Anyone who has been reading this blog will by now be aware that this has been a very challenging course, one that has stretched me to the limit and tested my commitment. More than once I contemplated simply stepping away from the course, to either start a different path or quit entirely. However, my previous tutor for Landscape told me that I needed to do this course and my respect for his views coupled with the excellent support from my current tutor kept me on path. A few days ago I packaged together the prints, essay, tutor comments, and my responses into a 4 Kg box that just arrived in Barnsley for assessment. Yesterday, I enrolled on Level 3. So this course did not kill me or worse than that cause me to quit the OCA. But, what did it do?
Putting aside the fact that the course is old and lacks the intellectual rigor I need at this stage, the subject matter was a real problem. I do not have a problem photographing people, with or without their consent, however, people increasingly have a problem with me photographing them. Not me specifically, anyone! During Social Documentary I ran right into the fact that society has changed in it's attitude towards photography, and in particular German society. I experienced an increasing sense of hostility towards me, at times dangerously so. Cameras seem to be increasingly seen as a tool of surveillance and threat. Perhaps this stems from the fact that smartphones are the modern imaging instrument of choice. "Real" cameras are used by professionals and what is a professional doing photographing me? In Germany it is illegal to publish a photograph of a person without their written consent. Publish, means any form of dissemination in print or web form. I feel that this prohibition is gradually extending to the idea that the act of photographing someone without their permission is illegal. It isn't. However, it is now a major breach of politeness and even offensive to photograph a person without their permission. This then translates to many taking issue, even violently so to being photographed.
Complying with the project and assignment structure of Social Documentary became progressively more difficult. I solved the problem in Assignment 1 by photographing myself, written permission obtained. In Assignment 2 I mostly photographed drunk people, who in the main did not care, but were also slower than me if offense was taken. By assignment 4 I was growing weary of the hostility and it began to show in my imagery as I became more distant, more voyeuristic, maintaining space between myself and my subjects. Arriving at Assignment 5 I finally solved the problem, stop photographing people, but still describe society.
This was the key learning point from the course, if taking pictures of people is too challenging in a society that values privacy above all else, stop doing it. As a photographer I must work with the zeitgeist of the environment within which I find myself. If Germany prohibits the candid image then make that a part of my work. Either get right into peoples face and work the reaction, risky, but interesting or make absence of people the point. Looking at successful contemporary German photographic artists, none are doing street photography, people are either clearly complicit in the images or they are entirely absent. Gursky's work springs to mind. Even those artists such as Thomas Struth who take images of crowds of people (Gallery work) do it outside Germany!
I live in Germany and must respect German societal norms even if they get in my way. The trick is to work with those norms, to use them to make artistic statements that interest people. Where this brings me as a photographer I am not sure, but it will be a major element of how I approach my final year work, Perhaps this will drive me back towards Landscape, I truly do not know, but this investigation will form one of the first things I plan to do as I start Level 3.
So to conclude Social Documentary, the key learning was to stop taking photographs of people without their permission and if that means no longer photographing people, so be it!
Showing posts with label Reflection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reflection. Show all posts
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Looking for Inspiration and rediscovering Art
With assignment 5 now completed, it is time to think a little about where I am, where I have been and where I am going. This post is not a "formal" reflection on the course, rather it reflects upon a very disturbing realization. During the 2 years it took me to complete SocDoc I did not visit a gallery or engage in any way with the broader world of art. I became very inward looking and insular, somehow trapped in a soulless cave of introspection and angst. As I look back on the train wreck that my degree studies have become the lack of engagement with the art world stands out. However, this is something that can be easily fixed and on Friday I started what I hope is a kind of healing process and re-engagement with visual art.
I took a day off and walked across the city to the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich's modern art gallery. Specifically I went to see the following exhibition:
http://www.pinakothek.de/en/kalender/2014-04-02/43330/people-river-landscape
August Sander was an early discovery for me in my study of photography, a man who created a unique body of work that attempted to catalog the German people through a series of portraits that captured the differing professions and classes present in 1920s Germany. He was vilified by the Nazis who destroyed the plates for the book he created and sadly much of his original work was destroyed by an allied bombing raid. However, some original work remains and once again it was a thrilling experience to get close to works of art about which I had read so much.
Munich has a group of 5 art museums, 4 of which are co-located and make up an area called the Kunst Arreal. Each houses a different body of work, generally moving from past to present from museum to museum. For 90 Euros it is possible to get a pass that gets you into any of them, including special exhibits for a period of a year - good value, but only if you go frequently. Well, that is my plan. Next weekend I shall be back as the Brandhorst museum has a major Richard Avedon exhibit. Not exactly my thing, but fabulous to get a chance to see work by a major artist.
Just visiting the Pinakothek der Moderne is a joy, the building is wonderful and the space is always filled with something or another, this time straw bails littered the lawn outside, but made of plastic drinking straws rather than the more traditional material. Hard to do justice in a photo, but these objects supplied colour and humor to the museum entrance.
I am also unable to not take photographs of the fabric of the museum, it has featured in a fair number of courses and assignment submissions.
The museum is predominantly focused on modern art of the 20th century, from paintings and sculpture, through to room sized installations, such as the magical light sculptures below. Created by Dan Flavin, there is something about a sculpture of light that appeals to me as a photographer, I try to capture and describe light, Flavin's work creates it. The work also had a strange affect on the eyes, leaving the room everything was a rose pink, that over a couple of seconds white balanced back to normality. The art had not only impressed with its shape and form but it also changed how my brain interpreted colour, questioning reality and revealing that what we see is merely an interpretation of the mind.
Another key benefit of visiting art galleries is to look at how work is presented, how artists assemble their vision for exhibition. These strangely childlike drawings became more powerful when displayed as a block of images spanning a 10 meter wide wall. Individually they are a little banal, together they are fascinating.
However, the most marvelous discovery from my visit was finding that the museum has changed its hanging policy for its photography collection. Mixed in among the sculptures and paintings were small groups of photographs, the ones below are Lewis Baltz. I always knew that the museum had a strong photograph collection, but not as good as this. I like the fact that they are not poked away in a side gallery, but hung alongside work by Picasso. In doing so the gallery gives equal predominance to photography as a medium and provides a through provoking arrangement.
Among the work was Lee Friedlander:
Boris Michailov
And most surprisingly, Diane Arbus. The photo below has that awkwardness so characteristic of Arbus, people are presented as oddities rather than human beings.
However, the point of the visit was to see original work by August Sander. Below is my personal favorite and a photo so characteristic of his honest and revealing style. The subject confronts the camera and is clearly going about his daily work. The contrast is powerful and the engagement with the subject clearly present.
Accompanying the works by Sanders were photographs by other German artists who have grown up with his influence. Most obvious of all is the work of the Becher's their industrial typologies echoing Sanders catalog of German people. Their approach also echos the work of Sanders, very factual, front on imagery that also finds its power in being hung as a series. Individually these are strong images, but collectively they are more. They invite inspection and comparison.
In the theme of inspiration, work was also present from the Becher's strudents, Thomas Struth
And a huge surprise, Rhien II by Andres Gursky. Rhein II was the topic of my Landscape essay and to find it here was a huge surprise. I knew that Gursky was in the exhibit, but not this piece, still the most valuable photograph (by auction price). Seeing it on a wall and experiencing the immensity of the print finally brought home its value to me. Although at face value a very simple image standing in front of it, it is immersive. It draws you into the landscape and holds the gaze. There is no where to go, I felt as if I was flowing in the space above the river. magical...
However, the exhibit was about Sander and his landscape work, which whilst impressive in its own right did not compare to the series of beautiful portraits. This is a fine example of German farm lads dressed up well for a day in town perhaps. Living here, I can see the echoes of those faces when I am also in the countryside. The photo is very candid and honest.
It was good to re-engage with art once more, Friday reminded me of why I was doing this degree and brought a feeling of euphoria in rediscovery.
The day after was another art experience. Each year in Munich, artists in the Schwabing district open the doors to there workshops and studios, inviting the public to join them and see where they work rather than look at the final product. Heidi and I spent an enjoyable couple of hours wandering from studio to studio. After seeing the work in the gallery this experience further reinforced the sense of wanting to be an artist and a need to strat making my own work once more. Quite what is another story, but I feel I am getting back on track.
I took a day off and walked across the city to the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich's modern art gallery. Specifically I went to see the following exhibition:
http://www.pinakothek.de/en/kalender/2014-04-02/43330/people-river-landscape
August Sander was an early discovery for me in my study of photography, a man who created a unique body of work that attempted to catalog the German people through a series of portraits that captured the differing professions and classes present in 1920s Germany. He was vilified by the Nazis who destroyed the plates for the book he created and sadly much of his original work was destroyed by an allied bombing raid. However, some original work remains and once again it was a thrilling experience to get close to works of art about which I had read so much.
Munich has a group of 5 art museums, 4 of which are co-located and make up an area called the Kunst Arreal. Each houses a different body of work, generally moving from past to present from museum to museum. For 90 Euros it is possible to get a pass that gets you into any of them, including special exhibits for a period of a year - good value, but only if you go frequently. Well, that is my plan. Next weekend I shall be back as the Brandhorst museum has a major Richard Avedon exhibit. Not exactly my thing, but fabulous to get a chance to see work by a major artist.
Just visiting the Pinakothek der Moderne is a joy, the building is wonderful and the space is always filled with something or another, this time straw bails littered the lawn outside, but made of plastic drinking straws rather than the more traditional material. Hard to do justice in a photo, but these objects supplied colour and humor to the museum entrance.
I am also unable to not take photographs of the fabric of the museum, it has featured in a fair number of courses and assignment submissions.
The museum is predominantly focused on modern art of the 20th century, from paintings and sculpture, through to room sized installations, such as the magical light sculptures below. Created by Dan Flavin, there is something about a sculpture of light that appeals to me as a photographer, I try to capture and describe light, Flavin's work creates it. The work also had a strange affect on the eyes, leaving the room everything was a rose pink, that over a couple of seconds white balanced back to normality. The art had not only impressed with its shape and form but it also changed how my brain interpreted colour, questioning reality and revealing that what we see is merely an interpretation of the mind.
Another key benefit of visiting art galleries is to look at how work is presented, how artists assemble their vision for exhibition. These strangely childlike drawings became more powerful when displayed as a block of images spanning a 10 meter wide wall. Individually they are a little banal, together they are fascinating.
However, the most marvelous discovery from my visit was finding that the museum has changed its hanging policy for its photography collection. Mixed in among the sculptures and paintings were small groups of photographs, the ones below are Lewis Baltz. I always knew that the museum had a strong photograph collection, but not as good as this. I like the fact that they are not poked away in a side gallery, but hung alongside work by Picasso. In doing so the gallery gives equal predominance to photography as a medium and provides a through provoking arrangement.
Among the work was Lee Friedlander:
Boris Michailov
And most surprisingly, Diane Arbus. The photo below has that awkwardness so characteristic of Arbus, people are presented as oddities rather than human beings.
However, the point of the visit was to see original work by August Sander. Below is my personal favorite and a photo so characteristic of his honest and revealing style. The subject confronts the camera and is clearly going about his daily work. The contrast is powerful and the engagement with the subject clearly present.
Accompanying the works by Sanders were photographs by other German artists who have grown up with his influence. Most obvious of all is the work of the Becher's their industrial typologies echoing Sanders catalog of German people. Their approach also echos the work of Sanders, very factual, front on imagery that also finds its power in being hung as a series. Individually these are strong images, but collectively they are more. They invite inspection and comparison.
In the theme of inspiration, work was also present from the Becher's strudents, Thomas Struth
Thomas Ruff
And a huge surprise, Rhien II by Andres Gursky. Rhein II was the topic of my Landscape essay and to find it here was a huge surprise. I knew that Gursky was in the exhibit, but not this piece, still the most valuable photograph (by auction price). Seeing it on a wall and experiencing the immensity of the print finally brought home its value to me. Although at face value a very simple image standing in front of it, it is immersive. It draws you into the landscape and holds the gaze. There is no where to go, I felt as if I was flowing in the space above the river. magical...
However, the exhibit was about Sander and his landscape work, which whilst impressive in its own right did not compare to the series of beautiful portraits. This is a fine example of German farm lads dressed up well for a day in town perhaps. Living here, I can see the echoes of those faces when I am also in the countryside. The photo is very candid and honest.
It was good to re-engage with art once more, Friday reminded me of why I was doing this degree and brought a feeling of euphoria in rediscovery.
The day after was another art experience. Each year in Munich, artists in the Schwabing district open the doors to there workshops and studios, inviting the public to join them and see where they work rather than look at the final product. Heidi and I spent an enjoyable couple of hours wandering from studio to studio. After seeing the work in the gallery this experience further reinforced the sense of wanting to be an artist and a need to strat making my own work once more. Quite what is another story, but I feel I am getting back on track.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Social Landscape
Whilst this course is very much orientated towards the human image as a document of society, I am more interested in the affect of society on the landscape we inhabit and conversely how the landscape reflects the society we live in. Living in a city I am in a landscape that is very much a product of society, the buildings and streets reflect how we order the world and how we want others to see our impact on that world. Munich is an old city, with a long and rich, sometimes violent, history. This is reflected in the fabric of the buildings that constitute the city. Turning a corner you can go from the ultra modern to the medieval, then find yourself in woodland. The majority of the work I have done as a student with the OCA has used Munich as a backdrop, I am lucky to live in such a richly varied place.
I am becoming increasingly conscious of change, noticing how the pace is accelerating. I embrace the change, I am a technophile working for a large computer company. I just spent the last two days integrating a new 4TB drive into my computer, updating my Lightroom setup, and then adjusting my backup schedule to accommodate it. Over Christmas I installed a network aware weather station that sends updates on the CO2 level, temperature, and humidity in my home to the internet. I can then monitor my homes micro-climate from my phone anywhere in the world. I really enjoy the technical challenge of making it all work together, but at the same time have nagging doubts about whether we move too fast. Is it a good thing that my 3 year god daughter learned how to play games on her iPad before learning to speak?
I find that I want to say something about this, to explore how the world around me is changing, not to protest, but at least to comment. This brings me back to the city and the area I live in. I moved to my current home 7 years ago, in the cheap end of the high rent Bogenhausen district. Just North of my home is an area of streets filled with large expensive homes, costing many millions and inhabited by Footballers, Lawyers, and Bankers. It is where Eva Braun lived before meeting her doom. Most evenings we take a walk and jokingly discuss which house we would like to buy if we won the Lotto, actually most are beyond even that wealth. Over the years many of the original houses have been replaced by new ones. Germans view old houses as used houses and frequently will buy an old house to knock it down and build something tailored to themselves.
It struck me that there was a way to image this change and present a view of what was happening in the area. Google maps imaged the streets in 2008 creating a time stamped visual record of the buildings as they then looked. This would enable a 5 Years later on view of how the urban landscape was changing, using this modern technology to look back in time. I created a set of 11 images of buildings that I knew had changed by screen grabbing from Google and printed them 4 to a page. The rest was simply a walk around with my camera using the Google prints as a guide for location and camera position. I have attempted to get the view similar but not the same, the vantage point and the panoramic stitch used by Google defeat an exact comparison.
Importing the lot into Lightroom and creating pairs of photos using the print function to print to JPG, I ended up with the following pairs of images, each separated by roughly 5 years, well 5 and a half, summer plays winter.
Some rather nice 1930s houses are vanishing, ironically replaced by modernist buildings that are actually based on the 1920s architectural style of the Bauhaus. Pink and Yellow are giving way to a variety of shades of grey and a lot of green space has gone. I don't dislike the new houses, I would love to live in one, they are probably superb living machines, but the character of the area is changing. The softness of age is being replaced by hard edges. It is also noticeable in some cases that low hedges and iron gates are being replaced by high walls and impenetrable hedges. The redistribution of wealth in society from the poor to the rich has struck me as something similar to the change that happened in England as Anglo-Saxon gave way to Norman and the medieval world concentrated wealth in the hands of a tiny aristocracy. These new houses echo the high-walled castles built by the Normans to subdue the English.
This is simply an exploration of a few ideas coupled with a little pseudo political commentary. Might become something, might not.
I am becoming increasingly conscious of change, noticing how the pace is accelerating. I embrace the change, I am a technophile working for a large computer company. I just spent the last two days integrating a new 4TB drive into my computer, updating my Lightroom setup, and then adjusting my backup schedule to accommodate it. Over Christmas I installed a network aware weather station that sends updates on the CO2 level, temperature, and humidity in my home to the internet. I can then monitor my homes micro-climate from my phone anywhere in the world. I really enjoy the technical challenge of making it all work together, but at the same time have nagging doubts about whether we move too fast. Is it a good thing that my 3 year god daughter learned how to play games on her iPad before learning to speak?
I find that I want to say something about this, to explore how the world around me is changing, not to protest, but at least to comment. This brings me back to the city and the area I live in. I moved to my current home 7 years ago, in the cheap end of the high rent Bogenhausen district. Just North of my home is an area of streets filled with large expensive homes, costing many millions and inhabited by Footballers, Lawyers, and Bankers. It is where Eva Braun lived before meeting her doom. Most evenings we take a walk and jokingly discuss which house we would like to buy if we won the Lotto, actually most are beyond even that wealth. Over the years many of the original houses have been replaced by new ones. Germans view old houses as used houses and frequently will buy an old house to knock it down and build something tailored to themselves.
It struck me that there was a way to image this change and present a view of what was happening in the area. Google maps imaged the streets in 2008 creating a time stamped visual record of the buildings as they then looked. This would enable a 5 Years later on view of how the urban landscape was changing, using this modern technology to look back in time. I created a set of 11 images of buildings that I knew had changed by screen grabbing from Google and printed them 4 to a page. The rest was simply a walk around with my camera using the Google prints as a guide for location and camera position. I have attempted to get the view similar but not the same, the vantage point and the panoramic stitch used by Google defeat an exact comparison.
Importing the lot into Lightroom and creating pairs of photos using the print function to print to JPG, I ended up with the following pairs of images, each separated by roughly 5 years, well 5 and a half, summer plays winter.
Some rather nice 1930s houses are vanishing, ironically replaced by modernist buildings that are actually based on the 1920s architectural style of the Bauhaus. Pink and Yellow are giving way to a variety of shades of grey and a lot of green space has gone. I don't dislike the new houses, I would love to live in one, they are probably superb living machines, but the character of the area is changing. The softness of age is being replaced by hard edges. It is also noticeable in some cases that low hedges and iron gates are being replaced by high walls and impenetrable hedges. The redistribution of wealth in society from the poor to the rich has struck me as something similar to the change that happened in England as Anglo-Saxon gave way to Norman and the medieval world concentrated wealth in the hands of a tiny aristocracy. These new houses echo the high-walled castles built by the Normans to subdue the English.
This is simply an exploration of a few ideas coupled with a little pseudo political commentary. Might become something, might not.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Kodak Tri-X 400
An odd title for an odd post. A year ago I began shooting film with my new medium format folding camera. I shot 7 rolls of film, took 4 to the camera store, keeping back 3 for me to learn the process of developing, another project that was consigned to the dustbin of overwork. The exposed films sat on a shelf mocking me every time I saw them, a constant reminder of failure.
With my new found enthusiasm and commitment I finally got off my backside and headed down town to Sauter Munich's largest camera shop and one that still actively promotes and supports film photography. OK, I should have developed them myself, but a step at a time. A week later I had a bit of work to do with my scanner. The films were over a year old, so it was quite interesting to see what I was thinking back then. One of the rolls was some nice snow scenes, pretty, but more an exercise in exposure latitude than anything else. The other two, however, were rather interesting.
One of the films was shot on a hard winter day whilst walking along the Isar river. My mood at the time was very bleak, I was struggling with the course and losing confidence in myself as a photographer, I think the photographs reflect that feeling.
I have slightly cropped the first photograph, there was some distracting detail to the right side, however, this is the only photo I have cropped. I find the huge viewfinder allows me to frame more accurately and the square format somehow makes achieving verticals easier.
Once in the trees the bleakness of the landscape really comes out, and again the framing is far more carefully managed than with Digital, every photo was clearly thought about and planned.
There is also something about medium format and the softness of background blur that works for me visually:
The photographs in the woods along the river bank reflect what I was feeling and also perhaps a longing to get back to a more considered approach to photography. I am much more in my element walking slowly and thinking about what it is I want a photograph to present. I enjoy looking at a complex scene and trying to work it out in a photograph, wanting to solve the puzzle of representation. When shooting people I don't have that sense of reflection and have to work far faster than I am comfortable with. I enjoy street work, but am more drawn to the framework of the street rather than the people occupying that space. The people become ornaments, not subjects.
During the past year I have thought a lot on the topic of representation of the world I experience and what I want to say as a photographer. It must be personal and it must somehow capture my world view. I am increasingly disillusioned by the modern corporate world and consumerism and yet at the same time captured by it. I begin to think of myself as an addict trying to kick a habit. The question will be how to translate that feeling into imagery, no answers yet, maybe in a few years I may develop something.
In the mean time my last roll of Tri-X was heading in that direction. I spent some time exploring a very fashionable shopping arcade in the city, the images reflecting an interest in the space and what was on sale there. These are not critical photographs, at least not in the way I present them here. Juxtaposed against some of the urban poverty I also see around me they might have a different meaning. Again, food for thought for future studies.
Really more of an experiment in shape and form, than social commentary. However, these images give me confidence in the capabilities of film and my GF670. There is a different look, the photographs are more considered and I like the texture of the grain in the film, it somehow conveys the physicality of film. I don't buy into much of the psychobabble about film versus digital, but it is certainly different both in practice and result. Better, nope, but there is a value here, I just need to understand it more and work out how and if to include in my workflow.
I also notice in these images and in the final outcome of my Fest project that I work better with melancholy subjects, than with light and joy. I have been trying to avoid the photographic cliche of imaging "The Other", revealing what that is broken in society, rather than seeking what works. I feel there is a risk of continually portraying problems rather than solutions, however, one look at the evening news reveals that we are drawn to bad not good news. My initial thoughts about assignment 4 were to do something bright and happy, people enjoying themselves. I am now questioning this. Not because I think it is wrong, in fact I think it would be a better more real study, but it might not be something I can do well. With Fest, I started in colour celebrating the mad joy of the event, I ended in B&W portraying the casualties. It was clear what worked better. I simply do better making photographs that reflect my mood, and my mood is not a bright one these days.
With my new found enthusiasm and commitment I finally got off my backside and headed down town to Sauter Munich's largest camera shop and one that still actively promotes and supports film photography. OK, I should have developed them myself, but a step at a time. A week later I had a bit of work to do with my scanner. The films were over a year old, so it was quite interesting to see what I was thinking back then. One of the rolls was some nice snow scenes, pretty, but more an exercise in exposure latitude than anything else. The other two, however, were rather interesting.
One of the films was shot on a hard winter day whilst walking along the Isar river. My mood at the time was very bleak, I was struggling with the course and losing confidence in myself as a photographer, I think the photographs reflect that feeling.
I have slightly cropped the first photograph, there was some distracting detail to the right side, however, this is the only photo I have cropped. I find the huge viewfinder allows me to frame more accurately and the square format somehow makes achieving verticals easier.
Once in the trees the bleakness of the landscape really comes out, and again the framing is far more carefully managed than with Digital, every photo was clearly thought about and planned.
There is also something about medium format and the softness of background blur that works for me visually:
The photographs in the woods along the river bank reflect what I was feeling and also perhaps a longing to get back to a more considered approach to photography. I am much more in my element walking slowly and thinking about what it is I want a photograph to present. I enjoy looking at a complex scene and trying to work it out in a photograph, wanting to solve the puzzle of representation. When shooting people I don't have that sense of reflection and have to work far faster than I am comfortable with. I enjoy street work, but am more drawn to the framework of the street rather than the people occupying that space. The people become ornaments, not subjects.
During the past year I have thought a lot on the topic of representation of the world I experience and what I want to say as a photographer. It must be personal and it must somehow capture my world view. I am increasingly disillusioned by the modern corporate world and consumerism and yet at the same time captured by it. I begin to think of myself as an addict trying to kick a habit. The question will be how to translate that feeling into imagery, no answers yet, maybe in a few years I may develop something.
In the mean time my last roll of Tri-X was heading in that direction. I spent some time exploring a very fashionable shopping arcade in the city, the images reflecting an interest in the space and what was on sale there. These are not critical photographs, at least not in the way I present them here. Juxtaposed against some of the urban poverty I also see around me they might have a different meaning. Again, food for thought for future studies.
Really more of an experiment in shape and form, than social commentary. However, these images give me confidence in the capabilities of film and my GF670. There is a different look, the photographs are more considered and I like the texture of the grain in the film, it somehow conveys the physicality of film. I don't buy into much of the psychobabble about film versus digital, but it is certainly different both in practice and result. Better, nope, but there is a value here, I just need to understand it more and work out how and if to include in my workflow.
I also notice in these images and in the final outcome of my Fest project that I work better with melancholy subjects, than with light and joy. I have been trying to avoid the photographic cliche of imaging "The Other", revealing what that is broken in society, rather than seeking what works. I feel there is a risk of continually portraying problems rather than solutions, however, one look at the evening news reveals that we are drawn to bad not good news. My initial thoughts about assignment 4 were to do something bright and happy, people enjoying themselves. I am now questioning this. Not because I think it is wrong, in fact I think it would be a better more real study, but it might not be something I can do well. With Fest, I started in colour celebrating the mad joy of the event, I ended in B&W portraying the casualties. It was clear what worked better. I simply do better making photographs that reflect my mood, and my mood is not a bright one these days.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
A year ends...
And what a year, zero progress as a student with the OCA, getting preciously close to giving it all in. The death of someone very close to me at the end of 2012 was followed by a dramatic change in my working circumstances. Somehow these combined to knock me off my photographic feet and I never managed to get up again.
In this blog I have documented a few plans, false dawns that ultimately led nowhere, I could never gather the necessary momentum to restart my work. The fundamental challenge is time, through 2013 worked an average 60 hour week, 12 hours a day sitting opposite a computer keyboard - I start around 7am and work until 7pm, or later if I am foolish enough to take a lunch break. The work is highly pressured and intellectually demanding, there is little left in me at the end of the day and the weekends have become an alcohol assisted recovery (assuming I am not working over the weekend to catch up on something). In December work finally eased off and I was able to plan a 3 week break over Christmas, time to catch up (and consume unused vacation time). A trapped nerve in my neck ended any hope of using the time for photography - my work still had the last laugh, with the parting gift of an RSI typical for a keyboard based worker. The steroid injection in my spine was less painful than the condition, grrr.... I have to be careful not to complain too much, it is a good job and well paid, there is simply too much of it.
The net is that once again I am writing a blog entry trying to make sense of where I am and where to go next. My blog is becoming a diary of angst and stress rather than a celebration of my learning, however, it is therapeutic and writing this stuff down helps me to organize my thoughts. So, with the end of the year and the start of a new one I arrive at a decision point, I must find a way to re-incorporate the OCA into my life or be honest with myself and accept that my attempt at an arts degree has failed. This is within my control, it is my choice.
As I reflect on 2013, it was not all bad, I have had two photos published in the Big Issue in the North,this was in the 1-7 July issue:
I also photographed two weddings, one in the North of Ireland, another in Denmark (not blogged yet), plus the engagement of a Turkish couple here in Munich. Note to self - start asking for money:)
A super trip to the Philippines yielded some great underwater imagery.
What came as more of a surprise was the use by the OCA of two of my photographs. I came across these by accident, browsing the new OCA web site and spotting them. Both are images from my final assignment for People and Place and show scenes of Munich subway stations. The first adorns the cover of the newly rewritten DPP course:
The other is an illustration on a web page outlining the Writing Skills course in the Creative Writing degree pathway on Oca-uk.com
It might have been nice to be informed of their use, but no problem really, I am just delighted that my work is held in high enough regard to be used by the OCA in their own material. This cheered me up immensely and reinforced the link that I feel to the college.
This brings me back to where I am and where I am going.
I have written to the OCA office to ask about my options. I have two years to complete Social Documentary, that time runs out in June. I asked for extra time, answer was no, my reasons are not good enough. I also have until Sept 2016 to complete my year 2 studies. This leaves me with three options:
In this blog I have documented a few plans, false dawns that ultimately led nowhere, I could never gather the necessary momentum to restart my work. The fundamental challenge is time, through 2013 worked an average 60 hour week, 12 hours a day sitting opposite a computer keyboard - I start around 7am and work until 7pm, or later if I am foolish enough to take a lunch break. The work is highly pressured and intellectually demanding, there is little left in me at the end of the day and the weekends have become an alcohol assisted recovery (assuming I am not working over the weekend to catch up on something). In December work finally eased off and I was able to plan a 3 week break over Christmas, time to catch up (and consume unused vacation time). A trapped nerve in my neck ended any hope of using the time for photography - my work still had the last laugh, with the parting gift of an RSI typical for a keyboard based worker. The steroid injection in my spine was less painful than the condition, grrr.... I have to be careful not to complain too much, it is a good job and well paid, there is simply too much of it.
The net is that once again I am writing a blog entry trying to make sense of where I am and where to go next. My blog is becoming a diary of angst and stress rather than a celebration of my learning, however, it is therapeutic and writing this stuff down helps me to organize my thoughts. So, with the end of the year and the start of a new one I arrive at a decision point, I must find a way to re-incorporate the OCA into my life or be honest with myself and accept that my attempt at an arts degree has failed. This is within my control, it is my choice.
As I reflect on 2013, it was not all bad, I have had two photos published in the Big Issue in the North,this was in the 1-7 July issue:
I also photographed two weddings, one in the North of Ireland, another in Denmark (not blogged yet), plus the engagement of a Turkish couple here in Munich. Note to self - start asking for money:)
A super trip to the Philippines yielded some great underwater imagery.
What came as more of a surprise was the use by the OCA of two of my photographs. I came across these by accident, browsing the new OCA web site and spotting them. Both are images from my final assignment for People and Place and show scenes of Munich subway stations. The first adorns the cover of the newly rewritten DPP course:
The other is an illustration on a web page outlining the Writing Skills course in the Creative Writing degree pathway on Oca-uk.com
It might have been nice to be informed of their use, but no problem really, I am just delighted that my work is held in high enough regard to be used by the OCA in their own material. This cheered me up immensely and reinforced the link that I feel to the college.
This brings me back to where I am and where I am going.
I have written to the OCA office to ask about my options. I have two years to complete Social Documentary, that time runs out in June. I asked for extra time, answer was no, my reasons are not good enough. I also have until Sept 2016 to complete my year 2 studies. This leaves me with three options:
- Quit the OCA
- Complete Soc Doc in the next 6 months. I have 3 assignments to complete, although most of the photographic work is done, so not an impossible hurdle.
- Quit Soc Doc and start a new course - Documentary.
OK, I am not going to quit OCA, it might happen by default if I run out of time, but I will not consciously make that decision. That leaves options 2 and 3. The new course is attractive as it would provide a good stepping stone to Level 3. I am concerned that I have recently gone backwards rather than progressing. However, I have some good material for the current course and I feel I should try and complete. If I fail to make the deadline then I will have to do option 3. So my decision is to continue with SD and try and make the June deadline for the 3 remaining assignments - going to need to start on the essay pretty soon...
All of this can only happen if I get my life in order and find a way to get out from under my current workload. the good thing is that my managers are all aware that we cannot keep up this workload without something breaking (in my case my neck was the indicator that the break was coming). I also need to start getting out of the house more often and reduce my reliance on alcohol to relax on the weekends.
3 weeks ago I had my 50th birthday, so now is a time to start thinking about the rest of my life, what I want to do with it, and most importantly how long it is going to be. Changes are needed and I plan to use the OCA as a vehicle to make those changes. I must make time for my course and that can only come from a reduction in my working week, so here is where I must start. Will not be easy even with the law in Germany making a working week of more than 48 hours illegal. However, I must find a way to say no and work smarter to avoid our perennial fire drill exercises. Alcohol, well that one is easy enough to manage, just needs some will power and the realization that I am no longer 20. Exercise, camera in hand a long walk can be a journey of discovery.
Thinking back on my photographic work, I think this year long break might actually help, it has allowed me to reflect on what I am interested in. While I have done little real work, I have spent many nights awake thinking about it. The corporate world and its collision with society is a theme that I would like to explore further.
Next stop a pile of books about Robert Frank.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
RESET
I made a final attempt to get back into the normal run of this course, working on Project 24, "using an auto focus lens (optional, dependent on your equipment)". Then I realized the inanity of what I was doing, running through a series of "How To" exercises that could suit a GCSE photography course, but really should have no place on a degree level study pathway. The course is old and has been replaced, for very good reason. Looking at this project and the remaining ones I see no value at all in completing them, even with a creative spirit of lets turn this into something different. So I am making a call and deciding to focus my time on the remaining three Assignments.
I accept that this might not look good at assessment, but I am gaining nothing and becoming increasingly frustrated with the course material. In fact, I am hoping that getting real and putting my creative effort into the assignments will pay dividends and subsequently make up for any possible loss of credit due to my rebellion. I also wish to finish the course by the end of the year so that I can start 2014 with the new level 3 courses and a renewed enthusiasm for my photography. At my present rate of progress it'll be another 2 years.
This leaves discussion of what I plan to do with the 3 remaining assignments and what I want to accomplish with the remainder of this course. Assignment 3 is pretty much decided, an essay on Robert Frank.
Assignment 4 is then programmed in, although I want to think about this a little. Is it really a foregone conclusion that I must create photographs in the style of the man I write about? I have already been working on this assignment for a year and have amassed some good material, I am just not sure this is where I want to go with my work. Frank is an important and influential photographer, his work changed photography more than any other (opinion, that I will try and expand on in the essay), however, his working model and method are not at aligned to my own.
As I mentioned in my last post, my visual interests are more in line with Shore and Sternfeld than Frank, each equally interesting as social commentary but adopting a very different viewpoint and style to Frank. I find myself more wedded to the observational style of Shore standing back and studying the world around me, than I do Frank's more involved approach. having said that a practical compromise might be to complete assignment 4 as given, using the material I have already developed and then work assignment 5 from a different perspective.
Here is my current proposal:
Assignment 4: In the style of Robert Frank: Take a look back on the work I began a year ago to develop a parallel concept to Frank's The Americans, a study of the people of Munich, largely at their leisure. This would continue my B&W work for the course. Most of the material exists, so this would be an exercise in edit and sequence, developing a narrative for the set. If this does not work, then I would have to work something new and rethink.
Assignment 5: Richard Strauss Strasse: Here I want to deviate from the human interest obsession of the course and develop my own view on German life. My goal from the very earliest stages of studying with the OCA has been to use Munich as the subject for my photography. I want to use my photography to help me understand the city and the people that live there. This does not need to be portraits of people doing things, it can also look at the cultural signifiers that decorate the landscape, where people live, where they work. To that end I propose a study of a typical street, a block from where I live. In some respects this would be a different take on the one acre assignment from Landscape, but with a deeper look into the cultural and societal elements that make up the street. Also rather than viewing this as an event to be photographed in a day or so, I want to spend time developing the concept. I have easy access and could shoot there for a few minutes every day, choosing different times, weather, days, gradually building a conceptual basis for the study.
Assignment 5 as stated above would help me back into the style and content that I find myself most interested in and want to develop further as I progress to Level 3. This course has pushed me towards subject matter and methods that rather than helping me to develop has pushed back my creativity and understanding of photography. The in close approach, making the person the subject is something I can do, I get stuck doing weddings every now and then, so I do get it, it is just not of any artistic interest to me whatsoever.
I need to develop as a photographer, and am prepared to risk a bad mark for this course to do so. The alternative is to abandon this course and start again with something else.
I accept that this might not look good at assessment, but I am gaining nothing and becoming increasingly frustrated with the course material. In fact, I am hoping that getting real and putting my creative effort into the assignments will pay dividends and subsequently make up for any possible loss of credit due to my rebellion. I also wish to finish the course by the end of the year so that I can start 2014 with the new level 3 courses and a renewed enthusiasm for my photography. At my present rate of progress it'll be another 2 years.
This leaves discussion of what I plan to do with the 3 remaining assignments and what I want to accomplish with the remainder of this course. Assignment 3 is pretty much decided, an essay on Robert Frank.
Assignment 4 is then programmed in, although I want to think about this a little. Is it really a foregone conclusion that I must create photographs in the style of the man I write about? I have already been working on this assignment for a year and have amassed some good material, I am just not sure this is where I want to go with my work. Frank is an important and influential photographer, his work changed photography more than any other (opinion, that I will try and expand on in the essay), however, his working model and method are not at aligned to my own.
As I mentioned in my last post, my visual interests are more in line with Shore and Sternfeld than Frank, each equally interesting as social commentary but adopting a very different viewpoint and style to Frank. I find myself more wedded to the observational style of Shore standing back and studying the world around me, than I do Frank's more involved approach. having said that a practical compromise might be to complete assignment 4 as given, using the material I have already developed and then work assignment 5 from a different perspective.
Here is my current proposal:
Assignment 4: In the style of Robert Frank: Take a look back on the work I began a year ago to develop a parallel concept to Frank's The Americans, a study of the people of Munich, largely at their leisure. This would continue my B&W work for the course. Most of the material exists, so this would be an exercise in edit and sequence, developing a narrative for the set. If this does not work, then I would have to work something new and rethink.
Assignment 5: Richard Strauss Strasse: Here I want to deviate from the human interest obsession of the course and develop my own view on German life. My goal from the very earliest stages of studying with the OCA has been to use Munich as the subject for my photography. I want to use my photography to help me understand the city and the people that live there. This does not need to be portraits of people doing things, it can also look at the cultural signifiers that decorate the landscape, where people live, where they work. To that end I propose a study of a typical street, a block from where I live. In some respects this would be a different take on the one acre assignment from Landscape, but with a deeper look into the cultural and societal elements that make up the street. Also rather than viewing this as an event to be photographed in a day or so, I want to spend time developing the concept. I have easy access and could shoot there for a few minutes every day, choosing different times, weather, days, gradually building a conceptual basis for the study.
Assignment 5 as stated above would help me back into the style and content that I find myself most interested in and want to develop further as I progress to Level 3. This course has pushed me towards subject matter and methods that rather than helping me to develop has pushed back my creativity and understanding of photography. The in close approach, making the person the subject is something I can do, I get stuck doing weddings every now and then, so I do get it, it is just not of any artistic interest to me whatsoever.
I need to develop as a photographer, and am prepared to risk a bad mark for this course to do so. The alternative is to abandon this course and start again with something else.
Friday, August 16, 2013
Back to What I Like
I am currently in the progress of re-engaging with my photography. My goal is to try and find where my head is in terms of what I like to photograph, but also what I like to look at. If I can bring the two together I should be in a better place. This set of photographs and blog entry is a return to a subject that is becoming a thread through my work, the river Isar and the activity along its banks. I also need to ground my work, to avoid the continual flipping from one thing to another that has characterized my recent work, weddings, underwater, landscape, and so on...
I also need to work out in my mind what I want to get out of the remainder of this course. I will write about this in a future post, I know what the options are, just not which one to take. This short set of images is a way to help me to find that answer.
One aspect of my photography is a disinterest in people, but an interest in their presence. I do not see people as characters in my pictures, but as transient subjects inhabiting a landscape that I am creating. The following is an example. This photo appeals to my need for geometry, lines and curves that come together to create a harmony, or chaos. This is still a photo about people, this is a human place and there are two people in the frame, lending a presence, but a transient and almost invisible one.
The problem with either photo is that the graffiti makes a cultural statement that generates fear. Deeper into this underpass the walls are covered in graffiti and it is beautiful... The B&W version even hides the pink graffiti making for a more threatening image. Somehow a pink heart takes away the menace that might be there. Herein is another challenge I am wrestling with, working in colour or B&W. I am still very drawn to mono, but do not see this as a long term thing, just something I need to explore right now.
The next photo describes where my head is at the moment. This is a documentary photo that portrays a sunny afternoon. The people inhabit the photo, but do not make it. Here I am trying to describe a part of the city, building an image from the layers of the landscape. Without the people it would be an OK image, but with them it is a document of society. In a way this probably lends more to Joel Sternfeld or Stephen Shore than to Robert Frank, a problem that is beginning to niggle me right now. I want to write about Frank, but am not so sure about the "In the Style of" bit.
Once again I have taken very different processing strategies. The B&W is dark and contrasty, the colour fresher more pastel. That is where the images took me.
A few more with a similar goal in mind, all taken along the riverbank...
I also need to work out in my mind what I want to get out of the remainder of this course. I will write about this in a future post, I know what the options are, just not which one to take. This short set of images is a way to help me to find that answer.
One aspect of my photography is a disinterest in people, but an interest in their presence. I do not see people as characters in my pictures, but as transient subjects inhabiting a landscape that I am creating. The following is an example. This photo appeals to my need for geometry, lines and curves that come together to create a harmony, or chaos. This is still a photo about people, this is a human place and there are two people in the frame, lending a presence, but a transient and almost invisible one.
The problem with either photo is that the graffiti makes a cultural statement that generates fear. Deeper into this underpass the walls are covered in graffiti and it is beautiful... The B&W version even hides the pink graffiti making for a more threatening image. Somehow a pink heart takes away the menace that might be there. Herein is another challenge I am wrestling with, working in colour or B&W. I am still very drawn to mono, but do not see this as a long term thing, just something I need to explore right now.
The next photo describes where my head is at the moment. This is a documentary photo that portrays a sunny afternoon. The people inhabit the photo, but do not make it. Here I am trying to describe a part of the city, building an image from the layers of the landscape. Without the people it would be an OK image, but with them it is a document of society. In a way this probably lends more to Joel Sternfeld or Stephen Shore than to Robert Frank, a problem that is beginning to niggle me right now. I want to write about Frank, but am not so sure about the "In the Style of" bit.
Once again I have taken very different processing strategies. The B&W is dark and contrasty, the colour fresher more pastel. That is where the images took me.
A few more with a similar goal in mind, all taken along the riverbank...
Oh, and when I first edited this entry, I forgot to mention that these photographs were taking with a view to learning the use of an auto focus lens - time for a reset.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Published
Photography is the air that I breath, it is what gets me up many mornings, a source of immense pleasure. It can also be deeply frustrating and discouraging, days go by when I strive for inspiration and I just cannot be bothered anymore. The more informed about the medium I become, the more critical I am of my own work and the harder I find it to produce images that satisfy me. I am beyond technical issues, preferring a badly taken but contextually stimulating image to the perfect photograph, sharp where it needs to be creamily soft elsewhere. And yet I also want to be able to demonstrate my skills, doing weddings for my friends, creating photo books of underwater imagery, placing photographs on Flickr for comment. I stress when I get no comments, I jump when my iPhone Flickr app warbles at me.
I find myself in a continual struggle between a narcissistic obsession with wanting praise of my work and an almost hermit like avoidance of external comment; fearing rejection and yet needing affirmation. I find Facebook a puzzling sea of banality, but would deeply miss my access to the OCA Flickr community.
Other than Flickr I rarely expose my work to external scrutiny and yet whilst on vacation I was thrilled to hear that my lion fish portrait had been selected for publication in the "Big Issue in the North". The first time they have run an underwater image and the first time any underwater image of mine has been published in any form.
This is not my first published photo, I have had images printed in two German newspapers, one in Suddeutscheszeitung, the biggest paper in the country. Both were photos of Irish football, taken on my occasional forays into the world of sports photography.
Not quite the SZ, it was still nice to see my photo being used to illustrate a local interest piece in the weekend free paper. In neither of these cases was my name used, even though I had asked for such as a condition of use. Am I upset, not really, this comes back to my need for praise, but fear of exposure. Both journals were above using my name in the byline for the image. However, the photos helped to publicize a very close friends Gaelic Football club and I know that they were valued and enjoyed.
I often get the comment that I should publish or rather sell my photographs, I am just not bothered or even interested. BUT, perhaps I should be. It is not a need for money, my job supplies that, or a need for praise or acceptance. However, the thought comes to mind that it might be a necessary developmental step to put my work into the public space and see what critical comment comes my way. I plan a show for my final degree work, I know a couple of locations that I can rent for a reasonable fee and then bribe friends with a few drinks to come and see my "final degree show". This, however, can only be affirmation of what I have done, it cannot help me to get to that final place. I see other students participating in local shows and exhibitions, not easy for me in a still very foreign culture.
I have no conclusions to this short comment, other than that I need to start to think about publicizing my work, not to garner praise, but rather to expose myself to critique with a view to improving what I create. My tutors comments are a help, but they are infrequent and just one voice, however important to my development within the framework of the degree. Food for thought
I find myself in a continual struggle between a narcissistic obsession with wanting praise of my work and an almost hermit like avoidance of external comment; fearing rejection and yet needing affirmation. I find Facebook a puzzling sea of banality, but would deeply miss my access to the OCA Flickr community.
Other than Flickr I rarely expose my work to external scrutiny and yet whilst on vacation I was thrilled to hear that my lion fish portrait had been selected for publication in the "Big Issue in the North". The first time they have run an underwater image and the first time any underwater image of mine has been published in any form.
This is not my first published photo, I have had images printed in two German newspapers, one in Suddeutscheszeitung, the biggest paper in the country. Both were photos of Irish football, taken on my occasional forays into the world of sports photography.
Not quite the SZ, it was still nice to see my photo being used to illustrate a local interest piece in the weekend free paper. In neither of these cases was my name used, even though I had asked for such as a condition of use. Am I upset, not really, this comes back to my need for praise, but fear of exposure. Both journals were above using my name in the byline for the image. However, the photos helped to publicize a very close friends Gaelic Football club and I know that they were valued and enjoyed.
I often get the comment that I should publish or rather sell my photographs, I am just not bothered or even interested. BUT, perhaps I should be. It is not a need for money, my job supplies that, or a need for praise or acceptance. However, the thought comes to mind that it might be a necessary developmental step to put my work into the public space and see what critical comment comes my way. I plan a show for my final degree work, I know a couple of locations that I can rent for a reasonable fee and then bribe friends with a few drinks to come and see my "final degree show". This, however, can only be affirmation of what I have done, it cannot help me to get to that final place. I see other students participating in local shows and exhibitions, not easy for me in a still very foreign culture.
I have no conclusions to this short comment, other than that I need to start to think about publicizing my work, not to garner praise, but rather to expose myself to critique with a view to improving what I create. My tutors comments are a help, but they are infrequent and just one voice, however important to my development within the framework of the degree. Food for thought
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)