PROJECT PROPOSAL

BA (Hons) Photographic Arts

Module: 2PHO558 Perspectives in Photography

Project proposal + guidelines

Name: Lorna Patrick

e-mail: lorna.patrick@my.westminster.ac.uk

Project title (or working title)

‘Selfies’

Introduction (What is the project about? Briefly describe the project that you have in mind, considering the proposed audience and the context in which the work would be seen.)

I am interested in how people take pictures of themselves, the poses that they pull when it is just them and the camera. It is this relationship that I am interested in. Things change when someone is there taking the picture but when they take the picture themselves they are in total control. They can delete the pictures and take a number to choose their favourite from. It is also generally the same age range of people that take these pictures. I want to break each of these conventions and give a group of people from different age ranges, one image to take a ‘selfie’ from. I’m hoping to get much younger and older people involved as it will be interesting to see what comes out.

I can imagine this sort of piece in a gallery space. I think it would work effectively if there was a large group of images as the effect would be much stronger as there would be more people to see and more people to compare with. I can imagine the project could become quite comical and actually there are so many ways of going about this and after this slightly more general branch of this project it could definitely be interesting to branch it out further and select specific locations to give the cameras to and see how different locations can differ.

Aims (What are you hoping to achieve? What outcome can be expected?)

I can’t say exactly what will happen as in some ways it is a sort of experiment. An experiment to see who will help out with the project and to see what they will do. Facial expressions will be different and some people may get confused and take pictures of different things. They may also decide to take a picture of something completely different. There is also obviously the possibility of not getting all of the cameras back if giving to unreliable sources that I don’t know. I can’t predict the exact outcome as the project isn’t solely in my hands, but I think in this case that is what makes it so interesting. It’s the unknown. Such a simple idea could become so much more than that. I really like that no matter how many times you would do this project the outcome would always be different as different people will always interpret it differently.

I hope to get a decent amount of people to take a picture to allow for that comparison as I do think that it is needed.

Methods (What techniques - visual and conceptual - will you utilise to achieve the aims of your project?)

I will be using disposable cameras to take the images. I thought that this would work effectivlely as I can use more than one camera at a time without it being too complicated. I also thought it would be easier for the subject to use as everyone has used one before – even the older ones, even if the concept of  a ‘selfie’ is confusing to them they will at least be slightly more understanding with the camera. Its relatable and I really like the effect that disposable camera gives.

Schedule (What plans do you have to successfully complete the project on time? An action plan will help you to create your own deadlines throughout the semester, and enable you to monitor your progress through the project.)

I have just received the cameras in the post and have started dispensing some of the cameras out in my hometown, Andover. I am going to create an email address and post flyers through some doors local to me in hope that some people will contact me willing to help with the project. I will do this more locally to me at the minute so that it is much easier for me to collect the cameras.

Research (What sources – visual, textual, other - have inspired your project, and how will you embrace these in the production.)

I have been documenting my research through the blog - http://perspectivesinphotography.blogspot.co.uk/

I have been looking into others who have worked with lomography cameras but more so disposable cameras on similar projects including:

• The Disposable Memory Project – An on-going project where disposable cameras are left around the world and when they are returned with the images on you can see where they have been. Again it’s the idea of the unknown but mine is a lot more selective. I have a choice with who gets the camera in some ways but with this project they wouldn’t.
• Dispose – Cameras are given to people around the world but in a more selective way. They are told to document one day of their life in 27 exposures. They must shoot a minimum of 1 photo per hour including one self-portrait.
• Tepsic Magazine – This is a music magazine showing what the life of singers, rappers etc are like. The magazine is solely images. These musicians are given a disposable camera and what they take is completely down to them.
• Rolls Tohoku – This is a document of an area hit by an earthquake. A photographer took out disposable cameras and gave it to the people to take the photos with. A moving piece.

Each of these ideas are so interesting and show completely different ways of going about putting others in the position of the photographer. More information on each of these along with other examples can be found on my research blog. I think it will be interesting to compare my final images with what they have found, to see whether the outcome will be similar.