Feedback Assignment 1

I received feedback from my assignment while away and had to read it on my phone having waited ages to download it through some very skinny broadband.  After submitting the assignment I was eager for some kind of external validation to stay on track which is probably quite usual for people new to this way of studying.  So, when I did manage to download the email eventually I was really happy and relieved to receive positive feedback.

Some points:
'an eclectic set of photographs' - this was good to read but I do worry that this is really a way of saying I'm a bit of a magpie and copy anything I see (which I do) but have no actual direction of my own. I know that lots of people can take competent photographs but far fewer take photographs that are instantly recognisable as their own.  However, saying that I am aware that some photographers who's work I look at is wonderful, powerful and interesting but much of it looks very similar indeed.  I can see why someone would do this but I do not feel even remotely ready to limit myself in anyway.  Does this mean I will never have a style of my own, a distinctive voice, a readily recognisable aesthetic?  Perhaps I won't! Perhaps that is okay.  Or maybe I am mistaking what a distinctive voice actually is.  When I think of a 'voice' I wonder if I am thinking about it in too superficial a way.  If I think beyond the superficial then I wonder if developing a voice is about more than how images look - and rather what or how authentically the photographer is communicating. And perhaps related to communicating something that is a genuine, human, honest statement or ideas unhindered by - I'm struggling to find the right word - possibly, ego or affectation, and that is what finding a voice is about.

' A few more notes next to your actual photos would be welcome next time- not ones that are overly-focused on technical issues, but that talk about the images and what you were hoping to communicate/ achieve with them.' - I have endeavoured to do this and hope I am not merely babbling.  One of the things I don't do very well, which I imagine may be to do with lack of experience,  is plan ideas and then photograph them - because when I do they sometimes tend to end up being somewhat contrived as was accurately pointed out with a couple of images.  Instead I am more familiar with finding signs and symbols and stories in the work when reviewing it.  Saying that, I know I had ideas and thoughts as I was wandering round snapping on holiday and it was these 'thoughts' or 'themes' that I looked for when editing.  Although I do not use Photoshop extensively and am most definitely not a concept photographer I do think of the editing stage as integral to the whole process of creating an image and will highlight, darken, occasionally crop to create a final image - ditching much of what I photographed and keeping just a few that seem to accurately reflect where I was at the time.  (And sometimes photographs can actually inform or enlighten me about where I was at the time, surprising and illuminating life in retrospect.)

'A minor gripe concerns navigation- it would have been better if the whole assignment and reflections were under one heading, rather three separate posts. Likewise, the navigation is ok at the moment, but if you continue to write and shoot with the enthusiasm that underpins everything (and I seriously hope that you do!!) pretty soon there’ll be a lot of material on your blog, so being able to get round it clearly and efficiently is a must. Lastly, it would be better for my purposes if thumbnail images linked to ones that could be viewed at full-screen a little more efficiently.'

The thumbnails simply enlarge when you click on them in all the browsers I use - Safari, Firefox etc so I don't really understand what is required to satisfy this issue.  Would it be best to have a link to Flickr or my website with all the photos I include at the end of each exercise so they can be viewed as a slide show there? 

I must get on with reading and viewing other people's work and have been recommended some.  I will have to make a special effort with this as fitting everything is (as I am sure it is with most students) always a struggle and this is the area that I allow to fall behind.  I love looking at work but I wish I enjoyed reading about photography as much as I did about sociology/anthropology/psychology.  It would make the task seem much less onerous.

All in all I was pleased with my feedback and feel the start to the course has gone well.