Week 8

Week ending 26th November 2010.

Tuesday - Contextual Studies with Mike De Vere.

Continuing from last week's session we again looked at the SWOT analysis. This week we focused on opportunities and threats. After a class discussion to generate ideas, I looked at general opps/threats and those directly related to photography. Using the source material provided by Mike gave me a clearer insight into what I needed to add to my analysis. I will complete this task this week as part of my research for my main essay.

This week I also received my feedback from the essay I complete last week. Mike was very positive in his response and this has encouraged to move forward with the final essay. I have already written around two thirds of the essay and I'm hoping to get this finished soon with further research.

Mike has encouraged us to look at some of the websites detailed in the support material. These website has provided me with a lot of information that I can use to complete the essay.


Wednesday - Photographic Theory with Sian Gouldstone.

This week's session with Sian focused on identity in portraits. The key themes we discussed this week are...

I.D. - who are we? Erving Goffman...

- Analysis of human and social action
- Front and Back Stage performances
- Props and costumes
- Audiences
- Maintaining characters

Constructing ID in a portrait?

- Many artists use fancy dress
- Masks and masquerade
- Mimicry
- Postmodern influence

The first photographer's work we looked at was Nikki S Lee. She bases her work of different social groups and stereotypes. The photographer herself is present in all images she has produced in this particular project as she blends into various lifestyles and becomes a part of the group.

Gillian Wearing

Wearing's work looks at the family album and family portraits. She assumes the forms of various family members by creating masks and posing in a traditional way. I find these images quite unnerving but must recommend the photographer on her skills in creating such realistic masks. Although you can see the lines created from the mask meeting the face, the effect is quite astonishing.

Justine Kurland

Kurland uses staged characters in open landscapes. The is a certain amount of mystery surrounding these people and it is left up to the viewer to decide who they are. There is also a mystery of the relationship between the subject and the landscape. I feel there is no conflict present within the relationship and the subjects appear to be completely at home where they are. The subject appears to be seeking something but what is it?

Tereas Hubbard & Alexander Birchler

In these photographs barriers are created between inside and outside, and upstairs and downstairs. Perhaps these images comment on domestic and suburban ideals and how we behave within these environments.
"Curiosity or dread of what lies beyond the frame" - Charlotte Cotton

Other photographers included this week are...

- Cindy Sherman
- Trish Morrissey
- Tracey Moffatt
- Wendy McMurdo
- Anna Gaskell
- Tereza Vickova
- Loretta Lux


In the afternoon I had a quick chat with Lee Garland discussed pricing up photographic projects. I found this session very useful as I have a meeting this week with Marie Greenhalgh from Didsbury Good Neighbours regarding a commission.

Thursday - P&DI with Max Bamber and Dan Morgan.


Following on from last week the class discussed camera settings. I find these sessions very beneficial as my technical knowledge is lacking. I feel I have a better understanding and the handouts are very useful to refer back to.

In the morning I had my meeting with Marie Greenhalgh to discuss the project. I feel the meeting went well and understanding what I need to do to achieve what has been asked of me.

Marie stated she would like 10 head shots of the members of the group, some group shots and 'action' shots of activities. Marie has also invited me to the Christmas lunch on 9th December to document the afternoon. What I am struggling with is what to charge the client. I have asked the advice of Lee, Max and Len Grant to help me decide what to charge.

I am a little apprehensive as this is my first commission for a paying client. I will do as much preparation as possible to ensure I am confident to go out and shoot over the three days. Hopefully next week's sessions will build my confidence and provide me with a strong contact for future work.

Week 7

Week ending 19th November 2010.

Tuesday - Contextual Studies with Mike De Vere.

This week I finally got to do my presentation on Steve McCurry. I'm not really a fan of speaking in public but the presentation itself went quite smoothly. I was pleased with Mike's positive feedback and we discussed many of the points raised in my presentation as a group. The only negative comment was that I didn't really talk to the group and just looked at the screen the whole time... probably because I was nervous!

I also handed in my essay this week. An essay that was supposed to 750 words turned into 1533 words. Despite the length of the essay I managed to complete it 2 weeks before the deadline and I'm pleased with what I have written. I've also started to write the next essay in this unit so I can chip away at it over the coming week rather than leaving it to the last minute. I really want to maintain the high standard I achieve last year in Contextual Studies.

The next section of this unit involves doing a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). We discussed this as a class and began writing down our own strengths and weaknesses. I feel this will be very useful in identifying areas I wish to improve in. It will also help me to continue my current essay writing.

Wednesday - Photographic Theory with Sian Gouldstone.

In this week's session we discussed portraiture and self portraiture. The key points from the lecture -

- Portraits are ambiguous
- What, or who, is being photographed?
- Socially and culturally code and read
- Involve interpretation of sexuality
- Some create discourse around gender theory
- Implicates the artist, sitter and spectator

Rineke Dijkstra is a photographer I have looked at a few times before but never really discussed at any great length. Dijkstra's beach portraits of teenagers depict a period of transition, from coming out of the water and before they put their clothes back on. I think this perfectly captures the awkward phase of life that all teenagers face, that transition from child to adult, that awareness of yourself. These portraits do not reveal a lot about the subject's personalities and they appear to be in a state of nothingness.

The theme of transition is something I want to explore for my Unit 7 project. The Lost Generation are going through a very awkward and uncomfortable stage in life while they are not able to move forward.

Looking at the work of Hellen Van Meene was next on the agenda. In her work none of her subject's ever look at the camera and it appear in some that they are unaware of the camera even being there. This makes you think more about who that person is and what they are thinking. All subject appear disengaged... another element I'd like to include in my Unit 7 project.

Thomas Ruff uses a neutral background in all of his portraits and in terms of identity, how much can you give away with a neutral background? His intention was to capture his subjects in the style of a passport photograph but without any text or other information provided.

Other photographer's work we looked at this week included

- Sarah Jones

- Philip Lorcia Di Corcia

- Sally Mann

- Richard Avedon

- Alec Soth

- Elinor Carucci

- Elina Brotherus

- Robert Maplethorpe

Sian has also set us some homework for this with to take a daily self portrait and to bring the images for next week's session.

Thursday - P&DI with Max Bamber and Dan Morgan

A very productive session with Max this week! Jo and I had some one to one tuition with Max to practice our skills with lighting portraits. Before we went out shooting, Max refreshed with the class how to make adjustments to camera settings to ensure correct exposures. I found this very useful as I sometimes get confused with the maths!

Here are some of the results from the shooting session -

In the afternoon I took time off from the class to go out test shooting for my Unit 7 project. My plan was to go to a patch of wasteland close to Manchester City's ground but when I got there it was being built on! The alternative was to go to the car park next door. It wasn't ideal but at least it was a wide open space.

Before the shoot I made notes about what I wanted to capture including different poses and angles I wanted to shoot my subject in this environment. I experimented with a trip tic... one shot of the subject far away, the next with empty landscape, the last a full portrait... this was to show my idea that the Lost Generation feel like two different people - the who they are and the person they want to be - with a void of unknown empty space in between.

The lines on the car park inspired me to create a barrier by shooting a painted line right down the middle of the shot. This idea has inspired me to research other barriers and divides.

This shot I used the three trip tic images and did a photomerge in Photoshop to create one photograph.

Week 6

Week ending 12th November 2010

Tuesday - Contextual Studies with Mike De Vere

This week's session focused around presentations that the class have been working on. I am presenting the work of Steve McCurry. Although I was ready to do my talk there was not enough time. The presentation that stuck out for me is Jo's presentation on the work of David Hilliard.

Hilliard's use of the trip tic in his work has inspired me and I am hoping to use elements of his work in my Unit 7 project.

Wednesday - Photographic Theory with Sian Gouldstone

This week's session focused on Environmental Landscapes. When I have looked at landscape photography before I have never found a lot of meaning in the images but looking at the following photographers has broadened my knowledge, understanding and appreciation for this genre.

Photographer's work we explored were

- Edward Burtynsky
- Richard Misrach
- Nadav Kander
- Edgar Martins
- Simon Norfolk
- Sophie Ristelhueber
- Ed Kashi
- Yao Lu
- Stuart Franklin

The stand out photographers for me this week were...

Firstly we looked at the work of Emma Livingston. Her photographs of landscapes have rich textual colours and she never includes the sky in the image, only the land itself. This creates an abstract feel to the images, almost as if they had been painted. The image give me a feeling of uncertainty, unsure as to where these places are. I think I will look into Emma's work in further detail as part of my Unit 7 project.

Another photographer I found particularly interesting was Stephen Vaughan and his photographs of the landscape in Iceland. His work explores the unknown... perhaps another photographer to look at in more detail for Unit 7?

Another standout photography I will be researching more into is Jem Southam. His work on landscape uses long exposes and this provides a white sea and sky. This atmosphere is something I would like to try and create myself.

As Lee wasn't in again this week we had the afternoon to talk to Sian about our projects. I also find it very useful discussing my work with her. She suggested I look at the following photographers to help push my project forward

- Chris Marshall. His work involves wastelands in Manchester.

- Justine Kurland

- Hannah Starkey and Cindy Sherman. Work on lone females.

- Hellen Van Meene

- Rineke Dijkstra

- Jeffery Stockbridge

- Abbie Trayler-Smith. Portraits

- Philip Lorca Di Corcia

She also suggested that I look at unused spaces to use as my shoot locations. I want to link unused spaces with the unused ambitions, skills etc of the Lost Generation.

What other areas have been affected by the economy? I will look into government statistics for more inspiration.

Thursday - P&DI with Max Bamber and Dan Morgan

This week with Max we continued with The Guardian portraits brief from last week. I was working with Gynene, Susie and Jo to take several shots that would be appropriate for a magazine or newspaper article. I found this week to be a lot more productive and sitting down with Max afterwards to discuss our shots was very helpful and broadened my understanding.

With Dan this week we continued to work on our website interfaces. This weeks we began to add subsidiary pages in Photoshop to start building content. I will need to work on this over the coming week so I can get my website launched asap.

Week 5 - Benefit

Week ending 5th November 2010

Tuesday - Contextual Studies with Mike De Vere

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend this week's session with Mike due to a family crisis. It is the first time I've not attended a session this year so I ensured that I emailed Mike to explain my absence and provide him with the work I had been doing over Reading Week (just to prove I haven't been slacking off!).

I am currently writing an essay on the history of photojournalism, the changes in the industry and the impact of postmodernism in this area. I feel I am progressing well with the essay and have emailed Mike to read what I have written so far.

Mike's reply was positive and I have taken on board the points he added for me to pick up on. I will hopefully be completing the essay this week... 2 week before the deadline :)

Wednesday - Photographic Theory with Sian Gouldstone.

Lee was unable to attend again this week so we had a full day with Sian. This week's session focused on Urbanisation. The key themes included -

- Rights to the city - whose city?
- History and pastness of the city
- Cultural relevance - globalisation and colonialism
- Mega cities
- Urban regeneration and sustainability
- Urban mobilities

Some of the photographer's work we discussed included -

Bill Owens - Suburbia.

Roberts Adams

Henry Wessel Jr

Stephen Shore - looking at his work has inspired me and given me an idea for my Unit 7 project. I'd like to include wide open spaces as locations for my shoots. This provides me with the feeling of being lost in the big wide world. Perhaps I could look into wastelands, beaches, countryside??? Something to look into further.

In the afternoon I went out with Jo and Susie to Wythenshawe to take photographs of the urban landscape. I decided to focus on capturing images of bins to create a series inspired by Henry Wessel Jr. I'd like to display my mini series as small images in a grid formation... but in the meantime these are some of the shots...

Thursday - P&DI with Max Bamber and Dan Morgan

Max and Dan arranged for Tarnia Kapow to do a presentation of a project she did in her second year at The Manchester College. She travelled to Ghana for 6 weeks to document the lives of the people who lived there. I found her work very inspiring and wish I had the confidence to put myself in a situation like that. After I have finished my degree I am hoping to travel around the world with my camera... if I win the lottery!

In the afternoon Max set us a task to shoot a portrait in the style of The Guardian newspaper. We were put into small groups but nobody felt particularly inspired to push forward with the project. I found this a little frustrating as I thought it would be a challenge to complete this is a short space of time. Luckily, we will be doing the same thing next week and hopefully it will be more productive.