I received my final report from Clive, and it said ‘completed‘!! It feels like a real milestone. read the report here
Debra Flynn. Brighton Day Out #3, 2018
Of course I do still need to tidy up a few bits and pieces on the blog and get it ready for assessment, but I am really pleased that the first course is under my belt. I am definitely feeling more confident about my progress and my abilities so I hope to hold on to that to take into the next course.
The final assignment has taught me quite a lot in terms of putting together a series or images. Clive really helped me hone in on what I should be focusing on and it’s amazing what a difference it makes when you look through your images with a different intention. In fact he encouraged me to see that I already had all of the images I needed to meet the brief, I just hadn’t focused on the right area.
google search for images by Tony Ray-Jones – (the central image on the bottom row is Ray-Jones himself)
My tutor, suggested I look at Tony Ray-Jones images as way of describing what he meant by trying bring a more observational and dispassionate feel to my images for assignment 5. He is described by the Science Museum group as:
“Fascinated by the eccentricities of English social customs, Tony Ray-Jones spent the latter half of the 1960s travelling across England, photographing what he saw as a disappearing way of life”.
This remarkable photographer was only working for about 10 years as he tragically died from Leukemia at only 30 years of age. However, the instant I saw these images they resonated with me on so many levels.
Firstly, I am of an age whereby I remember my parents and grandparents wearing these kind of clothes in the 60’s / 70’s and found them provoking many nostalgic moments from my childhood
Tony Ray-Jones’ images are reminiscent of my own childhood depicted in these old family photos
Secondly, although brought up in the landlocked Midlands, I now live on the South Coast in the midst of some of the Seaside towns depicted by Ray-Jones. So many of his images could be taken today and would look so similar. My husband who was born and brought up in Bognor Regis recognised buildings and seafronts immediately. We both sat up late into the night reminiscing about these images and the quirkiness of the English! The image below is of Worthing, the Dome cinema is still there and Macari’s are still a local cafe chain!
Tony Ray Jones. Worthing Seafront, c1968
Finally, and probably most importantly for this course, I understood exactly what Clive was trying to get at with these images. What they depict is not the relationship between the photographer and the subject but he is observing how people interact with each other and the things they do together or even separately within the same space. In some instances groups totally oblivious to the exploits of those around them.
In the video below Martin Parr talks about how Ray-Jones inspired this work, but also comments that he doesn’t think you could take images like this today, because people are so much more aware of cameras and themselves as being watched.
I found the section on Ray-Jone’s notebook very interesting giving the following advice:
talk to people
stay with the subject mater
be patient
vary composition and angles
be more aware of composition
don’t take boring photos
‘get in closer’ (Robert Capa quote)
If the photographs aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough
don’t shoot too much
no middle distance
Parr also commented that there was a spacial quality to Ray-Jones work which he had tried to copy in his study on Non-conformists.For my this indicates that Ray-Jones really looked and composed his shots before taking the images.
I would really love to emulate this kind of work. particularly as I live in this area, it would be great to revisit some of these views and see how they look today, are the English people still exhibiting the same quirky habits. I’d wager we are 😉
Having submitted my final assignment, I was finally able to talk with Clive (my tutor) face to face. Work commitments have meant I’ve only had written feedback up until now so it I felt it was really important to actually speak with him this time and I’m really pleased I was able to. Certainly a learning point for future courses; to speak with my tutors more often.
Clive had looked at my assignment and my blog and gave me some great feedback.
He felt that I need to get away from the ‘day out with my kids’ theme and try and put some distance between myself and subject to give them a more observational and dispassionate feel. More of a comment on what a family does on a day out rather than this particular family.
He suggested I take a look at the work of Tony Ray-Jones as he felt my work was somewhat reminiscent of his and Martin Parr, although Martin Parr is a little less flattering of his subjects. Having now done so, I totally get what he means. My write up Tony Ray-Jones can be read here.
On the individual images Clive felt that image #1 was weak and very ‘postcardy’ which I completely agreed with him on. I had included this image to try and set the scene, but to be honest it doesn’t inspire me so why I thought it would anyone else is a silly. I only have 10 images to make an impact and I chose that one!!!!
he picked out image #2 as interesting and #9 as a good ‘stock’ shot but not adding much to this project.He thought #7 was a strong image. Having looked again at that and Tony Ray-Jone’s work I think I understand what I should be looking for now.
I suggested redoing the whole assignment, which Clive thought was a possibility but also that having looked at the contact sheets there may be enough, with some re-editing to refocus this set of images. Having had another look through, I do think this is a possibility so am going to try that first. Especially with the inspiration from Ray-Jones and Parr I think I have the basis of what could be an interesting study.
In relation to my blog, Clive advised to change my banner photo to something more appropriate to work I have been producing as he felt that it might give the wrong impression of the kind of photographer I am to an assessor. I have taken that advice and changed it.
I was reminded about buying a clam shell box, which I’ve already done and about printing my images ready for assessment, making sure to leave a decent sized boarder on the sheet.
Thanks again Clive, it was great to talk with you
My actions from this:
look up Tony Ray-Jones’ work and relate it to my own
rework my assignment from a more observational and dispassionate viewpoint
let Clive know when I’ve redone it so he can give feedback
start preparing my work for assessment in November
“Check your work against the assessment criteria for this course before you send it to your tutor. Make some notes in our learning log about how well you believe your work
meets each criterion.”
For this final assignment of Expressing your vision I have returned to my first love of documenting my family on a day out in Brighton.
I knew I was going to use this for this assignment, so I was more conscious of the images I was taking and am lucky that they are so used to seeing me with a camera in my hand that they largely ignore it! Unlike my last assignment where I was able to go back and start again because I wasn’t happy with the results, this time it was a ‘one day only’ opportunity – so No pressure!!
Technically, I have often struggled with taking picture of people moving in the past but since finding the auto ISO setting on my camera, I am now able to reduce blurring so am much more confident in that respect.
Having taken over 200 photos, my biggest challenge was whittling it down to just 10 photos. Unlike other assignments where I ‘made’ the images and could take what I need for the project this was more about selecting 10 images that work individually, together and tell the story. To do this I set myself some strict criteria, each image must contain either a member of my family or myself (in some way). It must add new information as per the brief and it must be compositionally pleasing. I also wanted them to work together as a set and tell the story of the day.
Needless to say there were a number of permutations considered until I came up with my final 10. So I tried to imagine what it would look like as a magazine article and picked images that I thought would go enhance the story. It meant having to leave out some images which I really liked, but I guess that’s what this assignment is about. The ability to express your viewpoint for a subject within a limited number of images giving more impact and greater context to them.
mock up of what a magazine article might look like
Ultimately I am pleased with the results and the images I have chosen. I do believe they are a coherent set which tell the story I wanted to tell and meet the criterion of the brief. This section more than any other has made me think about how I select and present my work.
and just to prove I was there on the i360 here’s a picture of me taken by my husband. A rare event indeed 😉
Having been nudged by my tutor to do some more reading, I ordered a number of books from the Essential and Recommended Reading lists.
Ways of Seeing by John Berger was the first book to arrive and it turned out to be a very timely purchase, as the first essay was all about viewpoint, which is just where I am in the course right now.
It is a small book that is split into 7 essays; 4 using words and images and 3 using only images. They can be read in order.
Essay 1
Even a photograph. For photographs are not, as is often assumed, a mechanical record. Every time we look at a photograph, we are aware, however slightly, of the photographer selecting that sight from an infinity of other possible sights.
The author argues that sight and seeing come before words and that whilst words are important, they are merely an attempt to describe what we are seeing. Furthermore, he says that what we see is influenced by what we know. Much of our ‘knowledge and experience’ is gained from historical art which we interpret from our current viewpoints. He says that that art is also sanitized from reality by the artists viewpoint. This is evidenced by the quote:
What we make of that painted moment when it is before our eyes depends upon what we expect of art, and that in turn depends today upon how we have already experienced the meaning of paintings through reproductions.
Essay 2
This is one of the pictorial essays, which seems to be a comment of the portrayal of women in art and advertising. Beyond that I could no discern any great meaning.
Essay 3
in this essay the author discusses “the social presence of a woman a being different in kind than that of a man”. He describes how women in art, particularly nudes are displayed for the viewer, (presumably a man)
Essay 4
to follow
Essay 5
to follow
Essay 6
to follow
Essay 7
to follow
Conclusions and Reflections
To be honest got a bit bored with this, I think the point was made about the use of women in art, photography and advertising, so didn’t need to read the rest. Although this was published originally in 1972 and woman’s rights wasn’t as high on the agenda then, it does still resonate and seems very pertinent to today
references:
Berger, J, (1972). Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin Books
I’m really pleased that Clive agreed with my decision to reshoot my assignment. I must learn not to doubt myself. I knew once I’d finished the images that I was much happier with the results and Clive’s comment that “the reworked assignment shows you how important it is to follow your bliss” has a real resonance with me.
I was called out on my lack of book reading and he’s definitely right, I have done quite alot of research on line, but not books, so I have rectified that by buying a few of the books on the reading list. (secondhand from Amazon!)
The Genius of Photography, Gerry Badger
The Photograph: A Visual and Cultural History (Oxford History of Art)
Ways of Seeing (Penguin Modern Classics)
How to Read a Photograph: Understanding, Interpreting and Enjoying the Great Photographers.
The first one arrived this morning, so expect a book review shortly
Clive’s advice for the next assignment, is to take my time and ‘find what feels most you’. This will the be last impression an assessor will have of my work so it needs to show my progress from assignment 1. Having had a quick look at the brief, I think this could be very interesting
Exercise 4.5
Make a Google Images search for ‘landscape’, ‘portrait’, or any ordinary subject such
as ‘apple’ or ‘sunset’. Add a screengrab of a representative page to your learning log
and note down the similarities you find between the images.
Now take a number of your own photographs of the same subject, paying special
attention to the ‘Creativity’ criteria at the end of Part One. You might like to make
the subject appear ‘incidental’, for instance by using juxtaposition, focus or framing.
Or you might begin with the observation of Ernst Haas, or the ‘camera vision’ of Bill
Brandt.
Add a final image to your learning log, together with a selection of preparatory
shots. In your notes describe how your photograph differs from your Google Images
source images of the same subject.
a google search for ‘pink tuplips’
The image I have chosen from my set of images, is one where the tulips appear to be incidental in the picture. However, they were actually placed there deliberately behind the statue to get this image.
tulips incidental in the image
I liked Chris Steele-Perkins’ shots of mount fuji which showed it in juxtapostion against the everyday life that is carrying on around it.
with such a well known flower it was very difficult to come up with something new, but the act of doing so, made me look harder at the subject and decide if there were different angles, or positions I could place them to get different light on.
The contacts below show the different ideas I had for capturing this flower. Mostly I went for prominent in the frame, but I also tried the incidental shots.
researching Christopher Doyle’s lighting, I came across the ‘Film Noir’ genre which was the name given to a series of films made in the 40s and 50s. Doyle’s cinematography seems to contain a lot of the elements of film noir, but in a more modern setting.
film noir
fɪlm ˈnwɑː,French film nwaʀ/
noun
a style or genre of cinematographic film marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace. The term was originally applied (by a group of French critics) to American thriller or detective films made in the period 1944–54 and to the work of directors such as Orson Welles, Fritz Lang, and Billy Wilder.
a film marked by a mood of pessimism, fatalism, and menace.
In Darkman’s blog, gives examples of lighting setups and says :
The lighting is sometimes either stark dark or light contrasts as are the dramatic shadowing effects known also as the chiaroscuro style. Chiaroscuro is a style of light and dark paterning that came from Renaissance painting. One typical cliche and always notable scene type is the shadows of venetian blinds on the wall or across the face of the characters in the movie or photo.
I very much like this genre and shows what can be done with little lighting. However, I would like to think about how to use this genre in a modern contemporary setting rather than just recreate images like those above.
These shots were taken in the streets of Tokyo and Osaka at night from 1997 to 1999, and in them I have avoided the more aesthetically pleasing locations such as seaside areas and the well-known “subcenters” in favor of the everyday disorder of the streets. Take a brightly-lit busy street bustling with people and remove the people: the purpose of the lighting is lost and only the glow remains – providing a glimpse of the streets we know well from a less familiar perspective.
images from Sata Shintaro’s Night Lights collection
did he take these images by staying until there were now people, or did he use a long exposure, long enough to eliminate the people?
Rut Blees Luxemburg
German photographer takes mostly images of urban landscapes at night. She is also a lecturer at the royal collage of art.
she uses long exposure, using only ambient light. Many of her images have a very orangy/red or green hue.
I came across an explanation about the colour of light during a Phlearn Tutorial on editing a film noire style image. He explained that most flashes and lights are set to mimic ‘white light’ or the light that we would typically get at midday. This tends to have a bluish tint because the this the time when the radio waves combine the most and humans see this as white.
At the ends of the day, the light turns more yellow, orange and red. therefore many photographers use CTO (colour temperature orange) gels to recreate an night-time feel to photos.
this web page explains how you can use this scale to create the look and feel you want.
having now found this, I can compare with images I took for exercise 4.2 and notice that the later images definitely have a bluer tint as the light fades.
