Learning Points

I did not take many photographs during the event last weekend, although I was spending 2 days talking nothing but photography, taking pictures were not really a part of it.   But, I took a few. They show a diverse group of people having a really good time.  In particular the final image in the sequence is the happiest I have looked for a really long time.

This post is intended to reflect on what I learnt whilst at the event, knowledge that can be taken forward to inform my future work and perhaps change how I address Social Documentary over the coming year.  I start with a more profound observation, at least for me, and that is that I was more relaxed and happy last weekend than I have been for many months.  As I have documented previously, my work load has been grinding me down, stress  has climbed and I have been simply lurching from one week to another trying to hold it all together.  OK, I still need a job and am not nearly close enough to retirement to take the early option, but I must find a way to maintain the good vibe from Leeds and reduce the stress.  Work is not the problem, it is stress, Leeds was mentally demanding and pretty full on for two days, but it was fun.  I learned some time ago that pressure that can be handled is good, it is pressure that cannot be handled that turns into stress and brings with it the health risks we are so familiar with today.

Salvation comes in the form of a camera and a renewed spirit of not letting the buggers grind me down.  Like many other corporate citizens I get pulled into endless hours of conference calls which demand my time but not a great deal of engagement.  I will start to push back unless there is a real need.  Another simple trick is to replace time wasting activities with ones that either add value or simply go do something else for me.  Hence the camera.  This week my doctor informed me of the need of middle aged men to take some bloody exercise.  I live in an interesting place, an hour a day wandering the streets with my camera will help my health, but also contribute to my course work.

Returning to the topic at hand, the goal of this post is to record a number of points reflecting learning from the weekend.  I want an itemized list versus prose as this will enable me to more easily look back at this post and see what I have taken on board.  So here are the key things I learned from the event:

1. Multimedia is an essential element of modern photographic practice.  So far I have been reluctant to engage with new media, preferring instead to create photographic documents reminiscent of the film era.  Consider the inclusion of voxpop in "Die Muenchener", but be careful, this can be badly overdone.
2. Creating innovative and creative photographic work does not necessarily require a camera and physical presence, appropriation and then further manipulation of imagery can generate new and interesting work
3. Images are Texts, they are read by the viewer and interpreted within their value system, not necessarily that of the photographer. It is, however, possible to build within an image meaning beyond the superficial reading.  I need to think about this when composing and then editing my images.  I tend to look more at structure than meaning.
4. Psychology might help me to understand how a photograph is perceived by the viewer.  I need to get a basic introduction to psychology.  In a sense I need to learn how to direct the reading of my work, not simply leave it to the viewer.
5. For my work the photobook is the destination.  This is reinforcement of an already held belief.  However, I need to rethink my strategy somewhat, Blurb is good for the present, but I want complete visual control and so need to look at self printing and use a book binder to finish the work for me.  A Laserprinter is on the way to make producing marquettes easier - it even does duplex.
6. Projects can be very long term, it might take years to develop and complete a body of work. This is also something I already buy into, but I do need to develop deeper and more compelling ideas.

Some of these are very personal, others in the room may have a completely different list - indeed if we all go away and do the same thing it would be a little tedious.  There are fewer points than I expected, but perhaps that is also a good thing, starved of personal contact on a remote learning degree, it is easy to place too much emphasis on the small amount of group learning that is possible.