tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68446430888055096752024-03-21T15:25:01.681-07:00a partial momentMichael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-57635391752432421472016-07-28T01:32:00.001-07:002016-07-28T01:32:43.208-07:00Assessment ResultI received an assessment mark of 81%. I'm happy with that, although a two percent drop on what I achieved for my last module. More importantly my feedback was very encouraging and positive. The breakdown of the mark indicates where my weakest area is and I intend to focus more in that area for level 3.<br />
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I won't pretend that this module hasn't been hard going. Towards the final section I was definitely flagging and began to run out of steam. It feels good to put the directed assignments behind me now (even though they are widely open to interpretation) and move to courses where I can entirely follow my own interests.<br />
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The link to my new blog is here:<br />
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<a href="http://bow-tiesthatbind.blogspot.co.uk/">http://bow-tiesthatbind.blogspot.co.uk</a><br />
<br />Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07102248065951746821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-37239849853589798512016-04-21T07:39:00.000-07:002016-05-13T08:07:57.901-07:00Assessment Preparation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Because I'd produced an assortment of items for my assignment (two books, a calendar, some slides) I wanted a way of bringing them together, visually, for the assessment. I decided the best solution was to put the different sized items into hand-made boxes. Luckily I'd recently been on a book binding workshop and gained some useful information on where to get the materials.</div>
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I had to buy sheets of stiff card for the boxes and cut them into bases and sides. These were then glued to form a basic box. I was going to use black book cloth for the box lids (to match the texture of the two books) and silver paper for the box bases to provide contrast.</div>
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A lot of experimenting was done at the early stages to make the boxes look neat but also be as simple to cover with the book cloth as possible. The glue for the cloth gets everywhere so it was important for there not to be to many separate steps or pieces of cloth to wrap around corners. In the end I devised a template that would fit all the outer sides of the lid, and wrap over, to cover the interior sides. I then placed a smaller piece inside the lid to cover the base.</div>
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All the boxes were different sizes, so lots of measuring, experimenting and problem solving for each one! This box is for the slides and slide viewer. The basic interior design was sketched out first so I could see how I wanted the interior layout to appear. There would be the viewer in the middle with the slides arranged either side.<br />
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I made some of the easier book boxes first, before tackling the slide box.<br />
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The interior slide box pieces.<br />
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Lots of modifications had to be made to stop the slides from moving when the box was shaken. I knew that the box would probably end up thrown around in the post and didn't want the assessor to open it and find a mess! I've done some vigorous shake tests so I do hope it arrives intact.<br />
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Once I'd made all the boxes I collated all the assignments notes, essays, tutor reports etc. I used the binding machine I bought for my last course assessment to make a spiral bound book for each assignment. I used black covers to match the box lids and the cover of my physical learning log. I also made a navigation card with all the relevant info for the assessors to find their way around the assessment materials. This is a format I've used for the last two courses and not had any negative feedback on it - so I'll stick with it.<br />
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Two hand-made books, a calendar, Slides with a slide viewer, a critical essay, and an online video presentation. Plus all the bound associated research notes and physical learning log. It doesn't look like two years work sitting there. All that's left to do now is to pack all the materials into a box and post it off and wait.<br />
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<br />Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07102248065951746821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-33280674884927673902015-12-09T02:38:00.000-08:002016-05-13T08:12:39.129-07:00Alec Soth - Gathered Leaves<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #191919; font-family: "libre baskerville" , "georgia" , serif; font-size: 15px;"><i>[“Everyone can take great pictures,” Alec Soth tells BJP at the opening of his first UK exhibition, Gathered Leaves, at London’s Science Museum. “What’s hard is taking a collection of great pictures and making them work together. It’s like language: everyone can speak but putting the words together is the real challenge.] </i></span></div>
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This is so true. I think most art photographers struggle with finding a narrative in their work. Sometimes a sequence stands out from the many scattered images on a table. At other times the inspiration doesn't come and the work remains elusive. Alec Soth's body of work is impressive. I would go as far to say that I find some of his images magnificent. Soth has an eye for the visual language of photography and contemporary culture that is hard to beat. There is a narrative of banality that runs through much of his work that - juxtaposing landscape with portrait and the little details. What I find most intriguing about the work of Alec Soth is those little contextual details.</div>
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Here are two photographs from his recent exhibition; two found notes that add depth and context to the unfolding narrative. Whether it's bridal couples and the inhabitants of Niagara Falls - in all their lurid postcard glory; or the secretive loners living off-grid in the American woodlands - Soth captures contextual information that creates mental pauses in the flow and sequencing of his work. The portraits do the same job; create a stopping space in which to contemplate what has gone before. But the little details also provide contrast and surprise. </div>
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<a href="http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/Plan_your_visit/exhibitions/alec-soth">Gathered Leaves</a> is the new exhibition by Alec Soth. It brings together four pieces of work, the most famous of which (for me at any rate) is 'Sleeping by the Mississippi'. I personally find Soth's work inspirational. Soth is essentially a documentary photographer, but his juxtaposition of landscape with portrait creates intriguing narratives. I try to emulate this ability in my own constructed narratives. The most recent attempt at this technique is the 'I Make Myself in Your Meme' piece of work <a href="http://apartialmoment.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Assignment%201">here</a>.</div>
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Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07102248065951746821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-60156165674996650142015-11-30T03:07:00.000-08:002016-03-31T02:29:20.418-07:00Assignment 6 - What is Identity and Why Does it Matter?For my two thousand word essay I want to write about identity. That is what all my assignment work has been about so the subject seems appropriate. Identity covers such a large subject area though, the danger is I will attempt to cover too much. With only 2,000 words I will have to keep my eye on that. I have loads of reading to do. I've collected a large pile of books on identity. Some of them are part of the reading list for Sociology courses and really interesting. I've also jotted down a number of photographers that make work on the subject as I've come across them. Most of the topics and discussion is all still in my head at the moment. I need to start making lots of notes.<br />
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<b>Nov 2nd:</b><br />
Two weeks of reading and research has meant that I'm finally at a point where I can start to collate all my notes and write my essay. This is the hard bit; looking at a blank screen and wondering where to start. I tend to overcome this problem by launching straight in. No introduction, just get words and thoughts down with little thought to structure. Only when I have a flow of ideas put down do I begin to see the structure - choose which bits of detail I want to expand or leave out. Once that is in place I can think about writing my introduction.<br />
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So here goes!<br />
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<b>Nov 6th:</b><br />
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I've completed a rough first draft. I think most of my points are covered. My conclusion needs a lot of work. It's not really a conclusion in the proper sense. It feels good to get to this stage though. At least I have some words on paper!<br />
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<b>Nov 8th:</b><br />
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I've launched into writing my second draft. I needed to expand some of my points. That meant some of the other sections had to go to keep the essay within the word limit. My conclusion in particular needs to be written again.<br />
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<b>Nov 15th:</b><br />
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As well as more research for relevant quotes I've now got to a stage where I have a third draft. I've edited and refined my essay and it is just a few words over the limit. We are allowed 10% either way so it's all good. I had to lose some sections in order to write more about my own work on identity and placing that in context. I think this makes sense. To be honest I could have done with double the word limit to make all the points I wanted to. I probably picked a topic that is a bit too big for this essay - but it was important to me to write about it.<br />
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<b>Nov 23rd:</b><br />
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I think it's ready! I've sat on it for a couple of days, done some tweaking, and then passed the essay over to my partner for a read. The course notes recommend giving it to someone else to read rather than relying on your own eyes to find all the typos etc. The essay needs to be understandable and only by giving it to someone else can the writer find out if what's written is in fact intelligible or incoherent.<br />
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<b>Nov 25th:</b><br />
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I am so glad that I ensure my reference list is compiled as I go. As soon as I cite, I then do the full reference entry. Occasionally I just put the words 'CITE' in bold by a paragraph; but only if I don't have the immediate quote to hand or know that one is required. I wouldn't want to tangle with an essay full of quotes all in one go at the end.<br />
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<b>Nov30th:</b><br />
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Finished! At least, it's sent off to my tutor. I'll most likely have changes to make. It feels good to have finished my final assignment of level 2. Now my thoughts are turning to amendments for assessment. All five assignments need amendments and I haven't finished any of them. I have a big task ahead over the next few months to prepare.<br />
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<b>Mar 29th:</b><br />
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Since my last entry on this post my focus has been to amend and update all of the previous assignments. It was a long slog to get them ready for assessment but I'm on the home stretch now. That just leaves the amendments to this one to complete. I had my tutor report back ages ago. On the whole Simon said that it was a good essay. His comments (he said) were made in order to improve it. I'm going to spend the morning re-reading his report and then think about the changes I want to make.<br />
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In just a few days we will be into April. I have a month to make final tweaks, collate all my learning material together, and be ready for the mid May posting deadline.<br />
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So after re-reading my essay and tutor report I've made some notes to help me approach my essay revision:<br />
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<li>Essay needs to be rebalanced. Take out some of the discussion on the nature of identity. Increase the part that photography can play in forging perceptions and acceptance of new identities. Express my own views on my work. Expand analysis of Rubber Flapper</li>
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<li>Alter introduction so that it better fits the conclusion.</li>
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<li>Tighten up the language. Make clear statements of fact/opinion.</li>
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<li>Mention Maria Kapajeva. Discuss the nuances between her own and the work of Nikki S Lee.</li>
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<li> Zanelle Muholi. Write more about her work and how it addresses the issues of identity that I've raised.</li>
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Thankfully I am just at the word limit of my essay. I have 10% wiggle room to go over the word count to cover some of the points mentioned. I'm not sure how well I'll be able to address all these points as the topic is so complex that I feel some introductory explanation is required. I would need an essay double the word count to accommodate all the points and keep my vital discussion intact. I will try to cut it down a bit as best I can. </div>
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<b>Mar 31st:</b><br />
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Today I did some more research on a couple of the photographers mentioned by my tutor and have amended my essay in the light of that. I've also expanded the explanation on my Rubber Flapper work to more accurately encompass my essay theme of identity. I made some sentences clearer as mentioned in the tutor report. On the whole this re-balances the essay in the way my tutor has highlighted. I think I'm pretty much done now.Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-39264611992991108962015-10-11T04:41:00.000-07:002015-10-11T05:25:46.400-07:00Risk - Turner Contemporary<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i style="letter-spacing: 0.800000011920929px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">'<b>What happens when art and risk collide? </b></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; letter-spacing: 0.800000011920929px; line-height: 18px;"><i>Experience how artists have intentionally embraced the unpredictable and uncontrollable, from chance procedures to political risk; from the power of natural forces to the culture of risk management.'</i></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.800000011920929px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Extract from the Turner Contemporary's website.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.800000011920929px; line-height: 18px;">A number of artists are featured in this exhibition and they all approach the theme of 'risk' in a number of ways. Firstly, a video installation by French artist, ORLAN caught my attention. She uses her body (adapting it through cosmetic surgery) to make statements about the representation and misogyny of women in the media, arts, and cultural life. The video shows an operating theatre that has been 'dressed' in an over the top Baroque style that </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.800000011920929px; line-height: 18px;">uses </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.800000011920929px; line-height: 18px;">visual references to Catholic iconography. The surgical gowns are flashy and designer made; books and poems are read aloud by ORLAN and an interpreter and signer are present to answer questions posed by an audience watching via video feeds in galleries around the world. A high sense of 'theatricality' is prevalent. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.800000011920929px; line-height: 18px;">ORLANS actual cosmetic procedures (shown in full and gory detail) are an attempt to incorporate facial aspects of women from famous paintings - the Mona Lisa, for example. The artist has had a number of surgeries, one included implants meant to emphasise the cheekbones, being placed into her forehead. These implants are intended to be permanent. ORLAN has stated that</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.800000011920929px; line-height: 18px;"> she is 'sculpting her own body to re-invent the self.' The procedures are not an attempt to make the artist more beautiful or a younger version of herself; but to look different and create a clash with societies versions of female beauty.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.800000011920929px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is certainly an element of risk in the work, so I can see why it has been included in the exhibition. I admire the artist's bravado in using her own body in which to pursue her artistic concerns. And I'm glad that I've been made aware of ORLAN's body of work to discuss and reference it in my upcoming critical theory assignment. I'm looking at the social construct of identity, so ORLAN's unique exploration of the concept will be very useful to me. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2vjwsiA2WC3D73WVWlwaGo_R9RLzUOmjox5hD0aWBceGFQameyJvmgb4J6nS5-G41gQsvgLSaDZL3fD-3t-PkMaWwuIoWzgjEllHN6LEKJnkmXxteWLsf5ZMzE3Hdal_ppZrSIelIo0E/s1600/ORLAN_Fourth-Surgery-Performance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2vjwsiA2WC3D73WVWlwaGo_R9RLzUOmjox5hD0aWBceGFQameyJvmgb4J6nS5-G41gQsvgLSaDZL3fD-3t-PkMaWwuIoWzgjEllHN6LEKJnkmXxteWLsf5ZMzE3Hdal_ppZrSIelIo0E/s320/ORLAN_Fourth-Surgery-Performance.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Successful Operation 1991 - ORLAN</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One of the strangest exhibits was a re-constructed burnt-out house from Buenos Ares. For the moment, I've misplaced the artists name and can't find reference to the work. I will rectify this at a later date. The wooden house/shack is on a raised platform and is reached by a series of steps. Once inside the light is very low, almost non-existent; the viewer has to negotiate a series of rooms in the dark, containing suspended plastic heads and pieces of creepy looking ephemera.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The fact that the house had once been in a fire kind of added a horror movie vibe for me, and the rooms of detritus made me think of the lair of a serial killer. One room had suspended tree and root sculptures, lit by a central light as they slowly turned on their wire. I had an overwhelming sense of wanting to remove myself from the space. Only one viewer at a time can enter, and the gallery staff hint that it won't be particularly easy to find the exit door. I found this not to be true. I think I was supposed to find a button or solve a puzzle of some sort to be able to move from one room to another. But I could see where I was expected to move to without this impediment and moved about without restriction. Once out the other side a bell rings and the next viewer can enter. This was a very interactive piece of installation and I want to go back and see if I can shake off my initial reaction and look at the work again, in a bit more depth.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivxN9u9VsAOkb0xu_GtBhb8_cFtIsAeUjcNGolMr_odQjLYKBPbYmaGUdq478934CQ6FGqjY2swIK-17AyOe6cAd-7zPvEgfxuQZBsqm2frtu7GtSPRAuCFX1mBQYAGNBUzHxVvbHnOlA/s1600/shack.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivxN9u9VsAOkb0xu_GtBhb8_cFtIsAeUjcNGolMr_odQjLYKBPbYmaGUdq478934CQ6FGqjY2swIK-17AyOe6cAd-7zPvEgfxuQZBsqm2frtu7GtSPRAuCFX1mBQYAGNBUzHxVvbHnOlA/s320/shack.tiff" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">citation to follow</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is certainly plenty to see and well worth another visit. Marcel Duchamp's '3 Standard Stoppages' was also on display. String had been lowered onto a board from height, creating a random and wavy length. This length was then used to create a wooden 'measure' and a template for future units of measurement. The whole apparatus was encased in a grand box. The arbitrary nature of what society has decided is a correct length of measurement and the importance placed on it, is brought into focus with this work. With this line of thought it is possible that other elements of our societies (such as Paternal law) can be thought about and questioned in the same way. I think we take an awful lot for granted in this world and what is considered normal or natural is just accepted and not considered as a value judgement made by someone, or some group, with the power to make decisions on our behalf.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjniDE0msFIz7AgBrH3YTfpDVTIY0wIBy4GbXxKsGay6Np8BSEVapPR0u71d2VV_MCEJE8g4EgqTq2n6kIiGEfH8dAp-thSm_qY085XguR1XtnYfMmfDVwHbRismBUbHUjNNSeSyPOfdD4/s1600/stoppages.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjniDE0msFIz7AgBrH3YTfpDVTIY0wIBy4GbXxKsGay6Np8BSEVapPR0u71d2VV_MCEJE8g4EgqTq2n6kIiGEfH8dAp-thSm_qY085XguR1XtnYfMmfDVwHbRismBUbHUjNNSeSyPOfdD4/s320/stoppages.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3 Standard Stoppages - Marcel Duchamp</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sophie Calle's 'Suite Ventienne' sequence was on display. The work forms a diary of photographs and texts of her observations on a stranger she met in Paris. On hearing of his impending trip to Venice, the artist covertly followed him, disguised and taking images and notes. I've heard a lot about this work and was pleased to be able to see it on the gallery wall - although I suspect a book format would be far more suitable for this work. The images were interspersed by her observational notes - although it was a shame no translation from French was available, so I was unable to read them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Marina Abramovic's piece 'Rest Energy' is a video installation that shows a man and a woman both holding onto a bow and arrow. As they lean away from each other, tension is placed on the bow. This creates a situation whereby the drawn arrow could be released into the body of the woman. Watching the video, as the figures start to tire, creates a tension filled piece. I detected a sexual tension between the two figures as their breathing seemed to be anticipating a climactic ending. Also, connotations of Patriarchal society, and the power men have over women are evident in the work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will definitely be returning to this exhibition to explore further.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j_pEVZrjW3E?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe>Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-40791918031656855682015-08-25T10:48:00.000-07:002016-04-29T06:19:45.513-07:00Assignment 5 - The Oral Presentation<i>'For your oral presentation, you're free to choose from any of the study areas on this course - social documentary, fine art photography, portrait photography or advertising photography. Your presentation should look at:
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<li><i>the historical background</i></li>
<li><i>contemporary practitioners, visual language, influences and contexts</i></li>
<li><i>the relevance to your own practice</i></li>
<li><i>your future plans and direction and possible projects relating to this area of study</i></li>
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<i style="font-style: italic;">Your presentation should be 15 minutes long (+ or - 2 minutes).'</i><br />
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For my oral presentation I decided to take a look at Constructed Photography and how its use has been assimilated into different photographic genres. Instead of using Powerpoint as suggested I'm going to create the presentation using iMovie. This is because I feel it would make for a slicker, more professional presentation - plus I am much more familiar with the package than Powerpoint.<br />
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Here are the original and updated versions (after student & tutor feedback) :<br />
<b><br /></b><b>AMENDED VERSION</b><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/149312316" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe><br />
<a href="https://vimeo.com/149312316">Constructed Photography: a tension between the real and the imagined.</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user23111873">ammoniteM</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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<b>ORIGINAL VERSION</b><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/137144128" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="640"></iframe><br />
<a href="https://vimeo.com/137144128">Constructed Photography: a tension between the real and the imagined.</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/user23111873">ammoniteM</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.<br />
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Below follows a chronological timeline of my research and development of this oral presentation:<br />
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<b>August 1st:</b><br />
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I've made a start by making a plan, listing the different elements that I would need to include in my presentation. From that I could work out the number of minutes per section in the allotted time. This was just a rough guess on timings. I could tweak the sections as I went along.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXr5h_k1tRZ4b4GndTtmP1zTGwF2SMZXontXdcJQCvdiYIRSPPLhDvY5nPq9bRd3SfswpN1ELGDrAJxJOSkJCtn1Qt-cl_6KhVeL8_ynSAfWhyAkhhbYGoLmDc5x872t8bVjl1h5hUOWw/s1600/img002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXr5h_k1tRZ4b4GndTtmP1zTGwF2SMZXontXdcJQCvdiYIRSPPLhDvY5nPq9bRd3SfswpN1ELGDrAJxJOSkJCtn1Qt-cl_6KhVeL8_ynSAfWhyAkhhbYGoLmDc5x872t8bVjl1h5hUOWw/s320/img002.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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I also gathered together images from the Internet that I thought would be useful to use as visual aids. I want to plot a history of Constructed photography and had a number of artists in mind, like Jeff Wall, Cindy Sherman & Joan Fontcuberta. My introduction would also require some photographs from the beginnings of Photography's history.<br />
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I probably downloaded more than I need but it's better to have too many than not enough.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw7K_P1fW2NIDLuM4F2KuLY9nn6XvOtytYU-uBxHeDd8QQrYBoDyIfu35vA8IIBzFuoHbyPAUwljQFi7uNqlTHG_4uiEFUnzNJFUBBrUm-meB6mUXmWC1McVg6TId8Y2wv1ODtuQJ-bKw/s1600/screen+grab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw7K_P1fW2NIDLuM4F2KuLY9nn6XvOtytYU-uBxHeDd8QQrYBoDyIfu35vA8IIBzFuoHbyPAUwljQFi7uNqlTHG_4uiEFUnzNJFUBBrUm-meB6mUXmWC1McVg6TId8Y2wv1ODtuQJ-bKw/s320/screen+grab.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>August 5th:</b><br />
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I started to expand on my notes today by fleshing out the sections with an idea of how I want the presentation to go. I've found lately that my ideas flow much better when I write on paper - even though my handwriting is really scrappy. I just find sitting at the computer sometimes gives me a mental block. Another bad habit with the computer is I switch over to editing mode rather than thinking mode. I sit and re-edit the same paragraph over and over - rather than getting a draft down and worrying about the editing later. I've found that my thinking and editing sides of my brain don't mesh together very well. I can't switch between the two very quickly. I'm much more productive by staying in just one mode at a time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJsQA_yIBY7SoAXko8H4GyunU68TFj_SlvqJk0fR1mA2HscwR_HyYrJypmCyiLoevYlNdiyNdYsqBY3hbPDz-6awbEHpZ_6B_yuE3BLUNOM3ytPS357waNUF6Lc6zMOfZO7gj3L1g8hNk/s1600/img001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJsQA_yIBY7SoAXko8H4GyunU68TFj_SlvqJk0fR1mA2HscwR_HyYrJypmCyiLoevYlNdiyNdYsqBY3hbPDz-6awbEHpZ_6B_yuE3BLUNOM3ytPS357waNUF6Lc6zMOfZO7gj3L1g8hNk/s320/img001.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguK-KxZiqQW4djkR6hgo3yWKPxeKPCuOGpwnkKkVIjFKOm_Goyk1pdAy9hszWfmsgNKbuZhHGDDIWIPHOoOwdlA-c2IeCo7DCsGwXVsyAMRdW6iqDi6e2o3EzU8z6rlvrsQCEtH-S6STs/s1600/Scan+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguK-KxZiqQW4djkR6hgo3yWKPxeKPCuOGpwnkKkVIjFKOm_Goyk1pdAy9hszWfmsgNKbuZhHGDDIWIPHOoOwdlA-c2IeCo7DCsGwXVsyAMRdW6iqDi6e2o3EzU8z6rlvrsQCEtH-S6STs/s320/Scan+2.jpg" width="226" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFCx_QRmUarSwpdDXDV09rDy3GyTKimreda3V67EyDdWlwAAMhkNa99IfF7K39KKbxxhk1iokYTvbzNWWK0DfAyj3_5Ah9QzL_7ZNTQH1x9rcsJEauOnQx05v7x69Kjx9OMifpbo-_APo/s1600/img003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFCx_QRmUarSwpdDXDV09rDy3GyTKimreda3V67EyDdWlwAAMhkNa99IfF7K39KKbxxhk1iokYTvbzNWWK0DfAyj3_5Ah9QzL_7ZNTQH1x9rcsJEauOnQx05v7x69Kjx9OMifpbo-_APo/s320/img003.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUvhAJxIzVhani6oi5lpLDWzpNdKG16Z_z9yB2AkZ9b4GAEaCCENTCrJvMGLIh8pss3iby5Ek2cB938s5sJGs6VcG8xY4U15BbZBOWuGJ44HuLN9nLds_zAEff27HR0SmJ8UFLNlD_xYA/s1600/Scan+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUvhAJxIzVhani6oi5lpLDWzpNdKG16Z_z9yB2AkZ9b4GAEaCCENTCrJvMGLIh8pss3iby5Ek2cB938s5sJGs6VcG8xY4U15BbZBOWuGJ44HuLN9nLds_zAEff27HR0SmJ8UFLNlD_xYA/s320/Scan+3.jpg" width="226" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcPvmhyphenhyphenq-BMNwrMC36EiqD1btroFU9NkO1sxOzUdgChQZtfIRqZYx98oWytp0mMMhYd6ZQZuOpDFoGu7HNg6uxEYcd1vRwHziT-29Yu1jwn-mTIbyRb_TQUVcyaBh-NC4nG-lTweefCC8/s1600/Scan+4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcPvmhyphenhyphenq-BMNwrMC36EiqD1btroFU9NkO1sxOzUdgChQZtfIRqZYx98oWytp0mMMhYd6ZQZuOpDFoGu7HNg6uxEYcd1vRwHziT-29Yu1jwn-mTIbyRb_TQUVcyaBh-NC4nG-lTweefCC8/s320/Scan+4.jpeg" width="226" /></a></div>
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<b>August 8th:</b></div>
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I've begun to put some of the images into iMovie to create a timeline. This is useful because it will give me an idea of how correct my timings are. I also did a quick test with a voiceover. I hate it! My voice sounds wobbly and horrible.</div>
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<b>August 10th:</b></div>
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It is interesting how long the images need to be on screen for them to be effective. I have played around with the timings, making some longer and others shorter. I'm trying to get the relevant images to appear or change as I make various points in my voiceover. I am really enjoying this assignment!</div>
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<b>August 12th:</b></div>
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I made some text slides today to make sub headings. They will appear as transitions between some of the images. </div>
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<b> August 18th:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>iMovie is a really easy to use package. It's basically drag and drop for the images. Text slides are easy to make and the voiceover can be recorded in segments, so I am not having to start all over whenever I stumble on a word, etc. Adjustments are easy to make too. It's just a case of clicking the segment and dragging along the timeline. This makes it really easy to tweak the timings and match my commentary precisely to the images.<br />
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<b>August 20th:</b><br />
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I've been recording my voiceovers and tweaking the image timings so they match up. I've edited as I've gone along and managed to stay within the 15 minute time limit. I think the presentation is coming together quite well.<br />
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<b>August 22nd:</b><br />
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After a few adjustments I think I'm pretty happy with this finished presentation. I exported the file to Quicktime and checked that it ran okay on the player. Once that was done I uploaded the converted file to Vimeo, a video sharing website. This is so that I can embed the code for my presentation into my blog.<br />
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<b>August 23rd:</b><br />
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My blog post with my notes is all tidied up and with the presentation video embedded I think I'm ready to share it. Part of the assignment is to receive feedback from fellow OCA students. I will post links to my blog on the OCA student site, OCA Flickr & OCA Facebook - here goes!<br />
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<b>August 31st:</b><br />
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Sharing my work with the OCA student community has been very rewarding. On the whole the presentation was received very positively. I've also had a number of pointers and ideas on how to improve my presentation. Some of the advice was contradictory which is always to be expected. I seem to have an equal number of viewers that think my voiceover needs some work - or that it is perfectly fine; this is in regards to pace, etc. I need to sit down and review the presentation before taking any action. There is a slight room echo too, that bothers me. This is from using my iMac's internal microphone. Clive, one of the OCA tutors gave some specific advice in regards to this, so I have a way to move forward with the sound issue.<br />
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The biggest consensus was in regards to the text slides and the amount of time left for pauses in some of the sections. This does need more work. A fellow student, Helen, came up with a brilliant suggestion on how to improve one section and I will definitely be putting it into action.<br />
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Here are the links to the fora that I posted to:<br />
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<a href="http://www.oca-student.com/content/gesture-meaning-assignment-5-your-comments">OCA Student Photography Forum</a> (private group)<br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/150854984953713/permalink/948667711839099/">OCA Photography Facebook Group</a> (private group)<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/groups/ocarts/discuss/72157657723963042/">OCA Photography Flickr Forum</a><br />
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This has been an interesting and informative experience, and I'd like to thank everyone that took part for sparing the time.<br />
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<b>December 23rd:</b><br />
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It has taken me quite a while to update here with my tutor feedback. I've been busy researching and writing my critical essay for assignment 6 and that took all of my focus. My feedback pretty much echoed what a number of the students said about the work. I will not repeat that here. A comment was also made on the balance between historical analysis and my current practice - that I should spend more time talking about my own work. I take his point; although the presentations aim was to try and state my opinion on the significance of constructed photography in all photographic genres. I have made changes though and removed the section on Robert Capa. This gives me more time to explore my own work. I've also redone the slides, as the general consensus between students and my tutor is that the fading and re-appearance of my text was distracting. I agree with this. I wanted the text to appear in the way suggested, but just couldn't find the technical work-around required. I did spend some time researching, but in the end this is a photography degree module and not a film making one. My time is better spent elsewhere. I've also found a way to zoom in on the Rubber Flapper letter as suggested by fellow student, Helen. I feel this works really well as the static letter I had before didn't work and too much time was spent lingering on the image before the presentation moved on.<br />
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Here is a list of the changes made to my presentation in the light of student and tutor feedback:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Shift balance from historical to current practice - my own work in particular</li>
<li>Colour of text slides are stark - change from black to grey background</li>
<li>Disappearing text is distracting - made text static. This has also reduced the number of slides giving me more time to look at my own work</li>
<li>Delete section on Robert Capa - more time made available</li>
<li>Zoom in on Rubber Flapper letter - this has worked well. The section no lingers feels static and long-winded</li>
<li>Expand on future direction of my own work - I have used a reference on David Favrod to highlight my changing interests</li>
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Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-26534258238268152922015-07-27T02:05:00.002-07:002015-07-27T02:05:41.641-07:00Grayson Perry - Provincial Punk<br />
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I recently visited the <a href="https://www.turnercontemporary.org/exhibitions/grayson-perry">Grayson Perry, 'Provincial Punk'</a> exhibition at the Turner in Margate. In fact I've been twice. There is a lot to see, including a large collection of the artist's famous ceramic vases. They are very detailed and the viewer can spend a lot of time discovering new scenes and British cultural motifs. Another strand that runs through Perry's work is the juxtaposition of humour with cutting satirical observations about today's shallow worship of consumer society. Perry's transvestite alter ego 'Claire' also makes constant appearances - not only on the vases but throughout the work.</div>
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As well as the vases there are maps, tapestries, sculpture and video installation. One of my favourites is a large scale, finely detailed, pen and ink map, of a landscape over which warring 'tribes' are in constant conflict. The tribes consist of all sorts of categories of peoples such as Christians, Atheists, Pacifists, Right wingers, War Mongers, Homosexuals, Metrosexuals, Traditionalists, etc. They are all fighting their corners up and down streets, in fields, and on top of buildings. At the far left of the map on a small island, the 'Tabloids' are engaged in firing guided rockets into the crowds on the mainland. That little detail actually made me laugh out loud when I saw it.<br />
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Another piece of work I admired is a photograph of Perry dressed as a 'reader's wife' on the cover of a fictional model maker's magazine. He describes how he came across the real magazines and that all the covers featured reader's wives, proudly displaying their husbands model handiwork. Perry is dressed in a very 'mumsy' style, with a pastel jumper and clutching a model jet fighter that Perry has had made and is also in the exhibition.<br />
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There was also a display case containing the leather biker suit that Perry wore on a trip around Germany. This was part of a recent exhibition he did for the British Museum. The objects on plinths and the cases reminded me of my 'Rubber Flapper' artifacts. I could do something similar with the artifacts that I've made. Having objects as well as photographs adds an extra dimension to a space, I think.<br />
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I've been to about three of the artist's exhibitions now. They are very popular. He uses a consistent 'craft' aesthetic that runs right through all his work. There is always lots to see and admire, analyse and amuse in his pieces. With this latest exhibition though, I have begun to feel that the work is being repeated. I think seeing pieces pulled from different exhibitions during his growth as an artist and placed together has somehow made them repetitive. There is nothing wrong in an artist examining the same themes consistently in their work. I do that myself as a student. I just hope that his next show might be a big leap forward in visual terms. <br />
<br />Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-2925687340698986052015-07-25T05:20:00.000-07:002015-07-25T05:20:17.074-07:00Armour<div style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Indifferent Armour</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I've travelled this road before</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> almost like a familiar friend</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> except, you don't want me</span></i></div>
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<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><i> like Ana-Lucia, opening up</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> when she says "I try, but nobody likes me"</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> before the bullet, that pinned her to the sofa</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I'll follow this road no more</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I'll stop right here</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> take the pain and turn it into hunger</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> take the hunger and turn it into indifferent armour</span></i></div>
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<span style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><i> your bullets won't touch me</i></span></div>
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Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-5599940678596475222015-07-24T05:08:00.002-07:002015-07-24T07:02:29.838-07:00Family<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN3Y2Gir0djxBQCE3n4DAP35-k7z_UYPx3S4t3Kk1atXYfyDotvizxvFi7WIZkPrkylXr3mFc6WlIeNSe55ql1qn0GAj8DqFH0ugddMHO9FgB9UIp41VYUo1ocMkgolJKrGMDPJrxSoIk/s1600/family_DSC6670-blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN3Y2Gir0djxBQCE3n4DAP35-k7z_UYPx3S4t3Kk1atXYfyDotvizxvFi7WIZkPrkylXr3mFc6WlIeNSe55ql1qn0GAj8DqFH0ugddMHO9FgB9UIp41VYUo1ocMkgolJKrGMDPJrxSoIk/s320/family_DSC6670-blog.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You Rejected Me</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Through the sound of shears, clipping a hedge,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>you rejected me.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Through the pain of loss, hands on a ledge, 1976,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>you rejected me.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>When the clipping paused, to stop and stare,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>all through this, </i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">looking back,</i><br />
<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you rejected me.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my feedback for assignment 3, my tutor remarked that some of my self-portraits left the viewer with a number of unanswered questions:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>'What is it about the setting of the plates being in a dark woodland </i><i>floor?' You mention their significance to you but leave what this is unknown. How do they feature as an integral part</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of your character? By leaving these and other questions unanswered you neglect the viewers perspective.'</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This post is an attempt to address the issue. The emotional 'highs and lows' of past experience can bring different memories into focus. Taking the pain of the lows and analysing, using the remembered feelings and morphing them into something positive and creative, is often cathartic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thinking about this particular image today has resulted in the above poem. It reads like a narrative; of looking back to a particular moment in time. In fact, the poem is constructed from two difficult childhood memories that have left a very strong impression on me. Combined, the image and the words are a metaphor for the emotional pain that families casually inflict on one another in the domestic environment - and the after effects that ripple out from that.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think we can all relate to that. Do I need to explain any further? </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This image, if it stood alone, could be titled 'After You Died'.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-10259996056455002162015-07-20T01:48:00.000-07:002016-05-13T08:19:18.533-07:00Assignment 4 - HoverjoyFor this assignment I need to make 7 advertising images for an A3 calendar for a company of my choosing. Six of them are for the body of the calendar, two months to a page, and the final one for the cover. I think this format has been chosen to make it easier for the student - with a smaller number of images required. In reality it has made producing an actual calendar harder. Online publishers do not provide a two months per page format. I'm guessing they would rather print a 12 page, month per page calendar, than a six page one. I've looked at a number of online sites and they offer all sorts of templates for changing options - but not to print a two month per page calendar. So I'm kind of stuck at this point. I'm not sure what other OCA students have done with this assignment. One option is that I have an A4 binding machine at home that I've used for binding assessment material. I could make my own calendar using that. I'm pretty sure I could fit 12x12 pages into the binder, but definitely not A3 size. I think I'm just going to have to go with that.<br />
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The images themselves will be made using advertising techniques that I've discovered during my research for this module. I've been struck by how the stereotyping of people is still a potent force in the advertising world. I thought that maybe times have changed, and maybe they have a little, but not much. Lets face it. Advertising is mainly here to support consumer culture, the political hegemony and the status quo - so I shouldn't really be that surprised.<br />
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I want to work with these ideas of stereotyping in advertising and make some work that pushes the concept to an extreme. I've visited a local site a lot recently. It's an abandoned hoverport in Kent. Before it closed in 1982 a regular hovercraft service used to run between Ramsgate and Calais, France. I will make my calendar for a fictitious company that used to operate out of the port. The calendar will be used to promote the idea of stylish, modern, international travel in state of the art craft. My ideas around stereotyping will be overlaid onto this concept.<br />
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<b> 25th June.</b><br />
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I've had a number of ideas on how to visualise the images for my calendar. My first thought was to persuade some family and friends to dress up for me and present stereotypical advertising identities at the site in Ramsgate. The logistics of this seems daunting, considering the amount of unfinished work still to be done on my assignments 1 & 2 before assessment. For this reason I've decided to scale back my ambition and work with digital images appropriated from the internet and overlaid onto the Ramsgate site. In effect, I'm thinking of making some montage work.<br />
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<b>5th July.</b><br />
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I began my web searches for 1970s advertising images today. This was the time when the Hoverport was in peak use. My reasoning is that if nothing much has changed in the advertising world regarding the reinforcing of stereotypes I might as well use imagery from that period. I found plenty of useable men and women in different ads. I've also downloaded some old images of hovercraft parked at the Ramsgate site when it was in operation. I have some old crew photos and some internal check-in desk images. A good start!<br />
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I now need to select some suitable backgrounds from my own hoverport archive that I've been adding to for the last couple of months.<br />
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<b>8th July.</b><br />
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I've made a start on my first image by choosing a background. Then I began to digitally remove my people and objects from my collection of adverts and past them onto my hoverport landscape. I wanted the montages to be quite rough in places, with visible outlines. I'm not sure why I want to use this aesthetic at the moment. I haven't thought about it too much, I'm just going with it and will analyse the images later on.<br />
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My hoverport background with a black strip added for my strapline.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggY0UWCUYyk9bLdGpDYlj2NwLNZEc7muD1ZsI6VYfjmPIKLwTaOXVTHFkAKYX29drfgVXY8ZDMvP0kIGn7b5duys6fcz92ojEsVM2aHBKiRk4VTehpkt9jXxHN5pvGBdiAfHXsVmjO9Fw/s1600/_DSC7033v2blog1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggY0UWCUYyk9bLdGpDYlj2NwLNZEc7muD1ZsI6VYfjmPIKLwTaOXVTHFkAKYX29drfgVXY8ZDMvP0kIGn7b5duys6fcz92ojEsVM2aHBKiRk4VTehpkt9jXxHN5pvGBdiAfHXsVmjO9Fw/s320/_DSC7033v2blog1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here I've added the hovercraft. In some cases, I've been quite neat with my montage edges. For others I'm going to be much more casual. The people boarding were already in the original montage image.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqJkvwxag_0sVL2L4nl4AnYFnEl5ZibRei-bo4_WfdAKYnioZh1-lWtMgfbDORpRs7GVm9DbFbIfbPDCrDQC6mVyF2wIGH_IpX1TMcm-_jF8YGnRtTz__OYvMAsi4YpUiM9hziph3bkXM/s1600/_DSC7033v2blog2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqJkvwxag_0sVL2L4nl4AnYFnEl5ZibRei-bo4_WfdAKYnioZh1-lWtMgfbDORpRs7GVm9DbFbIfbPDCrDQC6mVyF2wIGH_IpX1TMcm-_jF8YGnRtTz__OYvMAsi4YpUiM9hziph3bkXM/s320/_DSC7033v2blog2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The idea for this advertising image is to promote weekend breaks for the hoverport company whilst at the same time being incredibly sexist about single women.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTNxL4sQhNJT8ZfRVZ9UebcHSPH-U_Fdw9ohSwrpyVfvEVb0MeSGeIbuvHz9HFkKUM8UAWRg1dGzBVv_HZU2VwrJXyDk4g1TSeZuj7UprxwFXzTTkQaMfQQ1lHxrQWLl0PEKmoAv_ajGI/s1600/_DSC7033v2blog3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTNxL4sQhNJT8ZfRVZ9UebcHSPH-U_Fdw9ohSwrpyVfvEVb0MeSGeIbuvHz9HFkKUM8UAWRg1dGzBVv_HZU2VwrJXyDk4g1TSeZuj7UprxwFXzTTkQaMfQQ1lHxrQWLl0PEKmoAv_ajGI/s320/_DSC7033v2blog3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here are my montage images in their original format. As you can see I've had to remove previous strap lines in some cases. I've tidied up areas using the clone and clean-up tool, but I'm not too worried about the roughness. Thinking about it, I want to reference the fakeness in advertising images, where all the people and family groups are usually perfect. My rough montages are an antidote to that.<br />
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Here's the final image. As you can see the sexism is directly in the strap line and the gender identity stereotyping is reinforced by the images of couples enjoying their intended weekend break. For other images that I plan to make the identity stereotyping will be implicit, explicit, in the image, in the text, or a combination of all these. I have a number of identity issues that I want to highlight.<br />
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<b>10th July.</b><br />
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I've overlaid an image of the old Hoverport onto my background so that an idea of the location and the operation will be read by the viewer. In other images I want to include check-in, baggage handling, and interior hovercraft images, to use the calendar to promote the hovercraft company.<br />
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I'm pulling my images together quite quickly now - approximately one every two days. This one is more subtle than the previous image. Here the identity stereotyping is implied by the use of gender-loaded verbs and nouns, combined with the crew imagery that shows strong demarcation of gender roles. For example in the strap line, 'captained with confidence' and 'built by boffins' their use implies assertive, innovative jobs to be done by men; 'served with a smile' implies servitude and passivity to be done by women.<br />
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It could be argued that
these terms would be more likely used in 1970s advertising than
today. But when was the last time a woman bus driver, airplane
captain or engineer was represented in advertising? The use of male
visual imagery in these roles is still predominant. The words may
seem subtle and innocuous but advertising reinforces the stereotype
repeatedly, over and over again.; the power of subtle language and
visual imagery becomes magnified and eventually accepted as the norm. </div>
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<b>12th July.</b><br />
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This ad uses sizeist humour to promote the company's ability to deal with heavy or awkward shaped baggage. Overweight people are still very much used in a negative way in today's advertising. They are frequently used in a so called 'humorist' way to portray problems to be resolved, lazy, etc. Little has changed in this respect.<br />
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<b>15th July.</b><br />
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I like the juxtaposition in this image between the Hoverport as it is today, with the old rusting pedestrian bridge, and the montage of the disco.<br />
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This ad for the Hoverport's International Lounge is quite blatant, with its 'No Gays' disco ball. I wanted to make this ad to highlight the fact that LGBT people are virtually invisible in advertising. To all intents and purposes we may as well not exist. That is why in my ad, LGBT people are not allowed in the disco and are depicted as 'outside', standing on the bridge, and partially transparent. The irony is that the two women seated in the chair could be read as Lesbian; and indeed Lesbian women are sometimes used in advertising, but often only as objects of Heterosexual male desire - so they are allowed in, under the radar, so to speak.<br />
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Here is the same image as an earlier work in progress. As you can see some of the images still have their original backgrounds and have not been masked, re-sized, or placed in position. <br />
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<b>16th July.</b><br />
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In this ad I've stated that it is not good enough to conform to the identity stereotype of just being male. To gain access to the on-board Smoker's Lounge, males have to be bearded too. I'm trying to push the idea that stereotyping affects everyone.<br />
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Here I've pushed the idea even further to exclude as many people as possible. To use the 'Perfect Family' tickets being advertised, very rigid criteria is set that often conforms to the 'ideal' family, so often used in advertising images.</div>
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As you can see, I'm not that bothered about correct perspective or outlines on some of the figures. I've also used the mask tool to leave halo outlines around some of the males heads!</div>
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<b>17th July.</b><br />
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I've finally completed all six images and a cover too. I've left the cover image largely untouched, using just a background, to give an idea of what the Hoverport site is like today. The strap line implies the company is still in operation so there is an ambiguity created between the image and text. I'm not totally sure about the cover yet, to be honest.<br />
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I downloaded a free two month per page calendar (not to be confused with the calendar making templates available online) and made pages using In-design to lay it all out. What I forgot to do before I uploaded the images to the printer was leave enough blank space at the top of the page for the wire binding. If I were to put my pages into the binding machine now there would be a line of holes punched right through some of the images! So after all that hassle it looks like I will have to send the images to my tutor unbound. I will correct my error in time for assessment. <br />
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Hopefully if they arrive in time I will be able to take them along to the latest Thames Valley group meeting on Saturday. It will be good to get some feedback from fellow students.<br />
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<b>July 19th.</b><br />
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Yesterday I took the newly arrived prints from this assignment along to a Thames Valley study group. It is always interesting to see the other students work and catch up on study issues and just chat with other people on the same 'lengthy' degree pathway.<br />
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My images and the concept were generally well received by the other students. My text and montages were appreciated and understood with regards to the use of stereotypes in advertising. I was very pleased with this aspect.<br />
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There were one or two points to consider. The black and white smoking image was questioned, as its ratio did not match the others. I admitted that this was because the base image from which I created it was more square than the other, landscape format, images. I didn't really know how to correct this and in the allotted time just left it as is. I learnt a very useful technique from Vicki, one of the attending students, on how to use 'content aware scale' in Photoshop to help remedy this problem. I am very grateful to her for showing me how to use this tool as I was unaware of it and it will prove very useful to me.<br />
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The 'disco' image was commented on by John, as he thought the 'No Gays' message and partially transparent Gay couple were not noticeable enough. I was quite surprised by this as I thought the text in particular stood out quite well. I realise that in comparison to some of the other more 'in your face' images, this one needs more time to be 'read'. I'll have a think on this aspect.<br />
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Jesse Alexander, the OCA tutor in attendance, made some specific comments regarding the aesthetic look of the set as a whole. He didn't think that the images were cohesive enough to form a strong brand identity for the company calendar that I was trying to create. He made a number of points that, if I've understood correctly, I will summarise below:<br />
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<ul>
<li>the choice of font and logo (Hoverjoy) on the strap lines were not strong enough. I'd used the same font for each image but had themed each logo in relation to the content of the images. For instance, a round beach ball for the baggage handling image, a roundish bag to match the suitcases in the weekend break image. He felt the logo needed to be more consistent.</li>
<li>The colours between the sets were too different. The beach ball and disco images were quite brightly coloured, where the Hoverjoy crew and perfect family images were muted and retro in their respective colour palettes.</li>
<li>The montages were too complex and would look better if some of the elements were pared down or removed.</li>
</ul>
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I think Jesse felt that all these elements combined made the work look tacky. I've slept on the comments and I think I agree that the first two bullet points are justified. The text and logo aspect were not given as much thought as the concept - and the montage work took up a lot of my time. I should have spent more time considering this aspect. If I use colour and the same logo for the whole set, I can see that the work will be more consistent, and stronger, and will actually be more in keeping with a commercial piece of advertising work for a company calendar. The last point regarding simplifying the images I'm not sure about. I can see what he is saying in regards to a more minimal approach. The work will look cleaner and probably be more in keeping with today's advertising style. But I do tend to make imagery that is more complex. I like adding layers of meaning to work, even if it is not fully noticed or understood by all the viewers. I feel that if I pare down the work it will not reflect my personal style or show my own artistic voice.<br />
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It was also suggested to look at the work of Judith Williamson in respect to my assignment. I will follow this up and put a link here in due course.<br />
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<b>July 20th.</b><br />
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Some more comments from the TV group meeting:<br />
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I was asked how I would take the work forward. I hadn't considered at this point that the work is anything other than a calendar produced for the fictional company. Obviously I have put my own response to stereotyping into the work so there is an artistic and conceptual angle beyond just the advertising aspect; but I see the calendar as self-contained, and apart from tweaking the imagery in response to tutor feedback, it is over for me and I am ready to move on to the next assignment.<br />
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Keith mentioned that the calendar could be used as part of an equalities campaign and therefore contacting one of the appropriate agencies might be a good idea. John suggested that I could take the loose calendar pages back to the Hoverport site and photograph them in-situ. This is an interesting idea and would open up the possibilities for the work. Another thought that has occurred to me is to somehow produce the work on billboards and re-construct them at the site. It is clear that there are a number of ways that the work could be taken forward.<br />
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For now I am content to document the work's possibilities and move on. I do not have any desire to continue working with montage although who knows, I may return to the work for inspiration at level three. The other consideration is that my 'Rubber Flapper' assignment used up a lot of work hours during this course. I still have one more archive image to make, let alone think about pulling the hand-made book together before assessment. I have the changes to this assignment and assignment 1 to make as well. I don't think I can give all the assignments equal attention at this point without going over the two year time limit for the course. I need to keep March 2016 assessment in mind and pace myself appropriately. <br />
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<b>Jan 12th:</b><br />
<br />
I've returned to working on this assignment in the last week. I spent the time removing extraneous detail from some of the images. With a large span of time between making and presenting the work at the Thames Valley group I can see that Jesse was right about some of the images being too busy. Less is definitely more. I've removed detail from the following images:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCP4rTcmVpexu9xm8K8FmE2r-vRGssgOpGpwnIaopaaSQBiZgNA0rysJzADqAIYJEADtpVnIGAkvJ6bXacovGKWkP3huRM4nStjCtHuL-NZ3aiILQU11qnTXSiAzJBAjCuAjwmfDxCFh8V/s1600/_DSC7063v20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCP4rTcmVpexu9xm8K8FmE2r-vRGssgOpGpwnIaopaaSQBiZgNA0rysJzADqAIYJEADtpVnIGAkvJ6bXacovGKWkP3huRM4nStjCtHuL-NZ3aiILQU11qnTXSiAzJBAjCuAjwmfDxCFh8V/s320/_DSC7063v20.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The images are stronger for having less detail. I've also standardised the logo on the banner by using the same woman employee rather than a collection of hovercrafts, beach & disco balls, etc. This ties the images together and looks more corporate.<br />
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I also spent a great deal of time trying to pull together the images with colour. Trying to match the reds and blues etc. Because the material comes from multiple sources this was very hard to do. In the end I discarded this idea. I was making the work look 'muddy' and muted in my attempts at colour correction. I think the work done so far is enough to give the set a coherent look.<br />
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Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-78422097379443656692015-06-29T01:40:00.001-07:002015-06-29T01:43:08.424-07:00Exercise: implicit and explicit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I've sourced a number of advertisements below that I believe use either implicit or explicit advertising methods to sell their products.</div>
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The ad below for deodorant, is selling the idea of a woman's sexual availability to any man that uses the product. The ad uses a visual metaphor for sex but the connotations are very easy to read. I would say there is an explicit visual message being used to promote the brand. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOWLMnRRaFcEvORiXkoKLGFxGvSAx0g9YLEz9JbvHEiLl_XdRgbBEr96X3nXLAdYQze_4WOZVzgCoOSxMKQ1BZlJfLGog0VuHFJJSh4S0rAl1FMTqaNFFtxMr7Nvs7YToEZEJn_oSK5nc/s1600/axe-clean-dirty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOWLMnRRaFcEvORiXkoKLGFxGvSAx0g9YLEz9JbvHEiLl_XdRgbBEr96X3nXLAdYQze_4WOZVzgCoOSxMKQ1BZlJfLGog0VuHFJJSh4S0rAl1FMTqaNFFtxMr7Nvs7YToEZEJn_oSK5nc/s320/axe-clean-dirty.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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In this ad the company is promoting a salad dish. The visual joke is that the consumer, a woman who is concerned about her weight, has become so thin from eating the salad product that the company's ubiquitous paper crown just slips down her head to her ankles. This is an implicit message, promoting the value of the product in achieving weight loss. Although maybe not intended, I can detect a second message here too. We all know sex sells. The crown around the woman's ankles could also be a visual metaphor for getting lucky - because eating the product will make you more likely to be thin and sexually attractive? <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6Zi_i7hoMg8AzLdonpPhi8rff2yA5gM4b1ZLfg56gr9K_957JExgoiuSA8PrZXfvfat7bF4bV-6F2mQsQ3TJM27I-qqzWLs4RZ0eXnYieVx5mxhVPgDqVXQSoEwSeYDvlLVsl7Y0bB0/s1600/burger-king-light-small-12425.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6Zi_i7hoMg8AzLdonpPhi8rff2yA5gM4b1ZLfg56gr9K_957JExgoiuSA8PrZXfvfat7bF4bV-6F2mQsQ3TJM27I-qqzWLs4RZ0eXnYieVx5mxhVPgDqVXQSoEwSeYDvlLVsl7Y0bB0/s320/burger-king-light-small-12425.jpg" width="251" /></a></div>
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This ad for sexual health is about explicit in advertising terms as they get. There is no subtle message here, the message is clear. Carry a condom because you never know where you will need to use it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJR9FLHOaabqyYd2jFfLvwefqFDo9wfsgH4wKYgGJzWHxIJYWeU7XNdtDOHvKcLaLfJkL6zFj59XsoUy0S5rsgH01gcDzWU-gu_EX0Wl7VtRLIjHiFhCUYsvuALn_yf6I_HGo8zzLXndw/s1600/Cave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJR9FLHOaabqyYd2jFfLvwefqFDo9wfsgH4wKYgGJzWHxIJYWeU7XNdtDOHvKcLaLfJkL6zFj59XsoUy0S5rsgH01gcDzWU-gu_EX0Wl7VtRLIjHiFhCUYsvuALn_yf6I_HGo8zzLXndw/s320/Cave.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This climate change ad uses an implicit advertising message. The implication being that not acting on climate change and rising sea levels will result in human adaptation to fish-headed men. The viewer has to understand the visual metaphor to be able to understand the message. No-one seriously believes that we will evolve into half fish, half human. The message is projecting a possible scenario in our distant future to remind us to act now before it is too late.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEkfSC31GP5nTp5rX9r4WYACfwz_e3b_5n_-Aa7k6P8SYMPsMUYmuwQfuX3KlVu7tGxuLkR1tg3sdPJ6pWlhtK_rVI0Hc5xulVy5nT1EX1NwXQ6lb2i7c5Yb-j3xigYR9Vlf7GLXOqUFo/s1600/climate-change-424x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEkfSC31GP5nTp5rX9r4WYACfwz_e3b_5n_-Aa7k6P8SYMPsMUYmuwQfuX3KlVu7tGxuLkR1tg3sdPJ6pWlhtK_rVI0Hc5xulVy5nT1EX1NwXQ6lb2i7c5Yb-j3xigYR9Vlf7GLXOqUFo/s320/climate-change-424x600.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
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In many ads the consumer is aware that the message being sold is unlikely. The deodorant ad above for example. I'm sure many young men realise that using the product is not going to allow them free access to sex with women covering themselves in cream. What happens is they enjoy the message. They want to see themselves like the man in the ad who is going to get lucky. They align themselves with the ad's message and product. A fantasy is being sold and the viewer consumer knows it but buys into the product all the same. Advertising can be very complex and subtle at times and often plays subliminal tricks on the mind. <br />
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Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-5546078462078010782015-06-28T03:14:00.000-07:002015-06-29T01:00:54.569-07:00Exercise: what are they selling?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-QVgAmHrxUrPUdDcslnz-qKfWz7-XqTsHJcqiF8OLmng6awwb2FAVsiEejNgf8HWWz1rotO2hCB1mj06KFOYD2MG2R1V7Rux66RMRjmypfXIbmIYOtF3Vhs_qdbURWRECx-cx12kvcGg/s1600/article-1393531-0C5FD29300000578-822_634x515.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-QVgAmHrxUrPUdDcslnz-qKfWz7-XqTsHJcqiF8OLmng6awwb2FAVsiEejNgf8HWWz1rotO2hCB1mj06KFOYD2MG2R1V7Rux66RMRjmypfXIbmIYOtF3Vhs_qdbURWRECx-cx12kvcGg/s320/article-1393531-0C5FD29300000578-822_634x515.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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In this skincare ad for moisturiser, the idea of preserving youthful skin is being sold to a mainly female audience. The split image uses the notion of scientific rigour to portray before and after images that 'prove' the ads claims. Text is used to point out four areas of visible skin improvement.</div>
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From the list of eight hidden needs of psycho seduction, I've found three that are implicit in this advertisement: </div>
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immortality </div>
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reassurance of worth</div>
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emotional security</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisuZ-3UaBzhLFy1uPHOHn9eWZ63Eq9o60Na4m2DJv4K1QAPJCxsgYwQj3QhuctUKT3yYfUi6CMjCJ8OH21L59tIo3KAkJ6x25aYgptS3i_znsYdM-YnVAp022oZ_gHgj4rWcgkkm2JWRI/s1600/ducati-motorcycles-fines-small-97126.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisuZ-3UaBzhLFy1uPHOHn9eWZ63Eq9o60Na4m2DJv4K1QAPJCxsgYwQj3QhuctUKT3yYfUi6CMjCJ8OH21L59tIo3KAkJ6x25aYgptS3i_znsYdM-YnVAp022oZ_gHgj4rWcgkkm2JWRI/s320/ducati-motorcycles-fines-small-97126.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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In this ad for Ducati motorbikes thrills, speed and freedom, are being sold mainly to men. The idea of breaking the law is denoted in the image as the police helicopter is the only machine fast enough to catch the speeding biker. The ad has connotations of rebelliousness.</div>
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From the list of eight hidden needs of psycho seduction, I've found three that are implicit in this advertisement:</div>
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reassurance of worth</div>
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ego gratification</div>
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sense of power</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9kQu__oNtU8OYcfLIf0VUQCfmURy4CgBY20E1fJ9EZGxsx8Olvyi9-XMtImREpHIDM6fxAZJw7iquvDsj6oNtYpG0qEN4N8mM2iRBEXByI7cSs6H0Y_PsVl6FtR13DLpPk3bEBeTAmz8/s1600/2014-cannes-press-rotthamer-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9kQu__oNtU8OYcfLIf0VUQCfmURy4CgBY20E1fJ9EZGxsx8Olvyi9-XMtImREpHIDM6fxAZJw7iquvDsj6oNtYpG0qEN4N8mM2iRBEXByI7cSs6H0Y_PsVl6FtR13DLpPk3bEBeTAmz8/s320/2014-cannes-press-rotthamer-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This beer ad uses tradition and a shooting party to portray its brand as belonging to an elite club. The image connotes class status and wealth. The couple having a picnic in the foreground appear to be separate from the main party but still part of the traditional activities taking place.</div>
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From the list of eight hidden needs of psycho seduction, I've found three that are implicit in this advertisement: </div>
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sense of roots</div>
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reassurance of worth</div>
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ego gratification</div>
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Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-21767291333764083832015-06-24T03:01:00.001-07:002015-06-24T03:01:40.992-07:00This Means This, This Means That: a user's guide to semiotics - Sean HallThis book is on the course reading list. It's a quick 'how to understand signs' book with some examples. The book tries to make the reader think about the structure that is all around us in our everyday lives; one that we don't think about and take for granted because we are too used to it. Simple examples are used to illustrate this; a traffic light for instance uses the colour scheme red, amber, green. We all know what it means. We also expect the colours to be stacked top to bottom in a certain order. There is no reason why they should be a particular colour or order but we accept that they are.<br />
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Everywhere we look signs are all around us. A sign is made up of two parts:<br />
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<b>Signifier + Signified = Sign</b><br />
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To break that down:<br />
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The signifier = the form taken by the sign.<br />
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The signified = the concept the sign represents.<br />
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So, seeing smoke on the road ahead is a signifier for fire:<br />
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smoke: signifier + fire: signified = sign<br />
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At a very basic level Semiotics makes a lot of sense. When it is applied to photography too it becomes a useful tool for analysis. I do think there is a danger of the concept being built into ever more complex webs of signs that end up diluting its impact. Can we really decode the entire world around us by using semiotic signs? We use the code of language to express complex thoughts and ideas so maybe the concept is not so far fetched. The issue may be with interpreting semiotic signs. Who gets to say what sign means what? This must be subjective and prone to misinterpreation. It seems that the concept does have critics:<br />
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<i>"Sometimes semioticians present their analyses as if they were purely objective 'scientific' accounts rather than subjective interpretations. Yet few semioticians seem to feel much need to provide empirical evidence for particular interpretations, and much semiotic analysis is loosely impressionistic and highly unsystematic (<b>or alternatively, generates elaborate taxonomies with little evident practical application)</b>."</i> Chandler (2014).<br />
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The text in bold is a suspicion that I had myself. At the beginning of this book are a couple of very elaborate diagrams breaking down signs into many sub categories. I am dubious about the practical application of such taxonomies.<br />
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I need to read more deeply to be able to understand Semiotics in greater depth. Maybe I will change my mind at that time. For now, this book is good for dipping into as and when I need to remind myself about the usefulness of signs when decoding photographs.<br />
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Chandler, D. 2014 [online] Accessed 19th June 2015. [Available from] <a href="http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/sem11.html">http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/sem11.html</a></span>Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-6965383088771457812015-06-24T02:03:00.000-07:002015-06-24T02:03:33.028-07:00Research Point: Contemporary Awareness 4<b>Anderson and Low</b><br />
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This duo's images of naked athletes for the Danish athletic team are based around the elemental concept of earth, water, wind and fire. The athletes are obviously physically fit and the photographers have used this to their advantage in these compositions. Their bodies are shown going through different contorting positions as they dive or twist, somersault and stretch. The images that show pairs or groups are the most successful as they interact with each other in an almost dance-like way.<br />
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The images are simple with hardly any other detail except sky or water to detract from the bodies as their movement is captured and frozen. The images denote group collaboration and healthy living; endurance and determination are two other attributes that spring to mind when viewing these images.<br />
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The photographers have taken the concept of athletes in motion with their ad for Flora. This time the images are shot outside but leave plenty of space for sky so that text and strap lines can be added. The strap line is prominent using a vary large font. Because of this the solitary runners, a wheelchair athlete, and two footballers leaping to head a ball, inhabit a place close to the edge of the frame. Proximity to the edge of the frame gives the athletes a prominence that belies their small size and creates balance in the composition.<br />
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The messages used in the images relate to keeping your heart healthy - because you need one to have the attributes of endurance, ability, skill, etc. The athletes are used to create an affinity with the health conscious viewer and the attributes of endurance and determination are transferred to the Flora logo that is overlaid across the edge of the blue sky.<br />
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The course notes state that:<br />
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<i>Products are able to cross class boundaries and, in their perceived reality, move people across those boundaries through attaining the product. Baudrillard would see this pretence of social change as a simulacrum because of its reality to those involved: they know the social change isn't real but because it happens (peers feel the buyer has moved up the world) then it (social movement) becomes a sort of reality. (Gesture and Meaning).</i><br />
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I can see that a simulacrum can also occur in images where a healthy lifestyle is sold through products such as Flora. A prospective viewer watching TV or looking at a magazine would read the images of athletes and absorb the message in the strap lines. They might want to buy a product that gives them a feeling of at least attempting to participate in healthy living and hope to identity with having endurance, stamina and the skill needed to compete in sports.<br />
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<a href="http://www.andersonandlow.com/">Source website</a><br />
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<b>Peter Lippmann</b><br />
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This photographer has used the genre of still life and traditional painting as the concept for one of his campaigns. The images are painterly and full of detail creating richly decorated tableaux. The images show designer shoes placed into these scenarios. All still life objects traditionally have a meaning assigned to them that could be read and understood by the viewer. By placing Christian Louboutin shoes in close proximity to the other objects they attain equal status in the arrangement. The high status of fine art painting and it's elitist culture is also transferred to the shoes. The implication is that anyone that can afford these high end shoes is also someone that likes, appreciates and understands the finer things in life.<br />
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By associating the Christian Louboutin brand with the long tradition of fine art painting, the notion of longevity is also transferred. The campaign appears to have been very successful as the company have used Lippmann's work for a number of seasons.<br />
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<a href="http://www.peterlippmann.com/">Source website</a><br />
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<b>George Logan</b><br />
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This photographer has used the technique of placing incongruous objects in proximity to create a strong visual dynamic. In his work with Whiskas cat food, small domestic cats are seen making contact, rubbing noses etc, with big cats in wild African surroundings. The images are glossy and full of detail; the kind of high quality that's expected in wild life photography. Photoshop has obviously been used to post-process the domestic cats into these surroundings.<br />
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A similar technique is used for Sky Go. In these ads a laptop is used to meld an image of a sportsperson on screen with the laptop's environment. This work is very effective indeed. For instance, the laptop is shown on an unseen man's lap by a pool. He is watching a wrestling match. In the background a man is floating on the water; his torso and head are obscured by the laptop and matches up with a mans upper half on screen where another wrestler is frozen, mid-air, about to land a heavy body slam onto the prone wrestler. Even though we know the unsuspecting man in the pool and the prone wrestler about to get slammed are different people in different places, there is a visual tension created between the two.<br />
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In the Sky Go campaign men are seen relaxing by the pool in a sunny climate while they watch sports on laptops. Technology and technology services, such as streaming TV, place entertainment at a person's fingertips whenever, wherever, they want. An aspirational lifestyle is also being sold in this ad. It is more than likely that the person using a streaming service is watching from an iPad on a cramped commuter train every morning - certainly much more often than when they are able to take holidays. <br />
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<b><a href="http://www.georgelogan.co.uk/">Source website</a></b><br />
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<br />Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-62962157327345522782015-06-19T03:04:00.000-07:002015-06-19T03:04:09.334-07:00Punctum<br />
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<li>a point of visual interest to which your eye keeps being drawn.</li>
<li>a point which causes an emotive reaction within the viewer.</li>
<li>a point that causes conjecture as to why it makes you feel the way you do about the image.</li>
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These three bullets from the course notes are useful for remembering how punctum works. I would also say that punctum is subjective and that although studium is always embedded in an image (to enable the viewer to decode it) punctum isn't always present for an individual viewer.<br />
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I looked at some (non-OCA) student's examples of punctum and studium on the web. In my opinion there were some clearly incorrect examples being used. A photograph of an upturned car, placed in the centre of the frame, is clearly the subject of the image - and therefore part of the image's studium. If, for instance, the photographer had photographed a woman standing against a wall covered in pasted news headlines then, the woman is the subject, and the mass of newspaper headlines (for the photographer) are an interesting backdrop - all part of the studium. If, in one of those newspaper pictures, the upturned car could clearly be seen, then that could be a point of punctum for those that perceived it. That to me, is what punctum is.<br />
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But when I start to think more deeply about the definitions of punctum and studium, I see issues with regard to the points above. What if those points were specifically created by the maker? Can they still be punctum? Surely sometimes those points are specifically placed into an image to be decoded as part of the studium. So how can they be punctum? Is it just because the viewer sees them that way and doesn't perceive the intended denoted or connotative message?<br />
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When I think of the constructed work of Cindy Sherman for example. When every element has been planned; when every prop has been placed into the image; how can a viewer see any punctum? I took some time thinking about these concepts and eventually saw that a point in an image can have entirely <i>different</i> connotations than those intended by the maker. Perhaps punctum could be perceived in this way - a point could be both studium (placed there with connotations/denotations for the maker) and punctum for the viewer as it triggers different thought processes, memories, etc. I'm straying into the slippery path of the subject of the de-centered image here.<br />
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I think the points above work well when analysing documentary or 'straight' images. That's how Barthes analysed the image of his mother at the winter gardens. And indeed, I've been fascinated by mundane or obscure details taking place in the background of images myself, many times. But when I start to look at conceptual or constructed work with punctum and stadium in mind then I find that these definitions become slippery and less easy to grasp.Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-20105897257925891422015-06-10T04:10:00.001-07:002015-06-11T06:16:11.334-07:00Exercise: Targeting an audience<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="text-align: left;">This section of the module looks at advertising. The fourth assignment is designed to pull together what I've learnt in this section and make a calendar. I have no idea where I'm going with my ideas yet - I have to think about them a bit more and complete the exercises.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">This first exercise of this section asks me to look at three current adverts and analyse them as to <b>who</b>, <b>what</b>, and <b>how:</b></span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Who is the intended market for the product?</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">What are they selling?</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">How are they selling it to the </span>customer?</div>
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For the product below the who and the what is obvious; we all eat breakfast cereal don't we? The how I've written in more detail for two adverts below:</div>
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This ad for Weetabix uses the notion of health and vitality to portray their product. The image implies that only two ingredients exist in Weetabix - sunshine and wheat; the consumer only has to add the milk for a nutritious, healthy breakfast. There are no people visible in the ad. Many people are needed to transform the wheat in a field through to a factory formed product that ends up on the breakfast table. Once harvested by mechanical means, the product is processed in a factory with added chemicals. This is part of an efficient production process to add colour, texture, and sweetness to the product. Other chemicals are added to lengthen the storage and shelf life.</div>
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The ad ignores the reality of factory food production and instead visually imbibes the product with wholesome goodness. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ7YWu2iqqvUwbqcihu5iNuUWrvrXn58qP6bgSDD6pkmEBTlBgU9yh8Ou0NT9zT-VQ4KLQ86xoJhXlbPRDB2ct2alv__mz_Xkmqf6tI4SiH5Ii66DDV1ROaO3l2spANKjh5kYU6UhLqgA/s1600/breakfast-cereal-weetabix-milk-small-72528.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ7YWu2iqqvUwbqcihu5iNuUWrvrXn58qP6bgSDD6pkmEBTlBgU9yh8Ou0NT9zT-VQ4KLQ86xoJhXlbPRDB2ct2alv__mz_Xkmqf6tI4SiH5Ii66DDV1ROaO3l2spANKjh5kYU6UhLqgA/s320/breakfast-cereal-weetabix-milk-small-72528.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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This ad for the same product uses a completely different approach. Gone are the notions of natural products growing in a sun-kissed field untouched by mechanical production and processing methods.<br />
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This image is more post-modern in its visualisation. The viewer is shown a rather grand table setting with a fancy spoon and plates (notice there are four plates stacked from smallest to largest) They all have a crown emblem, as does the napkin ring and spoon handle. This is a breakfast fit for a queen.<br />
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I think this advert works on multiple levels. It would appeal to those of a conservative disposition who would perhaps aspire to and enjoy all things grand and traditional. The text 'Fuel Britannia' I think is a knowing nod to 'Cool Britannia' a phrase that was in circulation during the 1990s. The text is there to diffuse any sense of stuffiness and makes the whole image a visual pun. For me, it conjures up additional images of mopeds, street cool, Ginger Spice in her union jack dress - a modern Britain that still keeps the best of its traditions. This is a clever image that works for different audiences.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidK21zTKmjWnzbLeqCim7rX0mBZfn_V4GFhxSZcr_sUFskQ6427JmfDP4eu4L-f999ZnqI_0c3ybPIzcpm6JJJBekd81mSt4rMJwhQBB5CkvgfT2xLg-NGwzFRVegkNpIOYtks4LN2bxU/s1600/Weetabix+Fuel+Britannia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidK21zTKmjWnzbLeqCim7rX0mBZfn_V4GFhxSZcr_sUFskQ6427JmfDP4eu4L-f999ZnqI_0c3ybPIzcpm6JJJBekd81mSt4rMJwhQBB5CkvgfT2xLg-NGwzFRVegkNpIOYtks4LN2bxU/s320/Weetabix+Fuel+Britannia.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Below are some more adverts I've noticed online:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwHI08L2GZr_0saws__OsF7cvFoCMLbqawlOHp5R8Kl_DFJ8n9pgbmOCLTAn2p96CLCNeeeeRA19EtnOdHhszu30_je0G65wkpXLAhQIKUWF3u1CdW9wLo3KafrnCgEM8L4fYj1ElcDhI/s1600/Acora.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwHI08L2GZr_0saws__OsF7cvFoCMLbqawlOHp5R8Kl_DFJ8n9pgbmOCLTAn2p96CLCNeeeeRA19EtnOdHhszu30_je0G65wkpXLAhQIKUWF3u1CdW9wLo3KafrnCgEM8L4fYj1ElcDhI/s320/Acora.png" width="244" /></a></div>
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This advert is for an I.T. outsourcing company:<br />
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<b>Who</b> - I would say that the customers clients are other companies that need I.T. services to enable them to operate their business. This advert would be aimed at professionals making financial decisions on behalf of their companies.<br />
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<b>What</b> - Expertise in I.T. services and also peace of mind that sudden technical breakdowns or mammoth infrastructure overhauls can be handed over to a third party to sort out.<br />
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<b>How</b> - Through the use of sizeist humour and narrative. In the foreground, a guy with a muscular physique and cool jeans stands legs apart, his hand on hip. He scratches the back of his head at the thought of 'scaling' such a 'mammoth' task as the naked woman on the bed. The implication being that we wouldn't want to undertake the task ourselves (because she's fat, innit!) but the guy in the jeans is ready to have a go, no matter how difficult, he gets the job done - 'HILARIOUS!' Oh, HO! HO! HO!<br />
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In other words, by outsourcing I.T. services, all those insurmountable I.T. tasks (such as upgrading infrastructure etc) will be done by a company with a willingness to figure out how to complete the job.<br />
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I do wonder how the woman model feels about being photographed and used in an advert this way?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ_4rMujeJyj4EC6pwzbQfLbnb4zeQbL8M8MyoClm1FC3g01pHijZR8yzJ6_MqcgrMHkiWdblP2ToIrBvfXu0onT2IWsObnn3br3uXroNFBW7AVCaf7HWNB5CL8fPuNSCPgfT5nUyhURA/s1600/burger-king-seven-incher-213277_w1000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ_4rMujeJyj4EC6pwzbQfLbnb4zeQbL8M8MyoClm1FC3g01pHijZR8yzJ6_MqcgrMHkiWdblP2ToIrBvfXu0onT2IWsObnn3br3uXroNFBW7AVCaf7HWNB5CL8fPuNSCPgfT5nUyhURA/s320/burger-king-seven-incher-213277_w1000.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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This advert for Burger King surprised me. I thought family oriented companies didn't go in for this type of humour.<br />
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<b>Who </b>- the clients that eat the produce. This would be people of all ages and demographics.<br />
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<b>What</b> - they are selling convenience food that can be consumed either at rest stops, or on the move.<br />
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<b>How</b> - sexual humour is being used to promote the product. I'd be interested to know actually how a family audience would react to this visual imagery - with it's obvious references to seven-inchers and blow jobs. Maybe the ad works on the level of an in-joke between adults that children are oblivious to.<br />
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When advertising works well it is enjoyable to read and see. Where the industry lets itself down is its continual re-enforcing of visual stereotypes. I have to say how surprised I am at the blatant stereotyping on most of the advertisements I researched online. I'd thought as a society we were starting to move away from this kind of rubbish. It appears that as long as the concept is done in a jokey way then it's acceptable. The whole culture of 'it's not sexist, racist or homophobic - it's just 'banter' seems to be very prevalent for the last few years. Also, as I tend to fast forward through adverts on TV, don't buy fashion magazines or newspapers, I think I've been a bit caught unawares by how much sex is still used to sell product.<br />
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The advertising industry is a very creative place but creativity is directed by market forces. If it makes money then all is good. Sometimes adverts are deliberately designed to shock. Even bad news is good news. It is hard to see if this attitude will ever change.<br />
<br />Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-13414620746178964972015-05-27T05:53:00.000-07:002015-06-24T02:10:23.678-07:00Research Point: Contemporary Awareness 3<b>Jeffrey Stockbridge</b><br />
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Another photographer that, for me, has an inspiring body of work is Jeffrey Stockbridge. 'Kensington Blues' made on the streets of Kensington Avenue, North Philadelphia, features portraits of the area's inhabitants. The area is consumed with drug dealing, crime and deprivation. With that said the portraits, always made outside on the street, portray the subjects with an inner calm. A calm before the storm perhaps, as the visual narrative that can be read on the subjects faces and bodies tells a different story. The subjects are mostly youthful, and their youth gives them a strength to hold out against the abuse of their bodies - but the strain is there to be seen.<br />
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'Tic Tac and Tootsie' a portrait of twin sisters that are homeless and addicted, took third place in the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize in 2010. Alongside the portraits Stockbridge has documented Kensington Avenue itself from a Social Documentary perspective. Images of empty houses, boarded windows and rubbish strewn back alleys are photographed along with letters and found objects.<br />
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The street scenes and found objects add context to the portraits and the series is a substantial piece of work.<br />
<a href="http://www.jeffreystockbridge.com/">http://www.jeffreystockbridge.com</a><br />
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<b>Paul Floyd Blake</b><br />
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'Personal Best' featuring portraits of young Olympic athletes, is Blake's best known piece of work. He won the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize for his image (from the series) of paralympian swimmer Rosie Bancroft. The subjects look calm and contemplative and have a quiet determination about them. Blake uses a 5x4 film camera to slow down his image making and I'm wondering if this is translated to his subjects as he works through his artistic process. I remember at a talk by the photographer Tom Hunter that he mentioned how more seriously his subjects took the session when what was perceived as a 'professional' camera was used.<br />
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Blake states in an article for The Guardian that:<br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Guardian Text Egyptian Web', Georgia, serif; line-height: 24px;"><i>"The series is probably less about sport than it is about young people growing up and the transition from childhood into adulthood," he said. "These teenagers exist in this ultra-professional world that can often be very isolating. It is about them growing up and how the experiences they have now shape them for the future." Guardian (2012).</i></span><br />
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The images of these young athletes certainly show a different side to their character compared to the usually overly slick action packed commercial photography that we are used to seeing of sports people.<br />
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The other work of photographer Paul Floyd Blake shows how portraits can be done in a much less formal style. The work feels like a mixture of portrait and social documentary. Posed shots to the camera, often taken on the street, look so much more natural than traditional studio work. Portrait images are interspersed with landscape and detail shots using a visual language that reminds me of Alec Soth. Portraits are also taken in the subjects home adding another layer of context.<br />
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I prefer this kind of informal portraiture to the more traditional studio shots that used to be the stock in trade of more traditional portrait photographers; particularly celebrity and famous people work. They look so terribly contrived to me. The performance by the subjects are usually cranked up to the maximum and so easy to spot. Actors want to look serious, comedians funny, writers thoughtful, etc. Of course we all wear masks and even the subjects of the more natural looking street portraits are still performing in some way. I suppose the more contemporary work just feels fresher - maybe it will look just as contrived in twenty years time - who knows?<br />
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<a href="http://www.paulfloydblake.co.uk/">http://www.paulfloydblake.co.uk</a><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">The Guardian. 2012. [online] [Available] <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/nov/04/taylor-wessing-photography-prize">http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/nov/04/taylor-wessing-photography-prize</a> Accessed 27th May 2015.</span><br />
<br />Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-53550151283809359622015-05-25T06:10:00.000-07:002015-05-25T06:12:41.432-07:00Deutsche Borse Prize 2015 - The Photographer's Gallery<b><br /></b>
<b>Nikolai Bakharev</b><br />
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His day job a communal services factory photographer in 1970s USSR, Bakharev also photographed families relaxing at the beach. The images are small, tightly framed B&W photographs in the tradition of social documentary photography. The images are mostly posed with the subjects looking directly at the camera. They were taken at a time under the Communist regime when photographs of personal intimacy and nudity were frowned upon (the subjects are mostly wearing bathing costumes). The photographs are well composed and aesthetically pleasing.<br />
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During the student discussion of the work afterwards it was mentioned that they had a surreptitious feeling of being behind the bike sheds; that as images they felt tight and closed. I didn't pick up on this feeling myself. I actually made a note at the time that the people look relaxed and happy to be taking part in the making of the portraits; that there is 'no sense of restrictive behaviour' as indicated in the artist's statement; I wonder if the small print size, and tight framing helps to direct the viewer towards the closed reading. I feel I want to go back and take another look at these photographs to see if I can discern an alternate reading to my first reaction.<br />
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<b>Zanelle Muholi</b><br />
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This work was the standout exhibit for me. Muholi photographs black LGBTI people in South Africa. Her portrait work shows people solidly united in the face of prejudice, intimidation, violence, torture and often murder. The portraits are B&W, printed to poster size, and pinned with no visible wall space between them. They form a solid block of people united against adversity. To me the subject's eyes all speak one message; the words of Mulholi herself. "If I wait for someone to validate my existence, it means I will shortchange myself." Mulholi (2015)<br />
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On a side wall two video screens tell the stories of Lesbian women that have been tortured for their sexuality by their own communities. These are quite horrific and too much to listen to at times. The events are simply told almost matter of fact, such as a woman's teeth found scattered around the area of her murdered body - these details stay in the mind. The term 'Curative Rape' is mentioned. It seems that some men and supportive women will use any justification to freely abuse their power over others. I've often noted that Homophobic hate crimes can be extremely sadistic and the perpetrators often seem to relish their ability to cause pain and torture.<br />
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On the opposite wall to the video screens is a sheet that has a number of written messages of support from the UK LGBT community. Although we have legal protection in the UK this added element to the exhibition is a reminder that in many societies there is still much to be done to achieve full equality and that hate crimes still take place everywhere. There is no getting away from the fact that some people just wished that LGBTI people didn't exist; that we should just shut up about asking for something as basic as wanting equal rights with the rest of society.<br />
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The wall opposite to the portraits had a slideshow projection. These photographs were mostly in colour, less formal at times, and showed wedding groups, displays of affection between couples - a more social side to the subjects. To me the contrast made an important statement; that this is how LGBTI people want to be. The unity portrait posters on the opposite wall are more political. They show how we have to be.<br />
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<b>Mikhail Subotzky & Patrick Waterhouse</b><br />
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This work depicts the demise of a high-rise tower block in South Africa. Two, tall light boxes, containing images the size business cards create an impressive visual display when seen at a distance - almost like stained glass windows. When viewed up close we can see that the images make up views out of the Ponte City tower blocks windows, interspersed with interior room scenes. On another side of the light box the inhabitants TV Screens are photographed. The larger wall prints depict scenes in and around the high-rise. Some of the prints had small found photographs pinned to them, adding an extra layer of intertextuality. The found objects continued on another wall with what looked like an old lace table cover, letters and more found photographs. The work was visually interesting, though I understand it suffered from lack of space at the Photographer's Gallery compared to its recent showing at the Arles Photo Festival.<br />
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<b>Vivianne Sasson</b><br />
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'Umbra' is Latin for 'shadow' apparently. From a visual perspective this work was much more conceptual than the other pieces. The artist's statement says that the work is 'a manifestation of the human psyche'. The artist has chosen to depict this state in a number of different ways. There are purely abstract pieces that contort and intersect visual planes that confuse the eye. The work reminds me somewhat of Laura Letinsky's folded paper taped to walls, they create the same effect too. Sharon Boothroyd mentioned Jason Evans and I can also see a similarity in the work.<br />
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There were also more conventional photographic prints that featured shadows or blacked out sections in one form or another. What was interesting was that some items were framed, some tacked by their top edges only, leaving the bottom of the photographic paper to curl outwards. Was this intentional? The artist must have know that by not tacking all four corners that this curling would occur. Is it to reference the multiple planes of the more abstract pieces?<br />
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<b>Context</b><br />
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When I think about my own work I can relate it to Zanelle Mulhoni's exhibit. They are both about identity and in particular LGBTI. Whereas Mulhoni has looked at the subject from a political perspective with social elements, I have taken a more conceptual approach with the fictional hidden history - particularly in terms of the "Rubber Flapper' work. My other assignments too have mainly looked at identity in one aspect or another. I'm still finding my way with this subject - taking different approaches, looking at personal and larger social issues.<br />
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I can also take away something from the 'Ponte City' work too. Subotzky and Waterhouse's use of found objects is an element in art making that has always intrigued me. I have used appropriated images from the Internet in my first assignment. Could these be considered a kind of cyber found object? I'm not sure. With Sasson I wonder when I get to my level 3 studies if my work will indeed become much more abstracted. I feel I might be moving that way, but my sense of narrative is probably too strong to ever make a completely abstract piece of work.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mulholi, Z. Exhibition video excerpt. The Photographers Gallery, London. 2015.</span></i><br />
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<br />Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-12347118658583123692015-05-01T03:15:00.000-07:002015-05-03T01:40:22.674-07:00Redheaded Peckerwood - Christian PattersonThis book was recommended to me by fellow students at an OCA TV group meeting (thanks, John). I'd presented my 'Rubber Flapper' work and the discussion had moved on to my ideas for presenting the work in book format.<br />
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Redheaded Peckerwood is a book that visualizes the true-life story of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate. In 1957 the couple went on a road-trip shooting spree across Wyoming and Nebraska. The book contains a combination of trial photographs from the newspapers of the day, the photographer's images of described events, places the couple visited and reproductions of evidence often found on the victim's bodies. The book has an intriguing mix of the real and the imagined.<br />
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The introduction is in the form of a small booklet attached to the inside cover. It looks like it is typed on a mechanical typewriter and the fold-out format is an indication of the overall quirkiness of the book to come.<br />
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The layout and picture format are what really interested me. The images jump about from page to page. They change ratio and orientation. Analysing the way the spreads are set out will be really useful in helping to inform my 'Rubber Flapper' book design ideas.<br />
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One of the most interesting aspects of the book is the aforementioned pieces of evidence. They are inserted between the pages in their original ratios. For example, there is a gas station receipt that is much smaller than the book pages. It looked almost like it had been placed between the pages as a bookmark. Later in the book, a larger fold-out sheet, containing a poem, helps to add a sense of being able to touch real life artifacts. These little changes in format are interesting ways to enhance the narrative and are very effective.<br />
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Juxtaposition is used very effectively to visually enrich the narrative. We know from the books introduction that Robert Colvert, a young gas station attendant, was murdered by Starkweather. So when we see a brightly painted advertisement 'Ask for Ethyl' facing another image of a luminous oil spill we are left in no doubt about the metaphor - for the life that was shed on the concrete of a gas station forecourt.<br />
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There are other metaphors for murder too. Starkweather and Fugate murder a number of 15 year old Fugate's relatives along the way. Bullet holes in walls; a small knife protruding from peeling plasterwork - spilled ink. As we turn the pages we are taken on a death-trip across sombre landscapes; dirty beds with rumpled sheets; telephone wires in old houses - telling a tale of flight through the landscape; sleep captured fitfully and ill at ease.<br />
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The most compelling aspect of Redheaded Peckerwood is the seamless integration of real and imagined events, blended and brought together. As the viewer we do not know what is real or imagined - nor do we care. We are on our own vouyeuristic road-trip. Just like Starkweather and Fugate we've seen this movie before. We already know what the ending will be.Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-62949376509197180812015-04-30T03:56:00.001-07:002015-04-30T03:58:27.414-07:00Trish Morrissey - FrontI first saw Trish Morrissey's work 'Front' at the Turner Contemporary, Margate. It was part of the '<a href="https://www.turnercontemporary.org/exhibitions/self">Self</a>' exhibition that showed works from various artists, Warhol, Emin, Jason Evans, Gillian Wearing. The concept for the exhibition was to look at image and identity.<br />
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In Trish Morrissey's <a href="http://www.trishmorrissey.com/works_pages/work-front/workpg-01.html">photographs</a>, she'd approached groups of people relaxing at the beach and asked to be able to swap places with one of the women. She wore a token item of the person's clothing and after setting up her 5x4 camera, got the original woman to participate by taking the picture.<br />
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Morrissey describes the beach as a place where the boundary between natural chaos and cultural order collide. The series title 'Front' alludes to both the seafront and the masks that people wear in public.<br />
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I liked the images in the exhibition (I think there were about five from the series on display). I am interested in identity and the social construct of the family and I found both the images and the concept behind them intriguing. It is interesting that as a viewer we cannot really tell the difference in a photograph between a real family and one that has been infiltrated.<br />
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I'm reminded also of Jamie Diamond's 'Constructed Family Portraits'. This is where complete strangers were asked to pose as family groups. I remember this seemed to cause some consternation for some of the OCA students at the time, as they felt they had been tricked into believing in the images. I suspect an unconscious anger at breaking a social convention is taking place here. I think we are sold the idea of the perfect family from a very early age through the media and is culturally reinforced at every level. To break those ties is a social taboo and can make people uncomfortable. This is also why regardless of family conflict, we mimic happy family poses in photographs and participate in our own deception. <br />
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<br />Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-90685360404446701492015-04-28T07:45:00.000-07:002016-05-13T08:31:20.520-07:00Assignment 3 - family. armoured. fetish. consumer.Assignment 3, group portraits.<br />
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For this assignment I'm supposed to select 4 individuals that belong to a group of some kind and make 3 portraits for each of them - 12 portraits in total. I've decided not to do that, but instead look at the concept of group identities. One of the <a href="http://apartialmoment.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/questioning-identity-gender-class.html">set books</a> for this course looks at this subject, so I thought I would use this assignment to explore myself and the different group identities that I use to project myself to other people.<br />
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To explain the concept, we all adopt different identities. We slip in and out of them to suit a given social situation. There are any number of group identities that we may belong to. For instance, we could be members of the following groups: family, parent, adult child, single parent, teacher, mechanic, train spotter, political activist, photographer, etc. As we inhabit our multiple identities we suppress or project aspects of ourselves. We have identities for at home or in public; when we are with our parents, friends or professional associates.<br />
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For the assignment I will follow the brief and make 4 sets of 3 images. But each one would show different aspects of my own group identities - or at least how I perceive them to be. I spent some time thinking about how I am. I thought about public and private sides to myself and also identities that are forced upon me because of the type of society we live in.<br />
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I came up with:<br />
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<b>Family:</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj1qyHC3SPbKr2PWbMCxfJJcbauZNQU1UwmN3MfskA9I8e-1Vxxyqgwysib455PFk1vBjeGFGpaqseq8EJAJT0EhNzmDr0RM4nRvqoASknXbGsLTyy2caE68LT9YFMKttKd0GKUpd0IgY/s1600/family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj1qyHC3SPbKr2PWbMCxfJJcbauZNQU1UwmN3MfskA9I8e-1Vxxyqgwysib455PFk1vBjeGFGpaqseq8EJAJT0EhNzmDr0RM4nRvqoASknXbGsLTyy2caE68LT9YFMKttKd0GKUpd0IgY/s1600/family.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b><br /></b><b>Armoured:</b><br />
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<b>Fetish:</b><br />
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<b><br /></b><b>Consumer:</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7GSC11jzlPyqgdNX_UySENMdZUBq3YE2KvGhO1Et5g0WsImv-pzJdqJS4_OawodmOFoQQvo9WDQ_2gZ6dO2TIvJS0YZOG3HclIrqCKd9dAey6n3UehQvmgPQY72vRU6evGX66r7GtKwY/s1600/consume.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7GSC11jzlPyqgdNX_UySENMdZUBq3YE2KvGhO1Et5g0WsImv-pzJdqJS4_OawodmOFoQQvo9WDQ_2gZ6dO2TIvJS0YZOG3HclIrqCKd9dAey6n3UehQvmgPQY72vRU6evGX66r7GtKwY/s1600/consume.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<u>Family:</u><br />
My first image in this sequence is a snapshot that was taken after a family lunch. I put my camera into auto mode with flash so I could attempt to disregard any of the usual artistic exposure or focusing choices. I deliberately wanted the image to be informal and vernacular. This type of image, where everyone smiles for the camera, is most complicit in showing a 'happy family' stereotype – regardless of issues and personal conflicts. <br />
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The second image of the scattered plates in the wood is a representation of my ambiguous feelings about family and an attempt to show rifts and conflict. Portraits don't have to show people. They can be contextual and by the objects or places shown can reflect a state of mind, convey emotion or memory. Sometimes these type of images can say far more about the reality of family life than the vernacular snapshot ever will.<br />
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The third image is a response to the Diane Arbus photograph 'A family on their lawn, one Sunday in Westchester, NY 1968'. I wanted to make my own version that shows a family unit that is outside of the Heterosexual binary gender matrix. Quite often people will try to place Homosexual couples in relation to Heterosexual gender stereotypes. 'Who's Arthur and who's Martha?' To circumvent the stereotype I have copied some of the poses, swapped bodies around in relation to the original, and placed masks onto mine and my partner's faces so they cannot be easily read.<br />
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<u>Armoured:</u><br />
The first image in this sequence represents the family home. What happens here structures and informs the developing child's view of family and the the wider world. I'm always drawn to making images of house windows. For me they represent both safety and isolation.<br />
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The second image is my take on metaphorical body armour; how a protective cocoon of spikes can help and hinder ones personality at different times and in different contexts. The skipping rope is a metaphor for childhood beginnings, where play and learning take place, and childhood experiences are laid down that are carried into adulthood.<br />
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The third image shows anti-pigeon spikes on a ledge at a local cafe. An individuals world view is tempered by past experience. This image attempts to portray how, even in the most mundane situations, parallels with past experience can be recognised by an individual.<br />
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<u>Fetish : </u><br />
These three images show the private, varied and banal sides of fetish and human sexuality. In the past, sex was often lifted up to some lofty idyll in the arts, as if in an attempt to try and justify the subject in some way. Sex is sex. Animalistic and passionate. That aspect often seems to be missing from the subject in Art. Even Robert Mapplethorpe when he explored these subjects, used a Formalist approach that was, although controversial, primarily aesthetic.<br />
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In reading the introductory text to the book 'Robert Mapplethorpe' Keith Hartley states:<br />
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<i>Taking his cue from Warhol, who used self-portraiture as a means of self-promotion, self-disguise, self-delusion and self-discovery, all at the same time, Mapplethorpe photographed himself again and again...] [ In a number of works he laid himself bare; in others, he suggested facets of his sexual and emotional make-up...]</i> Hartley (2006).<br />
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I find the writer's comments on the use of portraits to project and protect, explore and discover pertinent to the topic of group identities. I would argue that it is the use of different masks/multiple identities that allows us to do this – to try them on, to see how well they fit.<br />
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<u>Consumer:</u><br />
The first image shows how aspects of consumer culture is still changing our society today. It wasn't that long ago that the possibility to drink coffee 'on-the-go' wasn't even an option in the UK. Now coffee express machines are available at most garages, along with drive-thru fast food outlets etc.<br />
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The second image shows the British obsession with barbecues – even though our summers aren't particularly reliable, we have bought into a manufactured 'outdoor lifestyle' where the garden is considered an extra 'room' which rather handily for retailers, requires filling with goods.<br />
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The third image is conceptual. I wanted to show that although we appear to have choices and options, they are rather limited and directed to a specific purpose – to consume.<br />
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<b>I then had to select one image from each set and discuss further:</b><br />
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<u>The final four</u><br />
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In keeping with the assignment brief I have selected one image from each group to discuss:<br />
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Family group - plates<br />
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Armoured group - window<br />
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Fetish group – fur rug<br />
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Consumer group - coffee cups<br />
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The reason for choosing these four is that I was conscious that they would now be viewed as a single group in their own right. Aesthetically they hang together well. They have similar tones and colour combinations. Also they are all contextual images without a visible face – which is quite telling and leans more towards my particular interests in photography.<br />
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Individually, the plates image is one of my favourites out of all twelve. I very rarely enjoy looking at images of people. I can admire the technical ability or composition but I much prefer contextual portraiture where there are objects to look at or the person is absent all together. That is why this particular assignment has been quite difficult for me. The window image, is again, a choice for contextual reasons. It is a metaphorical image that, for me, relates to childhood memory - as a child I spent a lot of time indoors looking out of windows. The fur rug image was quite fun to make and is completely staged. The fur rug is from my bed and has been placed on the kitchen floor. I then had to get into position with my partner and try and hold my camera up and shoot with one hand. I like the slightly blurred and grainy nature of this image – the jumble of legs, hands, and objects inject a dynamic element to the scene. <br />
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<b>Below follows a chronology of my time spent on this assignment.</b><br />
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<b>Chronology</b><br />
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<b>Mar 23rd:</b><br />
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While sitting upstairs by the window of Sainsbury's cafe I had some inspiration for one of my identity groups. I'd been thinking about another prop I've just had made for my assignment 1 re-edit. The prop for this is to do with body armour. As I was thinking about the use of metaphor in my images - to relate body armour to protection and survival, I noticed the anti-pigeon spikes on the cafe's window ledge. Perfect! I could get hold of some of these spikes and incorporate them into clothing for more body armour images for this assignment. Hopefully this will also show a sense of continuity between the two assignments. As soon as I got home I did some Google searches and it didn't take long to find the plastic anti-bird strips and order them.<br />
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<b>Mar 25th:</b><br />
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These are the cat masks that I've made for use in one of my family images. I need some elastic to turn them into wearable masks. I can't wait wait to re-create this Diane Arbus inspired photograph. The lawn needs cutting first so that the garden doesn't look too shabby - it needs to dry out a bit too.<br />
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<b>Mar 30th:</b><br />
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The anti-pigeon strips have arrived and I've been busy incorporating them into a pair of jeans and a top. I had a lot of fun trying to get into the adapted clothing. Once on, it was hard to walk and not damage the walls, myself, or the spikes!<br />
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<b>April 2nd:</b>
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More test shots today. I found a suitable space against a blank wall in my living room for my body spike shot. The light was better today and the spikes showed up well against both the dark blue hoody and the blank wall - good news, no artificial lighting seems to be required now. Because of using a new spot I did some more test images at different focal lengths. I had to switch to my 18-20mm lens and use a 30mm focal length to put my body in to the frame. Thinking about it now I need to be more methodical as I adjusted my tripod to get the camera lower to the ground. With the new tripod position I could probably swap back to my 35mm fixed lens - my preferred option.<br />
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<b>April 12th</b>:<br />
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At last a sunny day and the lawn is dry enough to make my Arbus inspired image. In my version I want to mess around with gender identity and family groupings - not sure quite why yet, but once made I'm sure the reason will show itself. I set up the chairs and a table with props. I asked Gerry to get into position while I sorted out the exposure and checked all the settings - I'm sure I drive him completely mad with my antics.<br />
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We tried a number of poses and in the end I was quite happy with the results. Here is Arbus's version alongside my own.<br />
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'A family on their lawn, one Sunday in Westchester, NY 1968'</div>
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'A family on their lawn, one Sunday in South Ashford, Kent 2015.'</div>
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<b>April 15th:</b><br />
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A trip to the woods today for another image in my 'Family' grouping. I'd already acquired some plates from a charity shop. They are the type to be seen in a home from my childhood memories - quite 'cutesy' and very traditional. They were easy enough to find and I made a small selection. My idea is to photograph them outdoors, in a wood or field, and to show them half buried.<br />
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I eventually found a suitable spot and took some time to randomly scatter the plates. At some point I flung them over my shoulder to try and achieve optimum randomness and one of the plates hit another and broke. This turned out to be one of those 'creative accidents' that helped to break up the symmetry of the round plates against the dark wooded background.<br />
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<b>April 18th:</b><br />
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My groups of images are coming along nicely now. I have a number of them and I'm thinking about presentation. I've decided to put the groups of three's onto a single piece of A4 paper for my tutor. The assignment notes asks for one of each grouping to be selected and printed bigger so I will print one from each, full size, onto A4 as well. I've begun post-processing in order to have them ready for uploading to the online printer.<br />
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<b>April 21st:</b><br />
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I've made some more images today - all three of the 'fetish' identity group. I wanted a sense of action and movement in these images. I think I've achieved that. I was quite loose with the use of my camera - handholding, not worrying too much about shutter speed. I put a fake-fur rug from one beds on the kitchen floor and enlisted Gerry again to help me make the image. It was really uncomfortable trying to hold my camera up with one hand - it's a D7000, quite heavy - and keep my legs twisted into position and fairly still at the same time. I think the chosen shot was worth it. Most of them came out blurred or pointing in the wrong place.<br />
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<b>April 28th:</b><br />
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The assignment notes are written, the images are back from the online lab and the whole lot is now in the post to my tutor. I enjoyed this assignment but am glad to be moving on. I am still quite behind with reading and blogging and keeping my learning log up to date. So much to do!<br />
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<b>May 14th:</b><br />
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My tutor feedback for this assignment was fairly positive and there are a number of points that he also made that I need to address before assessment. My tutor felt that the supplied images were too small. He felt frustrated that he couldn't fully see the detail. Catherine, a fellow OCA student, also made a similar comment (if I've read it right) when looking at the images online. I'm kind of pleased by the comments. My intention was to make them small and hard to read. I wanted to create a sense of needing to peer closer, to try and grasp at detail but not quite get there. If I'm entirely honest I don't think I want to be understood. Part of my armour for so long was/is to keep people at a distance. It is what I'm used to doing and where I'm comfortable. So in a way the difficulty of reading the small images could be seen as an intrinsic part of understanding my personality.<br />
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I have to find some way of incorporating this element into the assessment. I've toyed with the idea of using a small hand-held slide viewer and creating slides. I have this notion that by holding the slides up to the face the viewer will feel closer to the images, but at the same time the small size will still hold them back. I have to do some investigations into how I can transfer my digital file to slides. I may be able to get this done online, or I may just end up re-photographing the printed images with a 35mm slide camera. Lots to think about.<br />
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<b>Jan 20th:</b><br />
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I'm revisiting this assignment in preparation for assessment. My tutor feedback for this assignment noted that I hadn't quite met the brief. This is because the original assignment was supposed to allow for feedback from the sitters of the group portraits. This was to allow them to pick an image that they liked and provide a difference in perspective. Obviously as my group portraits are identity groups of myself, this difference of opinion is lacking.<br />
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To counter this I took the images along to the January Thames Valley study group. I showed the images to the group and asked for a favourite image and the reasons why.<br />
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A number of the group liked an image from the 'fetish' group the most.<br />
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The comments made stated that the image was:<br />
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"erotically charged"<br />
"alluring"<br />
"enticing"<br />
"anticipation of revelation"<br />
"you couldn't have made a less sexual image that is so sexual"<br />
"[the image has] a deep connection to the word"<br />
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The other image that received a number of favourable comments was from the 'family' group.<br />
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The comments made stated the image was:<br />
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"relaxed looking"<br />
"in my space"<br />
"positive"<br />
"happy"<br />
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[also a contextual comparison was made to the Diane Arbus image '<span style="text-align: center;">A family on their lawn, one Sunday in Westchester, NY 1968'</span>]<br />
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Finally the only other two images mentioned by individual group members were this one from the "armoured" group:<br />
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It was mentioned that the spikes conveyed:<br />
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"pushing away" [of people]<br />
"attack is a form of defence"<br />
"self harm"<br />
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This image is from the "armoured" group:<br />
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The aesthetic qualities of this image were mentioned:<br />
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"dappled light"<br />
"poetic"<br />
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I found this exercise to be very interesting. It was good to know that the majority reading of the fetish image was similar to my intent when making it. It was the image most talked about around the table and seems to have struck a resonant note, which is always good to know when making work.<br />
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I was also struck by the fact that some of the students seemed to gravitate to the more "positive" groupings, steering away from images they perceived as "negative". Is this a form of defence mechanism that kicks in when looking at work that may be perceived as dark or troubled? It may be that students will not share thoughts about this work because of the awkwardness of the image maker sitting in such close proximity. These are interesting issues to think about that add a depth or extra layer to the work when it is out of the hands of the maker.<br />
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Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-28874652872431057652015-03-15T02:37:00.000-07:002015-06-24T02:08:34.248-07:00Alexander GronskyThis photographer is primarily a maker of contemporary urban landscapes. The work is composed in a formal way with great attention given to how the compositions interact with the edge of the frame. Additionally the eye is drawn to the tiny figures in the compositions, dwarfed by trees, structures, vistas. Most of the work I've seen so far is taken in Eastern Europe and there is a cold clean light that pervades the landscapes.<br />
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Taken in the same environments, Gronsky's 'Pastoral' work looks at the familiar subject of edgelands - unused spaces that interconnect the rural and the developed. In Gronsky's images people inhabit these spaces, sunbathing, passing through, standing forlorn. They are surrounded by the detritus of urban living or large scale development - usually taking place in the distance. The people look like they are disconnected from the landscape somehow. As if they are unsure of how to inhabit the space or are lost and adrift.<br />
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Edgelands are often seen as a metaphor for contemporary urban culture and how we are now so disconnected from nature and the necessities for our own survival. The title of 'Pastoral' for this work seems incongruous as the term usually refers to a mythical ideal rural landscape of beauty and tranquillity that bears no resemblance to reality. I can only surmise that there is maybe some irony in choosing the title, because the scruffy nature of the edgelands are at odds with the pastoral idyll. I wonder if these are the only places available to escape and gather ones thoughts in these Eastern European urban environments?<br />
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<br />Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-1340481437092965072015-03-13T07:57:00.000-07:002015-06-24T02:08:56.084-07:00David HockneyThe earlier work of David Hockney is very appealing to me. The Splash images depicting Californian swimming pools use a restricted colour palette. The content and style exude a calming almost indifferent attitude. Probably because the beautiful people living their beautiful existence seem almost like Gods to me. As a voyeur of those scenes, I feel I could easily be standing, face pressed against the railings, at the gates of an exclusive house to which I would not be given admittance.<br />
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I envy those cool blue swimming pools and uncluttered Modernist houses. The paintings are mood lifters. Visions of warmer days and fresh sunny Californian mornings - promises of uncomplicated sex and wet foot prints on cool tiled floors. I could live in those paintings.<br />
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If I'm honest, I think the images appeal mainly from a sensual perspective. The desire for my own swimming pool in a hot country and to be young again. Although having taken a break from writing this post I've had time to reflect on my thoughts. I've had an idea for a Hockney inspired piece of work or series that deals with the emotions of longing and exclusion. I enjoy the process of taking thoughts and emotions and turning them into possibilities for art. I keep a sketchbook just for this purpose. I think I will jot these ideas down in case I have a need to refer to them again at a later date.<br />
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I also enjoyed looking at Hockney's Polaroid montages - both the actual photographic works and the drawings inspired by them. I have a Polaroid camera, given to me as a present, and I've been tempted a couple of times to use it to make a piece like the one below - not necessarily a nude. I'm always held back by the cost per image. Maybe I should give it a try.<br />
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The image below uses a much stronger colour palette than the Splash paintings. There is an immediacy to the work because of this and of course the fact that the montage is made up of photographs and not painted. I've seen the original in a gallery and it is a very large piece if I remember rightly. Hockney used a step ladder to get some height for parts of the composition and used different perspectives to jumble up the spatial characteristics. The work is more interesting for that.<br />
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<br />Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-90159461133025776792015-03-12T03:21:00.000-07:002015-06-24T02:09:16.951-07:00Laurie Toby EdisonThe work of this photographer is made in an attempt to bring about social change. Edison, initially a sculptor and jewellery maker, took up photography in order to fight for a cause. She wanted to show that larger women can be portrayed as beautiful. The book 'Women En Large: Images of Fat Nudes' took the form of a slideshow in its embryonic stage. The images were shown in various communities to generate discussion around the portrayal of large women in the media.<br />
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Similarly, Edison's next project also looked at the issues of body image. 'Familiar Men: A Book of Nudes' this time looks at masculinity. Whilst working on the subject Edison began to realise that masculinity was a complex and largely untouched subject matter. As she states in an online interview with Crescent Blues, the issues that affect and define men and women can be very different:<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Crescent Blues:</b> What kinds of issues are emerging as you do the work?</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Laurie Edison:</b> One thing I think is an excellent example of this: men are almost exclusively defined by what they do. When you show someone a book of female nudes, no one ever asks, "I wonder what she does?"</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Crescent Blues:</b> "Is she a lawyer; is she a doctor; is she a housewife?"</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>Laurie Edison:</b> No one has ever asked that about any individual photograph in <b>Women En Large</b>. But when you take men's clothes off, people often literally become confused. Men are so defined by what they do; and what you do and how you fit into the whole structure of things is defined by what you wear. The absoluteness of it really floored us.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><a href="http://www.crescentblues.com/3_5issue/edison.shtml">Full interview Crescentblues.com</a></i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This kind of photography is very much rooted in creating social change. It has a basis that strengthens and informs the images. I like the idea of working with communities to make pictures that comes out of, and reflects discussion, but I'm not sure it is a stance I could take myself. I'm not totally comfortable with large groups of people and I certainly wouldn't like to take a directive lead in projects such as Edisons.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I do think about similar issues around identity in my own work though. I just plug at it from a different perspective. I think there is plenty of room for </span>many different approaches - the making of work that is constructed can still take a viewer along a narrative path and hopefully lead them to think about the subject of identity more deeply.Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6844643088805509675.post-91155666528115446342015-03-05T03:53:00.000-08:002015-03-05T03:53:19.901-08:00David Favrod<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="border: 0px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">David Favrod caught my attention a couple of years ago. He makes constructed photography, often relating to memory or stories he was told by family members. He often uses props in his artistic practice too. There is a quirky nature to the work. In '<a href="http://www.davidfavrod.com/HIKARI.html">Hikari</a>' Favrod photographs himself wearing a jumpsuit and a pair of wings - he looks like some sort of mad inventor and the image draws me in. The sequence relates to childhood stories of WWII told to him by his Japanese grandparents. The image of the little girl with the watermelon crash helmet</span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"> is an inspired interpretation of her personal, and sadly unfortunate, story. The sequence of wooded landscapes have a bleakness to them that is informed by the constructed photographs - an extra dimension is given to the work by the juxtaposition of the two kinds of images. Favrod also uses text, layered across some of the images, that creates sounds in the mind (at least for those that can read Japanese).</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="border: 0px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">Most importantly, room is left for the viewer to find a sense of common ground. They can interpret the work in ways that fit with their own personal experiences of family strength through hardship that is universal. OCA tutor, Sharon Boothroyd has an interview with Favrod on her blog Photoparley.</span></span><br />
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<strong style="border: 0px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></strong><strong style="border: 0px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; vertical-align: baseline;">SB. "How important is mystery to you? And why? Do you want the viewer to bring something to the work?" </strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 21px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 21px; text-align: justify;">DF. "Mystery is very important in my work. Indeed it’s really important for me that the viewer brings his or her own history to the work. I don’t explain in the exhibition the stories behind each images there is only my statement in the entrance. So the viewer has the general idea but I hope they will ask themselves to create their own story with the different images." Favrod (2014).</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 21px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://photoparley.wordpress.com/2014/09/23/david-favrod/">Full interview on Photoparley</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With my last two assignments I've also attempted to explore themes that are personal to me that leave space for the viewer. I'm still finding my way, attempting to get the balance right. I'm not sure I'm there yet. Assignment 2 'Rubber Flapper' seems to be my most successful so far - even though it's not finished. The sequence has a direct narrative to follow unlike assignment 1 which uses dual narrative and is more open ended - again thinking to be done on this assignment too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seeing the work of photographers like David Favrod reinforces the belief that the constructed image can be used in many ways to create strong images with complex narratives. The visual language of photography is an effective way to show what often cannot be seen, cannot be found, cannot be told.</span>Michael Colvinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14539967401687648985noreply@blogger.com0