New Project

For the new project we had to create an archive set of 20 images. For this I wanted to make sure my archive could refllect my practice as a photographer, trying to do something different I chose to look at abstract reflections. This relates to my practice as the abstract is such a wide area of debate within art and I like to explore such debates with my photography.

The next part of our project we were given an object. I was given washing up sponges. This was a starting point to start off ideas and develop our own professional practices. I started to think of the sponge as a thing that holds information like the sea animals do. This made me think of what we use to store information on such as books, dvd's, computers, usb sticks etc. Thinking back to Alec Soth's exhibition in New York I thought I would make an installation out of everything I own that I store inforamtion on. The idea was that these maerial things were my memory, my knowledge. I experiemented a little bit with building these installations and shortly decided it wasn't a god idea to carry on as it didn't reflect what I was trying to do within my practice and that was to question the status of photography and art and my own role as a photographer or artist.

Educational Visit to New York

Visiting New York was an amazing opportunity. It is such an inspiring place with so many galleries, museums and exhibitons to visit. The architecture was amazing and the people were interesting, there were so many ideas that springed to mind that could be used for a project.
The International centre of photography was one of the first places visited with an overview of Weegies work, this was really interesting as I had only seen his work in small books and on the internet. It was interesting to see how all of his work was set up within the gallery. Most of his work was meant for newspapers so seeing his work in frames made his work more about the importance of the work rather then the meaning they once had. The context of the newspaper is different to the context of the gallery so the images depending on where they are shown have different meaning.

The MOMA: This was very enjoyable and inspirational. My focus was on looking at the way art is displayed in all its forms. Framed and unframed photographs, installations, sculpture, painting etc.

The bicycle wheel was really interesting to see as I've been researching Marcel Duchamp for my critical and contextual research essay. Originality comes into mind along with the readymade.

Nan Golding

Interactive art..... Sweets for the everyone to have. This piece was really interesting as usually within the gallery you look but don't touch.

Paul Graham

Paul Grahams work was very inspiring with the way he displayed his images. I had never seen photographs displayed so close to the floor before. Looking down on these images was a new perspective I had never experienced within a gallery before and I liked it. The work seemed to be about the fast pace of New York city life, images shown in a row usually showed the same place and or the same person in the shot surrounded by different people. Looking like only seconds had passed.

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Alec Soth

For me Alec Soths exhibition inspired me and made me think of information and how we use it and store it. The way Soth displayed his work was very unusual. The frame was the same colour as the wall. The frame blended into it's surroundings but the image was captivated within this thick white border within the frame. This relates to his subject looking at the outcasts of society. The people that go out of their way to stay away from the social and political aspects of the world as not to be bound by any rules. But in they are trapped where they are.

My Photographic Practice

Over the past two years at university I have discovered my own style and practice. The option of two specific pathways for photography were given: Fine Art or Commerical. The Fine Art pathway was always an option for me and over this past year I have decided it is the best pathway for me to follow. Specialist project 1 'This Must Be The Place' helped me discover my interest in the debates of fine art. Artists I looked at that inspired me included Keith Arnnat, Olivier Richon and Marcel Duchamp. Within my work the question over the status of the object as art became apparent. Photographing found objects in the studio, my work questioned the meaning of the art object and the status of photography as art. This made me look into conceptualism and the way the photograph is used to create meaning. I started asking myself what is my role as a photographer? Should I consider myself an artist instead of a photographer? What is the difference between an artist and a photographer? How can a 2d object such as a photograph relate to something three dimensional such as a sculpture? What do I want my work to mean? Exploring these questions helped to push my project further then I had expected it could go. I started to read essays about painting such as Norman Brysons book 'Looking at the Overlooked' and philosophical stories such as Junichiro Tanizaki's 'In praise of Shadows'.

SWOT

SWOT.... Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It is safe to say everyone will have all of these factors in life and in the creative business. Working as a photographer it is helpful to address these issues in order to succeed.

My Strengths:

• Film processing, darkroom black and white printing
• Technical skills learnt including studio lighting, medium format and large format photography
• Improving on contextual knowledge which really shows within my recent work
• Essay writing
• Creative thinking, using own initiative for projects

My Weaknesses:

• I sometimes lack confidence when presenting my work or explaining my ideas to others
• My time managements skills can be less then perfect but they are improving
• I haven't managed to gain a lot of experience working as a professional, need to work on contacting agencies and photographers to do so.
• I tend to avoid exploring Commercial photography although I would like to do occasional work as a Commercial photographer to fund my own photographic work as an artist.

Opportunities:
There are several competitions that I want to enter over the summer including some from Black&White magazine this will advertise my work and my name hopefully making contacts and creating more opportunities.
There are free spaces such as empty shops and building that the council let upcoming artists use to show their work which I will try to enter my work into. This will make it possible for the general public to view my work and hopefully create more opportunities for places to show my work.

Threats:

• Money: Without money making photographic works as an artist may not be possible as I'll need enough money to complete a project and enough money to exhibit it.
• Competitors: The field of photography is hard to break in to and get your name known as there are so many talented artists and photographers out there to steal the limelight. Dedication and persistence are much needed in this line of work to stand out from the crowd.
• Contacts: Contacts are essential to getting your work shown and your name heard within the creative field and not having enough contacts can threaten your chances of success.

John Hilliard

Guest Speaker John Hilliard gave us an overview of his work from the 70's up to now. Hilliard started out as a sculptor, having been researching Keith Arnatt for the module 'This must be the place' these two artists are very similar, which is partly to do with the era they started out in. Many sculptors used photography to document their work in the 60's and 70's. Hilliard like Arnatt soon realised photography's potential as a medium. Hilliard's sculptures were specific to the place they were in so it was essential for him to document them with his camera. Eventually he realised that he was only making sculptures to photograph them and asked himself 'Why not concentrate on the actual photograph?'. Hilliard then decided to focus on photography, analysing how the photograph could create meaning. This was a major aspect of Conceptual artists using photography. Photography needed to be analysed in order to understand how it can create meaning.

The camera recording its own condition,1971

In this image there are 70 different frames showing the camera recording itself at 7 different apertures and 10 different exposure times. This use of photography shows different versions of reality which are more or less true. Hilliard liked to crop his images to make several different meanings out of one photograph.Cause of Death,1974

With 'Caue Of Death' Hilliard experimented with the way the cropping of an image can effect its meaning. There are four of the same image cropped in a different way and captioned. The body that lay by the water has the caption 'drowned', the body by the bridge 'Fell'. It is the crop and the caption which change the meaning of this image. This use of the caption was often used in newspapers to tell a particular story. The suggestive power of the caption is investigated. From previously reading 'Rhetoric of the image' by Roland Barthes it is clear how strong the power of suggestion is. Barthes explained that photographs don't have clear or specific meanings by themselves, it is the title, text or caption that anchors the image to a particular reading. Another aspect of Hilliard's work which is interesting, is how he envisages an image, which he then draws and tries to recreate. Most photographers don't know what they're looking for until the moment they find it but working with something clearly in mind is somehow more rewarding if you succeed.

Following Hilliard's talk we were given a group tutorial with him for a chance to get an opinion on our projects from one the most influential British photographer of our time. Discussing our projects with Hilliard was interesting as there were several disagreements about his advice which helpful in the end because it encouraged confidence to do what we had to do and also be able to explain why.

Olivier Richon

Olivier Richons work is slightly similiar to Keith Arnatts, they both deal with art history using the photographic medium. Richon uses the objects to explore photographic theory and art history. He mentions Jean Baudrillard and quotes "it is the photographed object, the object as image that places us as subjects" and Bazin "the complete satisfaction of our apetite for illusion through a mechanical reproduction which excludes man". With Richons work, he tries not to imitate painting and makes sure it is clear they are produced through the medium of photography with use of lighting, there is no pretence of them being anything other than a photographic staging. His work deals with many debates there have been surrounding photography and also surrounding photography as art. I have looked at his work in relation to my own project 'This must be the place' in order to understand how to reference the history of art with objects and how you can give objects a sculptural quality with the way you present, light and photograph them.

Keith Arnatt

Olivier Richon

Richons work much like Keith Arnatt deals with Still Life which inevitably links to still life painting and Norman Brysons book 'Looking at the overlooked'. Still life painting was seen as the least respected form of art much like photography. Refencing this with photography highlights the mediums status as art. Another aspect of Richons work that seems to be continuous is the use of books within his compositions, linking knowledge and art to photography.

Lecture: Post-Fordism and Contemporary culture

Following this lecture I started to think about how Post-Fordism and Contemporary culture has effected Photography and how this relates to my practice as a Photographer.
Overview of the main ideas:
Post-Fordism is the idea that modern industrial production has moved away from mass production in large factories as pioneerd by Henry Ford towards specialised markets based on small flexible manufacturing units.
Contemplating contemporary culture and Post-Fordism has been quite difficult. Within the medium of Photography it is clear that image uses and consumption have changed with contemporary culture but I would have to say now more than ever photographs are being mass produced. The image is being used as a commodity.