LEARNING LOG BOW ASSIGNMENT 3
CONTEMPLATION AT THE OUTSET ON MY SUBJECT
My intention to use the Ancient woodland as visual metaphor for harmonious community is currently subverted in my mind. At the moment feel that the community that I live in is more disharmonious than ever as a consequence of summer tourists as well as political and economic threats; it seems to have brought out the worst in some of the local community. I know that this is the opposite to that found in the woodlands. Could my next assignment be a contrast between harmony in the woodlands and dissonance elsewhere?
As I reflected I realised that what I see in the woodlands may not at first appearance seem harmonious and yet in reality it is, as all the different elements work together to achieve a workable balance…unlike my local community.
Walking the woodlands I recognised that much first appears chaotic and yet when you look deeper it’s organised chaos, and it can have an underlying order.
Definitions and synonyms of concepts
Harmony:
Definition: “the situation in which people live or work happily together without and big problems…
a situation in which people are peaceful and agree with each other, or when things seem right or suitable together…Harmony is the combination of separate but related parts in a way that uses their similarities to bring unity ” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022).
Synonyms: Collaboration, teamwork, consensus, cooperation, peace, tranquillity, understanding, unity, accord, amicability, compatibility, concord, empathy, sympathy, corporation, nurture, support, mutuality, alliance, co-dependency, partnerships, reciprocal.
Chaos:
Definition: “ a state of total confusion with no order…a state of disorder and confusion ” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2022).
Synonyms: Messy, confused, madness, turmoil, disarranged, disordered, shambolic, bedlam, disarray, mayhem, turmoil, destruction, disaster, random, anarchy, discord, disorder, pandemonium
Turmoil, bedlam, muddle, topsy-turviness, bedlam, disturbed, havoc, maelstrom.
Organised chaos:
Definitions: “a situation in which there seems to be a lot of confusion and no organisation, which makes you surprised that the results are good”. (Cambridge dictionary).
“a complex situation or process that appears chaotic while having enough order to achieve progress or goals” (Burnell, 2022)
REFLECTION: I return to my earlier thought that harmony doesn’t depend on homogenous components, and there is scope for a variety of beings to coexist harmoniously. The many elements of woodlands may at first appear chaotic, but in reality it is a peaceful community.
I will continue with my theme as the woods as a visual metaphor for a harmonious community. However in my photography reflect my current feelings about disharmony in my local community by showing that a community of many varied parts can coexist in harmony.
INFLUENCES FROM RESEARCH
These confirmed maintaining my original approach for my BOW “internal and external passage:
- Gregor Radonjic: Metascapes Transforming and representing what in our subconscious – personal landscapes – distorted reality – artworks between fiction a and reality- the real landscape is in your head
- Inside the Outside landscape collective: Going out was really going in- narrative, metaphor, investigation
- Stephen Seagasby: Physical mental and emotional level using metaphor
- Rob Hudson: making abstract thoughts more concrete through rep of the world around us (ITO 2016), Landscape dependant on how our intellect views them (Hudson, 2016), Photography can transform objective reality
- J.M. Golding: Lived and unconscious v learned and conscious Wilkinson: a photograph says as much about the photographer as the landscape, Literal appearances of subjects to metaphors for internal experience (G 2022)
Mindmap BOW Assignment 3 Brainstorm:
SHOOTING
Whilst walking forefront of my mind was the disharmony in my local community and the contrasting harmony in the woodlands. When shooting in the woodlands I was open to scenes that would share visually what a chaotic and complex community it is, and yet illustrate that this “organised chaos” is actually successful and peaceful- diversity is absolutely fine.
My first day of shooting was an unusually sunny day and as the woodlands are shady it seemed visually pleasing, however on reviewing the images I returned on an cloudy day and obtained better results. I returned several times until I had plenty of images that I was happy with.
Mindmap BOW Assignment 3 Shooting:
EDITING
When editing foremost in my mind was my intention to share the chaotic but peaceful harmony in the woodland community. Backstory – Harmony or chaos?
I chose images that shouted: mess, muddle, random, confusion, disorder, but that also looked tranquil. I sought images that were complex and would cause viewers to look closely to find the meaning.
I also considered my use of colour in the light of my research, should I keep the colour true or use it to express my intention? It was obvious to me that the true rich greenness of the woodlands expresses my intention perfectly, so I simply retained the true colour as seen and captured.
I gave time to the editing and once I’d narrowed down to possible images, I started working on which would fit in a series.
I dropped some weaker images such as:
I asked which images fitted in a series? The form of these didn’t:
Images : 3047 3254 3295
I asked which images strengthen my ideas or voice and which images slowed the narrative down or weakened my narrative? I dropped:
I looked closely at those I was left with. For instance I vacillated between:
And dropped the 3247 as although it gave more context this diluted the message
I reluctantly dropped one of my “babies” which Id spent much time on as though it clear to me it was a tree lying on its side when I shouldn’t naturally be, it might not be obvious to others and it didn’t fit in the series as well
Then this image was dropped to get the series to a cohesive flowing set of 8
Finally I checked myself by answering as suggested in the coursework:
• Will the image stand as a visual piece on its own?
• Is the image adding anything new or emphasising the point I want it to?
• Is it detracting or contradicting from the rest of the series?
• Am I overlooking any less striking work because of aesthetic concerns that may be secondary to the impact the piece will have on final reading?
I am satisfied with my choice of images in the light of these challenges.
Mindmap BOW Assignment 3 Editing:
Presenting
When sequencing I tried to provide for a flowing narrative from one image to another and increasing the viewers response.
Aware that I need to signpost the work for my viewers I decided for this work to do so simple with captions. Each image to be captioned with a harmonious and chaotic synonym. I matched the words with the images as I best thought.
NIKI SOUTH 