Feedback

For my Weird and Wonderful project I got a 2:1 (63) which I am happy with, I know there are some parts that I could improve upon but I either didn't have enough time or it is something that I am still learning the skills of.

Strengths:

• The hand made book has challenged you to make effective and interesting decisions around the sequencing of your photographs. The variety of personal creative strategies within the book, that synthesises conceptual experimentation and research regarding the subconscious and dreaming, is thoughtfully poising interrupting dialogues between the sometimes very different contents.

• Those that indicate an increasingly more sophisticated ability to realise your language, are when moments of obscure ambient light amongst darkened space or night time shots are placed up against the similarly lit cracked mirror portraits. These edits are creating dilemma and confusion that are highly appropriate to your thematic, and indicates some very interesting potential to work upon.

Areas for improvement:

• With the hand creation of book being the summative presentation, there are many new skills introduced at a critical moment of production. Your book has many design led embellishments that could require more time to refine the skill bases, evaluation around typography and similarly within its impact on sequencing, would likely with further analysis raise the quality in each technical facet of the outcome.

• Consider how you might reframe your workflow, the specific tasks that can bring a body of work one step further. An example would be that pacing in another draft or edit, could drastically change and the overall impact of you visual language.

I agree with my feedback and think it is very fair. I am very happy with the fact that they like my idea of sequencing the night time shots and other landscapes with the images of the cracked mirror as I wasn't sure if everyone would understand why. In my one to one feedback session Jon told me that the end of the book is much stronger than the begging and I think I agree as the images flow/juxtapose better. If I had more time I would have been able to reshoot or reassess my editorial. Editorial skills are something that I will become better at over time. I enjoyed making my book more than I thought I would have, at first I found the idea of creating a book fairly off putting but I am actually really looking forward to make the next, especially now I have more skills and knowledge of how to make it a success.

We discussed the typography in the book, to begin with I was sad that they didn't like it as I thought it really worked but after a bit of thought I saw that they were right. I came up with the idea that I could have got reach person to write out a song that fitted the emotions of their dream. Then I could have either scanned or stuck in the pieces of paper, this would have further improved the personal feel to the book.

I think that a big thing I need to get better at it pushing through the nervousness of a new project, I have discovered that I am very good at putting off starting new ideas for fear of them not turning out well. I am not sure how to do this apart from just having more confidence in myself that my ideas will work and if they don't then at least I tried. I have to remember that the first draft of an idea will 9/10 times be bad but the next one will be better and the one after that will be even better. As you can see from the table above the learning outcome D2 was marked slightly lower than the rest and I think that is a reflection of not managing my time successfully all the time. One of the reasons being what I just stated, and others being that sometimes when my ideas don't work out how I want them to I get disheartened and not know where to go next. If I had managed my time more efficiently then I might of had time to make another draft of the book and discovered what would work and what methods of making I needed to change.

Jon feels that there are many new qualities that I have discovered in this project that I should definitely carry over in to my future projects. This has boosted my confidence that the book actually went well and I feel that I should really start pushing myself out my comfort zone and I discovered so much by doing so.

I asked how I could improve my critical reflection as writing is something I always struggle with and I got referred back to the brief. The next band up states:

Work that clearly demonstrates all qualities listed below, but which indicates a greater ability to critique, analyse and synthesise and/or demonstrates insight and innovation.

Jon said it is not so much the writing but the doing that I need to improve on. I need to sift through what want to analyse etc. So I feel I need to be more concise which I think is fair as I feel I am have rambled in fear of not covering all the right points.