1st draft Book Layout for Lost

At the moment I am intending that Project 1: Lost will be in the form of a book.  It seems the natural format for the sequential nature of a journey – the one around my old estate.  I am also thinking that this would be accompanied by 6-8 large prints which would allow the viewer to get a sense of the place but then they would need to review the book to get a deeper insight to my intentions from the project.  More of that later, but for now I am playing with the images I made the other week to see what the project is starting to feel like, and the impact of juxtaposing some of the images.

I prepared a first draft layout for the book last week but have left it a week or so before coming back to it with fresh eyes.  The following images show the proposed layout of the first draft with comments added today to reflect my thoughts on how I might change it for the next draft:

A long way to still go but this at least shows the beginning of my journey.  I am also hoping that this becomes a much thicker book that just those included above but we will see how things grow.

Review of ‘The Photographic Activity of Postmodernism (1993), Douglas Crimp

Before I start on my review of this article I have to begin by admitting that I really struggled to decipher some of the points that Crimp was trying to explain.  For this reason I have felt uncomfortable in relying fully on my translation and have, therefore, read wider to better understand the concept of postmodernism as related to photography.

A key point I have picked up from Crimp’s article is the suggestion that postmodernism encompasses the presence of an artistic aura created from the absence of the artist and/or the original artwork, which is in opposition to the traditional understanding of the aura and history of the original artwork – Crimp makes strong reference to Benjamin for this latter point and expands by also suggesting that the photograph is always a representation of the original and never the original.

Postmodernist photography is strongly linked to appropriation, which is where the original artist’s style and creative input is removed by another artist’s alternative use / arrangement of that original piece.  This seems quite a literal interpretation of Crimp’s description of presence through absence but I feel that a wider interpretation is also often used that demotes the importance of the artist, and thus removes their presence, from the interpretation of, say, a photograph.  The key words here seem to be representation and appropriation.

Crimp expands further on the interpretation of a photograph by suggesting that through the combination of the concepts that the photograph contains a slice of reality (rather than a demonstration of an artist’s style), that art appreciation is a subjective process, and that a photograph is always a representational of the original, then this challenges the natural presumption that what is seen in the photograph is true or real.  This becomes a shift from the modernist perception that the photograph never lies.

The following photographs are a selection from each of the three Projects I am working on for my Body of Work, and are used to reflect on how Crimp’s description of postmodernism is relevant to my work.

This first photograph below is based of my Project: Lost.  I took this photograph because it is where, as a child, I bought a fishing net to take with me to the local park; and the bushes are also places where we used to play.  It is thus relevant and significant to the story I am telling about my childhood lost.  If I was to explain these details to my audience then the photograph would become one dimensional as I would be trying to dictate a singular truth.  If I was to be less illustrative about my own personal interpretation of the truth, and thus remove myself from the image, then the audience would be freer to interpret the photograph as they wish based on their interpretation of the visual clues within the photograph.

This second photograph is part of my Project: Found, which is less developed than the first project and is a good representation of the problems I am having with it at the moment.  There is much more of an aesthetic style within this photograph and thus more representational of the photographer.  On the one hand it seems that the more a photograph is a representation of the photographer’s style the more this seems to hide its significance towards representing something else, yet on the other hand, for this particular project the ‘other thing’ that I am trying to represent is my mature sensibility towards the intrinsic beauty of nature.  I suspect that to achieve this latter aspect I may not be able to remove myself from the photograph as much as I can in the first image above but I need to make sure that I get the balance right to be able to represent its significance over its aesthetic qualities.

This third photograph below is a much closer example of postmodernist appropriation.  The thing that I am appropriating is the view or reality and what it represents.  In my process I am trying to accentuate things that obstruct us from engaging with land by removing those items from the photograph and thus creating a ‘presence  through absence’ (Crimp).  In this example I have begun to remove the artificial grass that the footballers are playing on.

Overall, I am starting to better appreciate the photograph for being a representation (not the truth) of reality, which has many different ways of being interpreted.  I am
still struggling, however, with the concept that the photographer can be fully removed from the appreciation of the photograph. The photographer has chosen to take the image, and subsequently processed it, and is thus making a representation of a truth, which will undoubtedly influence the viewer’s interpretation.  However, what else the viewer brings to the photograph’s interpretation is unpredictable and uncontrollable by the photographer, which I do agree begins to distance the photographer’s original intentions from this influence.

Review of The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (1936), Walter Benjamin

In some ways, both Kracauer and Benjamin start from the same viewpoint: that photography and mass imagery will affect the traditional perception of an object and its history of being; however, they begin to diverge when Kracauer describes this as a threat to our memories, our perception of things, and the importance of an object’s history.  Benjamin, on the other hand, sees this impact as an opportunity to break from tradition, remove the ritualistic value of art, and embrace its artistic function.

Their opinions seem to be describing typically polar views associated with change.  One that concerns itself with the impact on tradition and the comforting perception that this provides, and the other which embraces change for the potential that it might bring.

Benjamin describes how reproduction removes an artwork’s ‘aura’ of originality and is replaced with an individual’s perception of that which they know as reproducible.  Whilst this supports enlightenment towards a modernist understanding of imagery and photography at the time, it is also suggestive of a post-modernist approach to the individuality of a person’s perception and evaluation of an image.

Benjamin foresaw the shift in perception of artwork back in 1936 when he wrote this article, and realised that this needed to be embraced rather than to be beholden to the traditions of the past.  He also, to some extent, foresaw the eventual transition towards a post-modernist era when the evaluation of art was to be based on each individual’s own perception.  Almost 80 years later these foresights are now naturally accepted, with the concept of reproduction further enhanced by the ability to virtualise art and to transmit it at an instant.  The world, as prophesised by Benjamin, has indeed become ever closer to us all through photography and other sources of digital media.

Lost Areas of Play

At the end of last week I managed to travel down to the old estate where I grew up to take some photographs for Project 1 Lost.  When I begin to pull this project together I know that I will be challenged to not be too illustrative about what each photo means to me (leaving the viewer space to interpret them as they wish), and so, I have decided to reflect on some of them here in my blog to help me internalize their relevance and significance.  Two things struck me when I began this journey around the estate.  The first was how much shorter the journey was than I had expected – everything seemed much closer together than when I was a child.  The second thing, which is what I want to explain further in this post, was how the controlling influence of adult society seems to have banished most of the areas I knew as play areas – they are now either built upon, fenced off, or left to overgrow.

Here are some of the images I took which may, or may not, find their way into the main Project 1.

My memory is the unquestionable truth, whether factually correct or not.

(note: image first and then description)

At the bottom of this hill there used to be a playground style roundabout, all evidence of which has now disappeared – admittedly the wooden structure used to be set on fire every year or two.  The small banking was great for sledging in the winter but trees are now planted all along it to obstruct this fun.  Only this single muddy track survives as evidence of childhood play – who else would come down here?

The building on the left used to house the management of the pitch and putt course, which now seems to have been relegated to the shed on the right.  This was the only thing of play that we had to pay for, everything else we did was free.

At weekends and holidays we used to go onto these school playing fields to play football in winter and cricket in summer.  Entry is now strictly forbidden.

This used to be my journey to school.  For me, these fences symbolize adult control over children, both keeping them in and keeping them out.  For those who are interested, the school has recently been made famous in the TV documentary ‘Educating Yorkshire’.

I gave an ironic smile when I took this photo.  It is a space surrounded by bungalows for over 60’s residents and yet this sign was deemed necessary just in case they thought about playing ball games, or even cycling, on this very small patch of grass – really!

Now, this image really annoyed me.  The house with the gable end facing was where my best friend lived, and the house extension to its left is built on land where we spent many a hour kicking a football around.  It was an important space for us as we grew up but is now lost for future generations of kids.  And then there is the sign across the road.  This patch was never suitable for playing ball games on so why the need for the sign.  The dry patch of ground is probably where some one deems it acceptable to park a vehicle on which is, of course, more important than play.

This used to be the entrance to a small block of garages, which has now been gated off.  We used to play chase around the sides of these garages not realising that their asbestos construction might be a problem.

I liked the construct of this image, with the solitary and manicured bush.  From my memory, this patch of land was full of bushes and a great place to make dens.

And finally, for now, this is an area some might call ‘edgelands’, but is more locally called the ‘Tops’.  It is where the land falls away sharply from the built up housing estate above.  It was a great place as a child to explore and play, whilst still within shouting distance of home.  We might come home all muddied up, sometimes with cuts and bruises, but we never felt threatened, even though we did once have to report a flasher for exposing himself to us.

Photographer Stephen Gill

In my research on psychogeography, the art based process of engaging with geography, landmarks, etc. to represent a sense of place, I came across the photographer Stephen Gill.  My research was looking for inspiration on how other photographers have approached a project based on a walk around a particular place.  Gill seems to base a lot of his work around this premise.

At times I do not want to write a full analysis of a photographer I have come across but just want to make a few notes of my immediate response to his work, which is what I am intending here in this short post:

• He looks for the under-current of an area, the things we might not notice, to create a sense of place.
• His portfolio of work is like a catalogue of different themes and particular things found on his journey.  I am unclear whether he concentrate on one project at a time or whether he catalogues his images afterwards to build up each project’s series of images.
• The collection of these objects or subjects (such as a series about the backs of advertising boards) seems to create a cohesion to each set of what might otherwise be a random set of images.
• By creating these collections, he the viewer is asked to compare and ask questions about the different subjects / objects (e.g. advertising boards and where they are placed.
• If the viewer accepts that each project is based on a journey then this helps them to accept the seemingly random order of images, understanding that the narrative is the journey itself.
• Most of his images are quite vernacular and topographic in style to support the sense of place, rather than the experience of that place.
• Each series of images is presented with a singular title for that collection – there are no further titles for each image as the individual images seem less important than the collective.

Stephen Gill’s work is presented on his website http://www.stephengill.co.uk

 

Assignment 1: Reponse to Tutor Feedback

Feedback on my first assignment was good and positive, which is always a relief at the start of this final course in the degree programme.  The focus of this assignment was about explaining the work you want to take forward for your Body of Work.  I received a positive confirmation on this, along with pointers towards things that I might want to consider in order to pull the projects together to create a more cohesive set.

I had asked a specific question about whether or not to progress with all 3 projects that I had proposed, which was affirmed at this stage and until any part significantly pulls ahead.  With that in mind, the following is a review of points raised against each project.

Lost

Clive agreed that at the moment this is ‘probably the most complex and fertile’ project but suggested that I might want to think some more about the style of images I was proposing for it.  He remarked that ‘there’s more poignancy in revisiting childhood feelings with adult knowledge’.  While I liked the un-composed nature of these exploratory photos I also had this niggling doubt myself about how could a middle aged man ever pull off the perception of taking photos through a child’s eyes?  I suppose that this would always be false, hence, I am probably conceding on that one and now need to do a little more research before adapting my style on this.  The comment about these images being too dark etc was a natural occurrence from the approach I was taking therefore this will be resolved as I approach it from a different perspective.  I do know, however, that I want these photos to come across as detached, non-sentimental and void of any overly aesthetic style.

Found

I received some really useful comments on this project which are helping me to contextualise this project and bridge the link with Lost.  I now need to think some more about how to do this before my next assignment.

I have come to realise that in Lost I now have three layers running through it, which are:

• My lost relationship with Land.
• My displacement from the society I grew up in.
• My lost relationship with my father – related to a journey around my old estate.

In order to put the project Found on a similar footing I think that I need to develop similar layers, and my developing thoughts at the moment are:

• My re-engagement with Land through photography.
• My developed appreciation for Land’s concerns and its intrinsic beauty.
• My found friendships over the years – related to a journey around Derwent Water, Keswick in the Lake District.

Hopefully as I develop this project Found alongside Lost, with these layers in mind, it will bring about a kind of autobiographical reflection on who I am and where I came from.

Modern Society

Feedback on this was really helpful in clarifying my thoughts on how to progress with this project.  It reminded me of my key intention for this which is ‘to remove from images what is keeping us from relating to Land’.  I had begun to mix this up with ‘revealing a hidden truth about modern society’.  This latter aspect was moving me towards an element of street photography which I know is not where my strengths lie as a photographer, therefore, I agree with Clive to concentrate on the former aspect described here and move away from the images such as Free Money and Surveillance which don’t particularly relate to that.

 

Overall, nothing specific to respond to other than to use the feedback received to develop the projects towards assignment 2.

 

Modernism and Post-Modernism

At the beginning of Contextual Studies course notes there is a discussion on Modernism and Post Modernism (amongst other things) which is something that I have needed to get clear in my mind for some time.  Having read a few source materials on this I felt that I needed to record my initial understanding on these theories, but rather than do this in my normal summarised manner I came across this following question (extracted) by (Grange, 2008):

If a post-modernist male is knocked off his bicycle and rushed to hospital, and subsequently told that an X-ray shows he has a broken arm, will he believe this diagnosis?

My response is as such:

In this situation the X-ray forms a strong representation of Modernism.  It is a logical and scientific visual representation of the truth.  Its author, the Radiographer, is qualified and capable of operating the X-ray equipment to repeatedly produce similar results.  The Doctor who interprets the information, and explains that it shows a broken arm, will be a qualified, medical professional capable of interpreting and explaining the truth of what this X-ray represents.  A very Modernist situation.

The post-modernist who refutes all of the above is likely to do so because they do not believe that the X-ray is an arbitrator of the truth, nor that its interpretation only has a singular outcome.  This post-modernist rejects these principles of Modernism and must, therefore, interpret the X-ray from their own context of reading the image.  The function of the X-ray to reveal the truth becomes almost irrelevant to believing the diagnosis.  More practical issues such as whether he believes, from the pain he is in and the condition of his arm, are more likely to persuade him towards this diagnosis.

The post-modernist who accepts that Post-Modernism is a progression from Modernism, rather than a rejection of it, is more likely to accept that the X-ray is a signifier of the truth, whilst also acknowledging the context within which both he and the Doctor are interpreting that information.  In this situation, the post-modernist is more likely to believe that they have a broken arm when presented with the X-ray if they also trust the premise of truthfulness of that medical establishment.

To summarise in a single sentence my interpretation of both theories:

Modernism in photography acknowledges the functional ability of the camera to reveal the photographer’s representation of the truth.

Post-Modernism deconstructs the singular Modernist truth from the photograph, as revealed by the photographer, and replaces it with their own contextual relationship with the image towards what it might reveal.

Bibliography:

Cotton, C., 2007. The Photograph as Contemporary Art. 1st ed. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.

Grange, A. l., 2008. Andy Grundberg, The Crisis of the Real. In: Basic Critical Theory for Photographers. Oxford: Elsevier Ltd – Focal Press, pp. 149-158.

Open College of the Arts, 2013. Level 3 Photography Handbook. Part one: Visual Culture in Practice, pp. 14-24.

Land Values – Assignment 1

Within my blog so far I have explained my thoughts on my initial intentions to investigate the different ways in which we value and engage in Land; how I want to concentrate on a central theme potentially delivered in a variety of ways rather than sticking to a singular genre of style; the type of ideas I have been playing with to investigate their potential; and how I have changed the emphasis of my planned approach towards a more personal reflection on my own relationship with Land and society.

My use of the term ‘Land’ is intended to describe all natural things; such as earth, water, the natural environment and all living things.  It does, however, separate out humans from this definition.

These blog posts set out the background, (which I don’t expect a need to repeat here), towards the early development of my ‘Body of Work’.

My central theme still relates to an investigation of how Land is valued by society, but is initially directed towards my own personal relationship with Land (past and present), and then towards making comparisons with how society as a whole seems to have developed a self-imposed imbalance between their own importance and that of Land.

I have currently settled on three strands to this Body of Work with the first two looking at my past and present relationship with Land, and then the third strand looking at modern society and its attempt to distance us from this relationship.  I am hoping that I may receive some feedback from my tutor on whether I should retain my focus on all three of these strands or to concentrate my efforts on the first one for now.  These three strands to my Body of Work are described against the following three Projects:

 Project 1: Lost

As a child I was free to ‘play out’, which generally meant engaging with Land in some way – a free and fascinating resource.  The intention of this project is therefore to reflect on how I have lost this relationship, whilst also considering a similarly lost relationship with the society from which I grew up in.  I want to do this by taking a journey around my old estate, one that I have not re-visited for over 20 years, and return to the places where I used to play.  I intend to base this around a specific journey I took with my father when I was seven years old and thus will also be reflective of the lost relationship I have with my father.

As part of this approach, I decided to embark on a trial run visiting some of my past areas of play within this urban housing estate.  It was interesting to note my surprise at the seemingly lack of respect currently given to these areas and of how society had encroached onto many of them.

In relation to the following image taken on this day, I described it on my blog as ‘probably the most significant photo I have ever taken‘, based on its personal connection with an important memory which created its significance for me. I was surprised to realise how powerful this connection was when I compared it to my opinion of all the other photos I have taken as a photographer, and thus my declaration.  As I had decided not to explain this significance, a conversation developed (with Clive and Pete) about the impact of ambiguity compared with that of a clear explanation, which was very interesting and insightful on the photographer’s relationship with their audience and how much you need to explain.

The images below add to the one above to illustrate the type and style of photography I am intending to use as a response to this Project.  They are intended to be purposely amateurish in style to respond to the impreciseness of memory and the childlike lack of control in which they might respond to memory with a camera.

The Pond

Swings

Pitch & Putt

Playing Fields

Suicide

Confused

Project 2: Found

I am now in my mid-forties and some way distant from the childhood freedoms I had.  I now acknowledge my own general disengagement with Land, which seems to relate to the aging distance from my childhood and the normal societal pressures of life.  I have, however, been encouraged to see how, through photography, I am able to re-kindle my relationship with it.  I can use it as an excuse to visit the ‘countryside’ to carry out my investigations of its hidden beauty, away from the control of society’s footpaths and, for a moment, seemingly away from much of its other influence.

I have found that this new found relationship is different to that of my childhood – I am more respectful of it and appreciative of its value.

As I mention on my blog, I have become less inclined to seek out and find  the more obvious instrumental values of aesthetic appeal and, as I move towards a belief of Land’s intrinsic value and intrinsic beauty, then I am free to apply my own judgement as what I regard as intrinsically beautiful.

This is what photography has helped me to discover and, with this philosophy in mind, my thoughts for this Project are to investigate this further by reflecting on Land’s struggle to survive against a backdrop of (increasingly) challenging weather conditions, as well as society’s ever-influencing impact on Land.

This Project will be purposely distinct from Project 1, with the photographs reflecting my new found appreciation and value for Land’s intrinsic beauty.  The photographs will be more controlled, considerate and respectful of the subject matter (reflecting my current middle age / middle class situation), and they will probably also lack the spontaneity I hope to achieve in Project 1.

The distinctions between Project 1 and Project 2 will be crucial for the set to work with and against each other but my worry at this stage is that they will seem too opposite from each other and thus lose any linkages altogether – another question to ask my tutor.

The following images highlight the style of images that I am thinking of developing for this project:

Project 3: Modern Society

The intention of this project is to move away from the self-reflective perspective and begin to consider the impact of modern society on the way that we might under-value Land.  The project is a direct response to my Initial Idea 5, as described on my blog.

The concept is to see how by taking something out a photography we begin to reveal something of the truth about modern society and how it has become a constituent part of our disengagement with Land.

I haven’t progressed this much since playing around with it as part of Idea 5, therefore, the following  images are a repeat of those photographs to outline my current thinking on this project.

The blackening out process within each photograph, which is fairly crude at this stage, is intended to reveal a new truth in a slightly more threatening way than say whitening out the object(s).

The following are early examples of this approach:

Free money?

Is someone always watching?

Is artificial best?

Wind turbines – saving our planet or just blocking our view of the Land?

Summary

These three projects represent my current thinking on how I intend to develop my ‘Body of Work’.  They are linked around a central theme of Land values and our diminishing engagement and lack of appreciation of Land’s value or its intrinsic beauty.

If I successfully achieve my aims for each of these projects then I would expect them to form the basis from which I can develop further projects in the future.  There is, however, a ‘but’ in this aspiration which relates to my concern that Projects 2 & 3 become too remote from Project 1 and thus diluting the impact of this first project.

Project 1 is much clearer in my mind at the moment and I wonder whether I should concentrate just on this for my Body of Work – Clive, I would appreciate your thoughts on this.

Also, whilst I have been mindful of the different genres and context within which these projects might sit, I have purposely left these thoughts in the background to leave me free to develop the ideas more through my photographic voice for the moment.  I do intend to do much more on this later and expect that this consideration, along with my feedback from this assignment, will form the basis from which I develop my next assignment (no.2).  For now, the importance to me is being able to express my ideas for these projects to the extent that my tutor is clear of my intentions and can advise me accordingly.