- Accent - I want to take a still life of an object against the Orangey tones of the wood of our dining table
- Accent - yellow flower against sky (I attempted this at the weekend but I'm not satisfied with what I took)
- Complimentary - I need to take the vase in the window again
- Contrast - can't think of anything for this!!!!
Tuesday 11 June 2013
Assignment 3 - remaining photographs
So I've started on Assignment 3 again and still have some images to capture. I went out at the weekend to get some landscape and flowers, but had mixed success. Remaining to take photographs for are:
Monday 10 June 2013
Taking photographs
I was out taking photographs this weekend and it struck me that I actually feel that my photography has got worse since I started the course. I think this is for a number of reasons:
1. Part of the process I'm going through is about un-learning some of my previous conceptions of what made a good photograph. This means that I'm having to go back to basics to find out what I think works and what doesn't work.
2. Previously I used to go out and shoot the big fish - i.e. I'd find out where the big fish were (usually by looking at other people's work on flickr, finding the location and then visiting it in order to pretty much recreate the shot. This was effective, but kind of cheating.
3. I'm now comparing my work against genuinely good photographers as opposed to people on flickr, so my work is worse, relatively as well as absolutely.
One productive conclusion that I came to was that as I might often be unsure of the precise photograph I was trying to capture, I should probably be comfortable that I need to consider my first visit to a location or subject as a scouting mission, where I can learn about what works and doesn't work without feeling the pressure to actually capture assignment ready photographs. I can then return to the location/subject with more focus and control.
1. Part of the process I'm going through is about un-learning some of my previous conceptions of what made a good photograph. This means that I'm having to go back to basics to find out what I think works and what doesn't work.
2. Previously I used to go out and shoot the big fish - i.e. I'd find out where the big fish were (usually by looking at other people's work on flickr, finding the location and then visiting it in order to pretty much recreate the shot. This was effective, but kind of cheating.
3. I'm now comparing my work against genuinely good photographers as opposed to people on flickr, so my work is worse, relatively as well as absolutely.
One productive conclusion that I came to was that as I might often be unsure of the precise photograph I was trying to capture, I should probably be comfortable that I need to consider my first visit to a location or subject as a scouting mission, where I can learn about what works and doesn't work without feeling the pressure to actually capture assignment ready photographs. I can then return to the location/subject with more focus and control.
Richard Misrach - Pace Macgill Gallery
Of all the exhibitions I went to see in New York, this was the one I was most excited about after I'd seen details of it online. I think I'd seen some of the photographs before - or maybe it was from the first series of beach shots by Misrach- and I'd liked them,but the reason why I was most intrigued was because of the size of the prints. In the Deadpan chapter in "The Photograph as Contemporary Art" it talks about the importance of size of the prints and I'd been looking forward to seeing photographs at this scale - here was my chance.
The series was called "On The Beach 2.0" and consisted of large and detailed photographs of people on the beach and in the sea taken from above (presumably in a helicopter). The most compelling photographs to me were those of the sea. They stood at about 8 feet tall and really towered over you as you viewed them.
Some of the photographs were just of the sea, in various lights. 3 of these were presented next to each other, they were subtly but significantly different - more variety of the sea could have been captured, but instead it looked like it was the same sea, same day, just a few hours apart. It had a strange emotional effect to stand in front of them. The power, immensity and beauty of the sea was somehow captured and boxed and presented for view. It was strangely evocative of experiencing the beauty of the sea in it's real form - even though it was from a perspective that is not usually seen. It seemed to bring back the experience and emotion of seeing the sea.
Other sea photographs actually contained a human figure in the centre of the picture. Sometimes the figures weren't immediately obvious, instead what you see first is a disturbance in the sea,which then invites you to step closer to the photograph, and then closer still, with each step you expect to find that the photograph has stopped working and has somehow become distorted (e.g. pixelated), or become an exercise at looking at the medium (like looking close at an oil painting in order to investigate brush strokes), but instead you find yourself looking at a small segment of the picture, which works perfectly at this close range due to the detail captured in the print - in fact you could cut an 8" x 10" segment out and put it in a separate frame. I found this whole experience fascinating and truly novel - it was like looking at the photo on 2 completely different planes, I was stepping back and forth in order to experience each plane.
These photographs were also very emotive. For me they caused me to contemplate the nature of identity, of individuality, of man's role in nature and the act of contemplation and reflection itself.
The series was called "On The Beach 2.0" and consisted of large and detailed photographs of people on the beach and in the sea taken from above (presumably in a helicopter). The most compelling photographs to me were those of the sea. They stood at about 8 feet tall and really towered over you as you viewed them.
Some of the photographs were just of the sea, in various lights. 3 of these were presented next to each other, they were subtly but significantly different - more variety of the sea could have been captured, but instead it looked like it was the same sea, same day, just a few hours apart. It had a strange emotional effect to stand in front of them. The power, immensity and beauty of the sea was somehow captured and boxed and presented for view. It was strangely evocative of experiencing the beauty of the sea in it's real form - even though it was from a perspective that is not usually seen. It seemed to bring back the experience and emotion of seeing the sea.
Other sea photographs actually contained a human figure in the centre of the picture. Sometimes the figures weren't immediately obvious, instead what you see first is a disturbance in the sea,which then invites you to step closer to the photograph, and then closer still, with each step you expect to find that the photograph has stopped working and has somehow become distorted (e.g. pixelated), or become an exercise at looking at the medium (like looking close at an oil painting in order to investigate brush strokes), but instead you find yourself looking at a small segment of the picture, which works perfectly at this close range due to the detail captured in the print - in fact you could cut an 8" x 10" segment out and put it in a separate frame. I found this whole experience fascinating and truly novel - it was like looking at the photo on 2 completely different planes, I was stepping back and forth in order to experience each plane.
These photographs were also very emotive. For me they caused me to contemplate the nature of identity, of individuality, of man's role in nature and the act of contemplation and reflection itself.
Sunday 9 June 2013
Miles Aldridge - Steven Kasher Gallery
In honesty I probably wouldn't have visited this gallery if I wasn't already visiting galleries in the same location. I think the work would fit under the tableau genre/style, which I generally find a little difficult to engage with.
To my understanding the work was playing with female role stereotypes - particularly that of the domestic, but passively sexually attractive mother and housewife. The subjects/characters seem to be breaking out of the constraints of former passivity - but seem to be doing pretty well at looking like fashion models as they do it. The work is highly colourful, glossy, polished - everything is perfectly placed, hair and make-up remain nicely in place.
Overall they look like fashion shots. If I was a woman I'm not sure I'd be particularly grateful of the roles being foisted on me by society being toyed with (and regenerated?) in this way, I think I'd want art to be more direct in destroying them.
The shots were interesting, but (to me), not inspiring.
To my understanding the work was playing with female role stereotypes - particularly that of the domestic, but passively sexually attractive mother and housewife. The subjects/characters seem to be breaking out of the constraints of former passivity - but seem to be doing pretty well at looking like fashion models as they do it. The work is highly colourful, glossy, polished - everything is perfectly placed, hair and make-up remain nicely in place.
Overall they look like fashion shots. If I was a woman I'm not sure I'd be particularly grateful of the roles being foisted on me by society being toyed with (and regenerated?) in this way, I think I'd want art to be more direct in destroying them.
The shots were interesting, but (to me), not inspiring.
Friday 7 June 2013
Terry Evans - Yancey Richardson Gallery
This was the first of the private galleries that I went to. I was surprised at how open and inviting it was and that I could just wander round completely at my own pace without any questioning or interference. All the galleries that I went to after were just as good in this respect.
These works by Terry Evans were square, black and white aerial landscape views. I was at first unsure whether they were models rather than real landscapes. They had little to no human context and it was difficult to grasp scale. As such the photographs had a very graphical focus, this was emphasised by the rich tones and lighting.
There wasa sliky quality to the shots, contrast was reasonably high but there was still detail in the images (I'm guessing they were medium or large format).
There was no obvious political or philosophical statement here - except maybe about mans imprint on the landscape. In this regard it did raise interesting questions - does man have any impact/significance, negative or otherwise - but offered opposing answers
One of the shots literally made me gasp because it was so strikingly beautiful. It consisted of a road (possibly a highway/motorway), which swept itself across undulating hills. The light was that of a setting sun - the road almost glistened and the hills cast shadows on the grass. It was at once abstract and also emotive of real world experience.
These works by Terry Evans were square, black and white aerial landscape views. I was at first unsure whether they were models rather than real landscapes. They had little to no human context and it was difficult to grasp scale. As such the photographs had a very graphical focus, this was emphasised by the rich tones and lighting.
There wasa sliky quality to the shots, contrast was reasonably high but there was still detail in the images (I'm guessing they were medium or large format).
There was no obvious political or philosophical statement here - except maybe about mans imprint on the landscape. In this regard it did raise interesting questions - does man have any impact/significance, negative or otherwise - but offered opposing answers
One of the shots literally made me gasp because it was so strikingly beautiful. It consisted of a road (possibly a highway/motorway), which swept itself across undulating hills. The light was that of a setting sun - the road almost glistened and the hills cast shadows on the grass. It was at once abstract and also emotive of real world experience.
Wednesday 5 June 2013
Martin Parr, Jason Evans - Aperture
I was again struck by the irony of being in New York, attending an art gallery and seeing an exhibition of a very British photographer - in this instance Martin Parr and his "Life's a Beach" series. As with the Paul Graham pieces I was reminded of my youth (days out in Mabblethorpe!),and struck by the inherently 70's colour palate - which is great but I'm troubled as to how to take inspiration from this without being retro. It was interesting how the more recent photographs looked inherently less compelling from a colour perspective, they also had a more digital feel about them which wasn't as emotive as the earlier shots.
The series was taken over a number of years, including shots of approx a year ago. The prints were at varied sizes, but some were reasonably large. In comparison with some of the other exhibitions I went to the prints were not displayed as consistently across the series - I felt this made the viewing experience less engaging and immersive.
I was fortunate to be in listening range of a guide talking some visitors through the exhibition. However, I was struck by lack of detail commentary of composition, use of colour or purpose. Instead the commentary was more foussed on subject, location and culture. This often seems to be the case, which I think is unfortunate. One interesting comment however was that Parr is a colector of holiday postcards - I think this insight provides a new perspective on his interest in his subjects.
As is often the case with street photography I was struck with wondering how candid these photographs were - clearly some of then would have involved conversations with the subjects before the photograph (I don't think they were intended to look otherwise - this was particularly the case with the more recent shots in Thailand), but others look like they're supposed be candid, but I wonder whether they are. The shot below is the prime example of this - it's hilarious (as well as being a great composition), but I find it difficult to believe that it's not setup.
Jason Evans
There were a lot of quite academic/philosophical concepts at play here which I think I'd need to read about in more detail in order to understand and comment on. However, they key feature was the placement of coloured round stickers which the artist had placed onto the prints. This had an interesting effect of emphasising the 2 dimensional surface layer of the 3 dimensional image. This was both an interesting idea and also made for an interesting viewing experience as the eye moved within the image and also onto the surface of the image itself.
???
I'm not sure who the artist was (think I'll write to Aperture to find out), but actually the most interesting photograph I saw in Aperture was by an artist who had compiled a montage of sunsets from photographs posted on Flickr. This was both visually engaging and a really intriguing and thought provoking idea. The colours were obviously warm, but also varied, and the almost polkadot patterned composition caused a smile as you moved closer to it and realised what the dots were - suns!
For me this piece raised questions about the nature of shared photography; the consistency and universality of this subject from photographs all across the globe; the consistency underlying a very individually felt and expressed experience (i.e. watching the sunset); ethics of consumption of other people's shared work/photographs/experience etc etc etc. It was one of the most interesting pieces I saw while I was in New York.
Tuesday 4 June 2013
MoMA
I saw work from a number of photographers at MoMA, here are a few thoughts and reflections.
Dora Maurer
These pieces studied and reflected on the nature of movement and perspective. Details of perspectives were included as part of the piece.Geometry and mathematics were a crucial consideration within the work. The resulting pieces were almost montaged together.
Tracing Space I and Tracing II were of most interest to me. They presented interesting ideas in relation to the Part 4 Assignment which involves taking a single subject under multiple lighting conditions.
Stephen Shore
There were a few pieces by this influential colour photographer. The most interesting was recently shot in Ukraine of a family bathing on the shore of a lake.
Oscar Munoz
The piece disaplyed was called "Game of Probabilities". It involved 12 identity photographs which had been taken of the artist over a number of years. Munoz had then cut these into strips, woven the strips together and then rephotographed them. I thought this was a fairly direct and fascinating piece which questioned the ability of photography to represent a person over time as well as a comment on the nature of identity and time. In addition, it was compelling from a purely aesthetic perspective.
However, it did make me wonder whether the approach was somewhat dated (think it was complete in 2007), as the challenge/question now is about the transigence of identity and representation in the digital realm.
Bill Brandt
There was a significant selection of Bill Brandt's work on display. For me, some of the most interesting pieces were of his nude studies. These high contrast images, often taken at close range and with exaggerated perspective really emphasize the form of the figure in a very graphical way. The shots are driven by shadow and light. Many of the photographs were taken on the beach, but others were taken in domestic settings - which actually make the photographs seem dangerously close to vintage porn...! However, the work is at most subtly erotic.
I've never been particularly interested in nude photography, but I did find this set interesting.
Paul Graham
A number of pieces were displayed from Graham's piece on the A1. The presence of this work kind of made me laugh - I'd come all the way to New York to see something of the history of American street photography and instead was faced with something intrinsically and passionately British, which on the occasions I've seen it before has always reminded me of my own childhood.
However, it was good to see these pieces in the flesh. The photos were surprisingly small, but this made the colours seem even bolder and impressive, especially when the pieces were viewed in quick succession or at the same time.
From a personal perspective as a photographer I kind of get troubled by colour photography from this period though. I worry that it work so well because of the period itself - the colours from the 70's and early 80's were typically more bold and garish. In addition, the photographs seem to work from a nostalgic perspective. These things combined make me wonder how a photographer can produce similarly effective work in current times.
Dora Maurer
These pieces studied and reflected on the nature of movement and perspective. Details of perspectives were included as part of the piece.Geometry and mathematics were a crucial consideration within the work. The resulting pieces were almost montaged together.
Tracing Space I and Tracing II were of most interest to me. They presented interesting ideas in relation to the Part 4 Assignment which involves taking a single subject under multiple lighting conditions.
Stephen Shore
There were a few pieces by this influential colour photographer. The most interesting was recently shot in Ukraine of a family bathing on the shore of a lake.
Oscar Munoz
The piece disaplyed was called "Game of Probabilities". It involved 12 identity photographs which had been taken of the artist over a number of years. Munoz had then cut these into strips, woven the strips together and then rephotographed them. I thought this was a fairly direct and fascinating piece which questioned the ability of photography to represent a person over time as well as a comment on the nature of identity and time. In addition, it was compelling from a purely aesthetic perspective.
However, it did make me wonder whether the approach was somewhat dated (think it was complete in 2007), as the challenge/question now is about the transigence of identity and representation in the digital realm.
Bill Brandt
There was a significant selection of Bill Brandt's work on display. For me, some of the most interesting pieces were of his nude studies. These high contrast images, often taken at close range and with exaggerated perspective really emphasize the form of the figure in a very graphical way. The shots are driven by shadow and light. Many of the photographs were taken on the beach, but others were taken in domestic settings - which actually make the photographs seem dangerously close to vintage porn...! However, the work is at most subtly erotic.
I've never been particularly interested in nude photography, but I did find this set interesting.
Paul Graham
A number of pieces were displayed from Graham's piece on the A1. The presence of this work kind of made me laugh - I'd come all the way to New York to see something of the history of American street photography and instead was faced with something intrinsically and passionately British, which on the occasions I've seen it before has always reminded me of my own childhood.
However, it was good to see these pieces in the flesh. The photos were surprisingly small, but this made the colours seem even bolder and impressive, especially when the pieces were viewed in quick succession or at the same time.
From a personal perspective as a photographer I kind of get troubled by colour photography from this period though. I worry that it work so well because of the period itself - the colours from the 70's and early 80's were typically more bold and garish. In addition, the photographs seem to work from a nostalgic perspective. These things combined make me wonder how a photographer can produce similarly effective work in current times.
Monday 3 June 2013
Trip to New York
Over the next week or so I'm going to put up a bunch of posts about exhibitions I saw in New York, however I thought it worth putting up a general post about my holiday from a photography perspective.
So this was a family holiday and in truth I went with little intention to take anything but snaps. This was a bit frustrating as I was repeatedly aware of fantastic photo opportunities sitting there waiting for me. The flip slide was that I was aware of how easy it was to just fall into the trap of taking cliched genre shots - particularly of street scenes. However, I've always loved playing with a well trodden cliche. But even capturing these cliches would have taken time and patience that I didn't have.
I thought I might be able to get some lucky shots for my current Assignment, but soon decided that this was best forgotten as it would become frustrating for my family and then myself.
However, I really didn't want to miss up the opportunity of visiting some of the art galleries. The obvious one was MoMA as it features in so much of what I read. I managed to convince my wife and family to attend as well - though they did walk round at a different pace to me.... Overall I was a bit disappointed as I was expecting more from the archive and a greater number of photographers represented, it was also extremely busy.
I was also staying just round the corner from the Aperture offices so managed to visit their gallery on a particularly rainy afternoon when everyone else wanted to hangout in the hotel.
My wife and kids also then decided that they wanted to go and see a matinee of the Spider-man musical and I was given the option (which I took), of taking some more time for myself visiting some more galleries.
I did some research on other galleries it was worth visiting - surprisingly other than MoMA they were all private galleries (so nothing in Guggenheim!?), but many were in the same area as Aperture (Chelsea) and so I was able to visit these the following day.
There were undoubtedly a whole bunch of other galleries that I could have attended, but it was fantastic to be able to go to these galleries in the Chelsea area, all of which were very quiet and welcoming and contained some really inspirational work.
Viewing this amount of work in different galleries gave me a new perspective on this means of viewing photography. The size of the work starts to have far more bearing on the work itself, as does the ability to really linger on a set of work one piece at a time or scanning across multiple images at the same time, drifting from one back to the other, viewing from a dinstance or stepping in really close. All of this is very different to the act viewing digital images (often of mixed quality and size) over the internet - it feels very static and stale in comparison to the gallery experience.
So this was a family holiday and in truth I went with little intention to take anything but snaps. This was a bit frustrating as I was repeatedly aware of fantastic photo opportunities sitting there waiting for me. The flip slide was that I was aware of how easy it was to just fall into the trap of taking cliched genre shots - particularly of street scenes. However, I've always loved playing with a well trodden cliche. But even capturing these cliches would have taken time and patience that I didn't have.
I thought I might be able to get some lucky shots for my current Assignment, but soon decided that this was best forgotten as it would become frustrating for my family and then myself.
However, I really didn't want to miss up the opportunity of visiting some of the art galleries. The obvious one was MoMA as it features in so much of what I read. I managed to convince my wife and family to attend as well - though they did walk round at a different pace to me.... Overall I was a bit disappointed as I was expecting more from the archive and a greater number of photographers represented, it was also extremely busy.
I was also staying just round the corner from the Aperture offices so managed to visit their gallery on a particularly rainy afternoon when everyone else wanted to hangout in the hotel.
My wife and kids also then decided that they wanted to go and see a matinee of the Spider-man musical and I was given the option (which I took), of taking some more time for myself visiting some more galleries.
I did some research on other galleries it was worth visiting - surprisingly other than MoMA they were all private galleries (so nothing in Guggenheim!?), but many were in the same area as Aperture (Chelsea) and so I was able to visit these the following day.
There were undoubtedly a whole bunch of other galleries that I could have attended, but it was fantastic to be able to go to these galleries in the Chelsea area, all of which were very quiet and welcoming and contained some really inspirational work.
Viewing this amount of work in different galleries gave me a new perspective on this means of viewing photography. The size of the work starts to have far more bearing on the work itself, as does the ability to really linger on a set of work one piece at a time or scanning across multiple images at the same time, drifting from one back to the other, viewing from a dinstance or stepping in really close. All of this is very different to the act viewing digital images (often of mixed quality and size) over the internet - it feels very static and stale in comparison to the gallery experience.
Sunday 2 June 2013
Back from the break....
So it's been over 4 months since I really did anything for my degree or any kind of photography really. This just kind of happened unintentionally when I got caught up in my other creative hobby (making music - www.soundcloud.com/seb_7), and ended up wanting to spend all my spare time doing that rather than photography. I think the trigger back to photography came from a recent holiday to New York (there will be several blog entries on that coming up), but also simply from the fact that I tend to spend a few months a year on my music (typically spring for some reason) and then tire of it, only to return to it again the following year. Odd. Anyway, now that the drive to create music has subsided there is more space to get back into my photography (if I'm honest, music is my real passion, photography is more of a cerebral activity which involves less personal expression).
I decided not to force myself back onto the course but instead to just wait until I wanted to return to it.
I think one of the things that gave me the confidence to take the break was reading an article on the OCA site about a student who had taken 2 years to do their first Assignment submission. Kind of made me think that I should relax a bit and enjoy things a bit more.
Anyway, I'm going to write up a number of entries to cover my time in New York and then I need to pick up where I left off with Assignment 3. I aim to submit it in July.
I decided not to force myself back onto the course but instead to just wait until I wanted to return to it.
I think one of the things that gave me the confidence to take the break was reading an article on the OCA site about a student who had taken 2 years to do their first Assignment submission. Kind of made me think that I should relax a bit and enjoy things a bit more.
Anyway, I'm going to write up a number of entries to cover my time in New York and then I need to pick up where I left off with Assignment 3. I aim to submit it in July.
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