Paul Williams
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Weeks 9, 10 and 11 - Completing assignments

4/14/2022

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​ASSIGNMENT 1: Critical Review of Practice

Assignment Brief:
​The Critical Review of Practice is a written critical evaluation of your practice, (maximum 2,500 words). You should make reference to other practitioners and visual practices, and the relevant critical contexts and concepts that have informed the making, development and intended consumption of your practice.
It will be closely linked to the development and completion of your own photographic work developed within Informing Contexts, and it is likely it will draw on the ongoing critical reflection and contextualisation you have already undertaken in your critical research journal and in your video presentation & peer review.
The Critical Review of Practice is intended to confirm and demonstrate that your practice is underpinned from an informed and reflective position, and allows you to locate your photographic work within relevant historical, cultural and professional contexts. It is also designed to expand your thinking and to develop skills in exploring and reflecting on your practice, and the development of a critical self awareness within the broad field of photography / media / visual culture / communication.
The Critical Review of Practice should directly reference your Work in Progress Portfolio. It should provide adequate contextualisation of, and reflection on this work. It should be fully illustrated with both your own and others' practice, and professional use of Harvard referencing is expected.
Assignment GuidelinesYour Critical Review of Practice submission should be:
  • A colour, page numbered, PDF document maximum 2,500 words (excluding bibliography)
  • 1.5 line spaced and use a 12 point, sans serif font
  • Fully Harvard referenced throughout
  • All images / figures should be numbered and fully titled
  • The file size should be a maximum of 15MB
The quality of your presentation will be considered in the assessment of your submission
​My Critical Review of Practice:
critical_review_of_practice.pdf
File Size: 2268 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

​ASSIGNMENT 2: Work In Progress Portfolio

Assignment Brief:
​At the end of the module you will submit a Work In Progress Portfolio (WIPP). Your WIPP will most likely represent a defined stage in your research project, or it may be a discrete project in its own right. Although your WIPP does not necessarily need to be a ‘resolved’ body of work, it should be visually cohesive and demonstrate discernment in terms of your selection, sequencing and overall presentation choices.
Your WIPP pdf may be an entirely ‘offline’ document, containing full screen resolution-sized images (c. 4000 px longest edge), and any relevant titles or captions if appropriate.
You may wish to explore with other methods of presentation, and have your work considered for assessment in a specific form or context. This might include, but need not be limited by:
  • an online gallery / virtual gallery
  • video / audio visual work
  • zine / photobook dummy
  • exhibition or installation
  • performance
  • workshop
There should be a rationale for choosing to present your WIPP in one of these ways. If applicable, a specific online location for the work should be provided within the pdf via a hyperlink.
My Work in Progress Portfolio:
wip_portfolio.pdf
File Size: 13639 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Virtual Exhibition
Online Gallery
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Weeks 6, 7 and 8 - Video Presentation and Peer Review

3/21/2022

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Assignment Brief

Task:

In Week 8 you are invited to prepare and upload a 6 - 8 minute video presentation which introduces, critically reflects on and contextualises your photographic practice.
You are also asked to provide peer review written feedback to at least three members of the peer group.
The aim of this is to encourage you to consolidate your thoughts, for you to test ideas and begin to demonstrate that your practice is underpinned by a critically informed and reflective position. Reviewing peer presentations offers you the chance to identify and share synergies in your practice, ideas and critical approach.
It also gives you the opportunity to receive additional interim formative feedback, to support you in the final submission of your Work in Progress Portfolio and your Critical Review of Practice.

My Response:
Peer Reviews:
Really interesting Paul, contextualised and referenced well and you took me on a journey, (no pun intended) xx

I really enjoyed this, with a good level of context, and I was interested to hear you say how "Barthes words of every photograph are a chilling reminder of human mortality." Are there any other citations you can use from Barthes, or other critical theorists, to locate this, to understand it fully? The ambiguity of "Just 3 Words" is a clever inclusion to your work, not only a precise location to where the image was taken but also plays on the image, as your work, and all photography is capable of representing the physical world with such veracity yet it reveals only an interpreted reality. "Just 3 Words" can be coded or decoded by your audience, the “viewer” – that mysterious single entity that lurks at the back of every practitioners mind - in any way they want, allowing them to move beyond the literal and the descriptive.There is a good amount of experimentation with different formats, and discussion of your process, your visual strategies, so well done there. There are also good references and research to other practitioners to your own work, which is good to see, but its always of benefit to discuss an image(s) that was less successful for you, and why, within your discourse.


I've followed your work keenly and yet this still fills in many gaps for me. 
I love the way you show how your work has evolved, and am amazed at the related practitioners you have discovered and the inspiration you have taken from them. Your images generally convey a sense of peace and tranquillity, but it is good to see the darker side is not forgotten.Your talk of memory morphing over time reminds me of Chris's work.
Good job, and thanks for sharing.


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Topic 5 – Fascinating Looks

2/24/2022

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Gazing at Photographs? FORUM & MODULE SEMINARForum Task
Post to the Forum below:
  • One image / advert / painting etc that you feel represents a positive gaze . Why is this?
  • One image / advert / painting etc that you feel represents a negative gaze . Why is this?
  • How might this inform your own gaze / practice?
  • Give feedback / comment on at least three other posts
We will discuss your responses in the module seminar.
My response:

Picture
August 1991 More Demi Moore cover
I have selected this image that Annie Liebovitz took of seven-months pregnant Demi Moore, wearing only a diamond ring for the front cover of Vanity Fair in 1991. I see this as a positive gaze looking at this image in 2022, but over 30 years ago this image was very controversial. The Los Angeles Times printed “It’s tacky,” says Liz Miller, 23, of Sherman Oaks, who can’t imagine “why anyone would want to display her swollen stomach like that--and why people would want to look at it.” 
Vanity Fair quickly realised that there would be a backlash for the distribution of the magazine and the issue had to be wrapped in a white envelope with only Moore's eyes visible, with some editions delivered in a brown wrapper evocative of porn magazines. Some stores and newsstands refused to carry the August issue, but in total approximately 100 million people saw the cover. Leibovitz's portrayal of Moore drew a wide spectrum of responses ranging from complaints of sexual objectification to celebrations of the photograph as a symbol of empowerment.  

Comments on my post:
"I think that the confident nature of this image at the time would have made a positive impact to women going through pregnancy, as it presents a voice that comes from an impactful figure, encouraging pregnant women to be seen. I do wonder whether this would be seen as empowering now though, as it presents women with an ideology that isn't a true reflection of the reality of pregnancy, as it creates a language within the beauty industry that defines how a pregnant woman should appear. I do not have children, so my perspective is specific to my own point of view, but I somehow doubt I'd look like Demi Moore if I did ever have children! I think that the beauty industry is getting better at representing diversity, as I've questioned below, but in my opinion there is still work to do. I find it crazy that this was seen as offensive, but that is just my stance! "
 
"I can imagine this image was considered controversial and too bold 30 years ago, but I'm glad somebody at least tried to put a pregnant woman on the front cover of a magazine to show that pregnant women shouldn't feel left out just because they are pregnant. But I do agree with Jessica that this image nowadays can also be seen as an exaggeration of how pregnant women look like. Demi Moore looks very confident and beautiful in her 7 months of pregnancy on that front cover. Being almost 7 months pregnant myself at the moment, I can assure you, to look like Demi Moore is not the reality for everyone. I personally feel pretty miserable with every coming week, and definitely don't feel like I would like to be photographed in my current state. Advertisements with pregnant women in them usually contain pretty happy women, but pregnancy is not all roses. Apart from being happy about the upcoming baby, there are plenty of complex emotions connected with it. I found the following ad which sends to me a positive message because of it's text "we can't smack the lady who asked if you are carrying twins but we can make you deal with almost everything else" - this makes me feel like there's somebody on the other side (the designer of the ad) who actually understands how sensitive pregnant women can get."
Picture
Figure 1: MOMMY SHORTS. 2014. Healthy mama campaign [advertisement]. From Mommy Shorts [online]. Available at: https://www.mommyshorts.com/2014/03/healthy.html/comment-page-13 (Links to an external site.) [accessed 18 February 2022].
"I remember when this issue of Vanity Fair was released--and seeing it mostly hidden in a brown wrapper, so that you had to purchase it to see the entire photograph. This image created a loud conversation--many debates and horrified a lot people. But it sold! I remember the issue being sold out quickly... Got a lot of press for the magazine, and for the actress who modeled. Interestingly, I have no memory of Annie Liebovitz as the photographer. I do remember thinking that Demi Moore was brave posing like that...but I did not see the photograph as objectifying her. When I saw the photograph here, my mind remembered it immediately--like it is stored in my memory, which interests me.
Thinking about today--what if this photograph was first published in 2022? Would the backlash be similar? "
Reflection
Reflecting on all my forum and webinar feedback there were some common interpretations of my work referring to nostalgia, calmness, memory and the thought of time passing which all relates to my intention, so it is pleasing to see I am progressing in the right direction for engaging with my audience.
I am still finding it difficult to articulate the intent of my photographic practice, both verbally and in written work, but I am hoping that collating my ideas and research for the Critical Review and being able to present this through the Video Presentation and Peer Review will enable me to be able to practice these skills.
I have been researching a wide range of material to make sure my work is critically, visually and contextually informed and have looked at a mixture of photographic theorists, practitioners, artists and psychologists including John Szarkowski, Roland Barthes, Stephen Shore, Paul Gaffney, Ori Gersht, Paul Nash , Chrystel Lebas, Donald Winnicott, Liz Wells, John Berger, Jesse Alexander, Idris Khan, Stephanie Jung and John Taylor.
I have found that by reviewing and consolidating both my own work and the research undertaken that I have been able to reflect on my photographic practice as work has progressed. This is helping to consolidate my ideas into a cohesive body of work. I have found that it is better for me to explore ideas extensively, then discard those I don’t feel are not as cohesive to retain a stronger core of successful work. I have not fully decided yet the context in which my work would be viewed but would ideally like to see it printed and exhibited.
The strengths so far have been with the images I have taken using pinhole cameras, infrared, and Intentional Camera Movement. I have explored constructed landscapes through mirroring and then layering images but although these have produced striking and mesmerising results, these do seem rather contrived and not cohesive with the rest of the body of work. I now feel I need to develop the pinhole photography further to incorporate more of these within my portfolio.

Photos from week 5:

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Week 4: Into The Image World

2/18/2022

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​Whose Meaning Is it Anyway? FORUM & MODULE SEMINAR

Post to the Forum:
  • A single image / advert where you experience one of the following:
  • A dominant reading
  • A negotiated reading
  • An oppositional reading
  • Clearly state your response and provide a brief rationale as to why you responded the way you did (maximum 100 words)
  • Comment on at least three other posts – do you have different readings of the same image / advert?
  • Reflect on how your own work might be read / interpreted in different ways
My response:
This was an advertisement in 2013 for a drive safe campaign created by The Frontier Post to help create awareness for road accidents. I experienced the dominant reading that was the intended purpose of this advert.
Picture
The semiotics here are cleverly used to create illusion. Initially, you see the shape of a gun, with the text showing that a life is taken every 25 seconds. Once the viewer comprehends that the shape of a gun is a set of car keys with the relationship between this image and the statement showing that car accidents are a cause of death, it makes the statistics evident that safer driving is the issue.

Forum Task
Roland Barthes (1977) argues:
The birth of the Reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author (Barthes, 1977: 148)
Post to the Forum below:
  • One new image from your current photographic practice, without any kind of explanatory text, title or caption
  • Give feedback / comment on at least three other posts
  • Consider what you (as viewer / 'reader') think is the intended meaning / intent of the photograph.
  • Why?
My response:
Picture
Comments from my peers:
I believe they're trees and a path, but maybe they're not. The photo leaves me with nostalgia, calmness and an unquenchable thirst for clarity, like a half-forgotten memory of a place eroded with time. If I were to take a stab at your intention, I would say it was to resemble a feeling of a memory of a place. 
 
Wistful, nostalgic, conjours the idea of memory and things lost. Almost "hiraeth" - the bittersweet knowledge you can't revisit a place. (Sorry to actual Welsh speakers - this is my understanding of a word that can't be translated.)
 
I can see trees, with a lot of noise. More blur on the left t han the right, which would be consistent with a long exposure whilst going round a curve.
It looks like a track in front with snow or vegetation down the middle and sides. On closer inspection it looks like vegetation. as you can see fronds at the end. It might be infrared, or having heard you chat more likely pin-hole.
The view, more blurred at the bottom, has an indexical linkage to the view one might expect if one fainted and collapsed.
In an earlier week we were taught 'E. H. Gombrich ...  states that illusionistic images are not those derived from nature but, instead, are those which have been so made that under certain conditions they will confirm certain hypotheses which one would formulate, and find confirmed, when looking at the original scene.' 
Which is interesting because I doubt if I saw the original scene I would even think of the view as I collapsed
I can only guess at your intent but my guess would be you are showing us the forest holds secrets. Your blurred shot definitely leaves questions unanswered as to what we are seeing. A pin sharp, perfectly lit, shot might delude us that there is nothing left to discover if we walked down the line of sight.
 
This image is great. I love the haze static type quality that seems to overlay what I assume to be trees in nature, I sense that the bottom is a shadow, or my eyes, make it out to be a shadow, but the more I look at it, it resembles a face like a portly man with a fu manchu, and trees growing out of his head. 

Webinar
In your webinar this week you are asked to consider the intent and authorship of your own practice and how you construct your work for a presumed audience and context.
You will reflect on your peers' interpretations of your photograph and consider how you might adapt your photographic practice (visually / technically / conceptually) as a response to this feedback.
 
After the Webinar
  • Consider your own work in the context of any common / disparate interpretations emerging in the Multiple Meanings? Forum
There were some common interpretations of my work referring to nostalgia, calmness, memory/ forgotten memory etc which relates to my intention.

  • Is it in line with your own intent (dominant reading)?
It was pleasing to see responses were dominant readings that were in line with my own intent.

  • Or do your peers offer negotiated / oppositional readings of your work?
There was some negotiated readings of my work, but this is also part of my intention to make images that make the viewer can interpret in their own way and use their imagination to dig deep into their own memories.
 
Reflect:
  • Identify examples of other relevant practitioners / practices / visual material you think are successful in achieving their intent. Why do you think this is? How does this relate to your own photographic practice?
Ori Gersht was successful in achieving showing history, memory and landscape through his ethereal images using movement. I have taken inspiration from this to use within my own practice.  

  • Reflect on your feedback regarding the intent of your own work and how successfully this is visually achieved
The feedback on the intent of my own work was very positive and showed that I had visually achieved that through this series of work.

  • Consider your current plans for developing your practice
Michelle suggested some practitioners to look at:
Deborah Barker (In Paradiso), Ingrid Weyland (Topographies of Fragility), Helen Sear, Dafna Talmor. Out of these the work of Ingrid Weyland particularly resonated with me as through the materiality of the printed image she highlight’s the violent damage caused to nature by manipulating and distorting her photographed landscapes. I can see this as a medium I could use within my research project looking at Time, Memory and Mortality as using the scrunched-up images within the landscape acts as a visual metaphor for ‘that which has been’ and represents mortality.
Picture
Ingrid Weyland  - Topographies of Fragility I, 2019
Reflection Guidance
  • Consider the ‘intent’ of your photographic practice. Has it changed?
  • Reconsider the visual / technical / conceptual strategies you use to achieve this intent
  • Identify any approaches / practices / practitioners that specifically resonated with you?
  • Outline / summarise your independent research
  • Evaluate the development of your own photographic practice to date
  • Reflect on the peer / tutor feedback you have received on your current / future practice
Moving forwards:
What are your action points? Where are you going next?
 
Reflection:
I feel this week my intent has been strengthened and I have now found my ‘voice’ of looking at Time, Memory and Mortality reflecting my own experiences. I think this has given me my ‘Why?’. I now intend to stick with Intentional Camera Movement to give a focus and cohesion to my work, but will refine my work by using different strategies with exposure times, infrared, pinhole photography and layering to explore the subtle differences in the resulting images and the feelings they are likely to evoke in the viewer.

A summary of the independent research I have undertaken this week is below:
 
Movement:
Gerhard Richter - https://www.gerhard-richter.com/en/art/paintings/photo-paintings/landscapes-14/?&categoryid=14&p=1&sp=32
 
Movement through layering:
Idris Khan - https://www.saatchigallery.com/artist/idris_khan
Stephanie Jung - http://www.stephaniejung-photography.com/nature#0
 
Trees:
“Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.”
― Hermann Hesse,Wandering 
Tacita Dean - https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/dean-majesty-t12805
 
Constructed landscapes:
Sonja Braas - https://www.sonjabraas.com/you-are-here
Gustav Willeit - https://www.guworld.com/_plata/index.html
Ingrid Weyland - https://www.artsy.net/artist/ingrid-weyland/works-for-sale
How Photography Impacts the Psychology of Attention and Visual Processing:
https://www.popneuro.com/neuromarketing-blog/neuroscience-photography-psychology-memory-attention-contrast-symmetry-vision-perception
 
Movement, Layering and trees are all an important part of my current work, although I am growing more interested in exploring the idea of constructed landscapes and will consider this as a future direction.

Photos from week 4

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Topic 3: Photographic Fictions

2/11/2022

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​Subjective Realities? FORUM & WEBINAR

Forum Task:
​
Susan Sontag (1977) makes the observation:
"In deciding how a picture should look, in preferring one exposure to another, photographers are always imposing standards on their subjects" (Sontag, 1977: 6)
Post to the forum below:
  • The work of one practitioner / a visual reference point that interests you
  • Research this in depth. How has this informed your own practice (technically, aesthetically, critically, contextually, etc)?
  • Include some of your own images / contact sheets to demonstrate how you have translated the specific (and identified) aspects that have informed you
  • Give feedback / comment on at least three other posts

My response:
I am interested in the work of Ori Gersht as his career his work is concerned with the relationships between history, memory, and landscape, which resonates with my own recent ideas and work for my research project. This photograph from the ‘Liquidation’ (2005) series adopts a poetic, metaphorical approach to exploring the difficulties of visually representing conflict and violent events experienced by his family living in Poland during the German occupation in WW2. 
 Gersht’s compositions often reference the landscapes of German Romanticism, with the work of Caspar David Friedrich being particularly pertinent to this series. Gersht achieves a painterly fluidity through long-exposures, sometimes taken while moving, and often overexposes his film images to achieve a liquefied effect. In doing this, he muddles the landscape’s legibility and the photographs faithfulness to reality. Although his work is rooted deeply in his family history, the images themselves call into question the ability of photography and human memory to reflect our histories accurately.
Picture
I have been exploring my own past through walks or derives in my surrounding area. I am reminded of Barthes words of every photograph being a chilling reminder of human mortality and have tried to capture this feeling of time passing and the memory of ‘having been there’ in the style of Gersht using movement and long exposure. The green tinge of Gersht’s image has given an ethereal, almost twilight aesthetic to his image, probably through using tungsten film in daylight, whereas I have used an infrared filter to help with the long exposure I needed and to give a colder, wintery feel to reflect the feeling of mortality in my photograph.

In your tutor webinar you are asked to consider the way(s) you 'make' or 'construct' photographs and identify and evaluate the visual choices you have made.
You will reflect on your peers' interpretations of your work and consider how you might adapt your photographic practice (visually / technically / conceptually) in response.

Prepare for your Webinar
  • Are there any aspects of the Making Photographs sessions that have influenced your own photographic practice?
I feel my own practice has gradually evolved through the 3 weeks of Making Photographs as I have become more aware of how a photograph is seen, and the concept of time. Barthes words of every photograph being a chilling reminder of human mortality and the memory of ‘having been there’ has influenced some of the thinking of my practice.
 
  • Why is this?
This has been through watching Stephen Shore’s How to see a photograph and reading John Szarkowski’s The photographer’s eye. I also came across the work of Ori Gersht during Topic 2 – Is it real and the work of Sonja Braas during Topic 3 – Photographic fictions. I am also mindful of the words of Patricia Townsend that when you create a new body of work you embark on a personal journey, which in turn will reflect some aspect of your inner world.
 
  • How has it impacted on your practice? How / In what ways have you developed as a result?
This has helped me to develop the ‘voice’ I had been lacking and to find the ‘why?’ I had been seeking.  This has led me to explore more with the ‘unseen’ and long exposure.
 
  • Consider the edit / development of your photographic practice to date - how have you photographed the same subject matter in different ways (eg show and reflect on specific images / contact sheets etc)?
Recent work has mainly focussed on exploring infrared and long exposures (sometimes combined). The infrared images are reminiscent of a winter landscape and an ethereal look of ‘another world’ as you are seeing a spectrum of light in the image normally unseen to the human eye. When combined with a longer exposure this adds the concept of time to the image and introduces memories of place and time rather than the distraction of the subject of the image.

Picture
​I have also been exploring focus stacking to get a real sense of depth to an image, which was inspired by the work of Edward Burtynsky who also adopts this technique. The idea is still of time and memory, but to make the images more immersive. It is hard to achieve this when viewed on screen, but I feel would look better as a large print.
Picture
  • Reflect on how the meaning might change given the different visual choices you have made in 'constructing' your work.
I feel my own ‘inner landscape’ more in the infrared/ long exposure images as this shows what I am feeling rather than seeing. The stacked images are more about sharing my sense of place with the viewer.
  • How do you aim for your practice to be received / interpreted in light of this?
I think both styles of photography would be received in different ways. The long exposure/ infrared are more abstract and impressionistic and could be viewed as fine art images on their own with no apparent message leaving the viewer to form their own conclusion and meaning, whereas the stacked images would (hopefully) give the viewer a sense of place they could immerse themselves into and allow them to share what I could see (maybe feel?) when the image was taken.

​Reflection Guidance

  • Consider the intent of your own practice. How do you articulate this? What strategies do you use to communicate your intended meaning? How do you want your viewer to respond?
I have started using movement more in my images to give the feeling of time and memory.

  • Think about the fictional / constructed nature of your own photographic practice: identify the ways in which you do / might 'construct' the world.
My ‘world’, the countryside where I live, has shown more of a fictional/ constructed nature using infrared, long exposure and movement. Stephen Shore said that when the world is photographed it is changed in
four ways, in terms of flatness, frame, time and focus. ‘They define the picture’s depictive content and structure. They form the basis of a photograph’s visual grammar’. I have attempted to show more of a reality feel to my landscape photographs by using focus stacking to add more depth to the images.

  • Identify any approaches / practices / practitioners that specifically resonated with you. Do any of these ‘constructed’ approaches give you ideas to develop your own practice?
Ori Gersht has been the inspiration behind my images of movement to show time and memory, but I have also looked at the focus stacking techniques employed by Edward Burtansky and am interested in the layering techniques of both Idris Khan and Stephanie Jung, and the constructed landscapes of Sonja Braas.

  • Evaluate the development of your own photographic practice to date
I feel I am starting to get my ‘inner landscape’ across in my long exposure/ infrared images, showing the feeling of time, memory and possibly mortality. I have experimented with exposure times and rates of movement, along with different tonality of light within scenes to get the best projection of my feelings within the image. This has been further enhanced in post-production in Lightroom.

  • Reflect on the peer / tutor feedback you have received on your current / future practice
In today’s webinar I received very positive feedback from one of my fellow students who really liked my long exposure/ infrared images. Paul, my tutor, has also told me to make sure I am clear on what I want to achieve in this module, which has made me reflect that I have been so keen to explore different techniques that I am in danger of losing direction if I am not careful. I need to keep reminding myself of the ‘Why?’!
In our 10/10 session with fellow students, I have received good feedback again, with ‘other worldly’ and ‘horror’ both being mentioned as to how my images have been decoded by them. I am pleased with this response as I do not expect the viewer to share my code but would rather the images invoked their own memories and thoughts.
 
Moving forwards:
What are your action points? Where are you going next?
 
I will now work at refining my long exposure/ infrared images and build a series ready for my next 10/10 meeting. I also intend to start printing out photos to put up and ‘live with’ to start planning sequencing and editing.
As secondary projects I will continue exploring focus stacking and start to create constructed landscapes in Photoshop.

Photos from week 3:

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Topic 2: Is It Really, Real?

2/7/2022

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Topic 2: Joel Snyder & Neil Walsh Allen (1975): INDEPENDENT READING

Think About:

  • Are there any key ideas you agree or disagree with?

I disagree with Andre Bazin theory that photography is an illusion by a mechanical reproduction in the making of which man plays no part. Man very much plays a part in the ‘mechanical’ process to control the outcome of the image.  I also disagree with Arnheim’s theory that photographs have “an authenticity from which painting is barred by birth”, as since the invention of photography images have been subject to manipulation so authenticity can always be questionable. Arnheim also states that photographs lack the “formal position” and “expressive freedom” from which the “private visions” of the painter possess. Again, through the control of techniques, processes and materials the photographer has almost unlimited expressive freedom, and even control of the formal position through the use of the focal length of the camera optics.

  • Is photography a unique medium?
 
Photography is a unique medium and as quoted by the director of the Department of photography at MoMa  is a “different kind of art” unrelated to traditional types but closely related to perception.

  • Why / Why not?
The reason photography is a unique medium is because the process consists of a permanent recording of an image by a camera with the use of lenses.

  • Does it share conventions with other forms of representation (painting, film, writing, poetry, theatre etc)?

Photography does share conventions with painting because artists made use of camera and lens as an aid to render perspective and detail for several hundred years before Fox Talbot was able to fix the camera image to make what we know today as a photograph. Arnhem questions “authenticity correctness and truth”, these conventions can also be questioned in painting, film, writing, poetry and theatre where there is room for manipulation in representation.

Forum Task

Mary Price (1994) argues:
"The camera may be thought of as comparable to the eye. The difference is that the camera is not more than an eye. It does not think. Any connection with judging, choosing, arranging, including, excluding, and snapping has to be with the photographer" (Price, 1994: 4)
 Post to the forum below:
  • One image from your current practice that you feel is successful, and briefly explain why
Picture
​This was my first attempt at exploring the concept of time and light, leaving a pinhole camera overnight for a 21-hour exposure. Unable to visualise the result was challenging, due to not being able to accurately gauge exposure or composition, but I thought the resulting image was successful as it has captured detail in the foreground while still maintaining almost ghostlike image of the tree as it fades towards the brighter sky. The composition shows a pleasing balance of the formal elements.
  • One image from your current practice that is less successful, and briefly explain why
Picture
This result was less successful as was exposed for a shorter time resulting in an underexposed image. The foreground is dark and lacks detail or interest to draw the viewer in to the image. There is too much foreground which upsets the balance of the image, leaving the trees looking too cropped.

  • Include a few examples of practitioners / visual material / critical ideas which have informed the making of this work, and briefly explain why
Picture
Paul Nash, We Are Making a New World, 1918
​The ragged stumps were all that remained of the Polygon Wood in Ypres Salient in 1917, which was recorded by Paul Nash in his painting ‘We are making a New World’. It is a haunting image that shows the destruction man has wreaked on this woodland and leaves you thinking that if this kind of mechanised warfare can do this to sturdy trees, what has it done to the men who were fighting here. Today I see this as a metaphor for deforestation and the resulting environmental impact.
Picture
Chrystel Lebas,  Abyss, Untitled n.16, 2006
To record the forest at night is a nearly impossible task. The photographs of Chrystel Lebas were taken during twilight, when light is still present outside the confined space of the forest, and darkness has already spread under the trees. She uses long exposures so the camera can record the barely visible forms of the forest at night, making visible to the viewer's eye what would otherwise be shrouded in darkness.

  • Outline your plans for further development of your practice within Informing Contexts

I am going to continue exploring the use of light and time through both long exposure pinhole photography, infrared photography to explore the spectrum beyond what the eye can see and the use of movement to visualise the passing of time within the image.

Webinar

In the tutor webinar you will take it in turns to present your work, articulate your ideas, and receive feedback and comments from both your tutor and your peers.

You will be asked to:

  • Introduce your practice

I am investigating our relationship with the countryside and the effect our surroundings have on how we feel and behave. There are physical and mental health benefits of walking, being in the countryside and taking photographs and taking photographs and I have been looking at the impact that immersing yourself in photography and the countryside can have on your mental health through finding your voice at different points in time.

  • Discuss / evaluate how you feel your work communicates your intended ideas at this point

I have found my work has progressed from taking photographs which simply ‘document’ what I am seeing, to images which display more of an ethereal look which is more representative of how I am feeling and reflects my own inner landscape.
I have titled my photographs using What3Words locations, where in the relationship between the photograph and words, the photograph begs for an interpretation, and the words usually supply it, adding a further dimension to the images themselves for the viewer to interpret to inform their own response to my work.

  • Discuss how / why you plan to develop this during the Informing Contexts module

I am interested in the relationship between light and time and so I am going to continue exploring this concept through techniques such as pinhole photography, exploring the spectrum beyond what the eye can see through infrared, and the use of movement to visualise the passing of time within the image. I have also started experimenting with focus stacking to get more depth to the images, inspired by the work of Edward Burtansky.

The webinar will encourage you to consider how you represent the world and identify / evaluate your 'human choices' (Berger, 1974).

Prepare for your Webinar

  • What is your subject matter?
The local countryside in the SDNP, but currently focussing more on trees (especially drawn to oaks)

  • Why is it important?

Trees, green spaces and access to nature is vital for good mental and physical health. Living in areas with more green space correlates with lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.
Spending time in nature has also been found to improve creativity!
The Japanese term Shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing involves consciously connecting with the forest surroundings by engaging all five senses. Smelling the air and the musty scent of damp soil; listening to the bird song and the wind in the branches; looking around you at the form of trees, the patterns in the bark and the light streaming through the canopy; touching the bark of trees, the damp moss and feeling the warmth of the sun as it breaks through the leaves; and tasting the freshness in the air.

  • How do you represent it?

I have tried to represent the feelings that being in immersed in nature invokes by trying to make the images ethereal to reflect my own ‘inner landscape’. I have used techniques such as pinhole photography, ‘tree portraits’ where I have heavily edited the images to make the trees more ‘sculptural’ in appearance, infrared where the chlorophyll in plants reflects the infrared light rendering them lighter in colour, and movement to show the passing of time within an image.

  • What has been successful / less successful?

All the techniques have been successful, although certain images within that have been more successful than others. Ansel Adams wrote of ‘visualisation’ as one of the four steps in the creation of a photograph, but with all the techniques I have been exploring I can visualise the feeling I want to bring into the final image but cannot visualise the outcome as the techniques are unpredictable.

  • How do you 'think'?

While on my derives and immersing myself in the countryside I am constantly looking around me and certain subjects just seem to ‘reach out and grab me’. I then decide which technique will best fit that subject.

  • How do you 'judge / choose / arrange / include / exclude / snap'?

As I am trying to reflect my inner landscape I use snap decisions when editing to decide if an image has captured the feeling I am trying to convey. I use Lightroom and use ratings and labels to help refine my selection.

  • How have you critically informed the development of your photographic practice?

Walking in the woods - Yoshifumi Miyazaki, Capturing Mindfulness – Matthew Johnstone, The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle, Paul Gaffney – We make the path by walking, Jem Southam, Flora Mary Bartlett, Guy Debord, Beth Moon, Chrystel Lebas, Chris Friel, Stephen Gill, Paul Nash and Jesse Alexander.

  • Any problems or points you need clarifying?

I think I’m ok, I just need to see through the mist and find my ‘voice’.

Reflection Guidance
In your critical research journal (CRJ):
  • Consider what you think Roland Barthes (1980: 89) means by this. Do you agree?
"In the Photograph, the power of authentication exceeds the power of representation"
I think that Barthes is implying that the importance of the authentication, or reality of the image is more important than how the image is represented. I think this is dependent on the context in which the photograph is intended to be viewed, for example photojournalism versus fine art.

  • Reflect on any ways in which you feel your work might 'authenticate' and / or 'represent'

My own work represents rather than authenticates, as I want to show my surroundings as I see or feel them, so I use camera and editing techniques to manipulate my images for this purpose, although it could be argued that this process authenticates the images as now the images are viewed as my visualisation.

  • Identify any approaches / practices / practitioners that specifically resonated with you

Ori Gersht (liquidation), Charles Sanders Peirce characteristics of signs, Barthes, Patricia Townsend, Thomas Demand.

  • Outline / summarise your independent research (eg interviews or reviews of relevant practice / reading)

I have read Photography, Vision, and Representation by Joel Snyder and Neil Walsh Allen as this was the essential reading from this week. From the additional resources I have also read Barthes ‘That-has-been’, I watched the video of Thomas Demand ‘Presidency’ and read chapter 6, Ectoplasm from Each Wild Idea : Writing, Photography, History by Geoffrey Batchen, an RPS magazine article on Edward Burtansky. I’ve just received the book Walking in the woods by Yoshifumi Miyazaki and have ordered Informal Beauty: The Photographs of Paul Nash by Simon Grant.
 
  • Evaluate the development of your own photographic practice to date

I have continued exploring the concept of light and time through infrared photography, intentional camera movement and also experimenting with focus stacking to add more depth to the image.

  • Reflect on the peer / tutor feedback received on your current / future practice

Cemre suggested that I needed to connect the reader/ viewer to the process, making me realise I need to show my story/ feelings alongside my images. One of my fellow students suggested (re)- reading Patricia Townsend from the Tallis list (‘Between Inner and Outer Worlds’).

Photos from week 2

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Topic 1: PHOTOGRAPHY, THE SHAPESHIFTER

1/25/2022

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Human Choices? PEER FORUM

Forum Task
​Your preparation task for Informing Contexts was to reflect on your current practice and the 'human choices' you have made.
As John Berger (1974) comments:
"Photographs bear witness to a human choice being exercised in a given situation. A photograph is a result of the photographer's decision that it is worth recording that this particular event or this particular object has been seen" (Berger, 1974 in Trachtenberg, 1980: 292)Post to the forum below:
  • An introduction to yourself / where you are on the MA award / what modules you have already undertaken
  • A short statement (maximum 150 words) that outlines the intent of your work / where your photographic practice is now
  • Illustrate this with examples of your work
  • Demonstrate how you are contextualising / informing your work with regard to other visual / critical material
  • Outline your plans for further development of your practice within Informing Contexts
  • Give feedback / comment on at least three other posts
​My response
human_choices_v4.pdf
File Size: 454 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Feedback: 1 - 1 TUTORIALS
​

Practically Prepare
  • Look at your tutor's availability on the Informing Contexts Calendar and sign up promptly to secure a meeting.
  • Familiarise yourself with the assignment requirements and learning outcomes.
  • Ensure your critical research journal is up to date to aid the discussion.
  • Prepare a PDF of all work you would like to discuss.
  • Make a list of any specific questions / areas of advice you need from your tutor.
  • Provide a short written statement (100-200 words) which encapsulates the planned intent of your work, and a reflective / consolidatory update on how the specific visual strategies you utilise to achieve this will be developed.
Think About
  • Reflect on your previous module feedback.
  • How do you critically articulate the intent of your photographic practice (visually / in writing)?
  • How is your photographic practice critically, visually and contextually informed?
  • How do you reflect on your photographic practice (editing / sequencing / research etc) in order to progress it (consider successful and less successful work)?
  • How are you developing this into a cohesive body of work?
  • What are your strengths at this point?
  • What areas do you need to develop?
  • Consider the context in which your work should be viewed. Why?
My preparation
The feedback session for the first assessment was very positive but mentioned that I was lacking a clear sense of direction. Jesse really liked my use of What3words and has suggested reading Robert Macfarlane – Landmarks, Rebecca Solnit - Field Guide to Getting Lost, Wanderlust and Tim Dee - Four Fields to inform my work during this module. I feel I am lacking a clear ‘voice’ within my work, but I seem to keep coming back to the basics of exploring light and time. Further planned techniques include:

  • Using a combined pinhole camera/ developing tank (Pinsta camera kickstarter project (https://www.pinstacamera.com) so I can take and develop images on location, utilising water from streams etc for the developing etc.
  • Infrared – I am interested in the spectrum beyond what the human eye can see
  • Motion sensor cameras – Inspired by Stephen Gill’s ‘Night Procession’ series and following on from my overnight pinhole images
  • Alternative processes, including calotypes, cyanotypes and cafenol
  • I am also considering moving to medium format for my digital work so that final images can be printed larger and be more detailed as I would like them to be immersive.
  • Recording the sounds of the countryside to play alongside images to enhance the viewing experience

My project started as a response to bereavement and lockdown where I started to realise the physical and mental health benefits of walking, being in the countryside and taking photographs. Reading Walking in the woods - Yoshifumi Miyazaki, Capturing Mindfulness – Matthew Johnstone and The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle all supported this theory.  I have been looking at the impact that immersing yourself in photography and the countryside can have on your mental health and have started collaborating with Dr Sandy Walker who is a mental health specialist. One of her main research interests is in using the arts in healthcare. (https://researchportal.port.ac.uk/en/persons/sandy-walker). We are exploring how my images can be used to help others and so I guess this would be the context in how my work would be viewed.

Where Are You Now? REFLECTION

Reflection Guidance
In your critical research journal (CRJ):
  • Consider whether or not any photographic 'characteristics' are important to your own practice
 
The photographic ‘characteristics’ defined by Szarkowski are important to my practice, in particular ‘Time’, although personally I think he has missed the important characteristic of ‘Light’ which I feel is the most important factor when creating an image. I also feel that Composition incorporates the characteristics of ‘The thing itself’, ‘The detail’, ‘The frame’ and ‘The vantage point’.
 
  • Identify any approaches / practices / practitioners that specifically resonated with you
 
Szarkowski says ‘There is in fact no such thing as an instantaneous photograph. All photographs are time exposures of shorter or longer duration, and each describes a discrete parcel of time. This time is always the present’. This resonates in my current practice, in particular my recent experiments with long exposure pinhole images. I was also interested in Stephen Shore’s comment in ‘How to see the photograph’ about how you should ‘Fill the pictures with attention’. I liked the concept behind his ‘American Surfaces’ of photographing ‘how we see’, but also was inspired by his approach to ‘Uncommon places’ where his work was more detailed to make a more complex picture, or ‘small world’ for the viewer to explore, so thy can see what the world looks like with heightened awareness.
 
  • Outline / summarise your independent research (eg interviews or reviews of relevant practice / reading)
 
I have been re-visiting the work of Chrystel Lebas, I have watched the video of the ‘Among the trees’ exhibition at the Hayward gallery, I have looked at the work of Paul Nash and ordered the book ‘Informal beauty’ on his photographic work, I have read the article ‘The photographic Device as a Wating Machine’ by Mauricio Lissovsky, and I have ordered the books Robert Macfarlane – Landmarks (arrived today) and Walking in the Woods - Yoshifumi Miyazaki.
 
  • Evaluate the development of your own photographic practice to date
 
My own photographic practice has consisted of daily derives taking digital images with a 50mm (equivalent lens), looking at how we see. I have continued exploring light and time through long exposure pinhole images and also exposing paper negatives in an early 20th C Kodak 3a folding pocket camera (not sure on the why here yet…), plus I have started exploring the use of an infrared filter to capture the light outside of the spectrum of what the human eye can see. I have also experimented with ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) by taking long exposure in camera composite images whilst continuing to walk, with some images combined with Infrared.
 
  • Reflect on the peer / tutor feedback received on your current / future practice
 
My feedback from Paul Clements was very positive. I had already sent him an outline of my current practice to which he had responded with some suggested reading (see independent research above), so we discussed this in more depth. He was pleased that I was considering the ‘Why’ in my work but said not to worry as this will come with time as my practice develops. He also likes my ‘What3words’ titles, so I will be continuing with this approach.
 
Moving forwards:
What are your action points? Where are you going next?
 
I have had a busy and productive week, so need to stop and reflect on what I have done before planning the next stage, but I am keen to revisit the work of Beth Moon looking at Oak trees and trying to capture their winter ‘nakedness’ through treating them as if they were portrait sitters. I would also like to try infrared on them but feel this would be more appropriate in the spring when they have foliage again.

Photos from week 1

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