• Photography is always such a challenge for me as I can't see the viewfinder very well or the text options on my screen; and with no audio on the camera it is very difficult indeed!
• I faced another problem - the photography studios were all booked out! The guy in the shop wasn't particularly helpful either; he didn't seem as friendly and approachable as the guy I had for the photography induction workshop...
• I had to be resourceful and consider what I wanted to do. Is this something I can do out of uni? I have my own Canon 1200D and a daylight lamp that emits powerful white light - so why not set up my own studio in my flat to photograph my vac forms? Carrying the heavy vac forms, with clay still inside them, from uni back to my student accommodation would be a struggle - but I can do it! Heck, I used to walk from the train station to Vernon Street every day last year on the Access to HE course with Tami, my heavy pink tartan suitcase, an A2 portfolio and a canvas bag of heavy library books. I'm Wonder Woman!
• To create an infinity cove, of sorts, I taped together two sheets of A2 on the underneath with some washi tape and taped it to my Mac to help stand it all up. Washi tape is a decorative paper tape used in crafts such as card making, scrapbooking, planning and journalling and I knew it would pose no problem of easily being removed off my computer screen without causing damage.
• All set up! With the daylight lamp, the fold between the two pieces of paper wasn't apparent at all and I am so chuffed with my ability to not be overwhelmed by the amount of workshops that are fully booked, step back and problem solve on my own. Viva independence!
• Next was setting up the camera. I had learned a lot more about what my camera could do thanks to the digital photography induction. Instead of using the Creative Auto setting that I always used, which automatically adjusted settings depending on the lighting and the object, I now had the ability to play with the white balance, flash, aperture and focus along with a host of filters. I had to experiment quite a bit with test shots but I am so impressed with how my photographed vac forms turned out!
• The high contrast of the black plastic against the white background worked particularly well, giving me lots of ideas for my final pieces, and the white light reflects off the surfaces nicely. Using the clay to model my pieces gave inaccuracies, blobs and wrinkles and those were all picked up by the vac form - giving visual variety and interest.
• I especially like the textural pattern of the dotted / bobbled surface from the vac form machine - this surface perfectly captures Zaha Hadid's fascination with technology and the 'future' aesthetic!
• This has a visual language all of its own and I can't wait to start experimenting.
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