Quick catch up about where I am Narrative 5

I have come home from Italy with plenty of images and I do think I will be able to complete the narrative assignment with these photos.  I need to live with them for a bit before deciding on which route to go.  At first I thought I thought it would be a narrative about my time in Italy with my boys but the photographs do seem to focus primarily on my mother - so the narrative is about my relationship with her I suspect.

I am torn between colour or black & white but tending towards B&W for now.  I'm quite sad to be converting some of the images as they work so well in colour but the overall tone works better in B&W to be honest - well, that's how I feel for now.  I do not have a preference in the main for either and think it's best to see how each project progresses, but it's lovely to see colour images when they work well. (I have just learned about Saul Leiter who was big on colour and I am awaiting arrival of his book so I can write about him, having watched a marvellous documentary - what a lovely, lovely man he seems to have been, quite apart from anything else.)

Here is one image in colour that works very well and consequently I am not sure I will use it at all if I do decide to go the B&W route.  It's a shame to have to let go of images that I like so much - but I have to think about the whole rather than each individual image.

Evelyn in Italy
(c)sarahjanefield 2015

That reminds me, I am reading Family Frames which is wonderful although very difficult - there is a lot that goes over my head because I do not have sufficient understanding or knowledge.  I am learning all about Lacan and Gestalt theory at the moment - well, I say all about... what I mean is touching on it and getting a tiny inkling.  There is so much to learn!!  Needless to say what I am reading will inform the way I edit and present the work. I am eager to get the project in but I am learning that images can tell me an awful lot if I wait for some time to pass before beginning to try and understand them a little.

So, I have a rain picture to take, some reviews to write up about photographers, projects as well as the Family Frames book, and of course the editing to do for A5.  It feels a bit overwhelming (especially as I also have some paid work to catch up on, although thankfully not too much).  I can only do one thing at a time though so will use the time I have and not rush things I think.

Reflection for A4 & A5

For some reason blue and gold are without any conscious planning becoming important colours for me.  Many of the images I have taken and like recently have had strong blue tones in them and some have had gold too.  There is also sparkle which is quite unlike I me, I just say!  It's almost a bit like space perhaps.

Today I was thinking about some characters I have either played or been in productions with, Cassandra from The Woman of Troy & Belisa from Lorca's Don Perlimplin and Belisa in the Garden (and how he tried to please her).  The Greek play in my mind is a very red play although Cassandra seems blue - perhaps this is because that's how it was when I was in it - who knows, it was a very long time ago.  Belisa talks about Lapis Lazuli, I don't think I even wore blue!  - I remember enjoying the feel of those words lapis lazuli on my mouth as I said them.  I think these characters are important somehow for the work - probably only as influences but we'll see.  I wanted to use Lorca in the Colour assignment somehow too.

I remember Cassandra being delusional, however what she said was true - but no-one believed her. Or pretended not to.  Or weren't able to face the truth somehow.  So she was deemed mad - to be honest, she seemed mad from what I recall.

I must read both plays and have ordered them.  They will be important in both assignments.  I am beginning to see A4 as a rehearsal or preparatory work for A5.

The other iconic blue female character from our culture and history is Mary - not sure she started off wearing a blue cape but the lapis lazuli needed to create the paint in her cloak was very expensive and luxurious making it the thing for her.  The thing about Mary and her virgin birth that has always struck me is that here we are with this story that we are all told where only a woman who hadn't had sex could possibly be good enough to give birth to God's son - because someone women who have had sex are sullied, not good enough, ruined.  It's a powerful story to exist with.

In the meantime I have been distracted and have fallen behind my schedule with the light exercises - I must find a way to get on with these now.  Although I am going to need some sun!