Personal Brand - 2
Manifesto
I believe my manifesto is strong, it is a declaration of intent and it communicates what is important to me and what I see as my cause in photography. I decided that white text on a black background gave it a professional look and that by adding my signature it provides authenticity to the statement.
Images
I decided to include a BTS photo of a photo walk/workshop I ran for UWTSD students. I think it’s important to show an example of what I speak about in my manifesto and video. Here we are looking at potential fox tracks leading under a fence at Dinefwr Park.
I included this image of me as a child, it will form a part of the video and appear on the back wall for thirty seconds, while the music from my video plays. I think that including this image for the exhibition helps the narrative I discuss in the video and again provides authenticity to my personal brand.
I wanted to include three portfolio images in the exhibition, as examples of my photography work. I think that it’s important to show that I possess the skills and knowledge to provide the service I intend to. My photography work is aimed at photographing wildlife, the landscapes they live in as well as the journey of people to visit these places. With that in mind I decided to include one wildlife image, one landscape image and one adventure image. I believe this provides a more holistic view of my work.
Video
I wanted to create a video about myself as a practitioner, my background and journey in to nature photography as well as what motivates me. I believe that sharing this personal story and using archive images from my childhood, as well as a handwritten note and signature at the end provides another layer of authenticity.
“your insecurity is your superpower” Andrew Paul (2024). In this video Andrew Paul discusses how the things that make us ‘weird’ actually make us unique, and that embracing these unique parts of yourself brings authenticity to your work. I believe that’s what I’ve done by including my ‘duck boy’ story in my personal brand.
The video is also an opportunity to showcase more of my images and filming work while telling this story.
I’m very pleased with my video, while I always have challenges filming myself and listening to my own voice I feel that I achieved my goal in creating a wholesome, authentic and hopefully inspiring to some, account of my journey and motivations in nature photography.
Immersive Exhibition
The immersive room at UWTSD is a great asset for projects like this. I have displayed images there in the past so I know that my images work well on the screens that make up the immersive room. Viewers can be surrounded by my work and view details in my images that you may not appreciate on smaller screens. I also included the music to my video for 30 seconds before the video beings proper, so that it creates ambiance and ensures a smooth transition from the images to video.
This was the template I was provided for the layout of the immersive room screens.
Using the template I decided to lay out my images, video and manifesto in this configuration. On the left hand side are my portfolio images, the video would be played on the back wall and the right hand side would be for my manifesto and BTS image. Each image was cropped to the correct dimensions for its placement on the screens. The aspect ratio of the video did not match the aspect video of the rear screen so I decided that a black background would be appopriate to continue visual flow to the manifesto.
Collaboration
Collaborating with other students for this exhibition was a challenge. A part of the challenge comes from being a part time student that isn’t based on campus, but also because the other members of the group were finishing their work at different times, some very last minute. This made it difficult to come up with a clear plan for the title, order and general organisation of the exhibition. As a peer, find it difficult to take control and push the others to engage with the collaboration in a way that I find effective.
I focused on my own work, which I think was completed to a high standard and then tried to help the other members of the group with their exhibition to try and ensure that it went as smoothly as possible.
Bibliography;
Baker, H. (2015) 10 game-changing art manifestos. Available at: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/ten-game-changing-manifestos (Accessed: 29 April 2024).
Dennison, K. (2023) The Importance Of Curating An Authentic Personal Brand In 2024. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/karadennison/2023/12/18/the-importance-of-curating-an-authentic-personal-brand-in-2024/?sh=7c7d72dc4e43 (Accessed: 29 April 2024).
Foster, C. (2024) Immersive Art exhibitions: trailblazing or a gimmick?. Available at: https://pa-training.shorthandstories.com/immersive-art-exhibitions-trailblazing-or-a-gimmick/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CA%20specialised%20exhibition%20genre%20in,three%2Ddimension%20reconstructed%20world.%E2%80%9D (Accessed: 28 April 2024).
Mind (2024) Nature and mental health. Available at: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/nature-and-mental-health/how-nature-benefits-mental-health/ (Accessed: 29 April 2024)
Obelisk (2024) Art Manifestos Defining new realities. Available at: https://www.arthistoryproject.com/subjects/manifesto/ (Accessed: 28 April 2024).
Paul, A. (2024) your insecurity is your superpower [video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMNxOZzv3Uk&t=536s (Accessed: 29 April 2024)
Southwell, C. (2024) Artistic Vision Statement. Available at: https://marketyourart.net/artistic-vision-statement/ (Accessed: 29 April 2024)