Life after MA

After getting my results in May I didn’t know what to do with myself. I’d hoped to get a better grade that I did and whilst it wasn’t that far off I kept questioning if I could have done anything better.

This led to me not picking up my camera and not having the motivation to make any new work.

Then I had the Graduation Day which was incredibly emotional, and I was incredibly proud to have even gotten this far, but somehow I still felt like I didn’t belong, I had a serious case of imposter syndrome. That everyone else that was on the course with me somehow had more right to be there than I did as they got a better grade than I had.

The fact that I had gotten a new job on the back of gaining my Masters, which in fact does have the need for photography and also videography and retouching and editing would be a very important part of my role – I still don’t think it made me feel any less of a fake.

So I decided to go back to basics, I started completing the camera school tasks in the monthly magazine I get, but in an even bigger statement I decided to go back to basics and go back to BTEC HNC Photography and relearn my craft.

I still have the desire to apply for PhD to investigate the links between mental health and creative outlets such as photography. I feel like this is something that I really need to explore further.

Final Major Project: Bibliography

For Swimming Against the Tide

https://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/seascapes-1

http://www.mikecurryphotography.com/fleeting-reflections

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2008/sep/14/art1

https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/ywdjkk/the-fraught-relationship-between-creativity-and-mental-health

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/rothko/rothko-room-guide/room-9-black-on-gray

Craig, C. (2009). Exploring the self through photography. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Johnstone, M. (2014). Capturing mindfulness. London: Robinson.

Loewenthal, D. (2013). Phototherapy and therapeutic photography in a digital age. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Horn, R. (2011). Another water. Göttingen: Steidl.

Berman, L. (1993). Beyond the smile. London: Routledge.

Karr, A. and Wood, M. (2011). The practice of contemplative photography. Boston, Mass: Shambhala.

Alexander, J. (2015). Perspectives on place. London: Fairchild Books (Bloomsbury).

Ulrich, D. (2018). Zen Camera. New York. Watson-Guptill

De Botton, A and Armstrong, J. (2016) Art as Therapy. London. Phaidon Press Limited.

Curry, M. (2017). Fleeting Reflections. TripleKiteBooks.

MacFarlane, R. (2013). The Old Ways. London. Penguin Books.

https://ayearwithmycamera.com/blog/mindful-photography-what-is-it-and-how-do-you-do-it

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/technique/interviews/photography-saved-my-life-photography-as-therapy-117567

fotoroom.co/decisive-moment-henri-cartier-bresson

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1468660/Henri-Cartier-Bresson.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/photography/nicola-onions-alzheimers-disease-photography-frozen-flowers-memories-a7411091.html#

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-follow-the-footsteps-of-hamish-fulton-in-walking-artist-his-new-york-solo-show


https://www.lensculture.com/articles/nicola-dove-observance


https://glasstire.com/2012/11/23/the-ten-list-walk-as-art/


https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/hamish-fulton-walking-journey

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/richard-long-1525

Click to access NEXT-STEPS-ON-THE-NHS-FIVE-YEAR-FORWARD-VIEW.pdf

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-a-disaster-at-sea-n00558

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/horn-no-title-p13057

http://www.marysadowling.co.uk/albums/the-movement-of-an-object/

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/nov/03/socialcare.arts

https://www.photobus.co.uk/daniel-meadows

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/jo-spence-18272

https://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/photographer-writer-and-self-styled-cultural-sniper

https://www.wexphotovideo.com/blog/features/more-than-an-image-2017/

davidcampany.com/a-handful-of-dust-2

http://dailylifeltd.co.uk/bobby-baker

fragmentary.org

https://smalltowninertia.co.uk/

http://francisalys.com/sometimes-making-something-leads-to-nothing/

https://johndarwell.com/index.php?r=image/default/category&alias=a-black-dog-came-calling

Final Major Project: Reflection, 29th April 2019

I guess we are now at the time of the course to reflect upon how far I have come as a practitioner. Whilst it feels like the time has flown, it has not been without the peaks and troughs I described in my FMP.

I couldn’t have imagined when I got accepted onto the course that I would have created the type of FMP that I did. My projects up until FMP were with images of somethings, that I had made become something and it wasn’t until FMP that my work truly became about something, and to me it was a very import something at that.

Since my injury and subsequent Rheumatoid Arthritis diagnosis, mental and physical health has become very important to me, and I think that once I found the strength to talk about it really drove me to do something which could potentially help others.

This is the type of work I want to carry on with. Whilst I know I am not the best academic writer when it comes to this level of study, I have been in touch with the University of Sunderland about their PhD programme in photography and am busy starting to put together a proposal for exploring photography as a therapy.

I have also looked into Art Therapy and other Medical photography careers, which could be routes that I can explore further.

This course has led me to want to help others, who might be struggling to feel better, to use it as a complimentary therapy alongside more traditional methods, this is a huge step from when I started the course and just wanted to take visually pleasing images.

So thank you Falmouth for showing me the way, for showing me what is possible and letting me see that if I work hard enough nothing is out of my reach.

Final Major Project – 1:2:1 Tutorial with Wendy McMurdo – 9th April 2019

Summary:I brought my FMP using InDesign as I wasn’t sure of some elements

What I need to do:

  • DON’T PANIC!!!
  • Just select some of my comments and link the rest in a WordPress post.
  • Expand on my diary entries
  • Expand more on how I got to this point.
  • Bring more of what is inside me.

Whats next:

Hand in my documents

Final Major Project – 1:2:1 Tutorial with Wendy McMurdo – 26th March 2019

Summary: We went over the first public outcome of my final major project we also went back over my artist statement.

What I need to do:

  • I need to re-emphasise the benefits of the walk on my work.
  • I also need to mention some of the Ethics that are important to this type of work.
  • Contact some professionals.
  • Make it clearer that this is my personal journey
  • Use links rather than actual video in my work.

Research to Follow up:

Next Tutorial: April 5th 2019

Project Presentation: Group Workshop – Saturday 23rd March 2019

As part of the final outcome of the FMP along with the Pop up Exhibition I also wanted to share the techniques that I had learnt with others.

I had a group of 4 participants and I taught them the techniques of Stop Look Breathe Create – which were steps I learnt from the book of the same title by Wendy Ann Greenhalgh.

These were steps that were really beneficial and I used in the capturing of the images for the project.

I set out three tasks that I thought would really help to notice things that they had never noticed before in a location that I knew each of the participants would have been to on many occasions.

The first Activity was just to notice how the world felt to the body by thinking about how the ground felt beneath their feet and this prompted them to take photographs of the ground.

Another was to find colour – this was a very successful activity and where objects that they never noticed before really came to the forefront.

The final activity was to write a word in the sand that made them feel negatively – we then watched the waves wash away that word. This made everyone feel reflective about their experience.

The overwhelming reaction was that after the workshop everyone felt a little more relaxed than they had when they joined the workshop and it gave them something that they could do when time were getting a little tough – this meant that each of them left with a little but more of an idea of a coping strategy that could be employed to improve mental health and this was the goal – which I feel I achieved.

Project Presentation: Pop Up Exhibition at Advanced Electronics – 14th March 2019

For one of the public outcomes of my Final Major Project I held a pop up exhibition at my place of work.

My employers are currently going through a process of trying to change some of the culture habits that we have developed as a company and introduce some well being policies to assist colleagues through difficult times. With this in mind I discussed my project with some of the Senior Management Team and we decided it would be really useful to have my work open for others to see.

As someone who suffers with anxiety this was a very big personal challenge not only to speak in public but also to share the personal challenges that I have experienced over the last couple of years and explored very deeply through my project.

At the Face to Face event in Falmouth there were a couple of concerns over the display of the diary entries. There was a suggestion to have them recorded so that they could be listened to while the audience viewed – I tried this but some of the entries were still quite raw to me and I wouldn’t get them recorded in a way that would have allowed the audience to understand them as it was very emotional.

What I did decide to do was to have the sound of the lapping waves in the background, and as this was something that soothed me while creating the work did act as a comfort as I delivered my presentation.

These are some photos of how I set up the exhibition. I also have the video of my presentation.

I had some feedback forms at the end, which whilst I hoped people would enjoy the work – I don’t think I ever imaged that it would actually spark a conversation, that others would actually find the work helpful, that it made them feel better that they weren’t alone. I found this emotional, a little overwhelming – but it also helped me with the knowledge that the struggles that I have had could actually help other people to deal with their situations.

The outcome of this pop up exhibitions was really positive and I have been asked to show it again so that more people can benefit from the experience.

This experience has made me also want to share this work further – I am looking at venues again as it has given me the confidence boost to be able to do this.

Final Major Project: Critical Review Day, Falmouth F2F, 8th March 2019

On the final day of activities before the Symposium, we all come together for critical review day. I went all out and booked in for 4 mainly with tutors I had already worked with either on FMP or any other the other modules.

Wendy and Stella:

It was this review where one of the images that I wasn’t sure of where it fit was removed from the selection and I carried this decision on through the rest of the day.

Whilst I really like this image as it feels to me exactly how both my mental illness and my physical disease have affected me socially, I understand that it does not fit with the rest of my images. It also means I have an even number of 16 in my final project after its removal.

Isolation, Kirsty Logan, 2019

It was also suggested that I remove the titles and also the boarders and if I can change my mount board to black.

In terms of my diary entries I could consider a handout or a zine.

Jesse and Cemre:

Again they agreed that the titles are not needed.

I need to consider how I use my diary entries – I should perhaps try the Sophie Calle – Hotel Room layout.

Watch Velvet Buzzsaw on Netflox

I should perhaps shorten some of my diary entries and simplify them.

I also did a google search on walking artists and will research these also


I will also research:
http://www.walkingartistsnetwork.org/

Read the book: The Synthesis of Photography and Text in Contemporary Art

Consider printing on Aluminium or Selenium prints.

Paul and Karen:

Agreed with many on the comments above.

Consider Audio at my exhibition – me reading out my diary entries.

Open Skies – Don McCullin

Steph and Michelle:

Look at Sam Taylor-Johnson – 5 revolutionary seconds

Observance – Nicola Dove.
http://www.nicoladove.com/projects/observance/

The links of these are to show movement with imagery and also Dove uses audio in this project.