Overview
This section aims to provide a summary of my project ‘Inside the Shell’ for Photography Level 3 Body of Work and evidence of how the final submission has achieved the course Learning Outcomes (LO). The introduction of Learning Outcomes occurred during the first twelve months of this module and links will be provided to areas within my course blog site here. All material produced on my blog has been against the course manual dated 2013 written by Sharon Boothroyd. This course has subsequently been reissued and the structure of which has changed. The new structure has not been reflected in this project work.
Due to COVID my initial plan for submitting prints for assessment had to be changed and my final submission now consists of a dedicated website here which provides several viewing options of the book, video presentation of the series and a range of additional images that have been created during my studies. There is also a page that provides an overview of the project.
Inside the Shell is based around the coastal community of Ngawi (pronounced ‘naa-wee’). Known for having more bulldozers per capita than permanent residents this project scratches the hard-male surface and discovers what is holding the community together, the very backbone under the shell. The location is exposed, with intense and prolonged periods of high winds and heat during the summer. With very few trees, it takes a very special kind of person to live here. Media has reported the ever-increasing decline in mental health within rural New Zealand and this project explores the strength that lies within these communities and especially within the softer gender. They are the ones holding things together, making do and patching up both mentally and physically.
LO1: Produce convincing visual products that communicate your intentions, using accomplished techniques in complex and unfamiliar environments, with minimal supervision from your tutor
The change from print submission to electronic resulted in the experimentation and production of a draft book that would be further developed during SYP. Research and reviewing my own collection of photobooks and throughout lock down attending many on-line presentations around book design, using text, printing and publishing helped set the foundation for the final submission. I explored and experimented with concertina production for a possible panorama of the location and for Assignment Five included a series of ‘gatefold’ pages to form section breaks within the series. The on-line workshop with Lewis Bush covering InDesign to design and produce my draft book has resulted in a professional finish. Setting my ideas around the design on paper first and then applying and creating a series of Master pages made the whole process a lot easier than Lightroom. The exported pdf was used for peer review over a serial of iterations and feedback applied and for discussions with the printers.
I didn’t think that the pdf would demonstrate the images or book to their full potential and so investigate alternative methods. The on-line exhibition formats were difficult to use with limited viewer control/interaction with a required additional cost and the quality of the projection varied too much. To control all these variables, I used PowerPoint to produce an animated video presentation and converted to a video for viewing. I also learnt how to use the video function on my camera to film the physical book being viewed and page turned as I am not able to submit for assessor review.
I have always been interested in developing and printing my own work with the original plan to complete the project using medium format film, however at the start my darkroom had not been finished and they resulting style of images didn’t lend itself to formal portraits, but I plan to use digital negatives of the location shots and develop these using the Platinum and Palladium technique. I registered for and attended a workshop on how to undertake these and plan to produce a series for exhibition and sale during SYP.
Blog Site Evidence
The following link demonstrates the first draft to Assignment Five submission of the book: here
Link to versions of the book following feedback here
Link to PowerPoint presentation here and videos here
Platinum and Palladium workshop here.
LO2: Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of your area of specialisation and be able to situate your own work within a larger context of practice in your field
This project followed the completion of the Level 2 Documentary course, an area of photography I had not considered before, and I think this work clearly sits within that genre. My research was broad looking at how other photographers utilised the medium to portray personal mental health issues as well as observing how others copied. As the project grew and developed I knew that it wasn’t just about mental health but about how I could represent isolation, community, strength, male v female, space and place. All these aspects needed to be included to show that beneath the shell of a place there is more to see and understand.
The work of Adrian Hollister [http://www.adrianhollister.photography/wester-ross-folios] who photographed the community of Loch Ewe in the north west of the Scottish Highlands showed similar elements of isolation as that of Ngawi. Folio three [http://www.adrianhollister.photography/folio-3-community] show the residents that live in this remote location and the work they do to make a living.
Looking at New Zealand photographers I came across the work of Julia Johnston who documents the people and location along the west coast of the South Island. She managed to capture the isolation and remoteness, getting behind the scenes and portraying the human aspects and the ‘back to land’ idealist in a series of colour images. [https://thespinoff.co.nz/art/02-03-2020/west-coasters-the-characters-on-the-road-between-westport-and-greymouth/]
Chris Killip in his work at Skinningrove was another example of photographers who have influenced my work. The town reliant on iron smelting in a similar way to Ngawi is reliant on the export of crayfish. It wasn’t until late in the project that I came across Tessa Bunney, a documentary photographer who is interested in the different environments that are shaped by human intervention. Her most current project ‘FarmerFlorist’ looks at the ‘artisan’ cut-flower farms that recently started to grow in numbers within the UK. She is an observer, not disturbing her subjects. The portraits are in the environment, often not seeing the subjects face, hidden behind their flowers. This is very much the style I was trying to achieve with my images of the women of Ngawi.
Probably a photographer that would seem a little left field was Susan Lipper. An American photographer whose work includes a project and book called ‘Grapevine’ (1994), which was why I researched her. For about 20 years she travelled to a small community in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia called Grapevine Hollow consisting of trailers and mobile homes badly hit by the decline of the coal industry, where alternative industries include distilling moonshine, and the newer initiative of cultivating marijuana.
Blog Site Evidence
Work in Progress Blog posts for Chris Killip here
Work in Progress and review of Tessa Bunney here
Review following feedback Assignment Four here
LO3: transform abstract concepts and ideas into rich narratives and integrate them in your images
The impact of the world pandemic resulted in the expansion of ideas as the time effect of lockdown was not known at the time. Even with a possible twelve months to the end of the course I needed to consider alternative themes that could be progressed whilst within the confines of my own home.
Theme 1: Ngawi as a place and space. This revolved around the location and the people who lived there, pulling from my initial visit and photo shoot session to the responses I obtained from my letter request. How people lived and worked in the area and how younger families cope with the isolation and the pandemic. This also progressed into looking for archive images which was not at all successful.
Theme 2: Based around the work I had seen by Andy Spain and others as detailed in my Work in Progress blog, I tried to create a series of panorama images with the idea of producing a concertina book. This was somewhat successful but Lightroom and even Photoshop struggled with stitching the images into a single print. I subsequently moved to a series of tryptic images.
Theme 3: Considers the issues that would affect the people of Ngawi the most; the loss of the ability to catch cray and ship to China. I had previously researched the work by Paul Hill and his daily images of the dead badger on his walks in the Dales of the UK, so his badger became my cray.
Theme 4: This came about during a talk and photo shoot of one of the residents of Ngawi. She runs the local food cabin on the shore front and mentioned that there were only eight women living full time in Ngawi, the rest were ‘weekenders’ or tourists hiring a bach for the weekend. This then became my final theme to be carried throughout the rest of the course.
Blog Site Evidence
Assignment 3 details in full the above themes and links to the images here
Assignment 4 details how the final theme 4 progressed through the editing stages and feedback from others here.
Assignment 5 Feedback details the final draft book and video of the work along with the website here
LO4: Critically review your own work and evaluate it against desired outcomes
As part of each assignment submission I completed a critical review of my project and progress based on the evaluation criteria within the course manual. I have also included an evaluation against the new Learning Outcomes and a reflective section on the feedback from my tutor following receipt of the written report.
The Work in Progress pages and my Thoughts and Reflection section details on a month by month basis how the project was developed and how following feedback from my tutor, fellow students, external groups and professional photographers I have reviewed comments and applied recommendations. If a recommendation was made and I didn’t think that it was suitable or relevant I have provided justification. It was clear from this process the importance of editing and learning, however hard that maybe, that some images are just not providing the correct narrative to the series. Throughout this journey I have removed a number of strong images, one of which earned a Silver Distinction at the NZIPP Iris Awards 2020, but it just didn’t fit. The move from prints to book format also changed the direction of the project and how I would select and present the series. Images that will look strong as a standalone piece on the gallery wall have not been used for the book. These will of course be considered for SYP.
Blog Site Evidence
Critical review of Assignments can be found here for Assignment One and here for Assignment Two
Reflection on progress and Tutor Feed back can be found here for Assignment One
Course reflection can be found here in Assignment Five
Professional Feedback on final series can be found here and student feedback here
Work in Progress can be found here and Thoughts and Reflections here
LO5: Demonstrate management, leadership and communication skills and have deployed them during the negotiation and production of the final body of work with your tutor and third parties
Time and access planning to Ngawi was paramount to the success of this project. The location was over an hour’s drive away and during winter the coastal road would often get washed away. Luckily my course started during the summer months here in New Zealand and during my initial shoots for assignments one and two I was able to spend as much time as I wanted leading to several useful contacts. I needed to use different modes of communication to gain access to all the areas of interest I explored; talking directly with residents whilst shooting location images, letter request through mailboxes, word of mouth and recommendations. It seemed that once I obtained my first contact the ball started to roll and I gained the trust and support of residents.
Whilst in Lockdown and exploring alternative themes I engaged with several different Government organisations in the pursuit of trying to find archive images. This also involved local newspapers and historical societies.
I expanded my knowledge through additional on-line courses in InDesign, book making and design, Photography with the Royal Photographic Society, Photovoice with World Photovoice Organisation and printing course with Stuart Clook (Platinum and Palladium).
I arranged for feedback through multiple mediums with fellow students in regular face to face (Zoom) forums, social media groups, OCA platforms and contact within the professional organisations to which I am a member. Comments were addressed and detailed within my Work in Progress blog and following each session with my tutor on an on-going basis as this was an iterative process. The discussions with fellow students and those from other areas of the OCA resulted in a collaboration piece with an illustration student. This can be seen within the draft book. We discussed different areas of the project that she might be interested in working on and she produced three images for me to use. It was a great opportunity to work with a different area and subject of the college.
Blog Site Evidence
Royal Photographic Society Series 1 and 2 here
Printing Course with Stuart Clook here
Feedback from Students here, Social Media here and Professional Photographers here
Collaboration work with illustration student here
Michele Usher 