Assignment 3 : Reflection

Assessment criteria

Demonstration of technical and visual skills

Materials, techniques, observational skills, visual awareness, design and compositional skills.

I believe the series represents a progression in technical and visual skills in relation to street photography over the street shots in assignment 1 – The square mile.

Composition was a very important part of in successfully expressing the vision I had for this assignment along with choice of aperture and focal length. All were carefully thought out for the successful photographs in this series.

Quality of outcome

Content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner, discernment, conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas.

I believe that I have successfully conveyed my vision and communicated the idea behind this assignment, a relatively simple message which I believe is clearly expressed through the series. I do not believe that any of the individual shots are particularly successful however collectively they work to evoke the impression I was looking for. Much like the core inspiration for the series, where individually the photographs do not make much sense however collectively convey a strong message.

Presentation with an accompanying poem I believe adds to the series and also as photobook (in video) helps communication of the idea for the series.

Discernment shown through the similarity in look and in body language in the selected photographs, I found myself spending more time than I normally would to take the specific shot I wanted, waiting for the right moment. In this way I was discerning even before taking the shot. This idea came from specific feedback from my tutor on assignment 2 where we discussed trying to reduce the number of shots taken. The aim being to increase the number of good shots over rejected shots. I found the exercise interesting and enjoyable.

Demonstration of creativity

Imagination, experimentation, invention.

Perhaps the series I decided not to present demonstrates more imagination, experimentation and invention. There is some imagination and invention in visualising the message I wanted to convey and what this may look like before I went out to take the shots and create the photographs.

Again the series I have chosen not to present holds perhaps a greater degree of experimentation. I found the series presented to not require a lot of experimentation, I had a clear idea and strong sense of what would work. This is probably represented in the relatively low number of photographs on the contact sheet.

Context

Reflection, research, critical thinking.

Street photography is not an area I have spent much of my time doing over the past few years. I, much like many people I believe am inherently uncomfortable taking pictures of people without their permission. That said it is an area I am interested in progressing for myself and found that I became more comfortable as I progressed through assignment.

My idea itself demonstrates critical thinking where I considered Colin Pantall’s review of Paul Graham The Present and challenge one of the core messages with the series. Other than the challenge I attempted to in many ways to emulate the work. In this way I hope the challenge I present comes through clearly.

I found the book – On composition and improvisation by Larry Fink to be very influential in my composition selections for the series.

Considering Nortre-Dame

Considering the disaster that has befallen Nortre-Dame Cathedral, I think a disaster for the people of Paris, France and for all of us. Just last night as the Cathedral was engulfed in flames and one of the spires collapsing the people of Paris took to the streets in collective shock and mourning and the comfort of being together to bare witness.

I think of Paul Graham’s photobook The Present as discussed here the antithesis of the decisive moment is connected to the urban experience of middle America. It is hard to think of a city or building which represents the opposite of mundane middle America. In this I see an idea forming for my assignment 3, an idea which has been brooding away at the back of my mind for a few weeks now as I have been working through the course and starting to tackle assignment 3. I live in a city which itself is very far removed from mundane middle America, Edinburgh, Scotland. Gothic and spectacular the old town of Edinburgh is but that does not stop the the moments in time experienced by it’s citizens being indecisive. For the good people of the city the gothic and the spectacular become a faded backdrop and life is simply life with all it’s mundane indecision. So the idea forms to express the juxtaposition of mundane within a spectacular context.

Of course, as shown in Paris, when in danger we will snap out of this state and recognise again our surroundings. I suspect the same would be true of any middle American town or city although without the added wrench of hundreds of years of history being torn from us.

Thankfully it looks like the cathedral will remain and shall be rebuilt to its former glory.

Presentation and sequence – more

Mentioned on blog entry presentation and sequence, my tutor recently advised me to consider, the medium of presentation whilst creating my series of photographs for the assignments in EYV. In the blog i considered a photobook as the medium for presentation ( other media could be; magazine, art gallery, internet etc ). In this blog I consider how to think about your photographs in the context of an art gallery. I have selected a few shots which are in the contact sheet for my assignment 3 which I am currently working towards. Using photoshop to resize cut-n-paste I embedded the shots within an image of an art gallery. This gives a really good indication of how these photographs would look in this setting.

Assignment 2 : Reflection

Assessment criteria

Demonstration of technical and visual skills

Materials, techniques, observational skills, visual awareness, design and compositional skills.

The series demonstrates a good level of observational skill, visual awareness and compositional skill. I believe the presentation as a set of 3 triptychs demonstrates good design. One aspect I am concerned about with the series is a balance between the positive aspects of consistency and negative impact of familiarity. I will be interested in my tutors viewpoint on this.

Quality of outcome

Content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner, discernment, conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas.

I believe I have communicated my vision for this assignment well, both in terms of the write up in support of the series and in the series itself. Some of the shots in the series are more challenging than others, i applied discernment in the selection process to achieve alignment with the truth and in doing so selected some shots which are less aesthetically pleasing. It was more important for me to capture the truth even if that truth is less obviously beautiful. This is demonstrated most clearly in the ‘where’ for North Queensferry lighthouse – the truth is the lighthouse is stuck in the middle of a jumble of other things and is dwarfed by the Forth Rail Bridge ( itself one of the most fantastic examples human creation ).

Demonstration of creativity

Imagination, experimentation, invention.

There is a good level of experimentation, as can be seen in the contact sheet for assignment 2. Although none of the night time shots made the final series many shots were taken experimenting which Aperture/ISO/exposure combination gave the best results when trying to capture the light from the Carsewell lighthouse. An interesting challenge which ultimately did not reach a good enough level for the series but lessons learned.

The subject matter and my intent for this assignment did not really demand a great deal of imagination or invention.

Context

Reflection, research, critical thinking.

I settled on the theme and style for this series after some research, summarised here :-

The ‘dead head’ ‘straight on’ style of Ruscha’s gas station shots are in intent what I aim to capture for assignment 2 ‘where’ and ‘what’ of the lighthouse.

Phaidon (2013)

Choice of Triptych and sequencing for the series following research detailed in learning log entry Considering sequence

Inspiration for the series following research detailed in learning log entry Inspiration 1

My thoughts on application of critical thinking and reflection on this assignment are written up in learning log Assignment 2: Collecting

References:

Phaidon. 2013. Ed Ruscha explains his love of Gas Stations. [ONLINE] Available at: https://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/art/articles/2013/september/09/ed-ruscha-explains-his-love-of-gas-stations/. [Accessed 12 February 2019].

Considering sequence

As part of my work towards submission for assignment 2 – collecting, i consider how i might sequence the series of 6 to 12 photographs. I considered how I selected the sequence for assignment 1 the square mile. The sequence was based on a simple rule; group the photographs in pairs to emphasize the chosen theme “Edinburgh at work and play”. For assignment 2 I will invest some thought into possibly more sophisticated sequencing.

To date my thoughts on creating a sequence for a series of photographs, could in my opinion, be described as limited and one dimensional. As evidenced in Exercise 1.4 Frame. In this series the sequence was based on geometric logic and symmetry. Following the brief for this exercise I took 9 shots, each with concentration on a separate section of the viewfinder ( 3*3 grid ). I sequenced the shots mapping directly to the sections where the shot concentrated which i presented in a 3 * 3 grid eg shot with concentration on bottom left corner was placed bottom left in the sequence. This seemed logical and so for me has a merit.

The question I ask myself here however is; does a less logically ordered sequence have more merit or in other words is there some other way to sequence which has more merit?

The original sequence here :-

I researched methods of sequencing a series of photographs and found the following useful insights for consideration from Holly Stuart Hughes. THE ART AND PROCESS OF SEQUENCING PHOTO BOOKS. (2018);

“If you simply select the best 50 images in a series, it’s not an interesting book, because the tension in the photos is always the same,”

“Like in a film or a novel, you have to build up to the tension and then you need to release the tension.”

Considering both points above regarding building tension through not always having the best shots in the series and treating the the series like a film or novel, I reworked the sequencing for Exercise 1.4 Frame, as shown below.

Additionally an added improvement to increased tension and release with this sequence is achieved by presenting as 3 tryptichs rather than the 3 * 3 grid. This helps emphasize the narrative arc I chose for the sequence; to have two shots of journey leading to some reward in the 3rd shot of each group.

I have been collecting a number of shots for assignment 2 for which I have considered possible sequencing. However will consider again in the light of this research.

References

Holly Stuart Hughes. 2018. THE ART AND PROCESS OF SEQUENCING PHOTO BOOKS. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.pdnonline.com/features/photo-books/art-process-sequencing-photo-books/#gallery-1. [Accessed 27 January 2019].

Project 3 – Research personal thoughts

Personal thoughts

Ruff himself states a central purpose to this work at the beginning of this clip “Photography should reflect the medium”

Pixelation from such low resolution creates an aesthetic value, a beauty in it’s own right, disconnected from the original image. I see this most clearly as a tiling effect in certain parts of each of the images in the previous post. This is the final conclusion of complexity in Ruff’s JPEGs with each image seeming to have more than one identity; the image itself and the imagery created by the pixelation. This is expressed fully by David Campany in his many expressions of juxtaposition but is also realised by Jorg Colberg with his view of aesthetic value of pixelated and low resolution images.