Update #13: Powerpoint

Here is my powerpoint which I have made in order to display my final photostory.

Powerpoint link: http://www.slideshare.net/EmmaHull1/a-day-at-the-animal-shelter

Update #12: Evaluation

At first, I had quite a few ideas on what I wanted to do. My first option was the wedding idea, as I found a few photostories online from weddings, which gave me inspiration, as previously talked about in my blog. I knew this would be hard to get into as most photographers I assumed wouldn't allow me to go. After contacting several wedding photographers around Cheltenham, nobody replied, so obviously meaning they didn't want me to follow them. Therefore, I had to think of my next proposal. In my head, I wanted to do something around the community, so when I was researching careers and places to visit around Cheltenham, there were only a few options. Cotsworld Wildlife Park, the Animal Shelter and a few more. I have an interest in animals and appreciate any work that goes on with them, which is why I liked both of these ideas. After doing a quick search on the Wildlife Park, I realised it was too far out for me to go as I do not have a car in Cheltenham, so I messaged the Animal Shelter via both email and the social networking site, Twitter. They took a while to respond but they eventually emailed back allowing me to visit. As previously mentioned on my blog, I had planned what types of photos I was going to take. This made it easier for me once I had arrived as I had clearly thought about the structure to the narrative I was going to take.

Overall, I found this project extremely fun once I had got into it as I enjoy editing photos and enjoy evaluating my work as I go along. Making the InDesign magazine spread I found fairly difficult as it was a completely new software for me. Thankfully my lecturer had helped me out with InDesign by giving me basic printouts on how to do the simple things in the software such as adding text and inserting images. My final InDesign was planned out on paper before I actually started to do it, so it would save time and I could organise the layout knowing exactly what I was going to do. If I was going to make a magazine spread again, I would consider using InDesign as it looks professional and it wasn't hard to use. Before InDesign, I would have just used Publisher which is also simple, but I find now that I know how to use InDesign, I would use it over Publisher as I found it easier to use. However, in order to use it an more complexity, I would need to have a basic tutorial in order to develop my skills. I chose a middle aged audience for my magazine design as they tend to be the age range most interested in the community. I went for a light colour scheme as it would make the photos stand out more and make them bolder.

As for the powerpoint, I have used it before and understand exactly how to use it, so found making this simple as it was just to display my photos. I used a basic effect on my power-point so that it was simple and wouldn't be too much for the audience. The most difficult thing for me while making my powerpoint was changing my mind a lot about which order the photos should be in. Although there was a clear narrative to my photos, some photos clashed with the next ones and it didn't look right. After checking over it a few times, I eventually put the ones on my power-point and re-changed my blog post to match it.

I am extremely happy with the photos I took during my day at the animal shelter and am very grateful to them for letting me go there to spend some time doing my project. I enjoyed this project however, if I were to do it again I would try and do more research before starting, and look at other photo-stories more in depth so I know exactly what types of shots to get and what kind of angles to use in mine. I think my biggest weakness throughout this photostory was thinking of captions for the final 18 photos that I used. Although the captions state exactly what is happening in the photo, I feel as though they weren't flowing enough and didn't make a very strong impact. Next time I make a photo story, I would think more about the captions before posting them for definite.

Update #11: Final Photostory

Welcome sign outside the shelter to greet the guests

Animal food and treat shop in reception.

Display on staff terriers in reception.

A member of staff prepping the dog's food.

A staff member handing the dogs their breakfast.

Milo enjoying his breakfast.

One of the dogs after his food

A member of staff opening the cage inside for the dog to play outside.

The dog being obedient to a member of staff.

A member of staff getting the dog's water.

Staff cleaning out the kennels

Staff making the kennels clean for the dogs

One of the dogs enjoying his clean kennel.

A member of staff bonding with a dog

One of 23 staff terriers in the shelter

Muriel to explain the shelter's main job

A dog smiling for the camera

Update #10: More Edits

Here are a few more edits of my photos which I have continued to do. The first photos of each pair are the non-edited versions, whereas the second photos are the improvements.

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Update #9: Editing

Today I have started to edit my photos. I am doing this in order to boost the quality and colour of my images from my visit to the shelter a few days ago. This is the first edit I have done. As you can see, I have made the text on the sign the focal point and also cropped it so that the sign is more centered. I have also slightly straightened the sign so that it isn't at an angle, and that it is perfectly vertical.

Here is another edit which I have done in order to make the dog food the focal point, but also boosted the colour and quality of the image by adjusting the contrast and brightness.

I am aiming to edit majority of my images, especially the ones where they aren't of the best quality where they could have been. For example, in some photos there are some parts which do not need to be there, so I would need to crop them out.

Update #8: Visit to the Animal Shelter

So today I visited the animal shelter. It was an early start as I had to be there at 08.30. When I arrived I signed myself in and was introduced to a member of staff who was happy for me to shadow and take photos of throughout the morning.

Majority of my shots were of the dogs in their kennels, but I also took photos of the signs, posters and the staff cleaning the kennels and feeding the dogs.

Here are some of the shots from today, which I need to edit using Photoshop in order to make them better quality for my photostory.

I also need to put them in order of the day, so that the photos have a narrative structure.

Update #7: Ideas for Photos

So tomorrow is the day that I head down to the local dogs home in order to take photos for my photostory. I have written down some shots which would be a good idea to use in my photostory. Here are the ideas in which I aim to get 150 photos of.

• The sign that states that it is the dog home.
• The dogs in their kennels, getting the bars in so it shows they are locked away seperated from eachother to keep them safe.
• The staff changing the food and water in their kennels.
• The staff at reception answering phone calls and taking donations.
• The surroundings at reception - showing what awards they have won and what donations they have received.
• The surroundings inside the dogs home - taking establishing shots of the building inside so the viewers of my photostory can imagine being in the room.
• The building from the outside from an establishing shot.
• The field around where the dogs normally go for walks.
• A member of staff walking one of the dogs.

I feel like these ideas will help me successfully put together my photo story and be a good, structured narrative for my audience.