Process Journal

(Personal Project)

Pearl Sriorathaikul

Supervisor: John Hoare

Personal Project Entry #5: Meeting 1

May 29th, 2013

After Ms Angela sent everyone the excel document of our supervisors, I decided to email my

Personal Project supervisor. I didn’t know who Mr. Hoare was and never talked to him before but I

heard that he was an English teacher and was really good at photography. I’ve seen some of his

photography before already from the COF trip and I think with his help and support, I will be able to

get through this Personal Project and reach my goal. With that, I sent an email to Mr. Hoare and we

decided to meet on 14th of May (Tuesday) after school to discuss further about this topic. He ended

up being sick on that day so I went to him the next day to reschedule our appointment meeting so I

can still get a chance to talk to him and get more advice on my topic.

On the 16th of May, I had my first personal project meeting with my supervisor, Mr. John Hoare. The

meeting lasted around 15 minutes and with that, we covered lots of topics (Photography itself,

Product etc.). Before discussing any further, I went over my topic, product, goal and AOI once again

for clarification. I found out that even though I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to do, I haven’t

actually thought much about all the details and resources that I would need in order to create my

final product and it made me sort of think about things a little more clearly. During our meeting, we

first talked about my experience with photography, I thought I had the right camera to use for taking

the photos later on when I’m working on creating my project but I wanted to explore new camera’s

which I’m not sure on how to use them. We didn’t make any changes to the goal and AOI of this

topic since it was already satisfying. For the product, I was still not decisiveness on what I wanted

but some of the feedback was to do something like a Photo Essay but I haven’t heard of that before

so I plan on looking through it at home before the next meeting.

My plan for the next meeting with my supervisor is to complete the following listed below:

Come up with specifications to evaluate the product/outcome Do a research and include sources (Write on blog- new entry)

Write up a timeline

At this meeting I will have:

My specifications that I’m going to evaluate with the product/outcome later on

My process journal entries

My timeline/plan for completing my product

My timeline for completing your product

My 4-5 photographs that I think are the best and ready to discuss about it

Overall, I think the ATL skills that are demonstrated in this entry are reflection and organizational skills and attitudes towards work. I need to reflect on what I have so far and what needs to be improved and in order for that to happen I need to be more organized and motivated during this process entries and writing up everything for Meetings. I think I have demonstrated some self-management skills including personal goal settings since each of these entries have their own goals and so far they are met.

Personal Project Entry #6: Research, Specification, Timeline

June 4th, 2013

I decided to start researching about the photo essay and different basic techniques of photography

to start off with. I am still a bit unsure whether I wanted to do a photo essay or just mount my

photos on a board in a huge size and then give it each a caption. But for now to give me some ideas,

I will also be finding out what a photo essay does.

Below are two tables and is my draft for my personal project duration, I have to write a simple draft

to help me but this has not been moderated yet so I will have to try my best to write it up and then

later when talking to my supervisor, make changes to any of these dates!

Monthly Plan:

May June July August September October November

Brain possible ideas and deciding on my final topic and my goal

Plan out what the Theme concept of ‘Love’ really means and how I’m going to show it in different ways

Go around places to take photos in Italy and Greece and when back in Thailand as well

Taking some photos out and and editing the photos

If there is time, edit the final photos using Photoshop

Check my product against the specifications

Prepare for the personal project fair

Deciding on my final product and as of what AOI I will be focusing upon

Experiment on a camera and use that camera for most of the duration of the personal project

Let someone else record a video to show the process of when i’m taking photos

Show my supervisor and ask for opinions from others

Put the photos in order for the photo essay

If there are any specifications that aren’t met by the product then try to get it to meet the specifications as possible

Make any additional in the product/ process journals that need to be completed

Having a goal for each week and a month from now to get myself started (Writing/Updating Blog Posts)

Taking Camera to England and start taking photos from planning

Create a final product with finishing touches (Photo Essay)

Decide who I need

to interview or talk to

Find a specific Target Audience

Task Planning with steps:

Task Steps Date

Start Completed

Creating The Design

Specifications

1. Determine my final product

2. Have the final product/outcome checked with my supervisor (Mr. Hoare)

May May

1. Create a minimum of fifteen (clearly detailed)

2. Before school closes have a meeting with Mr. Hoare to get the Design Specification checked + Research and see if i’m on the right track

3. Update how my meeting went with Mr. Hoare

May June 12th 2013

Research 1. Design research questions based on my AOI and other inquiries

2. Create a minimum of five questions on Photography to get my research started

June 9th 2013

1. Think of possible sources (Internet, Books, Experts)

2. Review how to evaluate the sources

June 8th 2013

1. Interview a photographer or someone about the

July- 15th

techniques of photography (Or some research from books)

1. Start the research and answer the research question but writing it in paragraphs.

2. Research also on the different techniques and look deeper in photography

3. Create a page on Easy Bib named “PERSONAL PROJECT”

4. Blog about all the research and tag personal project (don’t forget)

July 20th

Planning Days 1. Plan out what i’m going to take based on

2. Search different locations that might be used or contact different people to take photos of them

3. Talk to my supervisor about the locations and what techniques are going to be included

June 11th 2013 June 12th 2013

1. Find transportation and if needed buy a new camera (depends on the techniques that want to be used)

2. Check dates of when free

June 12th 2013 June 14th 2013

1. Finding someone to go with once figured the dates and locations

2. Talk to my supervisor about what I have done and take photos of my surroundings

June 11th 2013 June 14th 2013

Go around Bangkok 1. Once I have learnt some techniques and skills on Photography, I will then follow the plan

1. Bring a video camera around to record all the times I go take photos

2. Write up a blog about what photos I have taken and reflect on it

3. Reflect every time I work on the personal project and if there were any changes to the plan or if it went well etc.

4. If didn’t work on it for a week still update saying why I didn’t do it

Final Product Due 1. Final Product will be created into a Photo Essay

2. The final product will be completed on the day and meets all the specifications

3. The final product will be shown from the skills of the research and explaining everything in a Video

Wednesday, November

11, 2013

Stage 1- Learning How to Take Photos

Using Digital Camera

Learn about How Lighting Works

View Point and Angle

Different Lens: Pros and Cons

Optional: Photoshop

Take Photos

Explore different camera’s and see which one fits best to help me improve my skill

Stage 2- Exploring with the Theme Concept of ‘Love’

How is this word of ‘Love’ expressed in photos

The perspective of the Camera which can change the way the photo gives out the message

What love really is to different people and to me

Below is what I have been working on at home:

Research Questions:1. What is photography?

2. What are some of the skills required for photography?

3. How do you educate yourself to take better pictures?

4. How does the lens have an impact on the picture and photography as a whole?

5. What other features can a camera do?

6. What is the process of editing photos?

7. What kind of gear is used?

8. What are some of the settings that can be used? And how?

9. How can photography capture an emotion?

10. What is a photo essay?

11. Some techniques used in taking a better photo?

Specifications:1. There must be at least up to 50+ photographs based on the topic to choose from

2. The costs of this project shouldn’t exceed 5,000 baht

3. All the photos must be taken by Pearl (myself)

4. Must research into the following theme that the photos are based on

5. Product must look aesthetically pleasing

6. The photography should be used from the different techniques learnt through research

7. Final Product must be 8-10 photos mounted on a foam board

8. The final product must be printed out in the size 20x30 inches

9. The type of Style of the photo can be different (Landscape, Day or Night, Portrait etc.)

10. The photos must be edited on Photoshop

The possible sources are:

1. Internet

2. Books

3. Photographers/Interviews

4. Videos (YouTube etc.)

Some Interesting Information Found:

A photo essay is a simple collection of images placed in an order to tell the progression of events,

emotions and concepts. It is used by world class photojournalists and the photo essay takes the

same story telling techniques like in a normal essay but translated into visual images. Most photo

essays today are done in a digital format but can also be done ‘hand mounted’. This concept will

help other’s think deeper into the meaning of the photos and how it’s done in this order.

Some of the elements that ensure good composition in every photograph are:

Centre of interest

Viewpoint and camera angle

Subject Placement

Balance

Shapes and lines

Volume

Patter

Lighting

Tone

Texture

Contrast

Framing

Foreground

Background

Perspective

A Camera Lens is an assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make images of objects on other media capable of storing image electronically. The lens have an effect on the way the photo turns out because choosing the camera lenses demands both knowledge of and experience with different types of camera lenses. A photographer also chooses a particular lens to produce a specific photographic effect. Light, composition and subject matter of a scene all influence photographers’ choices of lenses. There are different aperture and focal length of the Lens. There is the Normal Lens, Wide-Angle Lens and Long-Focus Lens.Normal Lens: The angle of view of the diagnosis about 50° and a focal length approx. equal to the image diagonalWide-angle lens: The angle of view wider than 60° and focal length shorter than normalLong-focus lens: Any lens with a focal length longer than the diagonal measure of the sensor/film (The angle of view is narrower)The meaning of the Theme ‘Love’

Different people have different descriptions for this word. I found the most interesting post of “What Does Love Mean” from Kids. A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds: “What does love mean?”The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined and has helped me think of new ideas and ways of love.

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.” -Rebecca – age 8

“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.” -Billy – age 4

“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.” -Terri – age 4

“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” -Danny – age 7

“Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss.” -Emily – age 8

“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” -Bobby – age 7 (Wow!)

“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.” -Nikka – age 6

“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.” -Noelle – age 7

“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.” -Tommy – age 6

“During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.” -Cindy – age 8

“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.” -Elaine – age 5

“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.” -Chris – age 7

“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.” -Mary Ann – age 4

“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.” (Now THIS is love!) -Lauren – age 4

“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.” (what an image!) -Karen – age 7

“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn’t think it’s gross.” -Mark – age 6

“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.” -Jessica – age 8

A four year old child had a next door neighbor—an elderly gentleman—who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed

onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.”

The main ATL Skills used in this is thinking skills and problem solving. The reason for thinking skills

would be in this case how my photography is based on a theme and I have to critically think on how I

can use my information about Love and photography skills to combine them and show it off in one

photo that can be successful to my goal. Problem solving in this case would be the dates that are

written and sometimes things don’t go as well planned so there are always things to solve. Just with

this ATL Skill, it will help me to easier shape the way I will be taking my photos with limited things to

focus on.

My goal for next meeting again would be to try to ask a lot of questions as I can to my supervisor

since he would be more experienced than I am and by asking questions in the meeting would get me

to have more ideas that might be useful later on.

Some of the sites used for research are:

http://www.techitoutuk.com/knowledge/designprocess.html

http://www.photography.com/articles/techniques/choosing-lenses/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo-essay

http://www.lightstalking.com/photography-questions

http://digital-photography-school.com/10-questions-you-should-be-asking-every-photographer

http://photo.tutsplus.com/articles/20-questions-and-answers-for-new-photographers/

http://photoinf.com/General/NAVY/Photographic_composition_Balance.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_lens

http://theburiedlife.tumblr.com/post/36149178749/what-love-means-to-a-4-8-year-old-a-group-of

Personal Project Entry #7: Second Meeting

June 12th, 2013

Below are the five pictures that I have selected to show my personal project supervisor, Mr. Hoare at

this second meeting for feedback. To get a better idea of what still needs improvement and what are

some of the good qualities already, we both decided to analyse each photo looking at the techniques

and skills I have used in each of the photos and the weakness and strengths of the photo.

#1

This photo was taken with the Nikon camera (D90) in Tokyo, Japan.

The strength is the way everything is blurred out at the

back which helps to get the image in the front a focal point

on both of the girl and boy. The other strength is the

hue/saturation effect which is useful in this photo (depends

on situation). A weakness is to try another affect in editing

since maybe it would have matched more. An improvement

that could have been made the photography better would

be to focus on only one of them not both to make one be the centre of attention and the camera

doesn’t have to be landscape so we could see the whole statue.

#2

This photo was taken with the Nikon Camera (D90) in Disney World, Florida.

We both thought that this photo could have

been taken in a better angle but other than that

I was satisfied with this picture because I

thought it seemed unique but I wouldn’t be

taking something like this for my personal

project photos. The reason would be since there

is the fence thing in the photo maybe the

camera shouldn’t be focusing on that and focus

on the buzz car in the inside which will be harder

so to take it in a different angle or side would have made the photo way better.

#3

This photo was taken with the Nikon Camera (D90) in New York, Ninja Restaurant.

This photo was one of my favourite photos I’ve

taken from New York. I’ve always been

interested in taking photos that capture the fire

and with this I thought the strength of this

photo was the contrast (the flames catching life

in shades of blue and orange), The fore ground

and background that is used, the view point

angle, lighting (flash) that is used in the photo

and last of all the Tone. There was one weakness

discussed amongst both of us which was how the table could have been shown in another

dimension to see the other edge but other than that I thought this photo was very

#4

This photo was taken with the Samsung Camera (NX 20) in Italy.

This photo was taken in Italy when we all went out for ice cream during our

Art Trip. I liked the colour of the ice cream and the way it is shaped so I

decided to go in for a photo. The strength in this photo would be the focal

point and blurriness which helps the ice cream to stand out from the rest

of the background. A weakness would be the angle and maybe it would

have been better to take a photo of the person herself (blurred) and

holding the ice cream. An improvement that could be made is to get the

photo to be more focused on only the ice cream and blur the outside more

or use a background not someone’s face on the edge into the photo.

#5

This photo was taken with the Nikon Camera (D90) in Tokyo, Japan.

I decided to take this photo when it was all packed and

everyone was rushing to pass by. The strength for this

photo is the lighting and the balance in the photo. The

Weakness would be the blurriness of the people in

front, the angle of the photo and subject placement. A

lot of improvements could be made to get a better

quality photo like this. This would be to try and get the

subject placement to someone that really stands out and blur everyone out because in this photo I

just quickly took a snap shot and it didn’t really have a meaning other than this place is always

crowded so maybe I can work on the focus and the edges of where my photo balances because

when looking up the photo it is not as straight as well. So a lot can be improved.

Overall I would like to see myself as liking to focus on ‘Focal Point Photography’ but I want to

develop this photography by getting more of message or story across from the images and improving

my camera skills by getting the photos to seem deeper and gives out a meaning to people.

After discussing about the five photos above, I showed Mr. Hoare the stages of process and the table

I created at home. I wanted to be more specific on what techniques are going to be used and what

my theme really meant so I will be writing more about that in another blog post when I get more

ideas from a book that was recommended by my supervisor which was called, “The Photographer’s

Eye’ by Michael Freeman. We both discussed about how I am going to show the concept of Love in

photography. This was a hard question as well because Love isn’t just about random people kissing

on the streets but it’s more than that and I want to look into it and experience the way love can

empower people by using photography. This leads to thinking about love manifested in lives and

how someone’s life can change around because of love. I chose to take lots of shots during summer

and when I feel like I’ve had enough, I would select some photos I thought would match this concept

or theme of mine and also look at the photography skills and whether it has shown development in

my eyes or not. From that I will have to arrange another meeting with Mr. Hoare and

My goal for next week is to explore first the meaning of Love and try to take photos along the way of

what I feel is love and if I’m not happy with the idea then I would try to learn from my research and

interview some different ages of people what they think love is. But from exploring, I want to focus

on developing my skills and read through the book that Mr. Hoare has recommended me to buy and

see how it well help me through this process. My goal was to also update my blog every time I think

of an idea of find something that relates or even if I have nothing for an entire week still write that

so it can help me later in the future.

We also both decided that using one camera would be more useful so it doesn’t cause me into

having to carry different equipment’s and just maybe bring a small camera in case I want to take

some sneaky shots but also I learnt and got a lot of tips from my supervisor today on Photography

and my theme. He taught me that I have to focus on what I want the photo to turn out like and bring

the things that I control to be able to select more photos and be satisfied with my own photography.

He gave me some advice to ask my Art Teacher about the final product on how to define that I have

developed my skills in photography if I was stuck.

With this, my goal is to come back after the summer break and get all my research completed whilst

also using this research to get my photography to improve and with my next meeting, I will have

some photos taken from the summer holidays to show Mr. Hoare. The ATL skill used would be

thinking skills and reflection. I need to be able to critically think and reflect on my photos at all

times. With this ATL skill of Reflection, some of the questions when I reflect that occurs to me when I

look at my photos would be, how do I reflect? How many reflections have helped me learn? How

other reflection tools and resources can help me. With this I reflect best by listing the pros and cons

out and ways for improvement. Another ATL Skill used would be Collaboration. This would be when

I try to negotiate my goals and limitation with my supervisor himself.

Personal Project Entry #8: ‘The Photographer’s Eye’ By Michael Freeman

June 14th, 2013

Yesterday, I bought the book from Kinokuniya called ’The Photographer’s Eye’ by Michael Freeman.

This book was suggested by my supervisor which I also decided was a good book since I was

skimming through it before buying it.

The Photographer’s Eye speaks to photographers everywhere and shows how anyone can develop

the ability to see and shoot great digital photographs. The book explores all the traditional

approaches to composition and design, also addressing the new digital technique of shooting in the

knowledge that a picture will later be manipulated and edited to result in a final image that may be

very different from the one seen in the viewfinder.

Over the weekend I had time so I sat down with The Photographer’s Eye by Michael Freeman. At the

first flick through the book, it has impressed me purely as a result of the images that it contained

because I felt like Freeman really knows how to take a shot but after taking in the images I began to

digest the words that accompanied them and was really impressed with the aims of this book.

Michael Freeman has explained in his introduction that:

“A great deal goes on in the process of making an exposure that is not at all obvious to someone else

seeing the result later…. What I will attempt to do here is to show how photographers compose their

images, according to their intentions, moods and abilities and how the many skills of organizing an

image in the viewfinder can be improved and shared.”

The quote in this book was very inspirational and really meant something to me and I thought more

about how this will help my project. This book is easy to read and it was a very worthwhile read.

Even though this book might not teach me how to use the different features of my camera because

it’s a book about composition, it is probably a book I need read before mastering my camera. It has

taught me to view the camera differently when I’m going to snap a shot because I have to see the

composition in the image and whether it will be effective. This also helps me relate art to

photography in ways when we do observational drawing, we will have to see the composition of the

whole art work itself and try to get the composition right.

There was this other quote I found when on the web which totally described how I viewed or

thought of the word “Photography”.

Elliott Erwitt said, “To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something

interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything

to do with the way you see them.”

So from this, my goal is to finish exploring with these different ideas and start taking photos when I

fly to Italy and England. My idea would be to take this book with me and try to understand what the

author is trying to teach and help me in order for me to achieve better photography skills. The ATL

Skill used would be information literacy. Information literacy would be accessing information in this

case I have used a variety of sources so far and this includes books as well.

Sources:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/photography.html

Also the book I Bought was one of the Sources included.

Personal Project Entry #12: AWAY

July 21st, 2013

This has been a long time ever since my last blog post update. The reason for this was because there

was no access for Wi-Fi during my trip in Greece/Italy. However, there were some photos that I took

which could be included to my yet-undecided-theme of love. I found that there was more of a

meaning to love in Italy than in London during my exploration. The con about this was how hard it

was to capture love and it happens quickly so I have to be ready to choose the settings to the camera

and snap the shot in time. In Italy love was often found in different places including with dogs as well

and just experiencing this word helped to explain it. ‘Love’ was a hard and challenging topic which

was the whole point for exploring this topic relating to the AOI ‘Human Ingenuity’. Love could just be

simple things like couples getting married or just a dad caring about his daughter/son which is a

simple but not thought of kind of love. Below are some of the photos that have been taken during

the trip when I was abroad and they are yet to be edited. My plan once I get back to Bangkok is just

to take more photos when I just go around I decided to carry my camera around with me in case I

miss something out. For now I am satisfied with my work that I have done so far. I look forward to

Photoshop the photos and use the skills that i have learnt in Art class for the Photoshop lesson to

editing these photos and see where it takes me and maybe along the way I will develop my skills and

learn further about Photoshop. I am excited! And will start to update my blog more often!

As for the photos I’ve gathered all the photos I thought could be used in my final product and I put

them all together in a labelled folder so that I won’t forget. The photos below are going to be in

different sections for the photos so far taken from England, Greece/Italy and Thailand. My goal for

this week will to be to do an interview with a photographer to get more tips and blog about it. For

next week my goal is to take photos outside and the week after to start finding editing programs that

are right for the photos.

PHOTOS

The photo files are too big so below are the links of some of the photos posted in the blog

(temporary for now):

http://personalprojectphotographypearl.tumblr.com/

Puppy Love

The photos show two dogs. There was a story behind this photo which could already be told from

the way the two dogs are affectionate to each other. I took a few of shots to choose from since there

were different angles and in the end I could choose the one which best suites the topic and goal I

was going for.

Wedding

The photo shows the wedding at a chapel and I chose it also because I like

the lighting and the composition of the photo itself. I wasn’t really a fan of

the angle the photo was in but it was because of the amount of zoom and

quick shot. There was also another photo of the girl and guy walking up

the street and this was captured in a second where the boy was holding

his brides hand and smiling. This photo is focused especially on both of

them and was very powerful.

Friendship

This photo tells a story which is a very deep meaning to the way two

friends share a bond and this can give out a show of this topic easily as

well as the way the photo was taken helped to bring out the liveliness of

this photo. I liked the brightness in the first photo where there are three

girls and the composition in it was very well structured.

Husky and girl

I thought this photo related because it’s a girls love towards a dog which is heartfelt and the dog’s

expression expresses Love in so many kinds of way which is priceless.

Mother with lovely sons

In this photo they were all holding hands and all seem like they all love each other and are one

happy family. I didn’t mind the photo but wouldn’t use it as my final product since I didn’t like how

the angle turned out and there were different aspects that could have improved the photography.

Overall I like this theme so far and will try to make it work and do more research upon the

photography skills (next blog post on how I am keeping up with the techniques I have learnt). There

was no research done during the trip so I want to further evaluate on that and evaluate on more of

how can I show people the theme and yet follow and complete my goal!

I made a lot of progress during this week since I went roaming around near Bangkok to get some

good shots. I was satisfied with my photos overall today and I will be posting them later on in the

week because the files are too big and I have to sort them out and then later upload it in my photos

blog. I thought that my goal again was to look at them and show Mr. Hoare what I have so far when

we get back in order to be able to continue with my product.

The ATL Skill used in this would be Reflection which is Self-Evaluation

Personal Project Entry #15: Email

August 14th, 2013

Above is when I was trying to get a scheduled next meeting (Third Meeting). I thought it is important to show and keep in the Process Journal since this will be my reminder to go to the meeting and write it done and since I was discussing earlier about being organized and up to date with my personal project, this will help me further on. With this, I decided to plan out what to talk about in my third meeting.

Goal/Things to talk about:

Viewing my photos during Summer and analysing what needs to be improved The different locations in Bangkok that will be effective for my photography and final

product Camera Settings from research and things that may improve my photography skills

OVERALL- To discuss about my progress so far and what my next step is and with this meeting, my supervisor will be able to push me forward and get to my goal and give me advice. The ATL Skill used in this would be reflection in this case since I’ve always been reflecting on my work so far and photos etc.

Personal Project Entry #16: Third Meeting

August 17th, 2013

Yesterday (Friday 16 August) I met with my supervisor, Mr. Hoare, to show him how my photography

has progressed and discuss with him about the work I have been doing so far. Mr. Hoare had a

number of useful thoughts for my personal project and about the work so far:

We talked about my photography progression so far and how I could develop further

My research that I will have to investigate further on (Will be done around this following week)

The camera that I am using and how to take advantage of the settings and the camera (Nikon D90 and Canon E05)

We looked through his photography and I was really blown away and inspired. What amazed me were the artistic elements of the image. The photograph had good composition and lighting, perspective, right timing, colours used and other artistic elements. Also the locations were really interesting! One image that was my favourite would be the one with the sky and the perfect composition with a guy walking down the steps.

We briefly reviewed all my blog posts and discussed about what has to be completed and my goals

Mr Hoare suggested me locations for when I go out and take more photos in Bangkok (which was really helpful)

We also discussed about some other things that I have forgotten. With this, I think it is a good lesson for me, as it will mean that in the future I will have to try to record our meetings or take notes. (Since I’m really forgetful)!

This meeting has motivated me to go out this Sunday to take more photos around Bangkok and find

days after school where I am free. The locations he suggested were Chatuchak Market, Yaowarat

Road (China Town). We talked about how not only can I visit the touristy places but visit places

which people will find interesting or places which not has been very known to tourists. I had a few

places in mind so that might be a good idea to go capture some moments there. With this I decided

to look up more information on different places in Thailand and decided to find more information on

my other Canon camera so I can feel more comfortable using it.

I thought my photography skills have improved a bit since I thought my composition was better and

the perspective. The things I want to improve on is to get the right timing since I’m in no rush and I

want the photo to come out looking normal as possible and not the people looking at the camera

and posing. So I will further investigate and explore on that further!

With that being said, This Sunday I will take many shots and will be updating the photos onto my

blog. I’m very excited to go around Bangkok and take photos. I thought that since I already had a lot

of photos of family, I would like to work more on something different but still focus on the theme of

Love. I think this week I will develop and progress further! My goal for this week and next would be

to get more shots and to finish my research and check my specifications again to see if there needs

to be more things added to it. I also want to get an interview going to explore more about a

photographer and to get more knowledge and understanding of photography in a photographer’s

eyes. Something I thought was a good idea is the ATL Self-Assessment and I will further write on that

and show to my personal project supervisor.

Personal Project Entry #17: ATL SELF ASSESSMENT

August 17th, 2013

Today I thought about my earlier blog post about the ATL Self-Assessment and I decided to work on

writing it since it will benefit me later on.

How do I learn best?

How do I know?

How do I communicate my understanding?

Through the approaches to learning, I will be provided with the tools to enable me in order to take

responsibility for my own learning. The central to this is ‘learning how to learn’ and developing in my

awareness of how I learn best, of thought processes and of learning strategies. This will help me

work on my Personal Project more efficiently. From this, I believe I learn best as a student by doing.

This is because it allows me to view things differently and see how things work. Then I can further

develop the ideas and see the changes that could be made, improvement and adapt an idea/concept

to my needs. With this, I prefer to communicate my knowledge and understanding of ideas by

applying and demonstrating this understanding. There are a wide variety of skills I am applying and

demonstrating throughout my Personal Project process.

Below are the some of the skills:

Communication Skills

I think I am already good at since my whole blog is evidence proving my communication skills in

which I always communicate my ideas, thoughts and work I have completed sharing and talking

about it.

Organizational Skills and Attitudes towards work.

After the few meetings I think I have improved my organization skills and I am getting good at so far.

I have demonstrated clear evidence of planning and brainstorming and organized with all my blog

posts. I still need to improve on my commitment. My attitude towards personal project is so far

great since I’m always on task and ready to go out and explore.

Problem Solving and Thinking Skills

I have applied to this in many ways for example I have had problems with my camera earlier which

the photos always come out blurry and the settings wasn’t set on correctly. So I then took a few

hours trying to get it solved and also using the internet to help me in which I solved my problem and

all was fine.

Information Literacy

I have been highly information literate in my opinion. This is because at the beginning of my project

after I got my topic, I went to the book store and got a number of good books including the one my

supervisor advised to check out. I have also been doing a lot of research on the internet using

different sites and also checking on videos.

Reflection

I believe that I am better at reflection than finding information or exploring since I am often always

reflecting on everything I do and especially when I have to write out a report or a blog post I enjoy

writing on what I have done and the things I accomplished. I thought this part of the ATL skill really

relates to the personal project we are currently working on since every time we have to blog and

reflect on what we’ve done so far.

Personal Project Entry #18: Sunday Is Photography Day

August 19th, 2013

Today I set myself up to go exploring around Bangkok to view Bangkok in my own eyes. I headed to

the Chatuchuk Market first, taking photos on the sidewalks along the way. Walking around

Chatuchuk really opened up to new aspects to my photos which relates to the chosen theme. From

all the photos, I narrowed it down to eight photos for my theme. There were lots of problems that I

faced today while walking around Bangkok because the weather wasn’t on my side and it started

raining so that was it for today. Even though not everything turned out like the way it was planned, I

was still satisfied with the photo results I got. The other problem I faced at home when trying to

upload the photos on this blog yesterday was that the blog doesn’t allow me to upload the photos

since the picture size was too big. Also I can’t access Tumblr in school and my blog has to get access

through Tumblr. To solve this problem, I decided to sign up to Flickr and will be uploading all my

personal project photos there from now (Will sign up later). Goal for next week on the weekends is

to go out and take photos (hopefully it won’t rain) and this week I will consider asking my parents

and talking to them about photography as well as working on my research.

Below is a photo of me taking photos around Chatuchak and it was a very eventful day since a lot of

photos were taken and added to the collection. The meeting really helped me and finding places to

go take photos beforehand was useful as well since I didn’t have to waste my time instead I could be

taking photographs.

Here are some of the photos I took:

All these photos are from the market and I tried to get what I got from the book by trying lighting

and focus. Like for example in the third photo where there are two couples I tried to get the perfect

lighting and all the focus on the couple as well and this had to be done quickly the lens since

everything was going by so quickly.

Goal: After all these photos I want to explore more photography books and different sources which

will help me in order to get more skills on photography. I am satisfied with my photography so far at

this point and I want to further improve it with the research I have done so far and what I will

include through the process.

Personal Project Entry #19: Photography Books

August 19th, 2013

I had tutor after school and decided to stop by at the Kinokuniya Book Store. I looked around the

store and found the ‘Photography’ section which after I looked at the watch after a while, I was

there for an hour and a half. I read most of the books there and skimmed through some which

inspired me and taught me new things I didn’t know about photography.

After staying in that section for a while I’ve decided to buy the three books that I was really

interested in and thought it was useful for me since I really like photography. From the books, I also

got some new information for my research that I haven’t found on the internet.

Books Bought:

The New Street Photographer’s Manifesto by Tanya Nagar-

This book explores the concept of street photography, filled with details to the photographic

potential of our urban world, offering details on techniques and tricks to improve perspective,

exposure and composition.

Digital Black & White Photography by David Taylor

David Taylor provides expert advice and guidance on creating stunning digital black and white

images which will add an exciting dimension to your photography. He gives professional guidance on

exposure, composition, and converting colour images to black & white etc.

Mastering Digital Photography by Michael Freeman

The whole world of photography is presented in a single volume. This book includes examinations of

action shots, landscapes, colour, natural light etc.

From reading these books, it really helped me to see another view point of photography and the

different books give out different information on the author’s view of photography and I found it

really amusing to see other examples of other people’s photography.

Personal Project Entry #20: Plans Changed?

August 29th, 2013

Going back to look at my plan, I have decided that I need to catch up with my research since I have

some information that I’ve found on the internet and books but I need to start organizing it into

categories and getting all my works cited.

I was according to plan during May until now for the Monthly Plan but by looking through my Task

Planning steps by steps I have not fully completed my research yet and I have to further work on

that! The changes I made during the summer to my research plan would probably be that I decided

not to work on Filming my process of my personal project because I thought it would be hard to get

a film while I’d be taking photos. The Link to my Monthly Plan

is: http://blogs.nist.ac.th/16pearls/2013/06/04/personal-project-entry-6-research-specification-

timeline-draft/ I’ve also changed the Completed

This week I will be doing more research than going out to take photos because now I need to gain

more information on Photography from what I have learnt during summer and August into my

photography to improve my photography. The theme that I have created is still the same and I feel

like it is going to challenge my skills.

Below are the two stages I wrote during June 4th, 2013 and underneath that I will be writing the

things I have done and haven’t:

Stage 1- Learning How to Take Photos

Using Digital Camera

Learn about How Lighting Works

View Point and Angle

Different Lens: Pros and Cons

Optional: Photoshop

Take Photos

Explore different camera’s and see which one fits best to help me improve my skill

Stage 2- Exploring with the Theme Concept of ‘Love’

How is this word of ‘Love’ expressed in photos

The perspective of the Camera which can change the way the photo gives out the message

What love really is to different people and to me

During my summer and the open of the new school year, I have learnt how to take photos, as well as

exploring with the concept of Love. I thought that I’m still exploring this theme since there are so

many ways in interpreting this meaning (Different Views). From this, I thought that I’d have to

research and explore more about photography since my goal is to develop my photography skill that

is. So far I think everything is going well and look forward to taking more photos!

My photos from last time still have to be uploaded on Flickr (which will be done either today or

tomorrow), I will have to write up my research all together and this will be done in my next blog

post.

Personal Project Entry #21: Flickr Upload

September 1st, 2013

I found out a way to upload my photos on Flickr and I have chosen the photos I might use for my

final product and added them to my ‘Personal Project’ photo set.

Below is a link of the photos I have chosen so far:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/100955464@N07/sets/72157635327747696/

My goal for this

week and next week was to finish my research as well as next Sunday to go out and take more

photos so I have a variety to select from. I am satisfied with the photos I have so far but I want to see

a different side to the culture in Bangkok, Thailand.

Personal Project Entry #23: PP PresentationsOctober 16th, 2013

Above is the screenshot of an

email I received from Mr. Hansen and he has told us when our meeting for our personal project is

and this has helped me to know when I have to prepare my presentation and get everything ready

before the day. From this, I finished up my power point during the weekends. The things included in

my power point are:

AOI

Goal

Topic

What I have so far for my product

Reflecting on my ATL Skills

Above is an overview of how each of my PowerPoint slides looks like. I thought during my

presentations it went really well and I covered most or all the points that were needed. From the

presentations, I thought it was a great experience to learn from the other people in the group as well

and how they’ve progressed to make sure I’m not far behind. The feedback I got from my peers and

my group really helped me to have a better idea of my final product and what to do for the October

break as well. My feedback was to label the photographs to give it a deeper meaning. My goal was

to finish editing by this week and do my product and experience with it in different ways during the

October break since I’m free most of the times.

Personal Project Entry #24: October Break/Photoshop

October 14th, 2013

During this October Break,

I have spent time to photo shop my final 15 photos I chose (selecting 8 afterwards). It was very

successful since I edited my fifteen photos on adobe photo shop and everything turned out the way I

envisioned it to. It took me around 15-30 minutes to edit a photo since there were different

adjustments to use for the photo.

Some of the adjustments I used to edit my photos are:

Brightness/Contrast

Levels

Curves

Exposure

Photo Filter

An example of what was done on Photoshop:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/d917020320e385b654dfcff8916ba9f7/

tumblr_mv8ebfMbvn1rol9vao1_1280.png

There were also blurred effects used and a bunch of other things on Adobe Photoshop. So overall I

thought I did a good job editing my photos since I’m very happy and satisfied about it since I

completed my goal for this week’s work on personal project. After editing the photos, I chose my

final 8-10 and analysed them on the different techniques and which one shows the most

improvement in my photography also basing on my theme. From this, I put it all in a thumb drive

and went to print it at the shop.

Final Photos

My goal for this week is to go and collect my photos at the shop (it takes a day for the shop to print

the photos) and start mounting them on to the board and decorating it if I decide it looks better with

decoration or some colour to it. But I hope to finish next week fully but to get most of it all done this

week as possible.

Personal Project Entry #25: Printed!

October 25th, 2013

Today in the evening I got all my photos printed out and I was really happy with how it came out

since the photos aren’t blurred. I guess my goal now is to go out tomorrow and go find materials for

me to mount the photos or otherwise get a board or think of something creative today and work on

it tomorrow. Also I want to think of the names for each of the photos this week. I think a name for

each photo would be very important since it will help the viewer’s know or think deeper about the

photo and also look at the way the photo is taken as well. I thought I did my best in order to get the

best out of my discovery of new techniques in photography. Above are the 9 photos that I have

chosen and I might take out some photos for the final product which will be all decided in time for

next week. I plan to schedule my next meeting with supervisor next week since I still need some

suggestions or advise on my personal project work.