Second Draft..

So from the feedback that I received the other day I have added in some more information and re-written certain bits within my proposal, altering it so that it fits with the idea / direction that I want to go in now.

The second draft of my research proposal is below.

Project Proposal

Project Title -  Degradation of the land.

Keywords - Nature, Landscape, Importance, Natural, Vital, Wellbeing, Environment, Health, Degradation.

Overview / Topics of Interest -

From thinking about all of the work that I have produced in the past, whether it be self directed or brief specific my work tends to veer towards looking upon the environment, specifically nature and landscape based. I have an interest in what in my surroundings and I am aware of how important it is to us as humans and this is something that I want more people to understand a see through the visual.

Introduction / Research Question -

The theme of the environment and the interest in nature and landscape is something that has been noticeably obvious in previous work. I want to further my knowledge on the environment and how it is affecting people through further research to expand on what I already know on the subject area.

I want to produce a body of work that is informative and interesting. This body of work will be based on the environment and will look at land and environmental degradation. This is a way for me to visually show how the environment is being polluted and mistreated.

Aims and Objectives -

• To research more into the environment and its effect on health/ wellbeing.
• Gain better knowledge of how our surroundings affect us.
• Research more into environmental and land degradation.
• Researching different locations/ areas.
•  Look at different types of environments
• Finding said locations and seeing if they are suitable to be photographed.
• Produce a body of work that will have a visual impact.

Rationale -

My intention is to document different locations / areas to show people the effect that environmental and land degradation are having on different areas within Manchester.

The environment is a vital key to peoples health and well-being, photographing the degradation that is taking place is a way of visually showing what is wrong with the natural environment and how it is not of as much importance as it should be.

I am going to find different areas and locations that are being affected or have been affected by degradation and document these places to produce a body of work that is based on the landscape.

Previous Research -

I have previously looked into how the environment can affect a persons health and how interaction with the nature around us can drastically alter mood and stress levels. This is something that is stated on an article I read on the website Taking Charge of your Health and Wellbeing.

Kreitzer, Mary Jo . (n.d). What Impact Does The Environment Have On Us?. Available: http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/healing-environment/what-impact-does-environment-have-us. Last accessed 18/11/2013.

I have also looked briefly at how the environment affects people health wise with air pollution and the different hazards that are within the different types of environments.

[N. k] . (n.d). Environmental Health, Available: http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicId=12. Last accessed 18/11/2013

General Methodology -

Researching and looking into different locations and areas with different extents of degradation to find the ones that would be the most interesting and have the biggest and most effective impact of the viewer when photographed.

Date Collection and Analysis -

I will use all of the research and information that I have gathered to enable me to pick the best locations that will produce the most informative, interesting and effective photographs to document the degradation going on in certain areas of Manchester.

Qualifications and Restrictions -

There may be restricted access to certain locations depending on where they are (may be privately owned) this is something that can be determined through research and gaining knowledge about the area or location which will in turn determine how i go about photographic certain locations.

Specialist needs - Equipment, Access, Workshops, Training etc -

Access to different locations - Knowing the locations that I am going to and their accessibility and if there is any restrictions on times or access.

Access to equipment for on location shoots if necessary - university hire.

Knowing the weather conditions and forecast on the days that I am going to be taking my images as the weather will in turn determine the outcome of the images.

References:

Books -

Bright, S (2011). Art Photography Now. UK: Thames and Hudson Ltd.

Susan Bright’s ‘Art Photography Now’ to research different landscape and environment photographers.

Sontag, S (1977). On Photography. London: Penguin.

Looking at photography in general to gain a better understanding for different aspects of it and how it can impact the visual.

The Photography Book. London: Phaidon Press LTD.

Looking at different photographer and photographic styles.

Gould, K and Hosey, L. Women In Green: Voices of Sustainable Design. Ecotone Publishing.

Chapter focusing on how we live in the land.

Newspapers, Magazines, Journals -

....

Websites -

<www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/healing-environment/what-impact-does-environment-have-us>

Article focused around the what people look for in an environment and how it influences choices, i.e. living somewhere. As well as how stress levels and your mood can be altered by interacting with the environment.

<www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicId=12>

Looking at the different hazards of air pollution and explains the different types of pollution and hazards.

<http://www.andrewbrooksphotography.com/>

Photographer who produces some landscape based pieces and has been influential with some of my previous work.

<http://www.grida.no/publications/rr/food-crisis/page/3566.aspx>

Environmental and land degradation.

<http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Impacts_of_Environmental_Degradation>

Causes of degradation and pollution, how it can be prevented or atleast minimised.

 

Feedback of my first draft..

The other day I received feedback on the first draft for my final major project proposal.

The proposal that I had written had a decent amount of information within it but it was very vague in stating what it actually was that I wanted to base my project on - all i wrote was that I wanted it to be based upon the environment/ nature and landscape. There was no definitive point. This is something that I shared with my peers during the feedback session in order to get a little bit of advice and maybe some new ideas as to where I could go with it.

I must admit the feedback session helped me a lot! I was given a few different points to consider, one being deciding on a subject matter - thinking of something that interests me within the environment, maybe something that I have an issue with or something that bothers me about the landscape.

I was also given the names of a few different photographers which was very helpful. One that has influenced me a bit and helped me to focus my idea is Richard Misrach,  his images are powerful in documenting the environment and showing the changes that have been made to them - His work is one of the things that made me think more about what it was that I wanted to do and what it was that I wanted to photograph.

There was also a few different points made about thinking of the different types of locations that I want to photograph which is something that I have started to think about but obviously need to do some more research into different areas and locations to find suitable places to photograph that will show land / environment degradation as this is what I have decided to focus on.

At this moment in time I am thinking of a variety of different things that are based around environmental degradation like erosion and how I could go about photographing that. I am thinking a lot about both natural and man made changes that could be quite interesting to capture.

First proper draft.

So I started my putting together the rough draft which can be seen in the previous post, I then took all the things that I wrote down in that proposal and expanded and improved on it so I could write a proper proposal outlining my theme and ideas - although they are very vague at this point.

Here is the proposal I put together for the first feedback session, obviously it is in its very beginning stages so it is very much a work in progress, some areas are more vague than others and there is even a couple of sections that are very minimal or have nothing written in them at all.

Project Proposal

Project Title -  ....

Keywords - Nature, Landscape, Importance, Beauty, Natural, Vital, Wellbeing, Environment, Health.

Overview / Topics of Interest -

From thinking about all of the work that I have produced in the past, whether it be self directed or brief specific my work tends to veer towards looking upon the environment, specifically nature and landscape based. I have an interest in what in my surroundings and I am aware of how important it is to use as humans and this is something that I want more people to see.

Introduction / Research Question -

The theme of the environment and the interest in nature and landscape is something that has been noticeably obvious in previous work. I want to further my knowledge on the environment and how it affects people through further research, expanding on what I already know.

I want to produce a body of work that is informative and interesting, allowing the viewer to see the natural beauty of the environment and the nature and landscapes there are outside our doors.

Aims and Objectives -

• To research more into the environment and its effect on health/ wellbeing.
• Gain better knowledge of how our surroundings affect us.
• Researching different locations.
• Finding said locations and seeing if they are suitable.
• Produce a body of work that will have a visual impact.

Rationale -

My intention is to document different locations / areas to show people the natural beauty of the world and to help them see what the environment has to offer. The environment is vital to people' health therefore they should be spending more time interacting with it and appreciating it.....

Previous Research -

I have previously looked into how the environment can affect a persons health and how interaction with the nature around us can drastically alter mood and stress levels. This is something that is stated on an article I read on the website Taking Charge of your Health and Wellbeing.

Kreitzer, Mary Jo . (n.d). What Impact Does The Environment Have On Us?. Available: http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/healing-environment/what-impact-does-environment-have-us. Last accessed 18/11/2013.

I have also looked briefly at how the environment affects people health wise with air pollution and the different hazards that are within the different types of environments.

[N. k] . (n.d). Environmental Health, Available: http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicId=12. Last accessed 18/11/2013

General Methodology -

Researching different locations and areas to find the ones that would be the most interesting and have the best impact of the viewer when photographed.

Date Collection and Analysis -

I will use all of the research and information that I have gathered to enable me to pick the best locations that will produce the most informative, interesting and effective photographs that document these chosen areas.

Qualifications and Restrictions -

There may be restricted access to certain locations depending on where they are (may be privately owned) this is something that can be determined through research and gaining knowledge about the area or location which will in turn determine how i go about photographic certain locations.

Specialist needs - Equipment, Access, Workshops, Training etc -

Access to different locations, a means of travel to these locations. Access to equipment for on location shoots if necessary - university hire.

Knowing the locations that I am going to and their accessibility and if there is any restrictions on times or access.

Knowing the weather conditions and forecast on the days that i am going to be taking my images as the weather will in turn determine the outcome of the images.

References:

Books -

Bright, S (2011). Art Photography Now. UK: Thames and Hudson Ltd.

Susan Bright’s ‘Art Photography Now’ to research different landscape and environment photographers.

Sontag, S (1977). On Photography. London: Penguin.

Looking at photography in general to gain a better understanding for different aspects of it and how it can impact the visual.

The Photography Book. London: Phaidon Press LTD.

Looking at different photographer and photographic styles.

Newspapers, Magazines, Journals -

....

Websites -

<www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/healing-environment/what-impact-does-environment-have-us>

Article focused around the what people look for in an environment and how it influences choices, i.e. living somewhere. As well as how stress levels and your mood can be altered by interacting with the environment.

<www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicId=12>

Looking at the different hazards of air pollution and explains the different types of pollution and hazards.

<http://www.andrewbrooksphotography.com/>

Photographer who produces some landscape based pieces and has been influential with some of my previous work.

Draft proposal...

After mind mapping a few ideas and thinking about what I could do a bit more I started to think about putting together my first draft from my project proposal. I must admit I am a little bit worried about the contents and vagueness at the moment because everything is quite minimal and there is not really anything definitive in stating what it is exactly it is that I am going to be focusing on for this project but i guess that this is what the next six weeks of proposal development are for!

I received a list of points/ sub headings that would be useful and would help to form the structure of the proposal which are as follows -

·         key words: work

·         overview / Topics of Interest(S)

·         Title

·         INTRODUCTION / RESEARCH QUESTION

·         AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

·         RATIONALE

·         PREVIOUS RESEARCH

·         GENERAL METHODOLOGY

·         DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

·         QUALIFICATIONS AND RESTRICTIONS

·         SPECIALIST NEEDS  - EQUIPMENT ACCESS, WORKSHOPS, TRAINING ETC

·         REFERENCES: SUBJECT SPECIFIC

·         Initial REFERENCES: OTHER

·         Initial BIBLIOGRAPHY: BOOKS & REASONING

·         Initial BIBLIOGRAPHY: NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES & JOURNALS ETC

·         Initial BIBLIOGRAPHY: WEBSITES & REASONING

 

I found these to be very useful in helping me put a brief proposal together to start with.

I starting jotting down different ideas under each of these headings just running with the different ideas that pooped into my head and thinking about the points that came up within the mind map that I produced the other day.

My first basic draft is below and it is very basic and hardly touches upon different points but it is definitely a good place to start with this proposal considering a few days ago I really had no clue as to what it was that I wanted to focus on at all!

Idea....

After getting this brief I have started to think a bit more seriously about what exactly it is that I want to achieve in my final major project and the direction that I want to take it in.

One thing that I have always known is that I want to take the passion I have within photography and run with it, producing some pieces that I am really proud of.

My passions lies with nature and landscape photography, it is just one aspect of photography that I have always been drawn towards and my photographs always seem to go in that direction, whether intentional or otherwise.

I think that one of the main reasons I am drawn towards nature and landscape photography is due to how I feel about certain scenery, I find a lot of peace in certain environments and locations. And I am also quite intrigued by how certain environment can affect people in different ways, this is something that I have researched in a different brief and has provided me with a lot more knowledge and understanding for the environment and how it can impact people even without them realising it.


So with the basic idea of what i want to focus on I started to jot down a few different ideas and found myself mind mapping a few different points and things to do with nature and landscape;

This Brief!

I received this brief the other day and I have to say it is one that I am going to find extremely useful.
This brief consists of a writing period in which I am to develop my project proposal for the final major project that I am going to undertake in the final semester of this Photography course.

I have to say I have given a little but not a lot or enough though as to what it is that I want to produce for my fmp at this point. I have though about it briefly in the past few weeks/ months, thinking about the different directions that I could take it in whilst producing pieces of work that I am truly going to be happy with and ones that I am going into whole heartedly. 


This module consists of a 6 week period where I will be developing on my project proposal through the help in feedback sessions in university to help my improve on and produce the best possible brief for my final major project.