Assignment One: Inspiration behind the work – The Diary 1998

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This work was inspired by by late mothers diary, in which she recorded her everyday life for 12 months in 1998. When she started writing in it on the 1st January she didn’t know that on the 13th of March she would be diagnosed with a terminal condition; make her last entry on the 27th December, and die peacefully aged 74 in the early hours of the 8th January 1999. I have not been able to find any other diaries and have no idea why she decided to start or continue to fill every page right through till the 27th December, when I believe she had had enough.

I would like to say that the diary was full of deep and meaningful phrases, clever quips and thoughtful musings; its not, it gives an account of her changing day to day life as she moves from what we thought was a fairly healthy person, to someone who was determined to stay as independent as possible whilst dealing with a debilitating terminal illness. My inclusion in the diary increases throughout the year as our lives became entwined and as her illness progresses. I have read the diary on and off over the past 20 years and as I have grown older it has changed in what I take from it as a daughter, and my understanding of her as a mother. I haven’t thought about my own life during those 12 months in any detail, but they were a whirl of emotions, activity, full of new experiences and challenges. My mum dealt with her diagnosis with dignity and strength as she faced the rest of 1998 as I faced my own challenges of trying to support her, keep my own life going in the knowledge that it would all still need to be there after she had gone. We found a new respect for each other and a renewed close relationship that we hadn’t had since I was a child. They were precious, and regardless of the final outcome; quite wonderful!

During my research I came across several series that dealt with or documented the death of family members or friends. I consciously steered away from using these as inspiration because it is more about the changing relationship between us than the actual death of my mother.

Using the diary as inspiration for the assignment was one of several ideas I came up with and the one I realised would be the most challenging both from a technical and conceptual point of view. I decided not to take the easy route and have come to the conclusion that even if it doesn’t quite fit the brief, I have a set of images that mean a great deal to me and I hope to any members of my family who see them.

Exercise 2: Street Photography

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Brief

Find a street that particularly interests you – it may be local or further afield. Shoot 30 colour images and 30 black and white images in a street photography style
In your learning log, comment on the differences between the two formats.
What difference does colour make? Which set do you prefer and why?

The central daily Cambridge Market on Market Hill has been in existence in some shape or form for centuries, with some of the houses surrounding it having been built in the 16th century. It’s currently a thriving market with stalls that provide an array of food and drink, bike repairs, flowers, fruit and veg, prints, clothing and more. It is formed as a central rectangle, edged with shops, restaurants, the Guildhall and the beautiful Great St Mary’s Church. Looking up you will see many reminders of the great houses that once took pride of place. Sadly there was evidence that some of the shops surrounding the market square have not been doing well lately and I’m am assuming that this is down to the pandemic. I don’t know the market well enough to determine if there are less stalls these days, and how much it has been affected by the pandemic but it certainly seemed busy on the occasions I was there to shoot for the exercise. It is mostly pedestrian, apart form bikes and vehicles used to transport goods and services to the stalls and the shops. The market square is accessed from all sides with several small streets leading away from it and making it a central spot for locals and tourists alike.

Market Hill Cambridge. © Google 2020

I find street photography very challenging and I have to admit that my heart sank when I read the brief! I find it hard to take photos of strangers unless I am at a distance. I decided to bite the bullet, put my zoom lenses away, and packed my 35mm and 85mm lenses.

I wasn’t entirely sure if I was expected to shoot all the images in colour and then determine which ones looked best in black and white or make the decision while shooting. The latter proved tricky so I took a variety of images and and reviewed them in both colour and black and white.. There were a few occasions whilst shooting that I did think colour and then other scenes where I imagined they would look better in black and white. As it turned out I wasn’t always right in my assumptions.

I wasn’t able to get too close to people due to social distancing but found the experience easier than expected. I asked a few people if they would mind me taking shots of them, and on the whole people were very accommodating. No one actually said no. A few people were very happy to have me take their picture and couldn’t wait to pose!! (I will leave you to guess who they were)

When I looked at the two formats, it seems that the black and white sets tend to show texture and depth and are easier to look at; they are less “distracting”. Some of them also have a timeless feel about them which is not generally present in the colour set. These have more movement and tend to draw the eye to the strongest or brightest colours. For example, I took several shots of bright red phone boxes and assumed they would end up the in the colour set. I ended up with a different phone box shot in both sets. One emphasising texture and depth on the church sky and pavement. The other with the emphasis on colour and size. Just taking a few steps forward to change what was in the frame made a big difference.

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I was quite surprised how few of them I ended up wanting to include in both sets, and also how quickly something was obvious due to the lack of or inclusion of colour. For example Image 58 clearly shows the empty table and chair which was what I wanted to emphasise. In colour, this idea doesn’t come across at all. In another example, the watch straps in images 12 and 36 caught my eye and I wanted to get a sense of the pattern. This was more evident in the black and white image and emphasised a space where there was a watch missing and the fact that they are all not all quite parallel. In colour the emphasis was on the pink and light coloured straps rather than the pattern and shapes. This aspect was the same for many of the images, colour helping to say something and equally black and white helping to say something else.

I wasn’t looking forward to this exercise at all but it has really helped me to be more confident when it comes to taking shots in public and in particular shots of people were they are likely to notice. I also found a few tricks that will help in the future, such as standing in the middle at the end of a busy pedestrain road, and letting people walk towards me. Most of the time they just ignored me!

Exercise 3: Public Order

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Look at some more images from this series on the artists website.

How do Pickering’s images make you feel
Is Public Order an effective use of documentary or is it misleading

Initially the images made me feel sad that we live in a society where we need these kinds of training facilities and also at the same time pleased and relieved that we go to so much trouble to try an ensure that our forces are as prepared as possible before being faced with the real thing.

If I were viewing the images without context I would find them a bit strange, desolate and perhaps a bit disturbing. They would certainly be a bit confusing and one might get the feeling that they were perhaps stage settings for a film or TV drama.

I find it hard to judge if Public Order is an effective use of documentary or if it even is “documentary” defined as “using pictures or interviews with people involved in real events to provide a factual report on a particular subject” These images are far more subtle than that, allowing us to see something more than just the facts. In an interview with Susan Bright, writer and curator of photography Pickering says,

I didn’t want to include the petrol bombs and the missiles and all the action that takes there on a daily basis, but I did actually start off by photographing that, and realized that there was so much more power and the sense of latent violence that’s in the work is so much more evocative than trying to get some action shots.Pickering (2010)

I feel that this type of documentary art is powerful and says so much more in many cases than images of events themselves. When viewing images of the events the viewer can get caught up in detail without seeing the wider issues. In Pickering’s images the wider issues are there to be found within the mind of the viewer. The worry of what might happen, the fact that for some the worst will happen and people are training for that eventuality. In the same interview with Susan Bright, she was thinking,

how people prepare for the worst case scenarios. Pickering (2010)

It is “staged” and “real” all at the same time. It is a staged impoverished town built to assist in the training of people to react to real events. The town is a real training environment even if it’s not a real town. In the same interview with Susan Bright she also talks about a sense of realism interrupted by the real when she talked about how the officers stopping for lunch during hostage training.

Bibliography

Pickering, S., 2010. Sarah Pickering In Conversation With Susan Bright Introduction And Public Order Series.
At: https://susanbright.net/In-conversation-with-Sarah-Pickering
[Accessed 9 October 2020].

Exercise 5: Critical Analysis

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Read the section entitled ‘The Real and the Digital ’ in Wells, L. (ed.) (2015) Photography : a critical introduction . (Fifth edition.) London, [England] ; New York, New York: Routledge. pp.92–95. At: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucreative-ebooks/detail.action?docID=196 8918

Does digital technology change how we see photography as truth? Consider both sides of the argument and make some notes in your learning log.
Now that you’ve reached the end of Part One, reflect on what you’ve learned in your learning log or blog.
What was your idea of documentary photography before you worked on Part One? How would you now sum it up?
What are the differences between documentary, reportage, photojournalism and art photography?

It occurred to me whilst reading the section “Defining the real in the digital age” that the word “real” is very hard to pin down. What is real and what may be perceived are often very far apart even without digital or physiological intervention. A photograph that has not been manipulated or shot in a way to confuse or create misunderstanding; may still be misunderstood and perceived in many different ways. This is no different from the “real” world experience of human beings. We filter out things; we fill in gaps, which all makes for an altered reality on a day to day basis. Is photography any different, even in its purest sense?

With the on-going rise in the ability of people untrained in photography to take a great deal good quality images at almost any time and anywhere, we are inundated with the banal and the boring along with the informative and life changing aspects of the world around us.

Before photography we had art, everyone knew that the artist was creating the artwork and that it would not, and was not expected to be an exact visual representation of the subject matter, be it a portrait of a person or a landscape. It was accepted that the artist had some “artistic licence” in the production of the piece.

Photography was such a leap forward, an exact visual representation of an object could be formed. “The photograph never lies” has been a phrase deeply embedded in generations.

This of course wasn’t completely true, and manipulation was available during the developing process and other physical interventions. However I do think that the exact replication of a scene was one of the main aims of many of the early pioneers.

The lessons of the artist moved into photography and all the techniques used such as lighting perspective and framing were utilised to gain the meaning and look required by the photographer.

Liz Wells discusses a similar phenomenon occurring with the move towards digital photography.

“At first digital technologies simply copied those of traditional photography and there is still a sense in which a world of pixels and bytes has simply replaced that of chemicals and paper”(Wells, 2015)

Technology has allowed us to make this easier more efficient and crossed over into the realms of being unable able to distinguish between the “real” and the fabricated.

If we define truth as being an undistorted non manipulated photograph of say a vase then we can never be sure that a digital image has not be doctored in some way to change what is “real” without some provenance and evidence.

Technology has recently made it extremely easy to create a realistic photograph, which is often the product of 2 or more images brought together in such a way as to prove almost impossible to detect. It is usually only the presence of something impossible that makes it detectable as a manipulated image.

Technology has made us far more aware of the ability of photographs to change or skew the truth, but due to the vast number of images available it also means that an image being publicised to wider audiences can be exposed.

What was your idea of documentary photography before you worked on Part One? How would you now sum it up?

My idea of documentary photography before doing this part of the course was the standard definition, very much leaning towards the factual. It wouldn’t have included images such as those created by Paul Seawright in his series Sectarian Murders but strangely it might have included Sarah Pickering’s (2002-2005) series Public Order. It’s hard to describe why, but I feel it is in part to do with with the more stark journalistic style used by Pickering.

I would sum it up as being a style of photography more factual in its imagery, giving a true sense of an event or location but that can allow for some internal narrative, which may lead to a deeper understanding of the issue as a whole. I also feel that titles and context are an important part of documentary photography and should be used where there is a possibility of taking the viewer away from this issues that are being documented.

What are the differences between documentary, reportage, photojournalism and art photography

Documentary: The reporting of or about real life issues, usually over a period of time and based around a specific subject (concrete or abstract) with a need for objectivity.
Reportage: Tells a story, tries to convey the atmosphere of the event, as if the viewer were actually there
Photojournalism: Photography often created to sit along side a newspaper or magazine piece. A quick short look at part of an issue without the underlying or surrounding issues being explored. Likely to be less objective.

Bibliography

Wells, L., 2015. Photography. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Exercise 4: Digital Manipulation

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Use digital software such as Photoshop to create a composite image which visually appears to be a documentary photograph but which could never actually be.  

My composite image consisted of 2 images, (Fig. 2-3) which I found on line, I was inspired by Peter Kennard and Cat Phillips (2002-2019) Photo Op series and in particular his Tony Blair Selfie (Fig.1)

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Composite Image

There were quite a few images of the queen to choose form (as you can imagine). I wanted it to be obvious that it was the queen but without it being explicitly so. The headscarf, the coat and the stance make it quite easy to guess who it is, along with Buckingham Palace which is a rather a big clue and something that would put the monarchy in peoples minds before they wonder who the person is. I didn’t have a particular reason for putting her on the outside looking in, other than it being something that is very unlikely to happen. I do however suspect that people may want to put their own political take on it!

A little snippet to make this perhaps a more interesting image is that as a young girl, i believe she did, along with her sister Margaret leave the palace in disguise to party with everyone in the street at the end of the war.

I added a shadow on the ground going in the same direction as the posts and some highlights to the left hand side of the coat to correspond with the direction of the natural light. I did wonder if the headscarf was to bright but it acts as a point of contrast, and pulls the attention to the right spot in the image.

I showed it to a few friends and family who all identified the person correctly, found it quite amusing and commented that there might be a more underlying social/political aspect to what it represents.

Bibliography

Figure 1
At: https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw293862/Tony-Blair-Photo-Op
[Accessed 06/10/2020

Figure 2
At: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/travel/destinations/coronavirus-effect-buckingham-palace-and-all-other-royal-residences-to-remain-closed-to-the-public-this-year/as75713424.cms
[Accessed 07/10/2020]

Figure 3
At: https://www.vanityfair.com/style/photos/2016/01/the-queens-most-royal-accessory-her-headscarf
[Accessed 07/10/2020]

Research Task: Challenging Boundaries

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Look online at Paul Seawright’s (1998) work, Sectarian Murders

How does this work challenge the boundaries between documentary and art? Listen to Paul Seawright talk about his work at: https://vimeo.com/76940827
What is the core of his argument? Do you agree with him?
If we define a piece of documentary photography as art, does this change its meaning?

Documentary style photography is defined by the Tate website as

“……..a style of photography that provides a straightforward and accurate representation of people, places, objects and events, and is often used in reportage”

Paul Seawright’s series Sectarian murders could not be described as straightforward, there is far more to his images.

Paul Seawright revisited areas that were the scenes of sectarian murders in the 1970s. (Fig 1-6)

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His work challenges the boundary between documentary and art because he his documenting locations that are part of a much bigger picture and instead of being explicit, he allows the viewer time to think. He engages people in the subject and almost asks them to “ponder. As he explains himself when he says that documentary/editorial photography has to

“give up its meaning quickly” and art “give up its meaning slowly”.

He also suggests that the images can’t be too ambiguous or they become meaningless. I think this is the case with a lot of art and can often lead to images being dismissed and overlooked.

Alan Sekula (1978) writes,

“Documentary is thought to be art when it transcends its reference to the world, when the work can be regarded, first and foremost, as an act of self-expression on the part of the artist”

Seawright’s images themselves different in their composition from what would generally be expected in documentary style images, with several of taken from unusual perspectives, such as the slide, the roundabout and the dog. There is also an emptiness about them, which made me think about the scene before the bodies were found and then the activity around crime scenes and then onto infamous “beauty spots” or children’s playgrounds. Are they meant to represent “sectarian murder’s”? The religion of the victims was not included in the text so which side was which is not clear, and in my opinion; for these images, is not necessary

Context is very important here and without it these images are inconsequential. They could be about anything or indeed nothing.

Having been born in the early 60s and growing up through the 70s “The Troubles” are engrained in my mind through the names of towns and streets. I recently spent a week in Belfast working, and it was a surreal experience to see these town names on signposts and to walk down street synonymous with murder and violence and to see the normal everyday goings of people going about their business, shopping, working and meeting up. There still are signs of the past in graffiti and in the present, that leads you to realise that it may look “normal” on the surface, but there un an underlying unease in the shape of armoured police vans and specific restrictions on movements of those working in the services such as Police which is not the case in the UK.

Bibliography

At: https://vimeo.com/76940827
[Accessed 06/10/2020

Figures 1-6
At: http/::www.paulseawright.com:sectarian
[Accessed 06/10/2020]

At: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/d/documentary-photography
[Accessed 05/10/2020]

At: https://monoskop.org/images/7/76/Sekula_Allan_Dismantling_Modernism
_Reinventing_Documentary_1978.pdf
[Accessed 05/10/2020

Exercise 1: The Impact of Citizen Journalism

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Find some examples of news stories where ‘ citizen journalism’ has exposed  or highlighted abuses of power.
How do these pictures affect the story, if at all? Are these pictures objective? Can pictures ever be objective?  
Write a list of the arguments for and against. For example, you might argue that these pictures do have a degree of objectivity because the photographer (presumably) didn’t have time to ‘pose’ the subjects, or perhaps even to think about which viewpoint to adopt. On the other hand, the images we see in newspapers may be selected from a series of images and how can we know the factors that determined the choice of final image?  
Think about objectivity in documentary photography and make some notes in your learning log before reading further.

The ability for everyone to take photos has increased greatly in the past 5-10 years and it is now possible for good quality images to be created almost anytime – anywhere. This means that everything and everyone is under scrutiny.

Figure 1 is a photo taken during protest in LA after the death of George Floyd on the 23^rd May 2020. A police officer was subsequently arrested and charged with George Floyds murder.

Fig. 1

Figures 2 and 3 are from a news story relating to the death of Ian Tomlinson who died after being pushed by a police officer during G-20 summit protests in London in 2009. The police officer was cleared of the killing. Figure 2 is a photograph that was taken prior to the incident where he was pushed to the ground by one of the officers and shows contact with the police prior to the incident. This may have no bearing whatsoever on the case itself but this information was not as well publicised as the incident itself and only came out later.

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Fig. 3

All three photographs above appear to be depicting the police in a negative way. These photos do affect the story and how it might be perceived. They certainly give the impression that there is an army of police against a few individuals and this of course may or may not be a true depiction of the incidents.

If we think about the types of photos taken by members of the public at protests, they are very likely to be protesters themselves and on “the side” of the protestors and therefore more likely to take photos that show the police in a negative light.

For any particular incident there are likely to be a great many images and videos allowing for a much better overall viewpoint of the incident, unfortunately often only a selection of the most dramatic images are chosen, which may not give a true account of the actual events.

Arguments for:

The images tend to be in real time
The image maker may have a closer connection to the subject matter
Less likely to be staged or manipulated

Arguments against:

People may put themselves at risk
Less objectivity
People may stop to take photos or video a serious incident instead of helping another human being in need, or may be afraid of getting involved and on camera
“Staged and Fake News” easy to create and distrubute

I do wonder if any photograph can be seen as objective. It is, by its nature a “moment in time” a “snapshot” . Providing it hasn’t been manipulated or doctored then “it is was it is” (as they say) but if given the whole story we may be less affected by the image and see it as part of a whole which may change our initial thoughts.

I do believe that citizen journalism is here to stay. However, as with all photographic “evidence” it needs to be looked at objectively and with an open mind. A photograph of a child being dragged by the arm then we might be upset and angry at the person doing the dragging. If subsequently we find out that the child was being dragged out of a fire, we are going to feel very differently about the image.

When we view journalistic images, whether professional or citizen it is not possible, in the majority of cases, to get the whole story and they should be viewed with some scepticism. If the image is being used to highlight an area such as the abuse of power they should not be dismissed, but where possible, a deeper understanding of the situation sought out and publicised.

Bibliography

Figure 1.
At: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/protests-police-brutality-video/2020/06/05/a9e66568-a768-11ea-b473-04905b1af82b_story.html
[Accessed 05/10/2020]

Figure 2.
At: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/16/ian-tomlinson-g20-photographs
[Accessed 05/10/2020]

Figure 3.
At: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/16/ian-tomlinson-g20-photographs
[Accessed 05/10/2020]

Further research – Assignment Three The (in) Decisive Moment

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Additional Note re the below: I was unable to follow through with the additional images due to lockdown restrictions but left the blog unedited as it gives an idea of what my intentions were and I guess more importantly the way in which my understanding of the Decisive Moment and some of what it entails is evolving

After receiving the Tutor feedback for this assignment we decided that I would re take the images. Rather than being disappointed with this decision, I was quite sure it was the right one. Perhaps deep down I knew the images were lacking but it took the discussion to help me see what.

My tutor suggested that the images were a little safe and that they needed an element of surprise or be more surreal. He did say that I had achieved some peak moments and had a go at architectural framing but sometimes the shots are overwhelmed by unintentional random elements. He suggests that I go for simpler backgrounds and also opt for a 28mm lens which will afford more drama even though I will have to get closer. He also asks that I explain why I decided to convert to black and white and to have a defined subject. I converted to black and white in order to keep with the classic Cartier-Bresson decisive moment. I think I need to make sure the elements are right in colour and black and white.

In order to try and get the shots I need we discussed finding a location that was less “safe” (not in a physical way), a location that is a bit more gritty.

It had taken quite a bit of reading and research for me to start to get an understanding of the meaning of the phrase “The Decisive Moment” in a way that would allow me to fulfil the brief for the assignment and in hindsight I do believe I have understood it up to a point. I really wanted to try and get more of a feel for it and one thing that occurred to me was that the iconic image that always pops up is Henri Cartier-Bresson, Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris 1932

Fig.1 Henri Cartier-Bresson, Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, Paris 1932

It is an image that I don’t particularly find easy to look at and found very hard to break down into the elements that cover the traditional Decisive Moment. I think I found this quite worrying initially. Wasn’t this supposed to be the quintessential DM iconic image?
Spending a day doing more reading, looking at other photographers and their Decisive Moments and generally trying to figure out what I was missing I realised that I may have overanalysed and made this all far too complicated. I had also forgotten to take into account the fact that the iconic image had been taken a long time ago and actually for its time was quite amazing. I still find it uncomfortable to look at but have discovered a new respect and understanding.

One image that I really felt epitomised The Decisive Moment for me was found during my day of discovery. Fig.1

Fig.1 Stuart Franklin, (1986) Manchester UK

The photograph, by British photographer Stuart Franklin, taken in 1986 in Moss Side Manchester stood out for me in so many ways. My first thoughts were how easy it was to look at. I noticed how my eye followed from left to right along the mattresses, then followed the boy climbing onto the container, making a triangle with the two boys on the top. My eye then moved to the boy standing then behind the boy jumping and then onto the boy who has jumped off, where it continued down onto the mattress and back round again. My eyes followed the probably trajectory of the boy, even though he is in mid air. The boy in the foreground seems to be in a world of his own, and although I feel he probably should have been the first thing I noticed, he didn’t really get all my attention until I had gone round the loop a few times. There is so much in this image that works to make it a decisive moment! All these elements and more are in Bressons image but perhaps just that bit harder to see, read and comprehend.

Part Five

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Assignment five Photography is simple: Research and planning

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The first part of this blog contains my initial thoughts on the way I had intended to go with the assignment. I took a U turn part way through, but I thought I would leave it in as it does give an insight into why I took the U turn. There was an element of the Covid -19 crisis that came into my reasons for the U turn although I don’t believe it was the main reason, It was certainly a catalyst.

I often notice detail in everyday objects. With the right light and the right lens this detail can be transformed.

I was introduced to the subject of Wabi Sabi during an online meeting with my tutor and found it fascinating. There is so much beauty in objects that are broken, old, derelict, wilting or fatigued. For example, metal objects that are allowed to react naturally to the environment, for aesthetic reasons or just because because they have not being cleaned or maintained (Fig.1,2).

Fig.1 Minneapolis City Hall. Copper roof

Fig 2. Rust on iron

I love the look of shiny silver and gold but far I am far more attracted to it when its tarnished! It’s also a very good excuse not to clean it!

Looking in detail at normal everyday items was something I undertook for Assignment two Collecting. I enjoyed taking and creating the images for this assignment and really wanted to re visit this type of photography for the last assignment of the course. I have learned so much since starting this course and hope that I can use this knowledge to create images that really show a personal voice and individuality.

Having never come across the term Wabi Sabi before I really wanted to know more about it and gain a better understanding. It was obvious during the online meeting that it was a complex subject, steeped in history and culture so I was aware that my level of understanding would be limited.
In trying to understand the concept of Wabi Sabi I found a paragraph written by Leonard Koren in his book Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers which made me realise that it was very likely that I would never really get to the bottom of it because the bottom of it may not actually exist. “From this vantage point, missing or indefinable knowledge is simply another aspect of wabi-sabi’s inherent incompleteness” (Koren, 2008). The introduction to Koren’s book starts with three sentences that are often used as a way of describing wabi-sabi, again using the word incomplete. “a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete” (Koren, 2008).
I am also not so arrogant as to think that I could produce a series of 10 images that could be classed as fitting the phenomena of Wabi Sabi. I am also not going to attempt to explain it in its entirety. What I am going to try to do is to get a general understanding of what it is and perhaps more importantly what it isn’t and use that in helping me to decide if I can create a series of images for this assignment.
I seem to spend a lot of time trying to work out the meaning of images, or researching what the intent of the artists was at the time. Is it always necessary for an image to mean something? I often just want to create an interesting or attractive image or capture the detail in an object that I have seen that other people probably haven’t noticed. “Unlike primitive art though, wabi-sabi almost is never is used representationally or symbolically” (Koren, 2008). So perhaps it is just OK to create images that are interesting or attractive without them having to be intentionally meaningful.

Going back to the assignment brief and already having ascertained that photography is not always simple and realising that wabi-sabi is also not simple, the idea of creating photographic images that represent in some way the ideas of wabi-sabi would be quite a challenge. I did wonder about taking some random shots, printing them off and leaving them outside in the sun and rain for a month! Would the actual prints themselves fit the idea of wabi-sabi? (I haven’t followed this up – yet)

I decided to take some shots to try and get an idea of where I might go with the assignment and began with a hammered silver (plate) tub that had been allowed to tarnish. We have had this tub for many years and I don’t clean it because I love the marks, colours and shapes that have appeared. My biggest problem with this is to make a series that fits the brief! ” each photograph should be a unique view; in other words, it should contain some new information rather than repeat the information of the previous image” this might be one of many areas where “photography is (not) simple”

Hammered silver plate tub. _JLM1185

I noticed that in natural daylight, colours were picked up from the sky and from other objects around it. I placed it on a natural rough slate floor in natural light under a glass roof and took some hand held test shots.

Contact sheet

A couple of the images stood out. Image 1 reminded me of a city skyline.

Img.1 _jlm1148

I have given image 2 the title “Another Scream” for obvious reasons

Img.2 _JLM1157

Reflection from the glass roof was casting black lines that were being distorted into patterns and swirls on the metal which brought to mind a music score (Image 3).

Img.3 _JLM1172

21/03/2020
Whilst doing this assignment the virus Covid 19 has been creeping up on the world and in this last week or so has finally hit, and made huge differences in how we all live our lives. Having my own business which relies on people traveling to us for training is going to be somewhat of a challenge to say the least. However – photography has always been a great way for me to forget about problems and a great way to relieve stress. Indeed, in the past couple of days the assignment has become so much less of a challenge in the face of everything else that is going on!
I doubt I will be able to go wandering looking for shots due to the time I need to spend on my business, and of course making sure I work with government regulations in relation to social distancing, and staying at home. There is no doubt that making sure I continue with the assignment will help greatly going forward. It is clear that any shots/research will have to be done from home in-between all the additional work commitments that are going to be around for a while!

Having taken a few test shots and thinking about the ideas of Wabi Sabi, I wondered what the opposite of Wabi Sabi might be in relation to the shots I had already taken? If I keep with metal as my subject I guess would be looking for clean, new, with no dents marks or scratches caused by misuse or time. Stainless steel was the first thing that came to mind and some more test shots gave me some very surprising results.

: _JLM1232

: _JLM1233

: _JLM1234

: _JLM1235

: _JLM1236

: _JLM1238

I was very surprised how much brushed stainless steel features in my kitchen and around the house. I used a ring flash and macro lens. The ring flash created stripes and shapes when the surface wasn’t flat and the macro lens allowed me to pick up the marks created during manufacture to create a brushed rather than shiny finish.

The U turn!
Although surprised by both the tarnished and the clean metal images and fully intended to take one or both of these ideas forward. It has occurred to me however that this might not be the way to go for the last assignment in EYV.
In the last couple of days I have been nagged by a voice that wants me to take more notice of what I have learned and some of the advice I have been given since starting the course almost a year ago.
I have learned a great deal about the technical aspects of taking a picture but the hardest part for me has been trying to understand the deeper concepts and ideas behind images and how those images have been created in order to achieve this. I do indeed want to be able to take images that are interesting, attractive and unusual and that have no particular underlying or obvious meaning but to a certain extent I think for me this is one of the easier aspects of photography, although I fully appreciate I have a long way to go.
If I am going to gain anything really important from the first part of this course perhaps I really do have to “take a risk” and delve into my not so SIMPLE side of this art, and use what I have learned instead of going back to my default comfort zone!

As mentioned above, the Covid -19 pandemic has put a great much of the world on lockdown and here in the Uk we are currently in lockdown.
I’m taking a guess that many people will be producing images that in some way represent what is happening in the world and to the lives of them and others and I’m sure there will be many images that become part of a historical catalog for future generations. I was determined not to let it influence my photography but it does seem to be the perfect opportunity to take a risk and move right out of my comfort zone.

I started by writing down a few words that either have come to my mind or I hear a lot and then adding additional thoughts and ideas for images. I wondered if, for every shot, whatever they turn out to be if they should have the outside world showing?

Shielded

- Masks, the walls of homes and 2 meters of space
  - Physical layer between the camera and the subject (wong kar wei) Windows, material?
  - Photoshop layer over shots?

Mother Nature

- - - Part of the problem and the answer to to this and other problem?
    - Carrying on and in many aspects flourishing.

Response

- Lots of statements form Government, Businesses etc…… which always feature the word “Response” (to Covid -19) These images therefor are my personal and pictorial Response to the current situation caused by Covid -19?

I have begun to realised that I get very focused on getting the technical side of photography “right” So for example I am constantly thinking about the right lens and focal distance, getting the focus spot on, the ISO, the aperture, the exposure, the white balance etc……… I am beginning to understand that having an out of focus image can be right, if it’s for the right reasons. Or using an old scratched lens or using all the white balance setting in my camera in a composite image of an apple or a leaf as I did in Exercise 4.4 Personal Voice

I decided to go back and have a look at the photographer Sally Mann who I looked at in Exercise 4.1 and the equipment she used in some of her work.
“I’m just the opposite of a lot of photographers who want everything to be really, really sharp and they’re always stopping it down to F64 and they like detail and they look with their magnifying glass to make sure everything’s really sharp,” she says. “I don’t want any of that. I want it to be mysterious” Sally Mann (2011)
This is a really good example of how it is possible to move away from the need for everything to be sharp and perfect.
In the current climate whilst trying to slow down the number of virus cases, everyone is trying to shield themselves. From those working with infected patients to shoppers in supermarkets keeping a good distance from other people. To try and get this across I wondered if I could take inspiration from Sally Manns ideas of imperfection and place something between the camera lens and the subject to signify “shielding”

I also want to get across how much less the outside world features in our everyday lives. We are only allowed outside once a day for exercise, essential shopping or work if we are unable to work from home and that work is an essential supplier. To get this aspect of the current situation across I wondered if having the outside world featured in every image.
I was also reminded of Exercise 4.2 and the cinematographer Christopher Doyle and the way in which he added “one more layer of detachment” by shooting from inside a house through the windows on the other side of the street.
I wondered if I could get shots of the world outside behind a window or more than one window, I could signify the shielding or layers between people and the outside world.

I really am finding my new thought process quite strange (in a good way). Although I have enjoyed undertaking the research for all the exercises and assignments and love learning new things, I am really pleased that I am beginning to use some of this knowledge in the evolution of my photography journey. I am not having to force myself to go back and look at what I have done, and or learned, things are coming to mind as I work through ideas for the assignment, making me realise how much my thinking has changed.

In examining the idea of a “layer of detachment”, I tried a couple of different subjects and the camera lens. A cake cooler rack because I thought it might give the impression of a fence. It didn’t work particularly well and it was hard to get the right amount of bar like parts focused and in the right place. Bubble wrap! I loved the look this gave but completely obscured the subject (might come back to this in the future). I decided to change tack and look at technical layering in photoshop.
Whilst deciding on what to use I went back to the images I had taken at the beginning of this planning process. I tested out the different brushed steel images as layers over one of the tarnished silver bath images(Img. 4-6).
At this point I was only using the tarnished bath image as a test for the layers.

Img.4

Img. 5

Img.6

For the first two (Img.4 and 5) the effect is more how I imagined. It gives the impression that there is something between the subject and the lens with a hint of bars. Protection or Imprisonment? In the current climate it should be to symbolise protection, but for some it would be imprisonment.

I find it useful to visit a place first before taking shots, and will often spend time just wandering or sitting and watching. I have become used to doing this without my camera after struggling with myself to do this in a previous exercise. I had wondered if this was a strange thing to do and potentially something that would mean I missed a “perfect” situation, should it arise. My feelings are, that if I don’t have my camera, then yes, I may miss something but it allows me to relax and “just look” without worrying about what I’m looking for. Both these phenomena came up in a previous exercise during my research into Henri Cartier Bresson and Rut Blees Luxemburg. So I guess neither of them are a bad thing at all.
“You can’t go looking for it; you can’t want it, or you want get it” Henri Cartier-Bresson , (1997) American Photo , Page: 96
“I do walk alone although occasionally when I come to shoot on large format I’ll take an assistant, but by that stage the wandering has been done”
(Campany, 2014).
Unable to wander outside, I started wandering inside, looking out of windows and generally taking note of things I hadn’t really had the time or the need to take notice of before. The window was my layer between me and the outside, the reflections and the windows themselves gave me a new viewpoint from inside my house that I suspect would never have happened under different circumstances.

I started to notice the reflections of the garden and generally the outside world far more than I had before. We have a lot if glass windows and doors, in the house so this was really helpful. I started wandering at different times of the day into all the rooms to try and get interesting reflections coming from outside. I wanted to try and give the idea of there always being a layer between the camera and the outside by using the reflections and shooting through the window with blinds partly open.