Category: Learning log

The parent category for research and reflection posts.

Study Days and Zoom Meetings · Uncategorized

Zoom: Keeping up the Momentum

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Meeting 1: 4/4/20

The aim of this meeting was to create a cross discipline collaborative group, and to help motivate students during the period of lockdown.  The meeting was attended by Bryan Eccleshaw, tutor, who led much of the discussion.

He started by listing a number of concepts to keep in mind to help with motivation and to help develop and create original work:

  • Art is not freedom, it is about restriction and finding a way out
  • It is a response to a difficulty
  • Avoid Perfection/purity.
  • Accept that “it is what it is”
  • Start small if necessary and grow
  • Commit to creating something every day
  • Look at juxtaposition
  • Look at the ordinary and make in extraordinary
  • Look at other disciplines
  • Try a new medium to spark inspiration
    • Collage
    • Drawing
  • Reframe the way you work
  • Communicate
  • Look from a different angle
  • Read, reread, research
  • Do the job in front of you
  • Revisit previous work
  • Morning pages
  • Write about the mundane
  • What is important – the click of the shutter

Helen had created a Padlet and added a board: Keeping up the Momentum  https://oca.padlet.org/helen416376/9q7g0fa5uard.  Brian had added some items and suggested that students could take an item and rework it, encouraging creativity and collaboration.

The group then went on to discuss work submitted by participants.

All links and comments from participants will be posted on the Padlet for future reference.

Meeting 2: 25/4/20

This was again attended by Bryan Eccleston.

Helen recapped on the summary from the previous meeting, and then Bryan led the discussion on the work submitted to the Padlet.

A folder will be set up on G Drive for all future collaboration work to free up the Padlet, and individual work can still be uploaded to the padlet.

Helen will be arranging a further meeting, but Byran will be unable to attend any further meetings.  He suggested contacting other tutors.

Notes and links from the meeting will be added to the padlet.

 

Reflections · Uncategorized

Reflections on Outcome of Assignment 2

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Technical and visual skills

  • All images taken on same day, in early morning sunshine.
  • Position of camera has affected the exposure, depending on angle of the sun.
  • Should have adjusted the exposure, not left the camera setting the same for all photographs.
  • Attempted to rectify this in post production, but would prefer to revisit.
  • Unable to revisit as CRT are advising no access to towpaths.

Quality of Outcome

  • 10 images selected to give an overview of issues affecting boats and canals

Demonstration of creativity

  • Limited by physical constraints

Context

  • A subject close to my heart
  • Very aware of all boaters’ issues if movement of boats is limited
  • Overall pleased with the outcome given the current restrictions.
A2: Initial Submission · Reflections · Uncategorized

Assignment Two – Initial Reflections: possible subjects

Avril Harrison1 Comment

Street Rubbish

Images of rubbish discarded, and its implicit meaning: what sort of rubbish – takeaway boxes, empty beer cans, cigarette butts etc.

The illogical

Images of scenes taken from certain angles so the result is not what it seems.  Animals standing together often appear surreal, several legs and heads.

Journey to get fit

Equipment, gym,  images of Garmin Bike sat nav, images of bike about to set off.  (Some of these images have been used before in EYV so may be difficult to adapt to this unit).

Weight loss journey

Scales, foods, cookery books, clothes, website, group therapy

Logic puzzles

An interest of mine, but not sure how I could develop this into a set of photographs. 

Unfortunately, none of these were practical because they all require me to go out and about which has now been banned for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19.

So I decided on a different angle:  to photograph the effect this lock down is having on the UK waterways.

 

 

 

Reflections · Uncategorized

David Hurn: Selecting a Subject

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I recently bought a copy of David Hurn’s book: On being a Photographer (Hurn, 2008), which I found very inspiring.  The chapter on how to choose a subject helped me with my choice of subject for Assignment 2.  Because of the current situation with Covid-19 virus and lockdown country wide, my initial plans for the assignment were not possible.  So I went through the options in the way that Hurn suggests.

The first thing to do is carry a notebook and during quiet times or as the thought occurs to you, compile a list of anything that really interests you. In other words write a list of subjects which fascinate you without regard to photography.

(Hurn 2008)

He then goes on to suggest that having created a definitive list, it can be cut down by asking yourself the following questions:

Is it visual?  …….

Is it practical? ……..

Is it a subject about which I know enough? ……….

Is it interesting to others? ………..

(Hurn 2008)

 

I like this structured approach as I my background is in IT, a very logical subject, and at times have found the creative aspects of the course challenging.  This structured approach, I believe, sits well in a creative environment.

Bibliography

Hurn, D. (2008) On being a Photographer.

 

Research · Uncategorized

Post Modern Narrative

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The work of Sophie Calle and Sophie Rickett both reflect postmodernist approaches to the narrative although their work is very different.  However, the one aspect of their work is similar: the use of images, text, videos, and other media.

In her project “Take Care of Yourself”, Sophie Calle takes a letter received from her boyfriend in which he “dumps” her, and offers it to 107 women asking them to analyse the content according to their personal and professional interests.  As a result the letter was converted into music, displayed complete with handwritten annotations, projected onto images of faces, acted out, converted into a crossword.  The whole was an unstructured but meaningful display which reflects the postmodern approach to art.  She recorded an interview, currently available on the Tate.org website, explaining how the project developed.

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sophie-calle-2692/sophie-calle-dumped-email [accessed 3/4/2020]

Sophie Rickett developed her exhibition “Objects in the Field” following an encounter with a retired astronomer, Dr Roland Willstrop, while she was working at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge.  Dr Willstrop had previously developed a camera: The Three Mirror Telescope.  No longer in use, Rickett obtained a selection of now obsolete images, reprinted them herself, editing some in the process.  The result is a set of images and videos displayed in an unstructured way. The title of the exhibition, Objects in the Field refers to the atrological term for a light in the sky, object, and the sky itself, field.

 

Reflections · Uncategorized

Every Picture Tells a Story

Avril Harrison1 Comment

David Hurn’s explanation that there is a difference between a photo essay and a photo story has helped me understand and differentiate between the two.  Previously I had seen a set of photographs as just that: a set.  I think this concept will help me in the future when planning a set of photographs.  I will be better placed to decide which the set will be: an essay or story.  I will utilise the questions listed in the unit text:

  • Do the pictures have a consistent theme?
  • What elements back up the central theme?
  • What disrupts it?
  • Are there good reasons for this disruption?
  • Do the pictures have a visual consistency that holds them together as a recognisable set?

However, I was confused by the next paragraph in the text relating to post-modernism.  The text implies that in literature postmodern authors have challenged the concept of beginning, middle and end. Does this also apply to pictures.  If a pictorial story follows the same route, then it would need some text attached to each picture in order for the viewer to understand the events.   If no text is available, then the viewer could be drawn into thinking it is an essay (to use Hurn’s analogy).

Galleries and Exhibitions · Uncategorized

Stanley Kubrick Archive

Avril Harrison1 Comment

Until I watched the video Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes, and visited the London School of Communication, I had no idea that Stanley Kubrick was so obsessive in his work. I was aware he had directed Clockwork Orange, 2001 Space Odyssey and The Shining, but that was as far as my knowledge went.

First of all, watching the previsit video, I learnt that Stanley Kubrick had an obsessive attention to detail. He would send people off with a detailed brief to photograph particular areas and themes for his films.  For example, his nephew Manuel Harlan, had been sent off to photograph various themes in preparation for Eyes Wide Shut, and he estimated he took some 30,000 photographs. He confirmed that Kubrick actually looked at every image. On one occasion Kubrick asked his nephew to photograph a whole street, but because he didn’t want any tilt on the buildings, Harlan had to carry a 12’ step ladder from which to take the photographs, and to keep on moving it along the street as he progressed. The photographs were then taped together to form one long image.

This was just one example of the detail that Kubrick asked of his assistants in order to create a film. He had such an eye for detail that on one occasion and model had been built of a New York street. Kubrick took one look at it, and said the dimensions were incorrect. The assistant disagreed, but was sent back to New York to remeasure the buildings. As Kubrick suspected the measurements of the model were out, by a very small amount, and this mattered to him.

Watching the video, I could see that Kubrick’s obsessive nature meant that he accumulated boxes and boxes of material. Nothing was ever thrown away, and everything was carefully catalogued. Finally, a few years after Kubrick’s death, the family decided to donate all the material to the London College of the Arts, and it is now housed in a specially built archive at the London College of Communication.

I felt it was a privilege to be allowed to see just a small amount of material from the Kubrick archives. To actually see and touch original scripts, annotated by Kubrick, and to go through the photographs, all carefully labelled and stored in an index box was fascinating. The enlarged image of all the extras in a scene from Spartacus, each one holding up a number, thus enabling Kubrick to instruct each one exactly how to pose for the scene, showed once again his obsession for detail and perfection.

Sadly, the Kubrick family had requested that no photographs should be taken of any of the items on display, but nevertheless, it was a very memorable experience, and viewing those items has kindled an interest in his career and films which I never had before the visit.

Reflections · Uncategorized

Hyperfocal Distance and Zoning

Avril HarrisonLeave a comment

One of the points raised by my tutor relating the first assignment was hyperfocal distance.  I had struggled with this concept since first hearing the term, and admitted this to my tutor.  He sent me a You tube link which helped.  He explained that the confusion can arise because older lenses had measurements marked on them, but this no longer the case with most modern lenses.  None of my lenses has this information, but the YouTube clip helped me understand.  I then explored other YouTube clips, and all began to become clear.

The hyperfocal distance is the point at which, when focussed on, both the near-to objects and those at infinity will be “acceptably” sharp.

The importance of knowing the hyperfocal distance became clear in the context of landscape photography where the near to subjects need to be as sharp as the subjects at infinity.  The actual hyperfocal distance will differ according to the lens length and aperture setting.  I now have an app on my phone so that if I am photographing a scene which requires total sharpness, I don’t have to work it out manually.

This investigation led me to another similar concept: zoning.  Street photographers use this technique to avoid having to keep refocussing and risk losing an opportunity.  A street photographer will decide the minimum and maximum distances between which he needs to focus on his subjects.  This is the “zone”.  The focus will then be preset manually on the camera to be one third within the zone so that the photographer doesn’t need to keep refocussing while taking photographs.   Using the principle of the hyperfocal distance, the resulting images will be sharp.  So for example the zone could be 5 meters to 20 meters.  The focus will be set to 10 meters (one third of the zone) all objects in front and behind the subject will be sharp.

One of the You tube clips also talked about the preview DoF button.  I knew it was there, but didn’t understand how it could help.  In the case of the hyperfocal point, it can help to show the actual DoF, not visible when looking through the view finder because at that point the aperture is fully open.  The preview button closes down the aperture to the selected f-stop.

I will experiment with both these techniques and publish on my log.

Research · Uncategorized

The Commissar Vanishes

Avril Harrison1 Comment

The Falsification of Photographs and Art in Stalin’s Russia

I recently came across this book by David King in my local library.  In it, David King shows a number of photographs and works of art which were edited to remove those who had fallen out of favour in the Stalinist era in Russia.

Book cover
Cover of the book “The Commissar Vanishes”

 

The Preface to the book is written by Stephen F Cohen, Professor of Politics and Russian Studies at Princetown University, at the time of publishing in 1997.

Under Stalin’s regime, which ruled the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1953, photographs lied.  In David King’s unique and revealing book, the same photographs, their original images restored, speak volumes of truth.

………Considering the five decades of official falsification and zealous concealment, David King’s book is heroic – the product of an immense, one-man archaeology.  His thirty-year unearthing of prefalsified Soviet photographs around the world has produced a legendary private collection …….

[Stephen F Cohen, New York, April 1997]

David King first became aware of this culture of falsifying photographs and art work, when in 1970, seventeen years after Stalin’s death, he visited the open sections of the photographic archives in Moscow.  When he asked about photographs showing Trotsky he generally received a reply:

“Why do you ask for Trotsky? Trotsky not important in Revolution.  Stalin Important.”

(King, 1997:12)

King said when he searched through the dark green metal storage boxes he discovered that although there were many mugshots in the section “T” there were none of Trotsky.

…They had completely wiped him out.  It was at this moment that I determined to start my collection.

(King, 1997:12)

During the following thirty years King created a collection of images showing the falsifications which took place during Stalin’s reign.  Some were airbrushed, some had parts of an image cut out, and in the case of artworks, had been recreated with a revised version in which some faces were removed or replaced.  In some cases a face has been blacked out and the book republished, as shown below.  (Presumably following the destruction of any previous versions of the book).

Isaac Zelensky
Image taken from “The Commissar Vanishes” showing Isaac Zelensky as he appeared in Alexander Rodchenko’s copy of “Ten Years of Uzbekistan”

 

This book contains many more examples of images being edited to remove those who have fallen out of favour.  In the context of this unit, I see these images as an example of “photographs can lie”.  This is not a case of a quick update for aesthetic reasons, but for  reasons of power and control during a particularly corrupt period in Russian history.

I found this book to be a very moving collection of images and accompanying stories.  In my view David King has highlighted a serious issue which could easily be repeated in the future if corrupt power is able to take control in this way. Modern technology makes it easier, but the example of the Russian regime shows that technology as we know it today is not necessary if the desire is there to hide anything which is percieved to be in contravention of the State’s aim.

Bibliography

King, D. (1997) The commissar vanishes: The falsification of photographs and art in Stalin’s Russia. New York: Metropolitan Books.

 

 

Reflections

David Campany – Safety in Numbness

Avril HarrisonLeave a comment

David Campany, in his article Safety in Numbness, considers the concept of “Late Photogaphy”  He looks at the work of Joel Meyeowitz who was commissioned to photograph the aftermath of the terror attack on the World Trade Centre.  He mentioned a television programme on Channel 4 which followed Meyeowitz as he photographed the aftermath of the attack.  I did manage to see a short extract of the programme on YouTube, but was unable to find the whole programme.

I was confused as to why Meyeowitz’s photographs would be so important in creating memories, when a camera crew followed him, creating videos of the same scenes.  David Campany suggested that taking frames from a video to create stills is not the same as taking photographs with a “stills” camera.  What is a video if it is not a series of stills taken at high speed to create a video. I was unable to see why the stills of Meyeowitz were more memorable then frames takes from the video.

…the static photograph taken after an event, rather than a frozen image made of an event is the radically open image part excellence.  It is “pre-frozen”, its stillness complementing and underscoring the stillness of the aftermath.

David Campany, Safety in Numbness.

What is the difference between a “pre-frozen” image taken from a video and a still image taken after the event?

This also assumes that the video camera is always used when photographing “event”.  David Campany says that after the 1970s still cameras were no longer used for war photography because after that the subsequent wars were less accessible to photographers.  Images were often taken from satellites.  Yet, a neighbour and close friend of mine worked as a photographer with CNN for some years, until his retirement 3 years ago.  He was certainly travelling with the CNN team into war zones and photographing with both a still camera and video.

Having looked at the work of Paul Seawright in his collection: Hidden, in which he photographs the aftermath of the war in Afganistan and Edgar Martins, in which he photographs properties in America affected by the house price crash, I can see the importance of aftermath photography to create memories. It does show the devastation  an event can cause for people and landscapes, and can imply further danger, such as the photograph of the shells in Martins’ image: Valley. So whilst I agree with Campany that aftermath photography has a different feel to it, a still, slow, deliberate feel, compared with videos of an event, I cannot see why it is relevant whether the photograph is taken with a “still” camera, or extracted from a video.