Exploring contexts reflection

This has been quite a challenging but eventful week for me. I have learned how to build an online gallery for my images with Wix, which can be found here.
 http://kdfphotography.wixsite.com/kdf1

It was not as challenging as I had assumed it would be, and it is quite satisfying to see the  whole thing taking shape as a vehicle for my ongoing work.

My project proposal has mutated into a different beast, with me now deciding to concentrate on my own work and to curate an exhibition of work by visually handicapped photographers alongside it.

To this end I have made contact with a blind society and they are going to ask their members for volunteers. They have about 30 already!

I have been very lucky to have  been offered a very large exhibition space for my own work, and I have decided to split this in two for myself and the curated part of the project.

I am looking forward to the challenge of curating work by others. the examples I have seen so far are both impressive for their attention to composition and surprising for their attention to detail. There seems also to be a certain amount of humour present, of which more at a later time.

Peer commissioned micro project

This project was an opportunity to find out if I could deliver an image requested quite specifically by one of my peers. I must admit to being a bit trepidatious when I first considered it, but as time went on it definitely got easier.

This is the brief that Philip gave me "The theme is "autumn flora". The twist is to produce an image of some autumnal flowers, but indoors in a still-life. And possibly shot in the style of the impressionists."

I don't usually do still life, much less work indoors, so I thought this was going to be quite a challenge for me. I thought long and hard about what "Autumn flora" might mean. Flowers that appear in autumn? Fungi? I finally decided to show flowers that had come to the end of their lives, their autumn, if you like.

I guessed a bunch of dead flowers wasn't going to show what was asked for, and would not show what I wanted it to. 

I realised quite quickly that there had to be something else in the image to point the viewer towards the theme of autumn. So I decided to stage the flowers (Roses in this case)with apples, autumn leaves and a conker. i figured this would give a sense of the season and possibly act as allegory for the autumn of the flowers.

The photograph itself was quite straightforward to make once I had worked out the composition. I decided to add a few jars of pickles and preserves to further show it was autumn, and took the photograph.

The next problem was how to make it look impressionistic? I knew from previous studies that the impressionists were not really enamoured with decay or death, preferring to celebrate life in the main , with just a few exceptions.

So I used a bit of artistic licence and decided to make the photograph look more like a late renaissance image, a time when the fascination for dead animals and rotten fruit was at its strongest. 

I darkened the image down a bit,gave it some more soft focus, added a partial vignette and gave it a bit of a dirty wash to make it look like a painting with the varnish going off a bit.

Philip was happy with the result, so I count this exercise as a success. 

Once again I have found that working outside my comfort zone has been really quite fulfilling. As I have said before I do not really see any new challenges in what I do usually, and i feel I am become stale within it. These new challenges are helping me to use my creative side in a way I would never have considered before. I like solving puzzles and solving problems, and this seems to be giving me an opportunity to do both. I know the finished image is quite amateur, but I am beginning to see how I could make my work look at least as if I might know what I am doing.

There were a number of abortive attemptsw, different lighting composition etc, and a few follow here.

 

 

Reflection on project proposal

My project proposal "The art of seeing, an exploration of light", seems to be firming up a bit more in my mind now. I have more of an idea of which direction I might be taking it, or is it taking me?

We see so many images on a daily basis, we ignore most of them. So we have this repository of images in our head, a dustbin full of memories we are not really aware of.

My project is about showing what is seen but unseen. It is about how some things can be visible but invisible at the same time. A simple example of this would be to ask yourself the last time you noticed a postman going about his business when you were not actually waiting for a letter, or you were just bimbling along the street. If he was there you saw him, but you didnt realise you had. He is both visible and invisible.

That is the experience of many disabled people, both blind and sighted. Visible but overlooked. My project, I hope will bring about a greater awareness of all those things we see but do not notice. I have asked some people who live locally and are registered blind to take some photographs so that I can find out if there is any subject which binds their creativity together, for instance family, food, pets, gardens etc. I might be surprised and be faced with wonderful abstraction, I just don't know.

In any case that mini project will hopefully inform my ongoing work and give it some direction. 

Photography and Ethics Who's moral compass?

 In a world where an image can be sent to millions of places in a split second via the touch of a button, it is increasingly difficult to ensure images are not used in a way which is contrary to the photographers original intent.

 Jeff Mitchell's image of refugees waiting to cross the border from Croatia into Slovenia speaks of the misery that the conflicts in the Arab world have created. They appear to be patient people,mostly male.


 
 
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jun/22/jeff-mitchells-best-shot-the-column-of-marching-refugees-used-in-ukips-brexit-campaign     
retrieved 23/10/16

It became this during the UK Referendum campaign by UKIP, a British political party of the right of politics to leave the EU of 2016






https://politicaladvertising.co.uk/2016/06/20/breaking-point/      retrieved 23/10/16

Ukip were trying to play to the fears of the white working class and the retired that all of these people would be getting on the next train to St Pancras and over running the UK. You might notice if you compare the copies of this photograph that the box which says "Leave the European Union" is covering up the only ostensibly white person in the photograph. Blatant racism and xenophobia.

Jeff Mitchell was understandably upset by the use of his image in this way, but he had sold it and the rights to it to Getty Images who had licenced it's use in this campaign. 

It is arguable that picture libraries and archives should investigate a bit more thouroughly to what use images they lease will be put, buit there is also, I think an argument for a change in the way photographers sell their images to photobanks. 

In this case a perfectly legitimate image of the effects of sustained warfare on humanity was changed into an obscene xenophobic, racist image for the purposes of political scaremongering. 

With technology becoming ever more prevalent, and the internet becoming more of a staple in our lives than a luxury, as it was previously, I think the time has come for some kind of conversation regarding the licensing of images, especially in a world where there are such religious and racial tensions and ongoing wars. 

We as photographers have a moral duty to show things "As they are", but that deuty swings both ways as far as the organisations we sell or lease our images to. They also have a duty to ensure that images are not used to incite hatred of any kind.

Re-Thinking Photographers

For what it's worth, I think the line between "Photographers" and "Non photographers" has become so blurred as to make any kind of comparison meaningless. The days of the celebrity photographer are coming to an end with the proliferation of ever more sophisticated cameras on smartphones, backed up by production software that does all the work for the snapper.
The perception of the photographer is coloured by which of the genres of photography he represents. There is still a mistrust and loathing for the "Papppazi" type photogaphers who were variously blamed for the death of Princess Diana, with all its attendant hysteria, but as Josie rightly points out, Medical photography is probably something that never enters the mind of a non photographer.
Being pedantic I would suggest that as soon as anyone records an image on a camera, or a smartphone, then they are a photographer. If you asked 5000 people to take a photo of a sunset on thier phone, probably some would be good photos, and a fair few would be outstanding, but although they were taken by photographers, they were not taken by professional photographers. The attitude is that all a pro does is be in the right place at the right time, best equipment, best corporate back up, etc etc.
In my experience the truth is rather different. Standing up to my knees in cold slimy water waiting for one species of Dragon fly, or lying soaking in the dew to document the return of one particular orchid, the glamour isnt there. 
The place for photography as a documentary tool is the most important aspect . Whether that be Bob and Carol's wedding or the destruction of Aleppo, it is important to document these events for nostalgic purposes, memory purposes and future legal puposes.
I wonder how many non photographers stop to think how much photography has helped to change and shape our world? Or the service, in some cases the life or death service it has been to mankind?
I am a photographer and I wouldn't want to be in Syria for a gold clock. Non photographers see images from there in their newspapers, on the web,on the tv. They expect to see those images, they turn up like magic every day. How many times do they stop and consider the people supplying them? And would they then say "I could do that"

Project Ideas

I must admit I am a bit non-plussed at present. I am mulling a few ideas over regarding what I want to do as my final project. 

 

 Full Moon Chesil August 2016

I love Moonlight, but it's not something you can ever guarantee.


 

 Towards the Blackdown Hills Sept 2016

I really like Black and White landscapes, but is it old hat?

 Heron at  Sutton Bingham  Oct 2016
Should I stick with nature?

 Sunset Towards Wiltshire 2016
Or go for drama?

  Derelict funerary chapel Dorchester August 2016
Or Dereliction?
 

                       Logs Purlieu field Sherborne Aug 2016
 Or go abstract?

Watch this space  
 

Collaborative approaches

The task we were given this week was to make groups of two or three and create a collaborative piece of work. On the face of it this might seem extremely difficult not knowing any of the other students and considering their geographical spread. 

To facilitate some kind of introduction we were asked to post either a quote or photograph or some other media on the forum to start a discussion. 

The quote I noticed first was " Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" From "To Autumn" by John Keats
Link here 
Posted By Philip. To me this gave the opportunity to explore the whole idea of Autumn, it's colour and it's bounty.

The second quote I had noticed was 

 “If you have fairy blood, even in the tiniest degree, you must live close to Fairy Land, and eat a little fairy food, or else you will always be hungry.”
by Robert Moss Link here 
 Posted by Jo-Ann
I was drawn to this because it was so different from the rest of the  submissions, which were a mix of tv programmes, quotes from Shakespeare and well known clips from poems etc, nomne of which really attracted me in any sense.
I had put up a photograph I made of three blue fish.

 Jo had commented on the colours here and suggested a possible project of colours of nature.

Long story short, Philip,Jo and myself decided to team up for this project. Quite early on we decided the way of combining three peoples work, but also showing those same peoples seperate ideas and skills was to create a magazine and make our contributions in the form of articles, with collaborative work interspersed. Our three themes were Fairies (Jo), Autumn cookery (Philip) and Natures bounty (Me). The task was really how to tie these three subjects together cohesively. 

Jo has photoshop skills, so that was the magazine's production sorted, Philip is a cook who photographs food, so alright there, and I get out and about a bit so for my part it was just about taking some photographs and writing a piece to go with them.

I decided on a spoof story of going to look for food in the hedgerow but being interrupted by fairies being mischievous. Then taking photographs to prove my story.

 This was the result. A horizontal orb web became a fairy hammock, shadows of leaves became dancing fairies and a colour anomaly on Blackberries became the fabled "Purple fairy berry" Then I just needed to tie it together with some text. This covered all three of the themes, Fairies,Food and Foraging.

 My landscape image was used as the cover, so that was collaborative, so that fulfilled that brief.

  
 Finally the back page shows all all of the themes in one place. 
The magazine was 8 pages long. We had settled on the idea within 24 hours. All photos and text were ready by 72hrs. I think we did an amazing job seeing as how we did not know each other before this, and we ended up producing a professional looking piece of work which not only showed collaboration, it showed cooperation and highlighted all of our strengths within the context of a joint project. I am proud to have achieved this and am proud to have done that with Jo and Philip.

One group decided to take pictures of strangers after asking them to write down a wish. This was in three diferent countries-Italy, Dubai and England. The results were interesting, and a much larger sample might have shown a similarity between wishes which might have been a talking point. 

One pair created a stunning set of images based on the efficacy of natural remedies, and two other groups created collages. Interesting to see the different approaches to the same problem.

All in all I found this exercise to be quite stimulating, in as much as it made me think about what I was doing from my partners perspectives, and produce something cohesive in a short space of time. I found the whole experience extremely enjoyable.

Reflection Week 2 "Photography and..."

It has become clear that Photography does not exist in a vacuum. It compliments and enhances many other disciplines. For instance, medicine uses photography as a form of reference, and it is used document architecture and art. 

I was impressed by a couple of the collages I was shown, as they hark back to two of the  periods of the evolution of art I enjoy the most, namely DaDa and the punk movement of the 1970s. I must say I had never even considered collage, but I can see the challenges it creates now.

I want to highlight the way science can play a part in creative photography. Since it's invention, people have been fiddling about in dark rooms, pouring chemicals and experimenting with new ways to create photographic images.

I want to do much the same, but not with chemicals, with light. I am fascinatede by the way light can be manipulated, polarised and coloured to create stunningly beautiful images.

http://www.crafthubs.com/light-paintings/12390    
accessed 29/09/2016








 

 http://tullyphotography.wikispaces.com/acongelli+light+painting+reference+page
accessed 29/09/2016

And one of my own efforts,

 


Disturbance 1


This image was made using Leds, a long exposure and music to create the pattern. I will be making a series of these to see if there are any similarities in pattern within a certain genre of music. So this uses three disciplines rather than two. 

To sum up, photography finds itself linked with many other disciplines, for many diverse reasons and serves to augment and enhance those disciplines.