Assignment 1Leave a comment

Assignment 1 – Tutor feedback

517401 OCA Photography

My feedback for assignment one can be read here I thought that the feedback was fair and that the point about the resdient images being too homogenised was something that I had not realised prior to submission. I have decided to change two of the images, convenience store and Sunday morning rowing. Looking again at the set I think that these are the weakest images and I intend to replace them with images that high-light some of the issues that Cambridge residents experience. Continue reading Assignment 1 – Tutor feedback

Exhibitions and galleries, Exhibitions and visitsLeave a comment

Dave Heath – The Photographer’s Gallery

517401 OCA Photography

Dave Heath was an American/Canadian photographer who died in 2016. Dialogues with Solitudes is based on his 1965 publication A Dialogue with Solitude, a work that examined isolation and alienation in post-war North American society, and is the first major UK exhibition of Heath’s work. Heath had first hand experience of isoation and vulnerability having been abandoned by his parents when he was four he was brought up in orphanages and foster care. As a teenager he became interested in photography and he was fascinated by the picture stories on Life magazine with one in particular, Bad Boy’s Story by … Continue reading Dave Heath – The Photographer’s Gallery

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Deutsche Borse Photography Foundation Prize 2019 – Photographer’s Gallery

517401 OCA Photography

This annual award was established by the Photographer’s Gallery in 1996 and features the work of four photographers who are deemed to have made a significant contribution to photography in Europe over the last 12 months. The four artists shortlisted this year are Laia Abril, Susan Meiselas, Arwed Messmer and Mark Ruwedel. On Abortion by Spanish photographer Laia Abril was a powerful and haunting piece of work looking at the methods used to terminate unwanted pregnancies and the impact on women of countries where abortion is illegal. Several of the images were black and white portraits with accompanying text which … Continue reading Deutsche Borse Photography Foundation Prize 2019 – Photographer’s Gallery

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Assignment 2 – intitial thoughts

517401 OCA Photography

For this assignment there are two options, first photographing the unseen; creating a series of images of a subject that might be deemed to be unphotographable. The second option is using props, to produce a set of images using either a white shirt or a handkerchief to suggest a narrative. My initial thoughts are that both options seem challenging but that of the two photographing the unseen is the one I find the more engaging. Having decided on option one, the next step is to make a list of at least seven potential ideas and for these to be subjects … Continue reading Assignment 2 – intitial thoughts

Part 2Leave a comment

Exercise 2.4 – Photographing the unseen (P.68)

517401 OCA Photography

Which of these projects resonates most with you, and why? The project that resonates most with me is Jodie Taylor’s Memories of Childhood; the reason for this is simply that it is a situation I can relate to. Whilst the few images I was able to view do not directly reflect places from my childhood, they do evoke a feeling of a place and time that I can identify with. Peter Mansell’s My Space, chronicling the impact in his life of his spinal injury and Dewald Botha’s Ring Road, showing his life as an outsider, whilst both interesting show situations … Continue reading Exercise 2.4 – Photographing the unseen (P.68)

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

517401 OCA Photography

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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Exercise 2.3 – Image and text – Poem (P.60)

517401 OCA Photography

Choose a poem that resonates with you then interpret it through photographs. Don’t attempt to describe the poem but instead give a sense of the feeling of the poem and the essence it exudes. I was initially quite daunted by this exercise as my knowledge of poetry is very limited and I also find that I naturally tend to interpret concepts in literal rather than metaphorical terms. Despite this I started looking for a poem that resonated with me. Looking at various poetry sites there are lots of poems about loss, longing and death, however, I wanted to find a … Continue reading Exercise 2.3 – Image and text – Poem (P.60)

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

517401 OCA Photography

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

517401 OCA Photography

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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Diane Arbus – in the beginning – Hayward Gallery

517401 OCA Photography

In the beginning explores the work produced by Diane Arbus during the first seven years of her career, from 1956 to 1962, when she was primarily shooting using 35mm cameras before moving to the larger 2 1/4 inch Rolleiflex. The exhibition features around 90 original prints, many of which have not been exhibited before, and the ten larger images that featured in her portfolio A box of ten photographs. The exhibition was originally staged in at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2016. The photographs were presented on individual panels or columns, with images mounted on the … Continue reading Diane Arbus – in the beginning – Hayward Gallery