Exhibition Feedback

I have been recieving feedback on the photographs I chose to exhibit.

Comments on the whole have been encouraging thus far,

Comments have ranged from " You create dreamscapes" to "Evocative landscapes that make me want be there now" and " These photgraphs have made me smile. I love them"
I must be doing something right.

Evaluating Practice

‘The way we see things is affected by what we know, or what we believe’ (Berger, 1972: 8)

This statement is obviously accurate, but it does not take into account temporary changes in mood, we might know its wrong to kill another human being, but feel there is justification for photgraphing somebody else doing it.

 

Execution of VietCong soldier 1968

Equally we may have ethical or religious qualms about suicide, yet would we stop to photograph it if we passing?

                                                 Buddhist Monk Self Immolation 1963

This puts power in the hands of those making the images. Both could be used for propaganda. We may see either of these occurences as good or bad, important or not, but its those who then look at the images produced who have the final word.

I can put a picture of a dead tree on a wall. If I explain its dead because it was poisoned by broadleaf weedkillers, then viewers may be symnpathetic to its passing. With no explanation it is just a dead tree. 
But when its the last tree, what then? That ha nothing to do with my knowledge, my perspective or my mood. It is a record of fact. Thats the distinction. We might take photographs as an aid to memory of a special occasion, a holiday, a wedding, a birth. Our mtoives are selfish and are informed by the lives we have led. 
Photography as information, or documentary is something quite different, as the images above show.

 

Pre or post processing?

I tend to apply filters to my work after I have taken photographs when I get home. My visual problems make it difficult to see small LED screens, and in the light of day it becomes more impossible still

I am enjoying messing around with filters and effects, as the next few images should attest.

I am learning to see my images in a different light, for want of a better phrase, and am beginning to feel that I can bring real creativity to them