Assessment Criteria – Debra Flynn – Context and Narrative

15th January 202018th January 2020

Assignment 5 – Post Tutor Feedback reflections

Tutor Feedback – Read here

Tutor Audio Visual Conversation 13.01.2020

Notes from tutor conversation 13.01.2020 – using the Cornell note taking method

Assignment 5 – feedback

As always I had a very good conversation with Les about my Assignment 5 image and some of the things I need to complete ready for my submission for assignment.

Flowers – Les suggested that I research the use of flowers in art and photography and consider expanding on my reasons for choosing them, referenced against historical use and meanings associated with flowers. It is ok to do this retrospectively.

Print – Experiment with different sizes of print and make a case for the choice made. A smaller image, may give the viewer the opportunity to look at the image more closely, whilst a larger image, on a wall might allow the viewer more immersive in the space and emphasise the quality.

Meaning – Think about what the elements and symbols included a constructed image might mean to a viewer, particularly in the days of fine art / still life when a lot viewers couldn’t read.

Feedback – Having shown the image to some of my friends and colleagues, Les suggested I consider including a reflection on their reactions. What did they see or not see? What did they think I was trying to communicate? Did it have the impact I had intended?

Audience – consider what I am producing this for. i.e. social media, a gallery, a book. ‘Imagine it in it’s context’. Am I making something pretty for the wall or do I want it have such an impact that is spurs other people into action?

Assignment 4 – Essay – still need to rewrite – flag up what I’ve changed, show that I have listened and evaluated the feedback, flag up what I’m changed and why.

Assessment

Finish up the blog, write a conclusion / note to the assessor, guide them to the important parts of the blog, assure them that I am learning and progressing.

In preparation for next course Identity and Place, look at some study visits, good opportunity to discuss course with other students, tutors and others with academic and professional knowledge

Reflection

The audio visual conversations with Les have been the real highlight of the course, it is so good to be able to discuss and debate the thinking behind your work. He has been so good in guiding me to experience other photographers and read and research areas, I wouldn’t have found on my own. He also seems to have a knack of knowing what would interest me. This has helped we push myself and try different things.

I am really pleased with my final image and I really do feel that it reflects a culmination of the course. I feel like the feedback I’ve been given reflects the little extra bits that can I do to make the assignment really good and has helped me think about how to look deeper into the reasons behind what I’ve produced and the message I want give.

Note:

I have recently started using the the Cornell note taking method, which I found really useful to make notes during my conversation with Les . The picture above shows the results. I will definitely keep using this, as it really helped organise my notes and made it easier to write them up for this blog

Assignment 4 – “A picture is worth a thousand words” – Reflections/Assessment

Brief:
Write an essay of 1,000 words on an image of your choice. The image can be anything you like, from a famous art photograph to a family snapshot, but please make sure that your chosen image has scope for you to make a rigorous and critical analysis.

If you choose a well-known photograph, take time to research its context – the intentions of the photographer, why it was taken, whether it’s part of a series, etc. Add all this information into your essay to enable you to draw a conclusion from your own interpretation of the facts.
If you choose to use a found photograph, a picture from your own collection, or perhaps one from an old family archive, use it as an opportunity to find out something new. Avoid telling us about that particular holiday or memory – look directly to the photograph for the information. It may be interesting to compare and contrast your memory with the information you’re now seeing anew from ‘reading’ the picture so intensely.

It’s not enough to write an entirely descriptive or historical account of your chosen image. You must use the facts as a means to draw your own conclusions about what the picture means to you. You may wish to apply what you’ve learned in Part Four regarding translation, interpretation, connotation, signs, punctum, etc., but be sure you get the definitions correct.

There are many good examples of writing about single images (e.g. Sophie Howarth’s Singular Images), which you may find helpful to read before attempting your own. Take note of the level of critical analysis and aim for a similar approach in your own writing. You may write about personal connections but ensure you express yourself in a formally analytical and reflective manner.

Follow thought associations and other images that relate to the discussion, directly or indirectly. Look at the broader context of the image and its background and specific narrative as well as your personal interpretation of it and what thoughts it triggers for you. Follow these associations in a thoughtful and formal way. Allow yourself to enjoy the process!

Send your essay to your tutor, together with the relevant pages of your learning log or blog url.

Reflection

Don’t forget to check your work against the assessment criteria listed in the introduction to this course guide. Include your evaluation in your assignment submission.

Assignment

I decided to write my essay about the image ‘pieces of me’ by Meg Bitton. Having emailed the photographer for permission to publish her image on this blog, and not having had a full response, I have chosen to created a passworded page to display the essay.

Assignment 4 essay – ‘Pieces of Me’ can be read here (password protected, awaiting permission from photographer)

Approach

I started researching for this assignment by reading the recommended reading and also reading essays by other students to get a feel for the style and details required. read my research notes here

Whilst reading the feedback to one student’s essay, I came across a comment by his tutor that suggested he use the ‘PEEL’ method to organise his paragraphs.

I used this method to organise my paragraphs,

see a copy of template I designed and completed for this essay PEEL-template-MG Download

I have organised the essay around the theoretical tools for reading photographs described by Derrida and Barthes

Once I had decided on the image I wanted to review, I did some research on the photographer, in order to be able to add some background and context to the essay.

As the photographer and this work is current, I emailed the photographer for her permission to publish the image in this blog. As I am still awaiting a response, I decided to go ahead with the essay, but have passworded the page so it is not publicly visible.

Pre-tutor feedback Reflections

When I first read that I had to write an essay, I have to admit, I thought it might be a bit boring. However, I have really enjoyed the process. Spending the time to really look at an image in detail was really interesting and it’s amazing how many extra things you see, when you actually spend time looking. I also found researching the photographer very helpful. Although I have been following her work for a while, researching her history and other work, really helped put the image in context and added to the level of understanding and possible meaning she was trying to convey.

Using the PEEL method to organise the paragraphs, really helped me focus on the points I wanted to make and stopped me going off at a tangent. Something that was really useful when you only have a limited number of words.

Assessment criteria points

Demonstration of technical and visual skills – Materials, techniques, observational skills, visual awareness, design and compositional skills. (40%)

Visual skills were needed in this assignment in order to study the image and identify the signifiers and signs that help you read the image. Knowledge of composition skills also helped to give insight into the photographers intentions.

Quality of outcome – Content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner, discernment, conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas. (20%)

In this assignment, I have displayed quality of outcome, by producing a coherent essay, where I have presented my analysis in a logical and reasoned manner. Drawing conclusions using the theoretical ways of seeing presented in the course.

Demonstration of creativity – Imagination, experimentation, invention. (20%)

For Assignment 4, the demonstration of creativity has been demonstrated in the reading of the image. Starting with imagining the meaning of the image, but then evidencing those thoughts in an rational and systematic way.

Context – Reflection, research, critical thinking. (20%)

In order to complete this assignment, critical thinking, research and reflection have been really important to interpret the ideas that the image has connoted and being able to present them in a formally analytical and reflective manner. I have used a recognised writing tool; PEEL, to focus the essay and reflected on the result.

4th September 20195th September 2019

Assignment 3 – Shoes – Tutor Feedback and Reflection

Notes from tutorial with my tutor

This set presented me with quite a challenge and having made a conscious decision to try and get away from the ‘stock’ type of images I created in Assignment 2, I was actually worried, Les would thing they were a bit boring. (or maybe that was just because they were about me!)

I was pleased that he thought they work as a set and were held together by the concept as well as the colour tones and light. This is something I had thought about so was glad it was noticed. I must remember to include these decisions in my write up of the assignments.

One thing that intrigued me, was that Les said that my photos actually gave viewers more of an insight into my spaces than they would ordinarily see. However, by placing the legs in the image it formed a barrier to them seeing it all. I found this a very interesting point of view and I had seen them as a lead into my life. So the fact that he saw them as a barrier gave me pause for thought around how much I allow people into my life.

The other point that made me think was the point that I had obviously set up and posed the images in order to take them of myself. However, as a viewer we accept them as a ‘real’ captures of my life. I think that’s what his comment about smartphone images refers to in his feedback. I had wanted to create a more ‘real’ type of image in this set as opposed to the last assignment, so I am satisfied that I achieved this.

Les suggested I look up a photographer call Leah Schrager, as he felt that the image with me looking at the screen reminded him of her work.

Infinity Selfie - Leah Schrager

In her series 'Infinity Selfie'; Schrager is places a picture within a picture which is reminiscent of my picture on the screen of the computer. In my case this was a happy accident, as I had been checking my first attempt at the image when I took that image. I didn't notice the screen until after I'd taken the picture. This is a learning point for me for Assignment 4 & 5 and remembering that everything in an image can have a meaning and impact for the viewer.

We discussed the image with the red boots and agreed that it didn’t need to text, so I have removed it and uploaded it to my Instagram feed. This has changed the order of the images, so I wondered if this will change the impact of the set? Actually I think it works better with the placement of the boots as the first picture and the blue shoes in the last image it looks like bookends for the set.

we discussed assignments 4 & 5. He suggested that I pick an image for A4 that might link to something I’m interested in that will lead into A5. Therefore, I have read both assignments to get a sense of what I might need to do next.

All in all I am relatively pleased with the outcome of this assignment.

Part 2 – Exercise 2 – contact sheets

19th August 201927th August 2019

Part 2 – Project 2 Image and text – Exercise 2.

Exercise
The aim of this exercise (and Assignment Two) is to encourage you to develop metaphorical and visceral interpretations rather than obvious and literal ones, to give a sense of something rather than a record of it..
Choose a poem that resonates with you then interpret it through photographs. Don’t attempt to describe the poem but instead give a sense of the feeling of the poem and the essence it exudes.
Start by reading the poem a few times (perhaps aloud) and making a note of the feelings and ideas it promotes, how you respond to it, what it means to you and the mental images it raises in your mind. Next, think about how you’re going to interpret this visually and note down your ideas in your learning log.
You may choose to develop this idea into creating a short series of images reflecting your personal response to the poem (or another poem). Write some reflective notes about how you would move the above exercise on.
The number of pictures you choose to produce for the exercises and assignments in this course, including this one, is up to you. Try to keep in mind the following tips for knowing when you have done enough/not done enough:
• Are the images repeating themselves? Are there three versions of the same picture or example? Can you take two out?
• Does each image give a different point of view or emphasise a point you want to make?
• Do the images sit well together visually?
• Have you given the viewer enough information? Would another picture help?

Metaphor – “a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.”

Viceral – “Relating to deep inward feelings rather than to the intellect.‘the voters’ visceral fear of change”.

I understand this to mean that I am to create images that represent the feelings I experience from the poem rather than try to create literal images of things mentioned in it.

For this exercise, rather than a poem I have chosen the words from a song, which I consider a poem set to music. The extract below is the part that am I really connecting with right now:

Defying Gravity from the musical wicked

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I’m through with playing by the rules
Of someone else’s game

Too late for second guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It’s time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes and leap

It’s time to try
Defying gravity
I think I’ll try
Defying gravity
And you can’t pull me down

I’m through accepting limits
‘Cause someone says they’re so
Some things I cannot change
But till I try, I’ll never know

Too long I’ve been afraid of
Losing love I guess I’ve lost
Well, if that’s love
It comes at much too high a cost

Songwriters: STEPHEN LAWRENCE SCHWARTZ

“Something has changed within me” . . .

“I’m through with playing by the rules of someone else’s game”

“Too long I’ve been afraid of
Losing”

“I think I’ll try
Defying gravity
And you can’t pull me down”

Image 1
Image 2
Image 3
Image 4

the contact sheets for this set can be seen here

This project was actually more fun than I thought it would be.

With this exercise, I started by selecting the specific lines in the song that I connected with and thought about how I could represent them. I think I picked the phrases that had a visceral meaning for me.

I chose the egg because it lent itself very well to the idea of change within, which I could represent in the images.

I decided that the images should progress from dark to light to show the change in mood. The images are deliberately surreal as I wanted them to be representations rather than ‘real’ images.

The images of the egg were taken on a white board with a camera on a tripod overhead. I lit it what an LED light. I then added an overlay and adjusted the brightness in each of the images,

The images are very much a set. Having done the planning and having the ideas before I started the photography it actually made it quite quick to produce. I was also able to adapt as I produced the image and compare them with each other as I made them, which helped with the overall feel of the set.

16th August 201922nd August 2019

Assignment 3 – pre-feedback reflections

It has taken me a long time from making these images to finalising the assignment for submission. I’m not sure if I really don’t want to have to put myself in the picture, or I wasn’t happy with the concept. Eventually though, I came to the conclusion that if I don’t submit the assignment and get feedback from my tutor, I’ll never improve them and probably won’t finish the course!!

In actual fact, I do like the set, it’s new thinking for me and very different to the two pieces of work I’ve already submitted, so in that respect it is a success.

Demonstration of technical and visual skills

In this assignment, I have used a variety of technical and compositional skills to capture the images. I wanted to show the shoes in the context in which I use them, so this required me to plan the shots for each pair of shoes and consider how best to compose them.

Images 1, 3, 5 & 9 were taken using a camera on an tripod with a timer and / or a remote control.
Images 2, 4, 8 & 10, are taken from my point of view
Images 2 & 4 are taken with an apple iphone, whilst the remainder were taken with a Nikon D810 dslr camera. I have edited them in a way that means it’s not obvious.
The images were all taken in a 2×3 format and have been cropped to a square format in photoshop.
I created a 3 x4 template in photoshop to mock up how the images would look on Instagram and had to remember to post them in reverse order, to achieve the layout I wanted.
A new Instagram account was created in order to display this work.

Quality of outcome

As I always intended for this set of images to be presented in a digital format on social media, I used my knowledge of the Instagram App to present the work in a way that I felt best displayed them as a set. The composition of each image was considered as an individual as well as part of the set. I am very happy with the subtle toning of the images and feel they work well as a set.

Demonstration of Creativity

My aim was to create a set of images that said something about myself, without giving away the whole story. Having reviewed other student’s responses to the brief, I feel that I have found an innovative and creative response. I do think I could expand on this and may continue to add images to the thread, ready for the final assessment. I haven’t yet explored other times of the day or even other seasons, when I may well wear different shoes, so this could add more to the story.

I have also shown creativity in the composition of the images, making the shoes the main focus of the image in some and incidental in others. I have also tried to vary the viewpoint and ensure that each image adds something new to the story.

Context

I have researched a number of photographers for this work, with particular interest in Eva Strenham’s idea of hiding part of the person in the portrait in order to make the viewer have to look at in more detail to make out what is happening. My images do tell a story, but are not particularly intimate, in the way that Elinor Carruci’s are. This issomething I would like to consider emulating in the future.

In posting them on Instgram, I am putting a bit of myself out there and also giving others the opportunity to comment. A fact I am both reticent and excited about!!

Although I am now waiting for Les’s feedback, at this point I am happy with the outcome of this work overall and what I have learned in making it.

11th April 201911th April 2019

Assignment 2 – Contextualise your work with historical and contemporary practitioners:

Notes made during researching for assignment 2

At the Edge of Sight: Photography and the Unseen – Shawn Michelle Smith

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03087298.2014.981422?journalCode=thph20

Walter Benjamin’s concept of the optical unconscious

Roland Barthes’s famous Winter Garden photograph

https://photoworks.org.uk/great-unknown/#close-no

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/mar/26/roland-barthes-camera-lucida-rereading

Having lost his mother, with whom he had lived most of his life, he goes looking for her among old photographs; time and again the face he finds is not quite hers, even if objectively she looks like herself. At last, he discovers her true likeness, the “air” that he remembers, in a picture of Henriette aged five, taken in a winter garden in 1898. (In the journal entry that recounts this discovery, Barthes simply notes: “Je pleure.”) In narrative terms, it’s an astonishing moment, comparable to the onrush of memories as madeleine meets teacup in Proust, or the scene in Citizen Kane when the maddened Kane first grasps the snow globe, emblem of all he has left behind. Barthes, however, is a temperamentally discreet narrator, so never shows us the photograph: “It exists only for me. For you, it would be nothing but an indifferent picture.”

“Camera Lucida is a short book, but with the winter garden photograph it begins all over again. Suddenly every photograph is for Barthes a memorial; the very essence of the medium is its spectral conjuring of death-in-life. Contemplating a portrait by Alexander Gardner of the condemned Lewis Payne – sentenced to death for the attempted murder of US Secretary of State WH Seward in 1865 – Barthes sees only this fearful temporal paradox: “He is dead and he is going to die.” And his book starts to sound weirdly premonitory: here is Barthes surrounded by his glum little icons, fantasising his own “total, undialectical death”.

http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/programmes/photography-between-invisibility-and-the-unseen

Photography and Optical Unconcious – Shawn Michelle Smith and Sharon Sliwinski

http://debraflynnphotography.co.uk/OCA/can-blog/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/04/photography-and-the-optical-unconsious.pdf

https://onewaystreet.typepad.com/one_way_street/2009/10/the-optical-unconscious.html

In this article, I believe the author is saying that ‘optical unconcious’ is a viewer’s unconcious reaction to stimuli in an image that is unseen to them. Thereby, a shape or a colour or even the way someone smiles could trigger a reaction that other would not register, i.e. the unintended consequence of the image?

12th January 201912th January 2019

Assignment 2 – Photographing the Unseen – Item 2

Item 2 – Ralph’s object

Using the same methodology as for Item 1, I was blindfolded and given the item to hold for 5 mins, and recorded my comments. As previously, I have not yet seen the actual item. These will be viewed once all images are complete.

This item although small like the previous item it immediately felt very different. It felt like it was metal, there were two long protrusions and a couple of shorter ones, there was a groove down the middle and I could feel an ‘S’ shape. I really couldn’t make out which way up the object was supposed to go or what it was.

Sound File can be heard here

Notes made after touching / feeling the object

I thought about the kind of image I wanted to make from this item, but struggled to come up with any solid thoughts, I felt very confused and intrigued, but also that the object had some symmetry about it and it was definitely metal.

At first I was going to try and incorporate the hand again, but it just didn’t fit into the ideas I had. I also considered a slide, which I thought would give me the metal groove I was wanting. But eventually, I wanted to capture the confusion and lack of clarity that I had. The idea of a kaleidoscope came into my head so I looked up how to make a kaleidoscope in photoshop.

I found this tutorial on the internet: How to create a Kaleidoscope – then needed to take an image to use to create my image. I found a metal colander which had the inside curves I was looking for. I also liked the idea of shining a light through the colandar. I added a blue gel to the speedlight to give a blue light and took a range of images with the colander in different positions. These can be seen in the contact sheets below.

Although the image chose looks quite dark in the contact sheet there was nice light spatter on the carpet above it. I was also drawn to the two ‘feet’ on the top which reminded me of the two protrusions on the item I’d felt.

I used this image to create the kaleidoscope effect as per the tutorial.

I have annotated below the amendments made to the colander.

This layer was added on top of the kaleidoscope layer and masked to merge them together. The original image was also very blue, so I added a hue and saturation layer to desaturise the colour . I also added some radial blur to the background highlights to give it a softer look. The wavy lines in the centre represent the ‘S’ shape I felt. The image can be view either way up in order to represent the fact that I couldn’t figure out which way round it should be.

8th January 20199th January 2019

Assignment 2 – Photographing the Unseen – Item 1

Item 1 – Helen’s object

Context:

Helen is my sister, I gave her the brief and she provided me with the first object and test piece for this series of images.

sitting on the sofa in her lounge, I was blindfolded and then given the object. I remembered I should be recording about half way through my 5 mins, so my husband only started recording on my phone at the end.

To hear the recording click here

I cannot post the pic of me handling the item or the item itself because I haven’t finished the set yet, but I’ll add to the final assignment document.

When I first held the object, I was a little underwhelmed, but I found it really interesting to be experiencing it without seeing it. I tried to create a visual image in my head based on what I was feeling. I got quite fixated on the groves in it and that fact that I thought my fingers were creating a little cage around it. I have very small hands, so I think it was a surprise that this object fit in my hand in this way.

I wasn’t sure I would be able to come up with an image at first, but on the drive home (my husband was driving), things began to start popping in my head and I drew the image above quite soon after. Once it was in my head, I couldn’t / didn’t want to change it. The colours came from the colours in a picture of an idol in a museum I took in Egypt a few years ago. When holding the item, it immediately popped into my head. This was a bit of research done in the middle of the night!!! looking through my old pictures for reference.

I definitely wanted to emulate the sandy yellows and blues. I used one of the images to look at the lighting:

key lighting came straight down and there was secondary light coming from the front.

Once I had the idea in my head, I started thinking about the technical aspects of the image. I knew I wanted to include a hand and initially I wanted this to be my own. However, I also realised that that would make it quite difficult logistically to take the shot and I wanted to do as much as could in camera.

My props list was:

hand
stone
sand
a container for the sand
blue paper/cloth for the background
lighting (two speedlights, umbrella, honeycomb)

I went to the beach and picked a few stones off the beach I settled on one that was oval in shape and fitted nicely within the palm of the hand. It was also a sandstone colour to fit with my Egyptian sand theme. This ended up being a wooden anatomical model that I could make to look like it was holding the stone in a little cage.

We had some sand and found a dark wooden picture frame to be the base for the sand. I had this idea for a kind of zen garden in the sand, so that I could incorporate the grooves, but this element didn’t really work.

Once all the items were gathered, I set them up on the table in my kitchen with a one shoot through umbrella and a speedlight with a honeycomb dish held directly above this.

Technical Information

The images were taken with a Nikon D810 full frame camera with a 85 mm 1.8 lens. Two speedlights were used to provide a key light above the set up with a dish and honeycomb and a secondary light shot through an umbrella.

The contact images below demonstrate how the shot was set up and the lighting was adjusted to get the feel desired. It also shows how the set up progressed up until the the sane was poured over the stone.

Editing

The image chosen was one of the last taken. I chose this one because the sand wasn’t too heavy over the stone.

The image was edited using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. The sand above the thumb was removed by merging the image with another image where there was no sand.

various tools were used including:

colour balance
curves
photofilters
high pass sharpening
layers and masks
displacement maps
added shapes and blending modes
overlay

I used a curves layer to make the hand look cooler and stone/sand yellower.

The Final Image

Helen’s Item – Image 1

The item was very small and could be completely enclosed in my hands which are themselves small. The object was smooth to touch and cold at first but warmed up as handled. There were distinct grooves carved around the base and a couple of spikes at the top which felt like cats’ ears.

The item reminded me of an Egyptian idol which led to the idea of the sand and the colours. I have added some ‘secret’ grooves to the stone and I added a metal overlay to the nails to emphasise the cold touch. The fingers represent the cage around the stone.

Reflection

I really enjoyed this and am really looking forward to doing the next item. I have tried to be really strict and finish writing this up before moving on to the next one and I have decided not to view any of the actual items until I have finished them all.

For the next and subsequent items, I will try and make sure that it’s quiet and that I’ve got all of my equipment ready before we start. i.e. get my phone ready to record my comments.

I think I would like all of images to be portrait but of course it may depend on how the next ‘feeling’ session goes and what image I am compelled to make. It will be my aim to print these as A3 paper to be presented alongside images of the items. do I need to make such detailed notes for all of the rest of the images? I will ask my tutor about that.

7th January 2019

Assignment 2 – Photographing the Unseen – methodology for assignment

I have decided to concentrate on the idea of exploring how to photograph how it feels to touch something. The idea is to create an image that is inspired by the item rather than the item itself.

In order to really experience the touch of the item, I feel that I need to eliminate sight from the reality. To that end I am going to work to the following methodology.

I will ask 7 – 10 people to participate in this assignment with me (the thinking behind this is that I will get objects that I don’t know and therefore won’t be influenced by what they look like)
I will be blindfolded and won’t see the item at all
The participant will be asked to take a photo of the item and a photo of me handling it, but won’t let me see the item. They will also write a paragraph about the item, and why they chose it.
I’ll handle the object for no more than 5 mins
I will record my comments during the touching sessions so I can make notes afterwards.
The object will be removed immediately, so I don’t see it.
Following this I will create an image based on my feelings of touching the object, which will include colour, state, feelings etc.
I won’t see any of the objects until after all images are complete. (my husband has agreed to collect the images of the items and me handling them and keep them save until the assignment is finished)
Each image must be finished before attempting the next item (I think this is necessary so that individual images aren’t influenced by other items)

I will use this methodology with the first item as a test, it may need to be amended based on my findings, but this feels like a good place to start

The brief for participants can be read here