Overall Comments
A fair start. Useful time was spent in exploring ideas. A plan for future working has resulted.
Feedback on assignment
Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Quality of Outcome, Demonstration of Creativity
Notes from, and in addition to, our Skype tutorial –
It was decided that this would act as a review of both Assignment 1 and 2
I have tried to split commentary on specifics about A2 into the second report however there are a great deal of overlaps . In one sense it was useful to see the questions posed in A1 beginning to be answered in your submission and research for A2.
Main key points: Recommendations
Drop the terms of Landscape and portrait think about the idea of ‘Place’ and research more on what makes a place;
We interpret places through interactions with landscape and people and the air, the weather, what was on the radio, whether we’re hungry or tired etc etc. Let the photographs be an extension of your engagement with the place without applying arbitrary boundaries.
Review the work by Chris Killip and compare the two locations, Skinningrove – NZ looks like the land of plenty – is it? Explain the reasons for this location;
In comparison these do seem worlds apart. Skinningrove – in the late 70s/early 80s – does seem like the ends of the earth. This work has been seen/shown/discussed a great deal too. Eke out similarities and differences.
Try to avoid scene setting.
It’s useful to scope out how, where and what you might be working with for your body of work but think of all of this as process. You’ll edit continually. You’ll go back to photos and discard ‘favourites’ as you go along. It might not ever be ‘finished’!
Look at the work by Burger and Mohr. Try to capture their world
John Berger and Jan Mohr
‘Another way of Telling’, ‘7th Man’, ‘Unfortunate man’ – look at these and research more
A Fortunate Man
Keep going back with a theme in mind
In our current situation, you need to reassess this
Try to keep the human element
Who’s it for, what’s it about, how to connect?
In Flagrante – Chris Killip
Think – small and intimate. Apparently Simple
The more you simplify the easier it is for others to ‘bring themselves’ to your work. It’s also good practice in terms of editing, ask what each picture brings, do the sequences add to more than a sum of parts.
Send through the colour images, remember to add everything to your blog
Have all your work accessible on your blog. It’s vital for your development and (much later) for assessors to see where and how decisions were made, how they were informed, how learning was applied.
We discussed the potential for these images, and future works to have meaning for you and a wider audience. Looking at Killip, Berger and Mohr gives you a benchmark – ask how those works are speaking to you across the globe and sometimes up to 50 years after they were taken. It’s not just technique, it’s about fundamentals of communicating from one human to another.
You are spotting details that have resonance, and you’ve isolated a place that has some significance. Delineating this is your task.
Coursework
Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Demonstration of Creativity
Evidence of work on blog.
Research
Context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis
Lots of decent writing and reflections on your blog. It will really pay off to situate your work within a context of photographers and artists that inform this body of work.
Learning Log
Context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis
Also good to see you extending your research beyond the artists and photographers. Everything informs everything.
Suggested reading/viewing
Context
Without overloading you with suggestions I’ll add my usual reading list and then discuss specific influences later –
Being aware of contemporary practice is key, write your thoughts on them into your blog, note how they change your approach.
Reflective writing is the key to learning, and I think that you are evidencing your thinking well with your write-up.
Take photographs of any handwritten notes, mindmaps and log and include them in your online blog.
Using the arguments put forward by critics will help you gain understanding and progress your engagement with photography. Which is why its so important to read as much, and as widely, as possible.
Here’s an interim reading list that I usually send out to students, some of these are included in the treading for various modules –
John Berger: “Ways of Seeing“ *
Graham Clarke: “The Photograph”
Ian Jeffrey: “Photography: A Concise History”
Susan Sontag: “On Photography”
Roland Barthes: “Camera Lucida”
– five relatively old but excellent entry points into discussing photography.
Susie Linfield: “The Cruel Radiance: Photography and Political Violence“
– contemporary, personal and easy to read, much of it in response to Sontag and Martha Rosler
Liz Wells: “Photography : A Critical Introduction” and “The Photography Reader”
David Bate: “Photography: Key Concepts”
Stephen Bull: “Photography”
Charlotte Cotton: “The Photograph as Contemporary Art” *
Susan Bright: “Art Photography Now”
David Campany: “Art and Photography”
Ashley la Grange: “Basic Critical Theory for Photographers”
-essential, (at least the first four) contemporary general photography works
Gerry Badger: “The Genius of Photography: How Photography Has Changed Our Lives”
* also on DVD or online
Mark Durden: “Photography Today”
Steve Edwards: “Photography: A Very Short Introduction”
* It really is short!
[no author / Phaidon]: “The Photography Book” *
Martin Parr / Gerry Badger: “The Photobook: A History”
Geoff Dyer: “The Ongoing Moment” *
Mary Warner Marien: “100 Ideas That Changed Photography” *
– for when reading gets too heavy!
Anne Jaeger: “Image Makers Image Takers” *
– insights from photographers, commissioners and writers
* Asterisked books are the most accessible
Put any reflections or reviews on your blog.
Michele Usher 