Category: Learning log

The parent category for research and reflection posts.

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Assessment results

517401 OCA Photography

My assessment results arrived yesterday and I received an overall mark of 57. I was slightly disappointed with the mark as it was less than the 65 I achieved for EYV, however, I think it is an accurate reflection of my work on this module. I found C&N more challenging than Expressing Your Vision and I struggled with assignments two and four in particular. My decision not to re-shoot assignment two I think contributed to the lower mark but this was a pragmatic decison on my part, I felt I had done enough to pass the module and given the … Continue reading Assessment results

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France

517401 OCA Photography

I spent a couple of weeks ion France, in Lyon and Bordeaux, and whilst I was there I set myself the task of trying to create a set of images that conveyed the idea of France/French. Instead of just taking pictures, I made a conscious effort to try and produce a series that had a narrative quality to them, and as with assignments I have limited myself to selecting the 12 that I think best convey this idea. Continue reading France

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Research point – documentrary photography (P.27)

517401 OCA Photography

Do you need to be an insider in order to produce a successful documentary project? In her essay Inside/Out, Abigail Solomon-Godeau examines the different types of documentary photography by looking at the writings of Martha Rosler and Susan Sontag and the work of American photographers Diane Arbus, Nan Godin, Larry Clark and Robert Frank. Looking first at the views of Sontag and Rosler, Solomon-Godeau writes: Thus where Rosler sees the issue of photographic voyerism and objectification as a synecdoche of a larger political/cultural totality, Sontag tends to locate the problem in photography itself. Nevertheless, and despite the important difference between … Continue reading Research point – documentrary photography (P.27)

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Research point – war photography (P.27)

517401 OCA Photography

Do you think images of war are necessary to provoke change? Do you agree withSontag’s earlier view that horrific images of war numb viewers’ responses? I do not think that war images by themselves bring about change, however, I think they can play a role in influencing individuals/society by showing the impact of conflict on combatants, and particularly non-combatants, which can in turn can encourage a quest for greater knowledge and understanding of why wars are being fought and questioning their legitimacy. The argument that Sontag makes in On Photography is basically that familiary breeds contemp, that repeated exposure to … Continue reading Research point – war photography (P.27)

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Keith Arnatt

517401 OCA Photography

Whilst trying to understand how to progress with assignment three I came across a BJP article about Keith Arnatt, https://www.bjp-online.com/2015/09/keith-arnatt-the-conceptual-photographer-who-influenced-a-generation/ I think what I liked about the work featured in the article was its diversity as this is something I am grappling with as I try to work out what to photograph for the assignment. Having had a very fixed idea of how I was going to approach it I now have several ideas which do not work together, however, looking at Arnatt’s work, perhaps they do not have to follow a similar approach if they can be combined to … Continue reading Keith Arnatt

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Research point – reading pictures – (P.104)

517401 OCA Photography

Read and reflect upon the chapter on Diane Arbus in Singular Images: Essays on Remarkable Photographs by Sophie Howarth (2005, London: Tate Publishing). The collection, which is edited by Sophie Howarth, features an essay by Liz Jobey analysising Arbus’s photograph A young Brooklyn family going for a Sunday outing, N.Y.C. 1966. In writing about Diane Arbus’s photograph A young Brooklyn family going for a Sunday outing, N.Y.C.1966, Liz Jobey takes the reader on a journey which starts by looking at the family in the image and speculating on their lives, relationships and futures; goes on to look at the career … Continue reading Research point – reading pictures – (P.104)

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Struggling with creativity

517401 OCA Photography

The feedback from my tutor for assignment two had a familiar feel to it: as s set it quickly becomes a little predictable and rather functional, like you’ve taken a promising initial idea and not really been able to expand on it beyond a basic illustration of objects that connect to electricity and technology. Each photograph doesn’t really add anything new to the ‘argument’, so further thought on how to visual communicate the nuance of your critical perspective on technology is needed. There’s evidence of solid, regular engagement with research on your blog, but this particular assignment is rather light … Continue reading Struggling with creativity

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Vivian Maier – Self-portraits

517401 OCA Photography

The story of the discovery of Vivian Maier’s work is well known, it was discovered by accident when the contents of a storage unit that she had been renting were sold as the fees had not been paid. It is estimated that Maier took around 150,000 photographs in her lifetime and in addition to prints, negatives and unprocessed film, the contents of her storage locker also included cine films, audio recordings, receipts and cameras that she used. As well as a treasure trove of images documenting America in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s, the collection also includes a significant number … Continue reading Vivian Maier – Self-portraits

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Cindy Sherman

517401 OCA Photography

For over 40 years Cindy Sherman has been turning the camera on herself to produce work which Sherman describes as ‘most definitely not self-portraits’ but are instead a vehicle to comment on issues of the modern world including the role or women and the role of artists. Sherman was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey in 1954 and attended State University College Buffalo where she initially studied painting. Sherman gave up painting stating ” . . .there was nothing more to say [through painting]. I was meticulously copying other art and then I realized I could just use a camera … Continue reading Cindy Sherman

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Is it ever possible to capture one’s essence in a photograph? (P.79)

517401 OCA Photography

This question is posed at the end of a section examining Nikki S Lee’s Projects, a series where she assumed different personas and took a photographs of herself with other members of her ‘adpoted’ sub-culture. The question is relevant especially as several of the photographers featured in this section chose to adopt new identities within their self-portraits e.g. Trish Morrissey, Gillian Wearing and Nikki S Lee, but it is also true of more conventional self-portraits, what does the viewer see and is this the essence of the individual? At this stage before starting work on assignment three my view is … Continue reading Is it ever possible to capture one’s essence in a photograph? (P.79)