So these reflections are following four weeks at Level 4 lock down and the end of first week at level 3, which means very little change for me as a non-essential worker so I’m still not able to leave home unless for food or medical supplies, however I have managed to progress and reflect on the report provided by my tutor.
The majority of the research I have documented in my Work in Project pages of this blog. The work by Eugene Richards I found emotional and moving. The time he spends getting to know his subjects shows in his work, they show life in all its rawness, they are images that leave nothing to the imagination and I think that’s what they should be. Life is not a box of chocolates. I can understand why my tutor has asked me to look at this work. I can see that I seemed to connect well with one of my subjects but not the other and this is something I need to work on. I think more and more I would like to spend time with Rob, maybe follow him for a few days if this lock down ever lifts.
The work by W. Eugene Smith has an equal appeal but are not as raw and are based on his ability to capture dramatic moments in pictures that were remarkable for their powerful compositions and use of lighting, Smith’s pictures often recall the works of Renaissance masters. Smith was essentially a storyteller; the vast majority of his most memorable images appeared in picture essays in Life or other magazines, selected by editors and laid out with captions and other texts. Removed from their original contexts, the pictures lose some of their emotional impact; like movie stills, the photographs evoke the narrative settings in which they appeared, but cannot recreate them fully.
I have added the colour versions of my shoot to my blog as per my tutor’s request. I don’t think they have the same impact as the black and white and I did show them to a group on one of the forums and they agreed, black and white works best.
At this stage I haven’t started to look back at my archive or other old images because I still have time before submission and with every finger crossed we should be moving out of lock down to gain more freedom to move about. I have however progressed other ideas to run in parallel such as the cray, so I’ve been busy sourcing the raw materials (studio lighting, cray pot and the actual cray) as I think it will take some time to decay.
I have been regularly up-dating my blog – something that prior to the lock down I wasn’t really doing so that is a positive and I’ve also been expanding my research and areas with all the free talks and workshops that are currently available, this is all in preparation for lock down to be lifted.
Michele Usher 