In his feedback my tutor pointed out that I had not explained the following clearly:
A summary of the reason for selecting and sequencing the images in the diary.
Why I had decided to keep everything as it was. It is acceptable in reportage to stage an image. He mentioned that Walker Evans moved furniture around in the sharecroppers home to enhance the composition.
The use of Anchorage and Relay text as discussed by Barthes in Rhetoric of the Image. I was advised to revisit Barthes’ essay, and to view a previous student’s blog in which he explores Barthes’ views on images and the language used to describe them. I found this blog extremely helpful, not just for its content, but for the approach the student took in summarizing his findings from Barthes’ writings.
Contact Sheet Selection:
I decided to leave everything as it was, not staged, because I wanted the images to reflect my feelings. To have staged the images would have distanced my feelings and my diary entries from those images.
AEH49: I wanted to show how the whole table (the hub of the boat) was taken over during Neil’s working hours. I had to be careful not to show any details on his screen, so Photoshop was used for this one.
AEH38: My father in law’s papers. My tutor suggested it was not necessary to add an explicit caption, it could be left to the viewer to make the assumption from the diary entry.
AEH50: The dirty washing. Another important activity not required on our boat, the launderette. It came as a shock to me that I couldn’t do my own washing!
AEH48: That Porta Potti had to be included because it was such an important part of our everyday life.
AEH22: I wanted to show that even eating was difficult during the day when Neil was working, so trying to study here would be impossible.
AEH05: This was a difficult scene to photograph because of the lighting, and I felt this one showed the bed and all its wrinkles the most clearly.
AEH16: Another location in which to work. Cold and bleak. I felt this was the best image showing the laptop on its own.
AEH40: I chose this to show how cold my hands were, despite jumpers and fingerless gloves, but my tutor suggested I could have taken a bleak landscape style photograph to imply that it was cold that day.
AEH54: I included this photograph to show that even when Neil was not there, once his kit was set up for the day, I was excluded from that space.
AEH42: I chose this to show that despite all, life must still go on as usual. It was a big zero birthday that day but it was business as usual for us.
AEH39: The additional work of emptying the Porta Potti cassette. Not required on our boat, but an essential twice weekly task on this borrowed boat.
AEH52: I chose this image because it shows tranquility in a world of stress. I knew that our difficulties were coming to an end when it was delivered back to our mooring even though there were still a few items to finish. I love the way the boat is sitting quietly in the water, the reflection rippling gently. It reminds me of why I love living on a boat.
In his feedback my tutor also recommended reading/viewing the following authors and practitioners, and I have added these to the Research section of my learning log.
Shrinkle: Philosophy behind the banal
Eisenstein: Theory of the Third Image and 5 Methods of Montage
I decided to create a visual diary for this assignment, as I had already started writing a daily diary at the beginning of March. I have not included every diary entry, but a selection of entries with images to illustrate and support the entries.
I wanted the text to work with the images to give more meaning and context. I looked at the work of Duane Micals, who by adding text, often created a greater ambiguity. He created more questions than answers, leaving the viewer to decide on the content. I wanted the photographs to create ambiguity and the text to tell the story.
Kaylynn Deveney allowed her subject, Albert Hastings to create his own captions himself. This makes the images more personal to him. Had Deveney created the wording herself the series would have been from her perspective, not his.
I was inspired by Nigel Shafran’s approach of photographing the mundane and I tried to create a visual diary in the same way he created the series Washing-up: not staged, just recording what he saw.
I researched the work of these three photographers more fully in my blog, see Course Work, Part 3.
I decided to use my Samsung S9 Camera phone. I felt this would be more intimate than a bulky DSLR camera, and readily available. I also decided to use the “square” option (1 x 1 ratio). I started the project creating images using 2 x 3 ratio but I found the resulting images would have had to be cropped considerably to focus on the subject, and the resulting cropped version turned out to be square.
None of the photographs were staged, any surrounding “clutter” was left in situ as part of daily living in a small space.
Below is an extract from some of the entries.
Monday 9th March
Our 70ft narrowboat went into the dry dock today for a complete repaint, and we moved onto a smaller boat lent to us by a friend, leaving most of our possessions behind. It is a holiday boat and therefore doesn’t have all the facilities ours has. But this won’t be a problem as it is only for 6 weeks, and I plan to spend time with my grandchildren anyway, so won’t be there much of the time.
Note: It was the first day of what has turned out to be a time of more stress than I ever imaged.
Wednesday 11th March
The borrowed boat has been neglected, over-run with mice, and generally in a sorry state. I set about cleaning it, and the whole process overwhelmed me, especially as we had borrowed it before, and we had had to clean it thoroughly then. I first will have to deal with the infestation before attempting to clean up. And then every cupboard will have to be cleared out and cleaned.
Note: my diary contained a longer entry than this, and looking back I realized I was emotionally at rock bottom on that day. I will not reproduce all the words from that diary entry, as some are quite colourful, but it shocked me when I read it later. I don’t feel ready to share all of the notes.
Tuesday 17th March
I feel great empathy with Anna Fox and her cockroaches as I dealt with the mice infestation. I didn’t write such a detailed diary at the time, nor take photographs as she did, but my battle with the mice was similar. They seemed to invade the whole boat. But I think I have got them all – poisoned them. Not very environmentally friendly, but I just have to get rid of them.
Every cupboard has to be cleaned thoroughly, all the contents washed, and I filled a full black sack with food and rubbish to be thrown away. They had invaded my life. I feel dirty.
Monday 23rd March
Lockdown began. The staff at the marina were sent off on furlough today, which means that the marina owner will be completing the work on our boat on his own. Not the 6 weeks originally planned.
Tuesday 24th March
Neil, a key worker, was told he has to work from home. This means that from 8.00am until 5.00pm he has his pc and 2 screens set up on the only table in the boat, located centrally, and is on the phone for most of the day. I’m finding this increasingly difficult, as there is nowhere to work, escape or study. I creep around the boat, or perch on a chair in the corner not knowing what to do.
All of these events have compressed my life into one of just existing, and I decide the only way to deal with it is to create a photographic diary. I want to use it to express how I feel, and to be able to look back and understand what happened during that time.
Diary of Lockdown AEH49
Tuesday 31st March
My father-in-law had a fall, and was taken to hospital with a broken femur. No visitors allowed so we have to just wait and see.
Saturday 4th April
Following surgery on Wednesday 1 April, he deteriorated and never fully recovered. He passed away on Saturday afternoon. We are in complete shock. Last Monday we were chatting to a fit 87 year old man, and by Saturday he has gone. As Neil is the executor of his will, not only is he grieving for his father but attempting to sort out his affairs during lockdown.
Monday 6th April
Neil collected all the paperwork from his dad’s flat. We now have 4 large bags of paperwork to be sorted, taking up precious space in an already small home. Just 4 bags representing the life of one man.
Diary of Lockdown AEH38
Tuesday 7th April
More changes to get used to. No washing machine on this boat and no facilities available for drying it either. So off to the launderette. The local launderette has changed its opening times, and also it only allows service washes. I have to knock on the door, hand my bag of washing in to the attendant, and then leave. I feel uncomfortable doing this. Someone else handling my dirty washing?
Diary of Lockdown AEH50
I arrive to collect the washing later that day and find it all done and beautifully folded. A luxury after all!
Wednesday 8th April
Another change: the toilet arrangements. We have a pump out system on our boat so a trip to the marina service point is all that’s needed to empty the holding tank. Now we have to use a “Porta Potti”, which involves manually emptying a very small cassette tank into the nearest Sanitary Station twice a week.
Diary of Lockdown AEH48
Ours is a 10 minute trip in the car. Emptying the tank a simple process, but one I’m not used to. The cassette is heavy. I try to get out of it as often as possible, leaving it to Neil. But today I have to do it. The indicator on the front has changed from green to red, meaning it is full. And we don’t have a spare cassette. Boat life is basic at times, but we have to just accept it.
Tuesday 14th April
I really need to continue working on my course to get through the work. Where is the best place on the boat?
Perhaps on the chair where I have breakfast. I try to put the laptop on the stool, but there’s nowhere for my books and files.
Diary of Lockdown AEH22
Where else can I go to study? It’s too cold to go outside on the decking, the only other place away from Neil is the bedroom. Perhaps this will work. Not very comfortable, and the light is useless. No windows near the head of the bed, and 12v overhead “reading lights” shed no light at all.
Diary of Lockdown AEH05
Friday 17th April
My back is aching from sitting on the bed trying to do my research. Perhaps I’ll try sitting outside. Thankfully the wifi signal extends to our decking. It’s difficult to see the screen in this light. Despite the cold, the sun is shining.
Diary of Lockdown AEH16
No. Not warm enough even with woolly jumpers and fingerless gloves. Back to the bedroom for the time being.
Diary of Lockdown AEH40
Wednesday 22nd April
Neil has an appointment with the doctor, perhaps I can use the table while he has gone. Forgot to ask him to move his kit, and I don’t want to touch it in case I disconnect something I shouldn’t! So back to the bedroom again. I must do a quick edit in Photoshop for this image for privacy reasons as he left the screens on. And he is supposed to work in a secure environment. I’m not supposed to look at the screens, but its difficult given the space available. I try averting my eyes, without success. But along with listening to his phone calls, I have to ignore it and forget.
Diary of Lockdown AEH54
Wednesday 29th April
My birthday today, a big zero day. All the plans to celebrate with the family have been put on hold. The only excitement today is trying out the slow cooker which used to belong to my father-in-law. Something to remember him by. I manage to cook a delicious lamb casserole so it was worth it. And we will celebrate my birthday when all this madness is over.
Diary of Lockdown AEH42
Thursday 7th May
Thank goodness, I don’t have to heave that tank into the car and off to the Sanitary Station today, Neil has offered to do it. He managed to tear himself away from the phone and computer, and has just set off. He’s taken all the recycling bags with him as well.
Diary of Lockdown AEH39
Saturday 16th May
There is light at the end of the tunnel. Our beautiful newly painted boat is moved out of the dry dock and moored alongside our temporary home.
Not quite finished yet, so we can’t move in properly, but I can start the clean up inside, vacuum the sand which found its way in whilst the exterior was being sand blasted ready for the repaint. Hard work ahead, but positive.
Diary of Lockdown AEH52
Maybe I will survive the lockdown, even with Neil working from home. With other restrictions starting to lift, life can only get better. And I will have a space in which to study, away from Neil. I can escape to next door. Thankfully the wifi works if I put the box next to the window.
And the weather has warmed up so if all else fails – I can sit on the decking!
Context and Narrative 