To pitch my project, I decided to choose a subject that would allow me to explore different uses of photography in the form of a photo book.  I have chosen to photograph Carla, who is a belly dancer and develop a narrative around the different facets of her life and dancing, Carla woman, Carla leader, Carla artist.  With this concept, I plan to structure the photo book into three parts.  My intention is to shoot a variety of images and locations including urban locations, a live performance, a studio setting and an interview, so I can combine still photos, film and audio into the photo book.   Belly dancing involves a lot of movement and colour, with unique dances, costumes and makeup, which I feel will give me plenty of content to work with.

Carla is an interesting character and belly dancing is so visual, that I have a lot of ideas and content that I will need to narrow down.  I was really happy with the feedback I received from the pitch and found it very constructive.  A key question I had was the balance between photo and video content, based on the feedback it was suggested to focus more on still photos with minimal video, otherwise I may find it too hard to show everything.   From a technical perspective, it was suggested that I play with the shutter speed to obtain good movement shots, this was valuable feedback as movement is very important in dance and I have had more experience using video.  Conceptually my ideas were strong, and I have already developed a clear three-part structure for the photo book, however the feedback was a good reminder to allow Carla to use her own voice and steer the narrative from her perspective, particularly during the interviews, rather than imposing a structure onto her.  Therefore, it will be important to write open interview questions and get a natural conversation flowing and be prepared to be flexible with my concept based on Carla’s own interpretations.