Wednesday 4 January 2012

Flibbertigibbet



How does everyone manage their time when there is so much to do...I have downloaded my first app called Wunderlist in the vein hope it'll manage 'me' a little better than I would myself.

Flibbertigibbet aptly describes me at the moment. I'm very excited about the prospect of what is ahead with landscape and consequently I'm racing around in dozens of directions trying to get ahead of myself and getting nowhere! The sorts of things I've been doing:

less usefully, I've been
- taking no photos!
- panicking that winter will skip by before I know what I'm doing, probably unduly as clearly most Lakeland winters (and indeed summers) are wet anyway!
- unnecessarily organising when to do what
- thinking I should know more on the gender issues and conceptualism in landscape and also Wells' three interpretations of the landscape (geographic, biographic and metaphoric)
- dusting down the covers of a book on post modernism and another on critical theory that I dip in and quickly out of
- wondering if I've got my skype settings wrong
- musing over why the course is so season-centric
- chastising myself for setting a completion date of a year...a bit rash!!!


more usefully, I've been
- printing off reams of 'google search' image thumbnails of various photographers including Mitch Epstein, Stephen Shore, Thomas Struth and William Eggleston. And then scribbling all over them. I'm adopting the role of detective and looking for clues.
- reading and rereading Liz Wells' Land Matters and 'Work' by Mitch Epstein
- checking back on Liz Wells' The Photography Reader
- reading Peter Walker's Folk Stories from the Lake District and The folklore of the Lake District by Marjorie Rowling
- hesitating on what approach to take, on all fronts

Yes, flibbertigibbet sums it, or me, up...

6 comments:

  1. I know the feeling, I am sitting here with a list of six posting topics for me to put on my blog and only one ticked off so far.

    The classic approach is to prioritise, do the most important task, then the next etc etc.

    For me I sometimes find a much more productive approach is to do the thing I feel most inclined to do. If I feel motivated, for whatever reason, then the task gets done and done well. Some days I just get a feel that I want to do something, this may be to go out and take photographs, to stay in and read or to get my thoughts organised and coherent by expressing them in a blog post, whatever, its all good.

    With Landscapes the OCA do seem to take a very seasonal approach but dodn't feel you are 'missing' a season, you can start with any season and if you miss something it just comes around again. Landscapes can demand a more patient approach for specific shots but there is always something going on out there.

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  2. Penny—you a flighty or whimsical person—never!! You're organising, planning, laying the ground work — and maybe a little bit of WABing thrown in for good measure! You do remember my definition of Wabing?

    Duncan - like your advice. It makes sense as I have about six or more posts to come as well, before I can start my assignment! And the patience, the idea that if you miss something it will come round again—yes, that holds true for the seasons, but maybe also —to an extent—true for life as well!

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  3. One book I found incredibly helpful when trying to improve landcsape compositions was 'The Europeans' by Henri Cartier-Bresson. Not many are actually landscapes but what a genius for composition and bringing life and dynamism to images - hopefully helping to avaoid that flat static thing that many landcsapes have.

    Jeremy

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  4. Aye.

    Say no more, other than I've not managed to read much of Land Matters yet.

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  5. Your back catalogue will come in handy Penny when you miss something that is seasonal, mine rescued me more than once. Frowned upon maybe but needs must.

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  6. Hi Duncan...I know you've ticked the landscape box a while ago now and have been making swift progress through the courses...I'm with you on the 'see where the mood takes you' approach, rather than the 'priority' route, as it feels more instinctive...however I spend too much time on this computer when I'm not in the thick of an assignment and sometimes need to give myself a gentle shove!! Personally I like working on loads of different things at once, so I can flit between them.

    Hi Vicki...I remember wabing yes and practice diligently, whimsical and flighty yeh I'll concede that, lol!! I think my concern about winter passing me by is my vein hope of finishing by the year-end...however I think it may be more realistic to experiment this winter and complete the sequence next and look at a March or even July 2013 assessment submission. I'm just anxious not to procrastinate with this course too long! Vicki, I'd like to think if you miss it first time around in life, it came around again, but I'm not convinced it does.

    Thanks Jeremy, HCB is intimidatingly brilliant...I will take another look at his composition and pull off some thumbnails to scrawl over. I know exactly what you mean by flat and static landscapes...it is really tricky making landscapes 'zing' and leap off a page. I find myself bored taking landscapes sometimes which can't be good! I think applying some of the fervency and energy of street photography that HCB and others adopted and incorporating that into landscape photography would be a wonderful mix...no idea how though!!

    Rob, I haven't read it cover to cover by any means...keep dipping in looking for those nuggets...but tend to get more questions than answers when I do, as always!!

    Nigel I think it is one of your comments on the oca forum which has encouraged me to go through all the course material early on(which I have still to do) and plan everything in, because of the concerns of getting to project 150 in late summer and needing frosty shots!! Where you are reliant on people in soc doc, I'd forgotten how reliant you are on weather for landscape photography!

    Sorry, bit of a rambling response...thank you for all your comments...I really appreciate it!

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