Feedback
The approaching car theme was also commented upon as being something that might be included in the landscape strand of the portfolio, and perhaps this might be an idea as, apart from the final printing, the Landscape module Night Walks series was well received. How will I work this in? I’ve no idea, and I’m not currently so sure I want to either - I see this as a different strand of work. How would it play against the other images? I think it might be a little too disjointed, although I’ve also played with working the landscapes in mono, so why not…?
As for the proposal, I’m having difficulty saying what I mean, and I’ve been using quotes from other artists in a way that is probably out of context. I’ll keep on working it; and as Jose said, I’ll refine it as the images come along...
A2 Finished
I’ll put some reflective thoughts on here soon.
+++UPDATE+++
OK, so the working week is over and I have time to breathe again - for a few days at least.
Jose has received the assignment, only I forgot to put the CD in there with the video sequence for change - sorted that by e-mail: I don’t seem to be able to sort myself out at the moment and that’s part of the reason this has taken so long to finish - that and limited opportunities to shoot because it’s generally dark when I’m not in the office... Ahhh, winter - last year when I was doing Night Walks, winter was the ideal time, now it’s not so good.
Whatever, I just thought I’d put some thoughts down on this final set before Jose comes back with his comments, which may influence what I think. Well, this was the hard one to do, and it really would have been simple to go out and just photograph things in a similar way to how it was done in TAoP, but that really wouldn’t be acceptable - hopefully I’ve progressed since then. The way I saw this, which is clearly related to the Night Walks series, is to add a sense of narrative to the images - there’s something happening rather than purely being a poetic/prosaic mediation on lights in the countryside (perhaps the only one with a more defined narrative was the garage). Here something approaches, whilst it is accepted as a car, what it means is left to the viewer - is there something malevolent or something significant about to come in to view? Or is it just a car driving home? Up to you, but there’s a sense of suspense for me, like when someone starts to say something but then stops. The photographs are a bit of a tease. They also deal with (predominantly) orange and blue tones, although one is more blue and green.
My one reservation with these photographs is perhaps, in hindsight, they’re all a little bit “samey”, but then I guess that was my intention.
Comments on the others have been put in here in recent weeks, I won’t bother repeating them again.
Now to wait and hear what Jose thinks...
Assignment 2
Anyway, in the meantime I’ve printed everything else up so it’s ready to go, and also written up the majority of the accompanying notes, so it is pretty much just a matter of the final image and then I will finally get this put to bed. For the record, here’s the images from the assignment (again), and I’ll add the final image when I take it...
One step forward...
I thought I’d finally sorted out where I was going with assignment 2, certainly I have a good chunk of it written up and I’m happy (-ish) with 2 of the 3 elements. The final one isn’t quite there yet though, even if I did manage to get out and take some photographs the other night.
I’ve been wanting to continue with the theme of night lights for the colour accent, but I’m now finding the car lights to be generally too white - the effect just isn’t the same. The photograph I came away with is shown below:
Now, maybe I’d just left it a little too late, or maybe the composition is just too different (the car too close) but it’s got a very different feel to the first one I’d taken some months ago - here again...
I’m thinking (hoping?) it is the time of night, the background has gone from cool bluish shadows to being black, and the lights are no longer a “problem” in terms of cool and warm tones. Whatever, it doesn’t work in the way I had intended, even though I do feel a certain apprehension from both: something is coming... Which is the intention I had.
I guess I’ll try it again soon, otherwise it’s back to the drawing board for the third exercise to complete.
A2 Planning
For the 3 exercises for submission I’ve chosen the colour accents, the impartial view and change. These are the three for which I feel I’ve had the strongest ideas (low key/high key was just a shoot and see, the others have not really excited me...). So here’s some thoughts on the ideas:
2: Colour accent.
I’m looking at this project as a continuation to some of the L2 work I did for Landscape, photographing in the twilight hours and capturing light against the darkness. This is something that really interests me, and I enjoyed the work for Landscape such that I’ve continued shooting a similar project since (same idea, different area). For YOP, I’m looking at the colour accents caused by oncoming car headlights, and I managed the first some weeks ago.
This is really a quite difficult project to get to work without staging, something I don’t often do as I really consider myself a documentary style photographer: making images of what happens naturally rather than creating an event. Because of the inherent problems with shooting at night (long exposures), the cars have generally moved, so I will need to set up a parked car for this one, which probably means I have to get some help... As ever, easier said than done. I’m looking to sort this out soon though.
5: An impartial view.
I’ve taken the photographs for this exercise, and I’m happy with the images. I do however need to think some more about the presentation of the images, as my initial thought was to make use of a drawing frame to simulate an engineering drawing. I might however opt for something a little more graphic, but I’m a bit rusty with the old graphic design skills...
Whilst I had not particularly thought of the implications of the choice of subject, other than the older style camera being an interest of mine, discussions on this blog with Clive W has made me think more about what I’ve actually done. Now, after reflection, I’m wondering whether this is what I was sub-consciously thinking anyway, or whether Clive has introduced an idea that fits my photographs. Possibly the latter would reflect my comments, but now I’m not so sure. I need to be more thorough in my thinking before starting something like this.
9: Change
I’m happy with my concept of minimal change for this project - I’ve tried the “clouds scudding across the sky” thing and whilst it might be an interesting effect, it really doesn’t light any fires under my backside. It’s sort of “whatever”. The concept of photographing something that’s not perceptually changing and proving that it is gives me more cause to stop and think.
The photographs I’ve taken aren’t particularly astonishing from a technical perspective - self portrait is a tricky beast to manage when you’re taking lots of them the same. it’s very detached, and this is reflected in the pose and the final image. Taken in isolation, the photographs are a poor portrait by some criteria - certainly the likes of Bown have taken far more engaging images. It’s not meant to be engaging though, I’m trying to make the viewer look closely at the images. I might still do this again with another subject though, just to give me some more control.
I find it strange that at this point, when I feel my photographic “voice” is becoming clearer that I find myself doing such varied work, stylistically speaking. My style is becoming more “British”, and therefore what I would consider to be edging towards the pomo, however whilst there might be a contemporary flavour running through these choices, I’m not so sure that they fit within the label of “British contemporary”? Is this a bad thing? Possibly not, it’s good to do things in a different way from time to time. I just don’t want to be thought of as meandering too much. I’ll think about this some more...