- Which areas of Creative Practices particularly interest you (these may include areas outside of your immediate subject specialism)?
The areas of creative practice that interest me are a bit of all of them Graphics, Fine Art and Photography are what I enjoy doing. I have a big interest in the music industry everything from the music, artists, promotion, labels and design of CD’s logos, branding etc. Also the live music and photographing it. I think I link this into my work a lot as I’ve done promotional covers and flyers for artists and go to a lot of live shows making sure I get as many photos as possible. I’ve also done drawings and paintings that I’ve given to and done for artists.
- Are there any questions that you have identified in your responses to the readings and lectures that have formed part of the module to date? What about any questions that you have posted on your blog?
I’ve found it quite interesting looking at the videos and breaking them down, if there for adverts or music videos as they are relatively short they have to fit a lot of visual information within a small space to get across the message that they are trying to give. In the case of most music videos they tend to tell a story in most cases relating to the lyrics of the song if they are more meaning full, I think I find them interesting to watch as the way in which some people read them are completely different, some people look really deeply into the meaning of them in some cases way too far and there is a big conspiracy theory growing larger online surrounding artists and what they show in their videos such as signs and symbols, so to me I find it interesting to break them down and try to see what other people might be seeing.
- Which aspects of the readings and lectures from the module have you agreed with?
I’ve agreed with the subject of ethical issues surrounding the subject areas and how they could present problems for people working in the industry, you have to be able to see something for more than one point of view to think how someone else might take it and that what might be acceptable to you might be seen by others as unacceptable.
- Which aspects of the reading and lectures from the module have you found to be particularly interesting?
The things that I found interesting were the ethical issues with art, graphics and photography, having to get certain permissions from people for using their photos, fonts, image etc. Looking at who they actually belong to e.g does the photo belong to the photographer, publisher or subject if it’s a person. Considering what is acceptable, who can view it, privacy.
The issue of what is considered as ‘art’ looking at what is on exhibitions currently how it differs from what people would imagine when you say to them ‘what’s art’.
How commercial images are changed, advertising images being ‘improved’ for a stronger effect, not always realist, they try to portray ‘perfection’ in advertising from makeup’s and health products, is it misleading?
- Which aspects of the reading or the lectures and discussions from the module to date have you disagreed with?
I don’t think I’ve disagreed specifically with things from the module, I’ve had ideas and opinions about things but I mainly focus on the ideas and work I like.
- Are there any specific issues that you feel strongly about? (Art, Design & Media related or not?)
Not that I can think of currently.
- Which exhibitions/events/screenings have you been to see since beginning the programme? Are there any specific aspects of these that have particularly interested you?
I’ve only really been to two exhibitions, I find I get more out of work I come across rather than going to a specific exhibition looking for work, If I saw an exhibition coming up that sounds interesting or has work that draws me in I would go to see it mainly to help me improve my work and see how other artists are working. I think that some of the things that are in exhibitions currently are very uninteresting. While in Spain I went into a shop / studio of a photographer, I did find this really interesting, maybe partly because of the content, style and the effect that the images had. I bought a book from the shop that contained the photographers work from the start to current, I read it and studied the photos on the way home in the plane and I think I got a lot more from that one small shop than I ever have from any exhibition.
- What do you know about contemporary employment practices in your chosen area of specialism?
I’ve looked briefly at employment as a graphic designer, photographer and Artist. All of these I’d be interested in going into but I’ve never really seen how Art can become a sustainable job. Looking at photography I think you would need to go into a company to start with as the equipment would be pretty expensive depending on the type of photography your doing. Graphics would probably be easier to start out but it’s such a wide subject it could be hard to narrow down what you are looking to do.
- Are you specifically interested in any aspect of commercial practices?
I think I’d be really interested in photography for events, studio or commercial publishing, the hardest part would be starting out getting a portfolio together. Also I’ve never took photography as a subject so everything I know is self taught from experimenting and a lot of research for myself.
I also really enjoy painting and drawing portraits or objects in a photographic style but I’ve always thought I’d never have it as a job because it’s not guaranteed that you would have any work.
- What do you intend to do at the end of the Foundation Degree? Do you know how you are going to go about this? What do you need to know to pursue your ambitions?
My original plan was to try and get a job in the graphics design industry but currently I’m looking at it from a wider view, looking at getting into commercial photography or Art, it will always be a side interest if I worker in graphic design.
