So I started out thinking what I wanted to create as an image to present as my finals at the graduation exhibition and open to the wider community. I then thought the community, well why not something that was social in issue?

Well what is generally a hard topic, mainly as I don’t want to be hipster or too mainstream even. What was current in the news, what was in the too difficult basket? It seemed obvious, teenagers are always in the news, driving violence alcohol crime etc. yes we see it everyday but what about what we don’t see the stuff just out of the shot? Who sees that? Those left behind to deal with the consequences and damage as a result of another’s actions. So teenagers running from the police and crashing their cars, usually a fatality, in this case not their own but another’s life is taken, this will be the basis for my first image.

The total annual social cost of road crashes in New Zealand reduced by 14 percent between 2010 and 2011 to $3.14 billion in 2011, largely due to a 24 percent fall in the number of fatalities.

Then there are the issues surrounding child poverty and hunger in NZ, what are we doing about it? Who is doing what for these children? etc.? And what about the children? We hear about them but we never see a face, or the faces portrayed are stereotypical, what about if the face was somebody you related to more readily, say the girl next-door type. So here to me this was going to be the next image, a shot showing the girl next door half in colour and richly dressed the other side black and white in squalid conditions. Plain simple and straight to the point, this could be one of your kids (the song White America was on in background so this gave me more inspiration to cast an image in this light).

INSIDE CHILD POVERTY: A SPECIAL REPORT

Suicide, a topic that has always been cast aside, nobody wants to talk about it, those left behind find faults lay blames cannot comprehend the actions of a person who has committed suicide. Our own chief coroner has many times requested more in-depth public consultation and openness about this issue but as always it is placed in the too hard category. This was to become the base for my third image, I wanted to show both the deed and the damage suicide does.

Dunne launches 30-point plan to tackle suicide rate

I was going to finish there, just three bold stark images of realities in our lives, but there was still a major issue playing out on the tv and in the courts, that of family violence. This is an issue that has plagued many generations from all walks and races, no-one is immune from its touch, but it was typical stereotyping here again and being more in tune with my other images I wanted to show the stuff that was not put in your face, the stuff that was hidden, shamed, denied even, to put forward the other face of family violence that we sometimes hear of and think how?
My images for this brief I decided have to have an impact above the standard media portrayal of these issues, I didn’t want to have people look over them and dismiss them as easily as they do the advertising on television and in magazines. These images had to have real impact, they had to break the stereotypical boundaries and show a glimpse of the unspoken side of these issues, they had to be a stark reminder of what is and a voice for those who had none.
Many people go through live with the expectations the world owes them something, quite often they themselves have nothing to give back to the world other than grief and pain. These people often tend to be very shallow, selfish, melodramatic, give me all the attention types, their negative behavior coming from perceived wrongs doings that they feel have been done to them. Their final acts come out of desperation to get attention, no matter what the attention may end up being, unfortunately this is what ends up causing damage to those left behind to pick up the pieces.

Quite often I find my photos to show literally what I mean, there is a clear defined meaning, the viewer can place themselves at the scene where the image was taken and grasp what I am trying to get across, lately I have shifted radically to images where the viewer is left questioning not only what they see but what they think I am trying to say. With this series of images, I wanted to not only be literal but also somewhat vague, a very challenging proposal. So what do I do or how can I manage to achieve this task. To start with the base image will be the literal part of the content, which is all very well and easy to do but the vague bit? Well metaphors, this would be the way to add content and context to the images and also to tell its own story. Does this mean I use different too the theme props? Or perhaps even adding text, take into account the backgrounds maybe they are not the usual scenes associated with the theme.
The teenage driver scene is reasonably straight forward, I could create a picture of teen in bandages, cast, crutches etc at a roadside set of crosses, this framed by a pair of hands holding a baby, straight forward and to the point, but now what do I do to make it vague? Add some text perhaps, a street sign maybe using a popular slogan slightly twisted, like Nike’s just do it- to just stop it. What about personalizing it with an overlaid image of a car accident, that of being one my own family was involved in and thankfully in this case there was no fatalities there was life long damage done to all of them, I feel this would give it a more personal touch and twist on the image itself and the content therein, still undecided.
The suicide picture needs to be loaded up it has to have an impact on those who view it, whether it is from the event itself or the metaphors in the surrounding scene.
With this series of images I feel that I may load them full of symbolic and iconic symbolism for no other reason than that I can, they will of course fit into the content and context of the image but I will not be placing them there for their religious or symbolic representations, ie the crosses represent the loss of life not Christ on the cross, however it will be left to the viewers to as what it is exactly they are viewing.

So sitting there looking at the research and artist models I found I needed an edge that could bridge more than one of the genres that I had chosen and while they were all social topics that required reforms they were all separate in their own rights. That link, what could it be, maybe an artist who covered more than one of the genres, that’s hard enough to find them covering one let alone more, though however I remembered Kevin Carter, Pulitzer prize recipient. His image of a child slumped in the fetal position in Somalia while vultures watched on raised many ethical questions about whether the photographer should have gotten involved and intervened. What was not shown in the image was the mother of the child was getting rice from the food station meters away an that the vulture was further than the perspective of the photo led viewers to believe. So Kevin himself has photographed poverty extreme, but how did he cross to another genre? Kevin was devastated by the image he created and after many years he took his own life, so while he did not photograph suicides he participated. That gave me a slight edge I was looking for, however I still needed a real kicker, then I thought about the teenage driver image and how todays culture is one of no responsibility no culpability and a just do it attitude. This was too be my edge, ‘just do it’ a popular slogan campaign that came out in the late 80s, it was to symbolize freedom, getting out and just doing it instead of making excuses. However by the year 2000 this catch phrase has turned into a lifestyle for young people, just do it, don’t think about it and accept no blame- the modern democratic society. Well I couldn’t use ‘just do it’ Nike is a big corp and would happily sue for infringement rights, so how do I get that message across, how about a stop sign with the word ‘just’ above it, plain simple and to the point and it can cover a variety of situations. So I printed out my stop sign and now along with my roadside crosses and model I am ready to shoot the teenage driver image, I am also ready to shoot my suicide image as there is less preparation involved and it is a more straight forward session same as the domestic abuse scene, the hardest will of course be the child poverty and I will be leaving that to be the last photo session of this brief.
Having an illness can sometimes be a little detrimental to projects, I found that often I am incapacitated by my illness and it creates an extra pressure and intensity to completing my work on time, every time. While having a bit of down time I try to keep productive depending on how bad I am on the day, so over the last few days being ill I completed the base for my crosses (was not happy with them being just on their own), I also purchased a gold and silver cross on a necklace which added to the hands created another element to the content of the image. I also questioned myself about whether I really needed a person in the image, would it be powerful enough, emotive enough to work on its own? This needed more investigation. In class I photographed the hands and necklace in the studio, I tried changing my white balance to influence the final outcome, the result was three images, one normal auto white balance, one tungsten balance and one for fluro balance, this gave the three images distinct differences, the auto being the most preferred, while the others gave a more golden glow the cross itself became to orange and without using post editing it would not be as useful as the standard image. Ah decisions decisions, never ending always questioning. While I was sick I also made up a couple of fake wounds, using a pvc glue base and tissue I managed to knock out a couple of fake wounds, issues? Yes the glue sets hard and becomes brittle, however though if kept warm (body temp) then the glue stays pliable and usable, I will still ask the makeup group though if someone can make me a couple of reusable ones for me to utilize. So now I find myself once again wanting to just get out and shoot my images, but I know from past experiences that I have to have all of my props and parts all of my ideas and designs nailed and then my images will fall into place. After talking to one of the tutors I will approach the makeup dept and see if someone could make me a couple of wounds there for me to use. They are pretty good about helping others out and I can also provide images for their portfolios, it’s usually a win-win situation for both. So now where am I? Well I need to start on the props for the other shots as well, the suicide one will now just be a basic looking suicide, I will use alcohol and drugs as the reference and I will have media based perfection driven publications and other associated objectifying how people should present themselves to the world, what they should eat how they should dress and look, the pressures and downfalls of the Western culture. Suicide, while it has been there for all time it is now enshrined in the Western cultural society taboo and brushed under the carpet it has long been a source of contention for authorities, nobody has yet to really stand up and speak out about the destruction it leaves behind, there are many stories about how ifs and possible why ifs but nobody really tackles the actual problem, people who commit suicide usually do it as they feel they have no way out of their current situation no matter how trivial it may seem to others it is a very real scene to them and totally overwhelming. Often they feel that there is nobody who understands what they are going through and that nobody can help them through it, often this is not the case and if they had just reached out and asked openly for help then their situation could have had a better outcome for them, suicide is not a solution but creates more problems than it could ever solve. So I went and talked over my big idea again with my tutor and after a few little tweaks my concept is going to work fine, adding less can often make it seem more, so instead of having the mother and hands completely overlaid maybe just a significant part of it showing through in the foreground with the cross and sign smaller in background, everything still in focus or possible even some slightly out of focus. I also spoke about this, my evolution of work, and it seems that yes a blog would be well suitable to my project, so here we go just about all the elements of the composition ready to go just have to put it all together and start taking some images to critique and then work on my final images.

And that has led me to this place and space in time, I have started this blog to use as my evolution of work at my exhibition finals, it will contribute to my work and offer me a place also to release my thoughts vent my frustrations and share my successes.