A Level: Photography
A-Level Photography have produced projects covering a Personal Investigation piece of work as well as an Exam project that is directed by a single term stimuli. Students work very independently to explore and navigate their themes applying all practical skills developed across the study programme.
Eden Air
Personal Investigation
My personal investigation project focused on the social constructs and confinements of gender and specifically what it means a woman. I wanted to explore how gender is often viewed one dimensionally and without nuances and the boundaries and harmful stereotypes that that can create. For my final piece, I made 3 large typology prints depicting stereotypical gendered expectations and assumptions, a male and female one and a third mixture to portray gender nonconformity.
Exam
My Exam project was themed around the concept of messages and messengers. I wanted to express a way of both physically and photographically portraying messages in a wider sociopolitical context. To do this in my final piece I collated images and printed them as postcards all around the theme and setting of beaches, with the core idea of being an innocent place and somewhat inherently apolitical. However, when the images are presented together as a group, they highlight many different ways and aspects the beach is in fact arguably political. I made them as postcards to illustrate the individuality of noticing these aspects of society and to physically show how these connections and messages are formed.
Lily Boobyer
Personal Investigation
My personal investigation photography project focuses on documentary photography and its ability to capture real-life experiences, environments, and social issues. For my final outcome of this project, I created a printed photo book on blurb that brings together my strongest images in a carefully considered sequence. The book allows viewers to engage with the photographs as a visual narrative, reflecting the themes and ideas explored throughout my investigation. Through the design and presentation of the photo book, I aimed to create a professional and meaningful way of displaying my documentary work.
Exam
My final exam project focuses on the theme of shadows and explores how light and darkness can be used to create mood, contrast, and visual
interest. For the final outcome of this project, I decided to produce a series of darkroom prints, allowing me to develop and present my images using traditional photographic processes. The darkroom printing process gave me greater control over the appearance of each image and helped me emphasise the shapes, textures, and tonal qualities that can be created by shadows.
Amelie Evans
Personal Investigation
My personal investigation project explores the misrepresentation and stereotyping of individuals who struggle with mental health disorders and how in order to achieve a deeper understanding and acceptance of the illnesses we must alter the ways in which they are represented within media in particular. The piece I have created depicts a sample of these highly stereotyped mental illnesses in a variety of ways in order to enable my audiences to understand the disorder on a deeper level than before. Accompanying each image is a fact and statistic page in which the individual disorder is explored further to enhance the audience understanding in hopes to help break stereotypes.
Exam
Within the specification of “shadows” I decided to explore the shadows within the human mind in the form of young individual's subconscious experiences. The outcome presents two images one of which represents a younger model and the personal nightmares and dreams that he had experienced and the other an older model’s dreams and nightmares in order to present the concept that as we grow older our fears and phobias evolve with our minds/bodies. As a combination, the outcomes act as a reflective tribute to the viewers individual childhood worries and fears encouraging though as to how they have changed and grown alongside their ever-changing fears.
Elsie Hawkins
Personal Investigation
My mental health project explores differing experiences through reflections in the environment. Each photo represents a distinct scenario. On the left, a ‘happy’ scene is depicted, with a sitter in a joyful pose within a bright, sunny setting. The middle image presents a ‘sad’ scene, showing a sitter in a
slumped pose within a gloomy environment. Finally, the image on the right alludes to ‘loneliness’, with a solemn sitter positioned on the floor of a vast, empty studio. Together, the reflections within each mirror illustrate varied situations, highlighting how mental health experiences differ between individuals and constantly change over time.
Exam
Amongst my ‘shadows’ theme, I chose to develop ideas around shadows representing suppressed/hidden emotions. This is based upon the cultural context (good vs evil) and psychological context (repressed emotions) of shadows. Through developed research into the emotional/atmospheric connotations of colours, I chose to manipulate my findings to effectively portray conflicting emotions that progress throughout the video format. This ties in with the shadow movement to show the evolvement of these emotions over time.
Macey Hill
Personal Investigation
My personal investigation focused on sport and the way athletes are represented through photography. I photographed a wide range of sports using both location and studio-based shoots. This allowed me to explore different photographic techniques including use of longer lens to capture high speeds as well as use of composition to highlight the action which is combined with the use of depth of field to blur the background which I followed throughout the project, I developed my technical skills while also investigating how sport is consumed and representative through photography. This led to my choices of producing a magazine which gives a sense of reality by it often being used in sport publications. This format reflected the way sporting imagery is commonly consumed and allowed me to combine a range of sports and styles of shots. my use of photographs and written text helped to reflect the Photos subject that is seen which builds a stronger representation.
Exam
In my exam, I explored the theme of messages and messages, investigating how meaning is communicated through visual representation. My work focused on the ways stereotypes and social expectations influence how people interrupt images. Through carefully selected objects, colours, and compositions I examined how audiences make assumptions based on visual aspects. This helped challenge viewers to consider how gender stereotypes are reinforced through everyday visual culture until these ideas often become normalised within society. I explored binary opposites through the use of accessories and styling choices. This highlighted traditional ideology's identity of femininity and masculinity. I use these ideas in a series of photos that were put into a foldable book to act as a symbolism of unfolding a story. My use of narrative was shown by my ideas being progressed to encourage the reflection of social messages and how these are communicated and interpreted.
Finley Kidner
Personal Investigation
My Personal Investigation explores the visual language of commercial photography and the relationship between branding and consumer culture. I chose this theme because I was fascinated by how companies use colour, imagery and design to create recognisable identities and appeal to specific audiences. The final outcome is presented as a collection of four pieces, each exploring a different commercial photography technique. From vibrant product advertising and minimalist cosmetic imagery to macro water droplet reflections and projected backgrounds, the work demonstrates how brands communicate through visual aesthetics. Together, the images reflect my experimentation, technical development and understanding of contemporary advertising photography.
Exam
My Component 2 project explores Cubism through the phrase “three square meals a day.” I chose this idea because it allowed me to combine the
geometric shapes associated with Cubism with something that is familiar and relevant to everyday life. My final outcome consists of three interconnected images representing breakfast, lunch and dinner, created using handmade cubes of food. I used repeated text backgrounds to reinforce the identity of each meal and strengthen the geometric theme throughout the work. By transforming ordinary food into cube-shaped forms, I wanted to create a physical and visual representation of Cubism.
Liv Shergold
Personal Investigation
My personal investigation consisted of an attempt to not only better, but also change people viewpoints on those struggling with mental health, and brain disease, specifically dementia/Alzheimer’s. I chose this theme, as I wanted to express struggles that are commonly misunderstood, in a way that could gain a wider understanding and perspective, for not only those who are struggling, but those around them who would like a better understanding of these illnesses themselves I became heavily interested in the brain, and how it changes due to many factors and I wanted to explore that throughout my work and be able to portray it in different concepts.
Exam
Within my exam, I wanted to particularly use shadows to elaborate on dementia/Alzheimer’s in order to create understanding mainly for those struggling. Metaphorically, this became a good exploration for my final piece, as I hoped to be able to portray hidden darknesses that individuals were struggling with, to gain a wider perspective for those of an outside view who struggled to grasp how this mental illness affects people who suffer daily. I did this by manipulating light and shadows to become something seen as “suffocating” and “demonic”.