Assignment One: Two sides of the story – Reworked Submission
Coming back to this assignment I found that some of the things my Tutor said to me during our feedback meeting had stuck in my mind both in relation to the objects used and the feel of the images which I displayed in black and white. We also discussed putting some examples of entries from…
End of unit and Assessment Reflective Evaluation
My Tutor gave me some great advice early on in this unit, and that was to keep a log of all those moments of discovery, interesting thoughts, learning highlights etc. It was such useful advice and really helped to find a place for all those things that previously would end up as short paragraphs or…
Context and Narrative: Assignment Three – Reworked Submission
There were so many things I hadn’t really thought of in the feedback from my tutor and once again I think much of this is down to the fact that I struggle to think about more than two or three aspects of the project at once. I think some of this is due to the…
Assignment Two: Narrative – Reworked Submission
My tutor gave me some great feedback on each of the images and the series as a whole. One word stuck in my mind – “abstract” He commented; “The more abstract approach to these relatively ordinary objects is perhaps the key to the success of the series?”. The feedback makes more sense to me now…
Context and Narrative: Assignment Five – Making it up – Reworked Submission
After feedback from my tutor, I looked at making the scene less subtle. I changed the position of the glasses and the cup/saucer to make it more obvious that something was “afoot”. I spent some time changing things around but nothing seemed to strike me as quite right. I reminded myself of what I was…
Context and Narrative: Assignment Four – A Picture is worth a Thousand Words – Reworked Submission
My tutor suggested that I there were a lot of questions raised for this length of essay and perhaps I should concentrate on just one or two. He also suggested that I needed to try and use less speculative descriptions of the image. Coming back to this after a couple months I can see what…
Context and Narrative: Assignment Five – Making it up – Submission
Brief Construct a stand-alone image of your choice. A lternatively, you may choose to make a series, elaborating on the same theme. As the culminating assignment for the course you may wish to draw upon skills learned from Parts One to Four – using various forms of narrative, using yourself as subject matter, telling stories and…
Context and Narrative: Assignment Five – Making it up – Planning
Artistic Intention To create an image that invites us to ask questions about the missing occupant of the bed and a sense of anxiety as to their well-being. Planning and set up .As part of a previous job, I had access to sets of crime scene photographs. One thing that always struck me and has stayed…
Context and Narrative: Assignment Five – Making it up – Research
The inspiration for the style of my image is without doubt coming from Gregory Crewdson (Fig 2,3) and also the artist Nicolas Martin (Fig 4-6) More information can be found here from the previous exercise relating to Crewdson. Nicolas Martin born in 1980, is a French artist now working in Canada. I really like his…
Context and Narrative: Assignment Five – Making it up – Reflection and Feedback
Reflection I didn’t think I was going to enjoy this assignment but it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable. The key was definitely to have an artistic intent before starting. I already had an idea in my head so that really helped. The fact that I was working from the memory of…
Context and Narrative – Part Five: Exercise 3 Constructing Photography
Brief Record a real conversation with a friend. (It’s up to you whether you ask permission or not!) Before listening to the recording, write your account of both sides of the conversation. Then listen to the recording and make note of the discrepancies. Perhaps there are unfinished sentences, stammers, pauses, miscommunications etc. Reflect upon the…
Context and Narrative – Part Five: Exercise 2 Re-situated Art
Brief “Question for Seller” re-situates images in a different context and in so doing allows for a new dialogue to take place. Reflect on the following in your learning log: Does their presence on a gallery wall give these images an elevated status? Where does their meaning derive from? When they are sold (again on eBay,…
Context and Narrative – Part Five: Exercise 1 Jeff Wall (Tate Modern 2005)
Brief Photography, like film and unlike painting and other art forms, relies on what’s in front of the camera for its content, so the props, clothes, location and setting have to be right for the time period and the story. Setting up a shot can be an arduous job. Many photographers working in this genre…
Context and Narrative – Part Five: Research Task – Gregory Crewdson
Brief Look up the work of Gregory Crewdson online. Do you think there is more to this work than aesthetic beauty? Do you think Crewdson succeeds in making his work ‘psychological’? What does this mean? What is your main goal when making pictures? Do you think there’s anything wrong with making beauty your main goal?…
Context and Narrative – Part Five: Exercise 1 Martin Scorsese Critique
Brief Watch this famous scene ‘ T he Long Take’ from G oodfellas directed by Martin Scorsese in 1990: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJEEVtqXd Don’t read on until you’ve answered the following questions. What does this scene tell you about the main character? How does it do this? List the ‘clues’. Make some notes in your learning log. It…
Part Four: Project 1
Before you read any further, can you think of any photographs that are not used as a means of expression or communication? Blog about them. This was a fairly easy question to answer. As far as I’m concerned all photos communicate “something” regardless of intent. They may communicate something different to different people, they may…
Context and Narrative Part Four: Understanding Deconstruction, Codes and Semiotics
Although the idea of Semiotics and the other tools for deconstruction were beginning to make sense to me, I realised that I really needed to understand it better and in a far more detailed way. I found them confusing and sometimes difficult to separate. In this post I am attempting to unravel their meaning in…
Context and Narrative: Assignment Four – A Picture is worth a Thousand Words – Submission
Why do photographer’s take photos of war? Is it to inform, to record, to shock or protest? Is war inherently photogenic? Anja Niedringhaus was very clear about her intent “If I don’t photograph it, it won’t become known,” (Niedringhaus, n.d.)Is it wrong to admire a war photograph as a piece of art? This picture by Anja…
Context and Narrative: Assignment Four – A Picture is worth a Thousand Words – Research
At War – Anja Niedringhaus (2011) This book was purchased at the same time I attended an exhibition of several different photogrphers work in Berlin in October 2011. It also includes text written by Niedringhaus herself with contributions from others, which gave me an insight into photographer and information that helped me to get…
Context and Narrative: Assignment Four – A Picture is worth a Thousand Words – Feedback and Reflection
I enjoyed this assignment far more than I imagined. Writing an essay of any length is a daunting task and 1000 words sounded like a mammoth one to me. As it turned out I could have gone on writing way past the 1000 word restriction! The first daunting thoughts of course came from my initial…
Context and Narrative: Assignment Four – A Picture is worth a Thousand Words – Planning
Brief Write an essay of 1,000 words on an image of your choice. The image can be anything you like, from a famous art photograph to a family snapshot, but please make sure that your chosen image has scope for you to make a rigorous and critical analysis. The planning for this assignment is going…
Part Four Research Task: Insomnia
Brief Using the weareoca website you need to search ‘ Beneath the Surface’ to give you access to a blog about Jeff Wall’s (1994), Insomnia, interpreted using some of the tools discussed above. Read and reflect upon the chapter on Diane Arbus in Singular Images: Essays on Remarkable Photographs by Sophie Howarth (2005). This is…
Part Four Exercise 2: Deconstruction Task
Brief Rip out an advertising image from a newspaper supplement and circle and write on as many parts of the image as you can. Comment on what it is, what it says about the product and why you think it’s there. You could use this as the basis for your assignment if you feel it’s…
Part Four Exercise 1: Erwitt Analysis
For this first exercise we were asked to look carefully at an image by Elliot Erwitt and make some notes about how the subject matter is placed in the frame and what the image might tell us about Erwitt as a person. The image is entitled Felix, Gladys and Rover. New York, USA (1974) and…
Context and Narrative: Assignment Three – Reflection and Feedback
This assignment turned out to be much more tricky than I had imagined. Considering it came from an idea I had and not directly from the brief it should have been easier. I had an aim but at times found myself going off in different directions. Having discovered that images can indeed communicate something, I…
Context and Narrative: Assignment Three – Self Portraiture – Planning and creation of images
Having decided to create a series which includes the initial adoptions in the early 1960s and then potentially the reunions in the late 70s. My first task was to scour the internet to find suitable images. This turned out to be far harder than I imagined but kept away from stock photo sites where licenses…
Context and Narrative: Assignment Three – Self Portraiture – Submission
Summary Having gained permission from my Tutor to veer away from the brief, this series of images attempts to communicate a specific issue around adoptions in and around the 1960s. And the subsequent reuniting as an adult with birth families, identity and being a “stranger”. It focuses on the idea that a child is a…
Context and Narrative: Assignment Three – Self Portraiture – Research – Adoption and Identity
IDENTITY Looking at the issue of Identity from an adoptee perspective is a large and complex subject as described by Silverstein and Kaplan (1984) in their article Lifelong Issues in Adoption ……often express feelings related to confused identity and identity crises, particularly at times of unrelated loss. Identity is defined both by what one is and…
Context and Narrative: Assignment Three – Self Portraiture – Research – Adoption
Adoption The process Early adoption processes in England were generally quite different in the 1950s and 1960s. The stigma of being an unmarried mother meant that there were far more babies put up for adoption and too often there was pressure put on these women by family members or authority figures to go down the…
Part Three: Exercise 3 – Childhood Memories
Brief Recreate a childhood memory in a photograph. Think carefully about the memory you choose and how you’ll recreate it. You’re free to approach this task in any way you wish. Does the memory involve you directly or is it something you witnessed? Will you include your adult self in the image (for example, to…
Part Three: Exercise – 4, Shafran Critique
Brief Nigel Shafran Go to the artist’s website and look at the other images in Shafran’s series. You may have noticed that Washing-up is the only piece of work in Part Three created by a man. It is also the only one with no human figures in it, although family members are referred to in…
Part Three: Exercise 2 – Self Representation
Brief Is there any sense in which Lee’s work could be considered voyeuristic or even exploitative? Is she commenting on her own identity, the group identity of the people she photographs, or both? Would you agree to Morrissey’s request if you were enjoying a day on the beach with your family? If not, why not?…
Part Three: Exercise 1 – Brotherus Research and Analysis
Brief Reflect on the pieces of work discussed in this project in your learning log and do some further research of your own. Here are a few questions you might ask yourself: How do these images make you feel? Do you think there’s an element of narcissism or self-indulgence in focusing on your own identity…
Part Three: Research Task – Francesca Woodman
Brief “It is difficult not to read Woodman’s many self-portraits – she produced over five hundred during her short lifetime – as alluding to a troubled state of mind. She committed suicide at the age of twenty-two.” (Bright, 2010, p.25) Look up Francesca Woodman’s images online. What evidence can you find for Bright’s analysis? Introduction It…
Assignment two: Narrative – Planning
Brief 2. Using props This option is about photographing an object to suggest a narrative. Choose between a white shirt and a handkerchief for your object. Once you’ve decided; make a series of 7–10 photographs which tell a story about or including your object. You can make your photographic style anything you like. You may…
Assignment Two: Narrative – Research
Since starting part 2 I have, at times been confused by some of the terms used and although I realised that a photo essay could be many things after finding a really useful piece in the book Context and Narrative which states “In simple terms, a narrative generally consists of a beginning, middle and end. However a…
Assignment Two:Narrative – Submission
Brief Choose between the following two assignments: 1. Photographing the unseen Start by doing some reflecting in your learning log. What kinds of subjects might be seen as unphotographable? How might you go about portraying them using photography? List a few examples of things you’re experiencing now or have recently been thinking about. This doesn’t…
Research Task: Relay
Examples of relay in contemporary photographic practice include Sophie Calle’s Take Care of Yourself and Sophy Rickett’s Objects in the Field (see interview in the Appendix to this course guide) where clashes of understanding or interpretation work together to create a perhaps incomplete but nonetheless enriching dialogue between artist and viewer. Look these pieces up…
Exercise 3: Poetry Interpretation
Choose a poem that resonates with you then interpret it through photographs. Don’t attempt to describe the poem but instead give a sense of the feeling of the poem and the essence it exudes. Start by reading the poem a few times (perhaps aloud) and making a note of the feelings and ideas it promotes,…
Exercise 1: The Dad Project
Brief How does Briony Campbells The Dad Project compare with Country Doctor What do you think she means by “an ending without and ending”? The Country Doctor is a series which takes a look into the life of a country doctor; ……..photographer W. Eugene Smith spent 23 days in Kremmling, Colo., chronicling the day-to-day challenges…
Assignment One: Reflection and Feedback
Note: (Having just finished part one and then having given part two (Narrative) a quick look I wonder if this assignment fits better with this section!) My first thoughts after completing this assignment were that I don’t yet have the skills or the knowledge to do the subject justice. But, I do believe I have…
Assignment One: Research – Contemporary Still Life Photographers
Still life photographers I had decided that I didn’t want the images to be in the style of the “Old Masters”. I find them quite dark, depressing and the religious connotations don’t fit with the meanings, and feelings I was attempting to convey. I looked at the work of several photographers, creating pin boards of…
Assignment One: Planning and Creating the series (Two sides of the story)
I decided to produce two sets of five images. One set to represent my mum’s year; going from her being unaware of her future diagnosis, the moment immediately after diagnosis, the period where she was coming to terms with it, living with it and then the time just before her death. The other set to…
Assignment One: Research – Symbolism in Still Life Photography
Symbolism in Still life photography I didn’t know very much about this subject but I suspected it would fit well with my idea. I needed a way of representing the last 12 months of my mothers life, using her diary as the guide to what those days were like and how they changed over the…
Assignment One: Two sides of the story – Submission
Brief Create at least two sets of photographs telling different versions of the same story. The aim of the assignment is to help you explore the convincing nature of documentary, even though what the viewer thinks they see may not in fact be true. Try to make both sets equally convincing so that it’s impossible…
Exercise 2: Newspaper Analysis
Brief Cut out some pictures from a newspaper and write your own captions. How do the words next to the image contextualise/re-contextualiseit? How many meanings can you give to the same picture Try the same exercise for both anchoring and relaying. Blog about it Original images and captions: When I was coming up with some…
Assignment One: Inspiration behind the work – The Diary 1998
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…
Exercise 2: Street Photography
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?…
Exercise 3: Public Order
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…
Exercise 5: Critical Analysis
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…
Exercise 4: Digital Manipulation
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…
Research Task: Challenging Boundaries
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…
Exercise 1: The Impact of Citizen Journalism
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…
OCAPhotography 