Evaluation

I have always been interested in landscape photography. My earliest memories of photography are photographing the local landscapes with my family. It has never occurred to me that it is a male dominated area, but when I was researching for another course I found that there is an overwhelming amount of male photographers. I decided to research the gender inequality in landscape photography for my Contextual Studies and my Body of Work course. Both course link, as they both look at similar areas, one is an extended written project whilst the other is a visual piece of work. For my Body of Work, I have decided to incorporate religion in order to highlight the inequality further. A pilgrimage which was designed for men only is the backdrop to my work. I feel my work highlights the inequality and exclusion of women in religion, landscape photography and in a global sense too. 

I have decided to concentrate on the gender inequality in landscape photography for my written project. It is quite a niche topic, but I have found research that relates from other topics too. 

My first assignment required me to look at where my work would sit in the wider visual culture. I researched each one and wrote down reasons to why my work fitted into each, then I could see the topics better. I felt my work did fit into several but I also went further and looked at postmodern feminism which fitted my work better. It is a sub-category of postmodernism, which was one of the visual cultures listed. 

My second assignment was a literature review. My research I had already done became invaluable here, as I could see the most relevant texts in my topic. My first draft of this assignment, was mainly bringing the ideas together and highlighting the main theories, rather than reviewing several key texts. My rework has remedied this, I have chosen a few key text and have reviewed and analysed them. 

My third assignment was a plan of my written project. I also had to write my first 1000 words. 

My plan explained what direction I would like to take. I spilt my work up into three sections, for the main three chapters. My first chapter would look at how the inequality arose and has spread throughout society. My next chapter looks at the male gaze and how this has affected landscape photography. My last chapter would look at ways in which the inequality can be tackled. 

This then led me to my fourth assignment, which was my first draft. I wrote my work based on my plan. Following feedback there was a lot of work to do. The rework comprised of my fifth assignments, which again following feedback needed work. I decided not to submit for the November assessment and work on producing the best possible work. I feel I have now done this. I have reworked and redrafted several times to improve it and I believe I have now reached the point of being happy with the work I have produced.  

Issues

I have had several issues along the course. One stemmed from the fact that I hadn’t narrowed down my thesis. It was quite open. I found overtime this evolved and with my research I could narrow it down but it did take me time. I also had issues explaining things in my essay, I couldn’t find the right words and had to re-work it several times to get it right.

Positives

I felt my research has been extensive which has helped my massively. I not only research my topic in detail but also took a wider stance. This allowed me to look at it from different angles, which I believe has helped me greatly.  

Outcome

I have taken on board the feedback I have received and have re-worked and improved my essay along the way. I am happy with how it has turned out.