And then suddenly, it was basically over.

So, I think somewhere on my memory card are my final images for this project and I have no idea how this happened. After lame a background change to changing back, I'm suddenly ready to buckle down academically again and let my creative side lay dormant.
I have no problem that this has happened because it makes what I need to do over the Easter holidays a whole lot easier, all I have to do now is preview everything and print off some samples for the 'Final Crit' on Tuesday, should be easy.

I'm relieved. It's like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders, once again I fear my coursemates will think I'm a nerd. I don't deserve this after the drunken wreck I was on Tuesday night and the Tuesday night previous. I guess I just can't help what a undeniable genius/amazing Photographer I am... *sarcasm*

An Instax shot of all the name labels and sharp and hurty pins in the bin, hurrah!

Grey test.

I hate following advice when I was perfectly happy continuing with the way I was going, but here is my test shoot using a grey backdrop with the name labels pinned into the clothing.

I'm unsure how I feel about this. I need to get on with writing some text so I can give a better idea of how the series will work.

© Ruth Johnston 2011.

We'll see what they say...
I have to say I'm disappointed with the current set-up overall now though because initially I was using one light on the lowest setting to light from above but I am now needing to use two, otherwise the backdrop looks shadowed and stupid. I think it's something to take up in the tutorial tomorrow. I'm unsure as to whether these are beginning to look too clinical or like bad product shots..

Winchester.

So, I've been taking my IXUS around with me because my bag has been feeling a bit heavy, so I thought that I would give my shoulders a break.
Moon drove me to Winchester yesterday and we had a look around, it's a really nice city and I really liked it, it was so nice just to get out of Portsmouth for a few hours.
We went and got lunch at this pub called, Alfie's which looked like a dive both on the inside and out, but the food was the best pub grub I've had in ages. I had wanted to have lunch by the river, but as it was so warm, most places with outside seating were packed.
On the way home we stopped off at Ikea to see if I could get any fabric to use as backdrops for my project — which is still pestering me by the way, I just need to get a move on - but it was so expensive. After leaving Southampton the SatNav took us via 'The Range', which also appeared to sell textiles - no luck though - it's the strangest shop. It sells everything you could think of but nothing you really want. Our Kindersurprises were disappointing, so I do not rate The Range very highly.

© Ruth Johnston 2011.

I'm still plodding on with this 'Non-identity' clothing project, but now I've been told that it's 'too dark', despite essentially being about rejection. I know that rejection and the connotations associated with death are separate but neither are subjects that can be illustrated lightly. I was also just proud of the lighting, so I don't know how to change it and keep nice lighting by taking away this 'darkness'. I'm going to try out a load of new backgrounds tomorrow and see, but ultimately I'm happy with the black, I'm just unhappy with the criticism. I think it just needs text to lighten it perhaps, because some of the stories that go with the garments do border on the absurd.

More clothes: project progression.

Here are my favourites from yesterday before my light started threatening to kill itself.

© Ruth Johnston 2011.

So as you can see the velvet is definitely working better, although I'll admit to a bit of cheeky editing, but a very minimal amount. I really love the lighting and I think the eeriness is coming through. I was particularly pleased when visiting speaker and ex-student, Tim Bowditch said they reminded him of Danny Treacy's 'Them', which I suppose is ultimately similar to what I want to achieve.

I prefer these to the previous ones - except perhaps the boobtube - because they are a lot cleaner, but I'm going to have to take out a light from uni and work with that. However, Elemental are getting UPS to pick up the broken light tomorrow, so all my complaining wasn't for nothing. I will be writing long and stern emails to every company I look upon ill-favourably from now on.

Visit from Mama.

My mum came down to visit me with my sister yesterday, it was nice to see her and spend some time in the sun. I'm a bit annoyed that they didn't arrive sooner as we didn't actually have that much time to do anything other than get a nice lunch. I took her to The Tenth Hole, so that was good. I only took a couple of photos of what I ate.
I'm marking yesterday as the day I stop being so lazy, I was lacking that get up and go, but seeing my mum has refreshed me and the promise of a holiday to Hong Kong in the summer is also helping with motivation.

© Ruth Johnston 2011.

I've written my to-do list for the week and not only is it do-able but, it's not overwhelming.
The fact that it's only 3 weeks left until the Easter holidays is bringing on a stress ulcer as it means (not including Easter) there are only 5 weeks left of this project. However, the NUJ Delegate Meeting is creeping up too, which is something I'm really looking forward to.

Super Moon.

So I used my 70-300mm lens to see if I could get a decent photo of the moon when it was brighter and 0.3% bigger than it has been in around 18 years.
The second one is cropped into on Aperture so it's not as crisp as it could have been if I'd uploaded the full-resolution version onto Photoshop, but I'm still pleased enough with the result. I'm a bit sad that the moon here wasn't nearly as big as it was in Glastonbury, but I still like my photos.

© Ruth Johnston 2011.

Just chillin'.

...complaining about my lights, again.

I was so happy to have them and to be able to say that I have them but they have ended up being so much trouble, they will be the first thing to get an upgrade when I have a proper job. I actually hate them.

I was having such a successful project shoot until then and I think I actually got some decent images - update later - but then the light I was using literally starting going mental and flashing non-stop, not a particularly good sign and I didn't fancy it blowing up in my face so I packed everything away and finished up.

I'm sad because it's quite rare that I feel so confident with how things are going and when I do it's like it's a sign. Technology can be so lame.
At least I got some photos out of it.

Bed.

© Ruth Johnston 2011.

2nd Test.

So here are my images with some lighting. Excuse the backdrop. it will probably need to have the creases edited out. I hope they don't tell me to use the Uni studio because it's not like their backdrops are much better quality than my humble sheet anyway — why buys black bed sheets?

So hopefully this gives more of an idea of what I'm trying to do, these aren't all the items of clothing that I've got and I've since discovered that the wire that was given to me is too stretchy to maintain the weight of some of the clothes, so I'm going to have to work on that to get it tidier and more exact to what I really want. I quite like the classic lighting and I was pretty surprised due to the fact I ended up only using one light, but I wanted more of a contrast to the fabric than an even spread. I might take out a medium-format camera to see if I can get higher-quality results, but I think it's likely that once I've tidied that construction of my subjects that I will just stick with digital. I tried to break away from traditional backdrops but then, I guess there's a reason things are the way they are. I thought the brown looked weird.

© Ruth Johnston 2011.

Obviously these are unedited, but I'll probably get them up to scratch for the crit on Tuesday, I'm hoping to have my first crit of the semester where my work doesn't get practically torn up in front of me. At least the lighting is nice, that's one thing I think I have in my favour so far until I get some proper fishing wire. But I think the 'empty forms' theme is coming through slightly too...

From the 10th Hole.

These photos are from last Sunday, I've been so snowed under with the amount of research I've had to do for this project I haven't been able to justify the time. However, I'm now at the stage where I might have actually done enough for the time being to be able to just take photos and not worry about the academic side for a while. So watch this space.

© Ruth Johnston 2011.

Hello.

A photo of a potato I cooked last night and some photos from today's trip to Southampton which involved a lot of guilty spending and eating at Ikea. We also saw a Spitfire which was quite cool, it was pretty loud.

© Ruth Johnston 2011.

Testing.

So a bit of what I'm doing now is about construction and as I'm not particularly good at that kind of thing, I thought it would be a good idea to test it out before I get down to it. It was easier than I thought it would be but I think I was just a bit daunted by it because sculpture has never ever been anything close to my strong point.

I'm going to be hanging clothing that has not been worn by it's owners in a long time or ever and turning them into more desirable objects. So as I mentioned, this still relates to consumerism and slightly to the identity of the wearer but it's much more simplified and conceptual. These are the items that Abbie gave me this morning, it was a mad rush to create something interesting last night.

© Ruth Johnston 2011.

Obviously there isn't anything particularly interesting about these images, but I will eventually be lighting everything properly and using a more interesting backdrop. I am thinking about perhaps steering away from black or white as it could turn more into product photography which isn't the idea, and bringing brighter colours into the images.
As the subjects I was going to use with my last idea are still at hand, I am thinking about just sticking with them (including myself) as despite being of a close age-range, we are all very different. I am asking for 3 never/seldom worn items from each subject.
I think if they are lit well, the images could turn into something quite weird to look at, I am usually aiming for that kind of effect so I'm quite pleased with that.

What I'm worried about is that the Interim Crit is on Tuesday and it's unlikely I'll have much more to show than this due to not really having the time over the weekend...

From Moon's birthday.

It was Moon's birthday on Wednesday, it was a pretty unexciting day, I mean 22 isn't exactly a big birthday. So I gave him his presents and he was out at Uni for most of the day. Then in the evening we went to Harvester for dinner with the house and Gabriella. It was fine, but we spent a lot of the time complaining because the service was terrible, even to get the bill and it took an hour for us to get a table after being told it would only take half that time. If they had been honest, we would have taken our business elsewhere and probably had a more energetic night.

But here are the obligatory photos of Moon blowing out his birthday cake. I baked the cake, it had chocolate chips and broken up bits of Oreo in it and was orange flavoured, pretty tasty.

© Ruth Johnston 2011.

Scrap that.

I have a new, more interesting idea. It will more studio-based work but completely different from my last project. I guess I wasn't really getting into what I was doing so I'm glad it's changed and it's not like I can't work quickly, in Art Foundation we were doing a new project every 2 weeks. Plus the half-Chinese project was practically completed in 7 weeks if you disregard printing time. 8 weeks is doable, and it is still vaguely related to identity and consumerism so it isn't as though I'm starting completely from scratch. So watch this space.

In other news, I have been asked to cover the NUJ Delegate Meeting in Southport in April, I'm just waiting to have my travel details confirmed by them. 1 of 25 people selected, I guess there are a few more as people will pull out and they'd need back up, but I'm feeling pretty lucky right now. They're covering my travel there, which although is quite trip from Portsmouth, I don't really mind that much, and I'm staying in a hotel with my meals covered too as well as getting paid.
I wouldn't necessarily say that journalism is an ambition of mine but it is something I'm interested in and to have a chance at something that will lead on to more is great. Plus a lot of the general work is blogging and that is definitely something I enjoy, and it will mean people might actually pay attention to me.
They provide us with feedback forms at the end of the weekend, if I get another form that says I need to be more outgoing I will be sad - that was one of the criticisms from the interview I had with InDarklight last year. I am working on it though, it will be scary to me all the way up there all by myself, but I'm sure the other students chosen will be nice.

Abbie.

I have decided to simplify the text even more and accompany the images with one-word responses. Maybe this is becoming more about identity than consumerism, which is annoying because I seem to always end up within 'identity' confines.

"Surprised"
Abbie has even more clothes than I do but it didn't take that long so my time spent shooting won't be so bad, if I eventually end up with any strangers. People have taken the tear-offs but just not utilised them, annoying.

© Ruth Johnston 2011.

I quite like the close ups of the wardrobes and I've put the three next to each other in print form and it's looking quite promising. I just hope I'm not told to light the wardrobes from within with 'cool' lights again tomorrow. It's lame, I don't need to elaborate on it any more.