The final assignment of the course links together all that you have learned in 5: Natural light, 6: Artificial light and 7: Narrative and illustration. Imagine that you are about to illustrate a story for a magazine.
The last assignment of the course. And very similar to Project 63, which could help. I need to go out with a bang. I’m afraid I’m more likely to be going out with a whimper. Illustration. Narrative. I don’t want it to be obvious. I don’t want it to be ordinary. I don’t want it to be unoriginal (a holiday?) I want it to be abstract. I want it to be unusual. I want it to be different. I want my final assignment to illustrate and narrate something that’s never been done before for a final assignment of the OCA’s TAoP.
It’s difficult. As I’ve mentioned before, I think, I have the ideas and then fail miserably to implement them successfully. And that is the most difficult thing: to make the end result match what you had it mind.
A theme that has a narrative element…
A definition of the word ‘narrative’… It can be a noun or an adjective. From an on-line dictionary: ‘a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious’ or ‘the art, technique, or process of narrating’ (noun); ‘consisting of or characterized by the telling of a story’ (adjective). I like the second noun definition. Probably because it has the words ‘art’, ‘technique’ and ‘process’ in it.
Subject matter? Or, perhaps, does the subject matter? Ha ha. And again as I’ve mentioned before: this work always takes so much longer than indicated in the courseware. At least if you want to do it properly. Or at least if I want to do it properly. I guess everything’s relative: my definition of properly might be totally different to yours; you might be able to do something ‘properly’ more quickly than me. So maybe ‘properly’ comes down to skill or talent: if you can do something ‘properly’ quicker than me you are more skilled, more talented than me. The courseware indicates 45 hours for this assignment: I’ve spent more than 45 hours just thinking about the assignment: I haven’t taken a single shot yet.
And talking about time and effort and doing things properly: I’ve just discovered from speaking to someone at the OCA that if you intend on being assessed for a degree, and I do, the it’s only the last, level courses that are taken into account on deciding the class of degree that you attain. So I guess I could have spent less time on these early courses, got them out of the way, and then spent more time and effort on the final couple of level 3 courses. But I can’t as that goes against the grain.
So back to a theme… What about… Ironing a shirt? Frying an egg? Eating said egg? Drinking a glass of wine? Eating an apple? Have these ever been done before? Are they suitable? I think they COULD be. COULD anything that involves the element of time be suitable? Is everything a story? Is everything that has a timeline as story? Writing this? Thinking about the assignment? So it’s just about ILLUSTRATING the eating of the apple, the ironing of the shirt.
And then in a flash of… well… I’m not at all sure if it’s inspiration… I got invited to a wedding and ended up with these images.
(I wasn’t the official photographer. I wonder if I could stand the stress: perhaps it’s not as stressful as it used to be – waiting for rolls of film to come back from the lab with/without images – but still… I remember my father as a wedding photographer many years ago. Very stressful. For the whole family! And I don’t, of course, mean the family of the bride, or of the groom).
(I was supposed to use between 7 and 13 images for this (final: yes!) assignment, but I’m afraid I’ve gone over by one image. I couldn’t even think of a single image, and now I’ve got too many. Ah well.)
(Plus, of course, there’s nothing original about this set of images: a wedding! I ask you! Original? Ha! Abstract? Yeah, right! An unusual treatment? No chance! As if no one’s ever taken a photograph at a wedding before! I guess there are a couple of nice shots in there.)
A wedding story. Title: ‘The Right Decision’. At the time, of course, it always is (isn’t it?). You just hope that it always will be.
The cover image.
An image taken out of the narrative, of course, and converted to black and white. This image works well on its own, with the absence of colour (my favourite colour) adding to the drama of the occasion. Is it black and white? Is the decision to get married the right one? Is it always clear-cut?
Assignment 5: illustration/narrative
The picture essay.
1st image.
The groom uncertain: but only about the choice of music, or the ability of the person playing the music.
Assignment 5: illustration/narrative
2nd image.
The clergyman with a hint of ‘celibacy is definitely wrong’ look in his eye!
Assignment 5: illustration/narrative
3rd image.
The official photographer. I’m not so keen on the angle he’s shooting from!
Assignment 5: illustration/narrative
4th image.
No doubt: the right decision!
Assignment 5: illustration/narrative
5th image.
The 1st few steps on married life’s road.
Assignment 5: illustration/narrative
6th image.
The bride and groom: hoping every day will feel like this. But perhaps hoping for very different reasons.
Assignment 5: illustration/narrative
7th image.
The groom’s parents remembering their wedding day and how it made them feel, and how the memory is making them feel now. Do they still feel that way, without that memory?
Assignment 5: illustration/narrative
8th image.
There could be perhaps a hint of uncertainty here. No! Just a little more contemplative, a little more serious. But it’s still the right decision.
Assignment 5: illustration/narrative
9th image.
The obvious symbolism of the doves. Peace. Which there always will be, of course, as we’ve made the right decision!
Assignment 5: illustration/narrative
10th image.
Very subtle. A hint of perhaps something else in this image which is absent from the others (except for the obviousness of the fireworks going off in the final image!)
Assignment 5: illustration/narrative
11th image.
All the guests are letting balloons go here, but only the 2 most important people at the wedding are in shot.
Assignment 5: illustration/narrative
12th image.
A little time alone for the bride and groom even though there are hundreds of guests around them at the reception.
Assignment 5: illustration/narrative
13th image.
That 1st all-important dance.
Assignment 5: illustration/narrative
14th image.
Off to the honeymoon. Off to the fireworks!
Assignment 5: illustration/narrative
The images above are in a timeline, of course (excepting the first, cover, image). I’ve no idea whether or not I will have any control over where the images will be placed within the magazine, although they should be in the above order: it would make little sense to print them out of sequence. Having said that, however, I can’t know if 2 images are going to be printed side-by-side, on pages 2 and 3 for example, or if they are going to be printed vertically as a pair on a page, so the phrase in the courseware ‘sometimes the juxtaposition of 2 appropriate images can be telling’ is meaningless in this context: I’m not going to know whether or not 2 of my appropriate images will be juxtaposed. I would like to have the 7th and 8th images juxtaposed, for example, or the 13th and 14th ones, but have I got that amount of control over the layout of the magazine?
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