24th September 2025 MK25b
Euripides gathers us all together in the basement studios to discuss what we might be doing for the practice for the remainder of the year.
Kicking off the project
Aiming for a proposal review in week 4.
We should all be getting out and carrying out some test shoots as a starting point, even if it doesn’t end in a whole heap of shots ready for exhibiting. Euripides said that if we get one or even two shots out of a shoot that is a bonus.
In an unusual twist of fate and different to how we would normally work, we won’t have a brief. In this project we will be writing our own brief as part of the proposal.
The work that we carry out can be Commercial or Artistic, or even both. The topic, theme, or subjects of the project can even change along the journey depending on our research, experience or growth.
Groups Ideas
We were sitting in the basement and Euripides, our course leader, sat on a stool and asked each one of us to mention briefly the idea or ideas that we were sitting on, waiting to use for the project. I had a list that I have been thinking about for a few weeks so prepared it on my laptop ready to read through if necessary.
- Round Mirrors
- Reflections
- Convex / Concave Mirrors
- Concrete Buildings – morley von sternberg
- Japan Images
- Redscale images of brutalism?
- Other film types?
- Drone Photos
- Pinhole Holga camera and architecture?
- Printing or storing on disk? How to archive?
- Dealing with old family images.
- Lives of Mum and Dad?
- Finding things disgusting and puking on them.
As it turned out I wasn’t in a rush, i would be the last person asked for their input and the other 20 members of this years level 6 group listed possible ideas. Such as:
Lilly – queer community and creatives, portraiture.
Dani – street photography or minimalistic images
Euripides says US street is faces on the street and Europe is more about the magic moment. Latin American stood by location and then capture. US Style is exhausted. Continental version is reliant on chance. Maybe look at staging a street photo, don’t rely on chance.
Jude – commercial car adverts, modified cars underground scene. Treat the car as a person. Avoid proud car owners etc, ironic
Callum – removal of negative stigma from auto community, publicising positive
Eliza – nature macro and animal, appreciating nature
Gemma – advertising campaign, for sexual abuse survivors, to make more positive. Euripides suggests Andrew W Jackson, place called home.
Angus – nothing yet. Shadows and light, Euripides says what do I enjoy
Courteney – movement food shadows and fire, place of food in the generation. Food waste in bin strike, food on fire, rotting food. Euripides suggests Chris Johnson and albatross corpses with plastic inside it.
Joe – Exploring what it means to be British – symbolic portraits where the context is the focus. National identity. Very current topic
Louise – between ideas at the moment
Mamadu – previously automotive and sports, work with siblings statuesque
Sophie – dunno yet
Joel – decay up close or music photography of crowds
Meg – horror make up and self portraiture, euripides suggests adding ai surreality
Evie – different to usual, abstract architecture, travel to UK places Durham and Newcastle
Grace – documentary and portraiture – people ith their passions. Portriat and one at work. Use a good camera and good lights
Nicky – Street photography using colour or black and white – circus character or dolls etc. Euripides suggests Cross Processing or push black and white films 400iso shot at 1600
Joe – torn between two ideas. Explores ranges of emotion, by asking some subjects a random question, possibly upsetting questions? Or visualise the green knoght story from King Arthur. Possible locations of story elements from the mythological.
Breyanah – something new , music photography, different products, album cover and live gig photos
Shelley – Continue with outdoor portraiture with narrative and storytelling in a location. Possible portraiture. Possibly change from portrait aspect to landscape 16:9 etc.
Brian – Fast action extreme sport, desired to photograph surfing a big wave, portugal nasaria, for surfing.
My turn
My entry to this list was:
Documenting the shirehall after it’s been mothballed, possibly using redscale or pinhole with redscale. Before its eventual demolition owing to the council not using it and looking to sell it for other purposes. Using Hasselblads for digital, Lomography pinhole or Bronica ETRS.
Euripides and Dan said it sounded like a good idea and to help it might benefit me to contact the council in an effort to get into or around the building and document it to celebrate the legacy of the building.
Collaborating with the council would help with having a reason for the project, like a client or cause almost.
Euripides mentioned Stewart Whipps as an option to research into for the composition of rule of thirds, and the fact that he doesn’t capture the ceilings of rooms in his photos.
The study of other photographers who study brutalist buildings or dilapidated structures would suit the more formalist approach that this project sounds like it may produce.
Launching the Project
Euripides then shared with the group that there is a project launch document template that we should fill in ahead of week 4 for the first review and this would be our elevator pitch, our quick overview of the work and the reasons for it. It consists of 4 questions.
PROJECT LAUNCH DOCUMENT
4 Questions to prepare for the project to answer curators , bidding for fundings
WHAT?
Define what you are doing, one sentence, what the project is about.
HOW?
Method, Composition, approach, fictional or factual.
WHY?
How does it fit with prior work, how does it develop our practice?
SO WHAT? (“The bastard question” according to Euripides)
Why should the world care about these images or work.
This is where the research fits in, hostorical and contemporary framework, culturally important,
Answers are not there to impress, they are there to define and be informative.
Next Steps
I’ll need to work more solidly on this for the Week 4 Review, but the project proposal just published in this post might cover some of the ground.
Be First to Comment