Viviane Sassen: Hot mirror and Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain, The Hepworth, Wakefield, 28th September 2018
After dropping my work off for assessment in Barnsley, I popped up to the Hepworth in Wakefield to see this exhibition. Viviane Sassen's video on the website was intriguing illustrating her way of working (mixing everything up, from one exhibition to another and from one picture to another to give a different story). She uses shadows to create surreal images. Her method of display was large printed image hung on nails, curling at the edges which removed the formalism of the print, and a mix of photographs in frames. I was interested in her collage images, and some she had coloured with a marker pen!. In the middle of the room was her AV installation which used 2 walls of mirrors. As the photographs ran on the slideshow, on one wall the shadows separated and on the other they joined together. As people walked into the space, they created their own shadows and so becoming part of the work.
I had seen Lee Miller's war images on display at Lakeside, Nottingham. The image of her in Hitler's bath is one which I remembered. It was interesting to read the article from he magazine which she wrote and was published at the time as it gave me the story behind image. (No photographs allowed of the Lee Miller exhibition) I found an image which would have been great for my last assignment! see link Lee Miller (1943) US Army Nurse drying sterilized rubber gloves Oxford.
The exhibition covered 3 galleries - the history behind surrealism with paintings which added to my existing knowledge. I wandered into another gallery and found work by photographers I researched on the landscape course and Stephen Gill whose work I had looked at during this course. It was great to see the prints. I came away feeling that the visit complemented both my level 2 courses.
Thoresby Colliery, Chris Upton, Lincoln Camera Club, 29th June 2018
Viviane Sassen: Hot mirror and Lee Miller and Surrealism in Britain, The Hepworth, Wakefield, 28th September 2018
I had seen Lee Miller's war images on display at Lakeside, Nottingham. The image of her in Hitler's bath is one which I remembered. It was interesting to read the article from he magazine which she wrote and was published at the time as it gave me the story behind image. (No photographs allowed of the Lee Miller exhibition) I found an image which would have been great for my last assignment! see link Lee Miller (1943) US Army Nurse drying sterilized rubber gloves Oxford.
The exhibition covered 3 galleries - the history behind surrealism with paintings which added to my existing knowledge. I wandered into another gallery and found work by photographers I researched on the landscape course and Stephen Gill whose work I had looked at during this course. It was great to see the prints. I came away feeling that the visit complemented both my level 2 courses.
Thoresby Colliery, Chris Upton, Lincoln Camera Club, 29th June 2018
Hazel invited me to her camera club as I am interested in the work of Chris Upton, a local photographer who photographed Thoresby Colliery, Nottinghamshire's last working mine. I visited his exhibition in Mansfield in 2016.
Chris gave a very informative slideshow presentation covering the camera he used, some of the social aspects of the mine, some of the pitfalls and challenges faced with his project. Hazel and I agreed with his comments, which sounded as though he was voicing what we have had the experience of doing though OCA assignment work. On revisiting Chris's work, the photos made more sense following my visit to Bilsthorpe Heritage centre, chatting with ex miners and learning more about the mining process. I can understand why some of the miners wanted photographs of the pit and their family members. Mining (and the miner's strike) is still a very emotive subject which rumbles though discussions.
It was enlightening to hear about financial considerations to promotions in book shops and print runs, choices to be made with different types of printing, media campaigns and exhibitions; all extremely relevant to our coursework.
Common Ground, 30 years of football and social change on Merseyside, Tom Wood, Ken Grant and Tabitha Jussa, Albert Dock Colonnades, Liverpool, 21 June 2018
I stumbled upon this exhibition walking around the tourist areas of Liverpool during an open day visit to the university. Inside a large screen was playing a world cup match so my son thought he could watch a little football whilst I viewed the exhibition. Deal!
The exhibition explored the "ritualistic behaviour of football fan culture and its development from the game of the working class in the 1980's to the riches of the Premier League today." Foto Octo (2018)
Tom Wood's collection of football photographs spans 30 years - his part focused on the 1980's , Ken Grant exhibited the 1990's and Tabitha Wood the 00's.Whilst not a football fan,
I was interested to note the different styles of approach and the
difference is presentation. The urban, low ceiling building suited the exhibition.
I commented that Tom Wood’s large scale contact sheet was interesting in that
the viewer could follow the thread of the photographer by the markings and view
the printed photographs. Apparently this is the first time Tom has used this
approach and my comment would be fed back. I was informed that he marked the
images for the exhibition with the work insitu.
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| Goodison Park Contact Sheet (1988) Tom Wood |
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Goodison Road No3, (2009)Tabitha Jussa
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Tabitha Jussa's large metaimages are made up of several images, enabling the viewer to see great detail in her work.
Foto Octo (2018) 30 years of Football and Social Change on
Merseyside Tom Wood, Ken Grant, Tabitha Jussa. Liverpool: The Collonades
Scaling the sublime:Art at the limits of the landscape, Nottingham University Lakeside gallery, 13th June 2018
I earmarked this as an exhibition to see having completed the Landscape module of which the first assignment is the sublime. I was keen to see what practicing artists considered the sublime to be. This was a mixed media collaboration so I wasn't entirely sure how much I could pull from it, although during Landscape I began to understand how sculpture and writing fitted in with the land and worked well with photography and film. Another gallery housed a separate fairy tale exhibition (From rags to witches) which also caught my attention and it was really interesting to consider the social background and how different cultures interpreted well known tales in different ways. It led me to think about fairy tale inspired photography I had seen previously (today the science and media museum Bradford posted a piece about their acquisition of the Cottlingley Fairies photographed in 1917)
The title was taken from as essay by Nicholas Alfrey from 2013 at a former exhibition called Reason and Emotion: Landscape and the Contemporary Romantic. The contemporary sublime is revisited throughout the world. In the bookshop, I found the catalogue which I purchased as it contained some really interesting concepts behind the artists' work. A couple of phrases that stood out when flicking through was "dark romanticism" and "sublime tourism" which I need to research at some point. The essays were full of references and explanations. I had experimented with addressing themes of land art such as Richard Long's work and collections of postcards, display and performance which all link to my current course.
I really enjoyed viewing Simon Faithfull's "Going Nowhere" HD film (1,5,2016) 9 mins filmed with a drone of him walking around the perimeter of a sandbank until the tide came in. This was emotional stuff and I jotted down some key words as I was watching it: ephemeral, relaxing (in the beginning) to anxious (at the end), silent, natural phenomenon, camouflage (very similar colours of sand bank, artist and sea), differing views, snapshot, every day occurrence, power of the sea but different from crashing waves.
I found Tim Knowles night walk photographs fascinating. It reminded me of a campaign I had seen for Mend our Mountains earlier this year where 600 walkers walked the ridge line of Mam Tor for a photograph to raise money for the campaign and promote awareness.
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| McNally, T (2018) The Great Ridge Mam Tor |
Richard T Walker uses performance in pursuit of the sublime, searching out romanticism and the land which we are unable to reach. The film moves backwards and forwards creating a "spacial shift [...] between distance and intimacy." In the lightbox on the right is the reflection of a rock. This links with his film concept of near and far.
OCA Study Visit, The Whitworth, Manchester, 28th April 2018
Hazel and I attended this together. It's always good to catch up and share ideas of what we are doing with our coursework. Stan and John had provided us with lots of background information to look at before the day and I had looked at John Stezaker's work earlier in this course so it was good to have an opportunity to see his work and discuss thoughts with fellow students. Work like this takes me out of my comfort zone so I felt it was good to actually "see" it in a gallery rather than on a computer screen.
After introductions around a table, we looked at the exhibition. We then regrouped to discuss the work. The notes I made broadened my outlook on the artists. Stezaker was not a photographer. He used found images to make collages. I wondered how he chose which image was the front and which was the back? All his images were from the same time period, as if he bought a job lot of images to cut up. Stan showed us images he had made of John's work. It was at that point that the work became more real to me. These were a pile of images which had been cut up rather than going out and finding the images. The discussion was certainly food for thought - one point that interested me was that Stezaker's work has no memorial value and loses memory?
I quite liked the images from Tabula Rosa with the piece cut of the image. This was like a negative space, but also a focal point. We spent time looking at Double Image XX 2014 on the wall of the gallery. Later, Hazel and I found it in the gift shop. When physically held and rotated, the image became something different, a bit like the effect with Stezaker's first image. It showed us how important this could be.
What I particularly enjoyed about the time spent in the gallery was the opportunity to mix with fellow students and discuss ideas and look at work which they were showing us. It is also a useful resource for finding out about different photographers. I have joined the OCA North group and hope to be a part of meetings and visits in the future.
Research - Fiona Banner - fine art. Stream of consciousness - writes what she sees - may be useful for assignment 5?
Thresholds, Matt Collishaw, National Science and Media Museum, Bradford, 7th April 2018
This exhibition is coming to the National Science and Media Museum. Tickets booked and family are quite excited about visiting this photography exhibition!
Thresholds explores the world of virtual reality, pushing the boundaries of what is already known about the virtual world to incorporate use of senses to experience picking up photographs and examining them in the palm of the hand to feeling the heat of the fire in the room. The room takes on new characteristics, especially as scenes can be witnessed through the windows and mice run across the floor. The experience addresses the culture at the time of Fox Talbot by enabling the visitor to see the Chartist riots through the window and listen the soundscape. Ghostly avatars remind the visitor that they are not alone.
This immersive world was captivating. The science and media museum exhibited a supporting exhibition which examined binocular vision and stereoscopes, how sound was developed and used in films leading to surround sound and Ship of Thesus from JJ Abrams. This interested me although not specifically linked to photography because it reminded me of Alec Soth's work Broken Manual which I saw in Bradford in 2016. I like the idea of exploring an immersive world at a later date.No photographs allowed though in this exhibition.
Bibliography
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-story-of-s-talking-with-j-j-abrams-and-doug-dorst last accessed 11/4/18
https://matcollishaw.com/exhibitions/thresholds/ last accessed 11/4/18
https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/whats-on/thresholds last accessed 11/4/18
http://alecsoth.com/photography/ last accessed 11/4/18
Mike Pickwell's "Shul" OCA Photography Exhibition, Cleethorpes Library, 19th March 2018
Mike Pickwell's OCA photography exhibition for SYP is held in Cleethorpes Library for one week. It's not too far from Hazel so we went together and met Rob and Stan (OCA students). Mike commented he had managed to get his photographs hung in the morning. His exhibition comprised of 20 square prints of the same size in matching frames made locally, an AV presentation of the images and a beautifully bound book with a wooden cover with vellum pages onto which a single image had been stuck. Mike had experimented with the text and the final version was draft printing on tracing paper which was really effective.
Mikes images were reflective of quietly exploring a wood through all seasons of the year, based on the Tibetan word Shul (track) meaning "a mark that remains after that which made it has passed by" which linked well with the AV soundtrack of walking through a wood.
Hazel and I considered what would be important to a single student putting on a degree show: a system in place so that someone could look after the room whilst you nipped out for a quick break or a door with a lock, length of time you could spend sitting in the room, little extras to make the exhibition appeal to a wider audience, help with hanging the exhibition, advertising etc. Mike had a rack of cards from his current exhibition and a basket of his more commercial cards for sale, some of his more commercial prints to purchase, business cards and a leaflet of local exhibitions on nearby which we thought worked well and was certainly something to contemplate for the future. Mike's addition of a visitors book would capture footfall and feedback. I wish Mike every success for the future.
Update from Patchings Art Centre Christmas Exhibition, January 2018
Really pleased as both my photo's sold. I will be entering again this year and at least I have time to take some images before November. This time I hope to be more prepared...Hazel and I popped in to collect our cheques and had a wander round the NEMPF photographs, discussing what seemed to be this year's themes and spotting work from a few people we knew. Hazel has experience of how this runs and it it was interesting listening to how the selection works as I have not been involved with camera clubs.
Patchings Art Centre A5 Christmas Exhibition, Notts. 4th December 2017
A resolution Hazel and I agreed on was to enter a photographic competition advertised at the Art Festival we visited in the summer. Having signed up to follow the one which had been advertised, Hazel submitted her entry only to find it was full and she was on the reserve list. So we had to find another one. This was advertised in the newsletter and with about 3 days left to enter I had to find a couple of images and resize to A5. For a fee of £8, the image would be printed on Fotospeed paper, mounted and displayed with a name, title and price for resale.
So which images should I choose, and how would I decide if it was "the one or two"? Much of my work was too close to assignments or family stuff. I didn't have any recent "cliche" work either! So back in the lighting assignment in The Art of Photography, I found my dissected teasel which at the time I was really pleased with. There was also a back lit wild flower with snow on which would work together with first image.
Although the idea of slicing a teasel in half was novel, the lighting was uneven so I wouldn't put it on my wall. Revisiting the work was interesting to see what standards I would accept now. After sending the email files and receiving confirmation, Hazel and I visited to see the work up on display.
There were not that many photographs; most were paintings or mixed media and most photographs were landscape. We were impressed with how simple the hanging design was on thick foam board and how effective it looked. Some had been sold in the first weekend - we will wait and see if ours sell.
On reflection this was a good exercise. I will enter next year and keep in mind the need to take a few landscape images that might sell! I need to be more organised and have one to enter into the other competition when it is announced in October.
No photographs allowed...
The Photographer's Gallery and Whitechapel Gallery, London. 2nd December 2017
Wendy McMurdo The Photographer's Gallery
As the Photographer's Gallery is sort of en-route from Victoria to Whitechapel, I made a detour to see Wendy's av exhibition and Wim Wender's polaroids.
I did not read Wendy's blurb until after watching the sequence as I was keen record my thoughts first.
Instant Stories. Wim Wender's Polaroids The Photographer's Gallery
Follow up from Grain
As the Photographer's Gallery is sort of en-route from Victoria to Whitechapel, I made a detour to see Wendy's av exhibition and Wim Wender's polaroids.
I did not read Wendy's blurb until after watching the sequence as I was keen record my thoughts first.
Wendy's images are different and all have a rotating 3d object reflecting a different view of the classroom which is hidden by the 3d object. Light reflects around the room creating different lighting effects on the 3d object whilst the back remains static. The shadow moves.
I was able to look at the room for longer - the shape held my interest, noticing different objects and different items were reflected in the 3d object. It felt very calm and soothing and did not induce seasickness. It was interesting to consider the effect that different shapes had on the photographs - e.g. the Alexander Ghaham Bell image was made up of triangles which reflected more silver , was darker, moved quicker and was more aggressive. The squares were quiet and reflective like a shoal of fish.
The space in which the AVscreen is positioned in the Photopgraphers Gallery is eyecatching as you see the presentation when you first walk through the door. It also has the advantage of being able to sit in the cafe and watch it whilst you spend time having a coffee. It would be interesting to know if this approach as an exhibition space encourages visitors to watch the loop all the way through as I notice that whilst I sit and watch a presentation to the end, many people may only stay for a few minutes.
Instant Stories. Wim Wender's Polaroids The Photographer's Gallery
I read a review of this after submitting my last assignment (critical essay examining whether people take different images with digital mediums as they did with film). Had I have found this before, my bias may have been slightly different. Here I found images like selfies, images of chairs which meant something to Wender at the time - a record of his visit - a memory. Almost the sort of image that someone may put on Snapchat or other social media apps these days. There were 2 floors and an AV presentation. I wished I had longer to explore this exhibition.
Follow up from Grain
In the gallery shop I found a copy of Chrystel Lebas's book from which her archive talk at Grain had been based. I spent time looking at how she had constructed the book - there were close up's of the botanical found glass slides which she had printed and landscape from past and present and amalgamated. Some pages were gate-folded. All had grid references and information. It is the sort of book I would like to have on my bookshelf.
Thomas Ruff Whitechapel Gallery
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pura-vida/201805/all-is-solid-melts-air
I was looking forward to visiting this exhibition. It is the first time I had been to London to look at galleries. Ruff's portraits (1986-91) were huge, although I was left feeling unmoved by them. These are documentary style passport photos with no manipulation and enlarged so that they are bigger than life size. They follow the style of the Becher's and formed a good starting point for a typography. I preferred his more creative work such as the press photograms where one photograph was merged on top of another. Ruff's exhibition includes various collections from his oevre which were interesting to see displayed on the wall. It was like a journey through photography.
In the accompanying book I found a few interesting quotes and one which caught my attention was "All that is solid melts into air". I thought this was the title of a Jeremy Deller exhibition I saw and on investigation found it is used in the communist manifesto."All fixed, fast-frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind." Psychology today (2018) It was written mid 19th century when so much was changing in the world. Apparently it was borrowed and re-written from Shakespeare?
Gabriela Golder In conversation piece (2013) and Wojciech Bakowski The analysis of emotions and vexations (2016) as part of the Artists Film International. Whitechapel Gallery
Interesting. Bakowski's blurb enticed me to spend time watching this. "A stop-motion animation made with ephemeral materials, explores memory and reverie in which the viewer takes on the role of the listener." I was left feeling quite flat after it, but enjoyed Golder's conversation between the grandmother and her grandchildren although I did wonder whether the children actually understood the answers? The film was very fast and subtitled. It did give a background of the implications of communism and I could fit pieces of the history of photography into the context.
Saddleworth: Responding to a Landscape, GRAIN, MAC, Birmingham. 24th November 2017
An exhibition premier at Arena Gallery, Mac, Birmingham
18 November 2017 – 21 January 2018
18 November 2017 – 21 January 2018
“I am interested in depicting the landscape through what I feel rather
than what I see.” - Matthew Murray 2017
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This email arrived in my inbox from GRAIN along with an
email on a landscape symposium where Matthew would be presenting his work. Research
into the speakers’ line-up indicated that Jem Southam, Mark Wright and Richard Billingham
were presenting. Having researched their
work in previous OCA modules, I was keen to learn more about their work especially
as I plan to continue to level 3 and landscape interests me. Hazel was also
interested, so we went together.
Moira Lovell’s “These hills are not hills” was mentioned in
the introduction as a response to the landscape 25 years after the Miners
Strike. This was an idea I thought worth remembering as it could come in useful
as a way of developing Assignment 2 DI and C.
Matthew Murray
Mathew shared an autobiographical tour of his journey
through photography up to Saddleworth Moor, his first venture into landscape
photography, reminding the audience about quality control labels stuck on
prints and the big statue of King Kong in Birmingham. Matthew came to landscape
through advertising photography and had to develop his visual language. His
camera phone changed his methodology and opened the door to experimentation, by
enabling him to take shots and review more often. Research played a key part in
this series, along with refining a method and map reading to pick out features
on the land which would be interesting to photograph. In this series the dark
history and difficulties in his personal life are reflected in the images. Each
photo acts as a trigger for emotion and memory. The series does not show trophy
images such as roads or telegraphy poles, instead referring to certain areas by
depicting the landscape as it is now. A reference to the sublime can be drawn
from the fracture between beauty and history. Influenced by painters and
photographers such as Turner, Shaw, Weston and Adams, the atmosphere is
captured by photographing at night and experimenting with gels, torches and
headlights. Matthew alluded to the experience being like phototherapy.
Hazel and I looked at Matthew’s exhibition before
his talk. The images are large framed prints on metallic paper which brings out
the vibrant colours and adds depth and dimension. What we found distracting was
the reflections on the glass from the ceiling lights. It was difficult to see
the whole picture, so the image felt fragmented. However, when seen on a
projector during the talk, the glare was removed. It is something to bear in
mind for exhibiting images.
Matthew’s next project is Snowdonia with a postmodern
approach to painters.
Chrystel Lebas
Chrystel’s landscapes are places of escape drawing from
childhood memories. She is interested in landscapes with visually concealed history
and capture with a camera what the eye doesn’t see. She returns to the same
sites and captures traces of time. Looks at how people respond to politics and works
with archival material such as Lord Salisbury’s natural history archives. Some
of the points Chrystel made about her works were that when capturing landscapes
at night with a pinhole camera she will expose at twilight for about 3-6 hours.
This captures a lot of detail – more in the prints than on screen. Influenced
by Friedrich. Uses a high vantage point e.g. hunting towers, cliffs,
stepladder. Much of her work is in panorama format. Series such as “Between dog
and wolf” (2005) which looks at legends e.g. Hansel and Gretel. Oral histories
important. Theatrical performance of light on the land. Sets camera up to
capture on film what she is recording as a photograph. Can use sound / moving
image for installation. One installation was of the sun going down which lasted
an hour and she was interested to see how far gallery visitors got before
leaving.
Chrystel photographed Rockingham Forest from a hide using
long exposures. She captured the idea that animals had been through the area rather
than actual animals and killings of small birds as an idea of hidden nature.
Chrystel’s archival work was enlightening, explaining how
she worked with glass plate slides and pieced a story together. Revisiting
these places with geologists and botanists enabled her to understand the land changes
which she has documented, presented as AV installations and prints in galleries
in art form rather than a scientific record. (Scotland, the wandering dunes)
Mapping the landscape.
Her book is found at: http://www.chrystellebas.com/publications.htm
Jem Southam
I was familiar with Jem Southam’s “The red river” and it was
interesting to hear the background of this and how it led to Jem photographing rivers.
He cited literature such as John Bunyan’s The Pilgrims Progress, Wordsworth,
Gilbert White, The wanderer, Night Walk etc as literary sources to which people
subconsciously respond. Fascinated at the idea of Wordsworth’s geographical labourer
from Black Combe which was the source of an idea.
Pond study – interesting narrative with change of ownership
during the study.
What is a river? Asked a group of children to draw a river
from experience. All drawings were different. No right or wrong answer – all make
up a river from flood plains to tributaries. Different seasons give different
conditions or peculiarities. E.g. current interest of flood knots after
flooding. Ephemera. Emotions captured in some river images – memory.
Mark Wright and
Simon Constantine “Fireside and the Sanctuary”
Fracking in north England. Mark presented his images,
showing us the local area and the residents, explaining the effects of fracking.
Mark avoids showing the audience images of fracking sites or protesters. Marks
images were apolitical and at the end of his presentation I was not sure if I
should be forming an opinion or looking harder to see what was missing.
However, in part 2, Simon presented his illustrated talk on “Against the Present: Critical Romanticism in Mark Wright’s The Fireside and the Sanctuary”. This was like a critical review! I began to
make sense of the images. Simon presented slides where the people and landscape
were placed together, and I saw the similarities in the separate images and how
it linked as a series. He discussed a painting on a resident’s wall linking
back to the idea of romanticism. Rethinking romanticism and modernity.
Direction of people’s gaze is out to the land.
John Hillman “The
Cornish Alps: A reality as expressed as a fiction”
My attention was caught with an image from Claudia
Angelmaier’s work “Betty”. http://www.claudiaangelmaier.de/works/works-paper_3/
This fits into DI and C and was an interesting use of an image. Looking at her
website, I think I am going to have to explore her portraits.
This was a really interesting presentation. I made some
notes, but I found it quite academic speak, and would love to revisit this
topic. Fortunately, John’s website has some useful essays on it. John studied
the Cornish China Clay mining area and ran photography workshops in the area. When
exhibiting his work, he used archival material (diary) which he photographed
along with snippets of modern day spoken diaries from the group. I thought this
worked really well and is something I would consider using in the future to
link the past and present together.
Landscape and memory – Simon Schama, Parallax – sense of
movement. By videoing the same still image differently, the landscape appears
to change. Victor Burgin – spatial moment. Diorama.
Richard Billingham
Richard, known for “Ray’s a Laugh” gave an autobiographical
tour of his landscape photography, exhibitions and works. A few points noted
were that a gallery wall could be orange – he colour matched the wall paint to
the images, if the video is silent, the viewer concentrates on the image, he
went back through his mother’s family album and took images on the same type of
cameras which she had owned. He talked of painters who had inspired him and the
exhibition “Seduced by art” in the National gallery in 2012. In which he
exhibited.
Key messages throughout
the talks
By looking at photographs or paintings that you like, you
almost have a reference point in your head. By going out and taking images, and
then relating them back to artists work, you begin to work with this and refine
and develop your visual language.
Research – what to you want to take? What is the narrative?
Ask other people – children drawing their representation of a river, John
Hillman – teaching a local group about photography and responding to their
opinions
Photographing the unseen – something which was there or has
passed through the area without it being there now.
Printing or screen? What do you want to show? Detail?
What/when do you like photographing – seasons? Times of day?
Exhibitions – expensive. Need commitment from venue.
Difficult to sell large prints after exhibition.
Experiment – different ideas, different papers when
printing.
Memory, emotions present -representing personal life
How does this relate
to DI and C?
Ethics of photographing in areas of dark emotive history.
Autobiographical
Methodology – research, test shots with camera phone
Archival material – Chrystel Lebas – Lord Salisbury’s
natural history, John Hillman miner’s diary – modern representation - people
reading their diaries as an AV installation linking past and present.
Mark Wright and Simon Constantine – critical review “Fireside
and the sanctuary”
Introduction to Claudia Angelmaier’s work
Turner Prize nominations and HIP Photography Festival Hull OCA Student led visit, 18th November 2018.
Hazel and I led this visit, having done a pre-visit to make sure it would work. One of the changes from the previous year was the purchase of wristbands as the funding had been decreased as money had been diverted into the city of culture funding. We bought ours for entry into the exhibitions and by the time we led the visit, the cost of the wristband had been halved. Not sure if it was to increase the amount of visitors through the doors?
We all met as arranged in the Ferens and after introductions wandered around the exhibitions. The difference we noticed between just us two attending a screening / exhibition and several students is the discussion generated as everyone has a different point of view so you get more out of what you didn't understand the first time.
Having been through level 1 and nearly through 2, we found photographers which people may find useful. A recognizable names were August Sander (and I knew he photographed a nurse so I was keen to look at his work in more detail).
It was good to get to know people over lunch, and discover that some f us had attended the 2 OCA symposiums and not known who we were - perhaps it would be good to wear name badges in future like at Grain so people could network with fellow students.
After lunch we visited the HIP festival and had a really interesting discussion with a lady who was involved with the spaces of sanctuary exhibition as an activist, campaigning on behalf of the women from overseas. She had just been interviewed and told us lots of really interesting background information.
We ended up in a cafe for more discussions until closing time! The day worked well and Hazel and I would run another visit in future. Certainly it was worth the pre-visit to plan the day and allow time to research the work on display.
Just a few images looking at portraits for identity/ nursing/ research for Assignment 4:
HIP Photography Festival, Hull. 30th September 2017
Hazel and I are organising a student led OCA study visit through OCASA. This was a reccy to see how it would work this year with Hull being the UK City of culture 2017, find out what was on and whether we needed to purchase wristbands to enter some photography exhibitions because last year it was free.
Galleries in Princes Quay don't open til mid-day so we visited the Ferens Art Gallery to see the Turner Prize nominations. This has some really interesting exhibits, including the Turner Prize nominations which fit really well within OCA Photography courses and especially Digital Image and Culture. We spoke with Alan, organiser of the HIP Festival to find out what would be happening on the day planned for November. Photographers with exhibitions include Peter Dench (patron) with Dench does Dallas, Dougie Wallace (Harrodsburg) and a curation of 11 of the best Great British photographers by Peter Dench (not quite sure who is in this). He also explained how In an At worked. This year the funding has gone into the City of Culture so wristbands are a way of the photographers funding the exhibitions. In total we took about 4 hours to complete the visit and there is another gallery exhibiting a curation by Martin Parr as well as interesting bits and pieces in the city. So in the next week we need to get the advert written and sent off to Joanne at OCA as it takes 6 weeks to organise.
We discussed timings; Hazel enquired with the Ferens about a large group seeing the film all together. This may be possible as it will have been in the gallery for some time. We thought that 2 hours should suffice. We collected the newspaper with further reading in it for use in the OCA information. We planned an hour for lunch and a visit to HIP in the afternoon. Jayne (a fellow OCA student) was volunteering at HIP and would be joining us to share her local knowledge on the advertised date. Mike is a local OCA student and would also be joining the study day.
We looked at Ian MacDonald's Hinterland Exhibition in monochrome of Rotterdam and Hull - a HIP commission where Ian had visited both cities 4 times over the year. This work would have been taken down by the study visit. Palestine and refugees seems to be this years theme. These were only accessible via wristband.
With the blurb written and proof read, Joanne in the office promotes the study visit on the website and sent Hazel a list of attendees.
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| OCA Weekend bulletin 09/11/17 |
"Join OCA students Hazel and Nik accompanied by Mike and Jayne for an exciting day in Hull. The morning of the 18 November will be spent in the Ferens Art Gallery viewing the Turner Prize shortlist 2017. An opportunity to view, discuss and critique and as, The Ferens Echo appropriately headlines, “Whatever you think about the Turner Prize 2017, you’re right”. In the afternoon we will visit the photography exhibitions in the Princes Quay Centre.
A brief synopsis of the Turner artists and their work can be found here.
After a short lunch we will reconvene in the Princes Quay Centre for an afternoon of photography.
Wristbands will be required at a reduced cost of £10 for students. They can be obtained online here or in cash at the Creative and Cultural Space 1B. However they are currently for sale at a concessional price of £5 here.
We will visit the exhibitions below:-
Dougie Wallis Harrodsburg – Social Documentary
‘Dougie Wallace continues to push the boundaries of the social documentary genre with his latest body of work….. Turning his attention to the consequences of the rising economic and political power of the ‘one per cent’, the result is Harrodsburg: an up-close wealth safari exploring the wildlife that inhabits the super-rich residential and retail district of Knightsbridge and Chelsea’.
‘Dougie Wallace continues to push the boundaries of the social documentary genre with his latest body of work….. Turning his attention to the consequences of the rising economic and political power of the ‘one per cent’, the result is Harrodsburg: an up-close wealth safari exploring the wildlife that inhabits the super-rich residential and retail district of Knightsbridge and Chelsea’.
Great Britons of Photography – curated by HIP Fest Patron Peter Dench
This brings together work by Jocelyn Bain Hogg, Marcus Bleasdale, Harry Borden, John Bulmer, Chris Floyd, Brian Griffin, Laura Pannack, Tom Stoddart, Horner Sykes, Anastasia Taylor-Lind and Peter Dench.
This brings together work by Jocelyn Bain Hogg, Marcus Bleasdale, Harry Borden, John Bulmer, Chris Floyd, Brian Griffin, Laura Pannack, Tom Stoddart, Horner Sykes, Anastasia Taylor-Lind and Peter Dench.
Dench does Dallas
The real Dallas as opposed to the TV Series back in the 1980s!
The real Dallas as opposed to the TV Series back in the 1980s!
In & At Exhibition
This is free and is the result of a collaborative residence exchange programme between the European Capitals of Culture to see if any of the cities had anything in common.
This is free and is the result of a collaborative residence exchange programme between the European Capitals of Culture to see if any of the cities had anything in common.
There are even more free exhibitions on in the Centre if you are not exhibitioned out by this time!
These exhibitions visits will give students the opportunity to view and reflect on the work of contemporary artists as well as meet other OCA Students.
To reserve your place please email enquiries@oca.ac.uk or alternatively to request a place on a study visit please click here and complete the form.
Image Credit: Hazel Bingham"
OCA weekend bulletin 09/11/17
Patchings Farm Art Festival, Notts. 13th July 2017
Hazel and I visited Patching's Farm Art Festival to listen to some of the talks from outdoor landscape photographers, expand our knowledge of local photographers, subjects and purchase photo-book making equipment at bargain prices!
The day started with a chat to Rob Knight's team, where we discovered that they run a collaborative exhibition (link at connected-exhibition). For a sum of £35 approx, you can apply to have your photograph printed, framed and hung in a gallery. We thought this was a great way to get exposure. It happens in April and submission is in January but there is no selection criteria. I will be following this up as an induction into exhibitions.
This artist is making a collage from magazines. She has a picture (of a dog) which she works to and rips the magazines into strips to make these images. One was a cow in which she had used images of Roast Beef from a Waitrose Magazine which gives it context. It was great to find an artist practicing something topical to me.
Rob Knight
Rob is a photographer from Sheffield whose talk was mainly about how to find your voice. He illustrated this talk with personal anecdotes and learning from experience. I was reminded very much of the Assignment 6 Landscape where I studied a site for a year. As a newcomer to the landscape genre I didn't get the best out of the assignment. To someone from a camera club who produces pretty images (think Annabella Pollen's cliches), this talk might be pretty helpful. I found it echoed the ethos of the OCA.
- Think about how to develop personal photographs. Find your voice among all the images out there by finding a quiet, unspecial, personal space in which to be creative and represent your life experience.
- Work is visioned and shaped at the beginning of childhood - e.g visiting grandparents, days out. All shape your experience of the landscape.
- Think of photography as a journey. Accept the negativity which will inevitably happen at some point if you wish to grow in the subject.
- Visiting places that so many people have visited, many images out there on social media, be dismissive and try and put your personal slant on the image. (Tripod marks - my brackets)
- Question what inspires you about the landscape. What is your connection to it?
- Less about place, more about feelings - serenity, light, mood. Rule break to inspire you.
- Seeing is like a muscle. If you don't use it you loose it!
- Find shape, form and light in landscape. Don't always shoot wide. Location intimacy. Work your way into the landscape. Could be anywhere if you get in close enough.
- Leave clues on the outside of the frame (half crop them off buildings to let the viewer imagine and build up a picture. (Not sure whether I agree with this example, but I understand the message. There may be other ways with which I feel comfortable. Maybe I just like a whole crane on the side of a dock because if it was only half there I would have cropped it out.)
- Mentioned Chris Killip, a documentary photographer. need to look up his work.
- Personal projects develop ourselves.
Doug Chinnery - Epiphanies, plateaus and developing as an artist
I watched some of Doug's videos during the Landscape course when I was learning about ICM (Intentional Camera Movement). I have an appreciation of the difficulty and frustration of not getting the required results so it was great to see some of his images and see how his creativity developed.
Doug explained that his epiphanies were moments in your career where something clicks and you move forward as a photographer. He had several of these during his career such as
- an image of Eileen Doonan Castle being chose by Joe Cornish for a postcard,
- his first venture into stock photography where the image sold,
- learning from HDR mistakes,
- buying photo magazines and entering photo competitions in which it took him a year or so to be selected. He commented that it is as if magazine companies put the photos on file and bring them out at a later date. This was an image he took of a leaf on the conservatory window where the light shone through it like a light box. He since made other successful images with other things in this way.
- rule breaking - trees taken with a 50mm lens. Not sharp but a pleasing image. All depends where you want the focus to be. Ignore the Photograph Police and should decide what you want yourself.
- Be aware of your surroundings. Preconceived ideas. May be better things behind you!
- Picture on the front of Outdoor Landscape magazine
- Landscape photograph of the year competition - entered the competition with a photo taken on a handheld camera with one hand. Not brilliant but won an award, echoing the sentiments of Rob Knight's that its having a camera in your hand to capture the moment rather than the type of camera)
- Study work of other photographers and artists and take inspiration from them.Flickr, Chris Friel, tilt and shift lenses used differently. Contact photographers.
- Use camera in different ways e.g ICM Watercolour type shot
- Doug taught Valda Bailey and now they work together on light and land.More about feelings of landscape than reading it literally
- Pretty pictures pay. Wobbly ones don't. Use commercial head then explore landscape and inject personality into it.
- Manage the situation such as a camera head breaking. Handhold and learn to adapt. e.g. work at F5.6-8 and a high ISO turn on image stabilising. All about the focus. Prefocus. Turn off autofocus Series of images - strength and meaning in number.
- Multiple exposures gives altered reality. Unfortunately my camera does not do this. Doug uses a Canon 5D Mark 3, I have the Mark 2.
Plateaus
When you reach them you don't have to accept it.
- Stop being a photocopier. Look back at other peoples work and learn what they are achieving. Question how you can move forwards and put your own stamp on something so it becomes personal.
- Experiment where others have taken shots but take your own
- Be prepared to fail. Like button on social media is too easy to receive instant gratification
- great artists make loads and only a few are OK. Dead ends and new paths. Paul Kenny - new idea backlit panels.
Jack Perks Coastal Wildlife UK
Based in Nottingham, Jack works on Countryfile and Springwatch. He is currently working on a TV programme called Wildlife Exposed.
Jack's photographs and video encouraged me look at wildlife photography in a new light. He uses a wide angled lens 24-70mm, a 70-300mm, a fish eye lens and a go pro. Apart from the fish eye I have it all, but I have never really looked at bird photographs like portraits. Jack's book on fish showed many different species around the British Isles; however when you compare it to a book shot in more exotic locations it is not as colourful although his photographs really picked up the detail. I wondered if perhaps this subject worked better on screen?
A few pointers I picked up were to:
- take video on the DSLR by using AV mode
- No straight lines underwater
- Donna Nook and Norfolk are great for seal watching. 2 different types. Lie down and get up close to them. Have to go early to capture the babies.
- Dull days are best for bringing out the texture and patterns.
- Get birds doing something
- Behaviours are predictive
- Let the image breathe
- Field craft is important, so too is knowing where the wildlife will be tamest or more of them.
- Take a safety shot then you have something (like shooting children)
Chris Dale - Nottinghamshire Photographer
Chris is a local photographer who photographs locations near to his home with creative results. He tends to shoot when the lighting is misty or moody, although the odd one crops up which doesn't fit the bill. His research starts with an exploration in google street view and then the OS map. Some of the areas I knew, especially Sherwood as I spend alot of time there. He showed one image which was of several trees which I had tried for Assignment 1. He explained that on a normal day you can't make sense of the place because there are too many silver birch trees but when the mist sets in the trunks are really the only part that can be seen. I knew what he meant and I am inspired to get out there in the winter and start taking different images.
I felt at the end of the day that I knew where I could have improved my landscape photography and I look forward to developing my skills at a later date.
OCA's 2017 MA Fine Art Degree Show Private View, 14th June, The Civic, Barnsley
Hazel and I visited the OCA MA Fine Art Show in Barnsley which we found really impressive. It was a chance to meet students who were studying at this level and find out a little more about the OCA's academic pathway. All the work on display was understandable and I took a few photographs as it will be useful in my future studies. I really enjoyed the interactiveness of the work.
Tanya "We are connected"
Tanya's work consisted of A4 photo boxes of images she had taken whilst revisiting old haunt, exploring current routes and encountering new places. An accumulation of photographs (or archive) developed. The viewer is then engaged by selecting a box, choosing a selection based on their association with the place and hanging their own exhibition. By sending the exhibition photo to Tanya on Instagram the journey is completed and the viewer and her are connected.
I chose the New York library box, my exhibition is displayed above. I liked the hidden people in the shadows and the sense of quiet the images distilled. Tanya also had a project where she took photographs of the backs of library books, creating another archive which she collated in a photobook. I thought the two linked together.
Rob
This was really interesting, especially with the AV presentation, although it was difficult to watch the subtle changes as the area was fairly light. The film only provided some details, allowing the viewer to fill in their own memories, making it relevant to them.
Mathew "Grey Matters"
Mathew's work is an on line collaboration displayed in framed opiariums (beehives for grey matter). People connect and participate via social media platforms to explore grey. His inspiration was taken from his bees.
Alison
Alison collected dirt along a line from Madrid to Barnsley and used the act of cleaning to make marks on material. This connects us to the invisible cleaners who maintain public spaces.
NTU (Nottingham Trent University) Degree Show XXI, 7th June, 2017
Hazel and I arranged a study visit to see as many degree exhibitions as possible in one day. We have learnt from experience that it requires planning before the event to enable us to select the most relevant works for our interests and coursework as there is such a wide variety of photography showcased.
The artist blurb from each student and one or two photographs are posted on the exhibition website. So if you want people to look at your exhibition you have to sell yourself at this point because the exhibition takes in 16 galleries with 6/7 students exhibiting in each one and the galleries are all over Nottingham! The other issue to take account of is the opening times. We independently decided that we would miss out the same 3 galleries and achieved everything we set out to do. It was a long day - taking 7 hours in total!
There was some excellent work with I could associate with and will elaborate on in more detail later.
My main observations were:
- Most of the students had produced a book or magazine as well as displaying photographs. Where a student had only shown a handful of images and no book, if there was no artist blurb it was difficult to identify with the work as the website was not always accessible. This was a good point to learn about exhibiting and bank for level 3.
- Sometimes the blurb and the work did not seem united. We felt the student perhaps hadn't achieved what they set out to do, strengthening the case for peer review, google hangouts and tutor feedback with the OCA.
- Book design is important. I have used Blurb which works for me. Some students had used Cewe Photoboks which produces a flat seam and allows the book to fully open. I will be researching this as I think it may work better for images which sit across the page.
- Size of font in books? Level 2 coursework suggests that the size and style of the font should be appropriate to the book. This year most of the students had used large font and I saw how important it was to get it right.
- Handmade books are great when they are finished neatly. There is the opportunity to be very creative with these and personalize them to fit the work which you produce.
Hung Up
Rory Fuller - The Gravs'
This reminded me of the Edgelands part of the landscape course. I enjoy visiting the degree show because it reminds me how far I have travelled on my journey of photography. It was a good starting point for the day.
Ellie Hemsley - Blue Cloud Cloth
Silence, time, fragility, taking the photo at the wrong moment. The photographs are presented on the wall so that there is no surrounding frame and the viewer can get close to them. I think this is important with this subject matter. This is the second week of the degree show and the photographs were in the basement gallery. The images were starting to look scruffy. I know in the past students have struggled with humidity of rooms. During the course of the day I noticed some students had marked their images up for sale, so it would be important to me to keep the photos looking as pristine as possible.
Jess Goodridge- The Truth of the soul lies quietly
This is relevant to Digital Image and Culture. The theme of Jess's work was about photographs recording memories but not capturing life as we remember it. Photographs are permanent whereas people are not. Jess had also produced a series of books illustrating her work.
Sophie Sales - Song of the canary
Sophie uses photographs of different mines and miners to create an archive of mining, exploring the themes of memory, age and loss. I liked her inclusion of artefacts and diagrams which gave the archive a sense of people and place rather than just the landscape. It made me rethink the cohesion of my current assignment, encouraging me to put in the images I had collected and then dismissed. I had already included a diagram.
The use of portraits of miners gives a different slant to Sophie's work from mine. I was only able to find archived images of people at work, giving a corporate gaze to my images. Sophie's celebrate remembrance and memory by being the type of image that a wife may look at during the day if it was displayed at home.
The Maltcross
And back to landscape again. 3 different approaches to landscape. I especially liked the work of Arianna's and the context behind it. Later in the day we were chatting with Dan at the Photo Parlour in Nottingham who prints black and white film for the students exhibition work. May be a useful contact in the future?
Arianna Marshall - Sustainable Growth
Theatrical images mix of film and digital. Drama and beauty in overlooked spaces. These made the viewer rethink the darker wastelands of the city.
Hannah Raine - Holidays
"...recording of personal engagement with the landscape through specific walks...in the Peak District."
"Challenging whether the photograph can be accepted as a substitute for an experience...invites the viewer to question the act of walking as a focus for art practice."
"...bringing together...pairing image and text, mark making, maps and sound."
"...reality of impermanence and change."
"...ambiguity between the artwork and the nature which exists outside of it."
"...balance between thoughts of the artist, external aspects of the walk and physical aspects of the journey."
I thought the handmade book was well presented and linked to the images. I especially liked the tracing paper inserts with a trace of a walk which may have been taken, with the odd grid reference and personal comments.
The use of embroidery was interesting as I had experimented with stitching the route of a cycle ride into my last set of images. I had done it onto photo paper and it hadn't really shown up. This worked though, although I felt the marks on the map was more a representation than the actual walks taken. It's a shame the audio wasn't working because it would have been nice to have a listen to complete the experience.
Wilkin Yeung - Street Photography
We had a long chat with Wilkin regarding his photography because understood what his photography was about. He was asking us which our favorite image was and why. It was quite difficult to pinpoint just one because all had different qualities about them. Although I chose one of the tourist images, I would have liked to have seen more of the real Hong Kong.
Aisha Wade Hughes - A positive light
Bethany Nugent
I really enjoyed this work. It was really creative and the amount of care that had been taken to construct the collector and immerse him into fairy tale world in which he interacted with others reminded me of films such as Alice in Wonderland. I think he was made more believable by the amount of collected belongings on his travels. Sarah's blurb states that she was inspired by Tim Walker. I researched his work whilst writing this up and I can see the similarities.
Surface Gallery (Downstairs)
Elle Thresh - Ride
Back Lit Gallery
Taylor Russell - SkegVegas
Helen Larcombe - Headland
Nathan Young - The road ahead
Bradley Fell - Smokescreens
Lottie Turner - Uncovered
Shannon Challis-Smith - Dawn: Aurora
Mansfield Market Place, 7th May, 2017
I nipped into Mansfield and was surprised that the exhibition which was part of Format had returned to where it began its journey 2 years ago. I think some of the images had changed since the Derby exhibit, or was this a good lesson in how my memory remembers the detail differently from the actual event? Maybe it's because I had worked out a plan for Assignment 2 and it was another chance to revisit the work of the Flaneurs to study how they brought archived images into the present day.
Strangers not allowed on this works, Nottingham Castle Museum, 28th April, 2017.
Curated by Nottingham Castle in conjunction with QUAD, Derby
Ben Roberts - Amazon (2012)
David Severn - Middleport Pottery, Stoke on Trent (2014)
Industry archives of Nottingham Lace manufacturing and John Players and Sons (JPS)
"Each photograph makes connections to local industries where economic success and at times, decline, has helped shape the midlands and its people over time." (Nottingham Castle Museum, 2017) The photographs don't show the decline as most were made for promotion. Other documents are needed for this. The modern photographs probably portray the workers lives more accurately than the posed photographs although it is possible to see the working conditions in all the photographs. From the archive, the viewer can observe the changes e.g mechanisation over the ages, issues such as lack of adequate lighting (or what we might consider now to be inadequate lighting) outworkers with a small child, women working in a factory wearing stilettos, typewriters and shorthand lessons rather than computers.
Photos were printed from glass plate negatives stored at Wollaton Hall Industrial Museum, Nottingham City Museums, JPS and Brewhouse Yard Museum. Books were an loan from Newstead Abbey Costume Museum.
Presented as a collection, it was really useful to have dates attached to the gallery guide so I could compare similar photographs and also look at the progression of photography. The photographs were mixed together rather than being grouped together under the industries which allowed the viewer to compare the images and probably spend longer in the gallery. The gallery guide worked well, although the images did not follow in that order! As I noted earlier in the day, some black and white photographs were clearer than the colour counterpart. They appeared better preserved.
Nottingham castle Museum and art Gallery (2017) Strangers not allowed on this works. Available at: http://www.nottinghamcastle.org.uk/exhibitions/strangers-not-allowed-on-this-works last accessed 1/5/17
"Each photograph makes connections to local industries where economic success and at times, decline, has helped shape the midlands and its people over time." (Nottingham Castle Museum, 2017) The photographs don't show the decline as most were made for promotion. Other documents are needed for this. The modern photographs probably portray the workers lives more accurately than the posed photographs although it is possible to see the working conditions in all the photographs. From the archive, the viewer can observe the changes e.g mechanisation over the ages, issues such as lack of adequate lighting (or what we might consider now to be inadequate lighting) outworkers with a small child, women working in a factory wearing stilettos, typewriters and shorthand lessons rather than computers.
Photos were printed from glass plate negatives stored at Wollaton Hall Industrial Museum, Nottingham City Museums, JPS and Brewhouse Yard Museum. Books were an loan from Newstead Abbey Costume Museum.
Presented as a collection, it was really useful to have dates attached to the gallery guide so I could compare similar photographs and also look at the progression of photography. The photographs were mixed together rather than being grouped together under the industries which allowed the viewer to compare the images and probably spend longer in the gallery. The gallery guide worked well, although the images did not follow in that order! As I noted earlier in the day, some black and white photographs were clearer than the colour counterpart. They appeared better preserved.
Nottingham castle Museum and art Gallery (2017) Strangers not allowed on this works. Available at: http://www.nottinghamcastle.org.uk/exhibitions/strangers-not-allowed-on-this-works last accessed 1/5/17
You're gonna need a bigger boat - curated by Jason Evans The Bonington Gallery, Nottingham, 28th April 2017
Jason Evans, photographer, curated this exhibition which focuses on industrial consumer society. The exhibition features a collection of signs used for promotion of sales from Clark Brothers, Manchester, with selected pages photographed from photo album archive from Dick Hambridge, a signwriter. The wall featured a canal boat hand painted sign, specially commissioned for the exhibition which was the title of the exhibition. Other exhibits include a rope, a carpet with bricks on, tshirts and political drawings from 80 years ago. Whilst the drawings were an archive and relevant still to today's society, I could not see the connection to the signs and sign writing, or how the carpet linked in. Maybe the title is inspired by the line "You're gonna need a bigger boat," from Jaws (1975) Stephen Spielburg?
The archive of photographs, on the other hand, was much more relevant to me as it fitted into my current study around curating and archiving. Evans presented probably 40 photographs of double page spreads of photograph albums. The selected photographs were presented neatly, under different sections such as vans, speedboats, advertising signs on a football field with invoices and comments. On each page, a collection of images showed the modernisation of the vehicle along with the repainting. It appears that the black and white images fared better than the early colour images. The shapes of the images changed too, with rounded corners on some. This was a really interesting collection (archive) of someone's working life.
Bonington Gallery (2017) You're gonna need a bigger boat. Nottingham Trent University. Available at: http://www.boningtongallery.co.uk/exhibitions/youre-gonna-need-a-bigger-boat last accessed 1/5/17
Jason Evans, photographer, curated this exhibition which focuses on industrial consumer society. The exhibition features a collection of signs used for promotion of sales from Clark Brothers, Manchester, with selected pages photographed from photo album archive from Dick Hambridge, a signwriter. The wall featured a canal boat hand painted sign, specially commissioned for the exhibition which was the title of the exhibition. Other exhibits include a rope, a carpet with bricks on, tshirts and political drawings from 80 years ago. Whilst the drawings were an archive and relevant still to today's society, I could not see the connection to the signs and sign writing, or how the carpet linked in. Maybe the title is inspired by the line "You're gonna need a bigger boat," from Jaws (1975) Stephen Spielburg?
The archive of photographs, on the other hand, was much more relevant to me as it fitted into my current study around curating and archiving. Evans presented probably 40 photographs of double page spreads of photograph albums. The selected photographs were presented neatly, under different sections such as vans, speedboats, advertising signs on a football field with invoices and comments. On each page, a collection of images showed the modernisation of the vehicle along with the repainting. It appears that the black and white images fared better than the early colour images. The shapes of the images changed too, with rounded corners on some. This was a really interesting collection (archive) of someone's working life.
Strange and Familiar, Curated by Martin Parr. Manchester Art Gallery, 26th March 2017
Curated by Martin Parr, the exhibition features images from several international photographers interpreting Britain’s culture for newspaper / magazine article or who moved to the country and saw it through the eyes of a stranger. This exhibition was previously on display at the Barbican in London. Photography was not permitted.
There were several photographers I had heard of and others were not known to me, so I have more names added to my resource list which may be useful in the future.
My favourite work was from Sergio Larrain (1958-9) who captured images of change in Britain in the post-war era were refreshingly different to other works on display. His style used angled perspectives, ground level viewpoints, blurring (motion blur) indicative of the speed of framing the image and double exposures. Reading the study visit review from OCA Tutor Robert Bloomfield, it seemed that other students also associated with Larrain’s work.
There was a mix of colour and monochrome images, and Raymond Deparden’s colour images were so dark they looked like they had splashes of colour added to them. Definitely not an advert to visit Glasgow. Commissioned by the Sunday Times they were never published. He photographed children in the scenes to add hope, colour and beauty. It just reminded me of Thatcher Britain and Brexit Britain.
By comparison, Jim Dow’s almost life-size colour window displays features a vernacular culture, a documentary record of life in Britain in 1994. E.g. Window display at Khatta – meetha- veg. One could almost reach out to the sweets in the sweet shop and it provided a nostalgic documentary archive of the way things used to be in Britain.
I particularly liked the images from Axel Hutte who documented London’s social housing. It incorporated “technical precision and formal neutrality” (Parr, 2017) and studied social reform of the working class. This was London in decline; the streets were monochrome and there was an absence of people. Hutte used the building edges as frames, and Hazel and I had previously discussed using frames in her body of work.
Shinro Ohtake (Japanese) created image scrapbooks, the covers made from sweet wrappers, train tickets etc. I would like to have seen more of his work. The books were in display cases. Perhaps a few pictures on the walls of the inside of the books would have been helpful.
Cas Oorthuys images were “designed to stimulate the imagination and memory of the tourist before, during and after a trip. The photobooks functioned as distilled representations of cities and countries ahead of mass tourism.” (Parr, 2017) Oorthuys’s images prompted me to question one of the tourist books I was currently reading along with Assignment 1. The images in the tourist book were not representative of the landscape whereas I could imagine that Oorthuys’s images would be a reminder of a trip to London, Oxford or Cambridge.
Other photographers who had work exhibited were:
What I found missing from this exhibition was the context in which the work was used such as the original newspaper or magazine article. The wall guides were useful in providing context to the images such as dates and what was happening in Britain at the time. Robert Bloomfield cites Simon Watney: Making Strange. The Shattered Mirror in Victor Burgin’s book. I haven’t come across this article yet and will be researching it as follow up work.
This was a bit of a whistle-stop tour round the exhibition as it was Mother’s Day and my children are not keen on art exhibitions. I would have liked time to spend time looking at the photo-books on the ground floor.
References
Parr, M. (2017) Strange and Familiar. Manchester. Manchester Art Gallery.
Bibliography
Dow, J. (2017) England. Available at: http://jimdowphotography.com/England-portfolio.php last accessed 1/4/17
Curated by Martin Parr, the exhibition features images from several international photographers interpreting Britain’s culture for newspaper / magazine article or who moved to the country and saw it through the eyes of a stranger. This exhibition was previously on display at the Barbican in London. Photography was not permitted.
There were several photographers I had heard of and others were not known to me, so I have more names added to my resource list which may be useful in the future.
My favourite work was from Sergio Larrain (1958-9) who captured images of change in Britain in the post-war era were refreshingly different to other works on display. His style used angled perspectives, ground level viewpoints, blurring (motion blur) indicative of the speed of framing the image and double exposures. Reading the study visit review from OCA Tutor Robert Bloomfield, it seemed that other students also associated with Larrain’s work.
There was a mix of colour and monochrome images, and Raymond Deparden’s colour images were so dark they looked like they had splashes of colour added to them. Definitely not an advert to visit Glasgow. Commissioned by the Sunday Times they were never published. He photographed children in the scenes to add hope, colour and beauty. It just reminded me of Thatcher Britain and Brexit Britain.
By comparison, Jim Dow’s almost life-size colour window displays features a vernacular culture, a documentary record of life in Britain in 1994. E.g. Window display at Khatta – meetha- veg. One could almost reach out to the sweets in the sweet shop and it provided a nostalgic documentary archive of the way things used to be in Britain.
I particularly liked the images from Axel Hutte who documented London’s social housing. It incorporated “technical precision and formal neutrality” (Parr, 2017) and studied social reform of the working class. This was London in decline; the streets were monochrome and there was an absence of people. Hutte used the building edges as frames, and Hazel and I had previously discussed using frames in her body of work.
Shinro Ohtake (Japanese) created image scrapbooks, the covers made from sweet wrappers, train tickets etc. I would like to have seen more of his work. The books were in display cases. Perhaps a few pictures on the walls of the inside of the books would have been helpful.
Cas Oorthuys images were “designed to stimulate the imagination and memory of the tourist before, during and after a trip. The photobooks functioned as distilled representations of cities and countries ahead of mass tourism.” (Parr, 2017) Oorthuys’s images prompted me to question one of the tourist books I was currently reading along with Assignment 1. The images in the tourist book were not representative of the landscape whereas I could imagine that Oorthuys’s images would be a reminder of a trip to London, Oxford or Cambridge.
What I found missing from this exhibition was the context in which the work was used such as the original newspaper or magazine article. The wall guides were useful in providing context to the images such as dates and what was happening in Britain at the time. Robert Bloomfield cites Simon Watney: Making Strange. The Shattered Mirror in Victor Burgin’s book. I haven’t come across this article yet and will be researching it as follow up work.
This was a bit of a whistle-stop tour round the exhibition as it was Mother’s Day and my children are not keen on art exhibitions. I would have liked time to spend time looking at the photo-books on the ground floor.
Dow, J. (2017) England. Available at: http://jimdowphotography.com/England-portfolio.php last accessed 1/4/17
Format, Derby, 25th March 2017
I attended this with Hazel. We have shared interests having studied Landscape at the same time and can relate to several of this years artists as the subject is Habitat.
Photobook Market, Riverlights, Derby.
Books which caught my eye:
As well as there being books from publishers on display, I was interested in now to make books different. Following on from Alex Webb's book at the Photography Show, I found this book which I explored in detail.
Midlands, Martin Clegg
Text insert within the fence
Map looks like background image
Democratic landscape, Caro Ray
Printed both sides with stitching on cover
28/4/17
Hazel attended a bookmaking workshop in Nottingham in which she made a book similar to the one pictured above. She talked me through the process and explained that selection of images is really important in book design.
Be here, now. Daniel Regan and Antonia Attwood. Riverlights, Derby.
The artists explored "the soothing qualities of natural spaces in this immersive exhibition that fuses virtual reality, video, photography and sound. The artists — both working in the field of mental health and well-being [...] examin(ed) how different landscapes can offer safety and respite in today’s fast moving world." (Format 2017)
The installation contained video, virtual reality headsets and large format images of different landscapes constructed in different rooms. The concept is that by entering the space, the viewer will switch off from modern life. In reality it a was fairly distracting environment, despite the allocated rooms. The headsets were positioned too high for Hazel to reach (quite important for the viewers) although Format were working on the problem. It was only when I sat and watched the whole video of the beach with its differing viewpoints that I began to appreciate the soothing effects of the tide on the pebbles. For me, some landscapes worked better than others. I felt quite isolated with the virtual reality beach scene, the cliffs were high, the beach was pebbly and there was no-one around. It felt very dark. I much preferred the forest in the north of England / Scotland as it brought back memories of family holidays.
Reference
Format (2017) Daniel Regan and Antonia Attwood. Available at: http://www.formatfestival.com/events/daniel-regan-and-antonia-attwood-be-here-now last accessed 23/4/17
Lisa and John Slideshow
This was set in a small theatre belonging to the University. Access was through a shopping centre, round the multi-storey carpark and down some steep steps. The lights were off at the start of the performance; Lisa and John entered the stage and the lights came on. Lisa explained a little about how the photographer came to study their family and talk us through the photos she had chosen to present to us. John then did the same. Lisa and John are both remarried. This was a verbatim theatre piece in which photography and memory was explored through dialogue with the subjects.
Bachten (2000) explains that vernacular photography is the everyday snapshots that don't have a place in the critical history of photography. But without it, how would photography aspire to anything greater? Vernacular photography includes sentimentality, often taken by amateur photographers and are not worth anything in monetary terms.
The way in which the show was presented gave food for thought around the slideshow. Lisa and John had both picked images which represented how they remembered their life. There was some discussion as to the story around the images, just as a family would when looking back on family albums. I thought it was well put together. A question and answer session at the end would have been good - it was only included at the later showing.
Bibliography
Bachten, G. (2000) Each Wild Idea. New York. The Mit Press
Flaneur: new urban narratives. Cathedral Green. Derby
"Designed as an international partnership of some 20 organisations from 11 different countries, the project is based on a concept of artistic interventions within public spaces, through contemporary photography.
I had seen this 2 years ago at the start of the journey in Mansfield market square. At the time I did not appreciate this genre of photography. Having completed the landscape course and read Merlin Coverley's Psycheogeography (2010) I was looking forward to revisiting this. It now made sense to me. I researched Tom Hunter who contributed to this installation because this area is on my doorstep and has been subject to some photography course assignments already. It may be useful in the future.
Perhaps the word "voyeuristic" does not encourage women to become flaneurs?
Image within an image
Image within an image
This image reminds me of the local landscape, situated between disused pits.
Quad, Derby
Framing
Framing
Pearson Building, Derby
Below are a collection of works I found interesting and may be useful as research:
Mini Click House of cards. Changing landscapes.
Different idea of displaying landscape
As well as there being books from publishers on display, I was interested in now to make books different. Following on from Alex Webb's book at the Photography Show, I found this book which I explored in detail.
Be here, now. Daniel Regan and Antonia Attwood. Riverlights, Derby.
The artists explored "the soothing qualities of natural spaces in this immersive exhibition that fuses virtual reality, video, photography and sound. The artists — both working in the field of mental health and well-being [...] examin(ed) how different landscapes can offer safety and respite in today’s fast moving world." (Format 2017)
The installation contained video, virtual reality headsets and large format images of different landscapes constructed in different rooms. The concept is that by entering the space, the viewer will switch off from modern life. In reality it a was fairly distracting environment, despite the allocated rooms. The headsets were positioned too high for Hazel to reach (quite important for the viewers) although Format were working on the problem. It was only when I sat and watched the whole video of the beach with its differing viewpoints that I began to appreciate the soothing effects of the tide on the pebbles. For me, some landscapes worked better than others. I felt quite isolated with the virtual reality beach scene, the cliffs were high, the beach was pebbly and there was no-one around. It felt very dark. I much preferred the forest in the north of England / Scotland as it brought back memories of family holidays.
Reference
Format (2017) Daniel Regan and Antonia Attwood. Available at: http://www.formatfestival.com/events/daniel-regan-and-antonia-attwood-be-here-now last accessed 23/4/17
This was set in a small theatre belonging to the University. Access was through a shopping centre, round the multi-storey carpark and down some steep steps. The lights were off at the start of the performance; Lisa and John entered the stage and the lights came on. Lisa explained a little about how the photographer came to study their family and talk us through the photos she had chosen to present to us. John then did the same. Lisa and John are both remarried. This was a verbatim theatre piece in which photography and memory was explored through dialogue with the subjects.
Bachten (2000) explains that vernacular photography is the everyday snapshots that don't have a place in the critical history of photography. But without it, how would photography aspire to anything greater? Vernacular photography includes sentimentality, often taken by amateur photographers and are not worth anything in monetary terms.
The way in which the show was presented gave food for thought around the slideshow. Lisa and John had both picked images which represented how they remembered their life. There was some discussion as to the story around the images, just as a family would when looking back on family albums. I thought it was well put together. A question and answer session at the end would have been good - it was only included at the later showing.
"Designed as an international partnership of some 20 organisations from 11 different countries, the project is based on a concept of artistic interventions within public spaces, through contemporary photography.
I had seen this 2 years ago at the start of the journey in Mansfield market square. At the time I did not appreciate this genre of photography. Having completed the landscape course and read Merlin Coverley's Psycheogeography (2010) I was looking forward to revisiting this. It now made sense to me. I researched Tom Hunter who contributed to this installation because this area is on my doorstep and has been subject to some photography course assignments already. It may be useful in the future.
Different idea of displaying landscape
The Photography Show 18th March 2017 NEC
Birmingham
Hazel (Level 3 Photography student) and I attended this
together. We pre-booked tickets to see Alex Webb (street photographer) as he
seemed to be the most relevant speaker to our studies speaking on this day.
Alex Webb – Many Streets
Alex Webb
I found Alex’s photographs colourful, well balanced,
packed with information which left the viewer sometimes questioning the
situation and had a narrative running through them. Alex’s AV presentation of
Violet Isle (Cuban street life) with his and Rebecca’s photo’s set to music, brought
the book to life. Through experimentation in People and Place I learnt that
this style of photography does not suit me although it enables me to appreciate
the work of others.
Alex showed a collaboration of his and Rebecca’s called
Memory City (2012) – a book about Rochester in New York, the home of Kodak.
This was the year in which Kodak went bankrupt and questions were raised about
its future. The style of this book really appeals to me; the book cover has a
photograph which is taped on, which I think takes away the formality.
Throughout the book, Alex shot in black and white and Rebecca used colour. The
book questions the end of film and move to digital. There is a comparison
between the end of Industrial American life and the end of film. An analogy Rebecca
uses is that women wear dresses once for special occasions and these events are
documented. This is a useful note for my current course – Digital Image and
Culture. Other features of the book I
particularly liked were the contact sheets of dresses, and the tipped in pages
(pages of different sizes that are glued into the book and fold out.) This
gives a real personal touch to the book and made it feel like an exploration. A
reader’s attention may last longer, especially with the separate pamphlet at
the back. A fold out time line creates a visual history. This would have worked
well for my self-directed project in the Landscape course.
We sat in on a couple of talks on the Live Stage:
Andrew Appleton: Master Dance Photography
This was a whistle stop tour through the techniques of
capturing dancers both in the studio and out on location. He broke this down
into 10 key points and from the point of view of teaching someone the technique
or applying it to a different sport it was useful.
The main messages coming through were learn some of the
moves so you know what you are asking for and can direct it. Timing is the all-important
key to dance as it takes about 1/1000 second for a jump, so practice and
articulating your brain and fingers are necessary. Learn the delay time on the
camera. Dancers dancing have a developed muscle structure compared to actors.
Frame wide, use edge lighting and understand your flash. High speed sync
doesn’t get the best out of it. Can use lighting and expose for blurry cloth
and flash to get the dancer in focus.
This relates to photography I do outside the course. My
family and friends are keen mountain bikers and compete in races and events. In
my experience the quality of event photography is mixed. Some capture the
essence of the race, bought and shared around on social media as bragging
rights. Some, unfortunately are reminders of the dark, soggy winter conditions.
And of course, the photographer may not have captured the rider at all. I started
to use flash as it lifts the rider from the background and brightens faces.
After attending the Flash session from Andrew Appleton last year at the
Photography Show, I experimented with flash setup for sports photography and
found it does give better results although my technique needs refining.
The advantage of visiting the show with a fellow student is
finding course related material and ideas and having discussions with
individual companies.
A product that took my eye was Shacolla (restickable wall
display photo panels). This is a new product marketed by Fujifilm and the
company are engaged in market research for product placement and cost. Basically,
a photo is stuck to a foam like block and positioned onto a wall. You would
need several to display in a pattern and they come in different sizes such as
8x12”, 5x7”, 4x6” and 5” square. The blocks remain flexible and can be moved
around. The photos can be peeled off and restuck (but they curl). So, would
this be useful for an exhibition? The idea is good. I think it works out
expensive and you could not sell the photo afterwards.
Carpet Bombing Culture
This book publishing company advertises itself as a counter-culture
publisher. It is full of interesting books documenting culture such as tattoos,
graffiti, street cultures and hidden and forgotten landscapes. May be somewhere
to look when I need inspiration.
Fine Art Foto
This company produces pinch books. I had not come across
them before and they seemed like a good idea. The spine of the book pinches
allowing you to insert your printed photos, creating a photobook. Having
carefully organised my A4 prints in a photo archive box for my last assessment,
the question was what to do with them. This seems like a way of enabling the
photographs to be shared more easily so I bought a couple to inset the last set
of photographs so I can start living with my work. I have inserted the pages - easy to use. Need to see how durable it is.
Women in Photography and the UCA
Anna Fox, Natasha Karuna and a couple of students were manning
the stand for the UCA. We had a chat with Anna Fox, explaining how the OCA
course runs for us as students, discussing exercises which prepare us for assignments
and the timescale of the course. I explained we watched clips online such as
Anna Fox’s AV on making a Schilt book and she shared some information about
this. I have used two of Anna's books during the pathway and it is great to have met her.
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| The everybooth - world's most luxurious photo booth |
 |
| Mini cubes - different way of presenting a collection of photographs. Tactile |
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| Frames? Stand up 2d photos |
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| How to hang postcards for an exhibition? |
Carpet Bombing Culture (2017) Available at: http://carpetbombingculture.co.uk/ last accessed 22/3/17
Fine Art Foto (2017) Pinchbook photo books. Available at: https://www.fineartfoto.co.uk/ last accessed 22/3/17
Halstead, K. (2017) Booth revolution introduces BR studio life and the everybooth. The Photography Show 2017. Available at: https://www.photographyshow.com/exhibitor-press-releases/booth-revolution-introduces-br-studio-life--the-everybooth last accessed 22/3/17
How to make a Schilt book - Anna Fox. The making of Resort 2. Schilt. Vimeo. (n.d) 9mins 11secs. Available at: http://www.annafox.co.uk/films/how-to-make-a-schilt-book/ last accessed 22/3/17
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