Creating a Planner For The 14 Week Project

Finally I have created a planner to help me get organised for my FMP. I have took into consideration the time it will take to cover things such as:

• Research
• Theory
• Practical
• Presentation
• Exhibition

A lot of this overlaps but it all works in together and I know I will have enough time to cover everything appropriately.

 

Final Developed Project Proposal

In an earlier post on this blog I included a copy of my initial research project proposal. As indicated, this post is to show a copy my final, more developed proposal...

'Research Project Proposal: Golfers Portraits

Key Words: Portrait, Portraiture, Golf, Sport, Hobby, Photography, Professional, Amateur, Single, Group, Interview, Business, Pleasure, Social.

Overview: I would like to create portraits of golfers whilst they are out on the green. My intentions are to stay clear from any action or promotional type shots, just standard full length portraits of each person I come across, but also trying to keep them as informal as possible.

I will also be creating group shots as I know that there will always be more than one person I approach. I will also be asking these individuals/groups a couple of questions about why they are there on the day, are they out for a business meeting? Is it just a social meeting or are they celebrating something?

I would also like to develop a second sub-idea, in which I would be shadowing a group around from the start of their golfing day until the end, just shooting images throughout the day.

For both of the above ideas, each person involved will receive a copy of each image.

Title: Cross the Tees?

Introduction/Research Question: As a research question stands, I think it’ll just be to find out if anyone has done this work before (Probably, I guess), and how they have set this out aesthetically. I would also like to look into where I could possibly see this work going after this project, gallery/exhibition, magazine, etc.

Aims and Objectives: My aims for this work are to approach my two local golf clubs and seek their permission and involvement to capture portraits of golfers whilst they’re out on the green. For my initial contact, I will be sending an email to the two clubs, outlining who I am and proposing my idea. I would like to try and arrange a meeting with the owner/manager of the clubhouse and have a more in depth discussion about the project, hopefully gaining some contacts while I am there.

I know that due to the time of year, the golfing season is pretty much closed now but I will still be approaching the clubs now, to make them aware of my intentions and also so I can possibly work with them to make this project run as smoothly as possible. Having everything in place now will help me in the long run, once the season starts again I can just head out and shoot without the worry of having to do all the work I’m doing now.

I don’t have any objectives in the way of why I’ve chosen golfers, I would just like to develop my portraiture skills and I feel this is challenging yet fun way of approaching this.

I think maybe after interviewing these people, I could be left with something that could be used to show the general public a side of the game that people don’t usually see or get but that will remain to be seen in the outcome of my project.

I would like to create some sort of poster/flyer what could then be put up in the clubhouse with my contact details for anyone wishing to take part to contact me. From then on I will be taking regular walks around the courses and approaching any golfers I see playing and asking them if they would be willing to take part in my project.

While undertaking this project I will be attempting these shoots at all different times of the day to compare the different effects the lighting will have, leading me to create the best possible images I can.

Technical Support: For these shoots I will be using digital, I will also consider taking my film camera with me, if not only for my personal portfolio. I would also need some technical advice on the lighting, as the sample images I’ve included are lit from the side but carrying a large amount of equipment would be impractical, maybe a flash with a remote cord? I think equipment wise this project would be relatively simple.

Sample Images:

 http://www.mbjphoto.com/blog/?p=2158

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Golf-Channel-Portraits/8003081 '

Golf Club Email

As mentioned previously, I have created an email which will be sent out to my two local golf clubs, and further afield if need be...

'Dear Sir/Madam,

Good morning/afternoon, my name is Michael Colebourne; I’m a third year photography student at Salford university. For my final piece of work at university, I am planning on creating portraits of golfers whilst out on the green. They will be very informal, I would just like to create their portrait, as a single shot and a group image if there are more people there. All persons involved will receive a copy of the image(s) for their own use.

I am contacting you today to see if you would be willing to let your club take part in this project. I will be creating a poster/flyer to hand around and it would be really helpful to me if I could put one of these up in your clubhouse to gain interest in this work. I live local to your club so I could be there to shoot within a short notice period.

If possible I would also like to shadow a group of people from start to finish on the course, this is something that isn't for definite but I would like to put the idea out there and if I get enough/any interest, could then make plans to put it into practice. This idea would also allow me to create some images which I feel could be of use by the club itself.

I appreciate you taking time to read this, and I would be thankful for this idea to be given the go ahead at your club.

Regards,

Michael Colebourne

Salford University'

Golf Photography

Having decided that I will go ahead with the golfers portraits, I have been looking into people who have done the same sort of thing. The research I have done so far hasn't really revealed any people who do such photography, a lot of it is either sports photography, action shots etc, wedding photography or promotional advertising photography.

I know that there must be someone who has done straight portraits of golfers, or maybe there hasn't? Could I be a world leader on this subject? I very much doubt it but so far I'll take it!

I've included a couple of links to the type of pages I have come across but for now, the search continues...

http://www.darrencarroll.com/golf-photography/

http://www.pinterest.com/ragmagbageag/golf-portraits/

http://www.nyip.edu/photo-articles/archive/how-to-take-great-golf-photos

Initial Research Proposal

At the start of each brief we have to create a proposal, as you would expect when undertaking such projects. Going back to the start from my 'Power' idea, I had to rethink an idea and and recreate a proposal to go with it, here is my first proposal...

'Research Project Proposal: Golfers Portraits – New Idea 2

Key Words: Portrait, Portraiture, Golf, Sport, Hobby, Photography, Professional, Amateur

Overview: For this idea, I’d like to photograph golfers out on the green, in a portrait style. I would like to stay clear of anything what seems ‘promotional’ and stick to the striking portraiture that I feel could come out of this project.

Title: Cross the Tees?

Introduction/Research Question: As a research question stands, I think it’ll just be to find out if anyone has done this work before (Probably, I guess), and how they have set this out aesthetically. I would also like to look into where I could possibly see this work going after this project, gallery/exhibition, magazine, etc.

This idea is something that I would like to get into due to the portraiture side of it, this is a field that I would like to gain more experience in, and to do it in this way would be quite a test for me but a test that I am confident I can get the best results out of.

Aims and Objectives: My aim for this body of work is to approach two local golf clubs and capture the portraits of golfers whilst out on the green. While undertaking this project I will be attempting these shoots at all different times of the day to compare the different effects the lighting will have, leading me to create the best possible images I can.

For my initial contact, I will be sending an email to the two clubs, outlining who I am and proposing my idea. I would like to try and arrange a meeting with the owner/manager of the clubhouse and have a more in depth discussion about the project, hopefully gaining some contacts while I am there. I would like to create some sort of poster/flyer what could then be put up in the clubhouse with my contact details for anyone wishing to take part to contact me. From then on I will be taking regular walks around the courses and approaching any golfers I see playing and asking them for the shot.

Technical Support: For these shoots I will be using digital, I will also consider taking my film camera with me, if not only for my personal portfolio. I would also need some technical advice on the lighting, as the sample images I’ve included are lit from the side but carrying a large amount of equipment would be impractical, maybe a flash with a remote cord? I think equipment wise this project would be relatively simple.'

Quite a simple proposal really, I was quite unsure about what to include in it at the time and so this is what I came up with, gets straight to the point but I know I need to create something that gives us more insight into my project.

Re-worked Idea #2 - Homeless

Upon returning to planning a new shoot, I came back to the homeless work I have done previously. This work is something I have spoke about in previous posts, something that I want to carry on over many years. So what better work to use for my FMP than this?

Having spoke to my tutor about this idea, I was advised that out of the two new ideas, I would probably be better to go with the golfers idea, mainly due to this being my final work, if it's the last thing I'm going to do for university, then make it challenging. As I said, I will be carrying on the homeless work regardless of where I am in my career so it makes sense for me to use the golfer idea.

More homeless work will be coming soon...

Re-worked Idea #1 - Golfers

So after my first idea being a non-starter, I had to come back and have a rethink about what I would be shooting for my FMP.

This idea had been circulating in my head for a couple of weeks previous so I thought I would propose it to my tutors and see if it would be strong enough to use for my FMP.

The idea is to go out to my two local golf clubs and create portraits of golfers on the green. I don't mean shots as in action shots, just straight up portraits of these guys in all the golf get-up. I would like to create single portraits and also some groups shots as I know there will always be minimum of two people per shoot. Having shot the images I would like to find out a little bit about why they are there that day, business meeting? Social?
I would also like to create a series of images from a day with a group of golfers, shadowing them from start to finish of their day on the green. This isn't something that is a definite, just an idea I would look in to.

I also think that going with this idea could, possibly, lead me in to my previous idea of power, I know there are a lot of business meetings taking place on the greens so if I get to these guys in an informal setting, this could lead me to their offices... Just a thought anyway.

In my approach to this, I will be creating an email to send to the two clubs local to me to seek their approval/involvement in the idea. This is just a way of approaching things, I could just get my camera bag and head out to the greens and just ask each person I see? All shall be revealed..