Loss of previous blog

For some reason best known to Google I cannot edit or add to my original blog. However it remains accessible for read only at www.cedricsherwoodmop.blogspot.com so all is not lost.

I am presently awaiting a response from my tutor on how we proceed on the major project. The difficulty I have is presenting a breakdown of how I propose to carry out the Major project . There is a requirement on me to suggest 6 coherent elements but the nature of the project I have chosen and which was approved by my first tutor makes that impossible if the elements are to have any meaning.

So far I have been on five different shoots - 2 to different military re-enactments; 2 to Living museums and one to a performance by Morris Dancers [Note: My chosen theme is the many ways that Britains re-enact or present the past by involving themselves in wearing costumes of a bygone age]. Tomorrow I plan to visit a presentation by a village in Cornwall which will include Morris Dancers. I will take with me the lessons learned from the first Morris Dancer shoot and hopefully avoid the mistakes, largely due to messy backgrounds, I made. That is, I see the whole project as an iterative process in which I improve on what has gone before with the ultimate aim of producing the required number of images of a standard that is worthy of calling it My Portfolio.

Although I have diaried forward a number of events throughout the year it is inevitable that I will need unscheduled time to re-visit certain types of events where the images I took at the first (or even second) event were not as good as they could be. For example there is a stately home near to where I live that regularly holds 'Tudor Weekends'. I have already photographed one such event but given my experience of this I should be able to improve on what I have got. It is unlikely that the 'better' ones will be exactly the same as the originals as other opportunities will arise but I cannot know for sure what I will find.

It is probably not an insurmountable problem but at third level I feel that students should be allowed to work much more on their own whilst reporting regularly to their tutors on what they have, or feel they have, achieved  in the preceding 6 - 8 weeks. It also makes sense for the student to take cognisance of the tutor's response and be prepared to adjust their schedule to incorporate the suggestions made by the tutor.

I am also taking the opportunity of being in the South West to add to my 'possibles' for Assignment 2. I have taken a large number of shots in the local area but it would be interesting to apply the projects to another type of countryside.