BODY OF WORK

BOW ASSIGNMENT 4: RESEARCH

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POETRY AND PHOTOGRAPHY

My thought processes about how to signpost my work led me to investigate poetry and photography

“Poetry” is derived from a Greek word meaning to create or to bring something into being. This is close to that of the word “art,” derived from a Latin word referring also to items brought into being by human skill.

Photographer Guy Tal asserts that in writing, poets don’t try to assert their own style as the only valid form of writing. Where he suggests that in photography, expressing meaning poetically, rather than from objective representation, is often criticised. Tal says this shows that photography still has a way to go as an art form, if only just to catch up to where other media already are.

Landscape photographer John Hardiman says “I came to the conclusion that photographs, on the whole, have little to do with photography at all. They represent something else” (Hardiman, 2022). He believes that it’s not the photograph which captures life in a picture, we draw these connections ourselves; to capture them we need to feel them. “With a careful touch of colour and tonality, flavoured to taste in just the right way, we can create our own visual poetry, which I’ll call “landscape poetography”. He likens this to poetry, as the way words flow from one line to another in poetry can be as the lines, colour, tone, and layout in photography. Deliberate changes can throw the reader off surprisingly or make them feel uneasy, I would call this punctum. Words, colours or tones can be used to make us comfortable or mixed to cause questions and ambiguity. He proposes that “Photographs and poems can both be metaphorical, drawing on the visuals but meaning something else”.

Landscape photographer David Ward suggests that photographic description alone is not inspirational, as the exact meaning is elusive as viewers interpret in different ways. He says that images are full of visual nouns, but to signify emotions we need adjectives or adverbs.

Rob Hudson, conceptual landscape photographer, says when exploring how he relates to the landscape, he often resorts to words for clarity and more depth about how he feels and what he wants to represent in a given project; starting by making lists of keywords about feelings, and associations with place. For a project to work he says they must have three key features, be personal, restrictive either through subject, area, style and or theme and that he can be passionate about them. 

Describing how thinking like a poet can be inspiring for photography Hudson says artistic expression is about being self-aware, and spending time thinking about our feelings, where we are in the world and so on. He suggests that thinking like a poet in “prose, sometimes poetry and sometimes a simple “self-examination” in words”(Hudson, 2010) is useful.  Not that this is poetry but that the processes involved are similar and words can develop and define ideas, which can feed into photography. He describes this photography, experiences of place feeding back into the words creating a “virtuous loop”.

References

Hardiman, J. (2022) Landscape Poetography commentary on our inner world. At: https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2022/04/landscape-poetography/  (Accessed 08/01/2023).

Hudson, R. (2011) Rob Hudson. At: https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2011/04/the-skirrid-hill-project-taking-thinking-like-a-poet-to-its-logical-conclusion/ (Accessed 08/09/2022).

Hudson, R. (2010) Creativity. At: https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2010/11/how-thinking-like-a-poet-can-inspire-creativity-in-landscape-photography/ (Accessed 08/01/2023).

Ward, D. (2012) David Ward on Meaning in Photography – On Landscape. At: https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2012/02/on-meaning-in-photography/ (Accessed 08/01/2023).

Tal, G. (2021) Colour as Form: Transforming without deforming: Toward subjective expression and away from objective realism. In: On Landscape 254 pp.41–66. At: https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2022/04/colour-as-form/ (Accessed 27/08/2022).

PHOTOPOETRY

Photopoetry 1845-2015: A critical history: An essay by Michael Nott on the roots of photopoetry (2022)

Not defined in the oxford English dictionary, the first use of the term was 1936 with pairings of both by Constance Phillips. Boulestreau used the term to describe the poems and photographs in Facile (1935) saying “meaning progresses in accordance with the reciprocity of writing and figures: reading becomes interwoven through alternation restitching of the signifier into text and image” (1982).

Photopoetry: A manifesto (Crawford and Mcneath, 2016) suggests that photopoetry should be:

  • revealing to engage the readers imagination
  • a variety of connective strands between text and image
  • not be literal – reader needs to work to gain an understanding

Nott talks about a working practice between poet and photographer. Each are usually wholes when separate. The poetry can be prose, captions, poetic prose or other. He suggests that the best photopoetry retains the independence of both but creates something new when they are interdependent. He outlines that Retrospective photopoetry is when photographers provide images to already written poems. Collaborative is mutually conceived, whilst self-collaborative is less common. However, Nott argues that captions tend to describe images, and that photopoetry is not reductive and places the reader at the centre of their work.

Fuller says both poetry and photography are concerned with images and that poetry can unravel the image. Poems are “gradually constructed in words and images that has to pass muster as an alternative reality. But the photographer is exploiting reality itself, almost directly.” (Fuller and Hurn, 2010:8) They can “ blend, clash, contradict, embolden, evoke…” creating photopoetic images that encourage” serendipity” and “obliquity”. “gradually constructed in words and images that has to pass muster as an alternative reality. But the photographer is exploiting reality itself, almost directly.”

Barthes (2000) talks of when the undevelopable poems and photographs engage in dialogue, saying that the poem may draw the reader beyond the frame of the photograph, or challenge or conform the viewers impression of the photo.

References:

Barthes, R. (2000) Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. Translated by Howard, R. London: Vintage books. loc 325

Boulestreau, N. (1982) in “le Photopoem facile ». Meisine. Lausanne. Cited in Nott, M. (2022) Photopoetry 1845–2015, a Critical History. London: Bloomsbury. pp264.

Crawford, R and Mcbeath, N (2016) Manifesto in Chinese Makar. Edinburgh. Easel press.

Fuller, J and Hurn (2010) “A conversation by way of introduction” in Writing the picture. Bridgend. Seren.

Nott, M. (2022) Photopoetry 1845–2015, a Critical History. London: Bloomsbury.

PHOTOGRAPHY AND POETRY

The Photographers Gallery has an interesting page on the above (The Photographer’s Gallery. 2023), it describes that:

“As forms of artistic expression, both poetry and photography can convey a narrative or story without certainty or being merely descriptive. However, both the poetic or photographic act are often still perceived as solitary pursuits, occurring in isolation from other creative acts. Notions of composition, language, light, sound, space, printing, narrative and writing reveal themselves as fundamental to both arts, from collaborations between the media.

This led me to the work below Writing The Picture by David Hurn and John Fuller, and the photo haikus of Ann Attwood.

Writing The Picture by David Hurn and John Fuller (2010)

This book is a collaboration between a leading photographer and poet, where the poet responds to the images and draws out their meaning.

Their conversation in the book’s introduction is illuminating. Fuller describes the photograph as instant, exploiting reality, whilst a poem unravels overtime and is a constructed reality which the reader creates their own picture for them. Hurn believes that the best photographs share the unseen as well as the visible, and Fuller describes how they can “give voice to the photographer’s intensity of silence”, the implicit meaning. Fuller says that to be suitable for an accompanying poem a photograph must be thought provoking and stimulate the imagination, but there is a danger that an accompanying poem can be an intrusion. He generously suggests that the poem may only supply a memory to the photograph and has no life of their own. Fuller emphasises that a caption is quite different to a poem, which is more of a “title”.

I like the description by Fuller that a successful collaboration between photographer and poet can create a third creative personality.

Attwood, A. (1971) Haiku The mood of earth. New York: Charles Scribner & sons.

She says that Haiku is the most verse form like art, and that many of the techniques can be used when making images; the writer must search for just the right word, limited by seventeen syllables, must be evocative. Haiku means beginning, it is begun by the writer and completed by the reader – it must allow a full spectrum of response. She describes the writer’s role as a painter evoking but not describing a scene. It can though take a reader from a closeup scene to a wider picture. She asks can applying Haiku principles help to see “inside out”.

Through dripping branches

The woods and I are one

In the eyes of the rain (Attwood, 1971:31)

Personally, I don’t enjoy her images and haiku however her suggestion of applying the principles of Haiku, careful word selection for evocation rather than description is interesting. Also, the possibility of using poetry to take the reader from one view to a wider context.

References

Attwood, A. (1971) Haiku The mood of earth. New York: Charles Scirbner & sons.

Hurn, D. and Fuller, J. (2010) Writing the Picture. Bridgend Wales: Seren.

The Photographers Gallery (2023) Photography and Poetry At: https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/photography-culture/photography/photography-and-poetry (Accessed 21/01/2023).

It also led me to this article:

A Few Words. SJ Fowler, A Last Day at the Museum of Futures

Steven J Fowler a writer and artist, lead the course The Written Eye: Poetry & Photography at The Photographers’ Gallery in spring 2018. He says that language, the tool of a poet, is usually short and concentrated. This is not to say that poetry should not make sense, but it does go beyond documentation. He says that it doesn’t tell us what to think, just like other art, usually needing interpretation, “a celebration of paradox, of using the communicative tool to go beyond mere communication”, and is usually a metaphor for other things.

Reference:

A Few Words (2018) At: https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/photography-culture/few-words (Accessed 08/01/2023).

How poems inspire pictures (MacDonald and McCarthy, 2017)

This article describes and experiment where photographers were asked to read poems and then photograph how they inspire them to photograph. One thing that came out of it was how the poetry led them to want to make images with the same level of intimacy that the poems inspired in them. I was struck by how several described that they tried to hold onto their feelings about the poetry as they wandered and photographed. This is what I do when photographing the woodlands- hold on to my feelings about both the woodlands and human community.

One photographer Todd Heisler describes poetry as “what is right in front of you every day that you fail to see” (MacDonald and MacCarthy, 2018), adding that photography amplifies internal dialogue which is often diluted by outside distractions. He suggests that lyrical poetry is often hindered by too much thought.

Reference:

MacDonald, K. and McCarthy, M. (2018) ‘Turning Poetry Into Photos’ In: The New York Times 17/08/2018 At: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/us/how-poems-inspire-pictures.html (Accessed 21/01/2023).

PHOTOGRAPHIC WORKS THIS LED ME TO EXPLORE:

Sabine Thoele: Adrift (2019)

Sabine Thoele is a self-taught photographer who started out in street photography and has since moved on to event and Fine Art photography. Over the course of one year Sabine Thoele observed the floating world on the surface of a pond in her local park. Her photographs document the traces of nature which gusts of wind left behind: floating leaves, flowers, seeds, roots, feathers and insects – a mirror of the changing seasons. Held temporarily afloat by surface tension the camera captures them just before they will completely vanish, a last celebration of their being. The eternal cycle of life and death played out in a small manmade pond.  A meditation on what has been and what we will remember.

Adrift

Invisible walls of loss

The world a rectangle

measured by your paces

A craving for solitude

brought you here

where still waters promise nothing

Bird less flights dropped their cargo

Drifting anchors for your searching grief

Tomorrow was expected

Memories took its place instead

You wish you had …

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find and other work of hers like this.

Reference:

Sabine Thoele: Adrift (2019) At: https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/photography-culture/sabine-thoele-adrift (Accessed 08/01/2023).

MY REFLECTIONS

These explorations were to help me to understand how poetry and photography might work together.

I can see the similarity between poetry and photography and understands Hardiman’s proposal for the term landscape poetography where visuals can be metaphorical, meaning something other than the subject. I can see that photographs may be amplified by adding adjectives and adverbs as well as visual nouns as Ward suggests. I identify with Hudson’s description of using words for clarity, by drawing up key words about place (feelings and associations) to help explore the landscape.He also writes that prose or poetry can bring self-examination in words This may be as far as I go with combining my photographs with poetry – using word association to verbalise and develop my reflections.

I need also to consider whether combining my images with poetry may be a way to unravel my images and add context beyond the image. Hurn suggests that accompanying images with poetry may be intrusive, whilst Fowler holds that poetry doesn’t tell us what to think and needs interpretation. However Fuller believes that when they are a successful collaboration they can create a third personality. Barthes in Camera Lucinda also talks of the poem drawing the reader “beyond the frame if the photograph (Barthes, 2020)I will have to experiment.

How I will do this I don’t know yet. I feel it should be with my own poetry, but I am not a poet. I have also looked at forms of poetry to help me such as Haiku and Koans, but I feel if I am able to write anything it will be freeform, most probably nearer prose than poetry; but then poetry can be in any form apparently…

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BOW A3 Reflections on formative feedback

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Feedback Tutor meeting 4.11.22

I described how my BOW is stimulated by my current life experience- disharmony in the community I live in, this at several levels, currently particularly by my committee work. The BOW is a physical representation of an area of my subconscious in an ongoing way, using the woods as a visual metaphor for this work is a cathartic process for myself – a personal project.

Though separate entities I described how my CS research on affect and effect in landscape photography helps to feed my BOW.

Tutor’s suggestion to read Sophie Howarth’s The Mindful photographer

Tutor’s comments:

  • Images are good and speak of the harmony that I am meaning to convey
  • I could put them on a padlet to experiment when editing so that I can see them all together, and this would aid our discussion next time.
  • I should experiment cropping them to a 5:4 ratio to mimic a full format camera. I will try this with these images but as I crop I camera I may not be able to achieve the composition I would like with these images at 5:4 – I will see. I will photograph so I can crop to a 5:4 ration for my next series.
  • A suggestion I experiment with image 4: #Partnerships… or Anarchy, to see if it would be better or not with more context.
  • We discussed my captions, whether they are too binary and reductive, do they suggest there is an answer to the question is this harmony or chaos? I should reflect to see if there is an alternative signposting that supports my approach but is looser? I don’t think it was a directive to change the captions, but to reconsider them.
  • My Tutor pointed out that my eye has moved from macro to a wider view since my last work. I may want to take this further with the next series.
  • We discussed my idea for the next series where I intend to share the idea that harmony is a chorus made up of different parts. My tutor suggested I might look at the etymology of musical terms to support this.

I will be able to refer aspects of this work to the Learning Objectives when I have completed the actions from this feedback.

Actions

Now:

  • Try cropping to a 5:4 ratio- I did this and found the overall effect was much stronger. I was surprised that the images that I’d not shot envisaging to crop to a 5:4 ratio, worked so well. This ratio seems to draw the viewers eye in more centrally into the scene. SEE MY PADLET: https://oca.padlet.org/nicola514516/td51x6mcq2sijad0
  • After experimenting with image 4: #Partnerships… or Anarchy I was not able to give any more context with as the image wasn’t previously cropped and I don’t have a wider view image. I can only bear this in mind if I don’t want to be too ambiguous in future with an image.
  • I reconsidered my captions but have stayed with my originals which I am happy with’ But again I will take this onboard for future images.

Next assignment:

  • Use a padlet when editing photos
  • Consider sharing a wider view of the woodlands
  • Consider using musical terms if still working with the idea of harmony in another series.

Reference:

Howarth, S. (2022) The Mindful Photographer. London: Thames and Hudson.

Next assignment submission end Jan 2023.

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BOW ASSIGNMENT THREE SUBMISSION

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SHOW AND TELL

ARTIST STATEMENT:

My body of work is about internal and external passage. When I “go out” to the ancient woodlands, I am really “going in”. My visual representation explores my feelings of discomfort about the tension in my local community, this as a contrast to the successful assimilation of diversity in the woodlands.

This series is an exploration of whether diversity necessarily results in tension and chaos, or whether these differences can be harmonious.

IMAGES

Harmony or Chaos?

_________

#Chaos… or Adaptation

_________

#Discord… or Diversity

_________

#Mayhem… or Cooperation

_________

#Partnerships… or Anarchy

_________

#Peace… or Disorder

_________

#Muddle… or Balance

_________

#Collaboration… or Disarray

_________

#Confusion… or Harmony

_________

Reflective commentary  

This series develops my previous work which positions the ancient woodlands as a visual metaphor for a harmonious community. The motivation for the concept are my observations of the local community who are often disharmonious, driven by difference. The concept is stimulated by humans, though they are not evident in my work.

This approach runs parallel to my contextual studies work on affect (expressing what is in a photographer’s mind) and effect (the reality) in landscape photography. In essence this is the difference between photographing a subject for itself and photographing a subject to give a message about something else. Photographers such as Minor White present images as metaphors for something beyond the subject being photographed.

In this assignment, I want to explore further my ability to transform the abstract ideas in my head, my subconscious, into something concrete, via a physical representation of another subject. Many landscape photographers I have researched talk of combining the world within us and the world outside us, some say that that going out is really going in. Radonjič, (Metascapes,2016) calls this transforming our subconscious into “metascapes”, our personal landscapes, as the real landscape is inside your head. Tom Wilkinson (Wilkinson, 2022) suggests that photography is as much about the photographer as the landscape. I am aware through my previous practice that combining the world within my head with the one in front of me can be cathartic as well as produce intriguing photographs. My concept fits well with the theme of part 3 course work “Showing not telling”, Golding calls this using photography “to transform objective reality” (Golding 2022).

Prior to producing this particular series of images, disharmony in the local community had increased; partly due to the influx of summer tourists. Walking in the woodlands I was struck that there are many different species and great diversity, yet they coexist successfully, adapting to accommodate each other’s needs. Moreover, when I observed closely I saw that although this diversity first appears chaotic, messy, muddled, and disorderly, it is an organised chaos that works successfully. I resolved to to express my discomfort with the discord caused by the differences within the local community, by contrasting this with the harmony that exists in the diverse woodland community, where various elements accommodate each other to mutual benefit.

My intention when photographing was to seek out the visually chaotic, muddled and disordered to focus viewers on this aspect of the woodland community. Radonjic describes this as “visually intertwined living space” (Wesche, 2022). Viewers will need to observe hard just to make sense of what is present in such images, without any distortion by the photographer, and this fits well with another of my intentions that viewers should look closely to find meaning in the images.

I then edited to form a series of images that would communicate my message. My intention is to invite viewers thoughts as to whether what is presented is in fact harmony, or chaos. The images I chose demonstrate disorder and some randomness, but I believe they also have a quality of tranquility. I have signposted the work simply with its title “Harmony or Chaos?” and by each image having a caption denoting antonyms of these. In a way I am asking viewers to consider if chaos and differences are necessarily inharmonious. For myself, the first author of this work I am suggesting that differences and diversity can lead to adaptation, balance, and harmony.

I challenged myself in my last assignment to put something of myself in the landscape without intervening in it, and believe that my voice, my subconscious, is in these images. The viewers must decide for themselves what meaning they take from the images.

“To create a vision of the harmony of the unequal, balance the infinite variety, the chaotic, the contradictions in a unity”. (Hans Richter, German Dada painter, and modern art historian cited at: The painters keys, 2022)

References:

Golding, J.M. (2022) At: https://www.jmgolding.com/before-there-were-words/wigdebnrfagnyp1cf1wr96rfxg7jll (Accessed 09/09/2022).

Radonjič, G. (2016) Metascapes. At: https://gregorradonjic.wordpress.com/metascapes/ (Accessed 30/08/2022).

The painters’ keys (2022) Hans Richter quotes – Art Quotes. At: http://www.art-quotes.com/auth_search.php?authid=3048 (Accessed 25/09/2022).

Wesche, A. (2022) ‘An Interview with Gregor Radonjič’ In: On Landscape (250). Ed. Tim Parkin. pp.97–118. Found at: https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2022/02/interview-with-gregor-radonjic/ [accessed 30.7.22)

Wilkinson, T. (2022) Tom Wilkinson Art Photography. At: http://www.i-m.mx/tomwilkinson/ArtPhotography/about (Accessed 09/09/2022).

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BODY OF WORK ASSIGNMENT THREE: REFLECTIONS AGAINST LEARNING OUTCOMES

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Nicola South        Student number:514516

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

  • I believe I have communicated my intentions both in the images and in the accompanying reflection, that this is about place and self.
  • My images support these intentions to use the woodlands as a metaphor for a harmonious community, the transformation of subject and object. However, there is ambiguity and room for the viewer to interpret.
  • The subjects chosen for this series I believe give the overriding presentation of harmony and yet there is a twist, as on first look they may appear chaotic. Chaos in the woodlands caused by diversity is a complex situation as the place remains highly successful
  • The techniques used may appear simple, it is through the straightforward use of a digital camera, with little postproduction work; the colours are as shot and I have rarely cropped, I prefer to create in camera.
  • The environment is becoming very familiar to me and yet it changes daily with the ever-changing weather and seasons.

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 study for Contextual Studies is deepening my understanding of “affect” and expression in landscape photography both conscious and sub-conscious. This detailed CS reading is not literally evident in my BOW as the research I present is that for my BOW, but I hope that my photographic and reflective progress demonstrates that there is increasing understanding of Semiotics, indexical relationships (sharing the idea of an object/subject) without a physical likeness, transient meaning, and the existence of both affect and effect in photographs.
  • The background reading and research into photographers both in the field of landscape and using landscape to share internal and external passage is feeding a belief in what I am trying tom achieve and offering me new ideas to try. Their ideas on personal landscapes, and literal appearances as metaphors for internal experience are central to my work.
  • I have increasing knowledge in these areas which is explicit in my Contextual Studies, however do I need to make it more explicit in my Body of Work commentaries?

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

  • I have demonstrated that I can transform abstract concepts into a narrative, that diversity can be harmonious, and I think that narrative is in each image and reinforced by the images as a series. However, it is subjective expressionism.
  • I believe working in a series has strengthened the message I am sharing as I was very careful during editing to ask myself the question of each image: does the image detract or contradict from the rest of the series? or even better does it emphasise and add impact to my message?  
  • I have signposted meaning for the viewers with my title and captions but hope that it is sufficiently open for them to interpret my and their own meaning also.

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

  • I have reviewed this work against the course learning objectives as well as against my personal intentions.

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BODY OF WORK ASSIGNMENT THREE DRAFT

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Nicola South Student number: 514516

BODY OF WORK ASSIGNMENT THREE : SHOW AND TELL

Brief: As you work through Part Three, carry on developing your major body of work. Continue to shoot and reflect on your work so far and build a set of images to submit to your tutor.

Remember that the point of these assignments is to get tutor feedback on the project as a whole so come with your questions on how to move forward and ask for your tutor’s opinion on how the project is working so far.

Submit your work in progress together with a reflective commentary. Your reflection may consider some of the material in Part Three if it has been relevant to your practice. You may also wish to consider how genres are continuing to influence you and how you’re relating what you’re doing in Contextual Studies to your practice on this course.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

My body of work is about internal and external passage. When I “go out” to the ancient woodlands, I am really “going in”. My visual representation explores my feelings of discomfort about the tension in my local community, this as a contrast to the successful assimilation of diversity in the woodlands.

This series is an exploration of whether diversity necessarily results in tension and chaos, or whether these differences can be harmonious.

IMAGES

Harmony or Chaos?

_________

#Chaos… or Adaptation

_________

#Discord… or Diversity

_________

#Mayhem… or Cooperation

_________

#Partnerships… or Anarchy

_________

#Peace… or Disorder

_________

#Muddle… or Balance

_________

#Collaboration… or Disarray

_________

#Confusion… or Harmony

_________

Reflective commentary  

This series develops my previous work which positions the ancient woodlands as a visual metaphor for a harmonious community. The motivation for the concept are my observations of the local community who are often disharmonious, driven by difference. The concept is stimulated by humans, though they are not evident in my work.

This approach runs parallel to my contextual studies work on affect (expressing what is in a photographer’s mind) and effect (the reality) in landscape photography. In essence this is the difference between photographing a subject for itself and photographing a subject to give a message about something else. Photographers such as Minor White present images as metaphors for something beyond the subject being photographed.

In this assignment, I want to explore further my ability to transform the abstract ideas in my head, my subconscious, into something concrete, via a physical representation of another subject. Many landscape photographers I have researched talk of combining the world within us and the world outside us, some say that that going out is really going in. Radonjič, (Metascapes,2016) calls this transforming our subconscious into “metascapes”, our personal landscapes, as the real landscape is inside your head. Tom Wilkinson (Wilkinson, 2022) suggests that photography is as much about the photographer as the landscape. I am aware through my previous practice that combining the world within my head with the one in front of me can be cathartic as well as produce intriguing photographs. My concept fits well with the theme of part 3 course work “Showing not telling”, Golding calls this using photography “to transform objective reality” (Golding 2022).

Prior to producing this particular series of images, disharmony in the local community had increased; partly due to the influx of summer tourists. Walking in the woodlands I was struck that there are many different species and great diversity, yet they coexist successfully, adapting to accommodate each other’s needs. Moreover, when I observed closely I saw that although this diversity first appears chaotic, messy, muddled, and disorderly, it is an organised chaos that works successfully. I resolved to to express my discomfort with the discord caused by the differences within the local community, by contrasting this with the harmony that exists in the diverse woodland community, where various elements accommodate each other to mutual benefit.

My intention when photographing was to seek out the visually chaotic, muddled and disordered to focus viewers on this aspect of the woodland community. Radonjic describes this as “visually intertwined living space” (Wesche, 2022). Viewers will need to observe hard just to make sense of what is present in such images, without any distortion by the photographer, and this fits well with another of my intentions that viewers should look closely to find meaning in the images.

I then edited to form a series of images that would communicate my message. My intention is to invite viewers thoughts as to whether what is presented is in fact harmony, or chaos. The images I chose demonstrate disorder and some randomness, but I believe they also have a quality of tranquility. I have signposted the work simply with its title “Harmony or Chaos?” and by each image having a caption denoting antonyms of these. In a way I am asking viewers to consider if chaos and differences are necessarily inharmonious. For myself, the first author of this work I am suggesting that differences and diversity can lead to adaptation, balance, and harmony.

I challenged myself in my last assignment to put something of myself in the landscape without intervening in it, and believe that my voice, my subconscious, is in these images. The viewers must decide for themselves what meaning they take from the images.

“To create a vision of the harmony of the unequal, balance the infinite variety, the chaotic, the contradictions in a unity”. (Hans Richter, German Dada painter, and modern art historian cited at: The painters keys, 2022)

References:

Golding, J.M. (2022) At: https://www.jmgolding.com/before-there-were-words/wigdebnrfagnyp1cf1wr96rfxg7jll (Accessed 09/09/2022).

Radonjič, G. (2016) Metascapes. At: https://gregorradonjic.wordpress.com/metascapes/ (Accessed 30/08/2022).

The painters’ keys (2022) Hans Richter quotes – Art Quotes. At: http://www.art-quotes.com/auth_search.php?authid=3048 (Accessed 25/09/2022).

Wesche, A. (2022) ‘An Interview with Gregor Radonjič’ In: On Landscape (250). Ed. Tim Parkin. pp.97–118. Found at: https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2022/02/interview-with-gregor-radonjic/ [accessed 30.7.22)

Wilkinson, T. (2022) Tom Wilkinson Art Photography. At: http://www.i-m.mx/tomwilkinson/ArtPhotography/about (Accessed 09/09/2022).

Next post: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/body-of-work/bow-assignments/bow-assignment-3/bow-a3-reflections-against-learning-outcomes/

BODY OF WORK ASSIGNMENT THREE: SHOWING NOT TELLING

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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:

Image: 3278

I asked which images fitted in a series? The form of these didn’t:

Image 3130 Image 3131

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:

Image 3027

I looked closely at those I was left with. For instance I vacillated between:

Images 3247 and 3318

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

Image 3162

Then this image was dropped to get the series to a cohesive flowing set of 8

Image 3256

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.

Next post: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/body-of-work/bow-assignments/bow-assignment-3/bow-a3-contact-sheets/

BODY OF WORK ASSIGNMENT 3: RESEARCH

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An Interview with Gregor Radonjič: METAPHORICAL AND METAPHYSICAL SPACES

(Gregor Radonjič & Alexandra Wesche February 27, 2022)

Finding this interview with Gregor Radonjic led me to an exploration of his work as his motivation for photographing resonates with my own at this time, he says that he is “deeply interested in photography which moves our spirits closer to the silent places beyond what is meant by ‘real” (Wesche, 2022), and that he relies on  Alfred Stieglitz’s concept of “equivalency”, where images were intended to be interpreted as metaphors for emotional states. Radonjič comments on the work of Minor White, where symbols in images forms a metaphor for something beyond the subject being photographed, as he also believes that an image can be a transformation as well as a document, and that they should be open to individual interpretations.

Like myself Radonjič is interested in tree-related photography, believing that photographing trees and forests is a serious artwork.One of hisprojects is dedicated to trees and is published as a book ‘Drevesa’ (trees in Slovenian). In the introduction he refers to trees as social beings, as well as individual characters and to the ancient connection that humans have with them. I was interested that Radonjič says that photographs of trees can add to this hidden connection between humans and trees. He describes the liberating feeling of being in a forest where you are all alone without any distractions as well as being attracted to the “visually intertwined living space” (Wesche, 2022); this is something that I feel strongly. He also describes forests as very visually chaotic and complex as place. His photo book combines poetry and images which he considers synergetic.

(Radonjič, Trees 2016)

His work Metascapes is about transformation and representing what is in our subconscious. He explains it as transforming places into personal ‘mindscapes’ which reflect his intimate inner relationship with those places. Radonjič describes his images as a mental projection of how we perceive our surroundings, that they “function as “distorted” mirror of the reality we see. They are not pure documentations, but rather artworks somewhere between fiction and abstraction, metaphors of an outlook on the world and beyond” (Radonjič, 2016). On landscapes he quotes the anthropologist Orvar Lofgren“The real landscape is in your head.” Radonjič describeslandscapes as spatially based perceptual units, constructed in our minds as we view the world by means of “aesthetic categories that are socially mediated” (Radonjič, 2016).

You can see in his work Metascapes to achieve this he uses creative intervention in post-production.

 (Radonjič, Metascapes,2016)

He considers colour a very important element in visual art and comments that he uses colours to communicate his vision to the viewers. However, he doesn’t adhere to right or true colours, and this is evident in his work. He explains that he uses postproduction techniques to “transfer inner feelings and memory to photographs”, as he knows what he was experiencing at the moment he pressed the shutter, and using digital tools makes it easier and more effective for me to convey these inner feelings”. He does also point out that using analogue techniques is also a manipulation of reality and believes that using them is another part of a creative path.

My reflections:

His photographic style and final output, particularly his use of post-production work doesn’t particularly appeal to be, but his photographic philosophy does. I sympathise with his ideas on equivalence, metaphor for something beyond the subject being photographed, that there should be room for interpretation by viewers and note his idea that photography can be a transformation as well as a document. His description of place being transformed into personal ‘mindscapes’, that reflect his intimate relationship with those places is part of what I am trying to achieve, but I am also sharing something beyond the forest.

The fact that he enjoys working in forests undistracted and is attuned to Trees as connecting to humans aligns with my practice. His ideas on forests being visually chaotic, is exactly what I am seeking to show in my BOW assignment 3.  

I will consider his comments on not using true colour and may see where that takes me sometime in the future.

Overall, I completely concur with his view that the real landscape is in one’s head.

References:

Radonjič, G. (2015) Trees At: https://gregorradonjic.wordpress.com/portfolio/places-perspectives/ (Accessed 31/08/2022).

Radonjič, G. (2016) Metascapes. At: https://gregorradonjic.wordpress.com/metascapes/ (Accessed 30/08/2022).

Wesche, A. (2022) ‘An Interview with Gregor Radonjič’ In: On Landscape (250). Ed. Tim Parkin. pp.97–118. Found at: https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2022/02/interview-with-gregor-radonjic/ [accessed 30.7.22)

GUY TAL: COLOUR AS FORM

This article interested me as I have recently made the decision to shoot in colour for the rest of this project. Tal outlines the history of colour in photography and I was interested to learn that in 1946 about a decade after releasing colour film Kodak commissioned photographers, including Paul Weston, to use colour for an advertising campaign. Apparently, Weston was surprised that he enjoyed shooting in colour and maybe only didn’t produce much more in colour, as he was at the end of his photographic career by that stage.

Tal explains that Edward Weston understood that black and white and colour were not interchangeable and a deliberate choice was needed depending on subject and form. Weston suggested colour is needed when it separates the objects in the composition more so than other elements like tone, shape, pattern, or texture; and believed the mistake was in not thinking of colour as form. I hadn’t realised that Weston’s son Cole was a pioneering colour photographer, who said “to see colour as form means looking at the image in a new way, trying to free oneself from absorption in subject matter” (Tal,2022:45).

Tal speaks of colour as a means of subjective expression, and interestingly for my work in Contextual Studies the importance of subjective expression over objective representation if artistic expression is an artist’s goal (Tal, 2022:47). He points out that unfortunately some think that the use of colour may attract viewers attention, instead of skillful composition.

Interestingly like Radonjič , he explains that photographer’s do not have to remain true to colour, just as black and white photographers don’t, as colour can be controlled just as tonality can “many photographers consider colour as something to reproduce rather than as something to control and to use expressively” and suggests that “A good way to think about artistic expression in photography is as the act of creating and using form consciously and expressively” (Tal, 2022:47).

Tal suggests form may be:

  • Rendering 3-d objects onto a 2-d surface using lines, tonality, tonality and colour to create the perception of depth.
  • Form as composition of the meaning inferred from an image, combining visual elements so they express the visual elements to express the artists meaning.

He ends with a quote from Ernst Haas, “The camera only facilitates the taking. The photographer must do the giving in order to transform and transcend ordinary reality. The problem is to transform without deforming.” (Tal, 2022:55).

  (Tal, 2022)

My reflections:

It is interesting that like Radonjič doesn’t believe that it is important to retain true colour and that it can be used for subjective expression – I should definitely consider this. He also mentions transforming; I like his challenge to transform without distorting.

Reference:

Tal, G. (2022) ‘Colour as Form: Transforming without deforming’ In: On Landscape 254 pp.41–66. Ed. Parkin T. Found at: https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2022/04/colour-as-form/ [accessed 27.8.22]

TUTOR SUGGESTED RESEARCH/READING

Gilles Peress

In this interview Giles Peress, he talks about text and images and the new meaning that forms beyond the two. It is a conversation between Peress and Gerhard Steidl publisher of his book Whatever you say, say nothing (2021). This book is a response to his time in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, images combined with much contextual material which he calls “documentary fiction”. Peress sees an enormous gap between language and reality. These are the points that I found most interesting:

  • Perez makes books to process possible traumas and relationship to everything, in the book for him “everything happens”.
  • He says he is suspicious of attempts to construct definitive documentary or “stable truths”.
  • He explains that the title is the essence of a book as it is the Gestalt of the idea (an organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts) and leads to what it can become- it gives you a clear vision of what you are doing. So, you should continually refer back to the title; I do this when writing, but do I do it always when shooting?
  • He describes how when he sees something that slows down the narrative in the book that he “kills” it. This is good advice.
  • He says that there are many voices in a book, primarily, reality, you and the interpreters, so there is a multiplicity of authors in a book.
  • Peress suggests that the actual process of making a book, is very important, as photography explores what happens between the moment of perception and the moment of the work, which brings a space in which different ideas take shape.

Reflection: His ideas give some good advice on book making and narrative.

Reference:

Peress, G (2022) DBPFP22: Gilles Peress (s.d.) At: https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/dbpfp22-gilles-peress (Accessed 07/09/2022). At: https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/dbpfp22-gilles-peress (Accessed 07/09/2022).

DUST BREEDING MAN RAY (1920)

 (Man Ray, 1920)  (Man Ray, 1929)

Man Ray photographed the large glass sheet in Duchamp’s studio after a years’ worth of dust, using a two-hour exposure to capture the texture and variety of debris on the glass surface. Company tells us that Man Ray cropped the original image down, removing the detail from the contextual details in the background. Company describes it as bearing “little resemblance to the functional photography” and that it was first published in the French surrealist journal Literature, possibly making it the first surrealist photograph (Company, 2005:48).

Man Ray initially titled it “View from an aeroplane,” adding to its ambiguity. As the titles give us information, probably the later title “Dust Breeding” is more informative. Company points put that whether viewed as a macro or micro it looks like a wasteland and his later image Terrain Vague (1929), along with many other images. The subject was eventually set in varnish and sandwiched between glass plates as “The Large Glass.” Apparently, Duchamp wanted it to retain ambiguity with accompanying text as indefinite as possible. 

Company sets out that dust is a trace of what was before the camera, and that the photograph can photograph our attention on such transient things. In semiotics this is an “index” a sign caused by its object. He also suggests that a photograph is an index as it is an indication of the presence of a camera.

Ultimately Company uses the image Dust Breeding as an example that photography has two roles in art, as an art form and as and functional way to document and publicise art forms.

I have always been fascinated by this photograph, so it was good to take the opportunity to study it more closely. Most interesting to me is Company pointing out that I can view an image as a macro or a micro, which I’d not thought of.

References:

Man Ray (1920) Dust breeding At: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/271420 (Accessed 07/09/2022).

Campany, D. (2005) ‘Dust Breeding 1920’ In: Howarth, S. (ed.) Singular Images: Essays on Remarkable Photographs. London: Tate Publishing. pp.47–53.

Man Ray. (1929) Terrain vague. At: https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/ressources/oeuvre/cKL8o8 (Accessed 07/09/2022).

INSIDE THE OUTSIDE COLLECTIVE

This is a landscape photography collective who mediate the liminal space between the world before us and within. The founding members are Al Brydon, Joseph Wright, Rob Hudson and Stephen Segasby, the members explore place making personal representations of landscape, expressing their inner selves and their relationship with the land. Their name was taken from a naturalist and founder of the American national parks’ movement John Muir, who said, “I found that going out was really going in.” (Hudson, 2016).

They use a combination of narrative, metaphor, and investigation, believing that “there’s a big difference between a photograph of something and a photograph about something” (Hudson, 2016).

They are both in the landscape and representing the landscape, so inhabiting two worlds, “the one before us and the one inside us. And when those two worlds collide and intermingle the result can often surprise” commenting on the transformative effect of this combination (ITO, 2016). Referring to a 2016 exhibition by the collective, Hudson says the intention of the photographs often is to make the abstract worlds of thoughts and feelings more concrete through the representation of the physical world around us.

I have been particularly inspired by the work of several of the members, which I now detail below.

References:

ITO (2016) Inside The Outside Collective At: https://www.inside-the-outside.com/about/ (Accessed 08/09/2022).

Hudson, R. (2016) Inside the Outside. At: https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2016/10/inside-outside-exhibition-photography/ (Accessed 08/09/2022).

ROB HUDSON

Describes himself as a conceptual landscape photographer who uses metaphor and narrative and is often influenced by poetry. He says that landscapes are dependent on how they are imagined through our “intellect”. In photographing them we are representing a physical reality, what we knew before and what we know after being in the landscape and express something of our inner selves.

Hudson explains two ways that we experience the landscape “One is lived, illiterate and unconscious, the other learned, literate and conscious.” (Hudson, 2016).

Talking about his projects he says he has three premises; they are personal, “restrictive” maybe by subject, area, style and or theme and he is passionate about them. To work he develops a backstory to find what he’s trying to convey so he is not overwhelmed when in the landscape. He also shares that contrastingly images can be the start of informing your ideas, though he generally uses words to generate more clarity and more depth about how he feels and what he wants to represent in a project. His preparation method he outlines is similar to my own:

  • Make lists of keywords about my feelings, history, and my associations with the place.
  • Look at previous work by others
  • make a quick list of images to avoid- this I don’t do but it’s a good tip.

He says this means we produce work that is different, think creatively and look inside ourselves to find a way of expressing our ideas.

Hudson is keen on using series of images to strengthen what a photographer is as this allows viewers to make links and engage their minds. Interestingly he shares that he’s interested in John Berger’s ideas about seeing images in series, “how the force of multiples reinforces the potency of individual images…a series of refrains” (Hudson, 2016). I agree with this.

He also talks of trees saying that trees aren’t in competition with one another, but instead exist in a complex web of interconnecting roots and fungi, exactly as I have talked of. His work ‘The Secret Language of Trees‘ is his search for “visual clues to that connectivity and mutual nurturing” Hudson, 2022). He knows this is not documentary, it is subjective and has multiple layers of visual influences.

    The Secret Language of Trees (Hudson, 2022)

His work Mametz Wood, not taken in that actual wood, but based on a poem about the WW1 of the Royal Welch Fusiliers in in the battle of Mametz Wood, a futile fight for just one square mile of woodland in northern France. This was his starting point to explore the effects of war on the mind, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in particular. Here he used double exposures to “both disturb reality and create a strange, surreal landscape that explores the experience of, or what was then known as shell shock”, saying that it is not obvious what is real and imagined, just as the victim’s experience (Hudson, 2022).

     (Mametz Woods (Hudson, 2022)

Reflection:

Many aspects of Hudson’s work interest me: His preparation for photographing, photographic intention, his thoughts on working in series, his philosophy and of course his images.

References:

Hudson, R. (2022) Rob Hudson. At: http://www.robhudsonlandscape.net/about (Accessed 08/09/2022).

Hudson, R. (2011) The Skirrid Hill Project: taking ‘thinking like a poet’ to its logical conclusion?. At: https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2011/04/the-skirrid-hill-project-taking-thinking-like-a-poet-to-its-logical-conclusion/ (Accessed 08/09/2022).

Hudson, R. (2016) Inside the Outside An exhibition of photography. At: https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2016/10/inside-outside-exhibition-photography/ (Accessed 08/09/2022).

STEPHEN SEAGASBY

Responds to the landscape on a physical, mental, and emotional level, using metaphor, impressionism, abstract expressionism, and his emotional response is important. He believes sequences are important and that too many questions that are left unanswered in a single image, where a group of images offers the viewer greater insight into the story or the photographer’s work.

In May 2015 he spent time alone in the Forest of Dean, describing this as the most important of his work, in developing a concept and outcome that was unexpected. When he developed his films, he found most images scattered with dark shadows creeping and oozing across the landscape. The more he looked the more he “began to ‘see’ the very essence of the forest as I had perceived it” (Fotofilmic, 2016).  He then printed the images quite small, to draw the viewer in for a personal experience and felt it was most successful as a group of images whilst each one has a narrative of its own.

  Malevolence (ITO, 2018)

His work ‘A Process of Reclamation’ was a long-term series developed around the feeling of walking in the footsteps of those who created the slate quarries. It shows the healing of scars in a post-industrial landscape and depicts a landscape’s journey through time and the change abandonment and natural decay bring to bear. However, it also hints at the healing of our inner scars (Hudson, 2016).

Reflection:

Like Hudson he talks of the importance of value of working in a series, uses metaphor in his work, but also shows how unintended outcomes can be used for a good outcome.     

References:

Colwyn, O. (2019) Inside the Outside – Out of the woods of thought. At: http://orielcolwyn.org/inside-the-outside/ (Accessed 09/09/2022).

Fotofilmic (2016) Stephen Segasby. At: https://fotofilmic.com/portfolio/stephen-segasby-kings-lynn-uk-2/ (Accessed 09/09/2022).

ITO (2018) Out of the woods of thought. At: https://www.inside-the-outside.com/publications/2018-exhibition-book/ (Accessed 30/09/2022).

Parkin, C. (2019) Stephen Segasby. At: https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2019/10/stephen-segasby/ (Accessed 09/09/2022).

TOM WILKINSON

Tom Wilkinson’s work explores identities of place and of self. He finds he then discovers “something about the nature of how the photograph functions within them and about the nature of the moment of experience” and gains a sense of belonging (ITO, 2016). He says that in photographing landscape you are giving an opinion of it, and so it says as much about the photographer as it does the land.

Talking of his work Nothing remains, says the work suggests the presence of an absence, of something that has been before now only seen within the present, describing it as “both visual and a philosophical enquiry into the way memory and identity function with regard to a sense of place” (Wilkinson, 2022). He says we have a consciousness of the past within the present, and therefore that if the photograph is memory, a displaced moment in time, then our sense of being-in-the-world is also this way. The series is an attempt to connect this area to the landscapes of his past and to question his identity within it.

    Nothing remains (Wilkinson, 2022)

Reflection:

I like his description of the past within the present and photograph as memory displaced in time.

References:

ITO (2016) THE ITO EXHIBITION (2016) | A virtual tour and review by Tom Wilkinson Nov 6, 2016. At: https://www.inside-the-outside.com/ito-exhibition-review-tom-wilkinson/ (Accessed 09/09/2022).

Wilkinson, T (2022) Nothing Remains. At: https://anotherplacemag.tumblr.com/post/102616659632/nothing-remains-tom-wilkinson (Accessed 09/09/2022).

Wilkinson, T. (2022) Tom Wilkinson Art Photography. At: http://www.i-m.mx/tomwilkinson/ArtPhotography/about (Accessed 09/09/2022).

J M GOLDING

She uses a variety of cameras and techniques, vintage film camera, pinhole, a plastic Holga or Diana, alternating between single and multiple exposures, to explore and transform her experiences with the world. Golding describes a flow state, an almost automatic, yet highly absorbed state of consciousness, and finds, alters, and creates metaphors to share her subjective experience. She says there is “something compelling about the ways photography can be used to transform “objective” reality” and talks of transcending the literal appearances of subjects to metaphors for internal experience, and share personal meaning (Golding, 2022).

Her images have transformed reality in ways that can be quite surprising to her conscious self. In her work Before there were words, is about proverbial experience that we retain, have in our unconscious minds, and might not share through words. The photographs speak of pure actuality, that moment before verbal labels rush in to change experience (Benbow, 2016).

(Golding, 2022) 

My reflection:

I was interested in the way she describes the “flow state” that she works in when self-absorbed. I can align with Golding’s photographic philosophy, particularly her description of “transcending the literal appearances of subjects to metaphors for internal experience” (Golding, 2022). Also, her view that the world illuminates what’s in our subconscious and brings it to the fore.

References:

Benbow, C. (2016) Interview with photographer J.M. Golding. At: https://www.fstopmagazine.com/blog/2016/interview-with-photographer-j-m-golding/ (Accessed 09/09/2022).

Golding, J.M. (2022) At: https://www.jmgolding.com/before-there-were-words/wigdebnrfagnyp1cf1wr96rfxg7jll (Accessed 09/09/2022).

Golding, J. M. and LensCulture (2022) Falling Through the Lens – Interview with JM Golding. At: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/jm-golding-falling-through-the-lens (Accessed 09/09/2022).

Next post: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/body-of-work/bow-assignments/bow-assignment-3/bow-a3-learning-log/

BODY OF WORK PART THREE: REFLECTIONS ON PROGRESS TO DATE

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20.8.22                                           

I have taken some time to complete CS assignment 2 and have been reading a researching widely. I am now ready to re immerse myself in BOW. To do this I have been re-reading my BOW to date. The following notes are to help me proceed with BOW assignment 3:

On Assignment 1:

  • My theme began as community
  • Influenced in my way of seeing by practitioners mentioned below.
  • Used prime and macro 1:1 lens
  • Used scale or perspective to distort
  • Researched how other have presented
  • Represented images of using: psychogeography, landscape, Abstract, and close up.

On preparing for assignment 2:

  • Thought I might move from colour to black and white but decided the greenness is vital.
  • Advised to give entry point so viewers can access through signposting what I’m representing.

Note I mentioned in my learning log: Rob Hudson Stephen Segasby, Guy Dickenson, Tom Wilkinson and JM Golding. Also Alfred Stieglitz and Minor White: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/body-of-work/bow-assignments/assignment-1/a1-learning-log/ (may need to protect v self-plagiarism in CS Dissertation)

On Assignment 2:

  • Theme: A harmonious community
  • Used text for signposting – might change text to consistently verbs/nouns and use one dictionary source for submission?
  • Collection of a typology of woodland species: Moss, lichen, fungi, trees, ferns – might combine this with other work later
  • Concepts inspired by humans but they are not evident in my work.
  • A selection of learning log entries with a related selection of assignment outcomes is advised. This ties in with the advice from Ariadne in the L3 study group.

Before assignment 3:

Reread woodland research – https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/research/reading/woodland-reading/ lead to reminders:

  • Lichens: undividables (latin for individuals) Is the whole an individual or the parts? Analogy with the woodlands?
  • Ferns: live half their life cycle on other plants like trees – not adapted to one habitat.
  • Fungi: live symbiotically

Further reading/research on mushrooms that I’ve scan read but have yet to complete:

And on trees: Takeaways: symbiotic/mutual relationships

  • Beresford-Kroeger, D. (2019) To Speak for the Trees: My Life’s Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the Forest. (s.l.): Random House of Canada.
  • Deacon, A., and V. D. A. (2020) For the Love of Trees.(s.l.): Black and White Publishing Limited.
  • Deakin, R. (2008) Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees.(s.l.): Penguin UK.
  • Geddes, L. and Finlay, M. (2021) ‘Unearthing the secret social lives of trees – podcast’ In: The Guardian 29/04/2021 At: http://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2021/apr/29/unearthing-the-secret-social-lives-of-trees-podcast (Accessed 26/10/2021).

Have re-read work of other practitioners https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/research/bow-research/other-photographers-same-material/  Takeaways: value of finding ways to encourage viewers to look hard/differently at the subject.

Tutor suggested reading:

Next post: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/research/bow-research/bow-research-part-3/

BODY OF WORK COURSEWORK: PART THREE SHOWING NOT TELLING

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My notes:

Different levels of meaning: literal (Communication/facts/information), metaphor (beyond the first level of meaning: metonym, rhetoric, symbol, connotation, innuendo, euphemism).

  • Interesting that coursework says that showing something that cannot be seen is difficult to accomplish.
  • Note the suggestion that a reader is hoping for their imagination to be sparked and to be able to bring their personal interpretation to the work.
  • Also that joint input from author and reader is most satisfying.

Showing not telling helps to achieve this.

Editing ask yourself:

  • 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?

Sequencing consider:

  • Consider heightened suspense, change in direction or narrative and how the sequencing guides the viewers response

Image and text:

  • Barthes- anchor: the text is there to fix the meaning of an image, with little room for negotiation.
  • Barthes – relay: equal weighting to text and image

Q: How might I use some of these techniques to help convey my ideas to viewers? Showing not telling is essential to my BOW project, metaphor, rhetoric, symbol, and connotation are central to my work.

Q: Have you considered how you will use text in your project? Will this be through individual captions or are you planning a more extensive textual element? I will need to signpost the work for my viewers and will do so this times with simple with captions which will be antonyms to intrigue the viewer and allow for personal interpretation.

Next post: https://nkssite6.photo.blog/category/reflective-journal/personal-reflections/bow-reflections/bow-3-reflections-prior-to-starting/