MY EDITS
In my edits, I have begun to explore the idea of using the shape of the window space to effectively frame each of my photo, inspired by Laurent Kronental. I have selected three of my photos from Photoshoot 4 and deleted the space inside the frame from them in Photoshop. I then went on to experiment with overlaying this window cut out on top of my photos from Photoshoot 3, from abroad, to create a view of looking through the familiar window space at somewhere unfamiliar.
I considered the rule of thirds when I was framing the images, putting any tall leading lines to the side of the images in the outer thirds so that the viewer's eye would be drawn to the main focal elements of my photos first.
I then went on to create moving GIF animations of my put-together views through the window frames and archways. I wanted the fast-paced movement of the GIF format to create a feeling of dissonance, putting the viewer on edge like something, like the view, is not quite right. I feel the speed of the GIF echoing the mis-matched view and window frame has been really effective in creating that dissonance. It also feels surreal in the same way Siemer's out-of-place geometric shapes feel.
My experimental edits are to the right in the Contact Sheet and my GIF's of my three refined edits are below.
FURTHER EDITING
To further reine my ideas, I want to experiment with the idea of looking through a familiar space into an unfamiliar scene, like a holiday destination. I would like to create layers of looking through, that progress from the familiar to the less familiar to the foreign, and I'm going to do this by removing geometric Victoria Siemer-style shapes from images to make 'windows' that reveal the layers of images underneath.
My intention is to put my Martin Parr inspired familiar photos from Photoshoot one in the higher layers, then progress through Phtooshoot Two to reveal the photos from Photoshoot three at the very back. I feel like it makes the things further under all the layers feel more mysterious and out of place, as you have to search for them in the image.
I started by using Adobe Photoshop to layer up my photos, and I used the circle and rectangular select tools to select parts of the image and delete them so that they showed the images underneath.
I then went on to print out a series of what I felt were my best photographs from my Photoshoots 1 - 4 and I used a compass and a ruler to cut out circles, squares, rectangles and triangles from compositionally balanced area's of the image, considering where in the negative space or what focal points of the image could be put in a geometric shape and removed. Removing these shapes gave me the chance to move them around, turning, inverting and placing them more freely, faster and more experimentally than Photoshop alone would allow. I did these experiments to explore what kinds of compositions and placements were effective for the geometric shapes within the frame of the archway or the window space. I think I have discovered the archway is more effective as it allows for more canvas space to show through it whilst still having that quintessential British 'feel' to it. From my Photoshop experiments, I felt that having the photos from abroad at the back of the Layers was the most effective at creating that 'looking through' feeling I was going for, and so I did this consistently with my cut out photos as well.
To develop this work into a Final Piece I am going to select my best three paper compositions and replicate them in Adobe Photoshop, so that they can easily be lined up when printed onto thick card and hung in the gallery setting. The layouts I am going to be replicating are DSC_0058.JPG, DSC_0052.JPG and DSC_0067.JPG because I feel they best fulfil the criteria of looking through the familiarly British into the unfamiliarity Forigen, using geometric shapes as influenced by my Photographers, with the strongest compositions, as influenced by the Rule of Thirds, balancing elements and negative space and the Central Eye Focus rule.
