Final Major Project – Project Development – 24th August 2018

The feature of my focus in my previous module (Surfaces and Strategies) was Life/Death/Rebirth, and whilst I really enjoyed this I am questioning whether it is something that I really want to continue.

Looking back over some past work I found my Sellotape image from the Informing Context module. This image features a fingerprint. This made me think about Identity.

I came across the book Northerners – Portrait of a no nonsense people by Sefton Samuels

What I noticed about this book was while there were a couple of images from the North East there is much more focus on the North West. Quite often we seem like a forgotten people not featuring a great deal in the government plans for improvement, the refusal to dual the A1 instead finding projects further south.

This made me think about a project I’ve been dwelling over for a while ” Northern Identity”

I don’t want to use portraits I want to use fingerprints over the top of North East images.

This is my image Sellotape which I link closely to identity.

I want to overlay this type of fingerprint over the North East. Over the break between modules I want the fingerprint to be subtle but a statement. I need to think about the titles of the images – should it be the name of the place or the name of the fingerprint.

ACTION:

Research Martin Parr and Chris Killip

References:

Samuels, S., 2011. Northerners – Portrait of a no nonsense people. 1st ed. United Kingdom: Ebury Press.

Positions and Practice Week 7 Reflection: w/c 7th July

This week felt like a bit of a struggle.

I understand the concept of chance and how some people would carefully plan their work.

I found the faux pas activity interesting and have actually grown to like my faux pas image. Especially after some of the feedback from the forums which made me look at it in a different way.

From the presentation I feel I can relate more to Adams over Cartier-Bresson. I really enjoyed the work of Sophie Calle and Boris Mikhailov and feel that this might be something that I would like to try in the future.

I felt challenges by the peer commissioned Micro Project the brief set required me to do a bit of research and it is this that I enjoyed. I think some of my images could maybe have been better and I think this is possibly an area that I need to work on – completing a brief in a timeframe.

With regards to my major project I had a pretty big failure. I worked with film for the first time and when I took it for development it was completely blank. I now need to try and figure out what I have done wrong, and how I might fix this. I also need to decide if this is now something that I would definitely carry on moving forward with.

I found this weeks readings quite difficult especially the Rebecca Solnit extract. I struggled to find the relevance of the reading and perhaps need to revisit this in the future.

Here is hoping for a better week 8!!

Positions and Practice Week 3 Reflection w/c 9th June

I didn’t enjoy this week so much. It has proved quite stressful. I at times wish I had the luxury of not working whilst studying, however I don’t. 40+ hour weeks and a Masters Degree what was I thinking???

I was really quite behind with the weeks work and so on Wednesday Lunchtime (14th June) after panicking about the project from my discovery on Tuesday that collaboration was required I managed to find a group that had space.

The only webinar that I can make in a normal week is a Thursday night. This meant I had to achieve the 3 images that had been agreed upon via an email trail on the Wednesday night! No pressure there then!!!

I had been supplied with an update of what had previously been agreed before my late arrival to the group:

• Time to think/Contemplation
• Coffee is the theme to give the group continuity
• Cups of coffee, low viewpoint, shallow DoF, slow shutter speed – to give the impression of the coffee being in a quiet place in a busy world.

This was a great start I suggested using Bokeh in the background and trying to give feelings of tranquility in this world, these however appear to have gone overlooked.

So out I went……. taking my Mam with me (my attempt at looking less suspicious!) One photo I think could have done with some improvement but time was tight, two photos I was really pleased with (cheeky post to instagram with this one!! ( coffee cup photo ). I emailed photographs over and received one feedback. I was quite limited as I had not been added or provided with the group OneDrive information where everything had been previously shared, but never mind we had the email trail.

I gave feedback to the group after I had been to Thursdays webinar so that the others in the group could be prepared. I wish I had been supplied with the images so that I could have done part of the presentation too, but I understand not everyone may have had all of their images or been able to have done a blitz like I had done.

I would have liked my feelings of tranquility and using the bokeh blur to suggest movement included into the presentation, have more said about my images rather than “these are Kirsty’s she emailed them over” However when you don’t have control and don’t know people these things are bound to happen.. survival of the fittest and all that.

In the webinar I did attend I was very impressed with what the groups had managed to pull together. Particularly the family/memories group – Ali and Andy. I can relate to this and found this insightful. Creating links through photographs.

I also liked how we were guided through the poetry and photographs with Stanislav’s presentation – showing not only collaboration of this weeks work but also interdisciplinary examples from last week. I also enjoyed how we applied to the mix the connotation of the Sherpa/Guide to the journey or photographs and also memories.

We discussed participation vs collaboration – this was perhaps my role worked out it the end I contributed but was perhaps on this occasion unable to have collaboration.

I have learnt a lot this week and will be taking these lessons forward with me.