6th March 2021
Not sure where time is going, trying to fit course work in work is not easy at the moment. I have received comments back from both tutors on Contextual Studies and Body of Work.
With Body of Work I just need to continue to edit, process and prints in to a draft book, experimenting with layout and paper. Contextual Studies I need more time to review his comments and maybe arrange a meeting to discuss. He seems positive in the direction and has provided a number of papers to read which I will progress and produce notes.
I have continued to attend talks on line but at the moment seem a little swamped. As I move towards the final submission I will have less and less time to switch into talks. I have started the next RPS series which I think will help with the final course of SYP. The first lecture covered exhibiting and working with a gallery. Other areas to be covered are book production and editing, so looking forward to that.
11th March 2021
Once again work is just getting in the way of study and a few technology issues meant I missed an RPS talk that I really wanted to watch but luckily, they had recorded it and I was able to play catch up. The talk by Robert Darch covered his book ‘Vale’, addressed mental health a subject very close to my Body of Work and Contextual Studies. I have provided a full write up in the Exhibition section to this blog.
I have progressed my understanding on InDesign and found a very useful beginners’ series of YouTube videos to help get me started in setting up the layout of my book for printing and it will also allow me to use a gatefold page for the pano images which will section off the ladies. I have also started to think about the front cover and how that will look. I have provided additional details in my Work in Progress section to this blog. Showing my ideas and the reuse of the dead cray (I had to include it somehow!).
The second in the series by the RPS covered working with a curator of a gallery. As previously highlighted, I think these will be more relevant to my final module and so I’m keeping the videos to refresh my thoughts then. I also jumped onto the Level 3 Support Group this morning. Anna had asked for feed back on her draft book. We spend a great hour and half discussing each image, the flow and links and the theme. Her tutor had previously stated that there were too many themes/ideas and she had spent a lot of time trying to pair it down. For me there were two stories which seemed to mix throughout and I suggested that she forms chapters and detail how they are linked. I have to admit I was disappointed that she had seemed to have dropped her pinhole images from the 360-degree camera, but hopefully they will come back in one of her chapters.
21st March 2021
Bit of a gap in this section of my blog, once again due to work and other personal issues that are not required to be documented on this blog. I have however been reading the additional documents my tutor for Contextual Studies suggested, one I didn’t really see his point of including so I will raise this when I speak to him. I have also found a number of other articles that may be useful to direct my argument.
I have also produced a number of possible images using the cray as a design for the front cover of my book. The initial images were posted to the Level 3 Support Group share drive and I received some comments back, think I need to rework them as the lighting and backdrop wasn’t right, but my progress and thoughts have been included in my Work in Progress section to this blog.
I have also attended a number of talks – John Divola with MACK, the Format 21 Conference (all night event for me) and the Kenmore Camera Event on Women if Photography, which highlighted a number of new names for me to research but was very US focused which was a little disappointing. I did however really enjoy the talk by Maria Falconer (RPS) with the Contemporary Group ‘Lies, Damned Lies and Photography’ – so relevant to my Contextual Studies essay, representation of situations, cultures, people and communities through photography – full write up in the Exhibition section of this blog.
An early (2:30am) start for me to join the Photovoice Worldwide Community interactive session with Nicole Brown entitled ‘A Systematic Approach to Analysing Visual and Textual Data’. Nicole walked through her PhD work and new framework on analysing the data in both visual and textual form from her studies. This is an area I would really like to explore more post my studies and I see from the Photovoice website I can do a number of on-line courses, which I’m seriously thinking of exploring and undertaking.
The week ended on a Virtual Insights talk with Nina Katchadourian and Neil Goldberg on Photography and portraiture and then logging into the Level 3 and documentary forum. Good turnout with Lynda, Faith, Judith, Sue, Jack, Neil and Nicola. Due to time changes in the UK most arrived late and I had to leave due to my work day starting – New Zealand clocks change in April so that means I can attend without worrying about work.
28th March 2021
A bit of a catch up session with the RPS series last week as it clashed with another presentation so I watch the third in the series via the provided recording. This series has been a little hit and miss for me. Number three presented by Ana Casa Broda was difficult to understand and follow as English was not her first language. That said she did provide an amazing list of resources and data on Mexican and Latin American photographers that seem to be missed in the majority of presentations.
I managed to get up really early to watch a Kenmore Talk on colour management. This was really aimed at those people who undertake printing, however they did cover the importance of calibration of your screens for processing and the theory behind it all which I had never really understood, but it was explained in such a straight forward manner with lots of examples that the penny has dropped and I will try to remember to calibrate my home screen on a more regular basis.
Session four of the RPS series covered Flora, and photography illustration with Gem Toes-Crichton. She covered the whole history of flower photography – including Cyanotypes of Algae through to the amazing macro and hand drawings produced today. She also provided an insight to her own project ‘Interstices: Hidden Histories of Woman in Botany’.
The Documentary Group of the RPS provided another in their series of Engagement talks, this time with photojournalist Melanie Friend. I have completed a full review in the Exhibitions section to this blog
I also arranged to have a video catch up with my tutor for Contextual Studies on Tuesday night (30th March) to discuss his written feedback on my initial draft. I spent several hours reviewing the comments and started making changes but didn’t want to get to far into the changes if I wasn’t addressing his points correctly so made some notes and additional questions to raise whilst on the call.
31st March 2021
Tuesday morning New Zealand time was the bi-monthly session led by Ariadne Yenou, one of the tutors that covers Contextual Studies. As usual it was well attended by fifteen students, some new to Level 3 others like me pushing towards that light which still seems to be down a very long tunnel.
Today we covered time management and how to make the most of our study time whilst still trying to hold down a job, family and having a life! We discussed the question about how much of our Body of Work should be dealt with within our essay – this seems to be a very confusing area as some tutors say it doesn’t whilst other say it should – still not clear to me. A major part of the session (which also had a number of Zoom lock outs) covered writing styles, proof reading and methodology. I have to say that its great to see other students and hear their progress but I always come away from these sessions very confused and very depressed and worried that I will never pass.
Later that day (9pm New Zealand time) I caught up with my tutor. We covered the main points of my initial draft. We worked though his comments and concerns – mainly my loss of direction in the middle section as I was trying to include too much and loosing my argument. On the whole he was happy, the main points were there, remove the ‘he said/she said’ and history of documentary and concentrate on some examples. So not too bad, at least I don’t have to go back to the drawing board. Long weekend – so crack on and get it rewritten and proof read.
Michele Usher 