Proposal

Jack Joyce - Final Major Project Proposal

In this assignment I will be exploring the relationships between power generation sites and their surroundings; visiting various locations such as power plants, cooling stations, wind farms and solar farms. I will be aiming to document the ways in which these power generation sites interact with their surroundings, for example how they affect the landscape, wildlife, housing, people and community. This project will essentially be a series of documentary images with a social commentary narrative.

I not only want to observe how these sites affect their surroundings but also how their surroundings have adapted, how they have changed to accommodate the power sources and the different ways they have done so; observing if they have embraced them or not. For example a social club inspired by and in the shadow of a cooling station.

I will be using Murray Ballard as a large influence on the style in which I will be shooting. I first saw Ballard’s work at ‘Format festival’. I instantly fell in love with his images, all three images were printed roughly A1 and were presented on metallic paper in totally clear frames. Ballard’s images were already extremely deep and almost unrealistically still and sharp but the metallic paper added the extra oomph, giving the images an almost 3D effect. I knew this was the style I wanted to use before I had even chosen a subject. The idea of making a live setting look like a still life is a feat of photographic skill and it is a skill I want to learn. I will also be taking inspiration from Ballard when it comes to presentation at the end of year show. I have used metallic paper before and I love the effect; also the clear frame will make sure there is no distraction from the image.

In the project I will be shooting predominantly on high resolution DSLR’s, mostly with a Canon 5D Mark II, as I want the images to be a crisp and sharp with as little grain, noise and distortion as humanly possible. I may also experiment with film; recently I have become interested in infrared film and so I may also incorporate this into the project if the technique works well against the initial photographs that I take.

I may experiment with shooting at different times of the day, for instance early morning, late at night, at sunset etc. I think I will shoot predominantly at midday to give the series continuity but I will experiment to see the results.

For the end of year show I want to present 2 - 3 images maybe A3, A2 or A1 size. I will also be taking inspiration from Ballard when it comes to presentation at the end of year show. I have used metallic paper before and I love the effect; also the clear frame will make sure there is no distraction from the image and will emphases the metallic paper.

Week by week plan 

Week 1  

Start of assignment 

• Introduction to assignment
• Write Introduction 
• Contemplate assignment themes and ideas (Write up initial ideas)
• Contemplate image presentation for the end of year show 
• Plan first practice shoot   

Week 2

• Do first practice shoot 
• Evaluate and edit images
• Write up shoot evaluation 
• Begin research (find at least 4 photographers)
• Start proposal 

Week 3 

• Complete proposal 
• write up 2 artist researches
• Research power sources in the local area to photograph 
• Shoot  

Week 4 

• Evaluate and edit images
• Write up shoot evaluation 
• Write up 2 artist researches 
• Shoot 

Week 5 

• Evaluate and edit images
• Write up shoot evaluation 
• Find 4 more artists 
• Shoot 

Week 6 

• Evaluate and edit images
• Write up shoot evaluation 
• Begin to think about which images will be used in the end of year show 
• Begin to research paper, printing, prices, frames and mounting 
• Shoot

Week 7 

• Evaluate and edit images
• Write up shoot evaluation
• Gather peer evaluation 
• Decide on which images will be used in the end of year show 
• Decide where the prints are being ordered from 
• Find out where to get the frames from 

Week 8 

• Order images 
• Order frames 
• Further peer evaluation 
• Evaluate final images 

Week 9 - End of year show 

• Set up images for end of year show 
• 2 artist researches

Week 10

• Complete any unfinished work for the FMP 

Week 11 

• Complete any unfinished work for the FMP 

Week 12 - End of year 

• Hand in FMP