tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60438784341448271062024-03-12T17:28:22.554-07:00Stan's OCA 'Progressing with Digital Photography' BlogstanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-87794322696413402332014-01-18T08:58:00.001-08:002014-01-18T08:58:23.619-08:00Assessment Submission<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
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As the picture shows, I'm there - everything ready to go. I am not intending to close off with any lengthy reflection; there's enough of that at various stages in the blog anyway. Plus, I'm already getting heavily into 'Reflection' as I start my Level Three module, blogged here <a href="http://standickinson.com/">Body of Work</a>. It has been quite a lengthy journey - partly interrupted with OCASA duties - and it is nearly two years since I started this module. To be fair to myself, the early part overlapped with completing People & Place for Assessment, and I really finished this course round October, but had no chance of getting it ready for November Assessment.</div>
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I will put on record my belief that I have progressed enormously over that period of time - so hopefully lived up to the title of the module! The reading I've done; the exhibitions and photobooks I've looked at; the work on my revised Assignment One; the research for Assignment Four; the work for Assignment Five; all that has, I think, prepared me well for the next step. Enormous thanks to Jesse for his support and encouragement; he has allowed me to explore 'off-piste' and has even encouraged my subversive tendencies, so I am hugely grateful for that. Thanks also to fellow students who have looked at, and commented on, my work here and on the OCA Flickr forum; and from whom I've also learned by looking at their work and by getting into discussion with them - usually virtually, but thankfully, these days, face to face on occasions.</div>
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This work goes to OCA for assessment in a few weeks time & that will be my last post here until I have my results. I'll reflect on that and feedback here, when I know the outcome, whatever it might be.</div>
</span>stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-84078762773519563412014-01-18T08:37:00.001-08:002014-01-18T08:37:27.812-08:00Assignment Five - Prints for Assessment Submission<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU6R9jnc-B9qHwbnH5H9RMZHDnofZyiPYbu-wpdU0J1y_WXBUPB9tQTWF7TJnOx34VR-kpe69ohEh8suKllfyGcEaPeNuqF55UTnD6Eqa55AVodsWS71ykJon2Vpt8cHOHR0I8fLT19ijZ/s1600/_DSF1257.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU6R9jnc-B9qHwbnH5H9RMZHDnofZyiPYbu-wpdU0J1y_WXBUPB9tQTWF7TJnOx34VR-kpe69ohEh8suKllfyGcEaPeNuqF55UTnD6Eqa55AVodsWS71ykJon2Vpt8cHOHR0I8fLT19ijZ/s1600/_DSF1257.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I have to admit that I've made a bit of a meal of the decision-making process about how to get this assignment printed. As recorded before, I've felt that my own inkjet prints on archival matte paper produced the sharpest contrast and avoided issues with a reflective surface. However, I have been keen to print to quite a large size, and have wholeheartedly accepted my tutor's recommendation to mount on card. I was convinced that I could do my own spray-mounting, but despite a successful one-off experiment, subsequent efforts have not come up to the standard I would be looking for at Assessment. The sorts of problems encountered included curling of the card due to different reactions as the adhesive dried and issues with getting a really neat final trim. I might have eventually succeeded, with even more 'pain', time and expense (and I've managed with the Assignment One A4 prints), but I eventually decided to give in gracefully. Getting professional, mounted inkjets at the size I wanted was going to prove hugely expensive, so I have eventually gone back to Peak Imaging's C-prints on their matte paper, which has meant accepting some surface reflection but I have managed to counter my contrast concerns with some further 'tweaking' of the file. It hasn't been cheap but at least I'm now happy with the outcome. They're printed at 30cm by 45cm, without borders (for the reason discussed before but perhaps worth repeating - there are 'borders' in a number of the images that appear in my assemblies & so printing with yet another border begins to look odd).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">So - Assignment Five well and truly completed - it's been a fascinating process from which I've learned a very great deal.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"></span>stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-32777406678256699532014-01-18T08:20:00.000-08:002014-01-18T08:20:48.964-08:00Assignment One - Final Prints for Submission<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Time to round off things with some final blog posts in here. Firstly, I want to record the direction I've chosen to take with the Assessment submission for Assignment One. As discussed with Jesse, I am going with six images from the 'Tied' project and I am submitting A4 prints that I've produced myself. I've also mounted them on card myself - using spray-mounting. As will become clear, I've gone through all sorts of twists and turns for my Assignment Five submission, and eventually gone for professional prints. That has partly influenced my decision on this assignment. I kind of feel that it is good, at some stage in the submission for Assessment, to demonstrate what I can do printing myself. Spray-mounting has proved reasonably manageable for A4 prints, so I'm happy with this outcome.</span>stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-40752390499004162762013-11-26T08:26:00.000-08:002013-11-26T08:26:22.863-08:00Assignment One - Assessment Submission (from 'Tied')
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The second major topic of discussion
with Jesse was the nature of my assessment submission for Assignment One.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My impression is that he would be perfectly
happy with me submitting some mildly revised and re-edited versions of the
images I sent to him back in May 2012; but I shared what I had been doing with
the 'Tied' project, and he agreed that the work is 'interesting' and that I
will submit a set of prints from this series, as a 're-submission' -
"Entirely by your own choice".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think the latter phrase was more an indication that I was voluntarily
doing more work rather than a hint that I might be wise to leave well
alone!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did, quite rightly, encourage
me to 'contextualise' this new submission in writing (coming up below); also to
think about the sequencing (also coming up below); and to go with the simple
'deletions' on their own rather than the diptychs and triptychs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">My last post on this subject did do
some contextualisation, but here is a more considered attempt to set out where
these images come from and what they are about.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">They
do originate in a documentary-style interest in the phenomenon of the knotted
strings, ropes and wires that adorn and fix almost every field gate in the
neighbourhood - and indeed beyond this neighbourhood, as I have subsequently
observed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That idea alone had, and still
has, potential for an interesting and visually effective set of images, which also
have potential for broader, metaphorical readings - as hinted at by my title
'Tied'.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Working
on that project and considering its presentation, I found myself thinking more
about the 'craft' and 'process' of the image-making, and more about how others
might read my presentation than about the subject and my intentions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spent time, for example, pondering what
form of light would work best for these images - not untypical for this form of
documentary/landscape work.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">In
parallel, though, I was researching and reading for my Assignment Four essay on
contemporary still life image-making - the work of <a href="http://www.photoeye.com/bookteaselight/bookteaselightnopopup.cfm?catalog=ZE553"><span style="color: blue;">Lucas
Blalock</span></a>, for example; his use of post-processing and manipulation but also,
coincidentally, the presence in his work of loops of tubing and other
materials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I had also seen, for the
second time, Mishka Henner's <a href="http://www.mishkahenner.com/Less-Americains"><span style="color: blue;">Less Americains</span></a>, in
which he has digitally removed parts of the Robert Frank images 'Les
Americains'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Henner says in <a href="http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/28/erasing-americans/?_r=0"><span style="color: blue;">this
interview</span></a>, he was "... questioning the nature of photography and the
nature of documentary photography".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He also says "I realized I was actually creating something
new".<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">That
led me to think about alternative ways of moving forward with my 'Tied'
project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of the 'traditional'
approach of getting the lighting and other 'craft' aspects right, were there
deeper questions to be explored by, for example, taking Henner's lead and, in my
case, deleting the very subject I had set out to photograph.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Perhaps also worth adding that I began the
process of selecting the string in one of the images as preparation for some
other form of processing, but the idea of deletion partly grew from that.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The
six images presented all involve the deletion of the string or rope that was
'tied' to gates, fences or whatever in my original photograph.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one case, the deletion has even gone a
stage further, 'revealing' something that was not present in the original. The
outcome is certainly something different from the original.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are clear echoes of what was there
before, but the images are now, potentially, also reflecting on the
photographic process - the layers of influence of the photographer, the issues
about truth and reality, for example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Some of them open up new 'formal' ideas - the deleted subject seeming to
come forward in the composition, as though it was a paper cut-out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there could be scope for new meanings and
metaphorical readings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does the series
raise questions about 'absence'?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Might
there be reference to the gaps in life, missing aspects that we long to fill?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chiefly, I have been interested by the ways
in which this processing and manipulation (which has required considerable time
and care!) has 'rewards' in evoking new and potentially more complex images
than the original 'documentary' project might have revealed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So then to the question of
sequencing; how best to lay out the set of six images that I have selected for
submission?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have actually laid out two
different sequences below - with quite different intentions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The first format might be described
as my <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Formal Sequence</b>, ordering the
images in a manner that seeks some formal progression of shapes, composition,
framing, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here it is:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The second sequence could be referred to as a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Narrative Sequence</b>, and picks up on my
idea that altering the images as I have opens up the possibility of more
complex readings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without commenting
specifically on any particular narrative, I present the following option.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This is quite an interesting comparison, for me, and it takes
me right back to some issues in my own mind at the very start of this module,
which have been partially but not entirely resolved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have, I would say, become very interested
in what I might term the 'intellectual' exploration of photography, maybe at
the expense of its 'emotional' potential.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That dilemma was troubling me, to an extent, as I started out on PwDP,
but the 'intellectual' choice seems to have suited me well as the module has
progressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is, I would say, where I
headed with Assignments Four and Five, and where this 're-make' of Assignment
One has led me - until I look at the second sequence!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That could very well be read at an emotional
and personal level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will make a choice
between these two before sending in my submission - but I note that the dilemma
is still not entirely resolved as I contemplate Level Three!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-19484118413665565042013-11-24T08:57:00.000-08:002013-11-24T08:57:40.964-08:00Assignment Five - Printing for Assessment
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Amongst other matters that will come
up later on here, my telephone tutorial session on 15th November included
discussion about the form of my submission for Assignment Five.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since the last post on here, I have:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Had
a trial professional print made of image 5, Sydney Cricket Ground (chosen
because it had the most 'challenging' shades of white in the background), done
by Peak Imaging, a C-print, at 393mm by 588mm, on Fuji Matt, mounted on 2mm
card.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Compared
that with my own inkjet prints, made on the Epson R2880, with its Ultrachrome
pigment inks, using Epson Professional Matte paper, at A3 plus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beautifully printed and finished as the big
C-print might be, I conclude that the inkjets are marginally better for this
assignment:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 108pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Better
contrast, giving very sharp edges and a greater sense of 'physicality' in the
'assemblies'.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 108pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">More
vivid colours, which also suits these images, I believe;<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 108pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">A
wholly non-reflective surface.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsl3aUJpRz6j63Ep7B-5E-Nq2Q5lQeKU8MV1ctHw0Ml2tTDNvcrCgtLEwnHlG06dv-TBtLS3-OpBJupUJ74mWGnmfN3gMY0E2GRbR3MoVtGKawR8iJQcui39FOhcDTzjEOC5R-WXu24hm/s1600/Ass+5+Pro+Print-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsl3aUJpRz6j63Ep7B-5E-Nq2Q5lQeKU8MV1ctHw0Ml2tTDNvcrCgtLEwnHlG06dv-TBtLS3-OpBJupUJ74mWGnmfN3gMY0E2GRbR3MoVtGKawR8iJQcui39FOhcDTzjEOC5R-WXu24hm/s320/Ass+5+Pro+Print-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><em>Comparison of the surfaces
- Epson Matte left & Fuji Matt right</em></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZ0dh7UjSMVYRzoHD2S4R3O10dXjFwhjKY3_DJ_DdyqEE8WzVx-Gznx7UwY9tO586CXDKNhRngTOCo3zvavOGUDkTexN_0KHJSdYZT1EES9Q4qCR3aJilaKSnCTqnLgGpt1TMYu9V451q/s1600/Ass+5+Pro+Print-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZ0dh7UjSMVYRzoHD2S4R3O10dXjFwhjKY3_DJ_DdyqEE8WzVx-Gznx7UwY9tO586CXDKNhRngTOCo3zvavOGUDkTexN_0KHJSdYZT1EES9Q4qCR3aJilaKSnCTqnLgGpt1TMYu9V451q/s320/Ass+5+Pro+Print-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><em>2mm card mounting works
well & provides a highly professional finish</em></span> </div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
combined effect is that the inkjets get closer to the sense that this is an
actual collage, rather than an image of a collage.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Discussed
this conclusion with my tutor, who can understand the reasoning and who has
discouraged me from agonising too much about the issue and about the size of
the prints, at this level of submission.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">We
also discussed the idea of doing my own mounting and maybe experimenting with
dry-mounting, using an iron!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having
watched some videos (admittedly not professionally presented) on You-tube, I
have some doubts, but will come back to that.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Considered
professional inkjet printing & had a sample pack of papers from
Printspace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interestingly, only two
papers from the pack caught my eye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One
was the Fuji Matt that the Peak trial was done on - with the issues above - and
the other was Hahnemuhle Photorag, for its wholly matte surface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Hahnemulle is beautiful paper, but it
also has a cream look, compared to the strong white colour of my Epson
Professional Matte.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Hahnemulle
sample print is a mono, and I can see how it performs superbly for that
purpose, but I am concerned that it will not be so good for the vivid colours
in my own images.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So, all-in-all, I end up back with
my own prints, but with the need to try doing my own mounting - perhaps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I do not want the result to look amateurish,
obviously, but I plan to do some experimentation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also have some spray mount, so might give
that a try, too.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-30048548256596317512013-11-07T02:17:00.000-08:002013-11-07T02:17:15.680-08:00Assignment Five - feedback<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I
received my feedback on Assignment Five at the end of last week, and I'm
pleased to say that it was good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of
the highlights were - "... a really original and challenging take on the
brief ..."; "... feels thoughtfully executed but is also irreverent
and fun ..."; "... solid content and ... sound analysis ...";
and "... only criticism ... might have tried too hard ... <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(some images)</i> ... have a few too many
elements ...".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The latter point was
accompanied by two qualifications - that he wasn't entirely convinced that it
was an issue but it's a possible criticism some might see, and the clear advice
that I certainly shouldn't do any more work on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually, I do agree with the comment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having never done anything like this before I
was, even after looking at others' work, learning as I went along.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the busiest pieces were amongst the
first.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was the very first, for
example.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhllMTd7CzBxVcG5Wer5Pn53TuklOA4pfrsvetVu4oj0fVAciLe8Xz6kv3h-0XwcHuj0ZJ1fOrjvA_j101FxwU2a-nqmtFhz-wqvwuL5vjn7VnAekmURKt9_Nc1ktvKHc0e4SvYfAF31c1_/s1600/Assignment+Five-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhllMTd7CzBxVcG5Wer5Pn53TuklOA4pfrsvetVu4oj0fVAciLe8Xz6kv3h-0XwcHuj0ZJ1fOrjvA_j101FxwU2a-nqmtFhz-wqvwuL5vjn7VnAekmURKt9_Nc1ktvKHc0e4SvYfAF31c1_/s320/Assignment+Five-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As the assignment progressed, I
began to see that simpler and cleaner compositions worked best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The one below is probably my personal
favourite - and that is partly down to its simplicity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stezaker's collage work usually involves the
juxtaposition of no more than two photographs - but it still leaves plenty of
scope for 'reading' - and, whilst I wouldn't compare the image below to the
quality of what he has produced, it does share the simplicity and it does still
have plenty to say.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvfaAmZ_Y2j6zU56plO7uwl4B-A7VZqm0WzWjRo7HUzO1ahwZ3VVPA3zCridiyeGUTQVmZ_-_2C0H_fJ7Js2rWvMjcEjJ9lnmaOY5sN3DUe_KSKhibDAOy-rnnniE0NRguu5Y_bX5p9ESw/s1600/Assignment+Five-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvfaAmZ_Y2j6zU56plO7uwl4B-A7VZqm0WzWjRo7HUzO1ahwZ3VVPA3zCridiyeGUTQVmZ_-_2C0H_fJ7Js2rWvMjcEjJ9lnmaOY5sN3DUe_KSKhibDAOy-rnnniE0NRguu5Y_bX5p9ESw/s320/Assignment+Five-4.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Interestingly, Jesse selected the
one below as his favourite of the set.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In some ways, it is quite a busy and complex image, with lots of
elements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the difference, I suspect,
is in its 'cleanness'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a lot of
white space; the composition is more careful and structured; and it has more of
an abstract look.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This one - although
very different in subject matter and content - is closer, in a formal sense, to
the recent Laura Letinsky work that partly inspired me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That too combines lots of clean white space
with intense patches of colour.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzvGlPrUwul2ux0L1pgWh4zgVxvJbN7ME-tFwekOZOhnVjIzjXfr8K5XZANKwmfNnevIao06fTYtmq3cup0etQYafZJXCHnmRKzxPF7zvRWUHCl-qF8iX9Nry3ZHU0HG596Gjc7ob7pfm0/s1600/Assignment+Five-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzvGlPrUwul2ux0L1pgWh4zgVxvJbN7ME-tFwekOZOhnVjIzjXfr8K5XZANKwmfNnevIao06fTYtmq3cup0etQYafZJXCHnmRKzxPF7zvRWUHCl-qF8iX9Nry3ZHU0HG596Gjc7ob7pfm0/s320/Assignment+Five-5.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Feedback on my prints is also
encouraging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The "... quality is
good ..." with the inkjet "... providing ... crisp resolution and
vivid colour ...".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That's pleasing;
I wanted to get a crispness into them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My idea is that a casual viewer should be drawn by the visual
attractiveness but also, initially, slightly unsure as to whether they are
'real' physical collages rather than photographs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has a very good suggestion to make - that
they should be printed to the edge of the paper, with no borders.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have already re-done them in that way - and
it works well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are, of course,
encouraged to leave small borders on prints for assessment submission, to aid
handling.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But these images are
different, with plenty of 'white' space around them that can easily be
handled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hadn't really managed to work
it out for myself - perhaps because I was locked into the need for border - but
the multiple frame effect that results from there being white bordered images
within the frame of the overall composition resulted in some unnecessary
confusion for the eye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Printed large
with no borders, they look much better.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The other suggestions on prints are
- that I should at least experiment with lab printing, and that having them dry
mounted on card would be good for assessment submission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again - agreed on both counts; unless the
print feedback had been 'these are amazingly good, don't bother any further', I
had all along felt that I should try the professional print approach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the dry mounting certainly makes good
sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So - one image has gone off to
Peak Imaging to be printed at around A2 size and card-mounted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I've chosen one that has some very subtle
shades of off-white in the background and some vivid colour as well, so it
should be a good opportunity to make a comparison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don't mind the cost of going down the
professional approach and I like the idea of a further 'push' in size, but I
don't want to lose the crispness I referred to above.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">There was an issues with the background
of one image.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the early ones, it had
been assembled on ivory card rather than the white paper I used for all the
others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is this one.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7sfX_pzZ1Y4ojihABaT6y8NVaNcQrgq2FhhokI0j7T1ZxigaKlsRpVzXjrnrBioWyKWHV031FH_KKDq5MohmhI7fu8FeYVjKtWn-JlK15h-9khxmMAjB16oSlkWG-E10nY8h6PnQX_Pi8/s1600/Assignment+Five-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7sfX_pzZ1Y4ojihABaT6y8NVaNcQrgq2FhhokI0j7T1ZxigaKlsRpVzXjrnrBioWyKWHV031FH_KKDq5MohmhI7fu8FeYVjKtWn-JlK15h-9khxmMAjB16oSlkWG-E10nY8h6PnQX_Pi8/s320/Assignment+Five-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I don't mind the ivory, but I did
mention its difference in my notes, and Jesse comments on it too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I have used a combination of Photoshop
and Lightroom adjustments to get it to look as follows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I needed to retain contrast in the
background, though, partly to keep the shadow effect and also because there are
faint (and deliberate) traces of the tape that fixed some of the images to the
board, which would have been lost had I brightened it too much.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs7he9trVHITGH9msuF-WTYOuKRFXMj3gpWnyr_i8HCPPg91DZBUSmvSBJj3fIi6EDZP5StN8Gnruyci4Wf0ZdH7NeaMvo0VKYp_zGlIH3SHlWo2PjuwTMpYq-Cbh8dw1QZjW7yxR00TlL/s1600/Assignment+Five-2-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs7he9trVHITGH9msuF-WTYOuKRFXMj3gpWnyr_i8HCPPg91DZBUSmvSBJj3fIi6EDZP5StN8Gnruyci4Wf0ZdH7NeaMvo0VKYp_zGlIH3SHlWo2PjuwTMpYq-Cbh8dw1QZjW7yxR00TlL/s320/Assignment+Five-2-2.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Another small factor that arose from
printing to the edge of the paper was the realisation that I had used two
slightly different size ratios.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I've now
amended those so that all six match - particularly important if I do get them
all professionally printed and mounted.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">And finally, I've arranged to have a
telephone tutorial next week, to discuss my assessment submission and to also
discuss my move on to Level Three.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-77315647270864512812013-10-28T07:47:00.000-07:002013-10-28T07:47:08.562-07:00Study Visit - Tim Hetherington - Open Eye, Liverpool<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSDUH_7BPOnlhXFypXwQo9kJyHk7-OVprt1P-veWeBCn1c_EKV2m4ygyavs1qGt7eeQJOW9Xno-HzUWVouin5IFtPC9oj1D25FNaterC2k_yuZTab8k0stgNO2fhu9_QDPkigkQMrLgXgS/s1600/Liverpool+26-10-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSDUH_7BPOnlhXFypXwQo9kJyHk7-OVprt1P-veWeBCn1c_EKV2m4ygyavs1qGt7eeQJOW9Xno-HzUWVouin5IFtPC9oj1D25FNaterC2k_yuZTab8k0stgNO2fhu9_QDPkigkQMrLgXgS/s320/Liverpool+26-10-13.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">Liverpool, iPhone image, definitely not by Tim Hetherington!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">On Saturday, I attended an OCA Study
Visit to the Liverpool Open Eye Gallery, where there is an exhibition of the
work of conflict photographer, Tim Hetherington, who was killed whilst working
during the Libyan conflict, in 2011.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
show is entitled </span><a href="http://www.openeye.org.uk/main-exhibition/tim-hetherington-you-never-see-them-like-this/"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">'You
Never See Them Like This'</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> and comprises still images, video and audio visual
presentations taken mainly from his book, </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Infidel-Tim-Hetherington/dp/1905712189/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1382958523&sr=8-2&keywords=tim+hetherington"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">'Infidel'</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">,
published in 2010 and originating from his time embedded with American troops
in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
am not, let me say from the start, greatly interested in or by war photography;
and studies and reflections on truth and photography leave me with a degree of
cynicism and concern about the genre of documentary photography - so I went
along to the gallery expecting not to be particularly moved or inspired by what
I saw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the event, whilst that basic
assumption turned out to be broadly correct, there was more to take away from
it than I had expected and I'm glad that I have seen it.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The exhibition is in three
rooms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the first is a series of still
images that provide a hint of the context but are chiefly about the young
soldiers away from actual conflict.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
may be wrestling with each other; displaying unexplained wound-like marks on a
bare stomach; slouched in full combat gear, clearly utterly exhausted; or
curled up on small, uncomfortable-looking beds, fast asleep - but they are not,
in these images, engaged with 'the enemy'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One shows a roughly cut wooden outline of a 'well-endowed' naked man,
propped at what looks like a sentry post or look-out point. There are no
captions with any of these images, and so we are left to read them as we see
fit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second room is devoted to an
audio visual display comprising three sizeable screens, side by side, the
centre of which mainly displays a series of further still images of 'Soldiers
Sleeping' (the title of this piece), whilst the outer screens, and the
accompanying soundtrack, show images of the men out on patrol, or of
shell/rocket fire onto hillsides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one
sequence, a soldier is confronted with the news of his friends death and we
see/hear his distress and despair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
is no text or commentary; we have only the images and the soundtrack; and we
are left to draw our own conclusions, respond with our own emotions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The third room has further stills of the
young men away from conflict - almost always tightly framed images of more than
one person, in close proximity, playing video 'games' on child-size plastic
guitars, leafing (with no great enthusiasm) through magazine photos of naked
women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are some close-ups e.g. of
a tattooed arm, of a bullet lying on the ground in a strange red light - and
more of young men 'larking about' e.g. one with a handwritten sign 'I love you'
held in front of his face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, there
are no captions, but also in this room is a TV screen displaying Hetherington's
video 'Diary' - a loosely assembled montage of stills and moving images, with
soundtrack, providing a kind of 'stream of consciousness' narrative of the
nature of his life as a conflict journalist. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is, I should mention, an introductory
text board at the start of the exhibition, in the first room, and a short
video, that includes Hetherington himself speaking about his work and comments
from some of his friends and associates.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">My
impression - based partly on comments in the introductory video but also in
response to the images themselves - is that Tim Hetherington was genuinely
trying to do something different <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He more or less said that he was not interested
in photographing the conflict but in capturing what it was like to be a group
of young American blokes spending this time, together, in a combat zone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That might partly have been a response to the
restrictions associated with the policy of 'embedding' journalists, but the
outcome, for me, was a more interesting and more human piece of work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was left, strangely enough, with the
thought that images resulting from a period 'embedded' with an urban 'gang', or
even with the local football club, might have produced a not dissimilar
set.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It isn't necessarily a particularly
surprising outcome - that these young men share many similar characteristics
with other young men - but it is, perhaps, worth saying in the context.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">There
have been suggestions that the photographs of these soldiers sleeping lends
them a kind of innocence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That I didn't
see and don't accept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They did not come
across as any more or less innocent than any other group of their peers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We never see 'the enemy' and we never see the
global or local context of the conflict in which they're involved - so, in that
sense, they are presented as 'innocent' of what might be perceived in some quarters
as brutal acts of international bullying, meddling or whatever - but taking
this exhibition at its face value, they are not innocent, just normal.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I
referred to the lack of accompanying text earlier; there are no captions,
titles, or anything with the still images.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was very clearly the intention of the curators to allow viewers to
respond to the images in whatever way they chose - a sound approach, I'd say,
in this case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It does encourage the
viewer to dwell on their visual and emotional response, I think, rather than
focussing on a particular narrative directed by the photographer or curator.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The
'Sleeping Soldiers', audio visual piece was the outstanding work, for me - and
clear evidence that Hetherington was working with a broad range of media and
techniques.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was confirmed by his colleagues
speaking in the introductory video, who suggested that he was ahead of most
others in his thinking about conflict image-making and presentation, with,
probably, plenty more to deliver when he was killed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which leads to another thought - the iconic
status that an early death brings to artists; rock and pop musicians being the
classic, but not only, example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would
this exhibition have been different if he was still alive?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well it would obviously have had more input from
him - but would it have taken place at all?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How is our reading of his work changed by his death?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do we judge it more or less harshly?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One hopes it might make no difference, but I
sense that it does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For one thing, there
is an end to his oeuvre, a completeness, a box of work to look at and form a
judgement, uninterrupted by new and ongoing activity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It probably doesn't make a huge amount of
difference, but it inevitably came up in discussion on Saturday.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">But
also inevitable, I guess, are questions about the whole genre of war or
conflict photography. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it necessary?
What does it achieve? How meaningful is it in the context of 'embedding'?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it sometimes more about the photographer
than the message/subject?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I said
above, it has never been an area that greatly appealed to me and I could easily
take the more 'negative' line in responding to all these questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This exhibition didn't change any of that -
but then I'm not entirely sure I would classify it as 'conflict'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What it did change, I think, was my view of
Tim Hetherington.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Presented in the media
as a war/conflict journalist of high standing and bravery, somewhat glorified
after his death, he had, I admit, seemed like an 'alien' type of artist to
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Better informed and having seen his work at
close quarters, I can see that he was a thoughtful, creative and caring
individual - addicted to conflict, yes, by his own admission; inevitably
sanctified by an early death, yes, probably; but deserving of the praise and
respect that others have bestowed on him, yes, I think so.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-38536091820265915602013-10-20T07:13:00.000-07:002013-10-20T07:13:48.164-07:00Assignment Three - Fine-tuning the Video<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My last post on Assignment Three was way back in April - <a href="http://stansocapwdp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/assignment-three-new-version.html">here</a> - when I'd just spent some time making further improvements to my video response to Paris Photo 2012. I did get some further helpful comments from my tutor, but had simply had enough of the assignment by that stage and decided to leave any further work until I was getting ready for assessment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">Jesse felt that it was definitely stronger, but that there was still too much movement; that the use of an image of 'Leeds Market' was a bit 'too obvious'; and that the shot of the fish on a stall, which had previously looked rather like it had dropped in by accident, was now on screen for a bit too long. Looking back at the video some months later, I can agree with all those points; and I also felt that the start was a little too abrupt, with the 'coin drop' sound coming in more or less immediately at 'play'. So, I've made a few more amendments and the latest version is here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/PxJ0KF6677k?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-19803881893684114132013-10-20T06:57:00.000-07:002014-01-31T03:45:44.351-08:00Assignment Two - Preparing a 'mock-up'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYHt2cJDcG9PJblUzit3lzpdhYvx0v0ekPGNxJCpXN_BIpY6hLDesmLvsqknqsHkqJvpBAnjht6r7RWWoXhJDB0EpYSa5G8SXKRwSa9Z6SqGSTztz0zoXlrUZADVzDjQRj8ZOx_K79FntB/s1600/Ass+2+Mock-up-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYHt2cJDcG9PJblUzit3lzpdhYvx0v0ekPGNxJCpXN_BIpY6hLDesmLvsqknqsHkqJvpBAnjht6r7RWWoXhJDB0EpYSa5G8SXKRwSa9Z6SqGSTztz0zoXlrUZADVzDjQRj8ZOx_K79FntB/s320/Ass+2+Mock-up-1.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaB4ZNjeEa-IU-FbAlLKBAS4pkO5dkJsUjmgmPnQPSPEbl4tSPB96OLESI9aMlrVQErpgZOg4PZ8aH2kTkzCw1c_6FsHXmO0g0FAX-UVSenHAESnYxX-DuroRzGeKPYI_xPV6ZWcz44KOd/s1600/Ass+2+Mock-up-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaB4ZNjeEa-IU-FbAlLKBAS4pkO5dkJsUjmgmPnQPSPEbl4tSPB96OLESI9aMlrVQErpgZOg4PZ8aH2kTkzCw1c_6FsHXmO0g0FAX-UVSenHAESnYxX-DuroRzGeKPYI_xPV6ZWcz44KOd/s320/Ass+2+Mock-up-2.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Whilst awaiting feedback on Assignment Five, I've spent some time thinking ahead to work that needs doing before my Assessment Submission. I've got in excess of three months before then, but there are a few jobs that can usefully be dealt with. One of those was to go back to Assignment Two - my book cover for '<em>The Outsider</em>'. The original feedback was very positive, so there doesn't appear to be much more to be done to improve the image itself, but I decided to 'mock-up' my own version of the book, using an old copy from my own bookshelves. So, the version illustrated above now has the original 'blurb' from the back of the jacket; and I've added 'Penguin' logos to the front, spine and back - sized and coloured to work with my design. It seems to work well and I'll make it part of my final submission next year.</span><br />
<br />stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-44372866635304756342013-10-14T09:00:00.000-07:002013-10-17T08:17:55.222-07:00Looking at the art of Abelardo Morell - and making connections<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The
name Abelardo Morell did not, I have to admit, seem familiar to me when I
opened the article about him in October's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><strong>British
Journal of Photography</strong></i> - more shame me!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The first of several 'connections' was made as I looked at the first
image featured in that article:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpDv7BJS_D6TlFC66UKWLL5wBwmzFDHPqU7xYLduPT60dMU-i1iNZMSEodsIE37OOLFCSrz6mfOtD4rrrTZmytYzfJ3HrgI3kPnGc7MDUpAriijSALrXV-qTTra49D8Dx4nZCCe_naB-Dc/s1600/CO-Empire-State_94_slide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpDv7BJS_D6TlFC66UKWLL5wBwmzFDHPqU7xYLduPT60dMU-i1iNZMSEodsIE37OOLFCSrz6mfOtD4rrrTZmytYzfJ3HrgI3kPnGc7MDUpAriijSALrXV-qTTra49D8Dx4nZCCe_naB-Dc/s320/CO-Empire-State_94_slide.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Empire State Building in Bedroom, </span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">1994</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">(Courtesy of Abelardo Morell and Edwynn Houk Gallery)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">My
very first thought was of 'collage/montage/inversion' and a link to John
Stezaker, about whom I had written only a few days earlier - </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://stansocapwdp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/looking-at-stezaker-learning-to-swim.html"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It isn't collage, of course, as I could
quickly appreciate, but the connections were underway!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, collage or not, the juxtaposition of two
seemingly dissociated 'images' to arrive at a new meaning is certainly in line
with Stezaker.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Reading
on about Morell's Camera Obscura works and exploring his range further online,
I was (and remain) puzzled as to why I don't find references to him in the
considerable array of photography and art books in my collection; but the use
of swathes of black plastic to convert a room into the camera obscura did ring
a bell somewhere - and led me to the<strong> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">'Genius
of Photography'</i></strong> series that the BBC did in 2006/7.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure enough, there he is, in the first few
minutes of the first programme, right behind Kertéz's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">'<strong>Meudon</strong>'</i> photograph, draping a palatial Venetian interior in black
plastic, cutting that crucial small hole, and creating this:</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">Santa
Maria della Salute in Palazzo Livingroom, Venice, Italy</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;"> 2006</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">(Courtesy of Abelardo
Morell and Edwynn Houk Gallery)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I am reassured!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0300184557/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">'The Universe Next Door'</span></span></i></b></a></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">, </span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">a recently published
monograph, largely picks up the story of Morell's photography from 1986 onwards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was 38 by then, a father for the first
time; was teaching photography, with a Masters from Yale; and must have had
some seriously formative life experiences since being born in Cuba, seeing his
father arrested by the post-revolutionary government, moving to New York (with
little or no English) at the age of 13, and studying under Tod Papageorge at Yale
- to mention just a few.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But 1986 seems
to have seen a significant change of direction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In a sense, he came indoors, from street photography, to create
different, more thoughtful, more contemplative, more experimental images.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He accredits the change to becoming a father
- both from an attitudinal viewpoint (seeing the world through new eyes) and
from a practical one (spending time caring for his new son).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since then, as is illustrated in the book and
on his </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.abelardomorell.net/"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">website</span></span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">, his range has included
images of books, artworks, museums, 'still life', photograms, paper cut-outs,
as well as the camera obscura and its more recent descendant, his 'tent
camera'.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">What
comes across very strongly to me, as a student of, and late-comer to,
photography, is an ever-present enthusiasm and fascination for the process of
photographic image-making.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All these
images seem to interrogate the medium, probing and seeking out the
possibilities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, in that respect,
there is an intellectual quality to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But at the same time, they are interesting images in their own right -
as though there is something for the casual beholder as well as the curator and
the academic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These two, quite
different, examples demonstrate the point<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></strong></i></span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.abelardomorell.net/photography/cameraobsc_01/cameraobsc_01.html"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;"><strong>Light
Bulb, 1991</strong></span></span></i></a></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"> </span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">was created to illustrate
the optical principles of photography to his students (and to delight them in
those principles, too, as with the camera obscura).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I like the use of a crude cardboard box on an
old table top - the 'homely' physicality feels close to some of my own efforts
in the last few months (</span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://stansocapwdp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/assignment-five-progress-1.html"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet the image appeared in a poster and
brochure cover for MOMA in 1992.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
seemingly simple, homemade set up has something fundamental to say about
photography's ability to transform and re-present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Likewise - albeit in a very different way - </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://www.abelardomorell.net/posts/pictures-in-pictures/"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;"><strong>Nadelman/Hopper,
2008</strong></span></span></i></a></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the face of it, another apparently simple
juxtaposition (of two artworks) - but the 'magic' of the photographic
transformation, the careful framing and lighting, produce an image that is both
attractive in its own right but also open to multiple readings.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">At
a personal level, I am encouraged by a quote from Morell in the <strong>BJP</strong> article.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Referring to his '<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><strong>Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'</strong></i> illustrations, he says, "I
thought I would make pictures that are very low tech, with pages taken out of
the book and stuck together with tape."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I wish I'd read that a few weeks ago when I was thinking about my most
recent assignment - </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><a href="http://stansocapwdp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/assignment-five-progress-report-3.html"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a good example:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxOxzkPZ_gVREGxcFSUlpM_ZC5hJFrIfv6i2WW8X0Cf7_fDW75-AdqEMLSn6ajGulOy0sPrWUhnsAp0jy3Nc-dFvCuhBXpTmEDj3p_LGc2itGph2OdPFxYTveQJ_gtQ1be8fpLIZZUppcI/s1600/It-Was-Much-Pleasanter-at-Home_98_slide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxOxzkPZ_gVREGxcFSUlpM_ZC5hJFrIfv6i2WW8X0Cf7_fDW75-AdqEMLSn6ajGulOy0sPrWUhnsAp0jy3Nc-dFvCuhBXpTmEDj3p_LGc2itGph2OdPFxYTveQJ_gtQ1be8fpLIZZUppcI/s320/It-Was-Much-Pleasanter-at-Home_98_slide.jpg" width="250" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">It
Was Much Pleasanter At Home, 1998</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">(Courtesy of Abelardo Morell and Edwynn Houk Gallery)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Looking at the '<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><strong>Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'</strong></i> series, I can feel the physical
delight in cutting, copying, resizing, cutting some more, juxtaposing,
assembling, lighting, etc ... and then, eventually, seeing that finished
outcome - turning out, perhaps, even better than he expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had thought about attempting to create
three-dimensional 'assemblies' for my own assignment and this encourages me to
go back to that idea at some stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However,
one can respond to the process of creating these images in a broader and more
fundamental way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These may be
illustrations for a children's story, but they confirm to me the immense scope
that exists for experimentation in different manners of 'photographic' response
to the world around us.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Abelardo Morell's own
experimentation has taken him on to the 'tent camera', a moveable camera
obscura equipped with periscope, prisms etc, that has enables him to go out
into the landscape and create images of the world projected onto the ground
within the tent.</span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTZB1j_AjXaAv5RonIfdTSlhH-ZY31SQGu3iam4hLvEFiW3QohiO_PZBd-udEUFa1xhcLdceAITaJqGbDCbqAxBShH8n7nPzDOtAueqwDzfBNn2eqDiw1Ii_1pN-zGXYOV0EOOmT5OtKVj/s1600/Tent-Camera-Image-On-Ground-View-of-the-Yosemite-Valley-From-Tunnel-View_12_slide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTZB1j_AjXaAv5RonIfdTSlhH-ZY31SQGu3iam4hLvEFiW3QohiO_PZBd-udEUFa1xhcLdceAITaJqGbDCbqAxBShH8n7nPzDOtAueqwDzfBNn2eqDiw1Ii_1pN-zGXYOV0EOOmT5OtKVj/s320/Tent-Camera-Image-On-Ground-View-of-the-Yosemite-Valley-From-Tunnel-View_12_slide.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">Tent
Camera Image on Ground: View of the Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View, Yosemite
National Park, California </span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">2012</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">(Courtesy of Abelardo
Morell and Edwynn Houk Gallery)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So, once again, two very different
images/elements are combined to seek a new meaning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interesting as they are, I feel less of a
personal response to these images - truthfully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They have something painterly about them, which Morell himself
identifies; and there is a possible reference to pixels in some, such as
above.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(He does now use digital
methods.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But most significant of all,
for me, is the ongoing desire to explore the possibilities and the different
ways in which photography can look at the world - <strong>'The Universe Next Door'</strong>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In her introductory essay in the book of that
name,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Elizabeth Siegel, Associate
Curator in the Department of Photography at The Art Institute of Chicago, says
that "... Morell has watched developments in contemporary photography with
interest and has at times, he says, felt like a defender of photography to
those who proclaim its demise."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
goes on to say that, "He maintains his belief, even in the present age of
digital convenience, that the photograph must be worked for and earned; he
continues to delight in conceiving pictures and laboring towards their
execution." Coming as I do, from
an entirely digital introduction to photography, I sometimes wonder whether I
have missed out by not pursuing the detailed exploration of its original
methods.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chances are that many - perhaps
including Abelardo Morell (and certainly some OCA tutors!) - would say that I
have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I have neither the time nor
feel the inclination to do so at present and, crucially, it is in those notions
of 'working for' and 'earning' the image that the key lessons lie here, whether
it is executed by digital methods or any other.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It
is good, as a student (even a decidedly mature one), to study artists that are
new to one and to feel some sense of connection with what they are doing and
their approach to their art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are
reassuring, inspiring and, also, challenging connections in looking at Abelardo
Morells work, and I will continue to look in more detail as I press on with my
own journey of exploration through the medium of photography.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">'<u>Postscript
Connections</u>'</span></i></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"></span></i> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I'm tucking this away as an
anecdotal 'postscript' to avoid any idea that it is anything other than a
light-hearted reference to my own work in the context of Morell.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But - I couldn't help recalling some
photographs that I made almost seven years ago, a few weeks after acquiring my
first digital SLR camera.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having played
with it for a while, I made myself put the camera on a tripod, turn the dial to
'Manual', point it at a few 'objects' on an old table, and begin to think more
carefully about what I was doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Honestly, these are two of the first 'thoughtful' photographs that I
made!</span> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw_IUBmFw_1etNhF5N-mZkWJgxiuuWT_BCjU2IHk5eXpHmPPruHbHxIiaifht4RlkX_NMk0d3wJ4PpP3IWphklsIDO-sE8l__zyulhyphenhyphenKdOKcNEPFuACzFd9pFtB2tsE9N2oVu57JBiGqmm/s1600/DSC_0013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw_IUBmFw_1etNhF5N-mZkWJgxiuuWT_BCjU2IHk5eXpHmPPruHbHxIiaifht4RlkX_NMk0d3wJ4PpP3IWphklsIDO-sE8l__zyulhyphenhyphenKdOKcNEPFuACzFd9pFtB2tsE9N2oVu57JBiGqmm/s320/DSC_0013.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpdWMS0jAk7UmUb-k7RwUwppsLPPvkwpTuLtpl-XMCyyNFezS9AEj-NF2qL_C_ATpcGGIzeOkYEyq-5h3fYhhzNQNyJUH5IhBtTlWej0QfuLaGTSsJdvADWnf0tAvFZDF8hpVn4MSUGuER/s1600/DSC_0021.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpdWMS0jAk7UmUb-k7RwUwppsLPPvkwpTuLtpl-XMCyyNFezS9AEj-NF2qL_C_ATpcGGIzeOkYEyq-5h3fYhhzNQNyJUH5IhBtTlWej0QfuLaGTSsJdvADWnf0tAvFZDF8hpVn4MSUGuER/s320/DSC_0021.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-80790267961783663332013-10-08T09:22:00.000-07:002013-10-08T09:22:08.482-07:00Assignment One - "Tied" Revisited Again
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Back in June, I did some work on a
Project that I tentatively titled "Tied".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was linked with Assignment One, and I blogged
about it here - </span></span><a href="http://stansocapwdp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/tied-project-derived-from-assignment-one.html"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">http://stansocapwdp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/tied-project-derived-from-assignment-one.html</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What started as a documentary-style project about the methods used to
tie field gates in my immediate area - albeit one with symbolic possibilities -
became, like many projects that I've looked at lately, more about the process
of producing photographic art than about the subject matter (albeit, that
subject matter remains in place).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did
more work on it at the time but then got sidetracked into other things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since these images might well form all or
part of my final submission for Assignment One, I've been back to it again in
the last week.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Reflecting on what it's actually
about, rather as I did with Assignment Five:</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">It
certainly stems from a documentary-style interest in this phenomenon of tied
gates and an inclination to record them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">But,
finding myself thinking about whether the subject would be better photographed
in sunlight, even light, low sun, or whatever, I came to realise that I was
actually getting (overly?) concerned about the 'craft' aspect of the
photographic process - as much to do with what others might think as it was to
do with my own aesthetics or interests.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">This
coincides with the Assignment Four research on Still Life and the transparent
image processing of Lucas Blalock (who, by coincidence, often includes rope,
hoses etc in his images).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I began
'playing around' with the images in Photoshop, leading (and some Mishka Henner
influence to be acknowledged here) to the idea of completely removing the very
subject I'd set out to photograph.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">In
some cases, that processing went further, highlighting the strings, ropes etc
in different ways.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Finally,
with one image, where, as one would expect, the string passes out of sight
behind a gatepost, I came up with the idea of 'creating' an image of what
couldn't actually be seen in the original image.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">And
so, the images have probably come to be almost entirely about the presentation
of any subject matter in a photographic image.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They deal with the issues of truth and reality in photography, and with
the layers of influence and decision-making in the process of making
photographic images - in a not dissimilar way to my series for Assignment Five.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I've been thinking about how they
might be presented and have explored the idea of combining different
version/stages together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are four
examples below.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4eswu_MWO7pYx5e5nuGaH_M2acgHzh7xD-F6VBoea-ZiEmmI1U4vkklSHMIX9KNKiotWY_MHJB_ISPY4M1X_PgUUHo4cZ2W6PRHxfiAIWRFf8o3bKYOnNRaOA_TIBJdfe4EdeA_GIvNKg/s1600/Tied+Combine+01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4eswu_MWO7pYx5e5nuGaH_M2acgHzh7xD-F6VBoea-ZiEmmI1U4vkklSHMIX9KNKiotWY_MHJB_ISPY4M1X_PgUUHo4cZ2W6PRHxfiAIWRFf8o3bKYOnNRaOA_TIBJdfe4EdeA_GIvNKg/s320/Tied+Combine+01.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Tied 01</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3AMBMfraQWarICLiXu-yKALL20qSlomtc43awhPR4yvVW_8jJ-3yEghLyL5uMcp35CuOF6GHu6U6cdgtEHsOcUseJ2mdPLAGJmrKpgQXNg93-B7CbixQKXB4nk_Yu71ZhAkMI5Y2_oYXz/s1600/Tied+Combine+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3AMBMfraQWarICLiXu-yKALL20qSlomtc43awhPR4yvVW_8jJ-3yEghLyL5uMcp35CuOF6GHu6U6cdgtEHsOcUseJ2mdPLAGJmrKpgQXNg93-B7CbixQKXB4nk_Yu71ZhAkMI5Y2_oYXz/s320/Tied+Combine+02.jpg" width="312" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Tied 02</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMV2Ir_aRtxSCU0Tkn5TkUyE4Df07F-AU4nG0CI7WWaTv6AL92Xy2O3kcHucgrFxg5_qaThEZOqgVPVSoNa-3P9pb-clnzpJB5m5l5BF7Xv5uddShfHwmAQH5o_5Cv4RynLx6WxB0fgJd/s1600/Tied+Combine+03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMV2Ir_aRtxSCU0Tkn5TkUyE4Df07F-AU4nG0CI7WWaTv6AL92Xy2O3kcHucgrFxg5_qaThEZOqgVPVSoNa-3P9pb-clnzpJB5m5l5BF7Xv5uddShfHwmAQH5o_5Cv4RynLx6WxB0fgJd/s320/Tied+Combine+03.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Tied 03</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik3zEUHAsPwOWyzc5RzYTdlWLO5fdkUAn5sRSr_xctyoBGRkEDdYSf-Uy6uY7g6u41Fdvdl4ad3OJYfSh18U27ejzqpojLV2o6RGKl7JBcrq5K35I77tDVVkbdUaKocpmyGfG7ExbXsMf3/s1600/Tied+Combine+04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik3zEUHAsPwOWyzc5RzYTdlWLO5fdkUAn5sRSr_xctyoBGRkEDdYSf-Uy6uY7g6u41Fdvdl4ad3OJYfSh18U27ejzqpojLV2o6RGKl7JBcrq5K35I77tDVVkbdUaKocpmyGfG7ExbXsMf3/s320/Tied+Combine+04.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Tied 04</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Presentation needs a little more
thought & I would need to process some of the other images in a similar manner,
but I'm quite interested in the way these explore, and maybe question, the extent
to which photographic image-making plays with truth and reality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></div>
stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-38434078783563424532013-10-05T03:58:00.000-07:002013-10-17T08:18:12.186-07:00Looking at Stezaker & Learning to 'Swim'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWzEYC6XG8wpPgkBtx_8AnHiSy1xz8-vQ5Hh_P0d1WTcu_su3mnYoTVgzMCezROBUO_5eS3-uwLP1_aPGmKxOh90UlXipdI4ZLD-uERsptc_1kVb6OyPs3SSpyKp5P6geIHdG5Ur0oXnUC/s1600/642e2c86d7821d45_stezaker-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWzEYC6XG8wpPgkBtx_8AnHiSy1xz8-vQ5Hh_P0d1WTcu_su3mnYoTVgzMCezROBUO_5eS3-uwLP1_aPGmKxOh90UlXipdI4ZLD-uERsptc_1kVb6OyPs3SSpyKp5P6geIHdG5Ur0oXnUC/s320/642e2c86d7821d45_stezaker-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">Untitled,
1977</span></i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">
Found Image - John Stezaker<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">(From <a href="http://www.whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/john-stezaker"><span style="color: blue;">2011
Whitechapel Gallery Exhibition</span></a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Since Assignment Five went off to my
tutor, I've been taking some time to look properly at the work of John
Stezaker.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His collages have partially informed
my own work for Assignment Five;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>plus I
saw, and really enjoyed, a significant exhibition of his work in Arles a couple
of months ago (blogged </span><a href="http://stansocapwdp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/les-rencontres-darles-part-two.html"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">here</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">);
and on returning from Arles, I got the book that came with his Whitechapel
Gallery Retrospective in 2011 - </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Stezaker-Dawn-Ades/dp/1905464339/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380729960&sr=1-1&keywords=john+stezaker"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">John Stezaker</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The image above isn't a collage, of course; it's an inverted image - a
film still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He tells the story of how
his wife acquired it for him in the early 1970s, when he was beginning to
collect such images.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was upside down
when she handed it to him and immediately made an impact on him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He says that it sat, upside down, on the
piano music stand, for five years, before he could be sure that inverting it in
this way might be regarded as art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh,
the angst of the creative process!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can
see why the image haunted him - it has an unsettling effect on me, too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is an excellent illustration (albeit not a
typical one) of the way that Stezaker intervenes with images and explores (as
he puts it) the 'after-life of the image'.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Thirty years or more ago, he was
asking these sorts of questions of himself (all quoted from the book):</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">How can you be an artist in a
culture of images?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Images that are already in the world
are so much more fascinating than anything I could create. Could art be just
finding and taking out of circulation?</span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Thirty years on, the answer seems to
be a resounding 'yes' as he has built a highly successful practice on the
'found' image.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But also interesting to
reflect back to the research for my Assignment Four essay and the concerns of
some younger contemporary art photographers - such as Lucas Blalock saying that
everything may have been photographed - and artists such as Mishka Henner
(blogged </span><a href="http://stansocapwdp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/study-visit-open-eye-gallery-liverpool.html"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">here</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">)
working with images from the internet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
also think of a quote from Laura Letinsky that I used in my essay, to the
effect that her more recent work (in which she also uses existing images) involves letting go of photography's promise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems that Stezaker has, for the last
thirty years, been letting go of the photographic image's promise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Michael Bracewell puts it in an essay in
the book linked above, he does so "... through a succession of interruptions
and interventions that disconnect the image from its referential
bearings".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In an interview with
Stezaker, in the same book, Daniel F, Herrmann suggests to him that
"meaning seems to germinate in between the cracks" of his images; and
Stezaker replies that "It is those spaces that excite me".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are several references to him creating
a space in which the after-life of these 'rescued' images can be contemplated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That, in turn, reminds me of another
Letinsky-related quote that I used.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Duncan Wooldridge said something to the effect that she is exploring a
pictorial space outside of regular temporality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Stezaker, of course, has worked extensively with film stills, which he
describes as having "temporal ambiguity" (because they are pretending
to be something there are not - <u>not</u> in fact frames from the actual
movies, but posed, staged imitations of a moment in the narrative, making them,
perhaps, more like paintings than anything else ...).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So, why am I stringing together
these disparate quotes and references?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It is because I feel myself to have been caught up for most of this year
in this swirl of time and space questions, together with my earlier 'angst'
about what I was doing with my own photographic image-making.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Stezaker's 30 year old concerns about an
artist's potential to create meaningful images in an already substantial flow
of existing images feels somehow reassuring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My research for Assignment Four was also reassuring, to an extent; and,
though I await feedback on my Assignment Five images, that work has taken me a
little way into similar areas - and it has been enjoyable & rewarding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I haven't <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>pinned down exactly what is going on in this
fast-flowing deluge of 21st century imagery - in fact, just the opposite, I've
begun to accept that there is no pinning-down potential whatsoever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps I am, at least, learning to swim and
stay afloat - from which position one can observe what is going on around. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-14382776498061526382013-09-27T03:59:00.000-07:002013-09-27T03:59:59.808-07:00Assignment Five - Progress Report 4<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Assignment Five has gone off to my tutor this week - so awaiting feedback. Something that went through my mind after sending it off is how my approach to submitting assignments has changed. Whilst, of course, it still feels important to get the work to a high standard before sending off, there is more of a sense of 'work-in-progress' - which is a little different from early modules when one felt the need to impress by having everything perfect. I'll get feedback and advice, then I'll do some more work, then (in March, for this module) I'll submit for assessment. Maybe this is also part of a transition to regarding it as 'my work' and not something to 'please' tutor/OCA etc. I could, potentially, see ways to go on developing some of the ideas that have emerged during Assignments Four and Five.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;">In my last post, I mentioned that I might share my Assignment Five images with the OCA Flickr group. I did, and was much encouraged by the feedback (thanks everyone!), a lot of which is here:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7216643@N06/9784303254/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/7216643@N06/9784303254/</a>stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-80636832024671907842013-09-17T04:51:00.000-07:002013-09-17T04:51:16.099-07:00Assignment Five - Progress Report 3
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I am going to prepare an Assignment
Five <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>submission to my tutor before the
end of September.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don't think that
will necessarily be the end of the story - I can envisage further development
before going to the March Assessment session - but I have six images at a stage
where they can be submitted for feedback.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They are below; and there is background on what I've been doing in these
previous posts:- </span><a href="http://stansocapwdp.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Assignment%20Five"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">http://stansocapwdp.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Assignment-Five</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(And,
please note, the intended outcome is <u>large prints</u>.) (I<u> am</u> aware that one has a different coloured background!)<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ADkPsmW43B_OdnSUtoDwlTJEuZF7NltOk6o0pmYKUAH2LKxPdJDg9dusldFSrFkBlhCHxZUHJRKSctDS4-i3OUNZ8nXJ6n18LB4vnGXt_RwSyTkTeA4ibi8Udcd5csIB5w4Z3piR3zxH/s1600/Assignment+Five-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ADkPsmW43B_OdnSUtoDwlTJEuZF7NltOk6o0pmYKUAH2LKxPdJDg9dusldFSrFkBlhCHxZUHJRKSctDS4-i3OUNZ8nXJ6n18LB4vnGXt_RwSyTkTeA4ibi8Udcd5csIB5w4Z3piR3zxH/s320/Assignment+Five-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Assignment 5 - 1</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7sfX_pzZ1Y4ojihABaT6y8NVaNcQrgq2FhhokI0j7T1ZxigaKlsRpVzXjrnrBioWyKWHV031FH_KKDq5MohmhI7fu8FeYVjKtWn-JlK15h-9khxmMAjB16oSlkWG-E10nY8h6PnQX_Pi8/s1600/Assignment+Five-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7sfX_pzZ1Y4ojihABaT6y8NVaNcQrgq2FhhokI0j7T1ZxigaKlsRpVzXjrnrBioWyKWHV031FH_KKDq5MohmhI7fu8FeYVjKtWn-JlK15h-9khxmMAjB16oSlkWG-E10nY8h6PnQX_Pi8/s320/Assignment+Five-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Assignment 5 - 2</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhllMTd7CzBxVcG5Wer5Pn53TuklOA4pfrsvetVu4oj0fVAciLe8Xz6kv3h-0XwcHuj0ZJ1fOrjvA_j101FxwU2a-nqmtFhz-wqvwuL5vjn7VnAekmURKt9_Nc1ktvKHc0e4SvYfAF31c1_/s1600/Assignment+Five-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhllMTd7CzBxVcG5Wer5Pn53TuklOA4pfrsvetVu4oj0fVAciLe8Xz6kv3h-0XwcHuj0ZJ1fOrjvA_j101FxwU2a-nqmtFhz-wqvwuL5vjn7VnAekmURKt9_Nc1ktvKHc0e4SvYfAF31c1_/s320/Assignment+Five-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Assignment 5 - 3</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"></span> </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvfaAmZ_Y2j6zU56plO7uwl4B-A7VZqm0WzWjRo7HUzO1ahwZ3VVPA3zCridiyeGUTQVmZ_-_2C0H_fJ7Js2rWvMjcEjJ9lnmaOY5sN3DUe_KSKhibDAOy-rnnniE0NRguu5Y_bX5p9ESw/s1600/Assignment+Five-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvfaAmZ_Y2j6zU56plO7uwl4B-A7VZqm0WzWjRo7HUzO1ahwZ3VVPA3zCridiyeGUTQVmZ_-_2C0H_fJ7Js2rWvMjcEjJ9lnmaOY5sN3DUe_KSKhibDAOy-rnnniE0NRguu5Y_bX5p9ESw/s320/Assignment+Five-4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Assignment 5 - 4</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Assignment 5 - 5</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Assignment 5 - 6</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As the previous posts explain, the
brief for this assignment is to photograph an <u>event</u> - planning,
photographing, processing, and publicising, in a photo-journalistic/documentary
context.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have chosen to stretch that
brief somewhat - producing my own response to a significant sporting event of
Summer 2013, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>Ashes Series of Test
Matches between England and Australia</u></i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The 'process' has been as follows:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The
original images have come from a wide range of sources - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">second hand books; newspapers; Google image searching; Flickr; a
specialist cricket site; even my own living room (Image 4)</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Each
of my six images started as a 'rough', before assembling the version seen here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In some cases, the original image (cut from a
book, say) has been used; but in many cases the original has been
re-photographed and re-sized, to scale in with my assembly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most have been cut in some way, with a craft
knife.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">These
'assemblies' (feels like the right word to describe what I've done) are
deliberately 'transparent' and even a little crude in places. (I refer to
Letinsky, Blalock, Stezaker etc, in the other posts.)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They have been lit (using 2 studio lights) to
try and emphasise the 'cut and paste' aesthetic; and then re-photographed to
produce a large-file digital image of the assembly, as it appeared in 'my
studio' (don't actually have one - but that's the principle).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">As
well as processing ready to print, some have had subsequent 'pixel' processing
(moving, cloning, deleting etc), partly to improve the image, but also to quite
deliberately confuse the eye in the detail.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I
have printed each at A3+ (13"x19") for submission to my tutor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Worth saying that I am not 100% sure about
my own printing & need the feedback on them now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I may subsequently have to go for external
printing - and I might even consider pushing the size larger again for
Assessment submission [If I can get away with it!])<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I have also taken the opportunity to
reflect, again, on what this is all about!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Reflections that I will share here ...<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The
projects origins lie in my Assignment Four research of contemporary still life
photography - specifically the likes of Laura Letinsky and Lucas Blalock - but there
are also, clearly, links to John Stezaker's combining of found images to make
something new, something that says something different.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The
images are, of course, in response to a brief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I think there is an element of subversion - subverting the implied
notion in the course notes that 'professional standards' = getting one's
photo-journalistic work published in the media.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But hopefully it is a creative, thoughtful and imaginative response to
the notion of photographing an event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>[The 'event', one might say, was my sticking together a few scraps of
paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or, am I photographing a series
of mythical events that never really happened?]<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">There
is also intended to be some 'real' response, beyond the hint of intellectualising
above (and below).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The images do
actually illustrate social and historical change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Image 5 has a highly 'posed' Australian
batsman (from the 1880s, as it happens) looking somewhat overwhelmed by the
ways in which the game (the world?) has changed by 2013.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it is also my intention that this
bringing together of images from all sorts of sources (and times) might suggest
some reflection on the ways in which today's photographers, faced with image
saturation, can respond to events.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
has certainly occurred to me that one might produce similar responses to
current affairs at all sorts of levels.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Then,
perhaps returning to the intellectualising, I am trying to explore the layers
of image-making - prints of paintings, copies of old photos, colour prints in
books, to internet-based imagery, TV pictures, graphics, and then digital
manipulation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, in the final prints,
(and partly in response to the Letinsky prints I saw at the Photographers
Gallery), I am interested in the surface of the photographic print - what can
we do with that flat surface? what depth of visual impact can it generate?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'm not so sure I will get there on this
final issue - but the exploration is part of the point of the project.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So - a submission to my tutor by the
end of the month; probably, I will share these images in the OCA Flickr group,
too; and I may still look at producing two composite portraits - the archetypal
'English' and 'Australian' cricketer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
course brief also asks for evidence of 'marketing' the work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's not at that stage yet - but I should
probably give it a go</span>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-68588312066354037452013-08-15T06:55:00.000-07:002013-08-26T09:56:30.343-07:00Assignment Five - Progress Report 2<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I got a supportive e-mail from my
tutor during the visit to Arles, which was good news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am encouraged to carry on "off
piste" with the assignment and he likes the "simple cut and paste
aesthetic".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is, I think, a
challenge in trying to retain some of that whilst also looking to achieve 'professional
standards' in the final image/print - a challenge but not unachievable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One thing has become very clear to me over
the last ten days (and it was no great surprise) - I am never going to get to
the standard of finish that I want with my D80 camera.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it has some serious limitations (pixel count;
noise in low light; old DX sensor) and is in serious need of a sensor
clean.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So - one very significant piece
of progress since last week is illustrated in this image.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOY4oQw7SQdkATm3mf1PLHdGvzFJs3Sl0Qn59OMIFlN0HEVf8twxpRQv_4leK2-aRK4VzL0TFMh0Au1jxcPr0dKYMUkB6V1AY8SSj41CTmUm0RyWOdw0frJ3oYPJZFUeHBy41vLXMrZK1O/s1600/Ass+5+Lighting+Set-up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOY4oQw7SQdkATm3mf1PLHdGvzFJs3Sl0Qn59OMIFlN0HEVf8twxpRQv_4leK2-aRK4VzL0TFMh0Au1jxcPr0dKYMUkB6V1AY8SSj41CTmUm0RyWOdw0frJ3oYPJZFUeHBy41vLXMrZK1O/s320/Ass+5+Lighting+Set-up.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I am now the proud owner of a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>NIKON D800</u></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am not a kit freak and I resist wholeheartedly
the temptation to always have the latest gadget - but there comes a time!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also bought an Interfit 3-head studio
lighting kit a few weeks ago - so, here we see the simple set-up that I have
been using to start making some images for the assignment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Turning to the images themselves, I
have moved the two originals on from the 'sketches' included in the last
post.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the following version, all
images in the compilation have been processed more carefully for colour, tonal
balance etc (though they remain somewhat basic, being, in several cases,
cut-outs from books or small downloaded images), and have been printed on
photographic paper (and subsequently cut out with a craft knife).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrbtA5__vkAr_Otk8hDNISHWr8cGOvK5V2jQ-QLtYIzGiEMaIEZBk6d8qPdzpY12l7RRSWnAEAMDSaOCf2yzVzBTrbGKk0uFePoPLXKWxfQpaaSAdPtYNL0EeRoqdOMjopkqXKfGsgqSSO/s1600/Assignment+5-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrbtA5__vkAr_Otk8hDNISHWr8cGOvK5V2jQ-QLtYIzGiEMaIEZBk6d8qPdzpY12l7RRSWnAEAMDSaOCf2yzVzBTrbGKk0uFePoPLXKWxfQpaaSAdPtYNL0EeRoqdOMjopkqXKfGsgqSSO/s320/Assignment+5-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It feels more like a 'quality' image
but there is some loss of the 'cut and paste' aesthetic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I even curled the edges of some of the images
a little to introduce some shadow and depth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The images are quite crudely fixed to the backing paper, so that there
is shadow and depth to the foreground 'painting', for example.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The new version of my other 'original' actually
combines photo paper and plain paper.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimLU22pcjYKPTtnEAIHTep0OyylxTwVE5b0tESz7DoAFJL5eZuzjq-o4cWD4yynA6nIzSFAOv8rSO2bWQB2bpyLMXUyphMVkR5dw_24udEe42EBk-v-ncyQKKdQqedV1ARVZ2yaS1viKlP/s1600/Assignment+5-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimLU22pcjYKPTtnEAIHTep0OyylxTwVE5b0tESz7DoAFJL5eZuzjq-o4cWD4yynA6nIzSFAOv8rSO2bWQB2bpyLMXUyphMVkR5dw_24udEe42EBk-v-ncyQKKdQqedV1ARVZ2yaS1viKlP/s320/Assignment+5-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The black and white scene in the
very centre (from the Bodyline Ashes series in the 1930s) is printed on plain
paper and has curled more under the lights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It helps achieve the 'transparency' of process that I have referred to
elsewhere, and is close to the Letinsky aesthetic, too.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I also have a third image now - where
I have varied the scale.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQKQGKre_c2y3CLSfNwaLdtHwBrjhsFJfKvRAhl7xa_R4Qbs_nmxlZ7MunBnfANHP4Hylil9sdxpSvYKM7cizQ2NyFU6c44E1kS5wMXMVLojmQZiSZlFE8_DKJ7tKMaIu5rA0Vk2wJ1eQU/s1600/Assignment+5-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQKQGKre_c2y3CLSfNwaLdtHwBrjhsFJfKvRAhl7xa_R4Qbs_nmxlZ7MunBnfANHP4Hylil9sdxpSvYKM7cizQ2NyFU6c44E1kS5wMXMVLojmQZiSZlFE8_DKJ7tKMaIu5rA0Vk2wJ1eQU/s320/Assignment+5-3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I'm quite pleased with this one, as
it has a crude simplicity about it - something like a 'still life' image - but
manages to combine all sorts of elements of image-making.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The background, for example, is a cropped
screen-grab from the internet site, Cricinfo, showing the 'Hawk-Eye'
presentation of a ball with which England bowler, Graeme Swann, dismissed
Australian batsman, Rogers, in the Fourth Test of this summer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that very 21st century 'aesthetic' (if
that's an appropriate word!) is being linked to Jim Laker's polite appeal to an
umpire in the 1950s, as he seems to bowl to a 1940s Don Bradman.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the kind of combination which, if
processed and printed at a suitable quality level, would, I hope, interest the
viewer but also raise questions about what exactly I've done and, maybe, why?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I have other ideas to work on - an
image based around a television view of the game, for example, and I might even
have a go at a 'portrait'. - and all images will, eventually, be subject to
more 'processing'.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span>stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-85074623892215450972013-08-05T09:30:00.004-07:002013-10-17T08:18:28.257-07:00Les Rencontres d'Arles - Part Two<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7MgfUFNxIypBfCNPYwE_bwXpbd53VUdxQLt0Vcq4QCsULummz0473kb04KjCHH46lHbURwBlbkE1Vm5KiNdMUALurLuMGQoVTbNY9bNX8L7WzQpGBIZy6p3ZLU1a4FNGbAd8hft2UCkhy/s1600/Arles+2013-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7MgfUFNxIypBfCNPYwE_bwXpbd53VUdxQLt0Vcq4QCsULummz0473kb04KjCHH46lHbURwBlbkE1Vm5KiNdMUALurLuMGQoVTbNY9bNX8L7WzQpGBIZy6p3ZLU1a4FNGbAd8hft2UCkhy/s320/Arles+2013-2.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><strong><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Rue de la Calade, Arles</span></strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Back home and reflecting on the week
in Arles, I come to the conclusion that the experience must provide a series of
starting points from which I might pursue further research and exploration, as
a when.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That's a pragmatic thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even with a high level of selectivity, I seem
to have seen so much that attempting to go beyond an initial, personal response
would take an enormous amount of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
notice, for example, that last week, a series of videos have appeared on the
Rencontres d'Arles blog - </span><a href="http://rencontres-arles-photo.tv/en/#a-la-une-en"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">here</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are mostly of use to those who have good
French, of course, but there is a great deal of material for further
exploration - quite apart from the temptation to go off and do further research
via the regular routes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So this post
will just summarise my own reactions to several of the other exhibitions
visited, not necessarily supported, at this stage, by further research.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In no particular order ...<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p> </o:p></span><br />
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Hiroshi Sugimoto</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Japanese photography is something of
a 'thin' area in my own knowledge & experience, so I was keen to take the
opportunity to look at the two Sugimoto shows.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His colour show - </span><a href="http://www.rencontres-arles.com/A11/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=ARL_1024_VForm&FRM=Frame:ARL_1131#/CMS3&VF=ARL_1024_VForm&FRM=Frame:ARL_1087"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">Couleurs
d'Ombre</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> - is a commercially supported work, in collaboration with the Hermès
brand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Colour Polaroid images, created
by Sugimoto with a prism to refract the natural sunlight and a mirror to focus
on the particular hues, are printed onto silk scarves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The presentation, in the Église Saint-Blaise,
a small, disused chapel, where the scarves are suspended either side of the
knave, reminded me of heraldic banners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They are beautifully printed and presented, but I couldn't seem to get far
beyond the notion of brand positioning and the commercial realties of what was
on show.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Entering the space where his second
show - </span><a href="http://www.rencontres-arles.com/A11/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=ARL_1024_VForm&FRM=Frame:ARL_1131#/CMS3&VF=ARL_1024_VForm&FRM=Frame:ARL_1086"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">Revolution</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">
- takes place also feels akin to a religious experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tall black and white prints, getting on for 3
metres high and of immaculate quality, line each side of a long room - maybe 5
or 6 each side, I didn't count them; and there are two smaller prints, one at
each end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The lights are relatively dim
- with a strong spot on each image - and the room is air-conditioned, which
adds to the sense that one has entered a special (sacred?) space.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps, thinking back, one is immediately
led to consider form and presentation, and into a mood of contemplation, meditation
and detachment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sugimoto's intro notes
discuss out-of-body experiences and dream-like sensations - so there is a very
clear intention behind this very careful staging.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems almost irrelevant to discuss the
subject matter and content of the images.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They are from some older negatives of his - seascapes, mainly, often
long exposures that show the track of the moon or stars in a night sky; and the
exact locations are available in some separate notes, if you want them and can
read them in the dim light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the images,
originally in a panoramic framing, have been stood on their ends ('revolved'
through 90 degrees) and printed on this monumental scale to produce huge monochromatic
abstracts that reminded me of Rothko's 'black' paintings that I saw some years
ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Then I discover that there was a
joint show last year - </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/oct/03/rothko-hiroshi-sugimoto-pace-london-gallery"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">(from
the Guardian)</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> - and that Sugimoto acknowledges a Rothko exhibition of 1978
as a major influence, so no great surprise!)<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Sugimoto also refers to humans of the future looking back at the
limitations of our 'geocentric' thinking and, despite the scale and the
abstraction, I feel something strongly humanistic about the experience (a slight
qualification of my reference to religion, perhaps).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, reflecting afterwards, I make a link to
another exhibition seen elsewhere - the British Museum's presentation of art
from 20-40,000 years ago ... a continuum, maybe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems, though, to be form that matters
here - abstract forms; immaculate prints; muted, moody, monochromes ('yes' -
black and white<u> is</u> relevant today, in answer to the Rencontres' overall
question); carefully staged presentation - there is a lot to take away and
think about here.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Jacques Henri Lartigue - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Bibi</i></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b> </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Lartigue Show, Église des
Trinitaires</span></span></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Another large exhibition in a
church, the show comprises prints of Lartigue's photos from 1918-30, mainly
featuring his first wife - Bibi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They
are accompanied by some limited text quoting his written feelings about her and
some more detailed curatorial and contextual boards.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a visual narrative of his life, at a
time when very few, if any, were doing such a thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Often, these are intimate shots and family
photos - but all to a very high standard of composition and framing that is
characteristic of Lartigue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is
also plenty of evidence of his remarkable ability to capture movement with
superb timing (can't help feeling that he must have wasted a lot of film
practising ... though the truth is probably that he was just very, very good).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this context, one has to respect his
vision in being able to see what might be possible, let alone his ability to
carry it off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At another level, of
course, one has to be aware of the privileged young man who <u>can</u> have the
time, the equipment and opportunity to mess around with his camera; and the
back-story of the relationship with Bibi, for whom he claimed to feel so much
and yet let her down and cheated, so that she eventually left him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is, though, a privilege to have the chance
to see the original work of a very talented and innovative photographer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><strong>Viviane Sassen - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">In and out of fashion</i></strong></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">In </span><a href="http://rencontres-arles-photo.tv/en/#viviane-sassen-aux-rencontres-darles-2013"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">this
video</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">, Vivianne Sassen says that the show is of her fashion work, not her
personal work, and that it is fashion, not art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She is very best person to make that judgement - so, it is not art!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did enjoy her show, particularly the light
show/installation in the final room, which I tried to capture a little of in
these two photographs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It combines projection, angled mirrors,
a white floor and walls, a slideshow, and more mirrors - very 'fashion', I
guess, but certainly an experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
is surreal; she is edgy; she is also funny and provocative; and I enjoyed the
show - yet another contrast with so much else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is one question that lingers - largely emerging from subsequent
discussion with John U and with my wife.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>How would some of her work be viewed if it had been shot by a male
photographer?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does it, and should it,
make any difference?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was, of
course, a lengthy discussion in a not dissimilar vein on the OCA's </span><a href="http://www.weareoca.com/photography/women/"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">WeAreOCA</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> blog - a hugely
complicated, and at times delicate, issue that I'm not going to explore further
here.</span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">John Davies - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">France England</i></span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The exhibition spans two rooms - one
containing the familiar landscape images of England - mostly changing urban
environments, photographed from 1980s to early 2000s; and the other, images
from Northern France, also about changing environments, but this time more
rural and relating to the arrival of the A26 Autoroute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The prints are all black & white,
characteristically large scale, and typical of Davies' 'stand-back',
non-committed, democratic view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There
is, on the whole, a clear difference of 'scale' between the complex UK urban
pictures, usually shot from an elevated position, and the more intimate, less
complex, and not always elevated views of France.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the context of the Rencontres' question
about black & white imagery, i do wonder whether Davies' work has a dated
feel about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The photographs from the
1980s have a very definite feeling of their time; but then, when one comes
across a photograph of Sheffield in the 2000s, in the same style, it can be
confusing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of course, Davies is, I
assume, seeking consistency, but I feel less comfortable with the more
contemporary views.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">John Stezaker - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Working from the collection</i></span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This is the first time I have seen
Stezaker's work 'in the flesh', and I enjoyed it very much.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were plenty of the 'familiar' 2-image
split collages - portraits; some B-movie stills; some replacing the direction
of gaze with a 'cut-out' looking like a blank projection screen (note the Jaar
image mentioned in my previous post) - and a fascinating series of tiny
'cut-outs' of people walking, looking, standing, all of them details from what
must have been much larger images that we will never see, plus a video comprising
rapidly changing images of horses, over 3000 of them collected over several
years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only have I not seen much of
his work, but I haven't research too much background either - so a book is 'on
order' to put that right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The use of
found images is helpful in informing what I' trying to do with Assignment Five,
and I note the significance of 'line' in his collage combinations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The human eye seems to look for some link or
line between the images - often, in Stezaker's portraits, an eyebrow or a
hairline - which is then 'challenged' by the disparity elsewhere in the
images.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I note the high quality
aesthetic at work - the quality of the original images, the precision and care
in the cutting and matching.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I say,
more research needed here, to get a better understanding of his process and
intention.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Sergio Larrain - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Retrospective</i></span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This was another new name, to me,
very much in the mould of Cartier-Bresson, Brandt, Bravo etc, a sensitive and
artistic street documentary style, familiar but also with some
differences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I found some of his framing
and compositional choices interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He had no problem with breaking the rules - leaving things outside the
frame for the viewer to imagine, whilst presenting a detail that hinted at what
lay beyond.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Interesting, also, that he
chose to 'drop out' of the world of art photography, choosing from the late
1970s to live in isolation in his native Chile, and only, it seems, agreeing
late in his life to the principle of a retrospective such as the one on show
here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'm glad to have seen it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Christina de Middel - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Afronauts</i></span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I missed the OCA study visit to the
Deutsche Bourse finalists, so this was a chance to see de Middel's nominated
series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The context is the unlikely, but
apparently factual, premise of the 1964 Zambian space mission, combined with
her interest in challenging the "veracity of photography as a
document" (</span><a href="http://www.rencontres-arles.com/A11/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=ARL_1024_VForm&FRM=Frame:ARL_1048&LANGSWI=1&LANG=English"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">exhibition
notes</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">) and turning a 50 year old fact into a photographic history.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The presentation worked well for me - some
'blow-ups' of what purported to be contemporaneous black and white 'evidence';
images of mistyped letters, echoing and older, slower form of communication
that might just have allowed this idea to develop; big prints with rounded
corners on the framing, that seemed to refer back to 1960/70s transparencies or
a TV screen; images hung on boards covered in silver foil, a historic signifier
of 'space' suits and reflective materials. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was a gentle humour about the whole
thing - though I could see how it might be read as somewhat patronising to
Africa/Africans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then again, is that
deliberate?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More a reflection on the
delusions and extravagance of <u>some</u> African leaders? I'm not sure, and I
haven't had the opportunity to follow through with further research/reading -
but it's an interesting project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Worthy
of a nomination for a major photographic prize? That's open to some question, I
think.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Marion Gronier - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Glorious Ones</i></span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This is a BMW supported project, in
conjunction with the Musée Nicéphore-Niépce, in which Marion Gronier
photographs circus performers just after they have come out of the ring,
following their performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
slightly odd-ball nature of the somewhat motley crew of performers and the
presence of vast amounts of make-up with bright costumes, together with
perspiration and tiredness, make for interesting portraits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are all head-&-shoulders,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>in full colour, large square-shaped prints,
mainly mounted before framing, but some not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is an accompanying video in which there is some discussion between
Gronier and the Musée curator about framing, prior to the first showing of
these images at Paris Photo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She seems
to prefer no mounts, but the BMW-backed curator holds sway!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also wrote the accompanying notes, which
are </span><a href="http://www.rencontres-arles.com/A11/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=ARL_1024_VForm&FRM=Frame:ARL_1048&LANGSWI=1&LANG=English#/CMS3&VF=ARL_1024_VForm&FRM=Frame:ARL_1030&LANGSWI=1&LANG=English"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">here</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Far be it from me to question the validity of
his comments - and it is clearly a translation from the French, which may not
help, but good as the work is, his hyperbole seems to me to go a little way
over the top!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Watching the video, one
can empathise with Gronier and the moment she is trying to capture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It <u>is</u> interesting to see her at work
and I like the outcome - but this seems to me to be one of those occasions when
the curator's words don't provide a great deal of help to either artist or
viewer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it might just be me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Seeing her working did take me back to </span><a href="http://stansocablog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/assignment-five-some-post-feedback.html"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">some
portraits I did for People & Place</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> and made me wonder whether it would
be interesting to return to 'people' at Level Three - something to think about.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">We did see several other exhibitions
- Eric Kessels interesting exploration of the family album; Stéphane
Coutourier's intriguing montage of stage-preparations for the Avignon Festival;
the SFR Emerging Talents series, with a theme of 'Manipulation', notably
Vincent Fillon's beautiful and intricate merging of pairs of 'before and after'
images of the same interior during demolition/construction; Antoine Gonin's
'abstract landscapes'; and so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Arles
has been a really positive and inspiring experience, with so much to take away
and consider, too much to document fully.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I hope I get the chance to do it again another year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-31166884162290272102013-08-04T00:24:00.001-07:002013-10-17T08:18:43.296-07:00Les Rencontres d'Arles - Part One<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">'Arles in Black'</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> is the theme for the 2013 Arles'
Rencontres.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It should perhaps be 'Arles
in Black & White', and even that might not be strictly accurate, since
there is plenty of colour around, but that's about the extent of the
significant criticism I would make of what is a marvellous and extensive
celebration of photographic art.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Located
partly in a variety of sites around the delightful and historic city itself -
all within ten minutes walk of each other, even in mid-30 degree heat - and
partly in the Parc des Ateliers - a collection of disused and partly derelict
factories, within five minutes walk of the city - the festival must offer the
best concentration of photographic exhibitions anywhere in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And these are not small exhibitions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is one aspect that surprised and pleased
me most.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Exhibition Space 12 at the
Parc des Ateliers, for example, has sizeable shows of John Davies, John Stezaker,
Antoine Gonin, Michel Vanden Eeckhoudt, as well as a collection of prints of
Hollywood personalities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wouldn't be
difficult to spend two or three hours at this location alone.</span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Parc
des Ateliers, Arles<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Therein lies one of the
challenges!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With over fifty exhibitions
in total, it is impossible to attend all of them within any reasonable amount
of time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we were there on holiday,
so there was no likelihood of spending an entire week at photographic exhibitions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, I had already consulted the official
website - </span></span><a href="http://www.rencontres-arles.com/A11/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=ARL_782_VForm&SrvRsp=1&LANG=English&LANGSWI=1"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">Les Rencontres d'Arles</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> - and read some reviews, including </span></span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/jul/07/rencontres-arles-2013-review"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">Sean O'Hagan in the Observer</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">, of whom more later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had decided that I definitely wanted to see
Davis and Stezaker, plus Hiroshi Sugimoto, Wolfgang Tillmans, Christina De
Middel, Jacques Henri Lartigue and Gilbert Garcin; and also, following
O'Hagan's powerful recommendation, Alfredo Jaar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We managed to take in all of those, plus a
reasonably serious look at four or five others and a fairly casual 'skim' of
another four or five.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don't think I
could have coped with many more than that - so planning and selectivity were
crucial.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Recording reactions to all of that
is another challenge!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I kept a notebook
of initial thoughts, which largely informs what follows, together with
subsequent reflection, a little bit of further research, and the chance, during
the week in Arles, to have some discussion with one fellow student - John
U.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'm going to start, in this first
post, with three exhibitions that produced strong, but quite different
responses in me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Wolfgang Tillmans - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Neue Welt</i></span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I mentioned 'big' exhibitions; this
one is really 'big' - large spaces, a lot of images, and some very big prints
(some so large that they were actually made up of two prints joined together,
which seems a pity, given the obvious expense behind the whole show).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is also in colour - high colour, intense
and saturated - and it is 'digital' - shot on digital cameras and, at times,
printed to a level of intense detail that seems well beyond 'reality'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tillmans is asking himself "... whether
the world can be seen 'anew' in an era characterised by a deluge of media
images ..." says the accompanying text (</span></span><a href="http://www.rencontres-arles.com/A11/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=ARL_1024_VForm&FRM=Frame:ARL_1035"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">from the Rencontres website</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I noted afterwards that this is an exhibition likely to produce mixed
reactions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Certainly, it feels to be as
much or more about process and photography as it is about subject matter or the
world - a 'New World' of photography rather than a genuinely 'New World'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The subjects of the images, be they a toucan,
car headlight, Ethiopian market or digital monitor screen, (and that short list
gives a flavour of the eclectic range on offer) seem almost irrelevant to the
splendour of their representation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
that respect - and I think this is why I liked it and enjoyed it - it is a
totally 'Second Decade of the 21st Century' exhibition, totally 'now'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tillmans pushes the digital capability and
explores how the world can be represented, is being presented, in the digital
age; pushing it past what the 'normal' human eye might see, into something
'ultra-real'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The outcome isn't
necessarily pleasing from an aesthetic viewpoint, and it seems to overwhelm any
documentary context for the subject matter, which is why it may not appeal to
everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It could almost come across as
a 'hyper' version of the camera club print competition - but I sense that this
is the point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is asking questions -
as the above quote suggests - and should certainly provoke discussion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is the "deluge of images" in this <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">neue welt</i>, splendid and overwhelming as
it might be, telling us anything new about the world?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or might it be so overwhelming that it drowns
'reality'?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Alfredo Jaar - <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Politics of the Image</i></span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As the title of this exhibition
suggests, Alfredo Jaar is also asking questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The </span></span><a href="http://www.rencontres-arles.com/A11/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=ARL_1024_VForm&FRM=Frame%3aARL_1035&LANGSWI=1&LANG=English#/CMS3&VF=ARL_1024_VForm&FRM=Frame:ARL_1088&LANGSWI=1&LANG=English"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">accompanying text</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> states that he is "...
questioning photography when it plays the role of the supposedly objective
journalistic witness."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That alone
might have been enough to entice my interest, even though I had no previous
knowledge of Jaar's work, but Sean O'Hagan's article, to which I linked above,
describes it as a 'must-see' show and says that, in his view, Jaar's "...
dissection of the famous White House photograph in which President Obama,
Hillary Clinton and their national security team supposedly watch the mission
to kill Bin Laden live is alone worth making the trip to Arles".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have to say that, had I followed his advice
and gone to Arles just for that purpose, I might have been asking Sean for a
contribution to my fare!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This exhibition
underwhelmed me, I'm afraid; and O'Hagan's star attraction amounted to nothing
more than a suggestion that the Presidential team might have been looking at
nothing but a blank screen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I imagine
that many observers will have sensed, from the moment it first appeared, that
this infamous image would have been staged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Jaar's take on it is a valid and interesting one, but it hardly feels
radical in the world of art photography in 2013 - not to me anyway (and
Stezaker's collages from B-movie stills play with just the same idea).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I think this was my problem with most of
this exhibition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was nothing at
all wrong with the message, nothing wrong with the questions being asked, and I
certainly mean no disrespect to a well-established artist such as Alfredo Jaar,
but I felt to be in a kind of 'time-shift' back to the eighties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whilst the Tillmans work was very definitely
'now', the Jaar exhibition feels like 'then', and as such, it lost some of its
relevance and currency - to my view, at least.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Replacing a series of images of the Rwandan conflict with textual
descriptions of the images and where they were taken - in French - is all very
well, and makes a point, of course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
I for one wasn't in a position to read them - having limited French - so it
could just as effectively be making a point about the limitations of language
as about the limitations of imagery. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surely, also,
the 'Politics of the Image' is a much more complex issue today, with the
ever-increasing digital, internet-based imagery of the 'citizen journalist'
with i-Phone, for example, and this exhibition seemed to be rooted in a
slightly outdated question, with little or no reference to 'today'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My reaction is, of course, partially derived
from my sense that O'Hagan 'oversold' it - but I remain underwhelmed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Could also be, I guess, that it was
very, very hot that day, and there was no air-conditioning in the Eglise des
Frères-Prêcheurs!!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">Gilbert Garcin</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Again, I had no knowledge of Garcin
before my preparation and planning for the Arles visit, but I was immediately
attracted to the prospect at a personal level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He did not take up photography until he was 65, and he is now 84.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So - there is hope for all of us!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Various publications and exhibitions have
followed along the way, but this is a big exhibition, covering a large amount
of his work from the last eighteen years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His approach has been a relatively simple, but powerful one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On a more or less weekly basis, he produces a
photo-montage, black & white image, featuring himself (and sometimes his
wife), as a character called 'Mister G', something akin to Jacques Tati's
Monsieur Hulot, or Alfred Hitchcock appearing, briefly, as himself, in his own
movies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here are the </span></span><a href="http://www.rencontres-arles.com/A11/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=ARL_1024_VForm&FRM=Frame%3aARL_1035&LANGSWI=1&LANG=English#/CMS3&VF=ARL_1024_VForm&FRM=Frame:ARL_1032&LANGSWI=1&LANG=English"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">accompanying notes</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">; and her is a link to his website -
</span></span><a href="http://www.gilbert-garcin.com/"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">http://www.gilbert-garcin.com/</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This, to use a colloquialism, was 'right up my street'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The montages involve all manner of ordinary
objects - string, tape, ink, a dandelion - together with 'Mister G',
manipulated into strange, imaginary scenes and landscapes, which, when combined
with a thoughtful titles, present the viewer with wry comments or questions
about life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are visually
interesting, whimsical, sometimes 'laugh-out-loud' funny, but also strongly
observational, thought-provoking, even philosophical - all in a very engagingly
human and personal way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I have said
that Tillmans exhibition felt like a 'now' and Jaar made me feel like 'then',
Garcin is 'always'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is timeless.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The presentation is simple - smallish, framed
prints, and lots of them - but the impact is strong, and I thoroughly enjoyed
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The montage angle interested me,
too, in the context of the direction I'm taking with Assignment Five, and (most
unusually for me) I have to say that the black & white is perfect for these
images, adding to the feeling of timelessness.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><em>(More to follow.)</em></span></o:p></span></div>
stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-85563269118766956252013-07-11T12:32:00.000-07:002013-07-12T23:37:19.943-07:00Assignment Five - Progress Report 1<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I am making this post with some
degree of trepidation, but I am going on holiday next Wednesday, for two weeks,
and I think it's time to 'go public' on what I'm doing with Assignment
Five.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before I go, I want to share it
with my tutor, and with anyone else who is kind enough to read my blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have been recording the process in a
separate notebook/'sketchbook' & this post won't cover all the detail of
what I'm up to, but it should be enough to give a flavour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My trepidation arises from a) the fact that I
am still, to an extent, testing out the idea, meaning that what appears here
will be, sort of, 'sketches'; and b) a recognition that it might be read by
some (and perhaps rightly!) as complete nonsense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anyway, here goes ...</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I have written a kind of
mini-proposal, which has been agreed with my tutor, and which is here in this
document.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Z5rHYIj0Kj7GopmFfLBMgvqedTTBnL-d_SdK84kW3WINXIgKgQxEJWLFnmBfMo8LmO96t175lhygNN_aco7qXThUMKpp2lSli0a78stwvVkEWVye_tU0ijcA_vTwTiBYobn5CPD0-kpT/s1600/Assignment+Five+-+Proposed+Brief.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Z5rHYIj0Kj7GopmFfLBMgvqedTTBnL-d_SdK84kW3WINXIgKgQxEJWLFnmBfMo8LmO96t175lhygNN_aco7qXThUMKpp2lSli0a78stwvVkEWVye_tU0ijcA_vTwTiBYobn5CPD0-kpT/s320/Assignment+Five+-+Proposed+Brief.jpg" width="286" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">One very important context is the
Laura Letinsky 'still life' work that I've written about before, and which is
best viewed here - </span></span><a href="http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/laura-letinsky-ill-form-and-void-full"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">Ill Form and Void Full -
Photographers Gallery</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
- but I would also point to the Daniel Gordon link mentioned in my 'proposal',
which is here - </span></span><a href="http://www.danielgordonstudio.com/projects/new-pictures"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">Daniel Gordon</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">So far, I have produced
'sketches' or 'mock-ups' of two images.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They are certainly not intended to be finished versions; though I should
stress that some of the 'transparency of process' will remain - look at the
Laura Letinsky work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here they are:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Assignment Five - Rough 1</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Assignment Five - Rough 2</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I don't know whether it is obvious,
but there has been a lot of work behind these and, as I say, I have written up
detailed notes of the background in a separate notebook, but I've also done a
background 'presentation' of how the second of these has evolved, which is here
(click on it to view large and read):<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I need to stress that I see the
final outcome of this process as a set of high quality prints - so anything
viewed digitally will inevitably fall short of my objective.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'm tempted to try and explain further but I
think I might leave it here, as a progress report.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">
</span></span> </span><br />stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-52798426804023186692013-06-28T07:39:00.001-07:002013-06-28T07:39:03.616-07:00Three more student shows
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I've done three more student shows
in the last ten days - 2 degree shows at Huddersfield University & Leeds
College of Art, plus a Diploma-level show from Mid-Cheshire College, which I
stumbled on by accident at the Cube Gallery in Manchester.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I'm not proposing a detailed
write-up here, though I have notes, but just to log the visits and to draw out
any lessons/ themes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The
quality of work that I've seen at Sheffield Hallam and in these three shows is,
on the whole, good, but it is variable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>By the end, I feel that I could have made quite a confident shot at ranking
the students and estimating their mark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It does bring home the fact that <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Quality</u></b>
and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Originality</u></b> really stand
out in this type of multiple show.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And,
one needs to remember, this is kind of what the assessor looks at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>3 or 4 'bog standard' A3 prints of a street
shot look decidedly ordinary when others have gone for a high aesthetic in
their presentation and/or taken a novel approach.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The
Most striking and memorable, for me, was Aaron Francis' work at
Huddersfield.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can't refer directly to
the actual piece of work, but his website is here - <a href="http://www.aaronjfrancis.co.uk/"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.aaronjfrancis.co.uk/</span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His degree presentation was in a curtained
off, dark area of the space, and it comprised - a table on which were laid out
some old photographs of Sheffield's steel mills, some newspaper cuttings about
the mill closures, a notebook that he had compiled, and some colour photographs
of him dressed for hot metal handling; also on the table was a small monitor,
on which a video was running that showed him melting down pieces of metal in a
foundry-type setting; behind the table, several light bulbs were hanging at
different levels, close to the floor, and fading on and off in an apparently
random fashion; below them, on the floor, were round metal discs, which looked
as though they had been melted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I stood,
wondering, as one would - mildly fascinated, but puzzled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately, Aaron was on hand to
explain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had printed each of the old
images onto pieces of steel; then melted them down - hence the video - and that
was what I was looking at on the floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the ceiling, above the light bulbs, was a laptop, on which software
was slowly and consecutively scanning digital files of the images, pixel by
pixel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The light and shade in those
pixels was what was controlling the level of brightness of the light bulbs -
one representing each image.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Aaron said
he was interested in 'process' - and it showed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I wasn't the least bit surprised to learn that he had just been awarded
a First, or that he already has a job to go to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There is a lesson there for all - about engagement and commitment and
quality and originality.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Leeds
College of Art was probably the best 'quality' show, overall - rather more of a
fashion bias there, and also some quite 'personal' projects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I particularly liked Alessandro de Besi's
'Makers', which can be seen here - <a href="http://www.alessandrodebesi.com/"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.alessandrodebesi.com</span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has filmed artists in the process of
creating their work - again, an exploration of 'process' - and had presented
each video as a 'hole in the wall' above which he had placed a large, high
quality print of his portrait of the artist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>These front-on, deadpan portraits looked straight at the viewer as one
watched them at work on the small screens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Whether deliberate or not, they challenged you to take them seriously;
to really understand the depth of their creative process and the care they were
taking over it - very effective!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bianca
Wallis-Salmon's combination of images from her parents' photo albums -
combining images of each of them at similar stages in their lives, but using
prints on transparency to merge one image into the other - also caught my
eye.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's a relatively simple, but highly
effective means of presentation - both as individual print combinations on the
wall and in bok form, with transparencies interleaved with paper prints.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So - as expected - very worthwhile
to seen these shows; they were inspiring without being 'frightening', but, to
repeat, really hammered home the need for Quality, Originality, Engagement,
Seriousness of Purpose; but they also encourage me to 'give it a go'.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-43849788470046358782013-06-18T07:36:00.003-07:002013-06-19T00:20:49.327-07:00Study Visit - Bank Street Arts & Sheffield Hallam University<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Bank
Street Arts - "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Motorway Service
Station as a Destination in its Own Right"</i></span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> is here:</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<a href="http://bankstreetarts.com/exhibitions/the-motorway-service-station-as-a-destination-in-its-own-right/"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">LINK</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> Bank Street</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">and the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Sheffield Hallam University students' "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Creative Spark</i>"</b> is here:</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.shu.ac.uk/creativespark/students.html"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">LINK</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
Sheffield Hallam.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As always, it was a pleasure to
spend 3-4 hours in the company of fellow students and Andrew Conroy, OCA Tutor,
Photographer in Residence at Bank Street Arts, and curator of the exhibition we
were viewing.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The Motorway Service Station as a
Destination in its Own Right</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The inspiration for this exhibition
(and the background to its wordy title) is a pamphlet by poet Simon Armitage,
with the same (not to be repeated!) title.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The work is from 11 photographer/artists (including curator, Andrew),
mainly photographic prints displayed on walls, but including one multi-media
presentation and a pair of books.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Andrew
approached a number of photographers, two years ago, with the idea and has
managed the process of bringing the exhibition together in this form.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has been done with limited (if any)
funding of the artists' work; and they have had complete freedom as to how they
respond to the brief and in what form the work has been submitted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Andrew did see some small jpegs in advance,
and the curatorial team has 'edited' the artists' supporting text to manageable
length, as well as, of course, making the 'hanging' decisions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Andrew highlighted some of the pressures of
making such an exhibition happen - not least, opening the work when it arrived
with no real knowledge of what it would comprise.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It worked, for me, as an exploration
of the relationship between a text and visual imagery, but also as an
opportunity to compare the responses of different photographers to this type of
brief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the whole, I found them to be
quite 'conservative' responses - when compared to the work of some of the SHU
students, for example - and that, in some cases, the depth of creative
engagement was limited, albeit understandable with limited funding.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">My most positive response was to
Andrew Robinson's 2 books, 'North' & 'South', which can be seen here - </span></span><a href="http://www.anthology.co.uk/photos_project_menu.html"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">ANDREW ROBINSON</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The books comprise images compiled over a Bank Holiday weekend last
August, as he drove a total of 1000 miles (more or less 50/50 North & South
from Sheffield), stopping at 30+ service stations along the way and recording
his impressions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The book form matches
well with the journey concept, of course, but the editing and presentation also
worked very well. To be totally fair, in a multi-artist exhibition such as
this, with relatively little time to take in context, the 'obviousness' of the
book form response appeals most easily, perhaps; but there is a lesson for any
of us in that and I have to say that the obvious depth and quality of this
particular response was what really stood out for me.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I found Tribble & Mancenido's
contribution more of a challenge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
is a link to the relevant page on Bank Street Arts' site - </span></span><a href="http://bankstreetarts.com/uncategorized/tribble-mancenido/"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">LINK</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> - but there is nothing showing the
whole work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They had chosen to respond
with images, or cropped/edited versions of images, from their existing
portfolio, in order as it says on the site to evoke a sense of "...
travel, time, memory and wanderlust"; and create an "... abstract
narrative ..." around an "... imaginary road trip through
memory".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There were ten prints (of
consistent colour and style), pinned to the wall, in an order determined by
Andrew and his colleagues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps the
setting at Bank Street wasn't right for me; perhaps I wasn't in the right frame
of mind (I do often struggle to fully engage with more challenging work in this
type of group viewing); for whatever reason, I found it hard to discover more
than a somewhat superficial appreciation for this work.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">There isn't time to write a detailed
reflection on all the artists' work, but they ranged from a single large print
of 20-30 images of the sky, by Jessa Fairbrother - actually a highly personal
response about a journey taken just once, by her mother, from Bristol to
Tibshelf Services, for which the supporting text was essential to appreciating
the work - via some almost typological large-format images of anonymous
service stations - shades of the Bechers or John Davies; to Andrew Conroy's
multi-media work 'The Drive', viewable via 'We Are OCA', </span></span><a href="http://www.weareoca.com/photography/the-motorway-service-station/"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">HERE</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The latter, I viewed five or six times, on line, before attending the
study visit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It produces a kind of
tension in me, interestingly more so the more I view it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don't know whether that is intentional, but
I feel a 'clash' between the word-based imagery evoked by Armitage's poem, as
spoken in the background, and the visual images of Andrew's drive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I find it makes me uneasy, and I can't quite
reconcile the two - which may well be intentional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I simply go with the rhythm and sound of
the poet's voice (with the music, that does kind of bring both aspects
together), then that's find; but if a really listen to what the voice is
telling me, I sense a kind of dissonance between quite strong visual images
evoked in the poem and what I am viewing on the screen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's a moody and uneasy piece.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">We did discuss the mood of the
exhibition overall and it isn't a particularly optimistic one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There seems to be a consensus that the notion
of motorway services evokes a somewhat negative mood in all of us - tedium;
impersonal; necessity over desire; and so on.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Creative Spark @ Sheffield Hallam</span></i></b></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This was my first visit to a degree
show, so bound to be useful as a comparator and as a benchmark, quite apart
from the inspiration and information that are always derived from looking at
other peoples' work. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One the whole, it
was much as I would have expected.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
wide diversity of approach, subject matter and presentation, as would no doubt
be normal for such a show.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Presentation is probably a good
place to start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The modes ranged from
printing on fabric & hanging as a 3-D presentation (Georgia Mackey - can't
find anything on the Internet & didn't take a picture, but there is an
example of her work here - </span></span><a href="http://vimeo.com/55060773"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">BOOK LINK</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">), through to a single, 'faded',
self-portrait image printed life-size onto wallpaper (Milly Futter - again no
further info to show on here), which was about 'Conformity' & which worked
well, for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As well as diversity of
mode, I felt that one could also easily identify a diversity of effort and
engagement - predictably.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The accompanying texts were also
informative to us as 'fellow students'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One assumes that most of those presenting are in their early twenties,
and the creative energy displayed reflects that; but for many young students,
diverting from that creativity to express what they are doing, through writing,
in a recognisably 'academic' fashion will be understandably difficult - and it
showed, in some cases.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I was surprised by the seeming lack
of engagement with digital techniques; and, truthfully, a little disappointed
by the fact that so many of these young people seemed to be more engaged with
early photographic techniques than with those of the 21st century.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Discussing this with Andrew, it emerged that
many, perhaps most, of the students are 'anti-digital', seeing it, perhaps, as
a threat to photography's authenticity and, maybe, to their career
prospects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don't know enough to say
that this reflects the teaching - though that would be an obvious place to
start - and any proposed explanations are pure conjecture. Is it possible, for
example, that they want to see their photographic work as something different
from the preponderance of digital imagery to which they are subjected day after
day, hour after hour?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As I say - it is
conjecture - but I find it surprising and, truthfully, disappointing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">One person's work did strike a chord
with my own current thinking - Katie Sturgess' </span><a href="http://www.katiesturgess.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-size: x-small;">Simulated Simulacra</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She was one of the very few who seemed to
have positively engaged with the digital medium and I like the fact that she is
acknowledging the "crisis of faith in the medium" and looking to
explore it rather than revert to techniques of the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That's my take on it, anyway!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-86720276968790636052013-06-06T09:43:00.000-07:002013-06-06T09:43:01.208-07:00"Tied" - a project derived from Assignment One
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So, following the advice of Michael
Atherton, my tutor, myself, and everyone else, I have been progressing a
project that I began to play around with way back in February.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's a derivative of the first assignment of
the course, when I photographed the immediate surroundings of the Holme Valley,
a somewhat rugged, rural theme, with an emphasis on the less immediately attractive
aspects of this neighbourhood, the 'make-do-and-mend' approach to the tough
life of hill farming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A theme that has
been attracting my attention, ever since I did that project about fifteen
months ago, is the use of all manner of strings, wire, rope, electrical cables
etc to fasten field gates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
absolutely endemic; almost every gate is tied at least once and sometimes
several times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apart from the potential
for a quirky set of interesting images, I saw the symbolic potential, in the
'make-do-and-mend' context, and also the metaphorical potential in a series
entitled 'Tied'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I already have about
twenty different images, all taken within ten minutes walk of where I live
(hence the derivation fromn Assignment One - Neighbourhood).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here are just a few.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkz-asSFQlIUbxxBBLxTZ0ete9qqyJcw0YdilXOkb8sW2s2LqJE6mkk1TqfpgRTKTMHMZGxatZpuN6TPxz0WddYfU76fuhb8WLwHLyfZy98kkB6KgFxnxTWbUHtL0kuRGyuNBFbA5whv-n/s1600/Tied-10+Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkz-asSFQlIUbxxBBLxTZ0ete9qqyJcw0YdilXOkb8sW2s2LqJE6mkk1TqfpgRTKTMHMZGxatZpuN6TPxz0WddYfU76fuhb8WLwHLyfZy98kkB6KgFxnxTWbUHtL0kuRGyuNBFbA5whv-n/s320/Tied-10+Small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0leGnhyMmkCCKrxShetS8bGsu4rssmnbm5I0zSSBaLPfmo6PssND0AVXcdSB9jIB7KkcBvvd7ZY7CiKTJoEIJD8QdGHhNFQ6FhzqDPoAj6xebCpZ03XGLL-ZXqsA60gPxzpn3U9DfPjRB/s1600/Tied-12+Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0leGnhyMmkCCKrxShetS8bGsu4rssmnbm5I0zSSBaLPfmo6PssND0AVXcdSB9jIB7KkcBvvd7ZY7CiKTJoEIJD8QdGHhNFQ6FhzqDPoAj6xebCpZ03XGLL-ZXqsA60gPxzpn3U9DfPjRB/s320/Tied-12+Small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEU_jwnQAPEtTy8vRMNA_prqXPSUZ9jnqNiTthTANqopCWQaQUppKw6NQQIRgQqFJOuAY_SNdIK_V3YsJ8nXWCohltH0oIKvDQxdfW96m6_k2ZuyWwSpYqMZZSsFRGsxTV6WwYnWwuHA5E/s1600/Tied-13+Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEU_jwnQAPEtTy8vRMNA_prqXPSUZ9jnqNiTthTANqopCWQaQUppKw6NQQIRgQqFJOuAY_SNdIK_V3YsJ8nXWCohltH0oIKvDQxdfW96m6_k2ZuyWwSpYqMZZSsFRGsxTV6WwYnWwuHA5E/s320/Tied-13+Small.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN4aUocIQVqU4DaD086rjFtodA_G2XXO50w2MtVGT-IJoXoIoHQXuY6ozyqPBO9fWI8z6NJbd26NdYDYD0aS-6MtlhYdkVxH7OfnvY6HVBIypzjxTCZkWqrbWxKlL3B-vwRZayX96qJmcu/s1600/Tied-18+Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN4aUocIQVqU4DaD086rjFtodA_G2XXO50w2MtVGT-IJoXoIoHQXuY6ozyqPBO9fWI8z6NJbd26NdYDYD0aS-6MtlhYdkVxH7OfnvY6HVBIypzjxTCZkWqrbWxKlL3B-vwRZayX96qJmcu/s320/Tied-18+Small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidEZe6fIpZgDNaaVagLMRr9HL4FZgYhpz0bafYG1Au_OtkpvbIIKfhgBbIw8C8Ec0mUYdlTVReFSi4ZbZmKQL8n9_Z62DO0GrJhck24g8CZkbRVbpZh_C6aCMcmc_7XZUczWYzkrTIkSCx/s1600/Tied-20+Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidEZe6fIpZgDNaaVagLMRr9HL4FZgYhpz0bafYG1Au_OtkpvbIIKfhgBbIw8C8Ec0mUYdlTVReFSi4ZbZmKQL8n9_Z62DO0GrJhck24g8CZkbRVbpZh_C6aCMcmc_7XZUczWYzkrTIkSCx/s320/Tied-20+Small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikoJ9qvL-zVO1sgR-WezvGz19sgt15wGGHE9UAAiXoROpOqdV1N4kv0mofjv1dRo3fpgyl9Vpxy_urDJ09eUvxK57bHf5UO5biQqR4t1MZe8UhT-SlPoQp1Wvg59-4iCKfDOMiA0j1LaJQ/s1600/Tied-21+Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikoJ9qvL-zVO1sgR-WezvGz19sgt15wGGHE9UAAiXoROpOqdV1N4kv0mofjv1dRo3fpgyl9Vpxy_urDJ09eUvxK57bHf5UO5biQqR4t1MZe8UhT-SlPoQp1Wvg59-4iCKfDOMiA0j1LaJQ/s320/Tied-21+Small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I find it an interesting project to
progress, maybe as a final version of the submission for Assignment One; but
I've been giving some thought to how the subject is best photographed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The light, in all the above, is sunlight, creating
its usual high contrasts, which doesn't work too badly at a purely aesthetic
level in these examples, but would a softer, diffused, more even light be more
appropriate, I ask myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That set me
thinking about what I'm doing and what I'm trying to achieve - no surprise
there, given my recent obsession with thinking! (Too much?)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The project is motivated, at least
in part, by my interest in the way photography renders the insignificant
significant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These bits of string, wire,
etc, are of no significance until I create a series that imbues them with
symbolic and metaphorical purpose; and I'm proposing that I choose a most
appropriate time of day and light, to say nothing of the choice of camera,
lens, aperture, framing etc, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then
I'm proposing to process my RAW files and present a series of images that
maximise the chance that my reader will 'get it'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing new in any of that - and studying
Barthes will remind me that, even after all of that work, the 'Reader' is the
one who will interpret.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Which led me to want to comment as
much on this process as on the subject itself - it's that 'thinking' getting to
work again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which led me to explore
another possibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if I remove
the insignificant aspects that I am trying to make significant?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if I take them out of the image
altogether?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What will that look like?
What might it say?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So here is one I
prepared earlier ...<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaKRDaJUel2dgiPXz_Fa41pQoHGBLZtbLMWCHyFRl6l1N-9_bUCh29Kr5sW7a-EUVnRjuGBOsBUmsiWBYaWA4CyikUY8Pd3uwLkuBDh5XmBJDULkiBuyVAAX3jOlgOmhIflKbhe9-CUZ8m/s1600/Tied-18-2+Small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaKRDaJUel2dgiPXz_Fa41pQoHGBLZtbLMWCHyFRl6l1N-9_bUCh29Kr5sW7a-EUVnRjuGBOsBUmsiWBYaWA4CyikUY8Pd3uwLkuBDh5XmBJDULkiBuyVAAX3jOlgOmhIflKbhe9-CUZ8m/s320/Tied-18-2+Small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Shades of Mishka Henner's "Less
Americains", of course; but I find it interesting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What about a book of these images with the 'cut-out'
bits available at the end - as 'cut-outs' - so that the viewer can get involved
and put them back together again!!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
would be plain silly, of course!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hm!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-78291547467723407642013-05-30T02:11:00.001-07:002013-05-30T02:11:10.515-07:00Assignment Four - Feedback & Reflection
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"This is an excellent piece of
work ..." is the opening statement - <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">STOP
THERE!!!</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he says that, in making
some suggestions, "I do so with trepidation ..." <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">WHAT!?!?</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just joking, I
hope!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually, as always, there are
plenty of helpful and valid comments.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">He
has cleared up a few queries around the Referencing System, which I have taken
on board and changed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">He
suggested that I might have been a bit too 'enthusiastic', at times, in my
statements.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fair comment - I was trying
to avoid the academic-style prevarication (at which I'm perfectly capable of
excelling) - but I've toned it down, here and there.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Then
he has a number of suggestions for additional lines of thought, which are all
valid and interesting but , as I think he is suggesting, would either be part
of a longer piece or an alternative angle in a different essay (or just
something else to follow-up on, of course).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 54pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">I'm
slightly surprised by a suggestion that the essay should have a line or two
relating the subject matter to my own current practice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That doesn't feel right, in an academic essay
- but perhaps I'm wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems more
appropriate that such reflection would appear in this blog - which started in
the last post and will probably continue.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">And
finally, my Learning Log is also 'excellent' but is "... a bit light on
actual photographs of your own ...".<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I agree with that entirely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
haven't done anything 'serious' or 'deliberate' since February, when I did a
little experimentation with still life in a contemporary style - <a href="http://stansocapwdp.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/review-assignment-two.html"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That's bad news; a photography student who is
not producing photographs!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, as I
hinted in the last post, I am in one of those places that seem to blight the
creative process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I <u>have</u> been
distracted by researching this essay; partially focused on other things -
work/family/upgrading my PC.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, most
of all, I <u>have</u> hit something of a mire, in terms of what I could do,
should do, want to do ... etc.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I do relate closely to the areas I
discuss in the critical review essay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Still life and studio work, as a way of exploring my own photographic
practice and experimenting with possibilities, does appeal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But another side of me is wary of going that
way and ending up in some frustrating spiral of introversion that leads nowhere,
and that no one else 'gets'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, it
bears no relation to the brief for Assignment Five, so gets me no further in
the course context.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That all needs more
reflection and discussion with my tutor.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Then, on a lighter note, and to
begin to correct for the lack of photographs in my Learning Log, here is one I
took at the weekend.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN7SIrGSx7vdNCCzAO5hOiLwY_M_-Hot8CVmImSNjUkscmdu7e049qCO_z2EIcrUt4FosozT9u032PQsF71ThcOZiw77pFrntonCXksRJumWhNoGJ4cV-BKHJFgW17RJf1O3EdsNwwavi7/s1600/Ledbury+&+Croome-19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN7SIrGSx7vdNCCzAO5hOiLwY_M_-Hot8CVmImSNjUkscmdu7e049qCO_z2EIcrUt4FosozT9u032PQsF71ThcOZiw77pFrntonCXksRJumWhNoGJ4cV-BKHJFgW17RJf1O3EdsNwwavi7/s320/Ledbury+&+Croome-19.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</span></o:p></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It's in a quiet corner of the
gardens at National Trust property, 'Croome', in Herefordshire, which I visited
last Saturday, but it could have been anywhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I felt that I should have been an Impressionist painter, with hours to
spend with my easel, capturing the mood of the light and the colours of the
Forget-me-nots.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even better, I might
have sat and reflected, in the warm sun, on the joys and troubles of life. Instead,
I paused for five or ten minutes, waiting for the sun to come and go before
dashing on to catch up with the rest of the party.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such is modern life!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[Then, just a few moments before
sitting down to type this piece, I read a piece on the sports pages of The
Times, by their Chief Cricket Writer, and former England Captain, Michael
Atherton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is writing words of
encouragement to current England opening batsman, Nick Compton, who is
struggling for runs, who played an excruciatingly troubles innings in the
recent Test Match against New Zealand, and who is in danger of being 'dropped'
for this summer's high-profile series of Ashes Tests against Australia.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Poor Nick has had a bad attack of the
'angst'.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Atherton's solution (which he
fully acknowledges is no easy thing to achieve, and freely admits he can't
explain how to go about) is to rediscover the joy of the game; to find again
what was like to be a schoolboy cricketer, hitting the ball with freedom and
delight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There's a message in there for
me - and others who get in the creative doldrums.]<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-81891291267878830042013-05-23T05:19:00.000-07:002013-07-11T12:33:20.581-07:00Assignment Four: a critical review (plus some “angst”)<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I completed this assignment
yesterday and submitted it to my tutor.
I’ve been very focused on that over the last month – together with work
and family commitments, but I’m now taking the opportunity to reflect on the
assignment, but also on a touch of “where am I” and “what am I doing”!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Starting with the assignment, I’ve
quite enjoyed researching the still life genre and writing it up. My title is <i>“The still life genre is alive, well, and relevant to contemporary
photographic practice”</i>. I think what
I’ve done is interesting, in relation to current art photographic practice, and
I’m broadly happy with the outcome. (Though I have to admit it’s about 10% over
the word count.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Thinking about the process, it has
turned out to be more journal and internet based, in the research, than book
based. Most of all, that reflects a
relative shortage of ‘serious’ written material on still life photography. It certainly has, I suspect, in some peoples’
minds, connotations of pretty arrangements at the local camera club. But I was focusing on “now”, which is another
reason that the research was as it was.
There aren’t many books I could have consulted. These two did feature : <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Still-Life-Photography-Paul-Martineau/dp/1606060333/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369304864&sr=8-1&keywords=still+life+photography">"Still
Life in Photography" by Paul Martineau</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stilled-Contemporary-Still-Photography-Women/dp/1872771610/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1369304864&sr=8-8&keywords=still+life+photography">"Stilled:
contemporary still life phtography by women" - Eds. Newton & Rolph</a>. Gallery websites tend to produce quite a lot
of good supporting material these days, of course; so I’ve also been sourcing
material from National Media Museum, National Gallery, Photographers Gallery
and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, to name just a few.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Essentially, the thrust of my
Critical Review essay is that, despite having been seen as a ‘lesser’ genre
than, say documentary or landscape, still life thrives and is, if anything,
seeing a revival amongst contemporary photographic artists. I’ve also sought to demonstrate that this is
not so unusual or surprising. The Dutch
still life painters experimented with symbolism at a time when the reformed
church condemned idolatry. The early
photographers experimented with still life, not least because it stayed still
long enough for their long exposures.
The surrealists experimented with still life and collage as they
explored the medium’s creative possibilities.
So, today, when the growth of digital and web-based imagery calls into
question the whole notion of what a photograph is, no great surprise that many
take to their studios and explore that very issue.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">My essay makes reference to three
artists in particular – Laura Letinsky, Ori Gersht and Lucas Blalock. I’ve presented Blalock as a ‘typical’ example
of a ‘younger’ contemporary photographer – but there are plenty of others. He is the interviewer in an Aperture article
featuring Jeff Wall. There seems to be a
degree of tension (perhaps a bit too strong a word) between Blalock & peers
and the previous generation, such as Wall, Gursky etc. Wall suggests that Blalock’s work
demonstrates a degree of “angst”. Now, I’m
picking up on that word. It’s something
I feel I can relate to.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I’ve written in here before about
the attraction of doing some conceptual still life work, and have even done one
or two tentative experiments.
Researching and writing the essay hasn’t lessened that interest. When I read about Blalock and others, I feel
some affinity with what they’re doing – this video of Blalock and his <a href="http://www.art21.org/newyorkcloseup/films/lucas-blalocks-99%C2%A2-store-still-lifes/">"99c
store still lifes"</a>, for example.
I do, genuinely, find the ‘intellectualising’ and ‘theorising’
interesting, too (feels like a confessional!).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">But then, another side kicks in and
asks the question “Am I in danger of disappearing up my own a***, with too much
analysis and soul searching?” There is a
bit of me wonders if it’s really ‘copping out’.
Get out there and make some proper pictures, Stan!! Push yourself into some documentary work;
find some people subjects; get in touch with the real world; and various other
such thoughts!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Assignment Five beckons; and it is
going to force me to face up to this dilemma.
The brief, in the course notes, is very much directed towards
photojournalism. It is, essentially,
about photographing an event and seeking to ‘market’ the outcome to
publications and organisations. It is a
direction that goes totally against the grain of where I am just now (not the
marketing bit, by the way, OK with that).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Part Five of the course is titled ‘Professional
standards’, which is a wholly desirable topic and an area where I definitely
have some developing to do. But do I
want to pursue it by covering some local event and marketing my photos to the
local press or magazines? I don’t. But – would it actually be of more benefit to
me if I did stick to the brief and make myself do it? Yes, it’s been done countless times before by
others and I may come away frustrated that I’m not doing something original or
something that excites me – but that might do me good!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I can’t resolve this at the moment,
but I’m going to have to if I want to keep up the momentum. I feel the “angst”!!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[Actually, I do have an idea washing
around that might possibly get me out of it; though it isn’t an easy one and
might be a step too far. What if I
produced a series of images about an ‘event’ without actually being there??]</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-15884674453016441102013-04-23T06:14:00.000-07:002013-04-23T06:15:56.735-07:00Study Visit – Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This was my first visit to the Open
Eye Gallery. It is a smart, modern,
relatively new gallery space, perhaps on the small side but certainly adequate
for the shows we say on Saturday.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT0sfGFuRx-EaOeuiUuOFA6kK54hlsBZMGMtqboBfZPAwH8lfONjc2l9ZoyWbOt6EFdADwUYrqb4eTZPbgcUmbr0ANpgz0G3X6cd5P3MIxUw4NWpI_od3H2AOvlq7MSpl0IEWY7DjwM7nZ/s1600/Liverpool+One+20-04-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT0sfGFuRx-EaOeuiUuOFA6kK54hlsBZMGMtqboBfZPAwH8lfONjc2l9ZoyWbOt6EFdADwUYrqb4eTZPbgcUmbr0ANpgz0G3X6cd5P3MIxUw4NWpI_od3H2AOvlq7MSpl0IEWY7DjwM7nZ/s320/Liverpool+One+20-04-13.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Liverpool One - above the Open Eye</span></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">There were two exhibitions:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Mishka Henner</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The works on show comprised:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">A
selection of his books, and those of other artists relating to image
appropriation;<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">A
selection of images from his ‘Less Americains’ book, presented as framed prints
on the wall;<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Extracts
from his ‘Photography is ...’ book, presented as a single, continuous text
print on the wall;<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;">·<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">3
pieces from his new work ‘Precious Commodities’.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">It was the latter that interested me
most, but a word about </span><a href="http://www.mishkahenner.com/Less-Americains"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">'Less
Americains'</span></i></b></a><b><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">
</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">first. This was originally created as a book, based
on Robert Frank’s </span><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Les-Am%C3%A9ricains-Robert-Frank/dp/2851072331"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">'Les Americains'</span></a><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">; and I have to say that, for me, it
works better in that form. On the wall,
the selection of 12 or so prints demonstrated the graphic qualities of Henner’s
‘reduced’ versions of the originals, but I’m not sure they achieved a lot
more. The concept of manipulating an
iconic photobook in this way is a clever one and well-executed. The witty title and the fact that Henner’s
outcome (as a book) is, genuinely, new and different from the original, makes
it an interesting and worthy piece of work.
It subverts the value of the iconic image; causes us to look afresh at
both versions; and, like most appropriation art, it questions the whole idea of
authorship. But, even as a book, I’m not
sure that it stands up successfully on its own.
Maybe it is only of ‘value’ through its relationship with the
original? And, on this gallery wall, the
selection of prints does not, for me, move things on any further, maybe is even
a step backwards from the book concept.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">‘Precious Commodities’</span></i></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> is another thing altogether. There were four pieces on show, all
appropriated via the internet and created from aerial views of oilfields and
cattle feed lots in the USA – highly processed, printed to a very high
standard, and presented as large-scale colour images.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The main piece comprised around 12
square prints, which seem to come from this body of work - <a href="http://www.mishkahenner.com/Pumped">Pumped</a>. These were ‘nailed’ to the wall, in a grid,
to form one single piece, perhaps 3-4 metres by 2-3 metres. As is clear from the images in the link, the
‘marks’ around these oil wells form
patterns, broken occasionally by small rectangular spaces where buildings/wells
appear in sharp black, almost as if they have been drawn in with a brush or
pen. The high quality/contrast nature of
the colour prints seems to give them a surface texture – resembling stone, or
textiles, or an oil painting. And,
standing back to look at the complete work, that is what it most resembles – an
abstract oil painting onto which small pen/brush drawings have been added. (I was reminded of watching Andrew
Graham-Dixon at the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01s0zpp/A_Night_at_the_Rijksmuseum/">Rijksmuseum</a>
He became hugely enthused – and rightly so – by computer scans that brought up,
in fine relief, the surface of Rembrandt’s paintings.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Of course, these images (all of
which can be seen <a href="http://www.mishkahenner.com/Exhibitions">here</a>)
are, potentially, pointing to issues about the environment, land use, food
production, and so on. But one can read
the exhibition titles, and the artworks, in another way, I think. For me, they also seem to be about form;
about appropriation; about taking worthless, insignificant ‘bits’ of digital
information and turning them into a work of art on a gallery wall. Yes, the oil, the cattle, the land etc are
all ‘precious commodities’, but the title also seems to refer to the perceived value,
added by Henner, in turning something meaningless into a work of art. The use of the word ‘commodity’ refers to the
questionable commoditisation of art by the art market. Does Henner wish to sell these images –
presumably (and rightly) so. Then he is
knowingly participating in a market that attaches monetary value to creativity
and so the work, perhaps, raises and explores the question of whether the ‘market’
is an appropriate mechanism for determining the ‘preciousness’ of the creative ‘commodity’. I liked these works a lot; they fascinated me
and drew me in to explore their form in detail.
I feel that Henner, too, is fascinated by what he can do with the
original, meaningless digital information he harvests from the Internet.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I would also draw comparisons with
two other artists that I have discussed previously in this blog – Penelope Umbrico’s
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/sunsfromflickr-umbrico/">Flickr Sunsets</a>
and Edward Burtynsky’s <a href="http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/burtynsky-oil-4">Oil</a>. Umbrico’s appropriated work seems to touch on
the same issue of taking the insignificant and meaningless, harvesting the
digital crops, and turning them into something meaningful and of ‘perceived’
value. Burtynsky is another who explores
the questions of land use, environment, etc through high-aesthetic images on a
gallery wall. Unlike Burtynsky’s work,
Henner’s seems to step right away from the notion of ‘documentary’. It is not clear what is being presented in
the images and, whilst they might lead the viewer to ask the questions, there
is also a sense in which they fascinate by their form more than their content. Are they conceptual pieces, exploring what
they are as art rather than what they show of the world? I think, perhaps, so; and it is probably a
sign of that fact that I have, personally, moved on somewhat in my reading and
interpretation of images that I read, appreciate, and enjoy them in just that
way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Edith Tudor-Hart</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The other exhibition at the Open Eye
was quite a contrast - <a href="http://www.openeye.org.uk/archive-exhibition/2551/">'Quiet Radicalism'</a>. Quite a small show, from the Open Eye’s
archives, it comprised, perhaps, 15-20 black and white prints, in simple black
frames, mainly from her 1930’ photographs of Vienna, London and South Wales,
but also including 3 or 4 from 1940/50s.
The interest, here, is as much around her motives and her background as
it is about the images themselves. She
came from the ‘committed left’, a communist sympathiser, born in Austria but
living in the UK, and connected with the Philby/Blunt Soviet spy ring. The question was raised, towards the end of
our viewing, as to whether or not we ‘liked’ them, with a suggestion that some
people ‘dislike’ them because of their association with her political stance
and her spying.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">For me, they fall into the category
of 20s/30s/40s black and white documentary photography, which includes the FSA,
Bill Brandt, and so on; and they are ‘typical’.
(There might be formal differences e.g. several images are taken from
and elevated viewpoint, which can be compared with Soviet photographer
Rodchenko.) With the benefit of
hindsight, one might question whether these images, and those of other
comparable documentary photographers, actually made a difference to anything;
and there is a sense in which they become historical archives of what the
period looked like. Except that they
aren’t of course, because life went on in colour! Coincidentally, I was flicking through the
Sunday Times next day, and came across this colour image of </span><a href="http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/police-trying-to-restrain-joyful-crowd-gathered-for-a-news-photo/72430266"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Paris 1944</span></a>.<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">
How would we read this image differently if it was in black and white?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So – a good visit – I am pleased to
have seen the new Mishka Henner work, and it is of immense value to meet and
chat with fellow students and two OCA tutors.
Many thanks to Peter H and Keith R for their input.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6043878434144827106.post-11198069225169977232013-04-12T03:56:00.003-07:002013-04-12T03:56:33.361-07:00Exercise – An essay on reviewing photographs<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This exercise focuses on an essay in
‘The Photography Reader’, published by Routledge, editor Liz Wells. It is by Liz Wells herself, and entitled –
‘WORDS AND PICTURES: On reviewing photography’; an essay that, she explains in
the opening sentence, has its origins in a piece written in 1992 for a
newsletter targeted at ‘photo practitioners’ in the south-west of Britain.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">What
is the basic argument of Well’s essay?</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">It is that the challenges of writing
about photography are even more complex in the post (post?) modern cultural
context and in light of digital developments.
The first context dismantles the former hierarchies of critical
authority, whilst the second opens up more diverse space within which the
discourse is conducted. Whilst that
fluidity is to be welcomed, she argues, it doesn’t alter the fundamental
responsibilities of the critic and even, insofar as criticism may be more
subjective and value-driven, puts additional responsibility on the critic to
acknowledge his/her subjectivity and values.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Is
the essay’s title a fair indication of the essay itself?</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I think the essential ‘message’ here
is that a title is to be read in relation to context as well as content. Taken totally out of context (a bit
unlikely), the title might be interpreted as referring to an instructive and
informative piece on the approach to ‘reviewing photographs’ and relating words
to photographic images; whereas it is actually a reflection on the challenges
facing critical reviewers in the late 20<sup>th</sup> century. In that sense, I guess the title could have
been more specific. But, she does
explain its origins in a piece for photo practitioners and it does, here,
appear in a Photography Reader, within a chapter entitled ‘Contexts: gallery,
museums, education, archive’.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">To
what extent does the writer rely on Postmodernist doctrine?</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">If one reads the underlying and
fundamental message to be that the critic still has a ‘responsibility’ in
reviewing photographs, and that aspects the that responsibility remain beyond
the emergence of postmodernist thinking, then it might be argued that this does
not, wholly, rely on the doctrine itself.
Insofar as the new challenged she identifies for the reviewer are
partially related to technological developments, those conclusions too might be
reached without reference to postmodernism (though the doctrines do, in part,
take account of and incorporate that breaking down of hierarchical structures
through, for example, diverse communications channels). However, much of her fundamental argument
seems to centre around the additional challenges and responsibilities faced by
critics since “Postmodern theory insisted that things are fluid, things fall
apart, there is no centre” (page 433, final paragraph). In other words
postmodernist doctrines supply the crucial underlying context within which much
of her argument is developed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The
essay raises the issue of the qualifications and duties of a critic. How important do you believe it is for a
critic of photography to have deep knowledge of the practice of photography?</span></b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Wells does have something to say
about the qualifications and duties of a critic (perhaps more about the duties
than the qualifications).
Responsibilities include – feedback to the artist; the historical
marking of particular exhibitions or events; engagement within debates about
ideas and practices; mediating work to a broader public. She goes on to say that, for critics to be
constructive, they also need to be self-analytical, paying attention to the implications
of what they are saying, and not simply reproducing established assumptions. That means they must also acknowledge
subjectivity, political tendencies, assumptions about readers, and even mood on
a particular day. Good writing, she
says, involves knowing what they value and why they value it. She acknowledges that most critics are driven
by a fascination with their subject.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">However, she also quotes Bill Jay’s
views about criticism – revealing (according to Wells) his conservatism. According to Wells’ version of Bill Jay’s
view, criticism should introduce photographers you didn’t know about; expand
your appreciation of a photographer’s work; place images in a historical
context; place them in context of the artist’s culture; and throw light on
process. This, we are told, demands
superior knowledge and insight. The
critic’s writing should be informative, elevating and useful.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So – Wells is presenting us with two
quite different views – Jay’s ‘traditional’ conservative view of the critic’s (more
limited and specific) role and her own, broader, more fluid definition, which
incorporates the postmodernist doctrines mentioned above.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A thorough answer to the question
posed would require some definition of what is meant by ‘deep knowledge’ and ‘the
practice of photography’. The former
might include some/all of photographic history; art history; visual culture;
in-depth awareness of the photographer, his/her background, purpose/intent,
previous work, relation to other contemporary practice; sound knowledge of
photographic process (technical and creative); broad understanding of
cultural/political context; depth of knowledge about curatorial practice; a
thorough appreciation of the art market; and so on and so forth! One might argue that the best critical writer
will have all or most of the above, and more.
A ‘professional writer’, one might say, should be striving to bring an
up-to-date knowledge of all that is relevant to his/her writing about
photography, whilst, ideally, retaining some degree of independent thinking,
originality of view, and personal passion for their subject.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">At another extreme, though, anyone
can, to an extent, read and critique a visual text. Wells’ article is certainly directed towards
the ‘serious’ critic/reviewer, but, if we accept the notion that postmodern
thinking shifts the creative process towards the ‘reader’, perhaps any response
is a valid one and we are all, potentially, critics. Herein, I guess, comes the notion of hierarchy,
values and, potentially, the market. Is <u>any</u>
critical writer, fundamentally, and whatever independence they claim or maintain,
essentially imbuing the subject of their writing with value, by which,
potentially, the creator of the work gains commercial advantage. In a capitalist system, the critic (along
with the gallerist, curator, museum, academic etc) is playing a ‘market-making’
role. Developing a ‘depth of knowledge
of the practice of photography’ may well involve a thorough ‘steeping’ in
everything that is ‘current’, and is likely to involve the critic getting very close
to the ‘players’ in this market place, which can be exactly the approach that
maintains the hierarchies and structures against which postmodernism appears to
‘rail’.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">If the definition of ‘deep knowledge
of the practice of photography’ is a narrow one – implying, in essence, (as might
be inferred from Bill Jay’s view, as represented by Wells) that the critic
should be a practicing photographer, then I think my answer would probably be ‘No,
that type of knowledge isn’t important and certainly isn’t essential. However, unless one is taking the extreme and
not very productive view that anyone can critique a photograph, then the
assumption that a critic brings some element of expertise and knowledge to
their role implies some understanding, at least, of how photographers go about
creating their work. And, if we were to broaden the critic’s scope, making
him/her a commentator on visual culture, they may well need at least some
understanding of painting, sculpture, print-making, video production etc. There is little value in arguing that only a
deeply knowledgeable practicing artist can critique art. And critiquing purely on the qualities of
process is to miss the point of creativity.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So, I edge towards the view that the
reader reads that with which they are presented, and explores the process of
creation in order to further develop the reading and understanding of a visual
text (as opposed to the view that the reader learns about the practice of art
and is then in a position to read). A
professional reviewer, who is committed to photographic art (or visual culture
in general, or whatever), will develop enough understanding of creative
practice and (in our current economic system, at least) the market, to ensure
that they can effectively practise their own profession.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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stanOCAhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05515635092194160913noreply@blogger.com0