In regards to the presentation the overall consensus was that people preferred the sleeve as opposed to the box, the only comments made were that it needed to be sturdier both to remain intact for the duration of the exhibition and so that it could stand alone as an object. This was is what I had hoped would be the situation and so I was rather pleased, however due to the possibility of square books I would have to redesign the sleeve in order to fit as a square as opposed to a rectangle.
In term of the final piece I had selected 4 images taken in the past few months that I felt were appropriate to the project, I saw the exhibition as a chance to showcase one piece of work that truly represented my practice and I felt that this should be a portrait. I had made an active decision not to just use one of the photos featured in my book and blow it up and as I felt although it had been a valuable project the pictures I had taken were somewhat forced and felt removed from the style of pictures that I prefer to take and would like to continue taking. In preparation for the crit I booked in to use the negative scanner and scanned each image at a very high resolution ready to be printed at any size up to A0. Below are the four images I presented.
Patrick - tram
This photo was taken in Gothenburg, Sweden, during a tram trip to the city centre. I feel that it shows Patrick in a fairly relaxed state and that the eye contact gives the photo a certain level of intimacy. Although the subject is fairly well light I feel that the overall photo is too cluttered due to the shapes and seats of the tram.
James - tram
This photo was also taken on a tram trip in Gothenburg, again it was taken much more casually than a lot of the photos in this project but I feel that it looks a little forced due to the pensive way he appears to be looking out of the window. Furthermore the sunlight, though visually appealing, bleaches out half of the subjects face resulting in a lakc of clarity.
James - airport
This photo was taken at the airport while waiting for our flight, at the time the subject was on the phone and looked up and seemed slightly surprised to see that I was taking his picture. Again I feel that this lead to a much more natural photo than a lot that I took during the process of this project. Furthermore feel that it is well light and composed and that the colour and focus in his eyes has resulted in a fairly intimate image.
Joe - Arthur's seat
This is the fourth and final image I presented in the crit, it was taken on New Year's day in Edinburgh. I feel that it shows the subject as a person interested in climbing and nature, presenting them as a very calm and considered person. However I also fee that it looks somewhat posed, despite the fact that it wasn't.
After showing the four images the one of James at the airport was the instant favourite, it was deemed that the two tram pictures were too cluttered or too bright and thus didn't work efficiently as portraits. Secondly it was decided that the photo of Joe was very nice visually but didn't really feel like a portrait. James' picture was deemed the most aesthetically pleasing but also the most intimate and so served the purpose as a portrait.
In conclusion I had come to the decision that I would look into square books and a more rigid sleeve and picked my final image, leaving only the framing and presentation of it left to be decided upon. I had suggested mounting it in a thin black frame or from bulldog clips and both of these were seen as inappropriate and it was said that due to it being a portrait it should be presented like it and thus in a more considered manor.
