FIA - Final Integrated Project

FIA - Final Integrated Assignment 

Brief - 

This assignment allows the student to work on a brief negotiated with the course co-ordinator, teaching staff and where possible external contacts. This assignment is the culmination of the students' studies and allows enough time to develop work to the highest standard in terms of both creativity and production resulting in the degree show.

Students will develop initiatives based in their own specialist interest. This will create a wide range of projects which will dictate the subject matter they select to study. Work produced in this module will form the main elements of assessment in the exhibition of work at the end of the programme. 

The Final Integrated Assignment is the showcase of students' achievements and the first step towards employment. The module will also draw on skilled gained in the Professional Studies module by including a self-promotion package that reflects the degree show identity.

Firstly you are to produce a 500 word written and illustrated proposal that acts as a rational for your FIP. More detailed instruction on the proposal will be provided during the briefing on Thursday 30th January 2014. This document should be submitted as a PDF, to your course leader, no latter than the 14th February 2014. The course team will give approval of your project proposal via email.

Research into the subject area will be extensive and include advice from appropriate industrial sectors and representatives. You will begin production of a project journal and this will document the process of project conception and development, right through to project completion. You may wish to consider the presentation of the journal (electronic, paper based?) and whether it is appropriate for the work you are carrying out. Lastly, the journal must reflect the development of the final portfolio and exhintion of work, including details of materials, techniques and processes. 

Your final portfolio of photographs must be presented to professional standards and reflect the research studies carried out as part of the "Professional Studies" and "Practice" units earlier in the year. There are no criteria for the amount of images presented, but the portfolio of work should be conducive to degree level study and practice.

A final rationale (or statement), of no more than 500 words, should be presented with your exhibition. This rationale will detail; background, aims/objectives, design, presentation and suitability against project aims.

Finally, you are to develop an invitation list for the opening night of your exhibition - consider potential employers, WBL providers, Professional suppliers and fellow practitioners.

There are several stages to this assignment, each with their own outcomes and products. The FIA should represent the professionalism and specialism that the student has gained during year 3 and as such all work submitted should be of a high standard. 


Learning Outcomes - 

• Conduct extensive, varied and appropriate research, and evaluate potential for development.
• Communicate research and development solutions employing a high level of discernment, understanding and aesthetic judgement. 
• Create concepts and develop a range of solutions.
• Evaluate, select and display their work employing a high level of discernment, practical skills, understanding and aesthetic judgement. 

 Assessment Criteria - 

• Thoroughness of varied and appropriate research and ability to evaluate its potential for development.
• Ability to communicate research and development visually and orally employing a high level of discernment, understanding, and aesthetic judgment.
• Ability to produce a range of highly finished solutions.
• Ability to evaluate, select and display work employing a high level of discernment, practical skills, understanding and aesthetic judgment. 

Theme/Idea for FIA - 

The theme that I have decided to use, research and later photograph for my FIA is Religion, but in particular the Mormon religion, which is called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
In photographing this subject for my FIA, I will be looking at many different aspects of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I will be looking and photographing things like - 

• Places 
• Buildings
• People
• Objects 

With photographing those 4 different areas I will be able to show a vast portion and a general overview of what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is all about.

500 FIA Word Proposal - 

For my final integrated Assignment I will be taking on the style of “Documentary” for my final images. I have chosen this style because I enjoy portraying and telling different types of stories within my work. I have shown this style of photography within different project I have done before, Projects like Editorial and my FMP.

The theme I have chosen for my FIA is “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (Mormons). The reason as to why I have chosen this theme is because it is something this is very personal and important to me as I am a member of the church and have been all my life, I also want to be able to show the true nature and what the church is about but also because it has a board history about how the church came over to England.

The types of images I will be taking will be of the following: -

·      Places – Liverpool, Preston

·      Architecture – Church Buildings, Temple

·      Portraits – Bishops, Members

·      Objects – Scriptures, Mission Badges, Book

Throughout these images I first want to start off by showing and telling of the history of how the missionaries from the early days of church came over from American to bring the church to England and how they did this by coming through Liverpool Docks and Preston.

Second I want to show what our church is about, so the different buildings we use, churches and temples, the scriptures we read and so in general what our church is all about. And lastly through my images I want to photograph the people, people like the Bishops and members of the church who believe the same of me.

The main source of research that I will be using for this project will be from the churches official history website – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – Church History. http://history.lds.org/?lang=eng

Other sources of research I will be using will just be looking at photographer who the church has commissioned to take similar images. I will be looking these images by other photographers to draw inspiration but also so I can try and take my images in a different and new way.

Lastly I will be using the tour in Preston that the church provides, this tour shows members of the church but also the general public the different places missionaries went to in Preston and how they brought the gospel of the church to England. 

For these images, I think I will be taking and editing in colour, this is so my images will be true to life and so will have feel of true and reality about them.

As the final outcome to the project I see to be creating a set of final images but also a book of the final images, with inserts of writing to go along with each image.

Research - 

Background info- 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the official name of the religion commonly called the Mormon Church. We believe first and foremost that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and the Son of God.

While our backgrounds and experiences are diverse, Mormons are united by a commitment to Jesus Christ. 

We are all spiritual children of a loving Heavenly Father who sent us to this earth to learn and grow in a mortal state. As Mormons, we are followers of Jesus Christ. We live our lives to serve Him and teach of His eternal plan for each of us.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the official name of the religion commonly called the Mormon Church. It was established April 6, 1830 by Joseph Smith, the first president of the Church. We believe he was called by God to be a prophet in the modern era, like Moses and Abraham in biblical times. Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ in a vision after praying to know which church to join. They called on him to restore the church Christ organized when He was on earth, with the proper organization and priesthood authority that had been lost shortly after the Savior’s death.

From the original six members in 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ has grown to a membership of nearly 15 million on six continents. After Joseph Smith’s death, an unbroken succession of prophets have led the Church, always striving to bring members to a better understanding and greater love for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Here below are two different screen shots to show which sites I have used.

http://www.lds.org/?lang=eng

http://www.mormon.org/

Places - 

Throughout this project I will be photographing 2 main different places. These places are Preston and Downham. The reason as to why I will be photographing these 2 places is because of the history, the meaning and the values that they have to us as members of the Mormon church. 

Buildings - 
An aspect that I will be focusing on and photographing for this project are the different buildings that we have and that mean something to us within my religion. The first building is that of our temple which can be found in on Temple Way in Chorley.
The temples are the most sacred place on earth-a place where earth and heaven meet and where we feel close to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Temples are literally the house of the Lord. The Lord has always commanded his people to build temples, holy buildings in which worthy Saints perform sacred ceremonies and ordinances of the gospel for themselves and for the dead. The Lord visits his temples, and they are the most holy of all places of worship.

Another building that we use and that means something to us within our religion is that of our wards, also known as our meeting houses. There are 4 different within the Lancashire area, Chorley, Rawtenstall, Burnley and Blackburn. These buildings sever as meeting place each sunday and for additional meetings for the members of the church. 

People - 
As another aspect for this project and a part that plays a big role within it are the members or people within the church/religion. I would like to photograph some of the members because without the members there would be no church. As it stand today there are 15,000,000 people the church worldwide. 
Photographing all the members is impossible and photographing all the members of just one ward would be a hugh task, so as another side to these images I am going to create, I would to like to concentrate on just photographing the Bishop of each ward.


Objects - 
Within the church there are many still life objects that could be recognised by people as something to do with the Mormon faith. 
These could be objects such as :-

• CTR Rings
• Mission Badges
• Scriptures
• Pictures of the Jesus Christ
• Manuals

I am going to photograph some of items because I think these kind of images can be very simple yet effect and say a lot without using many if any words. 

Reflection on theme idea for FIA project - 

While researching my idea for this FIA project, I found myself struggling on what to research and what to include with the theme being such a wide and broad idea with some many different areas and thing to photograph that I could potentially cover. 
So on reflection on idea of my religion, I have decided to narrow it down to a certain area within the religion. This area is one that has made a critical influence on the future of the church and one that is of most importance in the church today.
This area is that of the Preston Temple and Missionary Work - both in the early days of church in the 1800's and now in these current days. 

New Idea for FIA - 
For my new idea for my FIA, like said before I will be focusing on the Preston Temple and Missionary Work. 
To understand this project as someone new looking into the religion for the first time, it take the form as a basic timeline. 
First I will start at the Temple, this is because the temple is the sacred and special place on earth, it is the house of Lord and the place we strive to be worthy enough for to enter to feel and be closer to our Heavenly Father. 
The temple is one of the key part and central parts of our religion. 
For my FIA project the temple I will be photographing will be the Preston temple which is located in Chorley. 
Quoted from the "The pick and flower of england - by David M W Pickup"  -  "The decision to build the Preston Temple, reflecting as it does the strength and maturity of the church in the North of England, can properly be seen as a fitting tribute to the remarkable achievements of the early Mormon missionaries in Lancashire, as well as those who have served faithfully down they years. This account, bringing the story of the Mormons in lancashire up to date, provides new and refreshing light on the fading landscapes of a distant era. A temple in preston certainly sets the seal on the vision of those now long gone but not to be forgotten. 

Next in my timeline I will be looking at the first missionaries of the church and how they came from America through to Preston to bring the church to England. I will be photographing the different places in Preston, Ribble Valley, Chatburn and Downham. Within these places I have just listed are key points where the missionaries stayed or taught the religion to other people. These places played key roles in the progression of the church. 
One of the key places I will be photographing will be the River Ribble. I will be photographing the River Ribble because it was within the this river where the first baptisims of the church took place outside of America. These baptisms played a key role as many more people heard about this and to made the decision to be baptised and join the join, so thus helping the growth of the church.
Another place that I will be photographing, as mentioned before is the small town of Downham.  The american elders that came over from america received direction that they should take the gospel to the small towns in clitheroe, downham being one. While acting upon this direction to take the gospel to Downham, this resulted in some 110 baptisms and establishment of a church within the town, so again helping the growth of the church.

And lastly in my timeline I will be photographing the MTC - Missionary Training Centre over in Chorley.
While MTC locations and languages differ, the curriculum taught at each facility is the gospel of Jesus Christ as set forth in the Bible and other scriptures. We stick to the very basics of faith in Jesus Christ, all of the teaching tries to be based on the objective that [the missionaries] learn the minute they get here. Mormon missionaries generally arrive at an MTC with a foundation of religious knowledge gained from years of instruction at home and church. And on top of this are weekly Mormon worship services, held on Sundays for three consecutive hours.But it should be noted that MTCs provide a decidedly more rigorous curriculum rooted in gospel fundamentals. The meat and drink of MTC life is daily practice teaching situations, intense gospel classroom instruction from teachers who are former missionaries, weekly devotional addresses from Church leaders and MTC staff, and weekly service opportunities. MTC gospel study and teaching practice is essential for missionaries to teach and testify effectively and to experience the joy of missionary work. When on completion of their time at the MTC the missionaries go out to the chosen areas within the world to preach and teach the gospel for 2years. 
A key item that is most recognisable and associated with missionaries is the badge they wear on their clothing. This badge sates their last name and church they are representing. 

Here below is a paper version of the diagram I will be using :- 

In each of the three sections in my diagram I have drawn a spider diagram. These diagrams show or list the different images I am wanting to capture at each spot and the pictures I want to capture that will tell the story of my idea for my FIA project. 

Preston Temple - 

• Wide view temple shot
• Details of temple
• Group family shot outside of the temple
• Road shot leading up towards the temple in the background
• Front and back shots of the temple
• Busy temple day with people walking around the grounds
• Street sign - "Temple Way"
• Side view of the temple

1st Missionaries in Preston  - 

• The River Ribble 
• River Ribble Bridge
• Downham
• Chatburn
• Plaques and signs relating to the subject
• Preston - Market Square
• Preston - Obelisk 

Preston MTC - 

• Missionaries - Elders and Sister - stood in pairs in front of the MTC
• Missionary badges
• Classrooms inside the MTC
• Preston MTC sign post
• Flags of the different countries
• MTC teachers
• MTC buildings - shot from different angles 

As help to research further into my new idea for my FIA work and to find out as much more new information as I could to help me with the diagram I made about the Temple, Missionaries and Missionary Training Centre, I used a book called "The pick and flower of England" by David M W Pickup. 

This book is all about searching out the story of Mormons in the Victorian Lancashire. It gives detailed accounts on which missionaries came over from America, when they came, where they stayed while here in England and where and how they preached and taught the gospel to people. In later chapters of the book it explains how all this work of the missionaries and people joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints progressed into a Temple of the church being built in Chorley.  

Photo Shoots - 

Here in this section below I will be explaining what I did on each shoot. I will explaining things like - 

• Where I took the images
• What time I took the images at
• What types of images I took
• Why I photographed at that certain place

Shoot One - 

For my first photo shoot I wanted to start at the beginning of the chart I made which is at the Temple site over in Chorley. To try and get the best images I needed to get decent weather, this is because with the temple being a grey/white colour I needed it to stand out against a blue sky. 
To get this weather and the sky I wanted I took my photo's between 6:30 and 9:30 in the morning.
While at the temple I obviously wanted the temple to be main the focus of my pictures but I didn't just want to capture the same old photograph that is always taken of the temple. 
I took my time walking around the temple site so I could see the temple from all the different angles possible. I wanted it to capture it in a new and interesting way. 
Here below are some contact sheet to show how many images I took and what my images look like.

Shoot Two - 

For my second shoot I went to Chatburn and Downham. Chatburn and Downham are two small towns that made a hugh difference in the growth of the church. These two towns are the places where the missionaries stayed and taught the gospel. Most of the people that lived in these towns joined the church and so became Mormons. 

To get the best images while in these towns I needed to have nice and decent weather. I wanted a sunny day and blue skies to show the towns of in their best light but also to create clear, strong and pleasing to the eye images. 

While in these two places I wanted the buildings and  and the surroundings to be the main focus, I wanted to show the towns as the are.

Here below are the contact sheets I have made to show all the images I took on these two shoots. 

Shoot Three - 

For my Third shoot for my FIA project I went back to Temple site in Chorley. On this shoot instead of just focusing on the Temple, I photographed a young family there with the temple in the background. I wanted to photograph a family at the temple because families are a key factor within the church and a key factor within helping missionary work. 
For these images of the family with the temple in the background I wanted to capture as many different variations as I could.

Here below are the contact sheets I made of this shoot - 

Shoot Four - 

For my fourth shoot for my FIA work I went over to Avenham Park in Preston. Within Avenham Park is the River Ribble. The River Ribble is significant to my project because this is where the first baptisms within the church took place in the UK. 

While taking these images I wanted a blue sky with clouds, this is so my images don't look flat with just one block colour in the background, I wanted the sky to have some movement and life within it. 

While at this spot I wanted to try and capture as many different angles as i could to get a variety of images. These different angles include images that were taken from low down on the ground but also high up with images being taken from the Bridge. 

Here below are the contact sheets that show an overview of the images I took - 

Shoot Five - 

For my fifth shoot I went back again to the Temple site in Chorley. From looking back at my past photo shoots at the Temple site I wasn't entirely happy with the images I took and so wanted to have another shoot there to see if I could capture and produce better, greater, more pleasing images. 
Again I went back on a day that had a blue a sky, so the temple stood out against it. Again as before I walked around the temple trying to take as many different shoots as I could. 
Here below are contact sheets to show the images I took while on the photo shoot.  

Shoot Six - 

For my last shoot I concentrated on the MTC section of FIA photographs. This time instead of photographing the buildings, signs or flags that are on the grounds, I instead focused on the missionaries themselves. For these images I took pictures of the missionaries badges and then a group shot of 4 missionaries - 2 male and 2 female. 
Here are the contact sheets of the images that I captured -  

Shot List - 

After going out on all my different photo shoots, I then collected all my images together and slowly went through them all to make a short list of potential final images. 
Here below are the images that made the short list :- 

I chose these images because I thought these were the ones that best fit into each section to get across the message that I wanted for their chosen section. I wanted the Preston Temple shots to be clear and bright and for the temple to really stand out within frame. For the images that show the original places of the first missionaries in Lancashire, I picked images that purposefully didn't have any cars in them, I wanted them to try and show them in their original light as best that I could. And lastly for my MTC (Missionary Training Centre) shots I wanted a very corporate/modern look and feel to them.


Class discussion and feedback on images - 

In todays lesson we decided it would be beneficial to all if we have a class feedback session on each others work, to try and help each other decide on final images, how to edit them, how many to hand in and how to present them at our external exhibition in Manchester in June.  
In this class feedback session I showed my images to the class - the group census was for images to be either all in colour for all in black and white, not to have a mix also to showcase my theme to the full extent the class help me decide on 2 images to represent each mini section, so I will have 8 final images. Also another thing that was discussed about my images was that I needed to add another section to my project, I need to add a section that would concentrate upon detailed shots, shots that would show objects that were personal to me in my religion. The images I chose to photograph were an image of Jesus Christ that is placed in the top corner of my notice board at home and also my CTR ring (Choose the right ring) that I wear daily. I decided on these object as they are subtle reminders of my religion and it means to me day to day.

Final Cut - 


For my last tutorial before my hand in date, I wanted to go through my short list of images to pick my final 8 and also to discuss a possible way of displaying my images in my external exhibition in Manchester. 

To improve upon my final images and to add a little extra I wanted to edited my images. With all my images I first started off by the correcting the levels and sharpening the images. Then depending on the images I edited the images in slightly different ways.

For the images of the Preston Temple and the images of Downham I wanted to create a kind of dreamy look to them, to do this I used a action on photoshop "kalif banane". This action just gives the colours a slightly more enhancing look to them.

For my MTC images and the personal object images I wanted them to be more modern and simple, so for these images I didn't do much editing apart from increasing the vibrance. 
Here below are the 8 final images that I have chosen to best represent my theme for my FIA project - 

These are the 8 images I have chosen, I have chosen these photographs because I feel that these are the photographs that best fit in with the theme I chose for my FIA project. Through my final images I think its very clear to see the story of the growth of Mormon church in lancashire  and how we strive to continue to help the growth of the church but at the same time showing the importance that my religion has within my own life and the meaning it has to me as I have been a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints all of my life.