Part 3 - Exercise 3.6 - "The Memory of the Photograph"

Exercise 3.6 - "The Memory of the Photograph"

We are asked to read David Bate's essay "The Memory of the Photograph"; to read the text closely, noting Bate’s key points in your learning log, and extending 

your research to points that he references which are of interest to you. 

Unfortunately the OCA link takes me to a Spanish website and the article is not there. I have however found it here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17540763.2010.499609?scroll=top&needAccess=true

I hope this also helps any other student looking for this essay

I feel the key point within David Bate's essay is the question how does photography contribute to memory as an auxiliary function to both individual memory and to collective memory. Also that it can be subjected to incorrect recording and interpretation, distorted recording or even withheld. The latter in terms of human memory I could connect to suppressed memory and other memory that may eventually be stored electronically and also be withheld in some way

Bate quotes Freud:

"If I distrust my memory – neurotics, as we know, do so to a remarkable extent, but normal people have every reason for doing so as well – I am able to supplement and guarantee its working by making a note in writing. In that case the surface upon which this note is preserved, the pocket-book or sheet of paper, is as it were a materialized portion of my mnemic apparatus, which I otherwise carry about with me invisibly. I have only to bear in mind the place where this “memory” has been deposited and I can then “reproduce” it at any time I like, with the certainty that it will have remained unaltered and so have escaped the possible distortions to which it might have been subjected in my actual memory."

Freud confirms there are several options to support natural memory and Bate again quotes Freud:

"If I distrust my memory – neurotics, as we know, do so to a remarkable extent, but normal people have every reason for doing so as well – I am able to supplement and guarantee its working by making a note in writing. In that case the surface upon which this note is preserved, the pocket-book or sheet of paper, is as it were a materialized portion of my mnemic apparatus, which I otherwise carry about with me invisibly. I have only to bear in mind the place where this “memory” has been deposited and I can then “reproduce” it at any time I like, with the certainty that it will have remained unaltered and so have escaped the possible distortions to which it might have been subjected in my actual memory."

Bate quotes:

"Kracauer's work is less familiar, especially his posthumously published work on History, where he compares photography (and film) to the work of historiography: these practices all have historical narrative as a common denominator, he argues, which bonds their respective aims together "

So Bate is recognising that photography is aid just like note making to recording memories but I think he hints recorded memories can be false, misinterpreted and elements with held for whatever reason just in the same way human recorded memories can be

Bate observes:

"One of the striking points that Jacques Derrida makes in Archive Fever is that an archive is not a question of the past, of “dealing with the past that might already be at our disposal or not at our disposal, an archival concept of the archive”. Rather, “It is a question of the future, the question of the future itself, the question of a response, a promise and of a responsibility for tomorrow”

This I interpret to mean the responsibility to record now for future recollection

"Photographs are one of the most important technological inventions for Jacques Le Goff because photography is the machine that industrializes visual memory." Bate confirms but I believe the human memory is multi dimensional and sounds, smells and emotions are also recorded within the human brain. a photograph may only jog them visually

While Bate peruses the Photograph Trafalgar Square by Talbot he muses "so too are memories subject to the same procedures, like mis-remembering" we know humans can share share entirely different memories of the same event for different reasons. The photograph, whilst its content can be hard to challenge the selection of what information is bound within the image frame can itself be a misinterpretation, a different memory of the event.

I the Bate sums this up nicely at the end "With photographs, memory is both fixed and fluid: social and personal. There is nothing neutral here. As sites of memory, photographic images (whether digital or analogue) offer not a view on history but, as mnemic devices, are perceptual phenomena upon which a historical representation may be constructed. Social memory is interfered with by photography precisely because of its affective and subjective status. "

This was a challenging read but within it is an interesting theme in associating photographic and human memory as having similar foibles and in my view both affect and impact the other.

Part 3 - Exercise 3.5 - Local History

Exercise 3.5 - Local History

Using the internet, local library, museum or any other resources at your disposal, conduct 

a short investigation into a historical aspect of the area in which you live or are currently 

based. This could relate to industry or other narratives in the distant past, or a more recent 

event.

I live in Lydbrook, in the Forest of Dean which has an amazing history that is probably unknown by most. Wikipedia quotes the following:

“Lydbrook is a civil parish in the Forest of Dean, a local government district in the English county of Gloucestershire. It is situated on the north west edge of the Forest of Dean's present legal boundary proper. It comprises the districts of Lower Lydbrook, Upper Lydbrook, Joys Green and Worrall Hill. It has a mile and a half long main street, reputed to be the longest main street of any village in England.

The region now structuring the present town of Lydbrook has been possessed all through history. Antiques from Hangerberry and Eastbach on the south west corner of the area, and Lower Lydbrook show proof of broad movement from the Mesolithic period (Middle Stone Age 10,000 - 4000 BC) to the present. Rock / stone instruments from encompassing fields affirm that the range was possessed and cultivated for more than 4,000 years.

Lydbrook was inhabited by the Romans as there is evidence of a Roman homestead along Proberts Barn Lane, Lower Lydbrook. The timber building detected on the site may date from the 1st Century AD. A later building was constructed with stone walls. This building was still inhabited in the 4th century. The site was also a farming and agricultural centre in the Roman period. There is also evidence of Roman activity at Hangerberry with traces of a Roman pavement. We know that a Roman road came from Ruardean through Lower Lydbrook (tracing the Wye) to English Bicknor. A further ancient road existed between Joys Green and English Bicknor via Bell Hill. Traces of a Roman Road also exist from Worrall Hill to Edge End. These Roman track ways show evidence of following the course of previous prehistoric paths. In 1881 it was reported that a large quantity of Roman coins were found at Lower Lydbrook. Recent archaeological excavations by the Dean Archaeological Group in and around Lydbrook have recovered further coins from the Roman period, as well as other artefacts pre-dating and post dating this period.

"Lydbrook". Wikipedia. N.p., 2016. Web. 20 Aug. 2016.

In fact the history of Lydbrook is enormous and much to vast to cover in detail within this exercise. Coal mining and iron ore mining has been a large industry in the Forest of Dean and its location to the River Wye an important factor for the growth of these historic industries.

Later railways allowed industries to grow further and an historic viaduct construction took place in 1872 enabling local railway lines to connect to the bigger Ross on Wye and Monmouth line.

An uncredited photograph of the viaduct

  

Eric Bottomley’s painting of a train on the Lydbrook Viaduct

The construction was dismantled in 1965 as it was deemed un-safe so there is little left of of a construction which would have had a significant impact on the landscape.

Like many collieries of the time they experienced tragedy and loss of life through incidents where men are working underground. 

This is the "Roll of Honour" sculpture at New Fancy which commemorates miners killed or injured working in mines or quarries within the Forest Of Dean.

However there are also some stories of rescues. A common problem with many mines, especially those in the Forest of Dean, is Geology and mining in the coalfield has always been hampered by the excessive amount of water encountered underground - trapped by the basin-shaped strata. 

On the 30th June 1949 a breach was made into a neighboring tunnel filled with water at the Arthur and Edward Colliery and the tunnel become flooded threatening the lives of nearly 200 men trapped underground. Thanks to Harry Toomer, who later received the British Empire medal for his deeds, these men were rescued. However 5 men remained trapped. Fortunately an old mine shift of the Plud Colliery shaft had been recently re-opened as a ventilation shaft. The trapped men had to make their way slowly to this shaft .At the top the rescue team built an A-Frame fitted with a winch and was able to rescue these 5 men.
"Forest Of Dean". Way-mark.co.uk. N.p., 2016. Web. 20 Aug. 2016.

The Pludds as they are locally known are some hills and these are very close to my home location. I have managed to track down the exact location of this rescue mine shaft whilst out walking in the woods / hills close to me and am pleased and also surprised that a plaque had been established and the old mine shaft still present but capped with a concrete cover

The brief of 300 words which I have exceeded is too small to cover this subject in any depth. Instead I have researched a high level overview of my current home location, established some insight into local industry and how this resulted in perhaps the sublime of the viaduct construction formed part of the beauty of the local landscape. Whilst the viaduct itself has gone as has the mining industry it was good to see an historic reminder of a happy event of the past.

If this was the subject of Assignment 3 then I think I would have researched a specific mine that I could get access to and take a number of images above and below ground and tried express through images what life may have been like working underground. Of course for visitors to get in then its been made very safe unlike the original working conditions. There will be remnants of the mining industry and photographs of evidence or perhaps lack of evidence as time has progressed and the landscape has changed as a result (the viaduct a good example) would have been interesting.

Part 3 - Exercise 3.4 - A Persuasive Image

Exercise 3.4 - A Persuasive Image

Part 1

Environmental change is now something we are much more aware of. Just this week the local council issue us a new recycling bin so we now separate glass from tins and a new bag for cardboard. Drive through any village on the right day and instead of just the old grey wheelie bin there is myriad of different colour bins, boxes and bags to allow household was to get collected and recycled.

My youngest daughter, who reaches 18 this month, as a younger child once asked me "how much more harmful emissions would we be making" as a result of a detour I had to make to get home due to local flooding. She hit on 2 issues of environmental change, one by accident the other due school subjects. I think its excellent for this generation to be much more aware of environmental harm that everyday life can cause. It was not a subject or issue I recall when I was at school.That said we we will always be plagued by another increasing attitude of this generation, the "I can't be bothered". I can't bothered to take my rubbish home and instead will throw it out the car window or I'll dump a bag of at the roadside with a council recycling centre just a mile away.

The environment is changing, we see evidence for this. The power of the internet allows us to see so much more. Governments make promises yet the strongest sign shown by many is to instead invent taxes and call them green.

I live in the countryside in the Forest of Dean, I grew up in the hills around Wonersh, a small village in Surrey. The ability to walk just yards to find woodland walks is not lost on me, nor the fact many others don't have this luxury. To wake up and find this one day gone or destroyed would also destroy something of me inside.

Colin Finlay who perhaps is best described as a photo journalist and interestingly was once a photocopier salesman has for the last 30 years been producing images of the environment. He has been as part of his travels including remote locations been producing images depicting the results of climate change. As shocking as some of the images really are the images themselves are stunning, colourful and often vibrant. These images are different and perhaps less shocking than some of his images taken in a Darfur refugee camp, but have a similar impact touching a different element of my physche, and most likely most people's.

Colin's website can be found here: http://www.colinfinlay.com/

Tailing Ponds from Alcoa aluminium plant, Texas

Melting Glaciers, Iceland

Tailing Ponds, Tar Sands, Alberta, Canada

The images are truly stunning a most certainly one of the best examples of Beauty and the Sublime. As stand alone images to the un-enlightened viewer they can be fascinating images full of vibrant colour, shape and movement allowing the eye and mind to wander for many minutes.

An early photography tips given to me once was how do you know which is the professional photographer among a group of many? The one nearly down. The insight was not lost on me, it meant the more experienced photographer was taken images at a different view point, different perspective, creating something different. In this instance Finlay has taken these images from the air and they are more magnificent for it.

However there is a strong underlying theme and a passion close to Finlay's heart. These images are part of a bigger set where is highlighting the disastrous impacts man is having on the environment.

The scale of the impact is perhaps better understood from this viewpoint. There is sufficient information within the image to be able to generate a sense of scale. When this is grasped I think viewer moves from a sense of wonder and awe, to a, in my case, a feeling of pain and sickness.

Finlay wants people to look at these images in the hope they generate interest, empower people to look further and deeper and in some cases simply be aware what is happening right next to people who may not even be aware of it happening.

The images created in me a sense of wonder and beauty but with the underlying theme of horror and destruction. I think the biggest ingredient for change is for people to want it to happen. Awareness of the problem is perhaps the first step and I think Finlay is making a significant effort toward this with these images and many others. 

Part 2

For this exercise we asked to:

"Consider an issue (social, political or environmental) that you feel strongly about. Design an image that you think will have a persuasive effect upon a viewer."

I've thought about childhood memories, things taken for granted as a child and as a parent with children growing. There has always been a fascination of jumping in puddles for children, and a lot of laughs from watching parents.

Using Google images I've searched for an image an image that gives me the potential to adjust the image, convey a message at the same time as incorporating a child's fascination with water.

I've imported the image into photoshop and using a plug in called Color Effex Pro altered the color of the water to something that more resembles polluted water and applied a blurred vignette to help maintain the primary focus of the child and the water at their feet.

Looking advertising fonts I've used Franklin Gothic Demi and applied my own environmental message. I've posted this on my facebook page so it will be interesting to see what response this generates.It will be interesting to see what response come from what people e.g. parents with young children, parents with older children, Grandparents etc