'Tell an untold Story' - The Visual Journalist PT2

After the deflating end to my last research trip and had been spending the next few days trying to decide where/what to do next. Wether to explore something completely different or to stick with the similar theme. Come the day of the trip i still wasn't massively convinced of my direction, or where to go to find out more. As my funds were low i decided where ever it would i would get using my own two legs without the help of a machine or fuel. I went down the museum route and visited the Royal Armories. No animals but plenty of history,facts, metal clothes & weapons.

I entered the museum with no real idea of what i should be documenting or aiming for, which made the whole process pretty frustrating and at points i just wanted to chuck myself in the canal - but it was a bit nippy out, so i just wandered around sketching and note taking hoping something would spark an idea…

I thought i might've made some sort of mental breakthrough at this point. The sets of amour and uniforms mad me think of the 'outfit grids' that clothing companies put in their mags or on their intstagram feeds, laying out the latest trends. I thought of doing a medieval, or roman, or WW1 etc equivalent and produced a few crude looking mocks.Though possibly an amusing concept, i quickly realised that this would only only really be effective as a photoshop project with stock photo imagery, which isn't a direction i want to go in. That's about all i am sure of with this project at the moment.

I left some time later in the day to go back to the animal theme and visit the City Museum, see what they had going there, in the nature zone. Having never been, i thought it may have been a bit more extensive, but appeared to be mostly stuffed creatures behind glass boxes.Correctly identifying some dead stuffed birds actually the most interested i'd been all day,which was weird, but i bloody got them all right.

There was a 'colour coded' section in the City Museum corner - meaning that there were some display boxes, with a single colour backdrop, and within the box contain birds and butterfly of matching colours. I would've taken photos, but its really dark in there, an i wasn't allowed to use my flash, so thought it'd be easier to explain or draw. I've failed at both.Anyway, i thought it was a good visual way to display the artefact and got to thinking along the lines of a colour co-ordinated concept...

Again, end of the day, rather directionless and deflated. On my walk home through town i was more taken with the trainer shop windows and stopped by a few. Seeing all the different colour variants and patterns that are available, i wondered if there was any way i could combine the two - classic, or popular trainers with birds that are colour co-ordinated with a particular trainer. I realise that this is barely a concept, communicating with the reader may be doubtful,wouldnt really have a narrative as far a picture book goes, and would simply be a   handsome looking book of picture featuring colour-coded AirMax's and Albatrosses?! 

I took this 'brainchild' into the crit with Matt and my class group, and i could see the confused glaze in their eyes and minds as i attempted to explain my concept…