Category: Learning log

The parent category for research and reflection posts.

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Tracey Moffatt – Under the Signs of Scorpio

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I found details about this work online on the website of the Rosyln Oxley 9 gallery and as well as the images there was a press release by Moffatt from 2005 which went into some detail about the collection. Whilst I recognise the concept behind the work and the committment of Moffatt in reproducing the women she was representing, ultimately I found the series disappointing. The main reason for this is the premise that the women featured all share similar personality traits due to the time in the year they were born. I’m not a believer in astrology and so … Continue reading Tracey Moffatt – Under the Signs of Scorpio

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Francesca Woodman

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It is difficult not to read Woodman’s many self-portraits – she produced over five hundred during her short lifetime – as alluding to a troubled state of mind. She committed suicide at the age of twenty-two. Bright, 2010, p.25 Look up Francesca Woodman’s images online. What evidence can you find for Bright’s analysis? I think this image can be read as one that alludes to death and so could be interpreted as pointing to Woodman’s suicide. The work was produced some time in 1979 – 80 and Woodman made her first attempt to take her own life in the autumn … Continue reading Francesca Woodman

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Research point – Do you think images of war are necessary to provoke change?

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Do you think images of war are necessary to provoke change? I think it is too simplistic to believe that images of war provoke change espeically now that stills photography has been largely overtaken by video as a means or reporting and communicating from conflict zones. However, that is not to say that single images do not play a part in changing the perception of the general public about the moral justification of the wars that they are asked to support or, for some, to fight in. Looking back at the wars that have been fought in my lifetime, the … Continue reading Research point – Do you think images of war are necessary to provoke change?

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Research point – Martha Rosler – In, around and afterthoughts (on documentary photography)

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Do you think Martha Rosler is unfair on socially driven photographers like Lewis Hine? Is there a sense in which work like this is exploitative or patronising? Does this matter if someone benefits in the long run? Can photography change situations? In her 1981 essay In, around and afterthoughts (on documentary photography), Rosler states that: …Lewis Hine, and others involved in social-work propagandizing argued, through the presentation of images combined with other forms of discourse, for the rectification of wrongs. It did not perceive those wrongs as being fundamental to the social system that tolerated them.. Martha Rosler Rosler goes on to state: The notion of … Continue reading Research point – Martha Rosler – In, around and afterthoughts (on documentary photography)

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This Photograph is My Proof – Duane Michal

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Duane Michal uses text to change the context of his images. The image below shows a couple in an embrace, smiling and seemingly content and happy in each other’s company. However, this is a crop of the finished work just showing the image. In the complete work Michal has added the following text ‘This photograph is my proof. There was that afternoon, when things were still good between us, and she embraced me, and we were happy. It had happened. She did love me. Look, see for yourself!’ By adding the text Michal has altered the narrative by changing the … Continue reading This Photograph is My Proof – Duane Michal

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Kaylynn Deveney – The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings and Karen Knorr – Gentlemen

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The Day-to-Day Life of Alfred Hastings is a collection of 83 images by KayLynn Deveney, 77 hand written captions by Alfred Hastings and an assortment of his poems, drawings and family photographs. Deveney first met Albert Hastings in 2001 and shortly afterwards began taking photographs of him, continuing until his death in 2007 at the age of 91 . As the title suggests, the photographs depict everyday events from Albert’s life. I like this work, I think the images combined with the hand written captions on lined paper by Albert are personal, intimate and give an indication of the connection … Continue reading Kaylynn Deveney – The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings and Karen Knorr – Gentlemen

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Research point – Sophie Calle – Take Care of Yourself

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In contrast to Sophy Rickett’s collaboration with one person, Dr. Willstrop, Sophie Calle’s work Take Care of Yourself was a collaboration with 108 other people, her ex-partner who emailed to tell her he was ending their relationship and 107 of her women who responded to her request to comment on the email which she had sent to them and asked them to comment on it in their professional capacity. She then photographed or videoed them and their response. The email from her boyfiend that Calle shared is set out below: Sophie, I have been meaning to write and reply to … Continue reading Research point – Sophie Calle – Take Care of Yourself

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Research point – Sophy Rickett – Objects in the Field

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Sophy Rickett’s Objects in the Field is a work produced when she was undertaking an artist fellowship at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy. The work was produced from the 125 negatives taken over a 2 year period by Dr Roderick Willstrop using the Three Mirror Telescope that he developed. Dr Willstrop’s involvement was not limited to providing the negatives but also the captions for the images and narration for Rickett’s video Afterword (Polishing, Not Grinding). Reading about the work it is clear that there is a tension between the Rickett and Willstrop in their appreciation of the images. … Continue reading Research point – Sophy Rickett – Objects in the Field

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Reasearch point – Paul Seawright’s Sectarian Murders

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Look online at Paul Seawright’s work, Sectarian Murders. How does this work challenge the boundaries between documentary and art? Listen to Paul Seawright talk about his work at: http://vimeo.com/76940827 [accessed 24/02/14] What is the core of his argument? Do you agree with him? If we define a piece of documentary photography as art, does this change its meaning? Paul Seawright’s series of images referred to as Sectarian Murders is a collection of 12 colour images taken in 1987/88. The photographs are of locations around Belfast where bodies of victims of sectarian murders in the early 1970s were found. Each image is … Continue reading Reasearch point – Paul Seawright’s Sectarian Murders

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Street photography

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What difference does colour make to a genre that traditionally was predominantly black and white? The shift from using black & white to colour in street photography took place gradually but was really driven by American photographers, William Eggleston, Saul Leiter, Steven Shore, Joel Meyerowitz and others in the 1960s. In 1935 Kodak introduce the first colour slide film, Kodachrome, followed by Agfa 1936. Development of colour films continued and in 1942 Kodak launched its first colour negative film specifically for producing colour prints, Kodacolor. Addoption of colour print film was slow due to it being significantly more expensive than … Continue reading Street photography