Assignment 2 Reflection

The brief for Assignment two seems simple at first glance, choose a prop and create a set of images relating to it. Once i’d chosen the “White Shirt” category I originally started to storyboard an idea of “a day in the life of a white shirt”, from washing machine to wash basket and all that happens in between. So I shot the series and was fairly happy with the images, the set were a fairly cohesive set that told a story.

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson Visits Ridge Ward at Watford General Hospital

I was fairly happy with the end results, the images worked as a standalone set but I didn’t feel it matched the narrative of the research I had been doing into “White Collar” workers.

During this project, I was in the USA visiting the United Nations with work and during the course of the three day visit I captured images of bi lateral meetings between world leaders. With the white shirt project on my mind i realised that a high percentage of the leaders were wearing white shirts. I put together a collection of images highlighting the point, this tied in with my research with the white collar representing power and success.

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson Attends the United Nations General Assembly in New York 2019

Although this set, is a more interesting set, than the first, it is less cohesive and the narrative is not so apparent. On first look the viewer would be questioning wether it was about World Leaders, Europe, Brexit, United Nations, You could probably look at these images all day and not get to the fact they’re all wearing white shirts, it’s just too oblique.

So back to the drawing board for the third iteration of this project. I have been trying to find the balance between these two projects. One that has a coherent narrative like the first with a more interesting story, with some of the punch of the second set with the storyline more apparent.

I took some more pictures of people wearing white shirts and the jobs they have and how this is perceived. I came up with this set after chatting with my tutor. I’m still undecided as to which set to go with and this is probably a series I will have to revisit again to be completely happy.