Evaluation

In the beginning the whole concept of this project struck me with a great sense of challenge and enjoyment. Enjoyment from the idea of knowing that the subject for this assignment was fully under my own decision and the feeling of challenge as to what my choice will be for this project.

At first bringing together an idea for this book project wasn't as hard as I thought it might be. Thanks to previous years of photographic education and the assignments that came with it, I was able to put together what was in the end (in my opinion) a fairly respectable book. Also with the help of my lecturers and my classmates I then was able to make the whole concept of my book even stronger than before.

The two photoshoots that I brought together (with the much appreciated help of my dad) I feel were pretty successful. Even with the strongest images I chose for my work I still came away with some strong pictures that can be added to my current portfolios.

If I could go back and change anything about the outcome of my project it would be that I wished I had the final ideas about making my project into a visual metephor at the beginning of this assignment. I could of planned my photoshoots with a bit more care and with possibly more appropaite subject matters. With the editing of my book on the website blurb.com, it was alot easier than my classmates made it out to be. There seemed to be alot of negetive and some what disgrutaled comments about the website's program that allows you to put together the layout of your book design. In all honesty though I was able to put together my book design layout in a few hours, I feel though that it may of been easier for me because the whole layout for my book was much simpler than other's.

When my book arrived in the post I was a little surprised with the look and feel of the book as a whole. I orded the book with only 20 pages and a soft cover, I didn't realise that it would look as thinnly as it does. Although the more you pick the book up and observe the pages you start to notice that it doesn't need masses of pages with sentence after sentence of text, it works alot better the simplier it is.

Overall though I feel that this project has been a good success, my book has been produced in a satisfactory manner, I do wish though that it could of been made with a more....ligitimate feel to it, but alas it hasn't. I'm pleased with the research that I gathered together and put up on my blog and I hope it is enough to explain the concept of my book to people who at first glance maybe quite bewildered by it.

BookSmart Layout

These are the printscreens of the book layout i made on the software BookSmart on the website Blurb.com. It wasen't as hard as i first thought it would be, alot of my classmates told me about how difficult they found it to be, but altogether it was a rather easy task. Im pleased with the outlook of this book and its just how i wanted it to be, a simple layout and design with the images standing out and create the visual metephor i am trying to achieve.

Introduction Ideas

Origionally when thinking of ideas for my introduction to this book, i thought about possibly giving the directions to the walking route or a perhaps a description of the town itself but only in a couple of sentences. But then I thought about how I wanted to keep this book visual not literal, so i started to think about soming up Chenies Bottom in a few short and sweet words to make a bigger impact.

Being that I want this book to be a visual metephor i want to leave as little literiture as possible out of this book. But how could I do this without giving away too much detail of the concept of this book? I struggled to think of the correct words that i could use to do this job, so seeing as my Dad came with me on this walk I asked for his opinions. We began to brainstorm ideas for words that could describe this walk and with a stroke of genius from my Dad he came out with one word....Checkmate.

The whole concept of this book is about the idea of a trapped or enclosed envionment and seeing as the river we walked along is called The River Chess, the use of the word checkmate played on the idea of metephorical enclosement of a game of chess which I think works brilliantly. So for my introduction page it will consist of a map of the walking route myself and my dad took with a title and subtitle;

The River Chess
Checkmate

I feel this is a clever way to tell the viewer of my book the secret meaning behind my concept but not in such a way that they will understand it striaght away.

Title Ideas

Altogether the main idea for this book project is to be a visual meterphor, I don't want to be over literal with the concept, so coming up with an idea for a title was harder than i first thought.

This were the title ideas I came up with ;

• Opposed To Freedom
• Chaney On Chenies
• ...As Opposed To Freedom
• Trapped (but translated in a different language)
• Encontra Ut Licentia (Latin translation for opposed to freedom)

I really liked this idea of Chaney On Chenies, because the irony seemed to work well together, and also having a sub title in a latin translation gave it a nice twist that made the viewer think about the title itself. So I feel that my strongest title for my book will look like this on the page;

Chaney On Chenies
(Econta Ut Licentia)

I hope that this title will make a powerful impression for my book.

InDesign Book Layout

This is the basic book layout that I designed on InDesign, it was rather tricky to work out how to put it together so I asked for help from a graphic designer friend of mine. There are a couple of pages missing from this layout, however i know excatly how I want the missing pages to look in my final outcome.

Final Images & Map Grids

002/988





006/985





003/986





010/987





012/989





015/987

These 6 pairs of images are what I have chosen for my finals for this book project, along with the images are the map grids of the locations i took the images on the walk plus thier grid references. I am pleased with the results of these images, however I can't help but shake the feeling that among the other pictures I took on the photoshoot there could be a better pair of images or perhaps 1 or 2 more pairs i could add to the book.

Final Crit

On the final crit of this project i presented my contact sheets to my lecturer and to my peers and as best as i could attempted to explain the whole concept of my work. My classmates seemed to enjoy the images i had taken but couldn't quite understand the reason why i had paired the images i chosen up to represent the idea of macrocosom. After they had given me thier thoughts and ideas on my work it got me thinking that maybe the images i chose weren't quite right.

However my lecturer then pointed out that I had accidently come across a hidden meaning within my images, he explained that all my images seemed to have a hidden concept of incaraceration and being trapped. The images i had taken seemed to show a mixture of controlled and enclosed envionments, such as the paths that i photographed representing the controlled and the images of animals trapped behind bared wire fencing, enclosed. This concept really interested me and gave me a much better idea of how i could go about bringing my book together, a final comment that was mentioned was that the macro shots i took are more interesting than the landscape shots, it gave the impression of letting the viewer decide what the image is of rather that being too literal with it and just telling the viewer what their looking at.

So with this helpful advise from my peers and lecturer i feel alot more at ease about the production of my book and have a much stronger ideas on how i might go about making it.

Contact Sheets

Here are the contact sheets of my photoshoot along the River Chess. Some of the subjects that i photographed may not be as strong as others but i feel that i have enough material here to work with in producing my book.
After closer inspection of my images i think its safe to say i have 6-7 pairs of images that would work for my book.

The Walk & Map

When I started a search for a map of the River Chess walk route it became alot harder than I first thought. Searching for a map online may seem like an easy task, but to find a map on the net with co -ordnates is tricky. All the main options such as Google maps, Google latitude and so forth aren't the best choices to go for in my opinion. Luckily being that my dad is a very keen walker and map reader/collecter he showed me his Ordnance Survey map collection and I discovered the Explorer 172 map which covers the High Wycombe, Maidenhead and Richmansworth, East Chiltern Hills areas.



After carefully looking through the map we were able to find The River Chess walking route, so I scanned the section of the map into my computer and cropped it down to make it more easily acessable to follow when on the walk itself.



We started the walk from Mill Farm in Chenies Bottom and made our way through the fields and cut down to the left to gain better access to the river's edge. Once we reached Latimer Road we took the right hand road towards the church, then progressed into the town of Latimer and joined the rest of the path back through the fields we already came across and to the start again at Mill Farm.

Altogether I think the walk was a pretty good success. At first it was worringly difficult to try and piece together pairs of images that would express the meaning of macrocosom. To my luck there turned out to be more promising subject matters that I first antisipated. I feel that the final images I have chosen from this photoshoot have brought out the concept of macrocosom and microcosm, maybe not as strong as I hoped they could of been but im pleased with them none the less.

Chris Drury - Heart Of Reeds

The creation of a reed bed in the heart of Lewes, East Sussex, designed by international land artist Chris Drurey. (Apologies for the size of the images)

The design itself is a complex pattern, a double vortex, taken from a cross section through a human heart, reflecting the interconnections between man and enviornment. The relationship between science, nature and art is a preoccupation for Chris Drury, who has a reputation for site specific work created within the natural landscape. The design of the reed bed is based on the double vortex shape of a cross section through the human heart and similar visual patterns found in nature. Much of Drury's current work refers to the idea of macrocosom and microcosm and the rythems of the universal movement.

So rather than travelling and photographing animals and plant life that connects with the macro/microcosm he has gone one step further and created his own enviornment.

The reed bed will be constructed from Northfolk Reed within the flood plain south of the town. By increasing the borderlands between water and land it is hoped the work will provide a richer habitat and therefore a larger diversity of species in an area aleady rich in wetland wildlife and to extend the possibilities of this local nature reserve as a unique resource for study and education.

Marcosocom Photography - Steven Myers

Artist Statement

"My belief is that art, is any form, is an expression of an individuals thoughts or perceptions : a unique way of looking at the world. People create art for an infinate number of reasons...relaxation, refuge, inspirations, social responsibility...I keep it simple : I shoot what I like".

Steven Myers mixtures of wildlife, plantlife and landscape photography has captured the nature and meaning of the word macrocosom. At first you may not realise it but after viewing the image and reading the caption that accompanies it, you then understand the full significance of the picture.