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Essay writing, Personal Study

Introduction-Draft 1

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How does Phillip Toledano explore notions of change, fate and Absence in his work?

“One body, One soul, One density”

During my personal study I have looked at and been inspired by the work of Phillip Toledano, a male photographer who is probably best known for his work dedicated to his father’s final chapter. In this essay I will be focusing on the ways that Toledano explores change, fate and absence in his work and how this can be linked to and understood within realism and straight photography. I will be particularly focusing on his project entitled ‘Days with my Father.’  Within this process, I will also be creating links to my own personal study, which also investigates and reflects upon the fate, absence and specifically change within my Granddad’s life. Within my essay I would like to particularly explore how Phillip uses these to create a story and how they all form a relationship and link with one another. Photography is a medium that possesses the precious ability to influence and transcend past, present and future, we are capable of documenting the present, easily comparing the past and predicting the future. I would also like to explore emotion and how this is used in photography to tell a story through tackling personal issues, specifically concentrating upon family and change within them. The work included within my book has been my method of documenting and expressing my emotions in addition to my granddad’s story. With the conclusions drawn from this analysis, I can hopefully proceed to evaluate whether my work has accurately portrayed issues of change and fate shown through photography.

 

Analysis, Artists References, Experimentation, Independent Study, Instruction, Personal Investigation, Personal Study, Recording

Shoot w/ Mum and Lucy

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Below are the edits I have created using Adobe Lightroom from my photoshoot where I photographed my girlfriend, Lucy cutting my mum’s hair in our kitchen.

This was one of the first the photoshoot I completed for my project and I saw it as the perfect opportunity to get a collection of a few strong images to start me off with my project looking at relationships within my life and my family circle.

My girlfriend, Lucy is 17 and has just recently qualified as a hairdresser and so is always being asked by family members for hair cuts, including my own family.

I really like these images and the reason for this is because of their very delicate, poetic and elegant nature. All three are very documentary style and are capturing a moment in time.

The three images below have been edited on Adobe Lightroom and are the best three images from the photoshoot. All three work well in conjunction with each, however, I plan to use them with the images produced from my mini photoshoot I carried out at my dad’s flat.

The photograph below is of Lucy cutting my mum’s hair. You can also see me in the reflection as I am taking the photograph and this could be seen to ruin the image as usually it is known for photographer to remain behind the camera and out of frame because if the audience are t see the camera or the photographer, then we don’t like this as we have been taught that the common ideology of photography is for the photographer to remain behind the camera. I enjoy the fact that as well as the subject, I am also in the frame but with both Lucy and Mum illuminated so the focus is on them.

The photo below is mid-at through the haircut and shows Lucy gathering some of my mum’s hair to cut and the effect of this movement is captured in the camera and transferred to a visible blur in her hands which I also think has a positive effect because it shows that the photo is more than just one dimensional and adds action to what is shown. It is pretty much the same photo as above as it consists of the same content but as a close up shot to view the subjects in more detail and instead in black and white. As opposed to focusing on hard shadows and contrasts,  I have attempted to focus more on neutral tones such as greys and making these the base of the image because I observed this in LaToya Ruby Frazier’s images; that the contrast was quite low and instead, grey colours were used to provide a body to the image and this is also the same in Matt Eich’s images – something I ma not used to but enjoy the visual effect of.

There is in fact a Matt Eich image that he took of his family in the garden as his wife cuts his hair, shown below.

The image below is of the hair resulting form my mum having her hair cut. The wet, clumps of hair lay on kitchen floor scattered across the tiles as, in the top corner, the blurred motion of the vacuum enters the frame. It is a very simple image that takes little skill and technique and more observation and focus to see this moment as a photographic opportunity because this photo finishes off my collection of the first, second and this as the final image to create a mini series of three images.

Creative Pathway, Independent Study, Personal Investigation, Personal Study, Preparation, Reading, Research and analysis, Written Task

Divorce Parties

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This blog post covers work discovered through attending my work placement at Societe Jersiaise as well as this relating to my work for my personal investigation and I will be using this information mainly as research to work in conjunction with my project regarding my parent’s divorce and how this has since shaped my own life living two different experiences, one with my mum and the other with my dad. I encounter this notion of divorce parties when at Societe Jersiaise as the database lacks any information on divorces in Jersey and instead has over 100 images relating to marriages and weddings but this interesting discovery of divorce parties intrigued me and I thought that the information found would work well in conjunction with what I produce, even I do not produce anything [images] relating to the celebration of divorce – but on a deeper level – this whole project is a celebration of divorce as I am documenting this as it happened in the past and I am also showing it now and what has come of it – a celebration in its own right because the vent has in-turn affected me and made me a different prosper to who I would have been if they stayed together – one I am proud to be. My project looks at the fragility of relationships and the intimacy that comes with all relationships in a lifetime – to me intimacy is what makes a relationship strong because knowing a person inside and out, something I feel I possess with my relationship with my mum, my girlfriend and my sister, is crucial to feeling like you have a place within this world – this fast-moving world where often you can feel very isolated and this project looks to challenge that while supporting this realism through underlying moods and tones shown through my images – as much as it about finding a balance between two oppositions, it is good for these conflict at times; for example, loneliness and acceptance or cohesion and destructiveness of familial bonds.

The information to follow covers divorce parties and what they are and what the subject of divorce parties are supposed to take from it. However, I do believe that it would be interesting to perhaps get in contact with a wedding planner on Jersey to inquire as to whether the have weer actually organised a divorce party for a local and go from there with regards to including it in my project.

Once I discovered this idea of divorce parties, I did some research into it in order to see if it could get me anywhere and if it intrigued me. I found an article on The Guardian Online which covered the celebration and in particular interviewing a specialist in divorce party planning and a lady who has made a living out of it. You can read the full article above in the hyperlink but for now, I am going to list the notes made from reading into divorce parties from several sources. I also got some information from the planner’s website dedicated to booking a divorce party.

Divorce Parties 
  • Attempts to allow subject to get past pain of being divorced
  • there are divorce party planners who make a living out of it
  • Idea of rituals and ingrained traditions of celebrating birth, marriage, death bit not divorce…
  • Throw a divorce party to forget and vent anger of a cheating partner
  • If you want to become the person you used to be when single – to feel more independent and free
  • It is often women who want to throw a divorce party to forget their cheating male partner
  • It is a riddance of bad memories – revenge
  • E.G. one woman burnt cheating husband’s trophy on bonfire at the party
  • E.G. another woman threw wedding ring into sea and some burn their wedding veil or wedding photos
  • “There has been a couple guys but men don’t seem to need the display of support like women do”
  • There is a divorce party handbook which outlines etiquette at parties and what the evening would consist of etc.
  • It reiterates the importance to maintain relationships with people around you – however, detachment can lead to attachment onto other things to forget what once was happy times
Personal Study, Planner & Tracking, Preparation

essay plan

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Before writing my essay I made sure I was familiar with the structure of the essay and also what I was expected to include within it. This gave me a better idea of how my essay should look and also what I need to write about. This made it easier to start the essay as I knew what the layout was. essay structure.

  • Essay question- How does Phillip Toledano explore notions of change, fate and destiny on his work?
  • Opening quote- ‘One body, One soul, One density’
  • Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question?
  • Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian.
  • Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
  • Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
  • Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
  • Bibliography: List all relevant sources used

I will take each section one by one and make my first draft of each section until I am happy with all sections- which then would lead me to putting it together to form the essay. My essay question is “How does Phillip Toledano explore notions of change, fate and destiny on his work? “, which will be linked throughout to my own personal investigation into the change in my Granddad’s life.

Personal Study, Research and analysis

Different Art Movements

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Pictorialism

Pictorialism was in the time period of the 1880s so in-between the 19th-20th century, which  was the time of the second industrial revolution. Romanticism was also extremely popular during this time as well. A pictorialism photograph was like a painting, engraving or a drawing. It was a way of projecting an emotional intent into a viewer’s imagination. The characteristics pictorialism displayed were the blurred, fuzzy and textured images that almost look like paintings, this was through manipulating images, which is a key feature in pictorialism.  Artists were inspired by spiritual and allegorical motifs, which includes religious scenes. The images created in this movement reacted against the industrial revolution not accepting the modernist movement. Allegorical painting, which might include figures symbolic of different emotional states- for example love was an inspiration for this movement. The key characteristics spoken about before were used by pictorialist artists by using a slow shutter speed, or they made the lens intentionally out of focus, which resulted in the fuzzy or blurred effect. They also use the technique of manipulating images when they are being developed in the dark room, which is called photocarvoe.

One of the main artists were Julia Margaret Cameron, who was a victorian photographer in the late 19th century. She specifically worked on closely framed portraits and also illustrative allegories based on religious literary works. Her images almost look like paintings or detailed drawings, she used typical techniques such as texturing the images, scratching them and also making the outer edges of the photograph blurry, which makes the viewers focus on the centre on the image as it draws our eyes to the sharp area of the image. This is seen throughout many pieces of her work and they look like they have been inspired by allegorical paintings as they are emotive and show emotion within the image.

Realism / Straight Photography

Straight photography is sometimes known as pure photography, which refers to photography that depict a situation with sharp detail and full focus as is therefore capturing exactly what they see. It became popular as early as 1904, this was when they started to move away from pictorialism as people felt it was manipulated too much as preferred photographs having more realistic features, which focused on documenting events and every day life as they saw it. The term straight photography was used by Sadakichi Hartmann in the camera work magazine and was later promoted by the editor Alfred Stieglitz. This was seen as capturing the truth, without manipulation and was seen as a celebration of the quality of the camera at this time. The key characteristic was really just true and real images, which represent elements of social, economical, political and culture and this was later named documentary photography. Similarly, realism claims to have a special relationship with reality and shows the cameras ability to record real events and real life without manipulation. Its a way in which the photographer sees the world and the way they choose to photograph it- portraying the truth. Key documentary or straight/realism photographers are Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Edward Weston and Philip Hyde.

Paul Strand was an influential photographer and early icon of the “straight photography”. In contrast to Pictorialism, “Straight Photography” was a move to “pure photography”, which was loosely defined as having stylistic traits that were not manipulated heavily to mimic other art forms such as painting. A modernist, Strand was highly influenced by Alfred Stieglitz and Charles Sheeler. His work had a huge impact on the f/64 school of photographers such as Ansel Adams and Edward Weston. He was driven to document his city with complete photographic objectivity, he created a means of shooting his subjects candidly. He worked out that by screwing in a false lens to one side of his camera pointing ahead while concealing the real lens under his arm facing his subjects, he was able to achieve such result. Most of his portraits were shot that way, including the seminal 1916 image of a blind street beggar (Blind), now an icon of early American modernism.

Modernism

Modernism rejects older movements favouring new art movements and experimental ways of producing art. It has characteristics of science saving the world, with a common trend being the ways to seek answers to important questions about the nature of art and society. One factor which shaped modernism was the development of modern industrial societies and the rapid growth of cities, followed then by reactions of horror to WW1. The world we are living in now is very different from the world of the past in terms of art so this makes the art movements that were popular previously, now out of date and no longer fit the world and are not popular within that generation. Another characteristic is that the view of the artist being the most important thing when producing the image or art form. Modernism is often seen as celebrating technology and machinery, this is very futuristic. The new art movements begun to question what art really is and how it supports other aspects of the world. The invention of photography was part of the step towards modernism because it deals with both machinery and technology. It is the modern way of image making, which contributed to the development of modernism and the modern society. 

A well known modernist photographer is Alexander Rodchenko. He is regarded as one of the most vibrant and progressive artists to emerge from Russia in the 20th century. With his work spanning painting, graphic design, photography and advertising, he continues to be widely recognized as one of the founders of the Constructivist movement and the father of modern Russian design. By rejecting conventional art forms, he radically contributed to the visual framework of Russia’s social and political values, influencing the development of European Modernist art. Rodchenko repeatedly manipulated angles, contrasts and tilts to achieve new perspectives and prevent passive viewing experiences. He wrote that “one has to take several different shots of a subject, from different points of view and in different situations, as if one examined it in the round rather than looked through the same key-hole again and again.” The drive for new perspectives echoed a yearning for a reformulation of aesthetics, one that was in tune with social and political developments. Modernism can be viewed as abstract, which is something you can see running through Alexander’s photographs.

Post-modernism

Postmodernism is a way of thinking about culture, philosophy, art and many other subjects. The term postmodernism has been used in many different ways at different times since it was established in the late 20th century, but there are some things in common with each way.

Postmodernism can be described in varies different ways- such as:

  1. Postmodernism states that there is no real truth. It says that knowledge is made or invented and that it is not discovered because knowledge is made by people. Because of this, a person cannot know something with certainty – all facts are therefore ‘believed’ instead of being ‘known’. When people believe that they know what the truth is, postmodernism says that they will soon think the truth is something different later.
  2. Since postmodernism says that the truth is just a thing that people invent, it therefore says that people can believe in different things and think it is the truth and it all be right. Postmodernism says that one person should not try to force someone else to believe what he believes, because it means nothing saying that one belief is right and the other is wrong. In Postmodernism, if somebody has a belief and tries to make somebody else believe it also, it means that they are just trying to gain power over the other.
  3. Something else about postmodernism is that it is very Meta, meaning it is self-aware. When it comes to this in photography, it is saying that it makes references to thing outside of the art of photography, for example things like: political, cultural, social, historical, psychological issues.

An Example of an post-modernist artist is Andy Warhol. He is someone who I actually studied in the first year of photography when looking out environment and I found his work extremely interesting. He is an American film director/producer as well as an artist, where he is the leading figure of Pop Art. He explores varies themes in his work such as linking expression, celebrity culture and advertising together in the 1960’s. He is most famous for his silk screening images, for example his Campbell’s tomato soup image, however he also explored other mediums such as photography, painting and sculpture. In photography there are always debates on whether certain images are real or they have been over-manipulated. Pop Art itself raises these questions, some people believe it is a genius idea, which expresses creativity within the postmodern era and others would argue it has been over manipulated and therefore is not true. However, Andy preferres to focus on what his work actually means and what he is trying to get across rather than whether the image is a true representation of the object or event. He also uses text to help him with this as he tries to get across messages through imagery supported by a strong statement. Andy Warhol’s work interpreted as style over substance because for what the art actually is, bold colours and simple shapes.

 

Essay writing, Inspirations, Personal Study, Written Task

Possible Essay Questions

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As my personal investigation progresses and i research more into the topic of family and environment i am going to do a small review and reflect on my project so far. After my trip to Africa i collected a vast variety of family, community and environmental images in a documentary and photojournalist style. After editing and refining my choices i picked 6 images to go in the exhibition which was located at the jersey arts center in the ‘Constructed Narratives’ exhibition. Moving on i need to focus on assessment objective 2 which includes further experimentation with my images and further refinements. I want to experiment with my First few shoots i did seeing how i can digitally manipulate them to create a more manipulated and staged story/message. However i also think that i should focus on doing some more shoots on exploring family and environment in jersey and then id be able to do a comparison between the different shoots and look at the similarities and differences between community and family life in Africa and in jersey. Also investigating the different techniques and styles which are used to captures a message in images from different cultures.

Moving on i am going to start to focus on my personal study which is linked to to the theme of family and be specific to the style i am trying to capture. As my personal investigation is specific to capturing third world countries and the community life in areas of poverty and hardship i am going to explore this in my study. i want to come up with a hypothesis which will lead to into exploring realism as a style of photography and how it an be manipulated and not always truthful. By focusing on realism i will be able to explore further photographers such as Steve McCurry and Sebastian Salgado and how they represent third third issues in different styles. I would also like to link into this the ‘Insider VS Outsider’ approach as i think that photographers from an outside perspective looking in on third world countries will never be able to truly capture the sense of community and the harshness of life truthfully, this further links into the topic of objectivity and how photographs may vary due to how subjective photographers may be.

Below is a mind map of initial ideas for the title and focal point of my personal study:

  • ‘How powerful/useful is photography in revealing worldwide issues?’

 

  • ‘Can an outsider ever really represent third world issues truthfully?’

 

  • ‘Is it possible for photography to capture moments in time objectively and truthfully?’

 

  • ‘In what way has photojournalism had an impact on creating awareness of worldwide issues?’

 

  • ‘How does subjectivity effect the authenticity of photographs representing third world countries?’

These were a few of my initial essay questions which focus on questioning the key areas of photograph which my investigation focuses on. However after producing these ideas for a hypothesis i still wasn’t certain that any of them were worded/included the ideas that i wanted to focus on. Therefore i started to look at influential photographers works at essay writing examples and the type of points that they focused on to give me inspiration. Using books of photographers such as David Bate and Susan Sontag as well as Maey Ellen Mark, i started to gather a greater understanding of the theory of representation and other key theoretical concepts.

Through reading Mary Ellen Mark’s ‘The Photo Essay’, its opened my eyes to different concepts, most noteablely the idea of exploitation. I think that the idea of how society and the community of these third world countries which are capture to make hard hitting message images may be being exploited in the process.

Furthermore ‘The Key Concepts’, written by photographer David  Bate enhanced my knowledge on representation  and the idea of realism. Through reading i have gathered ideas of what i want to focus on and a few key points which really caught my attention which could potentially be included in my Personal Study.

‘Manifesting a desire for reality.’

‘Documentary photography construct representations of reality according to someone’s view, their desire to see.’

The above quotes can be seen as relation to the concept of subjectivity Vs Objectivity and the idea that all photographers have a viewpoint and however objective they try to be to capture the reality of a specific event, their mind eye is always going to have some kind of input making them possess a subjective viewpoint which may effect the truthfulness of the images and the way that they represent third world countries.

Essay writing, Personal Study

ESSAY WRITING

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Week 17 – 18 & 19: 15th Jan – 2 Feb

WE ONLY HAVE 3 WEEKS LEFT TO COMPLETE  YOUR PERSONAL STUDY ESSAY

Have a look a the Personal Study Planner 2018 for an overview of what you need to complete this term.

DEADLINE: Hand in draft version of your essay Wed 31 Jan!

You must have your essay completed and proof-read for your MOCK EXAM to include in your photo-book design.

Mon 5 Feb Class 13A
Tue 6 Feb Class 13E
Wed 7 Feb Class 13D 

Objective: Criteria from the Syllabus

  • Be aware of some of the methods employed by critics and historians within the history of art and photography.
  • Demonstrate a sound understanding of your chosen area of study with appropriate use of critical vocabulary. – use for image analysis
  • Investigate a wide range of work and sources
  • Develop a personal and critical inquiry.

Quotation  and Harvard System of Referencing

  • Use quotes to support or disprove your argument
  • Use quotes to show evidence of reading
  • Take notes when you’re reading…key words, concepts, sentences that can be used as quotes etc.
  • Write down page number, author, year, title, publisher, place of publication so you can list source in a bibliography
  • Use Harvard System of Referencing…see Powerpoint: harvard system of referencing for further details on how to use it.

ESSAY STRUCTURE

See below for a possible essay structure. Further help can be found here essay structure or see link here The Royal Literay Fund

Essay title: Hypothesis

Opening quote: Choose a quote from either one of your photographers or critics. It has to be something that relates to your investigation

Introduction (250-500 words).
Think about an opening that will draw your reader in e.g. you can use an opening quote that sets the scene. You should include in your introduction an outline of your intention of your study e.g. what and who are you going to investigate. How does this area/ work interest you? What are you trying to prove/challenge, argument/ counter-argument? What historical or theoretical context is the work situated within. Include 1 or 2 quotes for or against. What links are there with your previous studies? What have you explored so far in your Coursework or what are you going to photograph? How did or will your work develop. What camera skills, techniques or digital processes in Photoshop have or are you going to experiment with?

Paragraph 1 Structure (500 words) : Use subheading. This paragraph covers the first thing you said in your introduction that you would address. The first sentence introduces the main idea of the paragraph. Other sentences develop the subject of the paragraph.

Content: you could look at the following…exemplify your hypothesis within a historical and theoretical context.  Write about how your area of study and own work is linked to a specific art movement/ ism. Research and read key text and articles from critics, historians and artists associated with the movement/ism. Use quotes from sources to make a point, back it up with evidence or an example (a photograph), explain how the image supports the point made or how your interpretation of the work may disapprove. How does the photograph compare or contrast with others made by the same photographer, or to other images made in the same period or of the same genre by other artists. How does the photograph relate to visual representation in general, and in particularly to the history and theory of photography, arts and culture.

Include relevant examples, illustrations, details, quotations, and references showing evidence of reading, knowledge and understanding of history, theory and context!

See link to powerpoints Pictorialism vs Realism and Modernism vs Postmodernismhere M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Resources\Personal Study

Paragraph 2 Structure (500 words) : Use subheading. In the first sentence or opening sentences, link the paragraph to the previous paragraph, then introduce the main idea of the new paragraph. Other sentences develop the paragraphs subject (use relevant examples, quotations, visuals to illustrate your analysis, thoughts etc)

Content: you could look at the following...Introduce your first photographer. Select key images, ideas or concepts and analyse in-depth using specific model of analysis (describe, interpret and evaluate) – refer to your hypothesis. Contextualise…what was going on in the world at the time; artistically, politically, socially, culturally. Other influences…artists, teachers, mentors etc. Personal situations or circumstances…describe key events in the artist’s life that may have influenced the work. Include examples of your own photographs, experiments or early responses and analyse, relate and link to the above. Set the scene for next paragraph.

Include relevant examples, illustrations, details, quotations, and references showing evidence of reading, knowledge and understanding of history, theory and context!

Paragraph 3 Structure (500 words) : Use subheading. In the first sentence or opening sentences, link the paragraph to the previous paragraph, then introduce the main idea of the new paragraph. Other sentences develop the paragraphs subject (use relevant examples, quotations, visuals to illustrate your analysis, thoughts etc)

Content: you could look at the following…Introduce key works, ideas or concepts from your second photographer and analyse in-depth – refer to your hypothesis…Use questions in Pg 2 or add…What information has been selected by the photographer and what do you find interesting in the photograph? What do we know about the photograph’s subject? Does the photograph have an emotional or physical impact? What did the photographer intend? How has the image been used? What are the links or connections to the other photographer in Pg 2? Include examples of your own photographs and experiments as your work develop in response to the above and analyse, compare, contrast etc. Set the scene for next paragraph.

Include relevant examples, illustrations, details, quotations, and references showing evidence of reading, knowledge and understanding of history, theory and context!

If needed…Paragraph 4  Structure (500 words): Use subheading. In the first sentence or opening sentences, link the paragraph to the previous paragraph, then introduce the main idea of the new paragraph. Other sentences develop the paragraphs subject (use relevant examples, quotations, visuals to illustrate your analysis, thoughts etc)

Content: you could look at the following…Introduce key works, ideas or concepts from your third photographer and analyse in-depth – refer to your hypothesis…Use questions in pg 2 and pg 3 or add…How does the photograph compare or contrast with others made by the same photographer, or to other images made in the same period or of the same genre by other artists. How does the photograph relate to visual representation in general, and in particularly to the history and theory of photography, arts and culture. What are the links or connections to the photographers in pg 2 and 3? What are the similarities, differences or links and connections? How does this work compare to yours? Include examples of your own photographs and experiments as your work develop in response to the above and analyse, compare, contrast etc. If more paragraphs are required, set the scene for the next paragraph.

Include relevant examples, illustrations, details, quotations, and references showing evidence of reading, knowledge and understanding of history, theory and context!

Conclusion (500 words) : Write a conclusion of your essay that also includes an evaluation of your final photographic responses and experiments.

List the key points from your investigation and analysis of the photographer(s) work – refer to your hypothesis. Can you prove or Disprove your theory – include final quote(s). Has anything been left unanswered?  Do not make it a tribute! Do not introduce new material! Summarise what you have learned. How have you been influenced? Show how you have selected your final outcomes including an evaluation and how your work changed and developed alongside your investigation.

Bibliography: List all the sources that you used and only those that you have cited in your text. Where there are two or more works by one author in the same year distinguish them as 1988a, 1988b etc. Arrange literature in alphabetical order by author, or where no author is named, by the name of the museum or other organisation which produced the text. Apart from listing literature you must also list all other sources in alphabetical order e.g. websites, exhibitions, TV/ Videos / DVD/ Music etc.

DON’T FORGET TO MAKE PHOTOGRAPHS & EXPLORE YOUR IDEAS!!

  1. Produce a photographic response to your investigation in Personal Study. You must plan and produce at least another 2-3 photo-shoots in the next 2 weeks to make sure you have enough images to edit from. For example, responding to photographers subject-matter, style, form, aesthetics, specific skills, techniques, methods.
  2. Continue to review your responses and shoots and experiment with your pictures appropriate to your intentions Lightroom/Photoshop e.g. cropping, change colour balance/ b/w, brightness/ contrast, blurring/ movement, blending/ montage techniques.
  3. Select your best experiments and pictures and include in your Personal Study for analysis and comparisons.

We will begin work on editing and designing a photobook last week of January (week 19). If you don’t have any content i.e. text and images you can’t make a photo book!

Artists References, Essay writing, Independent Study, Instruction, Personal Investigation, Personal Study, Preparation, Written Task

Personal Study (Essay) Plan

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Title: How have the photographers Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier explored themes of attachment and detachment in their own family through the medium of photobooks?
Opening quote: “As photographs give people an imaginary possession of a past that is unreal, they also help people to take possession of a space in which they are insecure.” (Susan Sontag)

Introduction (250-500 words)
What, How, Why, Where, When, With

In this essay I will be investigating how photographers Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier have explored themes of attachment and detachment in their own family through the medium of photobooks.

What are you planning on doing and why, what is the story you want to tell / explore

Paragraph 1 / Context (500 words)
Psychological / scientific research and understanding of attachment and detachment theory…
Poetic visual language; describe that you are developing a new language with influence from Anders Peters / Engstrom

Paragraph 2 (500 words)
Matt Eich – analyse his work. book in relation to essay question
his voice through interview / statement of his work
outside voice: someone else’s comment about this work
Select a key image as an example to further analyse in more detail

Paragraph 3 (500 words)
LaToya Ruby Fraizer – analyse her work / book in relation to essay question
Her voice through interview / statement of her work
Outside voice: someone else’s comment about this work
Select a key image as an example to further analyse in more detail

Paragraph 4 (500 words)
Analyse your own work, how it developed what you did and why
How do your set of images interpret attachment/ detachment
Select a key image as an example to further analyse in more detail

Conclusion (250-500 words) 
Compare / contrast – differences / similarities

Bibliography
List all relevant sources used

 

Personal Study

Determining an Essay Title

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As a part of the Year 13 module, all photography students must choose an essay title based upon a series of suggestions provided by our teachers. The written piece will accompany our practical photography work, just like professional photographers producing their own photo books. Our titles must include the reference of other artists and their styles with the feature of careful analysis of their work and justification to as why we chose them to be included within our work. Due to the formality of these essays, the structure and quality of the work are paramount, causing me to follow the Harvard referencing procedure.

An essay title I thought reflected the work I have begun to create and matched the concept I hoped to portray was …

“How chronic illness has inspired people to document their story through photography as a way of healing?”

Crucially, what drew me to this title was how relatable it was. My photography work has inspired me to capture my and my step-brother’s condition in order to deal with my pent-up feelings regarding A.D.H.D., rather than feel embarrassment like I have in the past. The term “chronic” means ‘persisting for a long time or constantly recurring’, linking to our disorder well as for me it covered my childhood, whereas, with Noah, we don’t know if he will leave it behind like me.

When researching photographers who have visually documented work in a similar fashion to way I would like to portray, I stumbled upon the work of Tyler Grace. Mr Grace lives with a number of chronic illnesses including fibromyalgia (a chronic muscle and bone condition), Marfan Syndrome (a genetic disorder), chronic fatigue, depression and anxiety. He said he was once told by doctors he would not live past 18 years old. Tyler has even gone to say…

“Photography helps me get a lot of the negative feelings out because there has been a lot of negative feelings and experiences over the years. It has just helped me channel all that and turn it into something positive.”

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-06/photographer-tyler-grace-exhibition-living-with-chronic-illness/8592634

Instruction, Personal Study, Preparation, Reading, Research and analysis, Written Task

Using Quotes and Referencing (Harvard Referencing System)

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The Harvard Referencing System is a style of referencing, primarily used by university students, to cite information sources and I will using it throughout my personal study I order to quote statements form artists/publishers/journalists to relate to the context of my question. 

The main type of referencing is:

In-text citations – used when directly quoting or paraphrasing a source. They are located in the body of the work and contain a fragment of the full citation.

Depending on the source type, some Harvard Reference in-text citations may look something like this:

“After that I lived like a young rajah in all the capitals of Europe…” (Fitzgerald, 2004).

Each citation in a reference list includes various pieces of information including the:

– Name of the author(s)

– Year published

– Title

– City published

– Publisher

– Pages used

Bibliography

Sontag S. (1977), On Photography. London: Penguin Books

An example of referencing from the book ‘On Photography’ by Susan Sontag

In her book, On Photography, art critic, Susan Sontag writes: ‘They [photographs] age, plagued by the usual ills of paper objects; they disappear; they become valuable, and get bought and sold; they are reproduced’ (Sontag 1977:4).

‘[Photograph images] provide most of the knowledge people have about the look of the past and the reach of the present’ (Sontag 1977:4).

‘Something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we’re shown a photograph of it’ (Sontag 1977:5).

‘A photograph – any photograph – seems to have a more innocent, and therefore more accurate, relation to visible reality than do other mimetic objects’ (Sontag 1977:6).

‘The point of taking photographs was a vast departure from the aims of painters’ (Sontag 1977:7).

Image result for on photography susan sontag