Assignment 4: feedback and reflections

To try and push myself for this assignment I decided to pick a subject that was of real personal interest to me.  I felt that this would enable me to communicate my ideas more successfully whilst adding a personal touch to my work.  When we look to other photographers we see that their personal projects centre round something that they have a vested interest in.  For example, William Klein’s work in New York, Lewis Hine’s series on child labour or Don McCullin’s war images. 

Adding this subjective element to my work presented a few problems.  As the message I was trying to communicate had an emotional element or sentiment to it I found it harder to pin down.   In hindsight I think that the theme may have been to complex and it would have been better for me to have chosen another subject that was personal to me – perhaps something I had recently experienced.

As a result I lost my way a little and the message I was communicating wasn’t as clear as I had originally planned.  My tutor was quick to point this out and suggested that I could have looked at focussing on one of the themes I introduced in the assignment.  I think my dilemma was that I felt if I had done this my work would have been too restrictive.  Again in hindsight I believe he was right and if I were to redo this assignment I would focus on one of the aspects I introduced. 

Despite all this, I am really happy that I was brave enough to challenge myself to break with my norms and work on a more personally inspired project.   I believe I made some strong statements about life in Hackney by including the place where Agnes Sina-Inakoju was shot dead.  I also believe that I captured some of the essence of life in the borough in Hackney People. 

I think one area where I need to improve in my images is thinking more about my audience and what they will see when they look at my work.  It is clear here in this assignment that what I think is interesting isn’t always the case as my tutor pointed out in my first image for Inner City Living.  Focusing more on narrative will help me move forward.  Avoiding the obvious will help too.  However, I think having a clear message to communicate will provide the best foundation for future assignments. 

Note on colour management:

My tutor mentioned that my colours were slightly off in some of the images and that I should  think about calibrating my monitor.  I’ve been calibrated my monitor for over a year so I was a little confused by this.  I have since spoken to my tutor about this and resolved the issue.  

Old family portraits and their meaning

On a recent visit to Ireland I spent some time going though some old family photographs.  I have never met any of the people in the images below.  They had died by the time I was born.  However, it is really interesting to have pictures of them and the see what they looked like.  When we look at the history of photography we see how the portrait developed and how the painted portrait was overtaken by the accessibility and cost of the photographic portrait.

All to often we find that we see old photographs in photography books but we don't know the subject's stories.  In this case I do know their stories which makes them even more special.

However, they don't give too much away about their personalities.  Most of them have adapted the serious looking pose with the exception of my grandmother who is holding her first born daughter in her arms.  There is an element of maternal love and pride in that shot.  I like the way the focus is also on the daughter.  Her mother is looking down on her so we don't see her face on.  She draws us, the viewers, to her daughter sitting on her knee.

The quality of these images is not great having used my iphone to shoot them.  They were all framed too and I didn't want to damage the images by taking the out of their frames.

My grandmother Kathleen Deane.  Kathleen had five children before she died aged 39 from an asthma attack.  My father was 3 when she died so he never got to know her.  I estimate that this image was taken circa 1923. 

My grandfather John Patrick Deane.  John died in his 90s after having 6 children from two marriages.  He was heavily involved in politics in Ireland.  He was involved in the War of Independence and received an Old IRA medal.

Dr Annie Teresa Deane, my Great Aunt who was GP in the town of Ballycastle for many years until her retirement.  She never married and died in 1961.  

May Deane sister of Annie.  May immigrated to America and ran a deli store in Cleveland Ohio.  She returned to Ireland in her later years.  

My Great Grandmother Elizabeth McAndrew nee Quinn

My Great Grandfather Martin McAndrew.  I love his beard.  

Making use of text

For my next assignment I've started to look at how I can use text either in or alongside my images. This is something my tutor mentioned from assignment 4 where I did use text in my images albeit not deliberately. After thinking more about how text could compliment my work I've decided to look at how it can enhance my next set of images.

Photographers tend to use text a lot in their images from shop names to street names and product names to fashion labels. However there are some photographers that have made a very deliberate us of text in their work like Duane Michals for example. Michals uses text in the image itself but also as asides that fill in some of the blanks or provide additional clues for the viewer. I like some of his work. It provides the viewer with a very different viewing experience where they use two forms of communication to decipher the meaning of an image. 

I find it interesting to think of the uses text can have from the photographers perspective. You can guide the viewer with use of text or tease them with giving them additional information about the meaning of your image with words. Often the viewer is looking for an explanation for why you shot what you did or simply what is going on in your work. This can lead them into a false sense of security with text. I think we tend to perceive text as being more informative than the visual but as a photographer or artist you can decide how much you want the viewer to know and how you believe they should receive this information. 

Ever since I went to a talk by David Goldblatt last year I've been thinking about text and I like the way he used it alongside his images to tell you more about the person in the shot and their situation. This is especially true of a place that you are not familiar with like his South Africa and the political situation of the past (and present).  I felt after viewing his images more informed about what I had seen, and I felt it was more of a learning experience. 

I'm not particularly a fan of Barbara Kruger's use of text in images. I find it a bit garish and pop art which is not my thing. I do however like some of the concepts introduced in Hamish Fulton's work. Fulton uses text in a very informative but visually pleasing manner. I also like the way in which he constructs his images. 

I think looking at their work has given me some food for thought and I will have to consider more how I will use text alongside my images. I feel that with the images I have already created for this assignment they can only be enhanced by the use of words to tell more of the story. It is a big story. 

Visit to the V&A print room

Some weeks ago now I attended the OCA visit to the print room.  Due to circumstances I am only getting round to writing about this visit now.  Better late than never though as they say!

The day was very different to any other OCA photography study visit I have been on.  The group was small - approximately 10 people - which made for more interesting discussion at lunch.  I have found before that on these visits when there's too many people the group gets split up and kind of filters out along with many of the ideas and personal experiences shared.  This wasn't the case with this visit and I feel this greatly contributed to its success.

A note about visits
I know that the OCA do as much as they can to include people in these visits.  I have been on a number now over the last couple of years and I have found that it is the same people that attend these visits.  This has led to these people forming what seems to be a bit of an in-group and I have witnessed what appears to be an unwillingness to include others in their group.

This doesn't really bother me too much but it can be very off putting for people who are on a first study visit.  Maybe this is something that should be looked.

Back to the day
The print room in the V&A is a wonderful hidden gem - well it was hidden from me.  We had booked our visit in advance and they had about 10 boxes of images laid out for us when we arrived.  The boxes charted the history of photography from its very beginnings to work by modern photographers.  It set out to introduce you to some of the technical issues photography has overcome over the years to the more creative questioning images can produce.

They included:

Photographic process and technique
which looked at the daguerrreotype and the direct positive process and also included an early colour photograph by Arthur E Cope which was a portrait of his children.  I really enjoyed seeing my first daguerreotype.  From reading about these I always wondered what they would be like.  I did find the daguerreotype to be quite sharp but I think I expected it to be bigger for some reason.  When I think about it though why would it be?

This section also included a second box which focused on the different processes including photogravure, carbon prints, cyanotype and calotype.  This was particularly interesting to me as I have heard a lot during my studies about printing processes but never truly understood or could see the differences between them until seeing prints in the flesh.

History of photography
This collection included Fenton's Hardships in the Camps and John Thompson's street life in London.  It looks at examining the way in which photography has been used and its role over the years.

Contemporary photography
This box focused on the work of Nicholas Nixon which I found to be the most interesting and thought provoking.  Nixon took a portrait of the Brownlee sisters over a number of years one of which was his wife. It is very interesting how over the years the women age and how we can see that ageing process documented by the camera.  However it is more interesting to see how the roles within the group change over the years.  We can see the sisters being protective over one or another depending on what that particular sister is experiencing in her life.

Cultural identity and photography
This box included the work of David Goldblatt and Marketa Luskarova.  This collection looked at people's cultural identity capturing and documenting the role in plays in society.  This is especially true of Goldblatt's work.
A second box on the history of the photographic medium is more questioning and interrogative using the work of Lewis Hine to question society's acceptance of child labour and Man Ray's manipulation of the image.

All in all the visit was a successful one for me.  I found that it was interesting to be opening boxes and looking at images rather than seeing them on gallery walls.  It reminded me of looking at old photographs at home as a child.  It also made for a more intimate, personal experience as there wasn't the distance that you sometimes find between viewer and gallery wall.

Most of all however, it made the pictures, many of which I have been looking at over the last few months - real!

Assignment 3 - feedback

Overall this assignment was successful but it wasn't as strong as the previous two assignments I submitted.  I'm not sure why that is really.  Perhaps it was down to this particular assignment and the fact that I struggled to shoot indoor spaces.  I felt the assignment was overall frustrating to carry out.  It was very difficult to avoid taking pictures of buildings that looked like tourist snaps.  It was also difficult to find locations where I could shoot indoors.  It was also difficult to focus on so many buildings.   I felt that I didn't have the time or the ability to do my chosen ones the justice an in depth treatment of an individual building would give. From looking at other students blogs I was not alone in finding this assignment challenging.  It seems that many other people struggled with it too.

However in saying that I believe that I would tackle the subject differently if I was to do the assignment again.  The benefit of hindsight always is a wonderful thing!

My tutor made comments about my use of an overly wide angle lens and the fact that the edges of the pictures lacked sharpness.  I think my major mistake with this assignment was trying to get as much as I could into the frame hence the reason why nearly all have been shot using an extreme focal length.  I think this probably arose from me trying to avoid cliched shots or touristy ones.

Feedback on specific pictures is detailed below.

The Geffrye Museum
These images suffered as a result of shooting with an extreme focal length.  It was suggested by my tutor that I look at the work of Peter Fraser to discover a different way to explore the relationship people have with places.  I have looked at Fraser's work and posted my thoughts here.

Tate Modern
Although I have used the wide angle better for these images some would have benefited from a closer angle like the image shot in the tanks.  My tutor also suggested that I looked more at landscape shots for some of the images as with the portrait style I chose there is a lot of empty/dead space as in the image below.

British Museum
My tutor found these to be the most interesting of my shots.  He suggested that I pay more attention to what people are doing in the frames.  Most cases the people are moving towards the camera and it would be interesting to hang around awhile and see what I could get of the people actually milling around.

Covent Garden
I felt these were my weakest shots and my tutor's comments reflected this. I agree with him when he said they looked a bit hurried.  Looking back I believe I did rush them and this can be seen in the final images.

London Underground
My tutor said that these pictures were very different to the others I submitted and that they provided an interesting dimension to my assignment.  I personally felt more comfortable in this environment to explore more hence the resulting tilting angles.  While I was doing this assignment I shied away from shooting passengers up close.  I think this is something I would like to try in the future but it is very difficult to do.  My tutor suggested I look at the work of Luc Delahaye and Bruce Davidson.  I have looked at this and I have found them interesting.  The images are very close up and at times the commuters look a little weird.  I think I would be interested in shooting people that are asleep etc commuting to work.

Overall I have learnt quite a bit from this assignment.  I am looking forward to moving on the next assignment and finding a new space to explore.

Assignment 2 feedback

Overall the feedback I received for this assignment was positive.  My tutor said that I had a good eye for capturing the perfect moment for a photograph but that more work was needed on my shooting discipline to get backgrounds and framing perfect.

I feel that my choice of lens for this section of the course contributed to the background problems.  It is difficult to get the balance right in being conspicuous and choosing the relevant gear.  However this is something I will continue to work on moving forward.  I feel that only with more practice and experimentation will I find a set up that will be the most comfortable for me.

He also mentioned avoiding visual gimmicks in the future instead relying on the power of the content of the image to relay a message.  Again I am pleased to have this feedback because up until now I have been unsure of how far to go in post production.  My gut feeling and the images I myself like the most are those that look more natural and tell a story rather than are heavily manipulated in photoshop.  Maybe this is a lesson I need to learn and rely more on my own judgement.

Images that were highlighted were

Marching Soldiers

My tutor said that I had captured the action at the decisive moment in this image.  The key element being the foot.  He compared it to an image of Reni Burri where the woman's heel is the key element.  He mentioned the fact that the flagpole is coming out of the Sgt Major's head but that was being picky.  I was pretty restricted movementwise for this shot.  If I was able to move I may have been able to compose so the flagpole was better placed.  

Tour de France

This image highlighted the problems of the backgrounds in the set.  Although my tutor did say that this was a superb capture of expression.  

I have looked at cropping the shot which I think improves the composition but I could have made a better job of the shot at the time of shooting.  I think this is where practice will really come in.  Until I started this part of the course I underestimated how quick you have to be to get these images!

Child Soldier

I personally like this shot, but it does have problems in the background like in many of the other images I have taken for this set.  De-saturating parts of an image is generally frowned upon by the professionals so it is something I should avoid in the future for this type of photography.  

My tutor suggested converting to black and white which is what I had originally done -again I should have listened to my gut instinct.  

On the plus side my tutor said that this image together with the majority of my submission is very well seen and just needs a little tightening of technique to reach an excellent standard of street photography.  This feedback I really do value and it means I am on the right track.  I think all I can do now is work harder and practice more.  

Reflections on Assignment 1

Overall I am pleased with the outcome of this first assignment.

Portraits in a formal setting are something I have pretty much avoided up until now and I feel that I gave this assignment a good shot.  I also had some good results with the projects in this first part of the course.  My tutor's comments on my work seem to reflect this too.

The images I feel are my strongest in the set are Corporate, Reflections and Expression.

Corporate

Reflections

Expression

I was particularly happy with the bleached our contemporary slant of Reflections.  

I feel that where I lacked in this assignment was technical ability - most notably my use of flash.  I was disappointed to have comments about exposure when usually I don't have any problems in this area.  I think that the images that have exposure problems are those where I wasn't comfortable with the use of the light.  Perhaps most of my effort went into concentrating on setting up and using flash and artificial light that I took my eye off the ball and the exposure was affected as a result.  

Moving forward I need to practice more using flash and available artificial light.  

I take on board my tutor's comments that it would be good to shoot some other people and I have some guinea pigs lined up for this!

I will also have a look at more of the photographers he suggested and I will post my views here on my website.  

I am hoping that I will find the next part of the course more comfortable as it gives me a chance to work on street photography which is something I have done a bit of before.  I think my only concerns will be getting up close and personal with strangers.