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

Part 3 - Exercise 3.3 - Late Photography

Exercise 3.3 -  Late Photography

Part 1

David Campany in his essay "Safety in Numbness" stated:

“One might easily surmise that photography has of late inherited a major

role as undertaker, summariser or accountant. It turns up late, wanders

through the places where things have happened totting up the effects of

the world’s activity.”

However is it really safety?

Is the portrayal of "afters" a safe activity?

Reportage photography can be controversial, Euro 2016 late photography might suggest incidents such as the penalty that was not given, the goal that never was. This perhaps captures the incident as it happened such as the off the ball incident. However the disappointment of players and fans after the game can be made worse if the see an incident or activity not seen by the referee and the side in someway punished for it. In terms of England at the Euros ability needs to be matched by togetherness and passion

Ultimately though isn't all photography a momentary capture of the present but retained and displayed showing the past?

Memories are precious to us where they may display ourselves having a good time or simply a remembral of an important past event. As a our world changes around us both for better and for worse we often compare the current to what was and also consider that the current today is also destined to become the past.

I see no truth in photography being considered as heading toward the role of summariser. In fact I am excited about it. For many current photographers digital photography is a switch from film. Whilst we should never forget its history, for many people digital photography is all they know. Modern technology allows us all to participate in the capture of light.

The extraordinary is now more apparent amongst the ordinary and timeless images continue to be created. Though we may be bombarded by images of a similar style those that portray something different become better as a result. The world is a miraculous place though we may be challenged at times to find these miracles they exist for us to capture and share because they are missed by the masses.

I've detailed a link below to some images hosted by Time. All events captured are historic but are timeless at the same time:

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/05/24/20-timeless-photos-that-made-our-week/photo/par116812-1/

As students of the art of photography we are sometimes challenged to incorporate an element of the cerebral into the image e.g. make the viewer work for the understanding rather than present it in one go.

Late photography can do this. In showing us the aftermath we wonder what the past looked like and also the event the evolved into the scene captured by the camera. As viewers are we not challenged more? 

The interpretation of a late image can become more debatable. I see no safety in the taking of the images and if taken well can become much more demanding of thought.

I travel past Didcot Power Station twice a week and the same sight greets me as it has for months but the emotion it invokes in me is no less. Whilst not a war zone nor a scene of mass death, death has occurred and in truth remains. Hope has long since been replaced by certainty. The image does in truth capture an event in history but for me its not a safe image at all. Its a powerful image that continues to remind me how frail our bodies are and how quickly events in our lives can take place. Loved ones, friends are still waiting for the opportunity to say a final farewell to those who lost their lives. I feel no numbness to the scene I see on a regular basis and this image below reaffirms this for me. The image is indeed historic, but the pain is current and resolution remains in the future

Part 2

The scenes of the plane impacts into the Trade Centre Buildings and their subsequent fall have been replayed many, many times on television and in papers and magazines. 

Joel Meyerowitz in his book Aftermath over a period of around 9-10 months attempted to create a record of events after the buildings fell. It captures activities and events during the process to turn the site of the collapsed buildings to what its become today. More importantly it shows images of the process that workers undertook in their attempts to recover the remains of every person who lost a life as a result of this tragic event.

I don't feel that everyone understand the scale of the activities performed, myself included. The size of the buildings to most of us would have been had to imagine before their fall. The buildings eventually become reduced to their constituent components and mixed in with this the remains of human life.

The people within our world are much less isolated than they were before. Modern technology allows us to participate in world events from afar and also are much more interested in events outside or local area or immediate country.

Many innocent lives were lost and we must also remember many lives were lost trying to help people. The efforts of people involved in the recovery of bodies and building elements are also incredible and deserve a mention in history. Man has always been able to take stock of things following terrible events and start the rebuilding process to once again start moving forwards.

The sheer scale of this process is hard to understand and Meyerowitz's images help convey this to an interested public who want to understand.

I remember vividly the day this occurred, where I was, what I was doing. One of my work colleagues had a family relation in the building and I recall his emotions and stress and his desire to return home to his family. This relation was fortunate and made their evacuation in time. Of note this lucky individual was travelling back to their home on a ferry watching events unfold and recalled to my colleague at a later date that people on the ferry was so scared and didn't understand what was happening and in some cases where leaping of the ferry
Meyerowitz's images show the events after the tragedy and this is also important to us as observers as it is to those who lost someone. I've not read the book but have seen some of the images and these are images one may not expect to see. We see many events on TV but never the process of recovery. Reviews of his book vary from gratitude to understanding but also to it as project that is flawed

Part 3 Exercise 3.2 - Postcard Views

Part 1

We are asked to gather 6-12 postcards that we may have received. I think those received from people on holidays have long since perished or been thrown away. The tradition in my time the 80/90s was to send a postcard when on holiday explaining if you were having a nice time, what the weather and food was like etc. Quite often as I recall I was back before the postcard arrived! 

The internet, mobile phones etc now mean as a communication method on the back of a picturesque view from where you were staying. I think instead the postcard in modern times is bought by tourists as a reminder of the holiday or visit to a holiday location. This may be because they don't have a camera, cant recreate the scene on a postcard with a camera or because they have an instant reminder.


Postcard 1

Though now living in the Forest of Dean Gloucester, I grew up in Wonersh, Surrey leaving at age 21 to pursue a career. This image is of the small park next to Wonersh C of E church where many of my relations got married, including my brother. Though my brother had a summer wedding it was unfortunately a wet and rainy day with the images of his and his wife's day taken with people grouped inside the arch under the parapet that we both threw stones from. No doubt this irony was remembered and laughed about later that day. We often used to climb up and into the parapet at the top and throw small tint stones at passing vans. Those that stopped had drivers looking over the small walls either side not realising we were above laying down and un-observable. I don't condone this type of entertainment now but unfortunately succumbed as a young person. I've not been here for 24 years I think


Postcard 2

 This appears to have been taken at about 90 degrees or so left of the position of the postcard image above. Though its not obvious the path leads to an arch through the 10ft high walls surrounding the church


Postcard 3

Taken the other side of the gatehouse in image 1. I used to do a paper-rounound along this round for 3 years I think keeping the same round.


Postcard 4

Following the road to the left in the postcard above will find this location. The image is incorrectly labelled the square. If you were to give this location you would call it the Pepperpot, the nickname given to the open shelter at the road junction. To the left of the Pepperpot was the local stores, the building to the right is the local pub The Grantley Arms which was my watering hole for a number of years, starting at least one year before I reached 18!


Postcard 5

A better view of the Grantley Arms on the right. I spent at least 8 years waiting at the spot bottom left og the image for coaches or buses to take me to the two schools in Cranleigh. There is a red phonebox to the left of the image we used to hide in when it was raining. On one of these mornings we witnessed a lorry for some reason in bed it self in the pub as it came round the corner. It gave us some amusement. In recent years an often run Lloyds Bank TV advert showed an image of the "pepperpot" similar to that above


Postcard 6

This postcard is from 1910 and the from the same photographer as most of those above.

Should postcards have been created of my village during my youth I wonder what fuure generations would make of them. Likely the same amazement at the clothes people wore and the cars captured in the images. However I hope the majority of the scene remains unchanged is also looked upon both favorably and fondly as I do and I can enjoy some of the memories that were created here.

Part 2

Graham Clarke said "“… the landscape photograph implies the act of looking as a privileged
observer so that, in one sense, the photographer of landscapes is always
the tourist, and invariably the outsider." 

I think in my mind this could be both a truth and an untruth. I think Clarke makes his statement assuming that the photographer is a visitor to the area which he is photographing. The privileged he mentions I find less able to explain. Is this because the photographer has a limited amount of time to seek a view to capture? Is the privilege because the photographer can see the scene with his own eyes "in the flesh" and also capture it on film or digitally?  This might be true if capturing scenes or memories from a location briefly visited.

In the case of the postcards above based upon the village I grew up in for 21 years had I taken these images I would not have felt an intruder nor a tourist. These postcard images were taken over 100 years ago in most cases yet are as intimate to me as if I had taken them myself. Very little had changed to the village I grew up in over 60 years later and my last visit to the village about 5 years ago 20 years on showed little had changed.

So in looking at the postcard images I feel privileged to be reminder of many, many memories but never as a tourist, nor of an outsider but most certainly as an insider. This perhaps ensures this postcards mean much more to me than as a tourist or outsider to my life growing up in this village.

Part 3 Exercise 3.1 - Reflecting on the Picturesque

Exercise 3.1 - Reflecting on the Picturesque

Pictorialism arguably started as a genre in the 17th century but became popular in the 18th century with a spread in terms of style incorporating the beautiful through to the sublime and some capturing both in the same image. This style continued in its popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries. At the outset of photography many painters began to use photography as the means to help capture images from which with memory used as the basis for paintings and an aide to their creative talents. 

As photography developed, it arguably became an art form in its own right and to some degree championed by Photographer's such as Alfred Stieglitz.

The art form lay not just in the decision of where to place the camera under what lighting conditions but the methods for the exposing of the film and its processing by photographer's like Ansel Adams.

Perhaps for the public it allowed many to see the before unseeable, some to dream about locations captured by the myriad of pictorialist photographers. For some picturesque images were just a matter of opening one's eyes and seeing them if they lived in the country or close to locations with stunning views. For those in cities and towns these locations may have been unreachable but enjoyed as photographs.

Interestingly as this exercise starts there is an image of Frank Newbould's "The Wye Valley 1946" which was one of many images he took to promote tourism as transport posters for Great Western Railway. This would encourage visitors to picturesque locations perhaps boosting local trade but primarily boosting the profits of the GWR company transport them to and from these picturesque locations

This particular scene is taken from Symonds Yat Rock in the Forest of Dean where I live. I'm actually in the process of taking 4 pictures from this very same spot, one being taken for each of the four seasons. I'm assuming Newbould took this image using a medium format camera based on the shape of the image

Image 1

This image is taken by myself from what appears to be a very similar position, I think I am a bit higher than Newbould's position



Image 2

Using Photoshop I've used the adjustment posterise and wonder if the Great Western Railway would have be happy to consider this also.

As an individual desiring to develop my photographic skills into an artform then I begin to realise that I must also progress the type of images I want to create. Look at one or 2 picturesque images and they can be enjoyed, look at a dozen and perhaps like too many sickly sweets our receptors become numbed

Andy Adams asks the questions:
 - Why do people photograph places? 
 - What compels artists to make images of the land? Are their intentions similar or different than previous generations?"

I enjoy the pictoresque image as much as the next person but I feel that as my understanding of photography as an art form grows my hunger for a different type of photographic image of the landscape grows also.

I've discovered the Flak Photo Collection website which allows subscription to images to begin to satiate my hunger for images of a different substance and certainly flavour.
http://flakphoto.com/collection

Picturesque images have changed since their origins; I think because we demand more. We can all see the obvious and travel there if its not close. Landscape photography is evolving both in terms of the exploration performed by modern practitioners, but also as observers of images since we have become more demanding and require more stimulation

Assignment 2 - A Journey - With Tutor Feedback

Assignment 2 - A Journey

I've detailed my Tutors comments in RED and my response to his comments in GREEN

Overall Comments

A big conceptual leap from which there’s no going back
Thanks. Yes, its consistency going forwards and this will be a big but an exciting challenge.

The Assignment challenge states "Produce a series of approximately 12 photographs that are made on, or explore the idea of, a journey. The journey that you document may be as long or as short as you like. You may choose to re-examine a familiar route, such as a commute to work or another routine activity, or it may be a journey into unfamiliar territory. You may travel by any means available."

Project 2 The Road introduced a few films including Cormac McCarthy's "The Road". I haven't read the book but I found the film quite distressing  and thought provoking. It described a father and son journey across an apocalyptic landscape, almost a search for a safe haven but its a journey undertaken in the main walking on roads.

Whilst we never understand the reason for the event or exactly what it is the change to what can be regarded as normal life is very significant. 

When there was discussion about the earth being at risk of being hit by a large space objects it inspired a number of films around the subject. However most of these films were about the build up to the event and the actual event it self rather than life after the event itself. These films included Armageddon, Deep Impact, Meteor etc. These films do have a resonance as they seem feasible and indeed NASA admit on occasion of near misses, in space terms, of objects they did not detect until they had flown by.

However the events in the film The Road perhaps are the scariest; how would people survive after say an apocalyptic event where the things we take for granted in everyday life are suddenly gone, basic instincts for survival must come to the fore else the result could be death. How would one protect them self, their partners their families. These instincts for survival would likely result in the strong stealing from the weak, or indeed perhaps people might group together for mutual protection.

There have been several films where the director using either special effects, special film processing or filters altered the appearance, perhaps more the colour of the landscape to help increase the feeling he wants to give to the viewer. Steven Spielberg used a bleach bypass effect which seemed to add a gritty feel to the film "Saving Private Ryan" which is also a journey / search

One of the actors in this film, Vin Diesel, was the main character in the film Pitch Black. Whilst not an apocalyptic event nor on planet earth  the bright and harsh light effect on the planet and its inhabitants created by special effects team Double Negative that one could imagine.

Films such as 2012 and The Day after Tomorrow both describe a journey of some distance as part of earth and life changing events. The Mad Max series of films also describe life and survival following catastrophic events but again its the colouring effect of the film The Book of Eli showing the journey of a nomad in a post apocalyptic future and this colouring of the film appears to add a greater sense of feeling of a world almost destroyed and barren.

Photographer Lori Nix has created a set of urban post apocalyptic images where she imagines what a post human future may look like. Interestingly some of the images bear a strong resemblance to scenes with the Fallout games series where the player is able to roam across a post apocalyptic wasteland that includes ventures into buildings perhaps similarly described:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/photos/photographer-creates-post-apocalyptic-urban-landscapes-22668145/image-22668805

Games Creator Naughty Dog using images taken from around the world of key landmarks have created a view of what these landmarks could look like following a post apocalyptic event or perhaps even following a terrorist act:
http://blazepress.com/2014/07/photographs-reveal-world-might-look-post-apocalypse/

The digital artwork by Steve McGhee contains his imaginative designs for end of the world scenes. Some of the images contain a striking resemblance to elements within the flms 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3372059/Who-says-work-s-disaster-Artist-creates-incredible-images-world-end.html

Undertaking Exercise 2.2 Explore a Road allowed me an opportunity to experiment by colouring my images to help create a stark, remote possibly apocalyptic feel to my images and also to help creative exploration as I neared Assignment 2
http://warrenjonesphotographylandscape.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/part-2-landscape-as-journey-exercise-22.html

The way Donavon Wylie created a starkness within his set of Maze images and created a feeling of being there and of the despair that someone might have making the journey along the same route as Wylie's camera.

I think in modern times the risk of an atomic war perhaps started by one of the middle eastern countries becomes a strong possibility. Certainly the imagination does not need to be stretched to far to imagine an escalation in the type of terrorist events we are seeing even only recently. 

Its with these thoughts, the influences of the films and artists I've mentioned and of using elements of Wylie's approach to his images I've created a set of images that detail a journey.

 - What would happen in the event a serious incident, a terrorist act, a bomb or series of atomic bombs in some way began the destruction of life, the landscape etc as we know it?

 - What would happen if you found yourself away from your family, small children or even the comfort of perceived safety associated with your home?

 - What if you had to undertake this journey, perhaps with a friend, partner, husband or wife?

 - What if the companion undertaking this journey was injured, ill and was unable to keep up completely and unlikely to complete the journey with you

 - What  if you were the injured person would you want your partner to continue that journey without you, could you be selfless enough to encourage them to continue without you?

 - What if you were the uninjured and currently healthy person, could you continue your journey, not looking back for fear you would stop and return to the injured person or would you continue your journey?


However of course for many people unless prompted they would not imagine the scene portrayed to be a rendition of an apocalyptic journey. However I feel there is sufficient information within the images as a set to reflect it as journey with the camera acting as the second person, perhaps following, perhaps even voyeuristic but I want the viewer to be question what is the purpose of the journey, where are they going, why are they walking this route. I'm trying to have the viewers eyes confined within the burnt edges of the frame, exploring the texture of the trees, the undergrowth, the path within the image and examining the shadows which lean and guide the eyes toward the main subject. Is the tree blocking the path, how will it be navigated, why can't the follower overcome the obstacle

These are the questions I'd like the viewers of my images to consider and to discover what emotions these may bring. This is the punctum within my images I'd like the viewers to discover.

Image 1

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

Image 5

Image 6

Image 7

Image 8

Image 9

Image 10

Image 11

Image 12

Evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of my work in response to the brief

The images in my opinion come across initially simple but perhaps like Edouard Manet’s "A Bar at the Folies-Bergère"  there is some depth to the images. I've tried to develop a story within the set of images depicting a journey. The story can be itself simple or complicated subject to the viewers train of thought and interpretation of the images. The subject remains obvious throughout the set of images but there is also other elements for eyes to discover such as light, contrast and texture.

I had weeks in advance planned out what I wanted to do but the difficulty was creating images that were similar but different, conveyed a feeling of movement and a journey that the viewer could follow.

Should I have exposed each image the same, was a right in metering each separately. The timing of the images has been purposefully selected to make use of low light and long shadows and the direction of the camera selected so that the shadows appear to match the direction of movement of the subject and camera as rather than be opposed to the shadows and possibly cancelling out any implied movement.

There is significant contrast within the images, have I time the shoot correctly, should it have been earlier, have a created the right level of contrast have been able to successfully create implied movement within the images to assist the conveyance to the viewer of a feeling their are also on a journey as well as the subject and the camera. I say camera but have been successful in making the viewer feel the camera is a companion to the subject or an observer.

I'm not sure how successful I have been in my selection of processing by toning the images and burning the edges. I've attempted to use elements of the influences I mentioned earlier and I've remained true to my original goal of attempting to create a post apocalyptic journey and its this element where I thing I have not been as successful. Perhaps as a film director or a photographer with investment I could have include additional props such as destroyed vehicles, perhaps even simulated corpses, broken and dying trees.

I wasn't quite sure if I wanted to continue to take images with the camera positioned at the tree and allow the subject to continue walking and fade in the distance. However until this point I had kept the camera moving along with the subject and undertaking the same journey. I felt the moment the camera stopped moving then the viewers journey also stopped and this created a kind of tension that I didn't want to fade like the subject would have

In email exchange with my tutor I confirmed reflecting on the assignment and his feedback:

‘there is an interesting journey I'm starting to undertake and a balance between risk, creativeness, intention and final result’

My Tutor responded:

"Yes that’s now being evidenced in the work and this is the type of reflection that’s important to have on the blog to demonstrate to assessors the growing conceptual sophistication of your ideas about photography and the contextualisation of your work with in it."

Technical choices I made to help me communicate my ideas, and also 

references relevant artists and photographers who have influenced the creative direction of my project.

Perhaps like some of the film directors for the films I mentioned prior to the images I've used a tone colouring technique, in my case using the Silver Effex Pro photoshop plug-in and a copper colour and also used the tool to burn the edges to help create images that one would not normally expect to see but perhaps could be linked through watching some of the films in the past to generate a similar feel and theme by association  i.e. post apocalyptic. I wonder how much the toning affects the images; in a set of 12 after looking at the first few images does the colour become less influential and instead add to the story I want to convey rather than to distract and detract.

Specifically films such as

 - The Road

 -  Saving Private Ryan 

 - 2012

 - Pitch Black

 - Mad Max series

 - The Day After Tomorrow

 - The Book of Eli

have influenced my ideas including a decision to colour my images.

Donavon Wylie's approach to the Maze  helped keep a focus on a simple and uncomplicated set of images that when combined create an overall emotion where as an individual image would perhaps not create the same feeling.

Photographer Lori Nix has produced very interesting and thought provoking images which are interesting could allow me to progress my own take of the style of images taken post apocalypse. Her images a very much static and allow the eyes to wander through out the image. This I think is in opposition to Steve McGhee's work

Digital artist Steve McGhee has almost created a mini film and story within in each individual image, each has a lot going on inside and contain much energy

Game Creators Naughty Dog in taken famous landmarks and recreating them in broken, run down, partly destroyed ways allow the mind to conjure up what the surroundings local to these landmarks would also look like without the viewer having to see them

My reasons for selecting particular views, and arriving at certain visual outcomes

I mentioned above Wylie's simple clean and perhaps clinical approach and it was this simplistic approach which I wanted to be a key theme. A pathway with woods either side enabled me to keep this base element within my images.

By moving along the pathway I feel I created images that then became slightly different, varying the distance between subject and camera would cause the viewer to ask questions of the images and perhaps discover my story or create their own. to discover mine I think I would need to introduce with words sufficient clues to lead them to it.

Using low afternoon light I've enable shadows to be captured and to help the image become more 3D than 2D. The colour toning has been a gamble and I'm not entirely sure how successful its been but I have remained consistent with the look I wanted to create and how I would approach it. I suspect this is an area I need to explore more and discover how its best used, perhaps more subtle use.

The first image in this set allows the viewer to see the subjects journey as it just starts, the tree across the pathway can not at this point be seen but as the journey progresses its there to be found until the point it becomes obvious. The subject is seen to be able to easily navigate over it but in the final few images for the follower it becomes an obstacle and the camera position remains at the tree whilst the subject continues.

Like Wylie's work my story needed to be told over multiple images rather than a single one

Feedback on assignment

When one is used to receiving responses to this assignment that involve long or complex journeys the immediate impression on the first scroll through is that it’s rather perfunctory.  Then one reads about your research and what you’re attempting and one is impressed by your ambition in interpreting the brief and how your intent and understanding of what photography can be has developed.

I think that's always the fear when trying something different and "pushing the envelope" is that it wont be received in the positive and unique what it was intended. However that said why should my work be any different from any other artist creating and publishing their works. This has given me confidence to continue in this way 

While I don’t personally read everything you’re intending/reading in to the work on my next pass I’m thinking of progressive frames and jump cuts from French New Wave cinema of the late 50s early 60s, when they used to shoot a lot in the countryside around Paris because it was close and free.

She’s one of those headstrong free spirited French girls striding out, confident but also a bit of a pain at times.

But the next pass begins to suggest the voyeurism that you flagged up. The camera isn’t a neutral observer, it’s someone looking and following. Is she aware? Is she getting further and further away because she’s walking faster to get away?  Finally the fallen trunk brings the surveillance to an end. That casts doubt on the determination of the follower and their intent. But there’s the foreboding of the zebra striped sunlight through the trees; Laurence Olivier driving Joan Fontaine down to Manderley for the first time, in Hitchcock’s Rebecca.

More recently there’s Antonioni’s Blow Up; searching for a threat in the trees. A must see for any photographer.

With Vanessa Redgrave, I've now ordered the film and the book. For any observers of my blog the book is 1/3 cheaper than that on Amazon

In an email exchange following receipt of my Tutor Feedback I offered the following when reflecting on the feedback comments:

"Perhaps the key is apparent simplicity but also having "to be" discovered complexity;..’

and my Tutor replied:

"I think that’s an excellent insight. The complexity should be in how the image can be read rather than the floridity of its style. Which is one of the reasons I caution against the use of effects."

                                                                                                                                                     

Yes, all in all a fine response but now you’ve got to maintain that creative innovation through the rest of the assignments, which could take you up to a whole other level in assessment.

This is quite exciting and a bit scary but its needed if I am to progress and develop and I truly look forward to exploring and progressing my creative side and challenge my perceived view of my photographic skills as an art form

The prints are a fair representation of the files, although some exhibit focussing problems, you’ll see how when you receive them. As a set they could have benefited from some fine tuning to tonally equalise them across the set and some refinement in creating a more consistent rendering of the figure.

For my taste the borders could have been more generous. In fact given your idea about using the borders to constrain it would have been effective to print them A4 in the middle of A3. On this occasion, with my reading, I think the filter works but in general overt effects should be used very sparingly, only when appropriate to meaning because they carry a lot of associative baggage which can overwhelm the original intent of the image.

Coursework

The coursework is going along fine.

Thank you. Whilst I wont rest on my laurels I needed to know if I was on the right course and this is re-assuring

Research

The research is appropriate and I think there’s a good balance between information and opinion.

Also often students become more comfortable with writing about photography than making work, which conceptually lags behind their writings. Here I think there’s an equilibrium between the depth of the writing and now the depth of the imagery.

I did wonder what was the correct balance and I'm pleased that I am finding the correct balance. I do enjoy reading the blogs, discoveries and write-ups on other student blogs and of course we all interpret things differently and no doubt desire some different elements from this learning and development challenge

  

Learning Log

As you can see there’s a new layout template for reports. On the whole I think above and below deal with the learning log. As for its structure it’s not irksome to navigate.

Suggested reading/viewing

Your writing on Camera Lucida is a good model for the approach you should take; apply the same to more works from the reading list.

Pointers for the next assignment / assessment

Read the brief through carefully a few times and on different occasions so you can meditate on what you may do and give ideas a chance to develop.

Our idea of a place is hardly connected to the space it inhabits, defined by its co-ordinates. Place is a big rag bag of connotations generated by the knowledge and idea of that space. Place is defined by the mental images the space evokes. The actual location, the space, becomes a metaphor for the place. So for example when we think of Oxford we think of something concrete like the architecture, or the Mini car, but we also think of characters, Inspector Morse we also think of something as abstract as privilege.

There’s this whole melange of ideas and feelings which stand behind the word and the location, Oxford.

Thank you for your feedback and insight. I do find this very helpful and very much appreciate this response and the email exchange which is helping me