Monday 23 June 2014

At last beginning to get on with some reading...




I took photos at a wedding for the first time recently.  Perhaps because I've never done it before, perhaps because of my personality, I felt like an intruder and a bit of a peeping Tom.  Not sure this shot will mean much to the family & couple but it said something to me about my own place at the wedding and possibly in the world.

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I felt it was probably time to write up some reflection a I’ve not been doing so with quite the same frequency as I did to begin with.  As I mentioned in the assignment reflection for Elements of Design, this isn’t because I haven’t been thinking.  In fact, perhaps it’s because I’ve been thinking more, droning on less.

I think what the last few months of work with OCA has done for me is broaden my horizons of what is possible quite considerably – and for that I am very pleased.

I know I need to read more.  Fitting it in is not easy but I’m getting on quite well with (1) the photograph as contemporary art by Charlotte Cotton. There is quite a lot in there that I have come across already which is encouraging although of course much more that I haven’t.  All of it is compelling to a greater or a lesser extent.

I think what I’m most interested in on this course for now is trying to reach something that is less about the commercial side although that is important to me (and something I must continue to learn about; marketing, sales, the actual photography) as I need very much to earn a living in the medium term.  But if I can develop the art side as much as possible for my own satisfaction then that would be great.  But I don’t think that will be easy to do – I find a lot of the stuff I’m looking at quite challenging to be honest although the Intimate Life chapter in the aforementioned book is far more immediate and resonant for me than much of the deadpan style I’d read about earlier. 

Of course, I have no doubt the two, commercial and not so commercial stuff will cross over and may be influenced by one another, and in fact I can see that happening already.   It does feel like I’m on a very interesting path and I’m enjoying it a great deal even though there are times when I feel somewhat panicked and like I might have gone off in the wrong direction.

I'm a bit nervous about the next chapter in TOAP - Colour.  Seems all a bit difficult at first glance due to the theory so will need to think carefully about it as I go through.

For now, I need to get on with writing up two photo books, and reading all the colour information on the OCA site as well as some more of the photograph as a contemporary art.





(1) the photograph as a contemporary art, new edition by Charlotte Cotton, Thames & Hudson 2009

Tuesday 17 June 2014

My thoughts on the assement criteria

Demonstration of technical and visual skills
I suspect I have demonstrated that I know enough to start playing around with what a camera can do. I photographed a wedding for the first time this weekend just gone and although I am certain I didn't do anything too amazing I know I managed to at least get the exposure right most of the time and capture some moving moments (although I missed some stuff which was annoying but forgivable considering it was my first foray) I mention this because although I have no desire to become a wedding photographer the experience was important but I wouldn't have taken it on had I not felt able to get the basics right - it was terrifying nevertheless.  There is still much to learn about lighting and composition in particular but I am very much beyond where I was a year ago.
Quality of Outcome
I am a bit nervous that I may have gone down the wrong path but I also think that I might have taken a healthy step in the right direction of 'finding a voice' despite the fact that I am sure I'm influenced by someone who is influenced by another.  (Isn't that how it works though?)  Looking at the the images having posted them I can see where I should have looked at the whites in some images making them cleaner. I left lots of marks deliberately but there were a few dots that I removed and hopefully I've not missed any. 
Demonstration of creativity
I think I've probably been quite creative  - perhaps so creative that I've not done the right thing! The actor in me has been very much involved in the work I did for the assignment although not for the exercises which were more thoughtful and measured. 
Context
I have not written as much this time as I did for the first module.  But I have been thinking a great deal and didn't feel the need to blather quite so much.  I have looked at other artists' work  - museums,  books and online but might have done more.  I still have two books to write up but didn't have time.  I have not read enough.



Assignment 2


Please view the images initially as a slideshow on as a big screen as you can as I think they work best that way.

These images are an expression of where I have been and acceptance of where I am now.  I hope there is keening, death, love, sex, innocence, isolation and aging in them.  There should also be fear of the unknown but an acceptance of that fear, excitement, celebration and play.  For me these are the words that describe life so far and in particular pertain to events of the last two, possibly three years.

Please visit here and click on individual images to see exif data (by clicking on the small i under the image) Basically I took all the images on a very slow shutter speed, at f22, ISO 100 in order to achieve the sense of movement and instability.  I edited in Lightroom and added a Niks Silver Efex filter in Photoshop which I adjusted slightly in some images.

Commentary and notes about development as well as thoughts about assessment criteria available via these hyperlinks.  I have deliberately left this page relatively sparse as I wish for the images to stand alone.


Implied triangle


Several points in a deliberate shape

Rhythm (i)

Two points

Diagonals

Distinct even if irregular shapes

Several points in a deliberate shape

Curves

Vertical & just about horizontal

Pattern

Single point

Rhythm (ii)

Horizontal & just about vertical

Implied triangle

Distinct irregular shapes

Elements of Design - Thoughts and development notes


So I started working on the idea of 'body parts' to try and fulfill the assignment for Elements of Design.  To begin with I took a few photos of my own hands and facial features with my phone and thought this may be the way to go - pictures of my own body parts - in fact I thought I'd take 43 altogether (the extra images for my own project) to signify my age.  I got a bit nervous though as the idea of revealing intimate parts of my body was not exactly appealing and seemed utterly inappropriate too but there are only so many pictures one can take of their own hands and feet, and if you're going to go down the route of body parts it may seem remiss to leave out certain obvious parts! Despite having breastfed various offspring quite happily in public for years I was quite certain I am not really interested in exhibiting those bits and others in any photographs.

The idea of pictures of myself felt vaguely self-absorbed, although my reasoning behind that idea was in part due to the fact I'd inadvertently concentrated on loss, death and renewal throughout the exercises for this module.  By focusing on my aging body I might begin delving into or expressing feelings about my relationship with the aging process, perhaps recognising and accepting my own form, and exploring this 'reborn' version of me following several difficult events and experiences over the last few years.  As far as age goes, you have children and turn around seemingly a moment later and years have all of sudden sped by.  The skin that was once firm has without you noticing started to wrinkle and develop blemishes associated with age.

I also felt that there was something about the modern 'selfie', a word I hate for it's sogginess incidentally, that might be explored with these photographs of parts of my anatomy - the antithesis of the selfie, no filters, no make-up, no supposedly 'flattering' poses or lighting.  We live in a society where the individual is promoted and community is continuously eroded.  Families live in units rather than collectives and people are far more isolated than they may ever have been historically, and we have created a culture of celebrating the self which I along with many, I'm sure, think whiffs of something needy and desolate.  Please don't mistake this for some sort of superior value judgement on my part - I have certainly taken photos of myself before; often when I have wanted to try something photography-wise and there has been no-one else about, but also to stare into myself and see what I might see, or sometimes to communicate something about myself to the world and/or individuals.  By looking at elements of my own body in this way I hoped to communicate ideas about the human body and how we differ or don't to other animals and plants, or any other organic collection of cells, chemicals, atoms.

I felt however, that I would be limited by only taking photographs of my own body parts.  So I looked at including other people's.  But I suspect I was hindered by thinking about the criteria in rather a literal way when I chose a friend with tattoos to try and capture 'pattern'.  I took photos of a couple of friends to try and achieve the results we were asked to find but nothing I was doing 'lit my fire' as they say.  Also I felt I was moving away from the concepts I had at the start and wasn't really happy with where I was going.  In addition the photos started to look very different and not as if they were part of a cohesive collection.

Then I read an article about self portraits (here) which was very interesting and reminded me that there is a long history of artists painting or photographing themselves and that these works are very different to the modern image taken on a phone held at arm's length.  This gave me permission to return to my original idea about using my own self for the assignment.

I have followed Phillippe Conquet on Flickr for a while now.  I do not know who he is influenced by but I have always been very taken with the images he produces.  I have tried in the past to create images with slow shutter speeds and some examples I took last year are included in the Flickr album below which shows some early ideas and discarded images for this project.  In a previous blog entry which was mentioned in the last feedback, I spoke about how I felt that I could sense the sort of work I wanted to be doing but didn't think I was really getting there just yet.  After looking at my earlier attempts I started to feel that maybe I just needed to accept that my work might reach a certain proficiency eventually but that it might never begin to explore the inner depths that I would so love to express.

Nevertheless, after a night of thinking about it all, I decided to put the work I'd done so far aside and try something else: natural light, slow shutter speeds, a skirt that would offer lots of shape possibilities and my own body.   The photographs took a morning and the editing took the rest of the day (in between feeding children etc.)

Whilst I am not sure if I've gone a bit off piste here with regards the assignment, I do feel I have taken a step closer towards expressing something of the way I feel/am/see.  In the end the actual photography and editing didn't take very long at all.  But the inner journey has taken me as long as I've been doing this assignment; probably longer.  Some of the images are a bit shoe-horned into the various headings that were requested for sure.  And there may be one or two that I might not have used at all had I not been working to a very specific set of words and phrases.  I have some that I would include instead.  But the overall expression is one that I feel is authentic and current to where I am now.

The original set of photographs I took with stark lighting are still probably worth considering at a later date and perhaps I will return to them.  But as they are they felt like sketches.

I recall that one of the comments in my feedback was that the thumbnail images couldn't be enlarged.  I didn't understand this because if I click on them I am directed to a slideshow on Blogger where all the images in the post can be seen on a bigger scale.  However, the presentation isn't that dynamic so I have created a web page where all the images from the assignment can be seen in a slideshow that fills the screen.  (Since I have left lots of flaws and scratches anyone looking at the slide show will see them all!)  The exif data can be viewed if you come out of the slide show but please view the images initially as a slideshow on as a big screen as you can as I think they work best that way.

As mentioned, so that you can see the development of this assignment,  there are some earlier examples of things I tried out here.

As well as working on these images I have looked at Larry Sultan's work, and been to Matisse, Baily and Richard Hamilton exhibitions.  I have also looked at work by Chris Killip and the book, Presumed Innocence, but have yet to write these up.


Assignment 







Tuesday 3 June 2014

Real & implied triangles


Produce two sets of triangular compositions in photographs, one using real triangles and the other making implied triangles.

This was the hardest exercise for me - perhaps it is for all novice photographers.  I can see how triangles bring 'order to an image' but I guess that's the difficult professional aspect - making something coherent and giving it definition.  I imagine this will take time and the more I work the more it will become second nature - I hope!

 REAL:
Something that really is triangular:  Ok, this is actually a cone, but what is a cone if not a three dimensional triangle (sure my 10 year old math guys will explain why this isn't the case).  Anyway, the stuffed hares create a triangle with their bodies and the shape is mirrored in the container and in the frames hanging behind it.  I guess a filter might have been good to reduce the reflections but I like the shapes they make and I don't have a filter anyway - another thing to add to the shopping list.  I liked this exhibit - it was very striking. It capture the violence, the way nature balances itself through aggression. f2.8 1/60 ISO 2000



A triangle by perspective converging towards the top of the image: This is not as strong as the triangle in the photo used in an earlier exercise but I had already included it so didn't feel able to use it again, however, I do like this image nevertheless.  The stone at the front converges towards the back as by expected perspective but the triangle is completed by the figure of the Virgin standing on the tomb behind which makes it more complex I think.  I have continued with an earlier theme of death here.  I like the reflections of the tree - the tree of life? -  in the glass at the back of the photo.  On the other side of the photo is a cross symbolic of religion and spirituality.  At the back is the sky and the top of a mountain.  For me this photo is about death but also about life and nature and man's symbols to make sense of it all. f8 1/250 ISO 250 (Added later: Having thought about this - this is more of an implied triangle, I see)



An inverted triangle where the apex is at the bottom of the image: well, this confused me immensely and I thought I might need to simply turn an image upside down! (see examples at the end of the exercise)  However, looking through my images for some sort of clue I was happy to find this one taken whilst in Italy where I took many of the photos at the beginning of this section.  The perspective rules occur as usual here but because the lights are on the ceiling of the tunnel the lines converge at the bottom of the page instead of at the top or in the middle - and I cropped it to make that happen more.  Lights at the end of the tunnel - it's all about death again!  f2.8, 1/100, ISO 800


IMPLIED:
Still life with apex at the top of the photo: I have placed a load of toys all referencing life and evolution on the blue dot in space called Earth.  This poor dolly is ever so ugly but it's been with us since son no.1 was a baby and despite clearing out a lot of toys recently I don't think I could part with her.  There is a cave man or two watching her, some dinosaurs and a few modern cars.  She sits up against a block of bricks with letters on; if she could grow up she would need to learn her letters and they support her here.  There is a patient lying on a bed - life is traumatic and can result in illness, physical, emotional or mental (all physical really).  Behind her there is a type of BBQ -  something where fire is made, controlled and used to cook food - a very human activity.  The ape is sadly so out of focus he's become just a blurry few dots of pink.  I should have placed him elsewhere - somehow he's not even in the triangle. f2.8 1/80 ISO 100 (with Speedlight)


Still life with apex at bottom of image: To be honest, I struggled with this one.  In the end I was playing with double exposures on my newish camera and ended up doing this so I could finish this exercise.  It's difficult to create a triangle that works with the apex at the bottom  - I thought of using Bluetack to try and create something impossible looking.  I guess if you could do that, it might be unsettling - as it would make little sense to the eye.  The letters and building blocks continue the theme of what it is to be human. f2.8 1/125 ISO 3200 (And I see this is a real triangle rather than implied - I should have swapped it with the one I've picked up on above)

Arrange three people in a group:  I was lucky as this one just happened.  I sometimes have to arrange groups to photograph when I do the event photography I occasionally do.  It can be quite tricky as people don't tend to move even when you ask them too - then you want to man handle them, which some don't mind and some really do mind!  But I do aim for triangle shapes.  I like this as it give a very clear idea about each child's stage in development and personality - why on earth is my middle son clinging to his ears, for instance???  The baby must work hard to maintain his balance.  The oldest boy is at the beginning of that awkward  "how do I fit into this body" stage.  Growth - such a fascinating part of life. f5.6 1/22 ISO 160
ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS:


Here is the photo I took and then thought about turning upside down to achieve the apex at the bottom but seeing them here together one of top of each other like this I am surprised by how effective this looks - got to get to grips with Photoshop so I can make a photo with both in... Especially,  since I'm thinking about putting two images together for the assignment section.