Author: niki

BODY OF WORK: ASSESSMENT

/ niki / Leave a comment

PH6BOW-5 Nicola South Student:514516

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

LO1 produce convincing visual products that communicate your intentions, using accomplished techniques in complex and unfamiliar environments, with minimal supervision from your tutor.

  1. My final visual product includes images, which have been developed and are presented as visual metaphors for my feelings about community. These are accompanied by poetry that I have written as signposting to communicate my intentions. See – Submission Major portfolio:  https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/body-of-work/submissions/bow-ass-5-submission/a5-bow-submission/
  2. My subject and environment are constantly changing with the seasons and the weather. To reach my final product I have moved through several stages of experimentation both visually and technically. See – Assignment 4 Reflection against Learning Outcomes: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/body-of-work/bow-assignments/bow-assignment-4/bow-a4-reflections-against-learning-outcomes/
  3. To communicate my intentions, I have tried many ways of signposting the intention behind my images, culminating in the poetry presented in the final work. In assignment 2 I assigned the close-up woodland images dictionary definitions to highlight the attributes that they show that could be ascribed to humans. See – Assignment 2 Submission: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/body-of-work/submissions/bow-a2-submission/a2-bow-submission/  

LO2 demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of your area of specialisation and be able to situate your own work within a larger context of practice in your field.

My work is led by photographic discourse on photographs metaphorically as ‘mirrors’ expressing a photographer’s thoughts and emotions, as well as ‘windows’ which project reality before us; this informed by my work in Contextual Studies on ‘affect’ and ‘effect’ in the practice of Minor white.

  1. My practice research is influenced by many photographers who work with the landscape metaphorically. My Assignment 5 research post summarises some of these. See: Assignment 3 reading post: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/research/bow-research/bow-research-part-3/  
  2. To gain a deep understanding of my visual subject I researched trees and other woodland species, as well as photographers who work with these subjects. See- Assignment 2 research post: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/research/bow-research/other-photographers-same-material/  
  3. Before I experimented with using poetry to signpost my work I researched Poetography. This post summarises the research, with my reflection at the end of it. See – Assignment 4 research post: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/body-of-work/bow-assignments/bow-assignment-4/research-poetry-photography/

LO3 transform abstract concepts and ideas into rich narratives and integrate them in your images.

It was a concern to me throughout how I might transform the abstract concepts behind my work into a tangible narrative for my viewers. My photographic work depends on the same premise that I researched in my contextual studies, that ‘affect’ a representation expressing an emotional response, as well as one documenting reality ‘effect’ can be present in photographs. The woodlands are a visual metaphor for my feelings about community.

  1. Representing the concept: A turning point for me in transforming my abstract concept into a narrative was during assignment 3, when I had drilled down into the crux of my message, that diversity can be harmonious, and I presented this  with the woodlands as a visual metaphor for the concept, using image titles to provoke thought. See – Assignment 3 Submission: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/body-of-work/bow-submissions/bow-ass-3-submission/a3-bow-submission/
  2. Forming the narrative and integrating with my images: To consider what I would share and how I would narrate this in my final work, I reflected on the internal reflective and external visual journey that I had undergone. These are detailed at the beginning of my learning log for assignment five draft. See- Assignment 5 Major portfolio learning log: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/body-of-work/bow-assignments/bow-assignment-5/bow-a5-portfolio-learning-log-bow-assignment-5/
  3. Creating the narrative and integrating with my images is detailed in my learning log for my submitted Major Portfolio. In summary I chose and formed a series from a small set of the strongest images. I added a narrative to this in two ways, firstly by integrating with my own poetry as signposting and secondly by including as footnotes images captioned with definitions to add a final focus to the work. See – Major Project Portfolio for Submission Learning log: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/body-of-work/submissions/bow-ass-5-submission/bow-5-post-feedback-learning-log/

LO4 critically review your own work and evaluate it against desired outcomes.

I have been used in previous lives to being a reflective practitioner, reflecting throughout my processes and enjoy learning in this way.

  1. I record my reflections against the Learning Outcomes for each assignment. In my reflections against Learning Outcomes for assignment 2, those noted against LO1 and LO4 are good examples of critical reflection. See: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/body-of-work/bow-assignments/assignment-2/bow-a2-reflections-againgst-learning-outcomes/
  2. I use learning logs to reflect on my progress as I develop my work. My learning log for Assignment 3 demonstrates how I reflect on the various stages in the process, from changing concepts, influences from research, and my responses to shooting and particularly my final check on my image selection during editing. See: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/body-of-work/bow-assignments/bow-assignment-3/bow-a3-learning-log/
  3. I am open to input from others, which is part of my critical review process. After discussing my draft Assignment 3 with my tutor I experimented as suggested with cropping my images to a 5:4 ratio, this led to me to photograph from Assignment 4 onwards in this ratio – I usually compose in camera and rarely crop postproduction. After this I also used padlets when editing images for series as a virtual tabletop. See: https://oca.padlet.org/nicola514516/bow-draft-assignment-3-image-crop-sizes-td51x6mcq2sijad0

LO5 demonstrate management, leadership and communication skills and have deployed them during the negotiation and production of the final body of work with your tutor and third parties.

  1. Throughout the process I have shared my work with peers, this course necessarily mainly virtually in group ‘hangouts’. Interacting with peers has been invaluable; verbalising my work and ideas, inviting critique, and then making decisions what to assimilate to my work has contributed to my final body of work. See example: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/body-of-work/bow-assignments/bow-assignment-5/bow-a5-peer-portfolio-review-oca-hangout/
  2. I have benefited enormously from formative feedback and have particularly enjoyed video call feedback where I have been able to discuss and negotiate in real time. All my submissions changed following my first drafts. Following Tutor feedback sessions, I record and set actions and reflect on the outcomes. My reflections on tutor feedback after Assignment 3 demonstrates the way I experiment with feedback given, and subsequently adopt/integrate elements into that particular work, carry some ideas forward, and discount others after further thought. See example: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/body-of-work/bow-submissions/bow-a3-reflections-on-formative-feedback/

BODY OF WORK MAJOR PORTFOLIO OF WORK: ASSESSMENT

/ niki / Leave a comment

PH6BOW 5 Nicola South Student number: 516514

REFLECTIVE EVALUATION

Where did I begin?

The areas of interest that developed during my Level 2 Landscape and Documentary work brought me to the beginning of this Photographic project. I acquired a curiosity about layers of truth. I also had a desire to continue exploring landscape, but in an immersive slow manner with attention to the ordinary, drawing on my subconscious. Having recently moved to a new location I chose to focus on two things in my current experience, firstly the ancient woodlands that drew me in, and secondly the disharmony and animosity to ‘incomers’ in the local community.

My intention was to represent my feelings about community through equivalents in the unnoticed and ordinary within the woodland landscape. I began by exploring visual representations of elements of ancient woodland communities as metaphors for characteristics that could be beneficial in human communities.

Other Influences on my Body of Work

My research for Contextual Studies on ‘affect’ and ‘effect’, or ‘mirrors’ and ‘windows’ in landscape photography, particularly in the work of Minor White, opened further possibilities for my Body of Work photography. My work in both the courses was symbiotic, developing and enriching each other.  A broad range of photographers influenced my work from Alfred Steiglitz, John Blakemore, to contemporary photographers such as Rob Hudson, Guy Dickenson and Gregor Radonic. I have also been affected by critical feedback from my peers given in student hangouts where I have shared my work, just as with my Tutor.

Experimentation

I experimented with a variety of visual strategies such as changes in scale and perspective, macro and micro, abstraction, blurring, and symbolism. As I worked into the project I became more concerned with being a ‘mirror’, than opening a window for others to a world of realism. To do this I developed a keener sense of seeing, slow looking, and immersion in my surroundings, and experimented with psychogeography and mindful photography. Eventually my looking became increasingly defocused, or ‘bottom up’, led by the landscape and my subconscious, rather than led by conscious intent. This to the point towards the end of the project where I was less keen to photograph and happier to pre- visualise; certainly, my image capturing decreased significantly.

Difficulties I encountered

Initially I struggled to get to the nub of my idea and to focus my intent. It took until assignment 3 to drill down into this enough to move forward more confidently. Another difficulty, which I am still working on, is how to signpost my subconscious ideas and messages for viewers. Adapting to the dynamic natural environment that I was photographing was challenging, but I enjoyed finding ways to overcome the constant changes, turning them to my advantage and overcoming technical difficulties.

My critical positioning and personal voice

My work is a combination of landscape and conceptual photography. By representing my feelings through equivalents and metaphors in visual objects, I can transform abstract ideas in my head, my subconscious, into something concrete, via a physical representation of another subject. I can put something of myself in the landscape without intervening in it, and believe that my voice, my subconscious, is in my images. I edit purposefully, with stronger confidence, and combining instinct with intention. I have discovered and show how a photographer may use the landscape to form new relationships and meaning. This is my emerging voice.

What I will take forward

I am enjoying and will continue to use visual metaphors and put my subconscious in the images. This will be in tandem with going deeper visually and spiritually into ancient woodlands.

I am still developing methods for signposting my intentions or messages. I have tried various techniques to signpost images to increase access to their meaning, definitions as captions, poetry, poetography, and binary pointers. Looking forward I need to find ways to share the messages in my photography with an audience, whilst not excluding the opportunity for viewers to decide for themselves what meaning they take from the images.

My intention is to build on this body of work and refine my publishing ideas to create a photobook, or Zine to realise a publication for Sustaining Your Practice.

CONTEXTUAL STUDIES: ASSESSMENT

/ niki / Leave a comment

PH6CTS CONTEXTUAL STUDIES

Nicola South          Student number:514516

SELECTION OF LEARNING LOG ENTRIES FOR REFECTIONS ON LEARNING OUTCOMES

LO1 undertake research and study demonstrating comprehensive knowledge of your area of specialisation and built a theoretical framework for your creative practice.

I have researched extensively. Some of my research is shown under the CS Research tab in my Reflective Journal on my blog; much I did not post to avoid self-plagiarism, though I have posted screen shots of someof my research notes and annotations:

  1. I researched visual methodologies I could use to examine artists work for affect and effect. I built on this research and assimilated so I could present it coherently in my Literature review, particularly see pages 1 to 5. I began by reading Rose’s (2001) ideas on visual methodologies. These led to further research on semiology and discourse analysis and models for semiotics of visual art such as Saussure and Pierce: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/research/cs-research/cs-a1-notes-on-a-text-and-annotations-as-used/ I then researched further set this in context with other writers: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/research/cs-research/cs-a2-research-further-evidence/
  2. Research enabled me to build a theoretical framework for my Body of Work photography, which developed exploring ideas deepened through CS research, which stimulated broader CS research. My CS course reflective evaluation explains this research journey: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/assessment/cs-assessment/cs-course-reflective-evaluation/  

LO2 synthesise and articulate your critical, contextual, and conceptual knowledge and understanding into a coherent critique of advanced academic standard.

  1. The draft Literature review only touched on the effect of audience in interpreting meaning in images. I queried in my reflections against learning outcomes for assignment 2, whether I should expand my research to include this, or if this widen my research too much?  My Tutor suggested I research and add this to the conclusion of my essay. After further research I realised audience was an area that a semiotic analysis of images did not take account of and is integral to understanding meaning. Consequently, I wove this factor throughout my dissertation, and dedicated a section of the third chapter to it. These changes can be seen in my submitted dissertation as well as the redrafts of my Dissertation proposal/planners here: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/contextual-studies/c-s-assignments/cs-dissertation-proposal-redraft/
  2. Researching and drafting my dissertation helped contextualise my BOW concept and relate sources to each other for my dissertation. I started with research on the tension between expressive and documentary photography, then looked at this in the work of White and Blakemore, with other commentators and the influence of Szarkowski’s ideas on mirrors and windows. See some of my research notes and annotations as I critiqued and cross related them for use: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/research/cs-research/cs-a2-research-evidence/
  3. As my research expanded it was important to articulate how the style and content of the work of an artist can exemplify affect. Initially I related how visual analysis methodologies can expose this content by adding Minor White and John Blakemore’s images and narration of affect in these images into my literature review pages 6 and 7. Then, when I drafted Chapter three of my dissertation I expanded on this including many of only Minor White’s images and applied a semiotic toolkit to pick apart affect in his work. I noted this in my reflections on learning outcomes assignment 4 and here in my reflections on formative feedback for assignment 4: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/contextual-studies/cs-submissions/csa4-reflections-against-formative-feedback/ The final result of this can be seen in pages 10 and 12 to 14 of my dissertation.   

LO3 apply your own criteria of judgement, reviewed, criticised, and taken responsibility for your own work with minimum guidance.

  1. Between assignment 1 and 3 I worked on reframing the precise title to outline my main enquiry succinctly. In my reflections on Learning outcomes for assignment 2 I shared the mind map I developed to begin this process:  https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/contextual-studies/c-s-assignments/cas-assignment-2/cs-a2-reflections-against-learning-objectives/ In my Assignment 3 Learning log I reflected on my ongoing process of defining the title: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/contextual-studies/c-s-assignments/cs-assignment-3/cs-ass-3-learning-log/ and finally in my Assignment 4 Learning Log I described how I decided to focus only on the landscape photography of Minor White, dropping John Blakemore: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/contextual-studies/c-s-assignments/cs-ass4-learning-log/
  2. Some of the decisions and actions I took after reviewing my work are exemplified in my Critical Reflective Summary of changes made to my dissertation draft between assignment four and five: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/contextual-studies/cs-assignment-5/cs-a5-critical-reflective-summary/

LO4 select and apply information management skills and used appropriate technology in the production of an accomplished critique with minimal supervision.

My tutor supported my improvement in academic writing, but I took responsibility for implementing techniques he suggested, and his feedback especially by assignment 5 confirms my ‘good studentship’ in this.

  1. In my assignment 5 reflections on learning outcomes against LO1, I identified that I have progressed from the point in the literature review where I presented various theories, to the dissertation where I have interrelated, evidenced and put them to practical use, see https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/contextual-studies/cs-assignment-5/cs-a5-reflections-against-learning-objectives/
  2. Up to assignment 4 I was still being challenged by my tutor to be more succinct. By assignment 5 after reviewing my whole dissertation with rereading, reordering, and amalgamating my sources and evidence, I noted that now better understood the value of techniques such as PEEL (Paint, Evidence, Explain, Link), using quotes to support points rather than explaining the quotes to form a critical argument, and how to use some ‘reverse engineering’ to achieve this. These techniques enabled me to get to my point faster, reduce the word count and be more concise. See my reflections on formative feedback for assignment 5: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/contextual-studies/cs-submissions/cs-a5-submission/cs-a5-reflections-on-formative-feedback/

CONTEXTUAL STUDIES ASSESSMENT

/ niki / Leave a comment

PH6CTS-5         Nicola South Student number: 514516

CONTEXTUAL STUDIES COURSE REFLECTIVE COMMENTARY

Starting points and progression

In Contextual Studies I understood I should build a contextual and theoretical framework for my photographic work as Body of Work and my Contextual Studies would run concurrently and contextualise each other; I wasn’t sure how this would work. My interests lay in Postmodern Landscape perspectives, photographing subjects as visual metaphors, and using photography for layers of truth. Exploring these further would develop my research on Minor White in my Landscape photography coursework, and Documentary Fact and Fiction research.

Initially I explored themes of post structuralist thoughts on plurality of meaning, and the way work can be interpreted differently by various viewers. I researched how photography can free a subject from a fixed time and place, ontology, (Bazin, 1960) and revisited ‘ways of ‘seeing’ (Berger, 1972) and relationships involved and ‘reading the space’ (Walker, 2005). It was satisfying researching critically and comparing the approach and conclusions of these and other leading authors relevant to my concept.

From assignment two I researched the tension between ‘affect’ and ‘effect’ in photography that emerged in the early 20th century and investigated methods to articulate both affect and effect in artists’ work. I began using compositional analysis, but concentrated on post structural Semiology and discourse analysis, focusing on the premise shared by writers that using semiotics based purely on linguistics cannot fully explain visual signification.

After assignment three I added further commentary from theorists such as O’Sullivan (2001) on affect theory and the opposition of idealism and materialism, and by assignment four had expanded on the need for context to give meaning. Whilst redrafting I also expanded on the effect of the audience on interpretations. I enjoyed deeper research on White and his methods for equivalence such as sequencing and symbolism, and contextualising with commentators such as Szarkowski and his ideas on mirrors and windows in photography.

Challenges

Summarising my argument to form a concise title was a challenge. I intended to explore how photography can be used for both sharing reality (effect) and expressing what is in an artist’s mind (affect) and discuss with reference to the landscape photography of Minor White and John Blakemore. It took me until assignment 4 to tighten this to: ‘Affect and Effect’, the landscape photography of Minor White. By then I decided to concentrate only on the work of Minor White, as after deeper research on both photographers, I felt Blakemore’s work did not exemplify my theme in such a rich manner. Allowing the research to dictate the final question eventually worked.

Later in my research I realised that I had not initially understood some concepts such as representation well. As my understanding grew I gradually incorporated representation into my dissertation to an extent; and I will continue as an area of further investigation along with theories on realism.

The peer group hangouts that I am part of, as well as tutor led Groupwork sessions, were a great support to my studies. Both my Tutor’s feedback and another who ran the Level three groupwork sessions helped me to better understand ways to extend and control my research.

What I will take forward

I now appreciate that at the beginning of a project you may be uncertain on what to research, or how a project will be framed, however as you proceed the balance of this shifts to more certainty and confidence. It was satisfying to discover that my research helped me to figure out where my photographic practice fits into the photographic world; I now understand how a good knowledge of visual culture can support my photographic knowledge. My Contextual Studies research moved my Body of Work creative practice forward, and my Body of Work explorations gave meaning to my Contextual Studies. It was rewarding to refresh and improve my academic skills, particularly how to bring a balance in my writing between being concise but not too dense, I will take this forward as a transferable skill.

References:

Bazin, A. and Gray, H. (1960) ‘The Ontology of the Photographic Image’ In: Film Quarterly 13 (4) pp.4–9.

Berger, J., Blomberg, S., Fox, C., Dibb, M. and Hollis, R. (1972) Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation.

O’Sullivan, S. (2001) ‘THE AESTHETICS OF AFFECT: Thinking art beyond representation’ In: Angelaki: journal of theoretical humanities 6 (3) pp.125–135.

Walker, I., Dagenais, F. and Batchen, G. (2005) Image & Imagination : Le Mois de la Photo À Montréal 2005. McGill-Queen’s Univ. Press. At : https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=0qyuzQEACAAJ

CONTEXTUAL STUDIES: DISSERTATION PLANNER REDRAFTS

/ niki / Leave a comment
  1. My first draft for assignment 2
  2. My revised planner following feedback by assignment 3. This includes more detail for chapter 2 and the addition of the thoughts of O’Sullivan ( 2001) and Edwards (2012) on affect, as well as more detail for the conclusion.
  3. My final amended dissertation plan following my decision to restrict my artist study to Minor White and with my planning for Chapter 3 with an increased content on the impact of the audience on meaning, particularly for chapter 3 to link in with the Minor Case study. Chapter 3 has expanded as I realised the need to use his work to example how visual methodologies and knowledge of the context of an artist helps with understanding the expression and meaning in their work. The impact of the audience is circular here.
DISSERTATION PROPOSAL REDRAFTSDownload