Diary Content
Here you’ll find everything you need to know about drafting, writing and presenting your diary. Each unit you complete will consist of a mixture of all of these types of pages. If you wish to jump to a particular section quickly, feel free to use the drop down menu.
01 Title Page
There’s nothing better then starting your diary with a themed cover page, make your first page of your diary into a montage of your favourite photographs, this could be anything from just snapshots you’ve taken, to inspiring images that you have found on the internet. Put them all into a word document, print them out … Continue reading 01 Title Page
02 Unit Outlines
Unit Outlines are handed out at the beginning of every term or semester depending on the project, do not throw these out or loose them. These sheets of paper will benefit you and also your grade, so make sure that when you receive them you keep them in a safe spot until you can put … Continue reading 02 Unit Outlines
03 Ideas
Once you’ve been given a project you’ll need to start writing down ideas, gathering inspiration and drawing up concepts (don’t worry if you can’t draw, stick figures will do). You’ll want at least 4 or more pages filled with inspiration and ideas. For example if I was given the theme Lines, I would write down key … Continue reading 03 Ideas
04 Research
Research is a must have in any Visual Diary, whether it be an Art Diary or a Photography Diary. There are multiple ways of finding out information, this includes Magazines, Newspapers, the Internet and Books. If you are doing research on any historical photographer, chances are there is a book with everything you need to … Continue reading 04 Research
05 Test/Confirm Strips
Once you’ve been introduced to darkroom processing, you’ll find yourself doing test strips (and a lot of them too) so it’s good to have an easy way to display them in your diary. You can have your own way of displaying them, however the examples shown are the ways I’ve found to be the easiest. … Continue reading 05 Test/Confirm Strips
06 Contact Sheets & Shoot Records
Contact Sheets and Shoot Records are required even when you shoot digital, so don’t think you can get out of this one easily! I usually reserve 2 pages (1 spread) just for a contact sheet. If you are shooting film, you’ll have an 8 x 10 piece of photographic paper which you’ll need to trim, … Continue reading 06 Contact Sheets & Shoot Records
07 Finals
Once you have your Test/Confirm Strip pages, you’ll also end up with a final photograph. I like to make 2 copies of my finals, 1 for my diary and 1 for submitting. Whether you can do this will also depend on how much paper you have, some teachers might not like this so make sure … Continue reading 07 Finals
08 Progress Reports
Progress Reports aren’t essential to every diary, however if you want to fill space and boost your grade a bit, then you’ll definitely want to think about putting these in. Every 2 weeks or so, take some time to write a page about where you are with your project. Thing you can discuss are: How … Continue reading 08 Progress Reports
09 Outcome
The outcome page basically speaks for itself. Once you’ve completed all of your final photographs, make a page that showcases your project. This can be done as creatively as you like it. For one project I had a booklet of the completed photographs, and if it’s a framed piece, you can take a photograph of … Continue reading 09 Outcome
10 Display/Matte
Once you have all of your final photographs completed, it’s usually a requirement that you either matte or frame them. Dedicate one page to discussing how and why you are displaying them the way you have chosen. Some projects have to be displayed a certain way though, so make sure you read your unit outline. … Continue reading 10 Display/Matte
11 Artist Statement
Artist Statements are required for any project you complete in photography. This short paragraph is your time to explain your main concept and what you are trying to convey in your photographs. If you are struggling to write your artist statement, brainstorm key words about your project, this will help give you ideas about what … Continue reading 11 Artist Statement