Working on Assignment 5

Spent a lot of the time between Christmas and the New Year trying to create a book out of the large number of photographs I have taken in the past months on my chosen topic. Sometimes a lot of choice is too much choice and I found myself changing my mind both on the images selected and the overall structure. After a great deal of thought I came to the conclusion that much of the problem lay in trying to include too many different themes and ideas. Whilst each of these themes were valid they were incompatible in the sense that no matter how they were dealt with the change in emphasis caused confusion and uncertainty in the whole package.

After a great deal of angst I decided to go back to basics. It was whilst I was thinking through this strategy I was reminded that the overall title of the Course was "My own Portfolio". I believe that this is the key that it was my portfolio and that I should be at ease with the content and that it was a true representation of my work. Whilst acknowledging the input of others (and over the period of the Course I changed the main emphasis from the more obvious costume wearing of Morris Dancers and re-enactment Societies to looking at a much broader picture) it is important for me to own the work that I produce, The photo essay, produced in the form of a book, should be above all else my work to which I could happily put my name. It needs to be coherent, include material that illustrate the stance that I have taken, whilst engaging the viewer.

One outcome of this decision was that I recognised that I was wrestling with too much material much of which was included because of my attachment to it. There was duplication that did little to add to the story and on occasion was a negative element. More does not necessarily mean better and in this particular case it was obvious that it made things worse. I therefore had to re-think my overall strategy and whilst remaining within the agreed brief produce a piece of work that I could submit for assessment with a good chance of it being acceptable. This decision has allowed me to move on with greater confidence.