paper Wall Art Installation in Relief by Helen Neylan Copyright 2012 |
Introduction & Proposal
This assignment will be a
culmination of my learning and skill-set over the past three years during my
time at the University Centre Blackburn, where I have developed my creative
work to the highest standards to fulfil my personal desire to create commercial
saleable work, from food and book work, to my final image set which will become
a piece of commercial wall art, and may be used in a variety of situations from
Spa therapy rooms to Garden Centres and restaurants., in fact any high quality
bespoke blank canvas wall area for public view.
Throughout the course of my
studies I have taken a wide ranging journey from places and people and studies
of light, to food photography on a commercial scale for businesses and
industry, including writing recipe and menu pages for publish in a regional
magazine. I have taken part in wedding and christening photography- which
taught me about other lighting techniques such as interior of churches and so
on and the specifics involved. I have created web pages and brochures for rental
and holiday villas abroad including creating coffee table books to sell the
same. I have developed my work using my love of macro photography in food
through to macro work in flowers in order to create my final exhibition pieces,
which are 12 individual canvases forming a whole.
The rationale behind the end
result is that when viewed from a distance as a whole with the benefit of
distance vision, the piece will appear as a bright splash of vibrant colour and
act as a whole, whereas, once the viewer is drawn close in to the work, the
individual images become abstract and detailed macro shots which may, or may not, be
discernible or recognisable in their own entity.
The end result will be a piece
of wall art, which will be available for commercial sale as discussed above,
and thus fulfilling my original goal to add to my existing creative skill set
and allow me to develop as a self-employed artist.
During the seminar held with my
colleagues in the last week of April where I discussed my aspirations for my
final work in the exhibition, the feedback was that my work would be a good
alternative study in terms of the group, and the use of macro and subject
matter worked well together. From this I have spent several weeks collecting
and studying matter, culminating in the taking of my final
images using a Nikon D700 and a 105mm Nikkor macro lens. I chose this equipment
as it is a superb piece of kit and which was readily available to me and easy
for me to master, having worked with the Nikon equipment as my base over the
past 3 to 5 years.
My resulting images (above) where then cropped square and mounted on board to give the work relief in situ. Although the image above is joined as one, in fact the actual work is 12 separate pieces 12 x 12 inches square which are raised from the wall by ½ an inch to give it relief and overall texture which is pleasing to the eye. Further information about the secondary and tertiary composition of the work is contained later in this journal.
In conclusion, I will look
forward to the viewers’ comments from an exhibition to be held at the Red Church
Gallery in London in May and the following exhibition to be held at the
University Centre, Blackburn in June 2012, and take with me constructive
criticism with which to progress further in my future career.
This Journal will therefore continue throughout May and June until the final exhibition has concluded, when I will record my final comments and images of both exhibitions.
Research
Ken Simm is local artist and photographer from Ormskirk in Lancashire. Whilst Simm's web page contains a wide variety of work of all genres, I was particularly interested in his natural forms, flowers and plants, which he often takes using macro photography - so hence I am drawn towards his work in influencing my own. I am unable to add any of his work to my journal due to copyright reasons, however, please find below a link to his web page - Kenart.
http://www.kenart.co.uk
Julie Scholz
Julie Scholz is, in my opinion, an amazing photographer of flowers. She lives with her family in Rockland County, New York.
She says of herself, " I am intrigued by the sometimes intricate and subtle beauty in the natural world around me and seek to express my love for the fine details of nature in my work. I try to approach photography with a painterly eye and sometimes think of myself less as a photographer and more as a lazy painter"
All the above images are examples of Scholz's work, which have inspired my work for this brief. I love her use of colour and form, but above all her way of picking out the abstract in a flower and turning it into an art form in its own right.
You can view Scholz's gallery on the following web link:
http://juliescholz.imagekind.com/
Contact Sheets (NB: There are more sheets to be added here)
The Redchurch Gallery
My Final Major Exhibition is to be held at 2 separate venues, on two separate dates. The first will be held during May 2012 at the Redchurch Street Gallery in London for one week, alongside others works by my colleagues. The second exhibition is to be held at the University Centre Blackburn in June 2012.
In addition, we have produced a booklet to accompany this exhibition entitled 12 exposures (see below) which has been produced in collaboration with Bethany Scott.
Details and a link to the Redchurch gallery can also be found below.
12 Exposures Booklet
http://www.galleryinredchurchstreet.com
Year One to Year Two
In the first and second years of the Foundation degree- which pre ran this BA (Hons) Degree, we looked at SYSTEMS & PROCESSES - light and the camera and its relationship with the image as a whole, shutter speeds, aperture and so on, regaining a basic knowledge and understanding of the way the camera sees.
We looked at OBJECTS, PEOPLE & PLACES, and this journey ultimately lead to a piece of work in Cyprus for a travel and holiday home building company, whereby we produced a mock up brochure and images for their future website.
Research
Ken Simm is local artist and photographer from Ormskirk in Lancashire. Whilst Simm's web page contains a wide variety of work of all genres, I was particularly interested in his natural forms, flowers and plants, which he often takes using macro photography - so hence I am drawn towards his work in influencing my own. I am unable to add any of his work to my journal due to copyright reasons, however, please find below a link to his web page - Kenart.
http://www.kenart.co.uk
Julie Scholz
Julie Scholz is, in my opinion, an amazing photographer of flowers. She lives with her family in Rockland County, New York.
She says of herself, " I am intrigued by the sometimes intricate and subtle beauty in the natural world around me and seek to express my love for the fine details of nature in my work. I try to approach photography with a painterly eye and sometimes think of myself less as a photographer and more as a lazy painter"
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| Image : Julie Scholz |
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| Image : Julie Scholz |
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| Image : Julie Scholz |
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| Image : Julie Scholz |
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| Image : Julie Scholz |
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| Image : Julie Scholz |
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| Image : Julie Scholz |
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| Image : Julie Scholz |
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| Image : Julie Scholz |
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| Image : Julie Scholz |
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| Image : Julie Scholz |
All the above images are examples of Scholz's work, which have inspired my work for this brief. I love her use of colour and form, but above all her way of picking out the abstract in a flower and turning it into an art form in its own right.
You can view Scholz's gallery on the following web link:
http://juliescholz.imagekind.com/
Contact Sheets (NB: There are more sheets to be added here)
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| asiatic lillies |
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| various |
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| various 2 |
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| various 3 |
The Redchurch Gallery
My Final Major Exhibition is to be held at 2 separate venues, on two separate dates. The first will be held during May 2012 at the Redchurch Street Gallery in London for one week, alongside others works by my colleagues. The second exhibition is to be held at the University Centre Blackburn in June 2012.
| Queens Coronation Iconic Image by Cecil Beaton 1953 |
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| Montage Poster for Redchurch Street Gallery Exhibition May 2012 compiled by Helen Neylan in the form of the iconic image of the Queens Coronation (above) Images Copyright of the individual authors |
Details and a link to the Redchurch gallery can also be found below.
12 Exposures Booklet
http://www.galleryinredchurchstreet.com
Year One to Year Two
In the first and second years of the Foundation degree- which pre ran this BA (Hons) Degree, we looked at SYSTEMS & PROCESSES - light and the camera and its relationship with the image as a whole, shutter speeds, aperture and so on, regaining a basic knowledge and understanding of the way the camera sees.
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| Butterfly lighting |
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| high key lighting |
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| panning using shutter speed to freeze the subject |
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| low key lighting |
In looking at the People brief, it made me aware that I actually had a natural enjoyment of the subject matter, in combining lighting techniques such as seen below and compositional techniques, as seen later in the Places brief, the resulting outcome was pleasing.
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| Cross Lighting Image taken by Helen Neylan Copyright 2010 |
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| Fish vendors on Location - Cyprus Image Copyright Helen Neylan 2010 |
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| Fay - side lighting & low key technique Image by Helen Neylan Copyright 2010 |
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| The Best Librarian Image taken by Helen Neylan 2010 |
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| Man & a bike Taken on location Cyprus by Helen Neylan Copyright 2010 |
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| Street beggar Taken by Helen Neylan Copyright 2010 |
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| "Yes Dear" Taken by Helen Neylan Copyright 2010 |
Here are some of the images which made up the book:
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| Alien Landscape - Helen Neylan Copyright 2010 |
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| Alien Landscape 2 - Helen Neylan Copyright 2010 |
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| Panoramic Roof Landscape - Helen Neylan Copyright 2010 |
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| Buffavento Mountain Scape - Helen Neylan 2010 |
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| Kantara Castle - Places 2010 |
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| King Richards view - Places 2010 |
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| Kantara Castle from below- Helen Neylan 2010 |
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| Kyrenia Old Harbour - Helen Neylan 2010 |
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| Road to Kantara - Helen Neylan 2010 |
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| Tree of Light - Helen Neylan 2010 |
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| Mercedes Benz - Helen Neylan 2010 |
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| Repetitive forms in landscapes - Helen Neylan 2010 |
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| Repetitive forms in landscapes - Helen Neylan 2010 |
The company for whom was created the potential brochure (pages seen here) also then requested that they could potentially use our work on their web pages, and this will be coming soon. This effectively made me realise that photography has so many different applications - if you have an open mind, and a willingness to think commercially, there is work to be had in all walks of life. This formed a part of the year 2 WORK BASED LEARNING brief.
Art History came to form a critical backbone to all of my work over the whole 3 years. The incredible Chris Aughton created a vivid, mesmerising and imaginative series of lectures which gave a concise and creative picture and insight into the past from the Cave Paintings at Lascaux through to today's Turners prize winners such as Tracey Emmin, and almost as though translating Shakespeare, allowed student from all areas to begin to understand the question :
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| Brochure back page - Copyright 2011 |
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| Billiards - Copyright 2011 |
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| Fajitas - Copyright 2011 |
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| Brochure Front Page - Copyright 2011 |
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| Indoor Pool - Copyright 2011 |
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| Indoor Jacuzzi - Copyright 2011 |
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| Brochure Page 2 - Copyright 2011 |
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| Brochure Page 3 - Copyright 2011 |
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| Brochure Page 4 - Copyright 2011 |
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| Outdoor pool - Copyright 2011 |
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| Sauna - Copyright 2011 |
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| Lifestyle - Copyright 2011 |
Along the way, and forming a critical part of my learning we covered PERSONAL MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS PLANNING, where I was able to incorporate my previous business experience in life, and hopefully helped others on my course along the way. During this period we learnt about presentation techniques, including the Japanese structured PECHA KUCHA, which uses a series of times templates to deliver a message. This will prove an invaluable tool for me in the future and is an excellent way to get a message across without stressing about the actual art of presenting itself. One such Pecha Kucha which I presented to my group was the following series of images entitled "THE PAST REVEALS THE PRESENT" and formed part of the PHOTOJOURNALISM brief.
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| Disused Clock Tower - Helen Neylan Copyright 2011 |
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| Derelict Bus Station - Helen Neylan Copyright 2011 |
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| Old Mansion - Helen Neylan Copyright 2011 |
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| Divine Gifts Empty shops - Helen Neylan Copyright 2011 |
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| Boarded Hoardings - Helen Neylan Copyright 2011 |
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| The most expensive road - Helen Neylan Copyright 2011 |
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| The Tennis Club - Helen Neylan Copyright 2011 |
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| Toad hall Holiday flats on the beachfront - Helen Neylan Copyright 2011 |
Art History came to form a critical backbone to all of my work over the whole 3 years. The incredible Chris Aughton created a vivid, mesmerising and imaginative series of lectures which gave a concise and creative picture and insight into the past from the Cave Paintings at Lascaux through to today's Turners prize winners such as Tracey Emmin, and almost as though translating Shakespeare, allowed student from all areas to begin to understand the question :
WHAT IS ART?
If there was a speech to be made, it would read...
"and Finally I would like to thank Chris Aughton for the invaluable life skills he has imparted to me by his vast and unsurpassable knowledge into the subject of Art, but above all, his immaculate conception in its delivery"
If there is one top tip I would pass to all future art students it would be this:
GO TO ALL CHRIS'S LECTURES - YOUR FUTURE MAY DEPEND ON IT!
Thanks Chris!
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| Timeline of Art History (unfinished work) - created by Helen Neylan Copyright 2010
Throughout the 3 years there has been a strong backbone
of research and theory of the subject of Photography through all its ages and genres, Langfords Basic Photography, Langfords Advanced photography, Geoff Dyer's Ongoing Moment, Susan Sontag's On Photography, Gombrich History of Art, Raw Capture to Work flow, Photoshop for Dummies, amongst many many other titles have become my staple diet, alongside specific titles such as Those based around classic photographers including Patrick Demarchelier, and Mario Testino. When looking at the Fashion brief, I took comfort from the Case Study we conducted, where we compared and contrasted two photographers, for me it was the latter named two, which gave me inspiration and my lead for the Fashion brief.
Secondary & Tertiary Composition of the final Exhibition work
  
above: Secondary compilation involved choice of images to
be used in the final work. Tertiary compilation involved the placement of which image where and looking at form and line to inform composition and placement. Ultimately I decided on an ABSTRACT way of working to disassociate the obvious (i.e. flowers) from the final work(s).
Forming an exhibition
In order to conclude with a successful exhibition, it was
necessary to visit other exhibitions available. To this end I visited The National Media Museum at Bradford to see a permanently displayed exhibition of various media., I also visited my colleagues exhibits, and gained experience from the Visual Metaphor assignment which concluded with a Public Forum of work. In addition, I visited Salts Mill, The Lowry Centre Gallery, The Harris Museum and others.
Displaying Your Work
Shirley Read's book "Displaying your work, and Everything
in Between" is a practical guide to exhibiting your work, Focal Press, 2008.
Although I was unable to get a copy of this book in the
timescale, I viewed it on the internet (see below) 
This book can be viewed and ordered using the following link:
Another great book to look at is The Photobook, A History,
Volumes 1 & 2 by Martin Parr and Geoff Badger which provides excellent and valuable insight.
Ultimately, you do have to make your own judgement in how,
where, when to display your work, and take your own critical decisions.
The Exhibition in Redchurch Gallery
The following images show the exhibition both going up and
finished at London 2012, which was a great success and resulted in several new potential contacts and a base for national networking opportunities.         
The Exhibition at the
University Centre Blackburn 2012 The following images are as per the exhibition at Blackburn and the Poster which advertised the exhibition designed by students from the Graphics design team in colllaboration with the arts department.     Conclusion
As a final conclusion to my BA(Hons) Degree study,
I feel that I have benefited and grown through the above set tasks over the 3 years, although at the time it seemed quite challenging and very much out of my own comfort zone. However, I feel that the end result has made me a stronger photographer, and and now welcome challenges in commissioned work, and overall has added to my creative skill set allowing me to broaden my horizons going forwards as on many occasions I have been forced to think outside of the box. As opposed to my original desire to be a specialised photographer,
I now look forward to a future in creative design,
manufacture, marketing and a wide variety of other creative genres. |
