On the panel today we had Media lecturer Dan Binns and Program Manager of the BA Photography Program, Pauline Anastasiou in attendance to critique our work in progress for project brief 4. With each of us presenting for two minutes and receiving two minutes of feedback, I had to prepare well for the day. The limited time frame actually made the entire presentation more enjoyable, as I have mastered condensing a lot of information onto four slide shows.

I was nervous to be presenting infront of unfamiliar faces but i reminded myself that this is what media is like. I have to be able to take advice from strangers, who know what they are doing. Watching my classmates presentations, I truly appreciated how unique and different everyone is. Varying from photobooks on cars, to urban photography to photographing graves, I listened eagerly to what everyone intended on creating and trying to formulate how they came up with their ideas.

I spent most of week 9 trying to come up with a photoseries, that would be easy to shoot in the next two weeks and also something I wanted to do. I first thought that I should focus on feminism, as I had discussed with Bella but could not find a concept to stick to. I did not feel ready to explore such an issue with such limited time. Bella had motivated me to explore feminism, she said “You’re a female, who else would do it” but I already had an idea of what I wanted to do. I had thought of the home and belonging a lot in the last month, as the winter blues seemed to dawn on me. I wanted to explore home but in the least and i mean least personal way. It’s sometimes absurd how private I can be, even if I don’t seem like that kind of person. I dread talking about my personal life, it’s just one of those things I have always had. I talked to my friend over the phone, just to ask her what I should do and at the end of the conversation she said “I know you have another idea, tell me what it is”. I told her that I wanted t explore my “home” and use old photographs from my fathers collection of albums, she told me it was an amazing idea and that she would love to see it. She was the one who positively forced me to go ahead with this idea and I am glad she did. I told myself to just prepare the presentation and see then if I wanted to go ahead with my idea.

After presenting to the panel and getting positive feedback, I was motivated to continue. I decided that I could not be hypocritical, I love telling stories so why shouldn’t I tell my own. The panel told me that a personal story is always a strong one and I know they are right, but I believe they are also the hardest ones to tell. I was glad that the panel liked my idea as I felt very vulnerable telling them about myself. The positivity I received in return overwhelmed me and made me realise that in a way that the scars we have don’t define us, but they do shape us however we want them to. I’m not sure yet how I will go about this assignment in a technical aspect, but I’m thinking of the area I grew up in and how to best capture it.