One minute | Dong Sicheng

Five

It was a week before the exhibition. A week before my work was exposed to everybody in the school and their families. 

I was working at the back of the studio, faced away from everybody. I preferred it this way because then I couldn't get distracted by the movements of everyone else in the class. All I was able to look at was my work and the wall.

I was placing my final prints onto a foamboard. Despite doing this for 6 months, it was still difficult, but I was good at it. There was a thin piece of paper covering the sticky part of the board. You then had to roll the image onto the sticky part while gradually pulling off the paper cover. During my first few months in this subject, it had constantly gone wrong, with there being air bubbles or lining up the photo wrong. A few months later, I became an expert.

I put all of my focus into the foamboard. I didn't dare to look away for even a moment in order to get it perfect on my first try. This was my last print to transfer, and it would just be a bother if I got it wrong.

As I reached the end of the foamboard, I did another 2 rolls over the print just to be sure it is completely on, before exhaling a breath that I didn't realise I was holding. I was finally done.

I had decided on doing 6 photos in total. 3 for the Fallow Deer, and 3 for the Canadian Goose. I piled my images on top of each other and went over to the labelled drawers. We had one, fairly large, drawer each, to store prints, photographic paper, sketchbooks etc.

I carefully placed my pictures into the drawer, make sure to not leave any scratches or fingerprint marks onto the pieces. Everything had to be absolutely perfect.

I closed my drawer and went back to my seat, this time facing the rest of the class. But, the first thing that caught my eye was the message on the whiteboard, telling us to invite as many people as possible to the event, as it will be a good way to promote your work and show people what you can do. The only issue is that, I had nobody to invite.

I looked around at my classmates, and they were mostly foam boarding as well. If not, then they were doing what I would be beginning to do; writing the final evaluation for their work.

I opened my sketchbook and went to the next empty page. I took my black and grey pens out and began to write. 

What was the project about? 

Journeys, but we were given the opportunity to interpret it in our own ways. I decided to make my work about the journey of animal migration to the UK. Not a lot of people know about this part of history, so I wanted to educate others.

What did you like about the project?

I liked that I was able to introduce my own personal loves and interests into my work, and truly show people what I am passionate about.

What would you change if you could do this project again?

I would definitely capture more animals. If I had more time, I would try to photograph dolphins, and butterflies.

What did you struggle with in this project?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It was perfect.