Monday 29 December 2014

Drawn by Light Exhibition

I went along with OCA students and two tutors to see the Drawn by Light Exhibition.  It was hosted by Wendy McMurdo who chose several photographs for us to focus on. She has written her review here.  After we'd been guided through those specific photographs we were given some time to look around ourselves before sitting down together to chat.  It has taken me some time to get round to writing about this study visit for various reasons but one of them was that I wasn't sure what I thought until now.

I have been to many more galleries this last year that I would normally have done although I have always visited exhibitions from time to time.  I really enjoyed some visits, been absolutely exhilarated by others and left a little cold by a few.  I loved Hannah Hoch and Richard Hamilton, both of whom use photographs in one way or another but not exclusively.  Lillian Bassman and Alexey Titarenko are the two photographers that I have looked at in the last year that stand out for me and whose work I have found riveting, extraordinary and astounding.

I understand that the Royal Photographic Society is a fairly conservative organisation but that within its collection there is a terrific and extremely comprehensive example of early photography including very big names such as William Henry Fox Talbot, Julia Margaret Cameron, Alfred Stieglitz, Roger Fenton for example; as well as later giants of the photographic world like Larry Burrows, Steve McCurry, and Martin Parr.  I think my favourite of all the photographs is one by Ansel Adams called called Aspen (1958) of some tree trunks, which to be honest I didn't even see in the gallery but instead in the accompanying book I bought home with me (a shame).

I was really intrigued to see some of the very early work, especially the Daguerreotypes which are so precious and intriguing.  I can by looking at them get a sense of what it must have been like to see such things for the first time.  And I was of course, given my interest in mental health, fascinated by the photographs of psychiatric patients by Dr. Hugh Welch Diamond who was one of the first to use photography to document science in this way - although it has to be said the portraits are very much an expression of the photographer and his time rather than merely documentation.  The still, formal poses which were necessary for the long exposure time makes for a strange dichotomy given the expressions of the patients.  Martin Parr's Badminton Horse Trials (1985) is a fabulous photograph which I find absolutely astonishing to look at - the physical expressions, not only in the faces but the subject's bodies and how that is carried through to the framing and composition is so powerful.  I was also utterly bowled over by the colour photographs by Lieutenant Colonel Mervyn O'Gormon which are presented on glass with backlighting because of his unusual and idiosyncratic process.  Because of this they look like they are being displayed on a computer screen and that along with the incredibly sophisticated colour makes them appear as if they were taken yesterday.  It's quite extraordinary, especially as the largest photograph which has been used as the headline image for the whole exhibition resembles a young woman whom you might see in a magazine or any photo-sharing site you choose to look at today.  I love it when history does that - jumps out and says, look, we're no different from how you are today.

However, maybe it was the mood I was in, or maybe there is something else going on with me but overall I was not as excited by the exhibition as I thought I would be or as I would expect to be.  I am going though a tricky moment with photography and I'm not sure quite what it's about.  I have stalled on my current section of TAOP.  On the one hand I think a little pause is no bad thing as perhaps it gives me a moment to consolidate what I have learnt so far. But on the other hand I think about the other things that are going on.  I deleted my Flickr account recently.  There were various reasons but I would not have done it at all had I looked at the work on it and gone - yay!  I actually looked at it and thought, I'm fed up of all of this stuff.   It doesn't excite me or thrill me at all.  In fact it bores me and makes me feel a bit unwell because of the sheer relentlessness of it all - millions of people uploading the same stuff, some excellent, some not so good but more or less just a huge online photographic regurgitation.  Anyway, I stumbled about for a bit and then opened up another Flickr account because I didn't know what else to do as it has been so much part of my life for 2 years, something that I have become habituated to.  This second account has been going for a couple of weeks but apart from a couple of images I'm again bored by it.  In fact I just want to stop again.  Perhaps it doesn't feel right to be shovelling more meaningless crap into the ether.

I know I want to use photography in some way to express something but I'm not sure where I'm going with it at all and I'm in a bit of a funk with what I seem capable or incapable of creating.  I feel like I need to pick up the exercises from Part 4 of TAOP and just get on with it but I can't help wondering what is going on with me here.

The Drawn by Light exhibition was very interesting.  There were some amazing and fascinating images but it didn't thrill me in the way some of the less photography based exhibitions I've been to have done.  I'm confused and perplexed by this and feel perhaps a little sad and lost too.

I guess the thing to do is just hang on in there and wait and see what arises out of the next assignment and then go from there.  I was glad I attended for sure as it was of course wonderful to see the early experiments, and I look forward to the next study visit but my reaction to it along with my sense of detachment from photography itself at the moment has left me feeling somewhat confused about where/what I should be aiming for right now.


Tuesday 2 December 2014

A4/A5

Ideas:

Hester - Deep Blue Sea
Les Liasons Dangereuses - Merteuil
Belisa - Don Perlimplin and Belisa in the Garden (or in his garden how he tried to please her)
Virgin Mary
Woman from Time & the Room
Isabella - Measure for Measure

Paper bags....

These the ideas I started with - using characters I had played in the past either in productions or exams (Virgin Mary when I was 6 at school!) but over time I dropped this idea and wanted to be as close to me as possible, although still playing with the idea of roles we play in general.  i.e. the slightly girly dress I wear in some images is something that reminds me of things I wore as a teenager.

Thursday 27 November 2014

Concentrating Light


It is good to think you can just use a bit of cardboard to create a spotlight if that's what you require - I am really enjoying making use of blinds and other objects to capture concentrated and shaped light at the moment.

This image won't mean much to anyone but me I should imagine  - but it is more than a couple of my son's toys lying on my bed to me.

Shiny surfaces


4 -10 photographs

I found this difficult to be honest - perhaps my Blue Peter Skills are minimal but I really found it very hard to use the tracing paper - No matter what I did it was reflected in the object.  I used angles and a little tent in the end.  Perhaps I will come back to this exercise when I have completed the others.
Without any tracing paper or alternative ways of reducing unwanted refections

Without tracing paper or alternative ways of reducing unwanted reflections

In a small light 'tent' but angled so the mirror doesn't reflect anything (which considering how small it is was pretty easy)

In a light tent reflecting the cloth it was on only 

In a light tent reflecting the cloth it was only

Behind with exercises

Geez - I'm so behind!  I need to get a grip and get on with it.

Reading photographic images

I meant to mention the following in my post about Keith Carter;

'Over the years I tried to establish a sense of implied narrative in my photographs, hoping the viewers might find their connections."
Keith Carter, Fireflies

This seems a profoundly important sentence to me.  It is only really since beginning this course that I have begun to think more deeply about narrative in photography. Andrew Conroy mentioned in the feedback for A2 that I should read Camera Lucida, where the notion of individuals finding what matters to them or bringing their own interpretation to the work when they look at photography is explored.

I had certainly considered that people see different things in film and theatre.  But I don't think I had thought much about narrative in a photograph or a set of photographs.  For some reason it was only after reading about the Diane Arbus image of the family on the lawn where a couple are lying down on sun-beds and a child is playing in the background that I really began to see there was much more to this photography lark than pretty pictures - that statement seems ludicrous to me now, by the way.

Of course, when we look at anything, film, theatre, any form of art we bring our own history to it. And our own way of seeing.  So for instance,  when I saw How to Train Your Dragon (most of my film references will be about those aimed at children nowadays) I was gobsmacked and appalled by what I saw as a blatant allegorical bit of propaganda indicating that the US is a kind and benevolent, rightfully powerful force that will overcome any ideology that threatens and opposes it and turn the perpetrators into a cute but benign group of pets, because they, the US,  are obviously not monsters. My friend thought I was insane. Maybe I am.  Or maybe I'm quite good at interpreting things, at making observations about what is going on beneath the surface.  Or maybe I just bring my own sense of the world to everything I see and my sense is that the US would like kids to grow up thinking of it in the way I described.  The point is I brought my own interpretation to the film which in essence was just a kids story about some dragons and a bunch of people with bizarrely oversized-eyes (although I'm still utterly convinced it was a painfully obvious bit of propaganda the same way all those films like The Blob in the 50s were so much about the cold war).  Thankfully a lot of art has plenty of scope for an individual interpretation - giving viewers the opportunity to take away what ever they need or want from it.  I like that about art.

The thing I am still unsure about is how self-aware the makers of such films or any art are.    I've always wondered this.    From the time we started analysing books in English at school, and the plays at college and university, and now the photographs I look at constantly I have wondered  - was the author of this aware of all this?  I guess it depends and varies from artist to artist and project to project.  We are taught here to read, make observations, develop analytical thought and I do enjoy that although I clearly know my take on something will be different to another persons, and sometimes very different indeed.  (I think about this and it further informs my burgeoning understanding which has developed over the last two years that people really do exist in very different realities - how opposing realities play out is something I am deeply interested in.)

I think about my own fairly inexperienced process and see that when the results are most creative and satisfyingly expressive it is usually when I allowed myself to reach something intuitively rather than intellectually.  That's quite difficult for me.  Finding the balance between planning and thinking things through beforehand and then allowing enough space once all the components are in place to find something rather than impose any fixed ideas seems to be critical, but tricky.   I suppose I do start with some idea of where/what I might like to head for.  I then hopefully surprise myself and find a great deal more - if I'm working as I ought to be.

Keith Carter says he tries to provide a sense of implied narrative so that people might find their own connections - I like that.  He does not spoon-feed and he leaves plenty of space for the viewer to find something.  That's the thing to aim for, I think.

Wednesday 26 November 2014

Reflection for A4 & A5

For some reason blue and gold are without any conscious planning becoming important colours for me.  Many of the images I have taken and like recently have had strong blue tones in them and some have had gold too.  There is also sparkle which is quite unlike I me, I just say!  It's almost a bit like space perhaps.

Today I was thinking about some characters I have either played or been in productions with, Cassandra from The Woman of Troy & Belisa from Lorca's Don Perlimplin and Belisa in the Garden (and how he tried to please her).  The Greek play in my mind is a very red play although Cassandra seems blue - perhaps this is because that's how it was when I was in it - who knows, it was a very long time ago.  Belisa talks about Lapis Lazuli, I don't think I even wore blue!  - I remember enjoying the feel of those words lapis lazuli on my mouth as I said them.  I think these characters are important somehow for the work - probably only as influences but we'll see.  I wanted to use Lorca in the Colour assignment somehow too.

I remember Cassandra being delusional, however what she said was true - but no-one believed her. Or pretended not to.  Or weren't able to face the truth somehow.  So she was deemed mad - to be honest, she seemed mad from what I recall.

I must read both plays and have ordered them.  They will be important in both assignments.  I am beginning to see A4 as a rehearsal or preparatory work for A5.

The other iconic blue female character from our culture and history is Mary - not sure she started off wearing a blue cape but the lapis lazuli needed to create the paint in her cloak was very expensive and luxurious making it the thing for her.  The thing about Mary and her virgin birth that has always struck me is that here we are with this story that we are all told where only a woman who hadn't had sex could possibly be good enough to give birth to God's son - because someone women who have had sex are sullied, not good enough, ruined.  It's a powerful story to exist with.

In the meantime I have been distracted and have fallen behind my schedule with the light exercises - I must find a way to get on with these now.  Although I am going to need some sun!



Contrast & shadow fill


11 photographs
Set up a still life
Set up the light to the side of the object, aimed at right angles to the camera's view
Take 1 photograph without a diffuser
Take another with
Move a white card close to the subject -Take another photograph
Cover the card in foil using the shiny side - take another
Now with the opposite side - and another
Compare contrast and make notes

You can also use some black card opposite the light source if you wish to increase the contrast

Please excuse the order of these - Blogger is misbehaving and not allowing me to insert images where I want.  

I have used window light, once without a diffusing material (although it was overcast, sadly so pretty diffused anyway).  I made a fantastic diffuser out of the tracing paper I bought for my not terribly impressive shiny surfaces exercises.  Good to have for future use.  I followed the instructions and also used a proper reflector which gives the least contrast, the best reflector and the opposite side of the reflector for the black material shot.  I appreciate it would be best if these were in order but I have tried three times now.  All shot at 500 ISO f4 1/80 except the first which was at 400 ISO.


Crumpled shiny side
Non shiny side of foil
White card 2
Diffused

Non diffused

White card



Proper reflector
Shiny
Black material






Lighting angle

11 photographs

Move a light with diffuser round the subject
Then raise the light so it lights from above and take 3 images from directly in front, above and directly behind.

All of these are taken with camera on a tripod, 25sec 1600 ISO f5,6 using an angle-poise lamp and a white lighting umbrella (I'm not entirely sure what prompted me to do it that angle - looks like it is falling through space!)  I like the side and slightly to the front best for straight this-is-an-object photography.  I quite like the ones where the light is slightly behind so it lights up the handle too and like the one where the photo is taken from the front the least.

Side light, slightly to the front

Side light

Directly in front

Side light 

Side from slightly behind

45 degree angle directly in front 

45 directly angle above and to the left

45 degree angle and from slightly behind



45 degree angle above from the right 

45 degree angle side light 

45 degree angle from just behind to the right 


Lit from above 

Lit from behind but with a torch rather than the angle-poise light I used for the others as it was too big to fit behind.  

Softening the light

2 photographs
1 with a naked bulb, one diffused - note the difference

f8, 30, separate ISOs, household lamp

I know I'm meant to like the one where I used the diffuser best.  But I don't - The one with the diffuser at 1000 ISO is probably most effectively lit but I prefer the more contrasty one shot at 500 ISO with no diffuser.  The shadows are softer and more gentle in the one where I used the diffuser.

Without diffuser 500 ISO


Without diffuser (taken accidentally at higher ISO)

With diffuser
1000 ISO 

Outdoors at night

12-20 photographs
Various lighting situations at night preferably in a city centre

2500 ISO f.2.8 1/50s

2500 ISO f2.8 1/50s

3200 ISO f2.2 1/80s

1250 ISO f5.6 1/125s

1250 ISO f5.6 1/4s

2000 ISO F2 1/30

2000 ISO f5.6 1/20s

2000 ISO f4 1/40s

1000 ISO f2.8 1/60s


3800 ISO f5.6 1/200s

800 ISO f8 1/20s

f2.8 3200 ISO f2.8

ISO 500 f4 1/100

640 ISO f4 1/100

400 ISO f5.6 1/30

Tungsten & Fluorescent

1.  3 images Compose an image at which the interior is lit by tungsten and the exterior at dusk are both visible - take 3 images, AWB, daylight, tungsten

All of the following were shot at 200 ISO f16 1/8sec

Auto WB

Incandescent WB

Fine Weather WB
The third one is very orange, compared the middle one which is bluer.  Auto seems to be a mixture of the two.

2.  4-6 images take 2/3 images identically composed set WB to auto, fluorescent and alternative fluorescent if there is one.


800 ISO f2.8 1/125 slightly yellow (quite like the colour actually)

800 ISO f5.6 1/25 a more yellow on the second fluorescent setting

500 ISO f5.6 1/125 sickly yellow 

500 ISO f5.6 1/125 sickly yellow too

I like the colour in the top picture best - think I might have messed up here by photographing where there was a mixture of lighting in the shop.  The second photo is too yellow although set to fluorescent setting number 2, I prefer the first setting for that light.