Tag: Context and narrative

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Assignment 2 – Photographing the unseen – Taken for granted

517401 OCA Photography

I struggled to get started with this assignment and by the time of my scheduled call with my tutor I had taken no photographs and really had no idea of how to move forward. In the end I narrowed my choices down to two topics, electricity and faith and chose to go with electricity as I thought it would be easier to complete in the time available. Obviously we can’t see electricity, flicking a switch on a socket is not like turning on a tap, nothing comes out. What I wanted to portray is the paradox between this force that … Continue reading Assignment 2 – Photographing the unseen – Taken for granted

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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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Exercise 3.4 – Self-absented portraiture – (P.87)

517401 OCA Photography

Go to the artist’s website and look at the other images in Shafran’s series. You may have noticed that Washing-up is the only piece of work in Part Three created by a man. It is also the only one with no human figures in it, although family members are referred to in the captions. Did it surprise you that this was taken by a man? Why? I am not suprised that these images were taken by a man, I’m more suprised in the implicit suggestion in the question that as the image represents a domestic chore, the implication is that … Continue reading Exercise 3.4 – Self-absented portraiture – (P.87)

Exhibitions and visitsLeave a comment

Nan Goldin – The Ballad of Sexual Dependency – Tate Modern

517401 OCA Photography

I was aware of Nan Goldin and has seen some of her images in various books that I have read during my studies, however, my knowledge of her work was very limited. Whilst visiting Tate Modern to see an exhibition of Pierre Bonnard’s work I saw that there was an exhibition of Nan Goldin’s The Balad of Sexual Dependency and I was keen to see it thinking it would be an display of prints of her work. The exhibition did feature some of her prints including Nan one month after being battered, but the main element of the exhibition was … Continue reading Nan Goldin – The Ballad of Sexual Dependency – Tate Modern

Assignment 2Leave a comment

Assignement 2 – Photographing the unseen

517401 OCA Photography

Having emailed my tutor about the two themes I was thinking of developing, and having had a response that they both met the brief, I have decided to progress with electricity and I am hoping to get a major part of it shot over the bank holiday weekend. In a change to how I usually work I have complied a shot list and am now working through where I can find locations for some of the pictures I want to take e.g. solar farms, wind turbines and sub-stations. Having prevaricated for so long I am keen to get started and … Continue reading Assignement 2 – Photographing the unseen

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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)

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Tracey Moffatt – Under the Signs of Scorpio

517401 OCA Photography

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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Exercise 3.2 – Masquerades – (P.80)

517401 OCA Photography

Is there any sense in which Lee’s work could be considered voyeuristic or even exploitative? Is she commenting on her own identity, the group identity of the people she photographs, or both? In her Projects series Lee decided to explore identity by transforming herself into different characters and then photographing herself in character with people whose appearance she was replicating. I do not think that Lee’s work is exploitative or voyeuristic as by putting herself in the image she is not photographing groups from the outside but is instead engaging with the other subjects in the images. In the photographs … Continue reading Exercise 3.2 – Masquerades – (P.80)

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Francesca Woodman

517401 OCA Photography

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