A-Level Photography Component One - Marked at Grade A

Project Introduction

In Component One of my Photography A-Level, I was given the topic of “Experimental Imagery”, which I interpreted as a way to try and bend the ‘rules’ of photography and create something that isn’t usually seen within the world of photography.

Within this, I tried to investigate techniques new and old that aren’t seen much because they are often seen as “too experimental” or out of the contemporary world, within these themes I explored ways to portray the world and people in a way that may make the viewer think twice about what they are seeing as well as how it should make them feel.

Initial Development

The project initially started with looking at how colour can affect a viewer’s experience of a photograph. Focusing first on how the lack of colour and artificial depth looks, before moving more into selective use of colour as well as creating artificial colour in a photo.

During this process I began to look at how the shape of colour matters – using bokeh and colour together to control a viewer’s perception of a location. At this time, I also began to look into how video can be used to further increase a viewer’s connection to a location.

After this I began to look into how I could ‘destroy’ a photo just enough to warp a viewer’s perception of an image, but not so much that it is no longer recognisable. One technique that I really liked, but ended up not making it into the final investigation was creating something that felt unnatural, but used human hands, the results of this can be seen below:

Initial Outcomes

A hand making an OK gesture with a digital glitch effect. The background is a pale green, and geometric shapes and dashed lines intersect the hand. The image has a red and cyan color overlay, giving it a 3D glitch aesthetic.

A digitally glitched hand with fingers spread, shown against a light blue background. The hand appears fragmented and overlaid with magenta and green hues. Dotted triangular shapes and floating colorful arrowheads add a surreal, cyberpunk feel.

A glitched hand with fingers extended, viewed from above. The image features a grey background with a yellow and blue color overlay. A wristband reading Slam Dunk Festival is visible. Dashed geometric shapes intersect the hand, enhancing the distorted digital art style.

Further Development

As well as this, another favourite image of mine from this project is where I split the colours and blurred a model’s face to give a sense of broken and unrecognisable to the viewer – where they couldn’t see the facial features of the person but could see the rest in a ‘broken world’. The result of this can be seen below:

Portrait of a young woman with long hair wearing a denim jacket and a light t-shirt, standing against a purple-blue gradient background; the image features a glitch blur effect over the eyes, color distortion outlining the model's edges, and an overall slightly blurred, dreamlike focus.

Glitch Development

Moving towards the end of the project, I began to once again look at how the world of photography, which is generally a snapshot of time in a single image, could move more towards the world of video and more so the motion of the world within the photographs.

This method of motion in a single still photo was inspired by Mura Masa ‘s music video ‘What If I Go?’, which used a digital form of a style of 3D photography, popularised by the Nimslo 3D film camera from the 1980s, where I used the same moment in time but with multiple shots from slightly differing angles, to give a ‘frozen in time’ sense to the viewer, were they can see more than they should be able to. I then used these frames to create a looping gif, such as the ones below:

Final Development

From this, I developed a look that was similar to Super8 film, and incorporated it into a ‘music video’ style outcome, which used the techniques developed throughout the project to give a futuristic and old-fashioned contract to the viewer, within a confusing yet motion-filled outcome that bends the rules of photography and what is expected both from the artist and the viewer

Final Outcomes

Vintage, film-like photography style with muted colors, soft focus, heavy grain, and black rounded borders, evoking a nostalgic, documentary feel.

Final Video

Project Book

Documentation workbook for the project, containing a collection of experimental work, photoshoots, and development processes showcasing the creative journey.