Final Edited Images

One of the final steps of my project was to edit my chosen images to make them look a little less yellow and more natural. I altered the colour balance on each image and this is the final result:

They all still have a slight yellow tinge to them but that is because of the yellow shining cross in the background of all the images. My least favourite is number 5, where it looks like a candle is sticking out of the man's shoulders. I tried to edit this out on photoshop using the healing brush tool, and this is the result:

I think it looks a lot better but I struggled a lot with the editing process as my photoshop skills are not perfect. I still think the image is the weakest out of the lot and so I don't think I'll use it in my final piece. The image itself also stands out because comparing it to the others, the cross doesn't look as yellow as it does in the other images. This is a minor detail but would mean that it would be the odd one out if I were to use it in my final piece.

Analysis of the Final Images

The thing I like best about the images is that they all have the cross in the background, which links the individuals together, and helps tell their story about Christianity. It also links the images together because they are all the same colour.
The 4th image is my favourite as the woman's pose is the strongest and the composition of the image is better than the other images.
The last image stands out because he is the only person looking away from the camera, but this doesn't matter so much to me because I feel like his story is the most shocking (he was a Satanist before he became a Christian) and so his personality stands out anyway.

I'm printing the images in A4, as I think this is more personal because you would have to walk up really close to the images to see them properly, and then you can also read the quotes and understand the individual's stories.

Feedback from Tutorial (20th April)

I had very different feedback from todays tutorial, compared to last weeks. Learning from then negative feedback, I selected the images that we all decided were the strongest (4 images) and printed them in A4. I then transcribed the rest of the interviews with the individuals from the Church and wrote out my favourite quotes. I printed them out as well and put them next to the portrait images.
After seeing it all printed out and almost finished, Liz thought that the project was actually a lot stronger than she originally thought. She said that the images did not look that good when she saw small images on a screen, but when she saw them printed out and larger, she really liked them. She also really like them paired with the quotes, and said that the quotes were very strong.
She said that the only thing left that I needed to do is choose at least 2 other images (as the series will look best with at least 6 images) and 2 other quotes.
Also, I went into the tutorial unsure about whether to make a small zine of quotes from the Christians underneath the images, or just pieces of paper with the quote on them next to the images. The general consensus was that a book of quotes would be too distracting and would take the focus away from the images. Therefore, I think I'm going to go with the latter option.

These were the images that I took to the tutorial:

Liz said that this image is the weakest out of the four, because he is smiling slightly and the others aren't. Therefore I;m going to try to find a better image of the man, or another image of someone else and take him out of the project altogether.

Transcribing the Interviews (Quotes for the Images)

Transcribing the interviews that I did for my final shoot took a very long time as most of them were about 8 minutes long.

Here are a few interviews that I wrote up:

After writing up the interviews, I highlighted the most interesting parts of them and changed the wording ever so slightly so that it made sense on it's own. I then put them in another word document, ready to accompany the final images:

I think the quotes are really successful because the stories of the Born-Again Christians are really interesting and unique. When I went into the shoot I was half expecting either stories about recovering alcoholics or the average 'I just decided to turn to God'. I was pleasantly surprised and came out with some interesting findings. It opened my mind to Christianity and gave me lots of respect to the individuals who were telling the stories, because most of them were really touching.
However, it did not change my mind about not being an atheist, because I still believe that there is a rational explanation behind everything, and it is all in the mind. I love psychology and believe that the reasons why they turned to God was psychological, as something big happened in their lives that meant they needed help, and Christianity was the thing they turned to.
Two of the quotes are not actually moments where the individuals become Christian, but it is about what God and Christianity means to them, which still fits well in my project.

Feedback from Tutorial (13th April)

The feedback that I received from this presentation was quite negative and showed that I need to work on my project to make it a lot better.
I'm still working on transcribing the interviews that I conducted in the Church in London, and so the other thing that I could show in the tutorial was images that I had on my blog.
Liz said immediately that black and white does not work, and the images are more effective in colour. I agree with her because you can see a lot more detail in colour. Also, my peers in the tutorial said that they liked how you can see the shining gold of the cross in the images, and this is not shown in black and white.
Liz said that some of the images were good and we chose a few together, that I could use in my final piece of work. However, she said that she thought it would've been more interesting if I photographed the individuals in their homes. I highly disagree with this because the whole point of my project is to photograph the moment when they became Christian, and the project is not about their lives in general. If I photographed them in their homes, the project would become more about the people's personalities and not their faith.

CHANGE OF PLAN

After doing my most recent shoot, I've decided that I'm not going to do a photo book and just going to do prints and quotes, from the interviews I conducted, either next to the images or in a separate book below the images. I'm doing this because I'm only doing my project on the people from the one Church and so there won't be enough images to create a photo book. It's impossible for me to do another shoot because the individuals all live in different places in London and it is too late to organise another time for them to all come together again.
I'm happy with the images I have and I think I do have some strong portrait images to use as final images, and I want between 4-8 final images.
This is the same change of plan to my previous project, however I feel much more in control with this one as I think prints will be just as successful as a photo book.

Research on Born-Again Christians

As I am not a Christian myself, I want to research Christians (in particular born-again Christians) to get a deeper understanding for my project.

'Born Again'

- an act of God whereby eternal life is imparted to the person who believes.
- Sinners are spiritually dead; when they receive spiritual life through faith in Christ, the Bible likens it to a rebirth. Only those who are born again have their sins forgotten and have a relationships with God.

Despite all of the people coming from a very different demographic and reasons for converting, it was important to showcase the one factor they had in common, which is God and religion. Which is why I felt it was important to photograph them in the same place. All of the people in my final shoot went to the same Church and I wanted to have them in the same place (and with the cross in the background) to link them all together.

Testimonies Online

http://www.precious-testimonies.com/general/a-e/bornagainindex.htm

This is a large index of testimonies from around the world. Some of them are really interesting and similar to the testimonies that I got from my interviews.

http://www.twominutetestimonies.org/424/

These testimonies are from a Christian community called 'Doing Life Together'. It was created by someone in Britain but they hope to spread the online community throughout the world.
Most of the testimonies are not that interesting as most of the people are born into a Christian family and so they didn't have a particular moment when they became a Christian, and being religious is all they've known.

My Thoughts on Born-Again Christians

I am not a Christian, and after doing this project I am even more convinced that God does not exist, and it is all in the mind. I believe there's a logical reason behind everything, and even the instances where people faint in Church can be explained.

Edited Images

I wanted to experiment with my images from the final shoot, and so I edited them into black and white in the style of Pedro Meyer, who I researched previously in my project. These were some of my favourite images, and I feel like I won't be able to use 1 image of every person in my final result, as their portraits are not as strong as others.

Fifth and Final Shoot

This is my final shoot of the project, and the only one where I took photos of Born-Again Christians. I was very much relying on this shoot as it was the only big event I could organise where I could meet with a group of Christians at one time.

I know someone who goes to this Church and he helped me organise an evening where the group of people come to the Church, and I interview them and take photos of them.

The shoot was successful but had a lot of elements that could be improved and worked on. Firstly, I went to this Church (Bow Church in London) in the Easter holidays and so could not book out any equipment from the University. I really wanted a Nikon D800 and location lighting as I did the shoot after dark. By using my own Canon 450, I knew I couldn't get the same quality of images as a better camera, but (similar to my previous shoots where I used my own camera) I tried using more of my own photographic skills.