My final outcome I started this exam of not knowing what I was doing or where I would end up, and over time I've put together a lot of research which has helped me in getting to where I am now. I decided with the 'imagination and mystery' theme I would go into the sub section of dreams and sleep, but I wanted to do something original, I wanted to look into dreams and sleeping but with the goal of looking for imagination and mystery where no one had really looked before. That's where I started researching routines, the act of preparing for sleep, and with it dreaming.
In my head, ghosts are not pale figures running around with sheets over their heads, jumping at people from behind walls, or moving things around while we sleep so we can't find our keys in the morning. Ghosts are digital recordings of memories, imprints left behind from what we ourselves have done, locked in time. There's evidence of this if you look close enough, be it footprints in the sand, fossils, dirty dishes after dinner left out overnight or so many more other things. If you look hard enough you can see ghosts for everything, how else would detectives be able to do what they do? To be able to trace the murderer from the scene of the crime? That's the logic I wanted to apply to the bedtime routine, what we do every night without fail or without conscious thought for most of the process. The idea that we are leaving all these ghosts, these endless repetitive ghosts all in the same place, all doing the same thing, night after night and the trail they leave behind.
It's this idea I wanted to bring to life for my final piece, bringing out the hidden complexities beneath the mundane and ordinary. For this final piece, I took loads of photos in the same spot of people going about their nightly routine, in this case three people were chosen. I then decided to use photoshop to digitally manipulate each of the photos one on top of the other, similar to how Idris Khan did his photographs. It was a lot more difficult than I originally anticipated, you really had to check your images thouroughly to make sure there weren't any blunders, any spots that didn't make sense, and that it all fit and was in the same place. It was a very time consuming process. Here are the following screen shots taken of the process.
(Originally I had decided to do four digitally manipulated photos, but as the process was very time consuming it got to the point where I had to decide whether to have three very high quality photographs, or four photographs of an acceptable but not amazing quality. After careful consideration I decided quality was more important to my task than quantity.)
Photoshot screenshots 1 
Photo 2
Photo 3
Final Outcome Images
What I really like about the top photo is the combination of different clothing. It really shows the repetition of routine day after day over a long period. The red and pink really draws the eye centrally, which I think is important compositionally to give the whole effect of all the different versions of the same person. I like how at a glance you think there are five versions of the same person in the image, before you realise that actually there are six, if you bring into consideration the shadow on the wall, which is very different to the composition of the figure meant to be casting it. I think it is visually compelling.
The second digitally manipulated photograph is more an exploration of a pathway set before you. One of the figures in the photograph is not transparent, meant to show how we are oblivious to the ghosts around us while we are going about our routine, without any real thought to the possible mysteries around us hidden just beneath the surface. I really love how the blue brings out the ghostly appeal, drawing your eye to where everything is happening. The white background really shows this clearly and seems to add another dimension. I like how with this, instead of with the first photograph, there are ghosts all on top of each other, really showing how there can be many memories all in one single place.
For the final photograph I toyed with the idea of creating a ghostly effect, but decided ultimately that it had a greater impact as a solid being. Contextually it is to portray how we use the many numerous items on our sink, reaching for things with an almost sleepy persona every night.You could describe it as a sequence of events, one after another reaching for a new item. I love how the colours are warmer than the other two, giving a sense of comfort, which is appropriate. We are taught that routine is comforting in life, and it is because it's unchanging, it's secure and safe. I like how the arms are therefore solid and reassuring.
In conclusion
I think i have done indepth research and made a fulfilling, and personal, outcome which reflects on the exam themes of imagination and mystery. I think I have been successful in searching for an idea which is both original, and has a depth to it, and I like to think people will look at my final outcome and really think about what it means, and how they'll feel the next time they're preparing for sleep. If I could change anything at this stage, I would have put more quality into my experiments, particularly the Sophie Calle response, and given an extra dimension to my final pieces by printing them out and maybe photographing them in places relevant to the topic. Some video entires to what people thought of them would also have made an interesting conclusion to my exam.
Additional
Looking back on my exam photo's, I decided I wanted to put them all together and use previously taken photos, that were taken during the research part of the exam, to supplement my exam-done photos. Separately they each have their own impact, but I wanted to show them all as a full blown set, which I have done using Photoshop. I love the dynamics, the contrast of black and white to colour, which I think are appropriate to each type separating them as digitally manipulated photos and non-digitally manipulated photos, and the thin black lines around the outside and between the central photographs. I think this makes the photographs very neatly alined and give a professional air, rather than just a school girl's project. I think it is brilliant in portraying the hidden complexities of routine which I have researched thouroughly over the last few weeks, and this neatly sums up my art exam. I am overall very proud of this final outcome.
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