For this project I have decided to base my circular narrative upon seasons. My reasoning behind choosing seasons is that I believe that there will be many ways in which to achieve the different seasons, for example choosing different times of day and also different weather conditions. In some of the photographs I think that I will have to stage some areas such as Autumn, I could gather a large amount of leaves and include them in the image. To create a sort of consistency within my photography I would like to keep the photos in the same environment, but just to change the objects included in the photos, in order to show the viewer a narrative of a certain area in the sense of a passage of time.
Initial Research
Duane Michals
Duane Michals was the first photographer to stage events and produce art for the camera. He was also the first to place himself in his work, to paint and also write on the photographs. By mixing image and text in his work Michals' displays the invisible reality of relationships, emotions and fantasies. Duane Michals work has been included within my artist research as I believe that his work clearly demonstrates that of a narrative through a series of images.
Cindy Sherman - Untitled Film Stills
Cindy Sherman is an American photogorapher known majorly for her 'Untitled Film Stills'. Within this body of work she becomes not only the photographer, but the art director and model in one. Although Sherman is included in every image, it could be argued that the photographs are not self portraits, but portraits. This is because of the way in which Sherman is the model however hides behind that of make-up and a range of clothing. Shermans work has been submitted as part of my initial research as I find her work to clearly demonstrates a narrative in the sense of the way in which women where percieved not only by men, but by society itself.
Bahbak Hashemi Nezhad - Orderly Conduct
The photographs included within the series of work, 'Orderly Conduct' show a parallel view of the public space. the photographs reveal behaviours and characteristics that we all do. I find this series of work interesting in the sense that we all believe that we are unique and different in many different ways, however Nezhad's work proves us wrong in the sense that we conform to the public, by the actions in which we carry out. I find this work of Nezhads to be very similar to that of Peter Funch's work in the sense that they are both documenting the actions of the public and then manipulationg the photos in order to create a sense of repetition in the series. Thomas Demand
Thomas Demand is a German photographer well known for his three dimensional models that look very realistic to the public eye. These scenes often relate to cultural or political relevance. The viewer is lead to question the image to see and work out the nature of that environment. They also allow the viewer to consider the human acts which occur throughout the specific environments that he reconstructs and photographs.Thomas Demands work is a part of my selected initial research as i find his work very unique in the way he produces art. 
Peter Funch - Babel Tales
I find this series of work to be very similar to that of Bahbak Hashemi Nezhad's - Orderly Conduct series, in the sense that both photographers are recording the general public and the actions in which they do, and creating one image of them all with the same action, for example yawning. I have included Funch's work as part of my research as I believe that he shows a narrative throughout his series of work in order to suggest that we aren't unique, we all infact conform to society by showing the viewer the actions that we all undertake on a day to day basis. 
From looking at this research and taking my initial idea into more thought, I have developed my idea slightly in the sense of showing a narrative of seasons by photographing objects that represent a certain event throughout those seasons. I find that this will work better as I will have more opportunities in which to produce and show my ideas throughout my narrative. I find that this idea broadens my way of showing my idea throughout photography.
Jem Southam - The Painters Pool
This series of work by Jem Southam has been included as part of my research as I believe that it visually shows the passage of time, which also captures the ways in which I can look upon the changes in seasons within my own work. Not only would I like the the images I produce to capture seasons by events that occur within them, I would like to include some of that season into the photographs, for example, bonfire night is part of autumn, I could include some leaves with the right tonal colours in the shot to give a clue as to what month or season it is.
Photo shoot 1
The photographs above are my first initial shots that I have produced for this project. In this first photoshoot I wanted to experiment with the different angles in which I could capture. I wanted to also find a good angle in order to keep throughout my series of work to keep a consistency throughout the images. Evidentally from these images I have not used a tripod which is what I am going to use on my next photo shoot in order to keep the angling the same for all the photographs. The last two photographs, the pumpkin and the party poppers I have just placed in the shot not set to the way I would like them to be as I didnt find that it would be appropriate to stage it all up and not collect the correct shots.
David Spero - Ball photographs
Spero's Ball photographs series of work has been included in my research as it demonstrates the act of staging wthin photography. It also shows the spatial awareness of photography and how objects and the placing of objects can change this (that being the balls placed in very random areas in David's work) I find that the balls in Spero's work have created a sort of dot to dot like game in the sense that they take you on a tour of the photograph. David Spero is a British photographer who choses to photograph his work in existing or semi permanent areas. Spero has placed colourful rubber balls that range in sizes in different locations in the chosen environments for his images. These colourful balls distract the viewers attention from the actual environment to look and observe the rubber balls closely which in a way transforms the way in which we see.
Anne Hardy
Anne Hardy's work has been included for a reference point for my own project in the sense of the way in which she produces her work in the sense of staging lighting and angles to create these powerful and mind blowing images. I find Cipher and Untitled VI to be the most interesting, as the viewer isn't overpowered by objects in the image and they also aren't underfaced with objects. In my personal opinion these two photographs allow the viewer more time and space to observe what is occuring within each one and for the viewer to come up with their own final outcome or story about the photograph. Gregory Crewdson
I have included the work of Gregory Crewdson in order to consider the composition, lighting and the staging of my images in my narrative. I find the mood and unease that he captures in his photos appealing in the sense that I want to find out more about the photographs and observe the images closer. From his work I can also take into consideration the depth of field within my images and the colours in which I capture in order to create different moods. 
Nina Katchadourian - Mended Spiderswebs
Georges Rousse
George Rousse is a French photographer and installation artist who specialises in creating his artwork in temporary studios. These are either derelict or scheduled for renovation buildings across Europe, Asia, Canada and the U.S. In his work, Rousse combines photography, painting and architecture all in one. He creates an optical illusion for the viewer in his work by changing the interior of a given space in the image, which a shape. This looks almost manipulated at a glance until you look further into the image to seek that the interior of the shape is totally different to the environment. George Rousse has been included in my research as I find the way in which he produces his photographs to be extraordinary and also the time and effort in which he puts into the prduction of one image. His work demostrates staged photography on a large scale, which I find the staging aspect realtes to the work in which I am creating in the sense of placing the object in the right area of the environment.
Photo shoot 2
Above are a few select photographs from my second photo shoot. Again within this shoot my main aim was to concentrate on getting the angling of the shot correct. From this shoot I need to take into consideration the angling of my overall shots and the lines that are included in the images, for example the door and the staircase to be straight on the photographs. In my next photo shoot I would like to concentrate on still getting the angling correct, but to also get the lighting better. To do this I am going to take a range of images with a variety of different shutter speeds in order to see which work best in the chosen environment.
From this photo shoot I have come up with the idea of slightly altering my perspective on my circular narrative, in the sense of finding the disappointment within events. I am going to persue this by keeping the same environment, but changing the objects within the photographs in order to show discarded objects. This will then hopefully engage with the audience in order for them to question the images as to why the objects have been placed there.
Photo shoot 3
Within this photo shoot I believe that I have kept to my aims in concentrating on correcting the angling of the overall shots and keeping them to the same angle, and I have also experimented with different shutter speeds for the different objects. As there are many shots which I have taken throughout this photo shoot, I have selected a small amount of the images which I beleive demonstrate the change in shutter speeds.
For my next photo shoot I have decided to do two approaches to see which will visually look stronger. The first approach is still the same idea, the disappointment in events. The second approach is to keep adding objects (gifts) to the front of the door that is included within the photograph.
Jan Dibbets - Perspective Correction
Photo Shoot 4
Dibbets is a Dutch artist who illustrates a small square drawn on his studio wall. Because of the way in which he has drawn the square on the wall has given the illusion that it has been placed on the surface of the photograph. I find the work of Dibbets' very similar to that of Georges Rousse in the sense of using shapes to create an optical illusion within photography. From the work of Jan Dibbets I can take into consideration how I place my objects and also where I place them in order to create different meanings within the images and also to interact with the audience.
Above are a selection of images taken from my fourth photo shoot. In this shoot I was to produce the work of two different approaches the first being the disappointment in events (discarded objects) and the second approach being the additions to gifts at the doorstep. Visually I find my first idea still stronger in the sense that the photographs engage more with the viewer and giving the not-quite-right feeling about them. The photographs I find make more of an impact and allow the viewer to question why are those objects there. In my second approach I find that the photographs looked too staged, which is not an area in which I would like to tag my images into.
Below I have put the photographs from each approach into a story board in order to show myself how they would look workin together and also some possibilities in which to display my work.
Story board 1 - addition to gifts
Story board 2 - disappointment in events
From the previous photo shoot I have decided to chose the disappointment in events as my final idea for this circular narrative as I believe visually it looks to be stronger. Below are my final photos and these are the way and order in which I would like them to be displayed. I have chosen to place these images the way I have done as the second and sixth image are quite busy in the sense that the discarded objects take up more floor space than any other objects in the series of work. the photographs also go in sequence, for example they start off with the balloons more to the right of the image then the champagne bottle to the left of the photograph and keep going on with this sequence to add more of a consistency throughout the work.
Final photos
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