The Marmalade Cafe

Location, location, location

2012-02-06T20:46:00.000Z

Today the forecast was for 'cloud'. I had no expectations at all for anything spectacular. But when we headed out...it was quite out of this world...a truly staggering day. Well, I've done it again - that landscape photographers trap I keep twining on about, I've just stumbled in to it once more!! Can't help it!!

Thing is, I'd have been hard pushed to take anything other than a stunning picture today...and that is no self-inflated opinion, quite the contrary...just being here was all that was required. In some ways I am at a major advantage being on a landscape course and living in the Lakes...there could be no greater gift could there? And its dramatic beauty could distract attention away from all manner of technical flaws. However, its' presence equally has the power to overpower any theme, message or concept I choose to overlay it with and make it look contrived and feeble. It truly is a gigantic personality and one that is hard to tame, challenge or alter. To get beyond it is tougher than it seems and is it futile to try?

Strangely for assignment one, this day alone could theoretically have yielded me with twelve adequate images to illustrate 'the season' (bit samey, but you catch my drift) (full set here)....and then I would be making headway...but I didn't have to try that hard in all honesty and what would I have learned... As it is, I've still to make any real progress on assignment one (one failed attempt today). I feel like a recovering alcoholic pitching out in a brewery...pretty cool brewery mind!!

Initial Plans for Landscape

2012-02-05T16:27:00.000Z

I've spoken to my tutor now and had that introductory chat. Funny, I must be a creature of habit as I was a little nervous making contact with a new tutor. We spoke by good old fashioned phone, as I failed with skype...oh well, I can save that pleasure.

What became clear as our conversation progressed was the need for me to contain the breadth of ideas. As I threw yet another idea at him I think he became, quite rightly, a little anxious that I may be in danger of spreading myself too thinly. So I will have to park a number of ideas and trains of thought for now, which I think is wise.

However, despite this, I am still considering five or six threads and they are all vying for my attention...which means I'm flitting about a little again. However, I do prefer to be working on a number of projects concurrently, to keep it varied and interesting. Inevitably there will be some failures and this approach allows for some to fall by the wayside. It also may mean that my first assignment, which is entitled 'the season', may be the amalgam of two or perhaps even three independent themes. This is less than ideal but in the long-run I think there is some logic in it and will enable me to meet the 1 April deadline more easily than trying to get twelve images on one theme.

My overarching aim for this course is to challenge the 'default' image of the Lakes, as you've probably heard me say once or thrice before!

So for starters, areas of work that I will be concentrating my efforts on over the next twelve months, all with their own caveats at the moment:

my view of the Lakes when I build up the courage, have the right weather and a number of other factors all coming together at the same time
rural street photography during the busier months
folklore when I work out how to actually achieve this
in the style of Mitch Epstein when I get to that part of the course

It's always dangerous laying down your intentions as you can become unnecessarily imprisoned by them. And I don't like putting it to paper if I don't intend to do it. However, they're just words at the moment...so I need to put my film where my camera is now and just get on with it.

Not Our Time

2012-02-01T13:07:00.001Z

My assignment one, 'A day in the life...' book entitled 'Not Our Time', that was submitted as part of my assessment for the Social Documentary course, has been featured on the weareoca blog. Many thanks OCA, and thanks Maggie and Clive too for the kind words.

I've embedded it below.

I've embedded the book too, hopefully successfully this time.

Untitled | Make Your Own Book

Personalised landscape

2012-01-24T13:10:00.002Z

Some questions for you...well, me...that are bobbing about aimlessly in the murky shallows of my head.

How do you bring your own voice to a generic or shared landscape?
How do you take a picture of a scene and make it say something unique or individual?
How do you make it interesting to yourself but to others too?
And when you have something to communicate, how do you express it in a picture?

The motivations for my work to date have either been personal...or I choose topics that I find unusual, funny or that I am simply drawn to. However with the landscape I haven't yet been able to make the transition from taking spontaneous images, to one that reflects my relationship with it or a specific view of it. So far, I have got ideas but beyond the project work, I haven't got out and taken any images for the assignment work...I think I am guilty of not properly 'seeing' my surroundings...consigned to fleeting views out of the window whilst taxiing children to and fro...I'm sure I'll get there...just looking for inspiration right now.

Some interesting intepretations using the landscape as a canvas below:

Almagul Menlibayeva: mythological narratives placed and staged in the her native Kazakhstan ravaged by 60 years of Soviet occupation.

Marc Baruth (full interview): sophisticated blending of images inspired by landscape painters. In his words:

'reality is always mere allegation, and in my works, I absolutely deny constructed reality, which may at best be found in the presentation of a tiny, actually photographed element'. From this accumulation of small, 'real' elements comes something which presents itself as reality or at least something clearly defined, like a landscape painting.'

Polixeni Papapetrou: makes images with identity and contemporary culture focussing on childhood and childhood memories. Interesting series with the animals masks!

Jennifer Hudson: takes inspiration from the themes of faith, intricacy of personal relationships. Beautiful finish to the images.

Gregory Crewsdon: clearly a master at creating narratives in an sub-urban landscape

Bishop of Barf

2012-01-16T11:47:00.000Z

Have you ever driven on the A66 between Keswick and Cockermouth? Because if you have, like me, you may have wondered what that white rock is doing half way up the hill. I had wondered many times before I did a bit of digging and climbing. I have taken this extract from the wonderful book, Folk Stories from the Lake District by Peter Walker.

Perched precariously on the slope of the fells above the hotel is a curious white-painted rock called The Bishop of Barf. It is visible from a great distance and can clearly be seen from the other side of Bassenthwaite Lake.

The story goes that in 1783, the Irish Bishop of Derry, now Londonderry, came this way. He was en route to Whitehaven, which was then the main port to Ireland and stayed for a while at The Swan.

It seems he must have sampled the quality of the local ale because he wagered the locals that he could ride over the steep-sloped mountains on his horse via Barf (1,536 foot) and reach Whitehaven by that direct route. The wise local people said it was impossible - the face of the fell at this point is almost perpendicular and is almost impossible for a man to climb, let alone a horse. Undaunted by their remarks, however, and perhaps fortified with beer and a little faith, he set off in great spirits upon his horse. He managed to get only half-way up Barf towards Lord's Seat (1,811 foot), which is the mountain behind the Swan. At that point, where the white painted rock now stands, horse and rider fell to the foot of the scree and both were killed instantly. The bishop and his horse were buried where they fell, at the foot of the scree. It is said the bishop was the first and last person to attempt rock-climbing on horse-back!

The rock from where they fell is now painted white and acts as a landmark as well as a memorial to the dead bishop. At the foot of the scree is a small stone which marks their grave - this is called the Bishop's Clerk.

So now you know too...

Chocolate Boxes

2012-01-15T15:45:00.001Z

I don't know if they still sell chocolate boxes with landscapes on the front, but for the sake of this post, they do...right. It was the most beautiful day of the winter on Friday past and I went for a run up Sale Fell, and then to Barf which I'll mention in a later post. And, like a brand new Lakes tourist, I couldn't help but photograph it!

What a blatant hypocrite...like gorging on a naughty wedge of chocolate cake, my senses are aroused as I take the picture...before feeling ill when I download another chocolate box image from the camera - ha! My hubby loves these btw!! So I thought I would create a 'spoof' chocolate box series to satiate this desire. Yep, done, put it behind me...well, until the next time!!

Cliches

2012-01-12T08:49:00.000Z

Well, the previous post was a little unkind to much landscape photography and the inherent dangers of chasing 'beauty' as an end in itself. Although, it certainly holds true on trawling through a google image search for 'landscape'. I also include a few of mine to illustrate these cliches, although I do feel slightly uncomfortable with them now:

And I took loads of images that, looking back, were inherently 'empty' of meaning or intention other than capturing the maximum 'beauty' of a place. They were, I suppose, 'bland' as described in the previous post extract. When I became aware of the tedium of chasing forecasts, I embarked on this journey with OCA, but it is only now I am addressing the 'landscape' issue head on.

Now turning my attention to contemporary landscape photography which in many ways represents the other end of the aesthetic spectrum. And interestingly, it is certainly not without its own cliches. This, I think, is important to bear in mind looking ahead as it is not something I have considered before.

Forgive me for my flippancy here. However, to offer a balanced view I wish to illustrate a point.

...it was a misty day today, no sunrise or care-bear cloud in sight...so I decided it was a perfect 'contemporary landscape photography' day. In my view, so many images that resist the aesthetic route are equally riddled with 'rebellious' cliches...can you spot them?

But before you do, let me superimpose an artist statement along the lines of:

whilst absent, the landscape is the geographic canvas shaped by humans and overlaid by our cultural sensibilities. In this series of images, the photographer challenges the viewer to respond to this unease and reflect on the interwoven metaphors embedded in our relationship with the land. Convincing enough?

Sorry, I know I am being facetious but bear with me...can you see my point?

Strangely, now I see them altogether they look sort of a set...damn, I quite like them! Ha, that backfired!! But more seriously, one could suggest that much contemporary landscape photography is indeed a reaction to the cliches borne out of the Romantics, which focusses primarily on the aesthetics. And as such, much of the contemporary photography is in danger of being cliche itself. I am probably oversimplifying it, but there is certainly a different visual language at work with much (not all) contemporary photography which is common to itself and I'm wondering whether there is an underlying antithesis to the 'sublime' - 'dour realism' perhaps you could call it, that is indicative of and inherent in this particular age of photography.

Another thought occurs to me, my aversion to creating yet more 'sublime' images of the Lakes because I think there is nothing new to contribute, could be applied to contemporary photography too. There is a danger of me 'trying to make my work look like the contemporary work out there so I can call my work contemporary too'. Tail wagging the dog!

So my next question is can you be inspired by eras from the past such as the surrealist painters, the sculptors, the American photographers create something of your own and call it current...or is that harking back to eras from the past and merely recycling? I guess I'm just challenging the notion of what 'contemporary' is in my own mind...

And then I think what is the new modern, new post-modern, the new contemporary...the new whatever it is...how can our work inform or contribute to the field of landscape photography? And that I guess is a more important question to answer than any as it is less about conforming to any style or technique and more about what is being communicated by us, as individuals.

There you go...clear as mud!!

Landscape Photographers Trap

2012-01-06T14:40:00.001Z

Take a look at this quote:

Landscape photography is one of those 'branches' of photography which is so appealing to the picture buying public that it has become associated with the sort of bland scenes that you might find on the walls of a hotel; pseudo-dramas with dense clouds and misty water. It has become a victim of the rule of thirds and a pictorial orthodoxy for epic large scale scenery featuring superfluous foreground objects in sharp focus shot for little else than as a gratuitous display of its author's technical prowess.

Put all this together with an exotic location, and you have the recipe for what would be and is often mistaken as being representative of landscape photography. Wall fodder.

But landscape photography is about much more than far away or unseen places and an expensive camera. Landscape photography, like all other photography, like all art in fact, must convey a message or communicate an idea if it is to avoid becoming Ikea stock and take on a role in the fickle, jargon riddled world of contemporary fine art.

That isn't to say that pictures can't simply be enjoyed, quite the contrary, but it is up to us to distinguish between simple decoration and art.

extracted from the intro text of a contemporary landscape photography exhibition held at Bristol Creative in May 2010:

Why am I posting this?

Firstly I think, even out of context, this extract articulates so eloquently a concern I've labelled as 'landscape photographers trap'. I for one, beguiled by the beautiful, fell in to this 'trap' before I even understood that it was one and have been looking for escape routes ever since. And secondly, it indirectly highlights, more for its absence, the emphasis of the course material. Whilst I accept the importance of technical competency in landscape photography, the projects focus almost entirely on this. By producing a technically perfect image we can create, what? - 'wall fodder'? And as revered as Ikea is, I haven't set my sights on supplying them 'simple decoration'.

Appreciating that this is probably no more than a consequence of dated course notes and having had prior knowledge from other OCA students, I have no interest to protesteth too much. However, I am still at a loss as to where to find guidance on these ephemeral 'non-technical' skills that 'one' clearly needs to elevate 'one's' work from simple decoration to art. How do you move up the curve and work out how to...

- make images that challenge,
- translate ideas in to a visual, 2d, 'indexical' (think that's the word) photograph,
- contextualise and create a visual language,
- produce work that is contemporary, relevant and original.

I'm reading plenty of books and these bullet points are only the tip of my enquiries. I do have some thoughts, but I was hoping I didn't have to tackle it all by trial and error...

Any answers on a postcard...well just down here in the comments box would be just fine...pretty please...I'll even buy you a pint...now there's northern generosity for you!!!

Flibbertigibbet

2012-01-04T21:53:00.001Z

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...

That inbetween bit

2011-12-27T12:49:00.001Z

It is always a strange time betwixt and between Christmas and New Year...it is a time to reflect on the merry christmas you have endured, no enjoyed I mean...a helping of self gratification, congratulating oneself that there were no tears, only one faulty present and a welcome absence of soggy parsnips. Yet I can't get rid of this nagging guilt that I am part of the problem, as I sink further under the weight of indulgence. A weariness descends as I reflect on my own consenting participation in this obscene excess and the monopoly sized credit card bill that awaits us in January!

And there is still the New Year festivities to come...hoorah, belch...when the house will fill again with family and friends, another huge supermarket shop will be required and the consuming will begin again...it is hypocritical I know...I participate whole-heartedly, yet harbour a wimpering self-loathing that I can't shed with the piles of packaging and wrapping paper from Christmas.

Anyway, it has been a lovely Christmas and most importantly we succeeded in ensuring the children had 'the best Christmas ever' again (you can't see my eyes rolling as I write this)!!! I have a spare ten minutes to reflect a little, before I eat another chocolate I don't need! Are we expecting a nibble shortage in 2012 or something...what is going on!?!

So I've also taken a break from the mac for a few days...and I miss it!! I just wanted to reflect briefly on my photography progress. 2011 certainly ended more decisively than it started. I have completed the Social Documentary course. Fab. I haven't fully accomplished all I set out to, particularly with the medium and large format cameras so will roll this forward to my next course and next year. Really looking forward to using both a bit more...these two images below are from my first roll of film from the Holga this summer.

So for 2012, the landscape module will commence in earnest. I think I know what I want to achieve for most of the assignments, but not how to achieve it, although I'll probably change my mind quite a few times before then! With my youngest now at school, I should be able to get out more and I'm not as reliant on photographing people with this module. There is a titanic load of reading to do and I imagine a fair amount of trial and error too. But I do hope to make quicker progress through this course...possibly completing this in nearer 12 months and going for March assessment 2013, but I'm perhaps being over-ambitious. Here's hoping - I might as well start with punctual intentions!

Spencer Murphy

2011-12-22T18:52:00.004Z

Just how cool are this guy's photographs. Really like his portrait work!

Assessment Results

2011-12-21T14:43:00.000Z

I have in my hands the results letter for my Social Documentary assessment...I'm chuffed to bits...if a little shocked. I feel a little coy now I come to upload this...for a girl who spent her working life in marketing, I'm surprisingly reticent when it comes to flaunting my own achievements! Anyway, the mark is 89%...I can't tell you how relieved I feel. There is a section on the results letter entitled 'Advice for Future Study' which says:

Excellent, beautifully presented, totally convincing, mature work. Carry on!

For those of you who follow my blog, you'll know that my progress through this course was protracted and uncomfortable at times. So it is reassuring that despite this, my approach and the work I'm creating is yielding some results! Looking forward, I would hope to navigate through the landscape course with slightly less turbulence!!

Thank you all for your support and best wishes for Christmas!

Is less more and bigger better?

2011-12-15T21:57:00.000Z

Again, I write this before viewing other blog posts to ensure I don't dilute or confuse my own thoughts.

Today I shirked my parental responsibilities and headed down for a day out in Liverpool. I joined Gareth Dent, Peter Haveland and fifteen or so fellow students for a study visit to the recently opened Open Eye Gallery. We went specifically to view the work of Mitch Epstein and Chris Steele-Perkins. The two offered contrasting styles in photography, presentation and ethos.

I'm not sure quite what I was expecting from the visit but the gallery was smaller than I envisaged it would be. It looked palatial from the outside, but housed a mere twenty-four images in total...a few fewer than I thought there would be...but I am misleading you, as it wasn't just any prints, eight were gargantuan in size!!

Mitch Epstein
And as the post title alludes to, perhaps size does matter. Epstein's images are 'Gursky-esque' in their proportions being several metres in height and width, four in one room and four in another - quite in keeping with the minimalist, almost spartan space the pictures were hung in. I am already a fan of Epstein's work so seeing his work up close did not alter my opinions necessarily. However, it was fascinating to see the images in such detail and how the clarity, even blown up large, was unfettered. What struck me most was the rigorous and ruthless editing process he must have gone through to cull his work from 63 images in the American Power Series to just 8 hung in the Gallery. What was his rationale and motivations for doing this?

With Epstein's work it seems to be less about satiating our visual appetite (which he doesn't fail to do) and more about introducing a troubling and carefully considered mix of fascinating vistas and uncomfortable ironies. He confidently communicates his view of America's Power struggle. The images confront you with tormented rural landscapes transformed by gravity defying engineering feats; urban vistas 'hideous' in their angularity; suburbia and recreational space nestling adjacent to energy-creating monstrosities!

Yet the images are, ironically, still beautiful...technically and compositionally they are exquisite. His use of light is unusually soft and aesthetically pleasing, belying the severity of the message. The flood-ridden Biloxi view has beautiful warmth to it and his choice in timing with regards light at the Hoover Dam reservoir image is intriguing. It is also interesting that he has taken, in most of the landscapes, a somewhat authoritative viewpoint, looking down on the world like 'our creator' may do, with disdain, exasperation, observing the contradictions that is 'us'.

The inclusion of people in the vistas appears to be secondary, perhaps to emphasise scale or to observe as a scientist would, how the human species interact with their environment...except one notable anomaly which Gareth picks up on here. This image of Martha Murphy and Charlie Biggs is somehow at odds with the rest given its focus on two people. It seems to be politically driven and there is plenty to read in to the picture. Perhaps he wishes to illustrate the human and personal aspect of devastation, which would otherwise be missing from the galleried series. I will be looking at Epstein's work further as part of my landscape module.

Chris Steele-Perkins
I hadn't read the blurb about Chris Steele-Perkins beforehand so I didn't know what we were going to see. From a selfish point of view, sporting my 'landscape hat' now, I was hoping to see more work from 'My England' or 'Northern Exposure'. The sixteen images on display were predominantly people-based street photographs from the Pleasure Principle series. The quality of the framing, mounting and prints themselves was, hmmm, not really what you come to expect in a gallery. But perhaps I'm missing the point here as it was a retrospective of the 1980s and it is possible the presentation of the images reflects this. There were some classic images within the set like the one of Margaret Thatcher, but I found myself flitting from image to image not really settling anywhere. If there was a sequence or narrative binding these images together, it went over my head...I searched for colour connections, subjects, topics and you could establish mini-sets, but no overarching link between them apart from the decade in which they were taken. I also suspect however, that my radar has shifted from street to landscape so was slightly less engaged than I could have been.

I am interested in looking more at the two books mentioned above, which I think has more relevance to my current line of thinking and will look these up further.

Thank you Gareth and Peter for organising, and it was lovely to meet fellow students too.

Photographing the kids

2011-12-05T14:38:00.001Z

I wanted to flag up this article on Burn, more for the discussion it has provoked, quite surprising given the uncontentious subject matter, than the images per se. It is a series of exquisite images taken by Juliette Mills of her two sons, within the context of 'the importance of the natural world in children's lives'. I couldn't agree more with her sentiments. The comments seem to fall in to two broad camps, the first that the essay is a technically excellent and visually beautiful, intimate account. Yes, agreed. The other seems to suggest that the essay is not 'edgy' enough, that they are unchallenging portraits of children, more a nostalgic parents view than enlightening of a child's perspective.

Personally, I think the images are beautiful with a fairytale idealism about them and what's wrong with that? A wonderful family heirloom for the future. However, my own experience of parenting fails to live up to these cinematic clips of cordiality. Call me a cynic but we live in the countryside and its not like that in our household...at all!

There are of course many special moments to photograph, but come on...what about the arguments, the scuffed knees, the snotty noses, the nits, the challenging behaviour, the...you know...reality, the rest of it...does she not live with a hoard of riotous hooligans, or mischievous pixies, who roll around scrapping like tiger-pups over calamities such as who the pink bobble or rogue cheerio belongs to? Why is her floor not scattered with random broken toys and pairless socks?

There does seem to be an absence of images to counter-balance this rural idyll. Does that matter? Is a dose of realism really necessary? Perhaps it is a true reflection...I take my hat off to her if it is. Alternatively, it could be an artistic decision or as a result of rigorous editing or even selective shooting. I am also wondering how the images respond to the artist statement and if they are marginally incongruous. I recently came across this series by Simone Donati called Valley of Angels which is more about immersing oneself in country life and living off the land, which is closer to my interpretation of the rural idyll, but again that's more a reflection of my views than her images.

What I can take from this is the value placed on the artist statement and how the images are cross-referenced and judged by it. There are inherent dangers if the two don't marry up seamlessly. I think what has been highlighted to me too is how exposed you become when your work is featured in this way. Juliette has come up against a barrage of comments, discussion and criticism, much helpful and no doubt much soul-searching too. I admire how Juliette responded constructively and undefensively. From a general point of view, it is important as an artist to accept that not everyone will like our work and criticism is inevitable. Although it may be hard to achieve, as art is often a personal extension of ourselves, it is a necessity to adopt a level of robustness and find ways to navigate our way around such feedback in a constructive rather than denigrating way.

Fairies, dobbies & will o' the wisps

2011-12-02T12:39:00.001Z

I am reading a book by Marjorie Rowling, The Folklore of the Lake District, which was published in 1976. There are two aspects I would like to raise. The first is from the introduction:

In Enjoying the Lakes, the author Edmund Hodge mentions two distinct attitudes towards the area [the Lake District]. 'There is one arising from the countryman's intimate knowledge, and the other springing from the personal discovery, often nostalgic in feeling, of the townsman. It is the latter group which starts with the advantages, frequently carrying the heavier armament of professional talent, or a sharper spearhead of feeling; but when there is not something like this to rely on, this group includes by far the worst'.

Folklorists may well consider the comment, which underlines on the one hand a tendency to fossilise the social environment, so often practiced by well-intentioned regional patriots; and on the other, the homesickness for an illusory past, which gives the most trivial cultural residues an apparent aura of virtue, concealing their real significance.

I think this resonates today, not as a Folklorist, but evidences a different view between residents and 'townsfolk' or tourists visiting. You can see the difference with regards views on planning today, but I would guess it is also evident in the writing and art too.

Going back to Romanticism briefly, it is important to remind ourselves of this:

Twenty years ago [1956], John Armthwaite, a contributor to Cumbria, noticed how the reactions of visitors had changed. 'There was a time when travellers looked at our Lakeland fells and shuddered. Words like 'awesome' and 'dreadful' crept in to their writing. Not today.' The environment had become familiar, not only through increased accessibility and greater uniformity, but because of literacy and the modern spread of information.

Take this comment about the stretch between Kendal and Kirkby Stephen, an English officer campaigning against the Scots a century earlier (1745), wrote of his journey between the two towns:

'We frequently come to valleys, which with great fear and danger we descend, they being very steep. This was the most strange journey I ever made'.

The Lakes was hostile in the 1600s. However, it is no longer. It never will be again in the same way. Think of the David Attenborough programme 'Frozen Planet' on BBC1 at the moment...it is introduced as the 'last frontier'. The Antarctic is considered hostile and not conducive to human inhabitation. The frontiers have shifted considerably from the 1600s. If the original Romantics were around today, they would be heading due south!!

With a 'countryman's intimate knowledge' how should I be portraying the area? I am beginning to find a good few examples of contemporary photographers interpretation of the Lakes including that of Ingrid Pollar, Simon Roberts, David Ellison and Jem Southam. But what concerns me a little is that none are all encompassing or wholistic, they take one aspect or issue of country life for example, ethnicity and the countryside, a sport or country fairs. Is this how I need to tackle it too?

The second extract I find just so lovely...it is from the same book which references the Register of Deaths in Lamplugh parish, a village just down the road from where I live and now notorious for other reasons sadly. This particular document registers deaths from 1658 to 1663. It includes:

Frightened to death by fairies 3

Bewitched 4

Old women drowned upon a trial for witchcraft 3

Led into a horse pond by a will o' the wisp 1

In lonely farms and hamlets [in Cumbria], far from civilisation, linked only by packhorse or cart track with the nearest dwelling often miles away, witchcraft and spells, elves and fairies, giants, dobbies and ghosts were fearsome realities.

I just love this...how scary, mysterious and enchanting life must have been then. Can you imagine fearsome fairies frightening three fellow beings to death? Or a mischievious will o' the wisp (I can't write that without thinking of Kenneth Williams!) beguiling someone to the pond. Maybe the folklore and fables could form part of a conceptual project. I think given all the assignments and projects in the landscape module, I can probably dabble with all sorts of different approaches.

If genres were a personality....

2011-12-02T11:27:00.001Z

This is one of those made up theories based on nothing other than my own thoughts...so take it as such...

It goes like this...bear with flagrant generalisations - it is the genre not the photographer I'm trying distil...if each genre of photography was a personality at a party...I would have street photography as the spontaneous, quick witted, humorous one...highly engaging, a flighty, social butterfly...not making long-term relationships and bestowed with that curious, intangible charisma! Photojournalism is the slightly more sensible older sibling. It is absent from the party...working...this genre is an adventurous free spirit with an engaging, determined demeanour. You can't help but listen to its fascinating anecdotes!!

I don't want to go through all the genres as I've only really thought of the two extremes on the continuum which is street photography and...landscape. Now landscape is a relative party pooper...quiet, often alone, contemplative and rarely spontaneous. This genre avoids people and is often intense. It has an eye for detail, will analyse endlessly and never stops planning. It is earnest and serious... 'deep and meaningful'...you feel compelled to get to know this enigmatic guest, intriguing and beguiling as they are.

Where am I going with this...well, it is my way of articulating the differences between the genres. You have to draw on different sides of your personality depending on the type of photography you are pursuing. And some skills are likely to come easier to us depending on what we are like as individuals. I can see the benefit of trying all genres at this stage and seeing which 'fits' best. Or even amalgamating. I like the idea that the soc doc course I have just completed, where the aesthetics and technical aspects are secondary to capturing a moment, provides an interesting starting point for landscape, which has a rich history of technical precision and a predisposition to the aesthetics.

As I start to think 'landscape', I can feel my approach is already shifting. However, I'm reluctant to let go of the people side of photography altogether...landscapes can be quite dry unless there is some 'human' interest either in the picture or implied. Can humour and 'currentness' be incorporated in to the landscape occasionally?

I have today sent off my enrolment form for landscape. I'm doggedly pursued by thoughts, questions and ideas about landscape already and looking forward to exploring this genre.

Contested Countryside

2011-12-01T22:41:00.001Z

I have just been having a thorough read through Simon Roberts We English blog. I have popped in before, but I'm now looking at it with new eyes. There are a loads of interesting posts and some links to photographers work relevant to my current research about photographing the landscape. Such as John Darwell's work during foot and mouth, Ingrid Pollard's thoughts on 'Englishness and ethnicity'. I have also looked through Jem Southam's Clouds Descending project which follows Lowry's footsteps on the West Cumbrian coast. John Kippin's work pays allegiance to the traditions of pictorial landscape whilst overlaying this with contemporary culture and politics. All good stuff which I will come back to again no doubt.

This link entitled Romanticism vs Beauty is also an interesting continuation from this post.

David Ellison

2011-11-30T13:17:00.001Z

Just found some of David Ellison's work today on BJP, who has done some photography work in Cumbria and has taken this environment for the subject of his recent work. He says in BJP:

“I’m obsessed with the notion of the North, anything North I love,” he says. “It’s the remote poetry of the place. When I visit home and get out onto the fells of Cumbria, I feel an intense connection with the area, and the rural heritage of the North is very interesting. The folk art of Britain inspires me, and the industrial past. I want to document it in my own style.”

His recent work takes the ancient heritage of the Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling carrying out a number of portraits of the contestants and the wrestling landscape.

Neo Romanticism in Landscape Photography

2011-11-24T12:25:00.001Z

This post could form the basis of a thesis if I let it...I won't...but I do want to clarify my thoughts before embarking on the Landscape module, without getting too bogged down in theory. I thought it was useful to consider Romanticism or more specifically neo-Romanticism and its impact on landscape photography in the Lake District...

The height of the Romantic era (1800s) preceded photography, just. Consequently, there were no Romantics using photography as their medium. However, on reading this article on www.weareoca.com I started to consider the ongoing legacy the Romantics have left behind with regards landscape photography in the Lake District. The Lake District was at the heart of the British Romantic movement with Wordsworth, Coleridge, De Quincy, Southey, Ruskin, Hill, Potter and others fighting to protect and tame the very landscape that was previously considered with intrepidation, fear and hostility. These individuals strongly believed the Lakes should be revered as a thing of beauty and 'conserved'. We owe much to these enlightened individuals.

It is ironic therefore that the photographic medium largely unavailable to the original Romantics and the values they bestowed on the landscape, are still held so dear today, particularly with landscape photographers. Consequently, there is a huge number of images that depict the 'sublime' and beauty of the Lakes. Yet, do these photos challenge our perceptions of the landscape or merely affirm it as 'picturesque'? The original Romantics were protesting against convention, as a response to mass urban sprawl and industrialisation. What are we challenging today by continuing to respond to the landscape in the same way?

In my opinion, this romantic view of the Lakes has been done...and very successfully too. The Lakes is a place of beauty, physical and otherwise: period. And as the area is held dear to so many visitors, this catalogue of images will undoubtedly grow. Should I be spending my time chasing forecasts to capture the next dew-sparkling dawn or haunting hanging mist? Is it not a little 'repetitive'? And is beauty merely 'surface-deep' when describing a landscape? And when you live amongst the splendour of such scenery, should and does it take on a different meaning?

Interestingly, OCA tutor Peter Haveland has just produced a book of 'abstract' style landscape images entitled 'blurscapes', which offers an alternative response to a well-photographed Snowdonia landscape. His introduction mirrors much of my own photographic challenges with regards living in a 'picturesque' landscape.

I know the genre of landscape photography has moved on significantly since the Romantics. From the New Topographics to much contemporary landscape work there is little depicting the 'sublime' anymore. The rose-tinted glasses came off decades ago. There is an almost 'antithetical' thread that runs through much landscape work of today, exposing the least aesthetic landscapes and how we, as a race, exist within it, usually uncomfortably. Early examples include Stephen Shore, Robert Adams and more recently Andreas Gursky and Mitch Epstein. The camera's gaze shifted from beautiful to impoverished landscapes, geographic or metaphoric. Of course I am generalising dangerously.

I have found a few examples so far (and only two locally) where the 'sublime' landscapes have been photographed as anything other than resplendent...I will be checking these artists out: Jean Marc Bustamante, Andreas Gursky, Dan Holdsworth, Richard Misrach, Walter Niedermayr, Raymond Moore, Keith Arnatt, Chris-Steele Perkins, Richard Long, Hamish Fulton.

Perhaps we do still appreciate the concept of 'picturesque' as much as our forebears and therefore don't need to photograph it any other way...on the other hand...I would like to at least try...which I know will be harder to achieve than write about!! I have no clue yet how to go about this!!

I am also aware my knowledge is limited at the moment, so I am happy to stand corrected on any of the above!!

Jane Fulton Alt, Misha Friedman & Phillip Toledano

2011-11-20T15:05:00.001Z

Two Photographers from Critical Mass and a third I have just come across that I have found inspiring:

Jane Fulton Alt's images of controlled burning on the prairies are so unusual, it is hard to believe they are real. They are so beautiful to look at, intriguing and with a poignant metaphor behind them. They are the sort of images I could imagine blowing up large and putting on your wall...very striking.

Misha Friedman's work on the Ukraine is a series I am drawn to as well. The aesthetic is almost painterly. I don't quite understand how she has achieved it, particularly the lighting in the portraits. They almost look HDR'ed, which I'm sure is unlikely.

Phillip Toledano's 'Days with my Father' is a photographical account about his 98 year old father who has lost his short term memory...it is a beautifully created piece of work, showing sensitivity and emotion as well as important insights in to the difficulties of living with memory loss. I also like the format of the website...I find so many photographers websites, in their endeavour to be minimalistic, are so difficult to get around.

Critical Mass 2011

2011-11-17T11:28:00.001Z

Posting this link for future reference...it is a list of Photolucida's top 50 photographers...some inspiring work in there.

A sad post

2011-11-07T14:33:00.000Z

My lovely Nana passed away yesterday, aged ninety-four, bless her. Nana has had a huge influence on my life. Amongst other things, I inherited her artistic ways and her passion for the Lake District. She had a positive outlook right to the end and embraced adversity with such stoicism...I can learn so much from how Nana lived her life. She was a true inspiration and I will miss her dearly. Her love for the Lakes has helped me confirm my decision to go for landscape. I want to do it for her...to see The Lakes with fresh eyes, and indulge myself in the scenery that inspired her. Like Nana, I am project focussed, so to go out today and not know what to photograph was harder than it sounds...I need a brief in my head and struggle to just go out and take photographs, which my husband finds very odd for a photographer. Inspired by Ellie Davies I went to Whinlatter and sought glimpses of colour in the darkness.

PHONAR

2011-11-04T11:02:00.003Z

Dipping in to this Photography and Narrative course by Coventry University at the moment. Some very helpful and interesting lectures, links and book references with regards Narrative. It's free (thank you!) so anyone can benefit from the material on this site...

On Reflection Part Two

2011-11-01T13:11:00.000Z

Where to next? The last post was looking back, this post is looking ahead.

I'm thinking landscape at the moment. I'm mindful of...

keeping things simple and succinct
rural street photography
environmental portraiture
'surrealism' in photography
large format photography
the Lakes landscape
cliches

LANDSCAPE v PWDP

It's a toughy...I resented the 'genre' based nature of social documentary and no doubt I will have similar issues with 'landscape'. Here's where I'm at:

My starting point was landscape...that is why I took the OCA route...I wanted to take photos of the Lakes that didn't look like all the others before them...
The PWDP course seems to be more current, probably more fun to complete and in many ways more wide open.
Large format photography doesn't necessarily sit neatly with PWDP.
A number of projects I want to explore could be tackled within the landscape modules. I'm thinking Gursky, Epstein, Struth, Soth...
The conceptual photography is an anomaly. I may carry out a couple of personal projects to satisfy this need if it doesn't 'slot' in to the landscape curriculum. See this post.

All being well, my Christmas present will be one of these two courses...

BLOGGING

I have enjoyed the blogging process hugely. Headline stats:

Pageviews: nearly 10,000 (most of my own probably!!)

Most viewed post: Life's a Beach

Number of Posts: 163

I didn't keep a paper logbook for this course which I did regret...more from the continued appeals from tutors than having a real need for one. I will keep an electronic and paper log for my next course.
Blogspot has limitations. I want to explore building a website with integrated blog as a number of other OCA students have adopted.
I do not want one blog for each course...I'm interested in the 'timeline' and the development from the beginning...not just each course...I think this approach will be interesting as a long-term retrospective.

MOTIVATION

I want to come back to this earlier post written in March this year where I considered four interrelated factors: motivation, satisfaction, expectation and success.

Having reached no conclusion then, I have tried to sum up my thoughts succinctly and fairly honestly here!!

What motivates me is the making and creating...what drives me forward is maximising the potential of 'me' and possible success therein. By success I mean recognition. Recognition by who or what will change depending on my stage of development. My expectations will inevitably outstrip my success by the nature of who I am. This expectation is my driving force and biggest critic. My destination is unknown...this frustrates and delights me in equal measures. I know I want to exhibit my work at some point. I am not ready yet...I think I will know when I am. The dis-ease is my own fear of failing, fluctuating confidence and becoming too focussed. The cure will continue to be enjoyment, perseverance and patience...

On Reflection Part One

2011-10-31T10:36:00.000Z

The following post is one of two posts that act as a 'what have you learnt from this course' type of post. I wanted to do this before receiving my results. Just in case you don't feel like reading the whole post, I'll summarise quickly:

Admit it, the journey has been tortuous at times, but I can't imagine I'm the first to think that. And yet the course has provided me with an invaluable conduit in which, as cliched as it sounds, an entirely new world opened up for me. Result, yes. But equally, disturbing. The foundations on which I stood floundered, the benchmarks were picked up and hurled way in to the distance. The greats seemed to tower overhead territorially and my efforts however gallant, seemed feeble and belittled. Yet finally, I have reached a point of acceptance. The photographer I was at the beginning of the course is quite different to that which I am now. And the new skills, confidence and understanding that I've picked up along the way, I realise I can take with me to the next stage of my artistic journey. And that's what its about. Now I get that...

-/-

Anyway, apologies as this post is long winded, 'messy' and not that useful to anyone but me. It is here for my own reference. If you're still with me, I've taken this post uploaded in March last year to see if I have achieved what I had hoped I would from the Social Documentary course. Although what I don't cover here is all the other stuff I didn't expect to learn and how my demands changed. The indented paragraphs are extracted from my previous post. My comments follow below each. (Apologies for some formatting issues below, there seems to be glitch as I can't remedy them!!)

ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITURE

I am hoping to experiment more with 'landscape portraiture', there probably is a proper name for it but I don't know what it is. But what I am meaning is the relationship people have with and in their environment. For example Alec Soth's Sleeping by the Missisippi Project where the photograph is part social documentary but also landscape is a significant contributing factor to the interpretation of the portfolio.

At what point does a portrait become an 'environmental portrait'? Assignments one and two are within a 'home' environment. To include the environment in these images was a conscious decision at the time. I really want to pursue this type of photography further with the next course.

PORTRAITURE

Conversely, I would also like to experiment with 'landscape-less' portraiture which seems to be ever-present in contemporary photography at the moment. For example Rineke Dijkstra's Beach Project where the landscape is purposefully 'absent' in so much as it offers little to distract or add meaning to the photograph. Another quite harrowing portfolio by Izabella Damavlys of victims of acid attacks takes this confrontational approach (read this interview on eyeteeth with her). Another example is Kathryn Obermaier's Ashray School where she purposefully omits any background. She speaks of her approach on this website:

I choose to focus mainly on their faces eliminating distraction, or clues to their surroundings, leaving only the details of their faces to tell their stories.

Assignment five was all about portraits...over forty of them in total taken at the World Gurning Championships. I have not forgotten Dijkstra's work. I had however, forgotten about the other two photographers (Damavlys and Obermaier) and that they had inspired me. Looking particularly at Obermaier's work I can see I am still drawn to the same aesthetic.

SUBJECTIVE PHOTOGRAPHY

Another approach I have enjoyed viewing is less objective, but nevertheless has had extraordinary results. Two examples are Richard Renaldi's Touching Strangers and Manjari Sharma's In The Shower. Both photographers created the environment in which their subject's posed, in quite unusual situations. I love the awkwardness and surprising results from these projects. I would like to explore 'awkwardness' further.

It wasn't my original intention but the portfolio I submitted was a personal study of my family. The photographs are 'snapshots' in appearance and the study takes a personal 'fly on the wall' documentary approach. However, it is unashamedly subjective and in no part do I hide 'me' from the people I'm photographing. This study will continue.

With regards the examples, I still find Manjari Sharma's work intriguing and I really like the natural lighting. The Touching Strangers project is somewhat 'niche' and less easy to learn from...

With regards exploring 'awkwardness', I haven't. Infact I'd forgotten about it. Am I still interested in it? Hmmm, probably not...

OBJECTIVE PHOTOGRAPHY

I want to pick up on something my tutor said in the past about a piece of work. I am not quite sure what or how I can achieve this but will be giving this further thought:

. . . I think you could make much more from a close, personal reportage assignment where this kind of subject was handled objectively.

In assignments two and five I took a more objective approach. Although I have come to realise it is a continuum and achieving objectivity as a goal in itself is futile. The subjective v objective, candid v posed photography and outside in posts are at least three occasions during this course in which I have addressed this. I can say at this stage the boundaries, benefits, drawbacks and usage of each is much clearer in my mind.

LOCAL

I would like to explore my local environment and its inhabitants and try to find the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary.

I think I have started to make some headway on this objective...the rural street photography work at the country fairs for my resubmission for assignment four and the gurning are examples of this. It is perhaps not how I envisaged it when I wrote back then, but this has been an important development area for me.

PEOPLE PHOTOGRAPHY

I would like to gain confidence in photographing in public and be comfortable to ask subjects to 'sit' for me.

and this is where you don't notice yourself growing, as I have made big inroads in both formal and informal situations without really realising when or how that changed.

LARGE FORMAT PHOTOGRAPHY

Eventually, when I lay my hands on a large format camera I would like to experiment with contemplative portraiture. Many of the photographers I have highlighted above use a 5x4 large format camera.

Well, I have purchased a gorgeous 5x4 camera but not applied it as much as I should have...the costs are shockingly high and it didn't really sit well with the street photography I was doing. However...assignment two has been completed with a large format camera. This area of photography will be something I will develop further on my next course. In addition I would like to do a course on the wet plate collodian process sometime next year if possible.

OTHER AREAS OF LEARNING NOT MENTIONED IN THE EARLIER POST

Ethics and morals
Art
Street photography
Changing roles in photojournalism
Greater understanding and knowledge of photography, photographers, the history and its links to art
Improved technical application

...

Going only one way

2011-10-29T17:37:00.000+01:00

One of the hardest things about documenting the erosion at Skipsea has been a lack of 'immovable' objects (see this post for previous update). You wouldn't think it, given it was an inhabited community. Yet the infrastructure appears as transient as the land it was built on. Telegraph poles, garden furniture, even houses are and have been moved, changed and adapted. So that on every visit, it is difficult to reference where the last set of pictures was taken from and the amount of actual erosion because the whole 'make-up' of the site evolves.

Let me illustrate this point with this blue dwelling (keep an eye on the telegraph poles too). The first location I find it at in 2008 is on the cliff edge see here:

it is to the left (cliff-side) of the road

Then October 2010 the building has been relocated to the other side of the road:

And then February this year, the Council have cleared much of the site. It appears the smaller buildings have disappeared and a static caravan has been moved back. And I have no idea about the telegraph poles! It is possible the poles were moved or the building was shifted sideways to a different plot.

Then finally, last week I photograph the same building from what is left of the road and see the building has been moved back to the furthest point of the plot and there are no telegraph poles to reference any of the previous images:

And this is the tricky thing I find with long-term projects in general, they evolve and you evolve with them. And what you set out to do is quite different to how the series come together. I didn't set out to do a time-lapse study. Had I known how fast the erosion would be my emphasis may have been different. Originally I was interested in the 'edge' and how the houses were literally slipping in to the sea, however, I now see the road was the main point of reference, not the edge. This piece of bark is one of the only landmarks that remains at the end of the road, literally. Here it is as photographed last week, facing north first...

and then below, facing south

and in February this year

and further back still in October 2008

So, going forward, the erosion will wait for no one, if anything it seems to be accelerating. I won't stop photographing the change. But I am aware there are other sites close by that face a similar future. Here is one below...and the houses here are less holiday home and more permanent residences. Again, I need to consider the angle and nature of my shots so that I can record change here too. I guess on the shot below I have failed, as the land from which I have photographed will not be there for my next visit!

post edit: just found this link on the bbc website - massive landslip in the Vale of Glamorgan with some very precarious caravans on the edge.

What are we missing?

2011-10-28T14:22:00.000+01:00

We've been away for half term and so will follow a number of posts from the east coast. We rent a fabulous apartment that looks out over the sea, the promenade and indeed Bridlington Spa, which incidently is the most amazing venue right on the seafront and since the landscaping work around it is complete, it is just stunning. This is an image I took several years ago when the tide is out. Anyway, that's another story.

It is not uncommon for the roads around the Spa to be busy when there is something on...Jason Manford was here one night this week. But on Wednesday, there seemed to be a little more excitement than usual. There already appeared to be some fans queuing early in the morning. At first, I authoritatively inform my family it is an educational group coming to see a matinee of Macbeth. How do I know? Well, I've swept past the queue on my way to pick up the morning paper and have seen an A-board outside the Spa promoting Macbeth...yes I'm right, it's Macbeth.

But by mid-afternoon, my family are scoffing at me. The queue has grown and grown, and is predominantly young females with far too little on to keep them warm (come on, I am old and sensible now!!). I agree, as good as Macbeth is, it must be something else. So we guess it must be a boy band. The venue holds nearly 4,000 so it could draw a big band, perhaps even someone we know...or at least the kids know!!! David Bowie, Status Quo and many other big names I am reliably informed have played here in the past...

Then by the evening, we have not seen anything like this before...the queue is...

MASSIVE...and trails all the way down and along the promenade, where three sea and rescue vehicles linger. I'm not quite sure what they're expecting...I'm thinking about the potential hazards but I just can't see these die-hard 'queuers' going for a dip and losing their space...but who am I to say!!

By this point...looking on from the warmth of our fifth floor apartment we begin to wonder whether we're missing out on something, a Conservative Conference, Jedward or the World Darts Championship maybe??

It's no good, curiousity gets the better of us...google it...macbeth it is not...it is the awesome Jesse J. Who? my Dad asks!!!

Doing away with privacy...

2011-10-21T12:52:00.001+01:00

I thought this article here by Cindy Gallop was interesting with regards online exposure of ourselves. She turns the argument about our need and rights for privacy on its head. I am guilty of being a 'techie-laggard', I do not use facebook, twitter or msn and I'm sure there are other social networking sites that I have no clue about. So I guess this doesn't effect me as it will others and inevitably will in my children's lives as they grow up. We have heard in the news about employees getting the sack after images or videos appear on line incriminating them. Such free access of data about us should be a concern to us all as we don't have full control over who uploads what and for what reason. And people such as potential employers, now have access to all aspects of our lives, which can be much more revealing than any CV. Gallop makes an interesting point and flips the coin:

If you identify exactly who you are and what you stand for, what you believe in, what you value, and if you then only ever behave, act and communicate in a way that is true to you, then you never have to worry about where anybody comes across you or what you're found doing. By definition you are never caught doing anything to be ashamed of...

You know, I quite like this...perhaps a little idealistic, yet if we've got nothing to hide and aim for full transparency, there is less chance of any nasty surprises appearing on line. Instead of complaining about our privacy - embrace and accept it is a part of lives...censor what we can or moderate our behaviour so that we are at ease with what is being said or pictured about us.

Another interesting point she makes to take back a little control is to register our 'own name' domain, fill it with our own content. Then when a search is carried out with our name, our own site will rank at the top of the search engine and you regain some influence as to the content they see.

It begs the question whether, going forward, people will consider uploading less, clawing back a little privacy, with perhaps more secure sites or less information being proffered. I think this is unlikely...for the generation of social networkers it is a huge and integral part of their lives. However, I do wonder whether such users will become more strategic and calculating in how they utilise the powers of the web (or maybe web-savvy bods already are). Such 'publicity' doesn't become the fish and chip wrappers for yesterdays news. Web content is long-term and indelible. This seems to be in contradiction with the informal way and language in which the web is used. The spontaneity and real-time usage means much web content is perhaps written or uploaded without considering its permanence and how it may be used or construed by others now or indeed well in to the future.

Sara Hannant

2011-10-19T12:25:00.000+01:00

Sara Hannant has been travelling the length and breadth of the country to visit the UK's more quirky shows and fairs. The series is called Mummers, Maypoles and Milkmaids. See this link. Another example, in my mind, of street photography in 'un-urban' environments.

Day at the Cattle Mart

2011-10-12T13:39:00.000+01:00

Tipped off as a potentially good show to photograph by a local farmer friend I attended the Yews, Gimmers and Lambs sale about a month ago (sorry, late posting). I was reliably informed this was a good sale as it was well attended and these animals were the best of the 'crop', sold not merely for meat. Not an environment I'm particularly comfortable or familiar with I was given access to all areas and learned how important it is to 'blend' in. And as it happens, the official photographer didn't turn up so I carried out a number of best of show formal photographs too. Taken the day before the gurning, this was another back up series for assignment five and was really helpful to get me 'in the thick of it'. I was happy with the results from this day, but they were not included in the assessment. They'll may be have a use one day...

Assessment in the post

2011-10-07T18:24:00.000+01:00

Gulp...it's gone...my assessment submission is in the post...done...dusted...many late nights and some rather 'gurning-desirable' bags under my eyes to show for it! I didn't anticipate it taking so much effort, although I dare say it isn't all entirely necessary. I am pleased with the final submission - I just have to hope the assessors are too!...wobble...

Compiling and editing work for assessment has been an informative and reflective process. I know we're not in the business of 'pleasing' the assessors and tutors, but I'm sure we quietly hope that they 'appreciate' our work, at least on some level! Being acutely aware of advice made to me personally, and to others on various fora, I do think twice if I diverge. However, finding the balance between trying/trying not to appease, applying what the course stipulates and what the tutors advise, as well as being true to yourself, may not always be cordial.

Ultimately, I prepared my submission with the aim of showcasing my best work and creating something that I would be proud of. I know the assessment shouldn't be an end in itself but it does provide an important marker in the sand, concluding what has been a mercurial journey. I am pleased to finish this course on a high and to feel I've finally compiled a portfolio of 'social documentary' images that I can be proud of. Even a few months ago I doubted this outcome.

The following is a hugely inspiring and pertinent quote I think, taken from the Stanford Commencement Speech made by the late Steve Jobs, in 2005:

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

Now I have to be patient...another virtue I need to work on...

Calendar Girls

2011-10-06T11:49:00.000+01:00

It is a film I have seen several times before, but it is sometime since I last saw it and was most certainly before I started studying photography. It is such an amazing film and story. On watching the rerun recently, I saw the film through photographers eyes for the first time. And I was impressed with the cinematography. There is one shot in particular I recall that said so much more than the individual elements (I have tried to get a screen grab, but google came up with a variety of alternate scantily clad calendar girls!!). Anyway, it is the scene in Hollywood at the end, where Julie Walters has stormed out of the washing powder set and Helen Mirren follows her. They are standing in their white bathrobes and slippers, outside, but absurdly within a western film set. There are long shadows created from two overhead street lights. The lighting, atmosphere and composition are exquisite but combined, the overall effect is elevated further. There are other superb moments too frequent to mention here.

It also made me think how brave the ladies and indeed the photographer, Terry Logan, a former professional photographer, were at the time. He was the husband of 'Miss April' I think. It could so easily have turned out badly. He must have shown significant technical skill in the first instance, but more importantly confidence and conviction in his own ability to have the vision to pull it off creatively and authentically. And also, to make the ladies feel at ease in his company must have been quite a challenge. Presenting the ladies with dignity and pride was handled masterfully.

It does add another dimension of interest watching films these days. There aren't many spare hours in the day to wile away time in front of a good film, but when I do, I am increasingly enjoying observing how the film makers make best use of photography.

Some cool landscape photography

2011-10-06T11:02:00.000+01:00

Three landscape photographers that have recently caught my eye are Kacper Kowalski, Mitch Epstein and Mitch Dobrowner.

I saw Kacper's aerial photography in the Guardian several weeks ago. He has taken aerial images of Poland's forests. What struck me particularly was the fabulous patterns and colours his images make. He transforms the landscape in to an abstract image of shapes, patterns, colours and texture. They make very beautiful images.

Mitch Epstein is a photographer I saw at one of the London Galleries, The Tate Modern possibly, many months ago and I think OCA have mentioned his work before too. Annoyingly it has taken me until now to recall his name. I'm sure many will have come across his work before, but what I find particularly striking about his work is how well he has executed his message. He focusses on consumerism, industrial development and where he feels the American Dream has gone awry. His images communicate so eloquently both as stand-alone pieces and as a series. I also admire how he has managed to make the images 'beautiful', compositionally and the use of colour really draw you in.There is much to learn from this photographer and I would like to explore his approach more in the future.

The final photographer Mitch Dobrowner has a series of images entitled 'Storms'. The title is pretty self explanatory. They are an absolutely staggering set of images by a photographer who has been chasing storms across the US. They are out of this world. You must have a look, they are better than any Hollywood animated effects.

Refresh

2011-10-03T12:45:00.003+01:00

Just refreshing the blog a little to make it a little easier and more digestible to read for my assessment tutors next month. I will be temporarily removing some of the posts and tags not related to photography and pre-dating this course, re-tagging others and undertaking a general 'spring clean'. I shall put all removed posts back later in the year.

Assignment Five: Gurning

2011-09-25T21:49:00.000+01:00

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Egremont Crab Fair last month and gained permission to photograph the World Gurning Championships. As mentioned in this post, I wanted to use this series of images for assignment five, a photo-essay. Egremont Crab Fair is one of the World's oldest fairs, dating back to 1267. The fair is still characterised by its 800 year old traditions and heritage, with ancient events such as the Parade of the Crab Apple Cart, Climbing the Greasy Pole, Pig's Bladder Football and the famous World Gurning Championship. This exceptional fair attracts visitors from all over the world.

'Gurning' is the art of contorting your facial expression. Framed by a horse's collar, contestants are judged on their relative transformation before and after pulling a face. The late champion Peter Jackman described it;

Say you're oogly in the first place, and ya pull a gurn, an you don't look much different, well, just because you're oogly doesn't mean to say that ya win it. Because gurnin' means the Art of Pullin' Faces, not oogliness.

My intention was to make a collection of black and white portraits of each contestant, gurning and also, not gurning. I could then record the transformations taking place. This turned out to be impossible in all but the three placed males which I photographed backstage after the event.

I wanted to focus on the 'texture' of the gurn; contorted facial features, ungainly expressions and protruding lines which I felt wasn’t coming through in images I’d seen. To address this, I decided a mono, low-key aesthetic would ‘bring-out’ this aspect of their faces and provide a framework for a consistent format. I found the work of Jane Bown and John Angerson's 'Last Man Smoking' an exemplar for the aesthetic I wished to adopt. However, I was aware that to be too prescriptive I was in danger of not allowing the event to show its' own magic. In addition, low-light conditions and the unpredictable nature of the event would demand my flexibility. I had been warned to 'expect the unexpected' and justifiably so, it was one of the most extraordinary evenings I have ever attended!

The images are neither manipulated nor orchestrated. In this sense they could be considered as newsworthy as any other. Arguably less objective was how I executed it. I had considered the aesthetic and technical aspects well in advance. I knew how I wanted the images to look but did not know if this was practicable. I experimented with settings at home and ultimately used manual settings; direct flash to ‘counteract’ the stage lighting, light the face and recede the background; and underexposed it a touch to avoid glare. I used the same settings for all the gurning portraits. I have chosen to present a typological series, with thumbnails of each gurner to enhance the humourous and peculiarity of the event. The purpose of this assignment I have produced a mock-up which follows at the bottom of this post.

Tommy Mattinson (below) won for the 13th time. Anne Woods, sadly retired after winning 28 times. The new champ is Claire Moffat. I'm happy with how the images turned out.

The 2011 World Gurning Champion

Women's Champion: Claire Moffat

Previous winner Anne Woods

Publication Mock-up

Paul Russell

2011-09-23T14:44:00.002+01:00

A man after my own heart, or more like I'm after his - street gone rural in this set on the BBC website. Paul Russell has been visiting some of the country shows, taking images in the 'street photography' style. What a keen eye, there are some priceless ones in there.

Big Issue in the North pdfs

2011-09-20T20:12:00.000+01:00

Below are pdfs of pages taken from the Big Issue that I have been lucky enough to have images selected for. It feels kinda nice!

Planning for Assignment Five

2011-09-18T14:59:00.002+01:00

You may already have heard of the Egremont Crab Fair or if not, I'm sure you'll have heard about or seen pictures of the gurners. Well, I am intrigued, this seems to be no ordinary country fair. The first one was held in 1267...it is one of the World's oldest fairs and has a number of very ancient events too such as the 'greasy pole' climb and the parade of the crab apple cart. But probably its most famous event is the World Gurning Championships. The fair and its unusual events sound beautifully eccentric to me, in a very quirky British way. So I have asked permission to photograph the gurners.

I'm hoping not to tempt providence here, but the plan is this, I would like to take a black and white portrait of each gurner, gurning and another of each gurner, not gurning, preferably head-on with eye-contact, although I'm not sure how feasible this will be. I have seen images by Jane Bown and this image by John Angerson that I particularly like. The event goes on well in to the night so light conditions will be extremely challenging and I know my camera is deficient in such conditions. However, I do have a couple of relatively fast lenses and I do have an excellent speedlight flash which I have complete confidence in. So there you have it....it takes place in just under a month...so in the meantime I've time to practice shooting in low-light conditions. My attention will turn to finalising the assessment stuff such as tweaking my critical review which I should have done months ago, fine tuning my images for assessment and forging forward with the portfolio. I will write a separate post on the portfolio soon. An essential element of assignment five (which incidently is to create a photo-essay) is the planning. The idea is this:

PLANNING DETAILS

Location: Egremont Crab Fair
Date: 17 September 2011

Event: World Gurning Championship

Permissions: no unauthorised photography. Have written and been given authorisation

Concept: a series of straight faced competitors and a series of gurning competitors

Aesthetic: to be black and white, and ideally I would like to go for low key, wanting to avoid distractions behind or different colour lights. See my practice shot below (my husband will not thank me for this!!). I think mono will draw out the lines, tensions and features of the faces when gurning. This was taken with flash -2/3, shutter speed 1/2000 and F3. I really do not want these images to be blurred.

Concerns: I have no control or idea what the lighting will be like. It is indoors and I suspect relatively dark. But I am anxious about this. To get a low key image may therefore be impossible. However I would like ideally to make an A2 poster with all the gurners, a bit like the one below. Again, sorry hubby!!

And then a similar poster with the faces straight. Again, whilst I have been given permission, I'm not sure whether it will be feasible getting the straight faced photos. I suspect I'll be photographing what happens rather than staged portraits. So will have to play this one by year.

Editing Thought

2011-09-13T15:00:00.001+01:00

There is an inspiring and informative post over on the Eric Kim Photography blog with ten quotes from street photographers. Like with all these things, you've probably heard similar advice before in a variety of guises, but it does no harm to keep reminding yourself and there is always something that makes you think. I particularly like this quote by Garry Winogrand:

Photographers mistake the emotion they feel while taking the photo as a judgement that the photograph is good.

I am aware of this often when viewing my photos. My favourites can often be those that have something that I like, a person, a feeling, a place. However, when showing my husband who doesn't have the same emotional connection to an image, he will often choose something altogether different. It does make you think about editing and as Eric suggests in his post, leaving a bit of time between when you took the photo and editing really helps to regain an objective eye over your work.

Ellie Davies, Julia Fullerton-Battena and Rania Matar

2011-09-06T20:07:00.004+01:00

The second post following the Lens Culture International Exposure Awards 2010 winners.

Three other photographers I really like and want to post here and come back to another time:

Ellie Davies has the most wonderfully lit trees amongst woodland. They create a hauntingly beautiful effect and transform the landscape.

Julia Fullerton-Batten's homepage image with the white-lit laptop and ghostly lady in her night-gown is just stunning. Want to look further at her work. Useful interview here.

and finally Rania Matar's girl's bedroom project is so simple, yet so telling. I don't know how orchestrated they are, but there is so much you can read in to each image and about each girl. Just fabulous.

Looking at these and previous posts recently, seem to be drawn to the work of quite a few female artists. Not sure if that is chance, intentional or whether I'm more naturally drawn to the subject matter they have chosen.

Laura Henkin's Blog

2011-09-05T22:00:00.002+01:00

Another interesting post on Laura Henkin's blog that highlights her experience of being a juror for the Photolucida Critical Mass Programme. She highlights mistakes photographers make when submitting their work and also how she values and critiques work too. For example, things like this below, which she shares about the artists statements she has seen throughout the process:

I have to say that about 85% of these statements need major work. The language is often vague, process-oriented, filled with art-speak, and generally, not helpful to understanding what the work is about. I truly believe that I’d rather see something like, “I made these images simply because I felt compelled to do so.” than most of what I’m having to read with these entries.

Her writing is inviting and flows beautifully. I'm finding her blog really informative.

Big Issue in the North No. 2

2011-09-04T22:34:00.000+01:00

The image below will hopefully be published in the Big Issue in the North this week:

This particular image was taken at Appleby Fair, however, I've been spending a fair bit of time at the local shows recently, firstly because for the first time in 3-4 years, they haven't all been rained off for waterlogged fields and secondly, they are incredibly fun environments to be in to photograph the great British public.

I post a few images here that I think are probably less suitable for publication but I like them anyway.

This, because the judge is oblivious to his hand gesture

This, because of the framing and the 'arse-out' posture required of Cumberland wrestlers

And this, because unbeknown to me when I took it, the coffee cup is reflected in his glasses and look like 'googly' eyes!! Sorry, a bit childish I know!!

Great Blog

2011-08-30T20:56:00.002+01:00

I have just discovered Elizabeth Avedon's blog. She features the work from a huge range of photographers. I particularly like Josephine Dvorken's A:Blessing. I love the name, Mr A. Blessing. And how it all came about by a chance meeting. A story out of nothing. Wonderful.

I also like Mariana Cook's stone walls, more for spotting the beauty in the walls and photographing them so beautifully. There are many stone walls around where I live and I have never considered photographing them like this. Interesting work particularly, if I go down the landscape route for the next course.

And these two photographers are just from the first page...really looking forward to digging through the archives.

Jessica Hines

2011-08-30T19:45:00.000+01:00

There is some interesting work to look at in last year's finalists for the Lens Culture Exposure International Awards. There is so much I want to mention I don't know where to start! What is interesting about the competition in general is the diversity of the entrants. You couldn't possibly identify a trend or theme amongst them other than they are all distinct which sets them apart.

In particular and for this post I'm focussing on the work of Jessica Hines. The first image I saw of hers is the opening one in a slideshow of the finalists images. What struck me first at seeing this image was how much it reminded me of the images uploaded to the www.dearphotograph.com site. Dear Photograph is a hugely successful site developed by a 21 year old Canadian who had the simple idea of taking an old photograph, going back to that place and re-photographing it with the old photograph in the frame. It was an instant hit and has really captured the interest of millions - the timeless timeline, a simple 'then and now' concept. And the image 'untitled no. 2' by Jessica Hines is exactly that. A photo within a photo. I must admit, without having read further and viewing it within the slideshow, it did strike me as a 'me too' image and I nearly dismissed it. I do wonder why they chose that image to include in the slideshow.

However, to dismiss her just like that seemed foolish so I visited her site. And soon I saw why she was the overall winner. There is an interesting article about her work on Elizabeth Avedon's blog. And on there she is introduced as an 'artist and storyteller'. And this alone I think stands her work apart. She is not introduced as a photographer and her approach is not that of a photographer. It seems she has an inquisitive mind, a personal exploration to make and a hugely creative output.

Her photographs are an explosion of creativity, emotion and intrigue. It is neither photojournalism nor fiction, nor conceptual or reality. It distorts any possibility of defining it in one specific genre. There is a sense she has made the work for herself and her desire to dispel family myths. She makes no attempt to remain objective and in fact leaves artefacts of herself in the images.

The specific piece of work that won her the award is the photo essay entitled My Brother's War. Her brother served two years in Vietnam and returned home with post traumatic stress. Ten years later, he took his own life. Rediscovering a box of his belongings, letters and photos she makes it her endeavour to rediscover the life of a deceased family member, retrospectively. The images have a wonderful authenticity too them whilst they come together in a sort of informal photographic scrapbook.

Anyway, what I found particularly inspiring is this real eclectic and non-conforming approach she has taken, whether deliberate or not. It really appeals to me. You can include conceptual images alongside landscapes and portraits. It is contextualised further with the hard facts of a journalistic fact finding mission. It is a really refreshing and inspiring piece of work.

Right, checked out the first, few more to go...

Assignment Five: The Plan

2011-08-22T16:11:00.000+01:00

Well, for November assessment, I need to have everything tied up by the beginning of October ideally, to ensure this assignment, plus the portfolio have been viewed by my tutor and then his comments incorporated in time. I want to put this course to bed so, funds allowing, I can start a new module in January...that's the plan!!

I have, in this blog, hinted at all sorts of different ideas and projects in the past...and for a variety of reasons...they haven't all come to fruition...like me failing to continue with the spn project in a phase of despondency and how an interview I was hoping to have with an artist from Skipsea for my portfolio failed to materialise... I worry about stating my future plans just in case they come to nothing. But then, that is sort of the purpose of this blog...

To bring you up to speed, for this assignment I can think of the landscape/personality idea, the holga idea and more recently and not posted on here are the market, beach, holiday/nature themed projects I tried whilst away. Well, I haven't worked out how to photograph the landscape/personality idea yet, the holga idea is quite an undertaking and won't be ready to submit for October and didn't really fit the brief anyway, then the market and beach ideas I tried and abandoned. Finally the holiday/nature project was based on the concept of va.ca.tion - the desire to vacate our home and our need to control and manage our 'vacated-to' home and the battle thereof between man and nature. I have a set I could submit for assignment five which I kind of like but probably won't submit now. I explain why further down this post.

What do you do with the sets you don't submit? I'm not sure...do they just sit on your hard drive until you forget about them?...mine tend to! Anyway, I've posted below the unrefined va.ca.tion set. Entitled va.ca.tion as firstly a derivative of vacation is used in many languages and to have the phonic version emphasises the definition of the word too. I quite liked the postcard idea, like Martin Parr, as a way of emphasising the disparity between the idyllic postcard scenes we're accustomed to seeing, and the reality.

I do like this set, however, I suspect this will probably become my back up set as there is something else I really wish to do and have just gained permission to do, yay! I was going to allude to it here, but have hesitated, just in case for whatever reason it doesn't come off. It is a simple idea that will entail making a series of black and white portraits at an event, much closer to home. Assignment five requires an objective approach without 'an angle' which I suspect will fit this idea better than the more 'subjective' va.ca.tion idea. Apologies for my caution but I really want it to work and don't want to tempt providence. By late September I'll hopefully be able to share the results...

If you're feeling down about your photography read this...

2011-07-19T21:54:00.003+01:00

I know, s'posed to be packing....I happened upon Lauren Henkin's Blog today and the post entitled the Creativity Drought was very interesting. Certainly food for thought. May be of interest to any others lacking that much desired inspiration or feeling down about their photography!!

Struth

2011-07-17T21:39:00.005+01:00

I know, I have seen the post on weareoca, and yes I would love to go, but alas, there is some important England Cricket game on that day so my husband, who booked tickets months ago, has the pass-out. So, enjoy the day y'all...I would love to see his exhibition and to meet up with everyone, however, it is not to be this time. I do really admire Struth's work, which has been an influence in some of my assignment work for Soc Doc. And the recent image of HRH and hubby I thought was just brilliant. I cannot imagine what you must be feeling if asked to photograph the Queen. Can you imagine the pressure and expectation? Part of you would feel so honoured and the other part would surely, sorry to put it bluntly, be 'bricking' it. You would need to be one helluva confident photographer wouldn't you!!

I don't know how much input the Queen's aides will have had, but I do think his approach is brave in many ways. I like the fact that he has been true to his own and previous work, it isn't heavily orchestrated or formulaic or altered for his sitters. It sits neatly within his own family series. It is a couple within their home environs. The image is a mix of formality in their poise and environment yet his approach means the viewer can still connect with them in an informal way. Personally I think it is dignified, appropriately respectful yet a tangible connection can be made.

The lighting is an interesting choice, subtle, to the point of subdued, yet for me this is refreshing as Struth has avoided the overly lit, overly professional looking images with even lighting throughout. His imposition is minimised.

But what about planning for such a photoshoot. Did he test out a few locations earlier in the day? Did he choose the chair and that room because of the vibrant green, ornate chair, with the accent green colour evident in glimpses of the picture on the left and in the chairs on the right. Such a vivid colour is certainly surprising and brings in a new dimension to the dynamic given the conservative nature of the couple. Did Struth shuffle the chair about a bit beforehand until it was in the right place. Near enough the window for natural light, at an angle to the walls to give a feeling of depth to the room. Then how to place the chair, intentionally at a slight angle to reflect the natural hierarchy of the couple and also so their pose is less confrontational. The image is not a portrait of the couple. For me it is an environmental portrait as we are given access to the grandeur, size and importance of this couple by their surroundings.

So when you've sorted out the composition of the image, the very important couple enter the room. I suspect there is minimal 'warming up' chit-chat having been previously informed what is required. Are they asked to take a seat, look directly in to the camera and don't say 'cheese'? And then, possibly on a large format camera the pictures are taken. Several minutes later the job is done!!! I wonder if that is how it works...

Its all about being balanced...

2011-07-13T13:31:00.000+01:00

Well, you can be balanced if you take the average of the fluctuations between the ups and downs, lefts and rights can't you?!?

It happened at 12.45 last night. No, not what you're thinking... unable to sleep, neither fully awake or fully asleep I could not settle my mind, then out of nowhere a glimpse of white, and pretty random, inspiration struck me like a knife. I crave these moments, they happen to me rarely and most often in the twilight hours or within a dream. Some of my best ideas arrive this way - although you can probably read more in to my awakened state from this than any great sleepy genius!!!

I can never resist, so here is my first DIY theory for today. When we awake in the morning, the logical left side of the brain predominates and we, the Royal We, relies heavily on this matter-of-fact side of the brain that gets us out of bed, showered, dressed and out the door! I am indebted to the 'Left'. On the other hand, when the alarm dingalings at silly o'clock in the morning, the creative, free-thinking right side, reads this as 'clocking-off'! Then, the 'Right' flits about unconstructively until the end of the day when it finally takes hold of the brain reigns and clocks back on ready to 'fizz'.

It is this shift from left to right as the day matures that makes me think ideas are more likely to arrive at night. And then the next morning the logical Left takes one look and convinces you that those hair-brained ideas are just that!

And since starting with OCA I have morphed in to a dark eyed night owl - and I just wondered whether being creative suits the evening more than the morning. Ok, I'm sensing blank stares through my screen, so I'll move on before I get the call...

So this idea then. Well it was conceived last night and left me feeling truly elated and itching to start...bar a few gaps in the plan, I had it all worked out. Then, the next morning, in what can only be called an inspiration hangover, I awoke 'poo-pooing' it.

Then it got me thinking how many ideas must be castigated to the trash before they see the light of day. So for this reason alone I am going to try this idea before I too trash 'what-seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time-idea' to test this tremendous theory! (tongue firmly in cheek!!)

I can't tell you too much about it yet but soon will. But I'm thinking it would provide an alternative for assignment five. It is definitely high-risk, verging on cheating...but then I've seen what Emin defines as art so go with it I say... Dewald, thank you for indirectly inspiring me with your Holga...

I have so many fledgling ideas scuttling about at the moment I don't know which to feed first!! Feeling good though!!

Cityscaped

2011-07-05T18:40:00.001+01:00

It was our tenth wedding anniversary a few weeks ago so we escaped for the weekend to London whilst the grandparents took care of the bairns. I must admit I am not particularly drawn to cities, but I have started liking London, a lot! It is a phenomenal place. Anyway, amongst other things we enjoyed a visit to a number of exhibitions including, once again, the Tate Modern, the National Portrait Gallery and the Hayward Gallery to see Tracey Emin's latest exhibition. We also had a fleeting visit to the V&A but ran out of time.

I found it to be a hugely inspiring trip and have written some notes down. The very condensed version is below:

Observations

John Squire from the stone roses: mosaic of shapes to reflect a person's personality - love the idea that a graphic representation of a person can be more informative than a photograph
Surrealism: unconscious mind and unconventional - how the inside can be understood artistically in the outside world. And how can surrealism work in photography?
Symbolism: intrigued to learn more about this and whether the traditional symbols are now obsolete and whether you can adopt your own symbolism
Jackson Pollock: random logic with fabulous vivacious colour. Works directly from the expressing of an inner world with energy, motion and inner force: can photography do the same, or is it limited to the arts?
Mark Rothko: emotion and sentiment and how to create an atmosphere: interested in how colour, form and shape can alter mood and ambience
art by its size, texture and form is in many ways more titilating than photography
photography in exhibitions is so often restricted in size, frame and form. For photography to adopt the values of art, its aesthetic needs to be different
Visiting the Emin "love is What you want' exhibition, I saw a body of work that is irrefutably self-indulgent. I admire her, but not in a 'I'll never be able to produce work like that' kind of way. More of a 'good on yer girl, if you can get away with it'. It did however confirm in my mind that personal stories can speak to audiences more eloquently than a generic message that has no personal significance. Her art appears to be her emotion, not her sewing, painting or craftsmanship. It is an autiobiography offered in a variety of art forms that speaks clearly and honestly. It feels unfinished and 'amateurish' which gives it the authenticity. It does feel overly sentimental and I kept on thinking 'get over it', 'move on'. I am no expert and in no position to criticise but as a visitor to her exhibition, which was extremely well attended, I did feel slightly nauseous from the indulgent narcissism that is evident throughout her career's work.

Definitions

Surrealism: a movement launched in 1924 by poet Andre Breton, who was influenced by Sigmund Freud. Reveal the unconscious and reconcile it with rational life. There are two broad types: dream-like (Dali) and automatism (free association)
Abstractism: a non-representational style of art. A visual form, colour and line to create a composition, a departure from reality, fauvism, cubism. I like the idea that 'art can or should be like music, patterns of sound, patterns of form, line and colour'
Plato: highest form of beauty lies not in the forms of the real world but in geometry. It does not represent the material world but the spiritual
Symbolism: mysticism, otherworldiness, sense of mortality, a sense of the power of sexuality.
Casper David Friedrich - convey a subjective emotional response to the natural world
In expressive photography, visual symbols used to represent abstract ideas. A symbol stands for something with a larger meaning, metaphor. Symbolic photos can trigger multiple meanings, makes the work more subjective than objective. How do you know how to use symbolism?
Expressionism: to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect to evoke mood or ideas. Expressionist artists sought to express meaning or emotional experience rather than physical reality. The Scream, Edvard Munch, View of Toledo, El Greco.
Semiotics: analysis of cultural behaviour

Train of Thought

I love surrealist art and how the unconscious mind creates its own language on the canvas.
Can surrealism be adopted in photography? In the past, Man Ray used colour reversal. Others have tried double exposure, combination printing, montage, rotation, distortion and solarisation. These all seem process-led.
Lee Miller, Magritte, Hans Bellmer are prominent examples.
And what if you were to photograph an 'abstract portrait', how could you do this so that it resembled the inside of a person rather than the face
Could you photograph a landscape that reflected the character and personality traits of a person that could reveal more about a person than a formal portrait?
Leave objectivity to the documentary photographer, art is subjective and emotive
how can you communicate ideas, moods and psychological states through colour, line and form?
can I build a family tree using a metaphoric landscape. By using methods of symbolism, colour, form, choice of landscape, time of day, shape and content of the image?
this is what I am thinking about at the moment. But, keeping things simple is the key, and something I'm not great at!!

Slightly less grumpy

2011-06-24T11:44:00.002+01:00

Several months on from the last post and I apologise for going awol. However, I have benefitted from parking the photography and putting a bit of distance between me and it.

Anyway, I will get to photography, but for now I'm going to share with you my most recent project. I have reupholstered my first chair...I thought upholstery was merely removing one fabric and putting on another!!! Rolling eyes. Back to the skeleton, new springs and everything!! And I have finally managed to get my mum's sewing machine up and running too and have sewn eight cushions...I know, a bit excessive. I may be the last one to notice that there is definitely an obsessive side to my personality and have been staying up till' one most nights - I am making myself ill and still can't stop!!!

So this is the chair that has demanded my attention of late.

I picked it up in an auction in a battered state for £30. This is my first chair reupholstered using traditional methods of tacking, stitching and layers of horsehair. It has taken days and nights and not at inconsiderable cost!! I have loved every minute of being absorbed in making and creating...as I used to be with my photography.

With regards photography, I have 'thinked' my way out of any instinctive creativity and have become an inhibited and uninspired photographer. The last few months has taught me quite a lot about myself. I have the tendency to take things too seriously and intensely. By taking a step back from my photography or more to the point, the theorising and researching of photography, has taken the heat out of it and restored balance. By letting it go and 'creating' in other ways has unlocked my creativity finally.

Anyway...after the Kirstie Allsopp treatment below is the chair and the cushions...it is so satisfying to create, have something physical for your efforts and be proud of it.

This is what I have missed, when you're putting the hours in and the outputs continue to disappoint, the point comes when you have to weigh up whether the effort is worth it...and that is where I've been with this course.

I'm not going to quit, I loathe quitting. However, I have concluded that whilst I have learnt a lot more about photography and social documentary...it ain't for me. Part of me wishes I could just send in an assessment with my best work so far, but its not in my nature...I will battle on with it for a few more months...

I have had two mini breakthroughs. I have a new lead for assignment five and am hoping to meet up with Saffron Waghorn who is a sculptor having spent many years living a sustainable existence on the cliff edge at Skipsea. I am very much looking forward to meeting her at some point in the near future.

And slurping over a bowl of moule mariniere on a recent visit to London (I'll post about this later) an idea came to me. Momentous!! It is so long since an idea has risen from the depths of my subconscious...it verges on a 'landscape' project really...but I'm going to run with it anyway. And I got a few shots I'm happy with down there too...way to go!!

Something Chris Evans said on the radio this morning comes to me. David Bowie complained to his rock star friend Bono that the songs were just not coming to him and he didn't know what to do. Bono responded by saying look where you live...which was Switzerland...so Bowie moved to New York.

Something else comes to me from the same show. Victoria Wood was saying she has thrown herself in to her work since her children have left home...nothing has filled this void, she says...but then she goes on to say that she has to live a bit of life in order to have something to write about. You can't contrive creativity, it has to come from within.

So, there we have it...bisy backson

Shut up moaning

2011-06-24T11:44:00.000+01:00

This is the third and final draft of this post and I am hesitant to post. It is several months ago that I wrote the first draft and it does have an air of self indulgence that I don't like. However, I'm ready to upload and move on.

I've been angry and frustrated with myself as I'm not sure how to respond to my photography at the moment. I am very keen to put the social documentary course behind me...just move on for goodness sake!!! The course has altered and pushed my perspectives...but it hasn't pressed any of my creative buttons...and hasn't resulted in one image I feel particularly proud of...that is clearly of my own failings, not the course...but I don't like that and want to know why?

It isn't for the want of trying, arguably I've been trying too hard
I have been focussed and enthusiastic
I have devoted considerable time to studying and spent hours out photographing
I have tried to push boundaries and look differently at things

I hoped for more from me, my expectations were far greater of me. I wanted my first piece of work for TAOP to be a strong foundation on which to grow but this current course has invited me in to a direction of travel that, as an 'umbrella genre' I don't want to pursue. Again, the course was never about the course if you know what I mean, but instead to provide a means of practicing my photography in a provocative and challenging way...which it has.

So do I lack sufficient skill for the course?
Should I have continued with the Art of Photography?
Should I have chosen a different level two course?

The answer is perhaps partially yes and no to all three of the above. Regarding the first question, whilst I am disappointed by the work I have carried out over the past eighteen months I do not believe I have been 'outskilled' by a level two course. The comments from my tutor would endorse this. I have the confidence and belief that I can create better work, perhaps not within the conventional genre of social documentary. For whatever reason I have not connected with this course and/or my attitude towards it has not been good.

With regards TAOP and APEL and whether it was right for me, of course I will never know...I recall that at the time, it was a confidence boost in what was a turbulent time for me. My clarity of thought was crystal clear. I had oodles of ideas which seemed to be my way of dealing with uncontrollable 'real-life' issues- a strange paradox but perhaps there is something in that. I engaged with the course in a personal way which I have struggled to do since with the soc doc course.

The third question I wonder whether I should have selected a different level two course, one more akin to the work I had done previously such as landscape or altered realities with DPP. However again I recall not really feeling drawn to any of the level two courses. Unlike TAOP or the level three courses they are narrowing in their subject...I prefer a blank sheet as a preference. So I opted for the most challenging for me. Which it has been. So what happens now...get through this course and take stock of what comes next I guess. I haven't quite got to the positive frame of mind yet.

Keep going.

And whilst I'm ranting, I am so tired of always feeling I haven't got the 'right' technical gear...and the cost of it all. And then each genre seems to have a completely different hit list. I will invest when my photography 'deserves' it. I just want to take photographs not worry about 'the other stuff'...it's dibilitating...makes you think you're work isn't worthy or professional because it wasn't taken on the right camera or on film or wasn't presented 'right'. How long can you keep investing time and money in something when you don't get the output.

So to conclude, I've got to change my tack. I'm trying to remove myself from the computer, from the course and to alter the way I'm working because I feel as far removed from my inner creative self as I ever have...this is sad. I have contextualised my work. I have theorised and debated photography. I have a good understanding of what is out there now. But...none of this has assisted me in making better photographs. For me, photography has been a medium I have chosen for my creativity. My heart lies in the arts and not in journalistic photography. I hoped I could marry the two in this course which to date I haven't. So move on...I want to perservere with the OCA as there is so much about it that I like, but the genre based level two courses just aren't floating my boat. Conceptual art...where's that in the syllabus...I'm fed up with photography...I'm fed up of being fed up...and I'm fed up that my initial reservations about me doing this course have turned out to be true.

Ahem, still quite negative to post...However, here goes...following posts I promise are more positive...

Roll with it

2011-04-17T21:43:00.000+01:00

This is the competition entitled Roll With It inspired by this picture by Joel Meyerowitz and a toilet roll. These are the entries (you need to watch the slideshow as there is a flickr glitch in the search). What a wonderfully diverse collection of entries. The brief: simply to make a creation or image with some reference to a toilet roll.

My entry is below. I have added no description to my entry as it was not requested, however, I have included here my thinking behind this image.

I have taken my inspiration from the 'art nouveau' movement. The style is distinctive and easily recognisable. It was such a vibrant and lustrous period I felt compelled to try it avec toilet roll!

My interpretation includes the 'rococo' style chair (well imitation sadly), the pre-Raphaelite pose with the direct and subdued gaze, the hair curls and the flowing, bohemian clothing (fashioned from toilet paper). The toilet roll lacks the vivid colour the art nouveau style adopted, but the curves, flow and its symbolism sort of make up for this.

Obviously, there is some of 'me' in there too, an infant rather than woman has altered the symbolism, high contrast lighting rather than a floral or elaborate backdrop and so on...

On a simple level, I like the shapes and colours of 'art nouveau' architecture and paintings. The genre flourishes with beautiful, elegant shapes and flow. The colours are vivid and flamboyant. The genre also seems to exude femininity and perhaps that is the appeal also...it elevates you out of the ordinary and takes you to somewhere ethereal arousing the 'hedonist' in each of us...hmmm, could be worse!!

This all sounds a little too earnest, it was light-hearted and fun to make with a very eager model...oh and the title for the image was la'al d'art nouveau...couldn't resist a bit of Cumbrian dialect in there!

Big Issue in the North No. 1

2011-04-11T21:59:00.003+01:00

I was the third victim, oops, sorry, volunteer to participate in this very fruitful partnership with the 'Big Issue in the North'. I must thank OCA and Jose for this fantastic opportunity, it has been a really rewarding, if a little scary, experience.

My week finished today, so all being well, the image will be published in the next issue due out this Friday. I must admit I have purchased the Big Issue not infrequently in the past, but more on an ad-hoc basis. However, these past two weeks when I specifically tried to purchase the mag with Ben or Stan's work in and my local seller is nowhere to be seen. Well, to be fair, more likely I'm shopping at strange times!

Look at the national and local news and take a subject that is 'topical' and more importantly try and make an interesting picture out of it. That was the challenge. I can do that, surely!!! I thought of two main topics...the first, seasonal - weather, holidays and general spring optimism, and the second, energy...fukushima, sellafield, renewable energy etc...had I known what a flamboyant affair the funeral of Eddie Stobart was going to be, I may have added that to the list.

So, was it easy?...well like Stan, I found this to be not an unstressful challenge and most definitely not easy. You can't go back and rely on those wonderful depthless archives. On Wednesday I headed out to tackle the energy theme, seemed sensible living near 'Britain's Energy Coast'...I came home with several images of wind turbines but they were indomitably dull!! Sellafield was too far to reach given my other commitments.

It was rapidly dawning on me, it is one thing coming up with a list of things to photograph, but quite another finding interesting ways of photographing them. Hmmm, I start to feel alarmingly hot, fractious and flustered. No, don't be ridiculous, it's still only Wednesday...days yet...

Change tack...

The farms all around at the moment are in the thick of lambing. I have been glued to the BBC 2 hit series 'Lambing Live' and decide to try and capture a live birth - seeing lambs in the fields is somehow synonymous with the arrival of Spring. I phone a friend. Lambs are sure to pluck the heart strings of any reader. And additionally, if I could get it seconds after birth, I could perhaps present a grittier portrayal of a lamb, rather than photographing the adorable, frolicky, and dare I add cliched, variety that we love to see in our fields.

At 7.00 am Thursday morning I get the call...one is due right now. Damn. Husband away, three kids still in pyjamas, can't make it. But we rally anyway and have left the house by 7.45 am and head for Hill Farm. On arriving I'm expecting the lamb to have been born, but there are difficulties. I am fortunate that I and my son have the opportunity of seeing a live birth, an assisted delivery by Raymond Christopherson. I photograph the whole procedure. The first lamb is large and feet first - it is a struggle for mother and Raymond, and has sadly died on arrival. We saw something almost identical the night before on Lambing Live. The second lamb is born the conventional way, head first and is healthy. The mother bonds with it. This is all before I drop my three lovely lambs off at school. Photographically however, it pushed my camera beyond its realistic limits. The barn was unlit (unlike on lambing live) and flash would clearly have been intrusive. So I go manual all the way, iso is raised to its maximum, 1600, I reduce the f-stop to its minimum and set the shutter speed for 1/60&80. All taken in raw I have altered the levels and exposure to recover them. I was really pleased with the shots. These two were my and Jose's favourite from this batch.

Whilst I was pleased with these, I did want a back-up set of images just in case. So at St Bees yesterday, there were hoards of people taking advantage of the unseasonably warm April weather. I do love the British optimism when it comes to nice weather...we're out in our masses. I submitted two images from this day which follow. The first focussing on the litter that comes with the masses, and the second presenting the quintessentially British picnic.

Jose selected the above civilised picnicking couple to be used for the Big Issue. I can see why. It epitomises something very British; it could be anywhere yet reflects our obsession with the weather and our enthusiasm to enjoy and embrace the sun on every occasion, particularly when it's still only April! There is such a wonderful humour that is all our own here in the UK. Below is the cropped, final version.

And as for the lamb...well, he'll have to forego fame this time. More seriously, I have been meaning to photograph lambing for sometime, this gave me the impetus to make the call and do it. It was a first for me and my son and I'm chuffed with the pics.

It's been a great experience and I encourage those with the OCA who haven't to sign up and have a go...the time pressure certainly adds to the excitement or should I say anxiety! Either way, it's fun!

Pause

2011-03-30T20:56:00.000+01:00

Finishing an assignment, like an exam or physical challenge leaves you, after the temporary elation of having finished, with a certain emptiness that is both liberating and ironically, very unsettling. You're left wondering 'what was all that about then?' I've temporarily eased off the coursework, taken few photographs, neglected Street Photography Now and am spending my time on other things...in other words I'm having a short break from it. A few days of good weather means I've been out running on the fells a fair bit. And this weekend I'm away with the girls to obliterate a few more of those destructive thinking cells.

Generally though, I don't work at my best without a focus or project. I find I'm a little listless. But I do need to 'rejig' things. It's time to spend less time on here, my computer...it has become a sanctuary but I retreat to it all too frequently...like all addictions, I'll try to wean myself off slowly...so with BST, comes a slight shift in emphasis.

motivation, satisfaction, expectation and success

2011-03-21T22:03:00.000Z

Four separate words, all linked, but somehow all jostling for position in a hierarchy hidden in the depths of my psyche. Time to have a small peek I think.

I have had this post sat here in draft for several months, more as an unanswered train of thought than any informative nuggets I can share with you. But still I think it is worthy of raising, as the thoughts surrounding these words engulf me frequently and affect my attitude towards my own photography work.

Motivation
Money isn't a motivator for me. Whilst it is a necessity, as an end in itself it seems a hollow ambition and in this line of work would be pretty hopeless. It isn't the degree either, although it does provide a direction of travel. And I don't necessarily want to be a commercial photographer. Dipping my toe in on a number of occasions hasn't whet my appetite. So why the hell am I investing so much of my energy in to photography? And it does concern me that I may look back and think 'why did I spend so much time on all that'. Most things in life are done for a purpose. Your education, your career, your financial stability, family and lots of other things too. This isn't.

I do it because I like creating and I study because I want to create more interesting, developed ideas. When I am creating, I am absorbed in the moment. It provides my escapism, therapy even - a selfish indulgence. I do it, because I love doing it, period.

But, there is something else. I don't know how this will sound and don't want to come across conceited. I do not have an over-inflated view of my own work, but there is an irritating desire or niggle I can't dispel. I don't want to leave this life without having left some sort of creative legacy or achievement. As I haven't quantified 'success', 'achievement' or 'legacy' it is a fairly woolly notion. Why I feel the need to do this perplexes me. My parents were not pushy, no one has ever put any pressure on me...it all comes from me...and creates a significant disquiet in me. This definitely is a big motivator that drives me on...possibly too much, I need to let the wu wei take hold and believe...this all sounds very waffly and I don't quite know where I'm going with it...but sometimes by proclaiming your thoughts, they start to make more sense. So this is the internal 'driver', I haven't articulated what this means in terms of an external output.

Satisfaction
Strangely, the process of creating the imagery is where I gain most satisfaction. Viewing my finished work I derive frustratingly limited pleasure. This is tied in with expectations which I'll come on to next.

Expectation
This is, in my life in general, where I am my own worst enemy. I have always set myself ridiculously high standards. I indirectly set myself up to fail, as no matter what I achieve I cannot 'please me'. Boy, can you imagine being married to me!!! I don't plague others with these targets I must add. I am an optimist, but I neglect my progress and focus on how far I haven't reached. I compare myself to the greats and fall short. In other words, my expectations exceed both my confidence and level of skill. This is a problem as I am disappointed more often than not. I do need to learn to set myself realistic expectations so that I have a chance of reaching them.

Success
Setting parameters for success is in my mind really important and its absence a cause of internal turmoil. I haven't, and I think this is the root of some of my own anxiety. It is time I clarified to myself what I would consider 'a success'. At what point could I look at my work and say 'yes, I'm pleased, this has been a success'. What are the boxes I need to tick, for me to consider my work 'a success'. Otherwise I could continue endlessly without acknowledging any milestones or achievements.

I don't know if I'm alone in this and feel slightly exposed. But again, this process to me has always been about honesty with myself and therefore anyone who cares to read. I haven't thought any of this through fully, but think it is time...

There are various articles I have read on this subject, largely related to street photography. See below:

http://lapuravidagallery.com/blog/2010/04/oped-how-do-define-success/ and here

http://www.sevensevennine.com/?p=2278

http://starkstreetphotography.blogspot.com/2011/01/street-photography-why-dont-they-like.html

http://colinpantall.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-is-success-part-1-of-2.html

Assignment Two Feedback

2011-03-20T17:33:00.001Z

Again, my tutor is very prompt with his response. My work arrived with him Friday afternoon and by early evening I'd received my feedback on both assignments. It saves hours of angst and anticipation yet on the other hand, you barely catch your breath. I'm not complaining though - it's a pretty top service. I have included some direct quotes from his feedback here as they are informative and helpful for me and perhaps others.

Well, this has been a long time in coming this assignment. But length of gestation does not necessarily equate to quality of work. The feedback was generous and fair. Not quite at the standard of my previous work but given this is the first piece of work I completed with the large format camera the work was still considered to be very good and I was satisfied with his response.

There was a belter of a comment that amused my other half no end. Unbeknown to my tutor, (or perhaps he did - very perceptive either way!), there was a self-portrait in there with my youngest daughter. Our youngest, how can I put it, is strong-willed at best, stubborn and difficult to manage at worst. She is a wonderful mix of boundless enthusiasm, dogged determination and independence. His comment was:

I guess the first thing one notices with parents and children is the similarities. This could be a photo of a woman with her child-self. Her grasp is very possessive looking, but the child’s body language speaks of the same independence that is written in the woman’s face.

Well what can I say? There is no defence!! My husband smiles from ear to ear with an irritating 'I-told-you-so,-she-takes-after-you' smugness. Vindication at last. Hmmm. He's won, thanks to an innocuous comment from my tutor. How can he possibly have hit the nail so firmly on my head. Very funny!

Without photos to demonstrate, it will be a fairly dry post I'm afraid. So I'll probably come back to this when I work out why my scanner refuses to scan. My tutor wasn't sure about the long exposures with portrait work and wondered whether I should have used fill-in flash. From my point of view, this was an issue of preference and desired aesthetic and I intentionally wanted to minimise my influence in each image. Nevertheless, I would like to know how to use flash with the large format camera for portrait work in future as its damn hard getting clarity with 1 or 2 second exposures.

He was generally very positive, but one suspects he wrote this feedback before seeing assignment four, ha,ha. He's probably changed his mind now. As I'm coming to the final assignment on this course and looking ahead he suggests its time to look at 'getting my work out there, where it can be useful'. He included a lovely quote by Joseph Beuys,

Artists have the responsibility to show what they make

Which I have not done at all for some time. He suggests I need to start looking at 'promoting my work professionally', he cites Getty Images as an example and enquiring with local arts coordinators and galleries about how to exhibit my work. It is something my husband has wanted me to investigate for some time. His view is that by getting your work seen, purchased and commissions won, will give me the confidence to further my personal projects. I will probably cover this in more detail in another post, but for now I admit I have been fairly reticent.

About eighteen months ago I did sign up and gain approval to submit at two or three online image libraries. However, I quickly came to the conclusion, this avenue was not for me. In addition after completing several commissions through friends and colleagues I found it took the pleasure right out of it. My photography work was relegated to the status of daily chores that I had to do rather than an aspirational and enjoyable time guzzler that is right up there in terms of pleasure and personal development. Commercial photography isn't my motivator at the moment.

Exhibiting in galleries is of greater interest however. But as my tutor puts it, my work is 'an interesting collection of experiments and achievements'. What would I exhibit, as a combined mass it is eclectic to say the least. And as individual projects, I'm not sure which to be the strongest or least flawed!! So I will ultimately delay a little longer...but something tells me I cannot continue in this child-like 'bubble' forever...

Assignment Two

2011-03-20T17:33:00.000Z

Assignment Two: Interactions

Occupation ‘Mum’

(As per submission)

Pictures will be included at a later date - scanner currently out of action!!

I have written this introduction prior to completing the project to state clearly my intentions from this assignment, in the eventuality the execution fails to achieve this.

Equipment

It is not ordinarily important for me to emphasise the technical aspects of my photography. However, I wish to make an exception with this assignment, as this is the first project I have used a 5x4 large format camera. For me, this is an achievement in itself. To reach the point of having a set of images in a presentable format has required an inordinate amount of time, energy and cost. I clearly have my doubts as to whether using this camera over a digital is evident or has resulted in a superior finished product.

Approach

I have purposefully kept things simple for this assignment given my inexperience with a large format camera. I used this assignment as an incentive to familiarise myself with it. I also considered the idea I had for this assignment would suit this more meditative style of photography.

However, this project is not a collection of unpredictable or spontaneous photographs. I have not chosen to photograph a common interaction as seen on my whereabouts. Street photography features strongly in my practice, in assignment four, so I have not felt obligated to demonstrate this in assignment two as well. Additionally, to use the 5x4 in such a way would be nonsensical.

For this assignment, I have tried to retain more objectivity with my photography than in the past, although on a continuum I can only claim that it is less subjective than previous work.

I have set up a social experiment of sorts. I set the parameters within which each subject has responded and in which interactions occurred. So as a series of images, there is likely to be much commonality with subtle differences to explore. I am unclear what the images will glean, if anything.

each image is taken within conventional working hours
- each image is taken within the home of the subject
- each subject helped choose the location within their home
- each adult subject was requested not to smile
- each adult subject was asked to look at the camera
- each adult was asked to keep still

This sounds prohibitive but in reality they were there as a guide for the subjects and to create structure to the series. The children on the other hand had no instructions other than to be in the frame. They could ‘be themselves’ – if they moved or wriggled that was fine. Clearly this has affected the result with motion evident on some, given the one or two second exposures. Personally I believe this is a true reflection of their freedom, movement and indeed energy and to stifle it would have felt unnecessary. It was however important to me that the adult was clearly in focus.

All images were taken using a 150mm lens and depth of field was set relatively wide to f5.6 or f8 due to low light conditions. I would have preferred slightly greater depth of field, but I was reluctant to increase exposure times beyond 2 seconds or manipulate the image by adding artificial lighting.

The interaction between parent and child in each of the photographs is what I have chosen to explore. All the subjects were known to me as either friends or acquaintances.

Concept

The concept has been a seed of an idea for several years, probably because it remains prevalent in my life and those around me. My envisaged approach in executing it however has evolved over this time as I have developed my photographic study. From perhaps a more orchestrated and overtly visual concept initially, the final execution assumes a more modest and uncontrived approach with a subtle aesthetic influenced by photographers such as Thomas Struth, Alec Soth and Tina Barney. Whether this enhances the viewer’s experience or if it in fact remains ‘underwhelming’ and overambitious as I fear it might, does continue to trouble me. However, I am hoping that when viewed as a series and with the accompanying image titles there is some encouragement to delve deeper in to why I am showing these images, cautious not to offer too much. I am interested to ascertain whether I have indeed found the right balance in this respect and whether the viewer is left wanting to know more or if the image lacks the immediate draw to make it adequately compelling.

By describing or drawing conclusions from the project too explicitly I am concerned I may devalue it and as such I would like to present a brief ‘artist’s statement’ to contextualize the images. By doing this I am hoping the work can be assessed in the manner I would wish it to be viewed, mindful of any of my own prejudices.

Artist Statement

‘Occupation Mum’ is a study to explore the intricate stereotypes, challenges and ambitions concealed by the overarching definition of a ‘mum’. Each subject has been photographed in their home environment with their pre-school child or children with them. The project heading overlaid with image titles that reflect previous or current job titles entice the viewer to contextualise the subject and make subjective assumptions. This series of images intends to reinforce or challenge perceptions and prejudices about societal stereotypes and the inherent dangers of doing so, as well as question our own views in relation to what we think we see and believe.

Post Edit: 6 September 2011
Images have now been professionally scanned and included here:

Feedback Assignment 4

2011-03-19T16:09:00.006Z

Well, I suppose I couldn't have expected a glowing report back on this assignment. My street photography has improved, but my starting point with this genre was very low, my progress slow due to limited opportunities and looking retrospectively, perhaps lacking a natural flair for it. So unfortunately, the images are pretty woeful!!!

There was an interesting comment my tutor made:

Unlike your other photos, which are often professional in approach, execution and result, this work doesn’t have the finished polish. It’s a rougher and more raw look at things.

I'm taking this as a backhanded compliment about my other assignment work but it does indicate his disappointment with this current assignment. I don't disagree with his comments but I do think his expectations were very different to my own. As per brief, he was anticipating a set of images that were taken in the style of Helen Levitt and as he puts it:

Her pictures make amusing connections between people and people, people and things, people and environment...It’s the unstoppable energy of people’s personalities, their life force which comes out of her work.

And unfortunately not so of mine. I think and it pains me to say it (I'll give my pride a good talking to later), my street photography skills fall way short to emulate Levitt or in fact any other street photographer to any sort of satisfaction.

My approach this past six months has been to practice the general art of street photography. I think my error has been that I submitted what I felt were my strongest street photographs and not those that most closely resembled the style of Levitt. Until I started this street photography project I had no idea how difficult it actually is. And even with practice I'm not sure I may ever be able to achieve what is required.

In addition, I do feel slightly uncomfortable with this 'in the style of' (see this post). However, having not displayed a style of my own, to compensate for the lack of Levitt's style, doesn't help. And sadly what I thought was quirky and humourous was in several cases missed. I didn't explain my images hoping that, as street photographs, they shouldn't need it. However, I suspect it might have helped to give my bemused tutor at least a fighting chance!! Reflecting generally on my street photography, I do wonder whether what I'm trying to communicate is too subtle and doesn't resonate with others. Are they too obscure or just plain boring? Here is an example:

Now, I can see why he didn't see how this fits the series. He suggests this is more in the style of Walker Evans, which is being kind. However this is one of my earlier shots that I am still really fond of. Silly I know, as it is pretty dull. But bear with me for a second more so I can try and redeem myself somewhat. I see several things in this: its a funeral parlour, there is a blue transit van (not a hearse), the number plate (ARM) and two filled black bin liners (as if body parts are being thrown out with the rubbish). I thought it had some humour but I think I may be in an exclusive club of one! Here is another example:

Again, not at first sight in the style of Levitt, however Levitt was interested in the chalk drawings of children. I consider tattoos a popular form of self expression today. What I saw here was the art on his arm and the carved engravings on the antique wood that kind of mirrored each other. Too weird huh?!

Unfortunately, there were few successes, infact the three men/Burton's image is perhaps it. Even the ones I thought were relatiavely strong came in for criticism technically and artistically. For example, these two.

With some of the others, I think I have applied some of the characterisitics found in contemporary street photography that have fallen short of the brief. So unfortunately, I think my tutor was genuinely struggling to glean anything positive in this set. Strangely with hindsight, there is little I could do differently. Street photography cannot be forced and I can think of no way I could have rushed this along or improved it really. I think more hours of practice...and then some more hours...

I was also surprised that he has suggested I use photoshop more to improve the aesthetic of the images, some of which he considered murky. And may be consider converting to black and white. I tried to keep the image as authentic as possible with little cropping or manipulation perhaps at the detriment of how the images looked. I think he's right and a little tinkering in photoshop is little to worry about.

Hey, some you win and some you lose...it was an 'away' game and I took a pummelling. But despite this, I am really glad I tried it. I think the success of this assignment, or indeed the lack of, indicates where my strengths lie and probably allows me to adjust the balance of where I invest my time going forward with justification (see this post). But, yes I am hugely relieved to put it behind me...and whilst I will continue with the SPN project and continue to explore the rural street photography idea I think accepting defeat to a certain extent is the gracious thing to do.

I'll pick myself up, move on...and have another go when I get the inspiration!!

Assignment Four

2011-03-19T16:09:00.004Z

In the style of…my response
(as per submission)

After submitting assignment three last September I knew Helen Levitt was to be the photographer I would ‘emulate’ for this assignment. It was therefore extremely fortuitous that the Street Photography Now project commenced at the same time. Every week an established street photographer issues an instruction to an online community. Street photography was an unfamiliar genre to me prior to this so to learn from more experienced street togs and participate has really helped. I have come to realise how inordinately difficult it is to create a good street photograph. In many ways I think the skills required are greater than with many other more contemplative genres. You have to be able to ‘see’ the unusual and then have the aptitude, speed and bravery to capture it in a split second before the moment has evaporated. After spending six months practicing, I have decided you really would need to spend decades at it!

My street photography portfolio I would consider to be ‘bijou’ and a ‘work in progress’. I will not stop practicing and am looking forward to the next few months when the Lakes fill with tourists, and events start to hit the calendar. Opportunity and serendipity colliding, hopefully!

I have used several locations in putting together this series. Several mini-breaks in Bridlington have been very fruitful. Closer to home I have ventured to local towns, villages and tourist hotspots, but with limited success. I have reached a point where I have a rolling set of twelve images whereby I substitute the weakest as I develop and improve. I understand this will continue indefinitely so must draw the line somewhere.

The following set includes no ‘replicas’ of Levitt’s work. They would indeed be poor imitations and we live in very different times. I have also studied the genre of street photography in depth and have been inspired by other photographers too. However, I have tried to adopt Levitt’s ability to ‘see’ the world without cynicism or harshness. She was neither intrusive nor imposing. Her subjects appear unnerved by her presence and this is reflected in such natural, un-staged images. There is also a light humour that runs through her images which I think really captures the essence of street life.

Other aspects I have considered:

· Levitt photographed children. I have tried to capture the youth although given our ‘paranoid’ society, children have felt somewhat ‘out of bounds’.

· In the spirit of street photography, I have also limited any post-processing, editing or cropping. I have tried to retain the authenticity of the image by doing this.

· Levitt’s most famous images are in black and white although she was one of the first pioneers to use colour when it became available. I have been inspired by the colour work of photographers such as Nick Turpin, Martin Parr, Matt Roberts, Nils Jorgensen amongst others. So I have chosen the colour aesthetic for this set. I have also been reluctant to adopt the highly stylised, high contrast, black and white aesthetic that is so often seen within street photography photo-streams.

Being new to the genre I have experimented with different approaches although I have been particularly drawn to humour or slight eccentricities of human nature. I have also toyed with juxtapositions and the flattening effect of 2d perspectives.

Assignment Four long list

2011-03-18T17:45:00.000Z

Below are some images that didn't cut it for assignment four. I have not included those images already posted as part of the SPN project. I don't know what to do with them so I'm posting them here for posterity I guess...I know you're not supposed to show the 'ditches' but what else do I do with them?? As always, best seen big...or maybe not!!

two four one

2011-03-17T23:05:00.000Z

My tutor I'm sure will feel exceptionally lucky tomorrow when he opens his parcel and finds not one, but two assignments from me. Well, lucky or more likely gobsmacked having not had a sniff of an assignment since September. Like buses eh...

So he has assignments two and four from me. Three was done in September, that was the critical essay. So I haven't submitted any photos since about July...hmmm, doesn't look good does it?!? Yes, but, no but, guvnor I can explain.....here comes the ramblings of not very-believable excuses.

Well, I can't really cite personal reasons or technical issues or time constraints or illness...so why then?? I'm normally very organised and adhere to deadlines pretty well. I think I'm struggling to find the right balance between quality and time constraints. There is a gaping hole between where I want to be and where I'm at...so I delay, try to improve, read a bit more or try a different approach...and so on. The problem with this approach is that there really is no end point. You don't arrive at a destination, so you can keep on going indefinitely, well until yesterday.

Assignment Four first
Having admitted the above I do think street photography is not something you can rush, particularly around here, an area not particularly heavily populated. Since September I have learnt so much about the street photography genre and I am pleased with my progress on this. Still a long way to go, but over the past six months I am starting to get what could resemble a bijou portfolio of street photography images that improves as I weed out the weakest on an ongoing basis. I will post up this assignment as well as the near-misses here shortly. However, closure on this assignment is not the terminus of my street photography journey.

Assignment Two now
Well, hands-up on this one. I tried two or three different approaches that I just was not happy with, didn't excite me and my heart just wasn't in. For heaven's sake the remit was broad enough - Interactions. Shouldn't be too difficult, but it wasn't gripping me - don't ask me why. Well eventually, I did have an idea and my submission has sort of morphed the brief in to something of greater value for my own personal learning. So out came the large format camera and a sort of social experiment within which interactions would occur. I've entitled the project 'occupation mum', which gives you a clue about the theme. I'm full of self-doubt about the concept, the quality of the images and whether the approach is too simplistic. Again, I will go in to more detail on this in another post, but as the images are on film and my scanner doesn't seem to be talking to my mac I can't even upload low-res images at the moment.

So there we are...street photography that is impulsive, fast, quick-witted to the slow, methodical, pre-meditated, almost meditative photography that derives from using a large format camera...I would say two ends of the spectrum in many ways. So my learning has been varied and by undertaking the two alongside each other, one has provided a very good antidote for the other. I am expressing no preference for one over the other as yet as I could name all manner of difficulties derived from both types of photography.

Here again...we've all been there...I await, a little anxious for the comments of my tutor...

Format Photography Festival

2011-03-14T10:52:00.014Z

I have felt compelled to watch the horrific pictures coming out of Japan, as we all have. It is yet another unfathomable disaster and we seem to be here again, where you want so much to help but can do so little! Sitting in front of my screen, my endeavours to improve my photography or indeed view the good work of other photographers seems so futile.

However, I will nevertheless scribble some thoughts down about the Format Photography Festival while they are fresh in my mind. Good day 'twas too.

I didn't take notes on the day, I enjoyed, viewed and absorbed instead. So I suspect my notes today will be comparatively brief compared to others. I'm not going to read anyone else's blog however, until I've written this, then I'm looking forward to hearing the thoughts of others!

Primarily I would like to thank Gareth and Jose for hosting the day and to the other OCA students - what a great bunch of people. It was really nice to meet you all and to see beyond the 'avatars'! I thoroughly enjoyed discussing photography with the 'real' rather than the virtual people. And I'm sure my husband was very thankful too, he must wonder at what point his wife became such an 'anorak'!!

Due to family commitments, a day trip to Derby of all places was a real treat. I even enjoyed the 3.5 hour drive down - uninterrupted peace, a rare commodity in our house. I too often see photographs in a low-res format on my screen, no bigger than a thumbnail - hmmm, it's not good is it!! So to see the prints in the manner the photographer had intended and to see how they have presented their images, the order and the sequence is fascinating.

A few observations I picked up on:

- Technology is infiltrating the art: Michael Wolf has used google images, Nate Larson and Marni Shindelman have used the gps location of tweets and photographed it. Hin Chua has used satellite images and Kurt Tong, who was blocked in the US from taking photographs for national security reasons, has used google street view and recreated his journey. I have never considered using my photography in this way.

- Size matters: I remember reading somewhere (I think it may have been one of the OCA tutors) who said that traditionally in galleries art is big and photography is small - print size that is. Contemporary photographers seem to disregard this.

- Contemporary photographers use all manner of print materials, sizes and methods to present their work - there seems to be no set convention.

- Street photography seems to have had a revival/resurgence this past couple of years and this has been very positive for the genre, but I think as a result it is extremely difficult to do something 'new'. To not photograph a cliche and to find something truly original is a tough challenge. I saw more than one HCB-influenced photo.

- There is most definitely two camps - black and white v colour. That sounds like the bleeding obvious and Jose did challenge my own preferences on this front. Sepia is noticeable by its absence. Photographers fall into one camp or other, rarely both.

- Sequencing of images - anything goes! Randomly placed like Michael Wolf, framed traditionally like Giacomo Brunelli or unconventionally as Wassink Lundgren did with thirteen photobooks opened on different pages. Polly Braden was the only exhibitor I saw who used 'wooden' frames.

- Yep, film is most definitely still in vogue with contemporary street photographers.

- So many street togs talk about photographing the quirky, slightly incongruous, 'extraordinary in the ordinary' aspects of street life.

- there is some interesting work coming out of new destinations such as eastern Europe and the far east, perhaps areas less riddled with cliches. They carry an inherent social documentary weight to them but seem less frivolous somehow. As Gareth pointed out, areas of change seem to offer good creative opportunities. Frederic Lezmi is an example:

I have been searching for the „in between” – whatever lies geographically as well as culturally between my world here in the midst of Europe and my long term focus of interest in the Middle and Near East.,

There are others too, such as George Georgiou who has looked at modernisation in the intersection between Eastern and Western cultures in Turkey. There are others such as Zhao Liang in China and Raghu Rai in India.

- Joel Meyerowitz. I had a number of interesting discussions with both Stan, Rob and later with Gareth. A biographical account of his 40 years of photography summed up in 6 images showed an interesting progression, culminating with his last image being taken on a large format camera. Perhaps shirking the digital and technological age of photography. Quite ironic really. He is clearly still a big influence on contemporary street togs.

- Amy Stein. I loved the vivid colour of her work and the impeccable composition an almost 'art-like' feel to the photographs. There is some good stuff on her website too.

- Martin Kollar. Not dissimilar to many of the 'quirky' contemporary street photography out there at the moment, but again, I'm drawn to the almost 'art-like' qualities of some of his images .

- Jeff Mermelstein. Amazing photographer but dare I say I wasn't so keen on this 'running' set. I have often thought about sequences or series in street photography in general. But I'm just not sure it suits the spirit of the street photography genre. I like the idea of random serendipity and as soon as you try to find order in it, it sort of loses its appeal for me. Well that's just me. I'm sure there are many who will disagree.

Because I have been studying street photography in quite some detail over the past six months it was nice to see a good number of familiar photographers and recognizable images. It did however mean there were fewer surprises and the images perhaps cumulatively had less impact. I remember the first time I saw Matt Stuart's pigeons on the front of Street Photography Now thinking 'that is so simple yet so clever'. Bruce Gilden's approach was really shocking when I first saw his work on youtube and how he approached it. Seeing his take on Derby was in some ways more of the same. A good few photographers like Nils Jorgensen, Nick Turpin, Polly Braden, George Georgiou, Bruno Quniquet amongst others, I have been introduced to through the Street Photography Now project and book. There really are some great 'living' street photographers.

But there was a lot to see and a lot I hadn't seen before too. In the morning I was a diligent student but I must admit, in the afternoon, I was struggling to see things with fresh eyes - it became ever harder to find an image that 'stood' out. I did enjoy the video of the In-Public photographers.

There is quite a lot for me to take away from this. And strands of thought I would like to pursue further are:

- to look further at photographers exploring new destinations

- continue with the rural street photography theme

- black and white v colour schools of thought

- technology in photography

- the 2d becoming 3d

- fine art in street photography

- the need to look for a different angle on street photography

hah, that will do...I'm done...

It's a high price

2011-03-10T20:56:00.000Z

I am just reeling a little...I knew large format would be an expensive hobby...but I naively underestimated how costly. I want to, for the record, compute the processing costs of my large format photography film. Then, I need to think if there is another way!!

This is my first assignment so I have made various mistakes which increased the cost such as double exposing, out of focus, sheet feed problems etc.

Cost of purchasing film: provia 160nc (10 in a box): £35.00 x 3 boxes = £105.00
Processing of 28 images with Peak Imaging = £74.90
Proof sheets = £37.40

So, so far I have spent £217, + postage and other sundries and have a mere ten usable images. And...I still haven't printed these out or had them scanned for submission. To print at 10x8 will cost a further £30 and to scan a further £30 on top of that.

This makes the total cost of ten images £277, almost £30 per image...bloody hell!!!

This is scaring me and I'm not sure what to do...my printer isn't up to printing at a high enough resolution, it doesn't scan particularly well...so I'm thinking should I look at processing myself...I'm not going to give up on it yet...but putting the figures down on paper like this gives me the jitters...my dear husband is very supportive, but I think he would wince if he caught sight of these figures....

Answers on a postcard please...

SPN Instructions 21 and 22

2011-03-03T22:27:00.000Z

First off, I have just had a mail from Framer's Intent (admin on the SPN project) saying:

We are giving a talk about the SPN Project at the Format Photography Festival. We wish to show a slideshow selection of the images shortlisted in past weeks by the photographers who have given Instructions to this Project.

Of which one they want to use being this one:

Great stuff!

Back to Instruction 22 by Nick Turpin which was

Be aware of the way the camera compresses a three dimensional world in to a two dimensional plane and use that to your advantage

Ok. I guess they're clever visual puns when done well, but I suspect its difficult to capture 'classic' street photographs using this approach. Well I was away last week as it was half term. I had the laptop with me but no way of downloading images so did not submit, but I did make a few attempts at this instruction. See below:

Then this week's instruction is by Polly Braden is

Pick a spot, stay there for an hour and see what unfolds

Her portfolio makes good use of space, the environment and the subject makes up a small space in the frame. I thought this was a really challenging brief. On Wednesday morning I headed to Keswick, I purchased myself a bucket-sized cardboard cup of latte and piece of chocolate crispie cake, and sat outside the cafe, camera in hand for what felt like a long time. I find it so very very difficult to stay in one place, and whilst it was sunny, it was freezing - I was trying to levitate above the metal bits of the chair. For a Wednesday morning, off-peak, there were actually a few people about. But, whether I'm lacking originality or an 'eye' for it, could I visualise anything interesting - nah. After an hour I had these...rolling eyes...

So I sacked that approach and tried to find some action, but still I was left with 'nowt. I tried another location and waited a bit and got this...

and then got bored waiting and got this on my way home...

Well, all pretty crap so I won't submit an image this week and will try again with a spare hour in the summer!!

However, I'm not too downbeat, I have today finally completed my last two sittings for assignment two...exhausting. In some ways these two were the most crucial as I really wanted to include them in the set...indeed it took me a while to pluck up the courage to ask them...and one of my film holders made quite a scrunching noise today so I'm hoping I've not done something stupid. So my box of 5x4 images will soon be on their way to Peak Imaging. Hopefully, with assignment four done and assignment two only a few weeks off I can get closure fairly soon on both of them...honestly!!! My tutor I'm sure will be waiting with baited breath...

Life's a beach

2011-02-26T20:23:00.007Z

This week we have been away to the east coast. We booked an apartment in Bridlington overlooking the sea. Idyllic - but wet, and windy - sometimes it's quite nice when the weather is pants as you can just do nothing without feeling guilty. I was hoping for more opportunities for street photography but given the weather, people stayed indoors. However, I still think I now have enough material to complete assignment four...and some final images of the 'shanty town' at Skipsea which may form part of my portfolio for social documentary.

The rate of erosion is nothing short of astounding at Skipsea and each visit I make, I leave shocked and in awe of nature's power. Seventy years ago this coastal lane (just off Hornsea Road - see google maps, search Skipsea, Hornsea Road or try this link (thank you Duncan)) was an enviable location with magnificent sea views overlooking sandy beaches. Over the years, as the weather has eroded the cliff, the once desirable holiday retreats have either fallen in to the sea or the owners have resolutely reassembled them further back on their diminishing plots. Personally I am fascinated by this lane which exudes an industrious milieu of human ingenuity, resilience, resourcefulness and fierce stubborness.

Holiday homes is perhaps misleading as a definition of their latter-day existence, but equally its nickname of 'shanty town' is a little unnecessarily harsh. There is clear evidence that residents improve, recycle and make use of cheap or waste materials, but squatters or impoverished they are not. Amongst them, was an artist in residence, Safforn Waghorn, she exhibited 'Tides of R-evolution' by way of a celebration of the sixty year cliff-top community. No further justification than the location itself is needed to appreciate why the residents have persevered despite its precariousness.

I strangely adore the charm of this spot. I have been visiting since October 2008 so have only visited it for a short time and sadly only in its demise. Within that time the existing line of 'homes' that were standing precariously 'on the edge' have disappeared. Within just over two years nigh on ten or more metres of the coast has been lost (they say on average it is a metre a year whatever that means). It is the fastest eroding coastline in Europe but this past two years has been phenomenal even given its reductive history. This time, the sea, the frost, the rain and indeed the council have not only taken the land where the houses were, but also the road is now being nibbled away. It is no longer stable for cars. This photo was taken in October 2008. The coast lies to the left of this hut.

As the land is eroding, residents have literally reassembled their dwellings further back or chopped them up if part of the building had collapsed in to the sea. I recall vividly speaking to one resident who lived there at the time, saying he left his car running on particularly stormy nights!! I have been quite interested in time lapse photography of Cliff Road, however, given the nature of the land, to photograph from the same spots each time has been impossible. However, the fence line on the right and the dead tree are reference points in the picture above and below. The photo below was taken last week.

I don't normally photograph black and white, but somehow because this is an historical record, I prefer the monochrome aesthetic. The following two pictures show a different perspective, again, both taken at roughly the same spot two years apart.

I am totally fascinated by this place and feel quite sad that its existence is almost gone. It has so much character and life, such organic and 'clumsy' development is so rarely seen or allowed on our shores. This particular place and my photographic record of it is sadly drawing to a close, although I know I won't be able to resist going back.

Following Eileen's observant eye (thank you), it appears this spot was used in filming 'South Riding' currently on BBC 1. This is the tram below that had to be moved by a crane after a violent storm. Below is the road to the left of which the tram used to reside until no less than 18 months ago!! Check out this link here.

Street Photography Now Week 20

2011-02-17T17:07:00.000Z

Missed a few weeks now. I did submit and then withdrew last week, and every week I'm finding it harder to submit. The perceived standard in the group is definitely going up week by week or conversely, the more experienced street togs are continuing to submit, whilst those new to it are dropping out as the weeks pass. I am going to continue as I am still learning loads although, same old complaint, just lacking the time and the quantity of people for opportunities to photograph. As Spring comes, I'm sure I will have more luck. I do feel out of practice and need to build up to it again. I still want to pursue the rural street photography 'thing' but I can't force this either.

This week's instruction is by Bruno Quniquet:

Slow down, the next picture may be very quiet and close

This is the image I submitted:

This is taken on the way back to the car after an unsuccessful photo excursion. I have walked passed this shop window hoping for something going on outside it before. This wasn't quite what I had in mind, but when I got home and saw them all looking bored and facing the same direction and the ironic interplay with the background, it gave it a little more interest.

I keep having to remind myself "why am I showing this image?' 'what is it in this image that I want people to see?'. And sometimes I find there is no message or compelling moment so need to force myself to 'edit' severely. But if I use this criteria for myself, it does make for a 'bijou' street portfolio. So until I improve, I have to settle for 'nearly' moments or images with glaring flaws but with the glimpse of the potential of what might have been.

I also took this on the way home:

Sometimes I know what message I want to convey without having the picture to do it - I guess these are my preconceptions which for street photography really defeats the 'photograph in the moment' type approach. The above image is like that - I think I need to learn patience...again!!

Outside in...

2011-02-09T13:30:00.000Z

Outside in or inside out...which is it to be? I'm afraid it is another of my diy theories that can be disproved no doubt as quickly as it popped up. It doesn't stop me arguing the toss in my head however!! Rather simplistically, these terms could differentiate the motivations of a social documentary compared to that of an artistic photographer. I'll explain shortly, but you'll need to stick with me as I frog march you all around the houses first...

I was thinking about my own journey with OCA so far after a couple of girl friends had asked to see my self portrait photographs that I carried out for the TAOP assignment one. Wiping off the dust I pulled out the book for the first time in ages. This was the first assignment with the OCA and as such has the boldness and naivety of an immature artist. With hindsight, I can see it represents an important period of growth, confidence and reflection in my life and photography, and forms a useful benchmark. As loyal friends are obliged to be, they were very impressed and bestowed many compliments on my work, mostly genuine, I think! Thanks gals for the support! Strangely, and rather frustratingly however, it is still this set that remains my favourite and personally most challenging set of images that I have made to date, nearly eighteen months on! Is that a bad reflection on me, that I'm not trying hard enough...or too hard...or what?

I'll go on...since that assignment I completed my APEL successfully and switched courses to Social Documentary. Perhaps a strange choice as I was far better equipped to do either PWDP or landscape. However I came to the conclusion that I had spent two or three years doing digital photography, processing and enhancements to a level that it became a tool rather than an end in itself. And with regards my landscapes, I felt I had careered up a dead end and was totally bored with it. So in my wisdom I felt I had most to learn from social documentary.

With hindsight, I do not have any regrets in course choice although I do think my progress would have been much pacier had I signed up to either of the other two courses and perhaps I may have been more satisfied with the results. I sort of feel the last eighteen months has been a period of deconstructing the lego model to work out how all the individual elements look and work and hopefully by the end of the course or degree, I will have reconstructed the model, possibly as it was or maybe as something else altogether that I couldn't have envisaged at the start of my journey. But it will have been built with the knowledge of how and why it all fits together. So I'm currently in the depths of dissection and analysis of each piece of lego at the moment. The end goal or larger picture is not on the horizon yet.

With social documentary I have now completed two assignments and have done the leg work for a further two so have a good feel for this genre of photography I think now. I know you cannot completely categorise or pigeon-hole a type of photography or photographer but inevitably you do have a preference. I think the fundamental difference for me with social documentary is that to make a good social documentary photograph the skills required are very different to many other genres.

Those genres that have originated from the realms of art such as fine art photography or portraiture are more contemplative and require skills such as creativity, composition, lighting, narrative and intention. However, social documentary is about 'capturing' something real be it a news story or moment of serendipity on the street. The creativity needs to be crystallised within a split second. The image is judged on how you responded to something in that moment. It is an incredibly difficult form of photography.

And finally back to the beginning this is why I consider social documentary to be 'outside in'. Fundamentally you are taking your inspiration from the outside world and computing it. You still need a creative eye, in many ways perhaps more than a fine art photographer as you need to capture the split second defining moment with the challenges of fleeting composition within the congestion of real life. Fine art photography is in my mind 'inside out'. By this I mean you have a creative idea or concept in your mind (inside) and you think of ways you can execute it using photography as the medium.

So personally, by participating in predominantly outside-in photography at the moment, I am aware it is not naturally my way. But I am hoping it'll help me refine my creative eye so that when I reembark on 'inside-out' photography I have a more balanced and complete knowledge base from which to work. Practically I will also have much more confidence in photographing people and thinking on my feet. I am looking forward to this Spring and Summer to really make the most of street photography in Cumbria when it fills up with tourists and people and events. But I suspect beyond this, I may retreat back to 'peopled' landscapes or more fine art photography and 'inside-out' photography. We'll see...

Larging it for Assignment two...

2011-01-27T21:48:00.001Z

I skipped instruction 17 of SPN to focus on assignment two. Again, just in case I want to recall instruction 17 in future, it was by Mirko Martin:

Take pictures where you're not comfortable, where you feel exposed, threatened, or morally on the wrong side

It would have been a touch challenge for sure.

But back to the reason for my post. To update you on my progress for assignment two, I am relieved to report that there is some, not a lot... however having left the keys for the digital at home and having cranked up the vintage model, I can confirm my speed has reduced to that of snail and energy consumption per picture has rocketed off the scale...

However, don't let that mislead you. My sense of humour has finally returned after several months of unauthorised leave of absence! I'm really starting to feel the magic of this large format camera. I'm fearing it less and whilst I'm certainly still in its awe, I've found myself indulging Ebony with anthropomorphic qualities. We go out on photo shoots together and her presence emanates a sort of authority that I lack!!

It is only a box at the end of the day, but its the nicest one I've ever owned!!

Anyway, I've meandered...I've finally got my first negs and proof sheets back last week. Even processing took me an age to get to grips with...what do I need to ask for so I can view them and what on earth is that on the order form. Well I got it wrong, but after speaking to an extremely helpful lady from Peak Imaging I eventually got a set of viewable proofs.

My work pre-Christmas amounted to eight images...I know, I told you it was slow...and out of those eight, my success rate was comfortably less than 50%, which sounds abysmal. However, I was strangely pleased that there were some OK shots in there, given the number of potential errors one could make and I was likely to make. It meant I had loaded and unloaded my film correctly, I had actually understood the settings on my light meter, I had focussed adequately and composed upside down and back to front reasonably well. There are loads of things that are still a mystery, in particular the tilt movement. I understand how it works on a horizon line with landscapes but not with portraits yet.

Without going in to detail about the actual project which I will save for another post, I carried out four photo-shoots (far too formal a word) before Christmas. Two sheets of film per sitting (can't afford more, the cost per sheet once processed is nearing £10 all said and done - nothing like the coin to focus the mind and camera!!). From the four sittings, I was unsuccessful with two, the other two I have a useable image from each. My errors were not due to exposure measurements, focus or shutter settings which surprised me. My mistakes were actually due to too much fiddling with the tilt and shift which for this purpose was unnecessary. Was I pleased with the results? Was it worth all the effort? The project I've taken on for this assignment is designed to be relatively simple given it is my first with the large format camera and may be the images are individually unremarkable however, the print quality of the image and the lighting is way better than anything I've taken with my digital. They have a sort of elegance that I like. I am hoping the images will work as a series where the subtleties will become more apparent.

Since Christmas I've not tinkered with 'tilt' which I think caused the main 'defects' in my earlier shots. I've relied on natural light with no supplementary light so exposures are necessarily long which results in some movement which I think is tolerable. I have redone the two unsuccessful sittings and have completed a further three. The assignment asks for about a dozen images, which is quite a tall order given the approach I'm taking. And given Ebony doesn't have live view it is many weeks after taking the photos that I find out whether I made any howlers!! I am wanting to put this assignment to bed, so there will inevitably be compromises.

Going forward and taking an optimistic view I am hoping that I have been able to achieve a one in two success rate for each of the recent shoots. If so, it still leaves me five to do if I aim to take twelve. Never before has twelve seemed such a large number!! Looking at timescales and what I can achieve, I think ten is more realistic.

When I finally get this next round of film sent off and have sight of the proofs only then will I know whether I need to redo any - I really hope not. After this, I will need to make some decisions on printing. The project I'm working on is a series of images which I think would work best in a book format. However, the book format will result in reduced image quality. So I'm dithering a little. My main concern with mounting is you can't easily retain the order of the prints. In addition, annotating, topping and tailing seems clumsy and less professional. But I will need to come to a decision fairly soon as the costs to print and/or scan are considerable.

In terms of timescale, I am hoping to complete the photography in the next two weeks. The printing and presentation is a little unknown to me at the moment, but hopefully by the beginning of March I will have something concrete to submit.

Pornography...

2011-01-25T20:54:00.000Z

My husband's ears have pricked-up. Yes, I did say 'pornography'. No, not the top-shelf variety. 'Photographic porn' actually - the ears have lost their pricked-upness. He slopes off thinking he really should have known better!! More seriously, I think this is quite an interesting term, particularly in respect to social documentary and its ethics. It is a term that I have seen occasionally on comments on the HCSP forum on flickr but didn't really understand. I forgot about it and then, I see reference to it in several places on one day. I think this is the web-way, you read something on a website or blog, which gets rewritten or quoted elsewhere and discussed yet further elsewhere. 'Topics-of-the-moment' gather energy and momentum very quickly. And so it is with porn... a discussion on ethics in the Street Photography Now Instruction 17. And then shortly after I came across these two articles on jmcolberg.com which referred back to an in-depth article on david-campbell.org. And probably like others, I write about it too. A definition David Campbell has used for porn is:

‘pornography’ has come to mean the violation of dignity, cultural degradation, taking things out of context, exploitation, objectification, putting misery and horror on display, the encouragement of voyeurism, the construction of desire, unacceptable sexuality, moral and political perversion, and a fair number more

Development pornography, poverty porn, ruin porn, famine porn, stereotype porn all falls in the 'pornography' term. Joerg Coelberg succintly says:

But what seems crucial is that pornography also and especially entails an act itself, namely the mindless, superficial, yet titillating visual consumption of imagery. That consumption might contain someone’s dignity being violated, or some desire being constructed; but at its core lies a corruption of the act of mindful viewing.

Pornography is to shamelessly ogle

He concludes by saying:

The fact that so much photography has attracted the label “porn” indicates that there is an increasing dissatisfaction with how photography works, is treated, and discussed. It’s time to move beyond the same Susan Sontag essays. As unhelpful as the “porn” label might be, we still need to take its application to look at the possible issues, the possible discontent that is being voiced. This entails talking about empathy and its supposed lack, but it also means talking about what images mean and how their meaning is generated.

From my point of view what I find interesting with this is threefold. The first is that the meaning and rationale for taking a photo is critical as to whether it is considerd 'porn' or purposeful. The second is that there is a distinction between working out of your comfort zone and what you're not comfortable doing. And finally the spirit of street photography appears to embrace a slighter more optimistic or lighter spirit than other genres - and that I like. It's aim is not to ridicule or 'shamelessly ogle' and it is so refreshing in a world full of images that sensationalise, humiliate and offend that it doesn't have to be that way!

Nb. I don't know why but my blog seems to put double spaces between the paragraphs...I can't figure out why...

Picbod

2011-01-25T10:07:00.002Z

Not wanting to be disloyal but I can't resist a freebie....Johnathon Worth employed by the University of Coventry is offering a free online undergraduate photography course to anyone and everyone. As it's free, it's causing a bit of a stir and it is being talked about on various blogs and websites. However, from a student's point of view, all resources that can help in our study are welcomed. The Picbod site has a good line up of speakers and consolidates some interesting interviews and articles. So I'll be popping over from time to time. It is an interesting development for students...and a perhaps troubling precedent for education providers...or maybe not...

Street Photography Now Week 16

2011-01-17T20:35:00.001Z

This week the very great Martin Parr has provided the instruction. The instruction is:

Wait for the rain, it makes shooting on the street easier and more interesting

Perhaps the instruction was inspired by his book entitled Bad Weather. Rain and bad weather are synonymous with the Lakes, so this shouldn't be a problem. And I must admit in the half hour I had when venturing out, peoples expressions are more animated and their awareness of others reduced. I will be trying this again when time allows. I'm out of time this week and the forecast is, ironically, for full sun. I sort of snatched this image, but it somehow fits the brief. Looking through the pool this week however the standard seems to have gone up. There are some corkers in there!

Street Photography Now Week 15

2011-01-09T15:44:00.006Z

Just to recap where I am with this project. Instruction 11 was the last week in which I made a submission. Weeks 12, 13 and 14 I've missed, but for the record these instructions were:

week 12: look for the stars even in broad daylight: Markus Hartel
week 13: look closer to home: Lars Tunbjork
week 14: show us the aftermath: Maciej Dakowicz

For 2011 I've decided to bring in a few changes. I'm not going to stick religiously to the brief. The value in the project is in getting me out each week from which photographic opportunities will arise. Knowing a little more about the genre and reading various discussions in the SPN forums, I feel more confident now that street photography has less to do with the location and more to do with the approach. With this in mind I'm not going to limit myself to urban street photographs anymore. It may be blatantly obvious, but it has only just dawned on me that I'm not playing to my strengths. So I'm going to photograph the landscape, countryside, rural views and take the images with the street photography rather than landscape genre in mind. Some examples are below (I think you can click on them to make them bigger):

So this weeks instruction which is the fifteenth was provided by Melanie Einzig:

Wander aimlessly most of the time

I read this in an open way in the spirit I think it was intended, a nice one to ease us back in to the swing of the things after Christmas. Our weekend's jaunt took us to Keswick where we popped up to Castlerigg Stonecircle. The examples above are what I would consider 'street' imagery in a rural setting focussing not on the landscape but on life 'within' the landscape. The third image has an absence of people, however it isn't absent of life or narrative. The first image is my choice of submission, albeit I am well aware of its compositional weaknesses. It is this rural street photography I want to explore further.

NB. a slight issue I am having with my camera for street photography is how the camera uses the centre for focussing. I'm finding I'm not quick enough to recompose resulting in too many of my shots being centred. I could change the AF points but I'll still need to recompose, perhaps there is no way around this - I just need to get quicker!!

Post Edit: the top image made it in to the SPN author's picks!

What will 2011 bring?

2011-01-03T21:16:00.000Z

Happy New Year to you all!!!

Today I'm catching my breath after a houseful all Christmas and New Year. I know they're easy to break, but I do find making resolutions at the beginning of each year a useful thing to do. Perhaps less a resolution as a target or goal for the year. I was pleased to say farewell to 2010, more because it was the year I lost Mum than it being a particularly bad year in its entirety. In terms of my progress with photography in 2010:

- February, pass my APEL for three level one courses
- Officially start Social Documentary March, actually start in May
- Finish assignment one in July
- Finish assignment three in September
- Start Street Photography Now in September
- Purchase large format camera in October
- Attend one day large format camera workshop in November
- Father Christmas brings a rather sexy Apple Mac 27"

Okay but I am fairly disillusioned with my progress. These bullet points conceal the hours of reading, researching, pouring over blogs and websites, none of which is culminating in 'better' photos IMO! It also doesn't show the internal struggles to do well and the relatively short-lived satisfaction from each image I make. Photography and the study thereof provides me with an extremely satisfying occupation. But, and it is quite a big but, it does bring with it equally large measures of frustration and disappointment. I feel my skills have broadened but not increased. I know it is of my own making. I have higher aspirations than I currently have skill or aptitude and there is a large arguably growing gap between the two. The steps I chose to take in 2010 firstly with the course selection and also in purchasing a large format camera mean I feel I am starting from scratch. I have also begun to forget what it is I hoped to derive from the course.

I have decided I am 'trying too hard' (which is never a good look!). So for that reason I am going to try to alter my approach a little, perhaps pursue another creative outlet too, take the pressure off myself a little.

So my photography targets/goals or resolutions for 2011 are as follows:

- complete the social documentary course by July and go for assessment in November
- continue with the street photography now project until September
- fully get to grips with the large format camera by July
- source an old medium format camera
- familiarise myself with mac, photoshop and printing
- start another level two or possibly level three course in September
- have a clearer sense of direction as to what type of photography I want to pursue by December

So let's see what is ahead!!

The first of hopefully many!

2010-12-20T19:55:00.000Z

Dav has sent through the images taken on the large format course I attended six weeks ago. So, this is genuinely and officially my first image taken with my large format camera. I have taken a few more since then but without the guidance of Dav or Tim, so I suspect the second, third and fourth will be much more experimental, and hit and miss than this. But, all in all, quite pleased with this one!!

Street Photography Now #11

2010-12-14T22:40:00.000Z

Again, not much time this week to write up for instruction #11. Mimi Mollica provided this week's instruction which is:

take to the streets, get political

Mimi Mollica has some very inspiring work which can be found here. What has been nice is his significant involvement and hands-on approach to the project this week. The picture I submitted is this:

Very early on in the week I decided to upload this image. I like it because it is somewhat confusing! The boys immediate and almost instinctive response to seeing the dead rabbit was to reenact the killing. This response I found quite disturbing albeit not too surprising! A second earlier was the decisive moment, which I missed! The boy in the middle had his legs straddled pointing his shooter (stick) at the roadkill. I should have got a wriggle on - I'm kicking myself for missing that shot but still think the sentiment of the shot is evident.

Street Photography Now #10

2010-12-09T22:56:00.002Z

I haven't had much time or lustre to consider this week's instruction and I think I've been guilty of trying too hard anyway.

Photograph like an assassin; suddenly and silently

Osamu Kanemura provided this week's instruction. I went to Carlisle, priority one was shopping, but diligently I carry my camera around my neck semi-permanently, so took a few opportune shots when the students started marching - pretty tame here compared to London. But it provided some interesting photo opps. Slight dilemma in terms of where to the draw the line between social documentary/street photography. So this is my submitted image.

Christmas looming large

2010-12-07T22:46:00.001Z

I'm running out of steam with the street photography now project right now which I'm putting down predominantly to Christmas stress but also feeling pretty rubbish about it.

I'm not photographing, because I'm shopping. Well, I should be, but I'm not doing a very good job of that either. The roads are so bad, getting the kids to school and back is about as much as my nerves can cope with. So I started ordering online. But none of the deliveries have got through. Crap! So I'm suffering from cold photographic turkey and increasingly worrying about stuffingless stockings!! I was due a shopping trip to Carlisle tomorrow which I thought could double up with a bit of photography but there has been four tragic fatalities on said road in a week and there looks to be no let up in this cold snap until Thursday. So I'm now having second thoughts!

I have also made a commitment to myself that I want to keep (thanks Gareth for the much-needed kick!) which is to put assignment two to bed by the end of the year. I'm now wondering whether that was such a wise commitment *rolling eyes*!! I actually have an idea, but I won't get all twelve done before Christmas.

I want to do something along the lines of Thomas Struth's family series. And I want to do it with my large format camera which is a bit of a risk, or stupid!! I am concerned about my ability with regards this camera. It is probably a tall-ask of myself, but I'm just gonna do it anyway! This large format camera, like assignment two has become an insurmountable challenge in my head that I just need to tackle head on. I've decided unless I force myself - it ain't gonna happen!!

And as if I needed further encouragement, I have been following this discussion on the OCA forum and erring on the adventurous and riskier side is, it seems, something we should all be pursuing. So, here goes, hopefully I can achieve something but I guess the more risks you take, the more likely failure is. I guess this is part of the learning curve too - embracing failure - hmmm, don't like the sound of that and sssshhh, I'm not particularly great at it either - I don't suppose anyone is really!!

...on the other hand...I might wimp out and do something a bit more achievable...

I'm starting to annoy myself so I'll sign off...

Rural Street Photography

2010-12-02T22:00:00.002Z

Rural street photography is a new one on me but a term I know I am going to like ... a lot! Siegfried Hansen (this week's SPN photographer) recommended we should take a look at the work of Kate Kirkwood with regards street photography outside of cities. I am so pleased I did as her work I have found to be very exciting in a number of ways.

I looked through her recent work on flickr and liked her approach to her 'rural' street photography. Her style was fresh with a distinct eye. Inspired I then popped over to her website. To my surprise she resides in the Lakes and Gallery 1 gives you a flavour of her interpretation of the landscape. Her work morphs street photography with landscape photography which is a strange combination.

This is the first piece of work I have seen that has a sympathetic, genuine and unique eye in photographing the living landscape of the Lake District. For many years, I have seen so many images that show what the Lakes is famous for - beautiful images of a beautiful landscape (I have taken many like this myself). But imo (and I very much include my own landscapes in this) very few share a truly unique or distinctive voice. I don't wish to be negative or disrespectful at all. Perhaps because I live here and am not wishing to 'relive' holiday memories, I'm looking for more from an image than the stunning scenery. I have found so few images that have cut through the physical beauty of the Lakes to its core. I really feel that Kate's work does and this inspires me.

To provide a bit of blurb from her website

I am a photographer working from a farm base in the Lake District in England. Learning to take photographs has been something I have done in the between times, inspired by the environment I live in and by poring over the images of celebrated photographers. In March 2007 I was invited to present my work-in-progress to a workshop on street photography at Photofusion Gallery in London, as an exploration of the possibilities of 'rural' street photography, and later that year I set out to accumulate a serious portfolio after a photograph of mine was selected as one of the final 40 in Tate Modern's 'How We Are Now' competition. That image can be seen in the Tate archive here, and in Gallery I on this website.

The other aspect that interests me is the term 'rural' street photography which somehow legitimises street photography in rural areas such as the Lakes. For me a creative door has just opened...

Note: I can't help feeling the more great work I see, the more I feel I'm wading through mud or drifting away with the tide in terms of where I would like my own photography to be and where it actually is...stick with it, stop being negative, keep trying...I need to take heed of the advice I am constantly giving the kids!

Street Photography Now #9

2010-12-02T13:41:00.000Z

This week's instruction is quite fun and addictive, because they can be found aplenty. The instruction is by Siegfried Hansen.

Play photographic poker. Look for a pair, two pairs, or three of a kind

In Siegfried Hansen's photostream there are many examples of this and he has done it with simplicity and irony. Again, in the ilk of Matt Stuart and Nick Turpin. Infact, with my limited knowledge I am beginning to identify at least two 'leanings' within the street photography genre. There seems to be those that pertain to the black and white aesthetic, with the characteristic high contrast, atmospheric, moody drama commonly with motion blur. Perhaps in the style of the original greats of Henri Cartier Bresson, Helen Levitt and Walker Evans. Then there seems to be a good few photographers featured on In-Public that have predominantly adopted the colour aesthetic similar to that of Joel Meyerowitz which I think has a slightly lighter approach focussing more on the irony than the mood. But I don't know enough yet about the genre to understand why or even if this is the case. Personally I prefer the colour aesthetic and this is what I am working on. I am guilty of desaturating when the image doesn't work in colour - which isn't really a good reason to go for black and white.

This week I'm undecided on my submission. As in previous weeks, it's so difficult to achieve the quality of the photographer providing the instruction. Their images make it look so easy!!

Option 1: three of a kind - I like the mirrored posture and his incriminating hands and facial grimace. However, there's only one real person and he's fairly static.

Option 2: one obvious pair, plus a few others - I love the vibrancy of this but whilst the two women make a pair with their head scarves and the other with the bobble hat making three of kind, the characters just don't seem as interesting as they could do had you not known what the instruction was.

Option 3: 2 pairs - I think graphically this is fairly strong with a certain juxtaposition between the mannequins and shop assistants. So it fits the brief and can sit within the street photography genre. But it doesn't stand-up when I ask myself 'and why is this interesting?'

Option 4: 4 pairs - this isn't a serious contender. There are four pairs but quantity doesn't beat quality!!

So these are my options. Oh the sheep one btw I have discounted for being too rural and not including a person!! The fourth I've ruled out too. I can't decide between the other three. None of these three have everything I would want to see in an image.

I made the mistake for instruction #7 of my message being too subtle. However conversely, I think there is also the danger of intepretating the brief too literally. What I mean by this is a photograph can technically fit the brief. However, I think this sort of misses the point on two counts. The first is it doesn't really embrace the street photography ethos. And secondly, my intention of participating in this project is to improve my street photography, using the instructions as a springboard and not as an end in itself. However, putting it in to practice is another challenge altogether.

I think I need to sleep on it and then decide!