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Co-ordinator of A Level Photography at Hautlieu School, Jersey

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Guernsey Photography Festival 2018 | Political Landscape

 

HERE IS A LINK TO: PLANNING-TRACKING-PERSONAL INVESTIGATION-AUTUMN-TERM-2018

What is “Political Landscape”?

It is important that we all have an understanding and interpretation of the term “political landscape” before we venture into un-ravelling how a range of influential photographers have tackled elements of this theme…

  • issues being discussed by some / most people
  • current affairs that are influenced by the parties in power
  • the current state of things, as well as how they are looking in the future.
  • how decisions in past have shaped our lives…

Class Activity

  • work in small teams of 2 /3 people
  • respond to the following sub-headings and create a dynamic brainstorm on coloured sugar paper
  • think carefully about how these points have affected your past, resent and future lives
  • pass the paper around the class to add to the discussion points
  • present your findings and debate the relevance / importance of each…
  1. health
  2. education
  3. infrastructure
  4. public services
  5. community
  6. human rights
  7. civil rights

Now look at…

Guernsey Photography Festival “Political Landscape”

  • Click on the link above to view and choose a range of
  • photographers to research and explore…

The theme for the 2018 Festival is Political Landscape. This has always been present throughout the history of photography. From the Crimean war battlefield photographs of Roger Fenton; Ansel Adams’ sublime American landscapes; the objective and conceptual typologies of Bernd and Hilla Becher’s industrial buildings; to the iconic pale blue dot, taken by Voyager 1. These historic landmarks and many more have helped develop the way photographers work with landscape.

You can clearly see in each of the contributing artist’s work how they have approached, embraced or integrated the theme…but we want you to now engage with the nature of the work itself and develop your knowledge and understanding.

The various approaches…

Documentary photography tends to take place over an extended time. Some photographers will set a specific time-frame to what they are documenting and how they are documenting the event(s), happenings, locations and characters attached to the story or narrative.

Social documentary photography or concerned photography is the recording of how the world looks like, with a social and/or environmental focus. It is a form of documentary photography, with the aim to draw the public’s attention to ongoing social issues.

Usually, there is a point to this process. We may, as photographers, document how land is being used / abused, how land is passed down through generations of families, how land is protected, why land often has a spiritual connection to communities and society as a whole, how and why land physically changes to fit with political agendas and so on…

Lisa Barnard, “The canary and the hammer”

But you may be more interested in exploring creative and conceptual approaches to taking / making your images. Tableaux photography relies on setting up, staging and capturing scenes, events or incidents usually involving people.

Jaako Kahilaniemi 100 Hectares of Understanding

Archive driven / reliant work often stems from extensive research and even appropriation of pre-existing material including photographs, film, legal documents, transcripts, maps, plans, articles and more.

Example

Valeria Cherchi has combined archival material with tableaux arrangements to explore a controversial and secretive program of vigilante action in Sardinia towards the end of last century in “Some of you killed Luisa”.

 

Research and analysis Task

  1. Choose 2 x photographers from GPF 2018 to explore, discuss, describe and explain key examples from their current projects
  2. Compare and contrast their approaches and outcomes and ask yourself…
  • what?
  • how?
  • why?
  • when?
  • where?
  1. Show critical awareness of the purpose and outcome of the work, and how it has developed over time.
  2. Illustrate clearly how the subject matter has been represented
  3. Critique the presentation of the work
  4. Ensure your blog posts are visually informative and include…
  • hyperlinks to appropriate sites and articles
  • embedded videos that support / illustrate you research
  • definition(s) of “Political Landscape”
  • a range of pre-exisiting, alternative approaches to the concept of political landscape

This should help YOU to formulate a plan for the practical element…

Practical Task

To successfully complete this task you must choose 2 of the options below to inspire your ideas…

  1. Documentary / narrative
  2. Creative / conceptual (includes tableaux approaches)
  3. Archive-driven

…and create a set of blog posts that clearly demonstrate your ability to respond to the theme of Political Landscape. You may want to extend your ideas from the Future of St Helier…or embark on a new and different approach.

You may want to choose from the following prompts…

  • how land is being used / abused (locally or elsewhere)
  • how land is passed down through generations of families,
  • how land is protected,
  • why land often has a spiritual connection to specific communities and society as a whole,
  • how and why land physically changes to fit with political agendas
  • the importance of borders / restrictions
  • how we are defined by where we live, work, spend time
  • human rights and the effects on our surroundings
  • civil rights and the effects on our surroundings
  • media outlets, agendas and information accessibility

You must clearly outline your intentions and reasoning for your approach to the theme…define and de-construct what political landscape could be

You must devise and complete at least 1 x photo-shoot (min. 250 images)and produce a range of outcomes that are the result of careful and intelligent camera techniques, selection, editing and presentation methods.

Remember to analyse and evaluate your process carefully, using specialist vocabulary…

Picture

MORE SUPPORT HERE

Useful articles to help you explore some recent  / current examples of local starting points re : political landscape

Newspaper design and layout : Tasks 1-3

Over the next week we would like you to…

Create 5 x examples of alternative layouts for your newspaper using Adobe InDesign and complete a visual blog post that clearly shows your decision making and design process.

XXL zine for Travel Portand. Photography by Danielle Delph.

CLICK HERE…

ATLANTUS PROJECT | MARTIN TOFT AND GARETH SYVRET

https://www.martintoft.com/atlantus/

Be careful with your choices…aim for impact and originality. Use your crops and edits from your Adobe Photoshop experiments.

You will need to show…

  1. inspiration from a selection of newspaper designs

for this…you should 

  • photograph at least 5 x examples from the middle table and add to blog / describe and explain what is interesting / successful about them
  • Design your layout by showing an understanding of conventions, but also subvert conventions to allow a more dynamic, or fluid approach.
  • Remember to discuss your findings using subject specific vocabulary.

Think carefully about how your images compliment each other, contrast against each other or flow as a sequence in a specific order.

2. Design pages / spreads that have a combination of

  • single image
  • double page (full bleed) spread
  • 2 /3 or multi image
  • overlapping images : conceal + reveal / obsure / transparent
  • images that can be scaled up across 4 x pages
  • include some archival / nostalgic images

3. Finally…you must add a colour -coded motif (numbered by page) that indicates your team / zone somewhere in your design.

Use the map from our photo-shoot day in St Helier to help you with this…

Your idea could be a small dot in the corner, or incorporated within your image or page in another way. You can be inventive with this idea, but aim for consistency throughout your pages.

You can export Indesign pages as a PDF or JPEG…but also using screenshots is a great way to illustrate your design process and gives you opportunities to add annotations too…

Deadline for completion : Tuesday 17th July

Be brave…be bold…get creative and have fun!

 

 

 

Planning and Researching Your Town Photoshoot | Psycho-geography

Week 1 : Mon 11 June – Sun 17 June

Week 1: 11 – 17 June
Tuesday 12 June  Societe Jersiaise – all day

Presentations, inspirations and workshop on exploring St Helier and looking at narrative using images in the collection of Percival Dunham

Tuesday 12 June  Societe Jersiaise – all day

Presentations, inspirations and workshop on exploring St Helier and looking at narrative using images in the collection of Percival Dunham.

Blog: Produce a number of blog post that illustrate your knowledge and understanding. Use images , video and references to hyperlinks from sources used

  1. Describe your own view, feelings and vision for how you see the Future of St Helier.
  2. Define what a Masterplan is how it has influenced the development and planning of St Helier.
  3. Provide a brief history of St Helier and research the specific area of town that you have selected.
  4. Independent Study: Artists References/ Visual Inspiration. Research the Photo-Archive and select at least one photographer from the list provided that reference you chosen areas of study. Select at least one contemporary photographer that provides visual inspiration for your own shoots.

Photo-Archive
Dunham, Percy
Baudoux, Ernest
Smith, Albert
Henry Mullins

Archisle Contemporary Collection
Martin Parr (Liberation)
Michelle Sank (
Insula)
Yury Toroptsov (
Fairyland)
Tom Pope (
 I am not Tom Pope, You are all Tom Pope)
Martin Toft ( 
Masterplan)
Lewis Bush

Click these links for access to the Photographic Archives

Societe Jersiaise Photographic Archives

Search the archive activity 2018

Intro to the Photo Archive

 

Follow these steps:

  • Produce a mood board with a selection of images and write an overview of their work, why you have chosen them and how it may help develop your own ideas and shoots for your project.
  • Select at least one image from each photographer and analyse in depth using methodology of DESCRIBE – INTERPRET – EVALUATE – CONTEXTUALISE.
  • Make a detailed shooting plan on how you intend to respond to your research and chosen area of St Helier

Extension task: Select a second photographer from the Photo-Archive and a second contemporary photographer and follow the above instructions.

Deadline: Mon 17 June

MASTERPLAN

A masterplan is a dynamic long-term planning document that provides a conceptual layout to guide future growth and development. Master planning is about making the connection between buildings, social settings, and their surrounding environments. A master plan includes analysis, recommendations, and proposals for a site’s population, economy, housing, transportation, community facilities, and land use. It is based on public input, surveys, planning initiatives, existing development, physical characteristics, and social and economic conditions.

Example :

https://urban-regeneration.worldbank.org/node/51

North Of St Helier

Link to official Masterplan for the development of the North of St Helier

https://www.gov.je/Government/Pages/StatesReports.aspx?ReportID=583

Esplanade Quarter

Linsk to Masterplan for the Esplanade Quarter.

https://www.gov.je/Government/Pages/StatesReports.aspx?reportid=137

Review of the current Masterplan of the Waterfront

JERSEY DEVELOPMENT COMPANY

Jersey Development Company (JDC) is owned by the States of Jersey. It is responsible for completing the development of the St Helier Waterfront and regenerating States owned property no longer required for the delivery of public services.

You should : Explore their website and research a specific construction and build environment.

https://www.jerseydevelopment.je/

Website for the International Finance Centre Jersey that is under construction on the Esplanade

http://www.ifcjersey.je/about-ifc-jersey/

FUTURE OF ST HELIER

https://www.gov.je/PlanningBuilding/LawsRegs/IslandPlan/PlansFrameworks/pages/improvingsthelier.aspx

HISTORY OF ST HELIER

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Helier

Here is a link to St Helier on Wikipedia which describes how the parish of is divided into 6 vingtaines for administrative purposes.

PSYCHO-GEOGRAPHY// SITUATIONISM

We have explored Psycho-geaography as a concept and way of working before…during the AS Landscape Project. Many of you succeeded in developing strong ideas by following some of the ideas.

Psycho-geography is a hybrid of photography and  geography that emphasizes playfulness and “drifting” around urban environments. It has links to the Situationist International.

Psychogeography was defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as “the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals.”

Another definition is “a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for exploring cities… just about anything that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape.

The originator of what became known as unitary urbanism, psychogeography, and the dérive was Ivan Chtcheglov, in his highly influential 1953 essay “Formulaire pour un urbanisme nouveau” (“Formulary for a New Urbanism”).

It has roots in Dadaism and Surrealism.

The idea of urban wandering relates to the older concept of the flâneur, theorized by Charles Baudelaire…and is similar to STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

PETAPIXEL definition of PsychoGeography CLICK HERE

What to photograph and how

  • Abstract visions…alternative, “wrong” photographs
  • Formalism…line, shape, pattern, tone, colour etc
  • Romanticism in the city…atmospherics
  • The people : 3 x types of portrait (observatinal , formal, environmental)
  • The objects | Ephemera (litter and debris)
  • Make use of your senses : see , hear ,taste, smell, touch
  • Old vs New vs Development
  • Good vs bad…subjective approach
  • Form vs function
  • Gentrification vs dereliction
  • Juxtaposition | contrasts | diversity
  • Unconventional beauty
  • Signage and facades
  • Typography and graphics
  • Movement / clutter
  • Aerial Imagery / Satellite / Surveillance
  • Angles | Viewpoints

Contemporary Approaches

Sohei Nishino  : Diorama Maps

Diorama Map

https://www.lensculture.com/articles/sohei-nishino-diorama-city-maps

Noemie Goudal : Nature vs Culture

Observatoire IV

http://noemiegoudal.com/

Marcus Desieno creates de-humanised landscape photography by hacking surveillance camera networks…but avoids privacy problems normally associated with urban and residential areas…

Letha Wilson : Merging shape and landscape

http://www.lethaprojects.com/

The Boyle Family : The ground we walk on

Image result for boyle family

http://www.boylefamily.co.uk/boyle/about/index.html

Thom and Beth Atkinson : Scarred buildings

Missing Buildings: Thom and Beth Atkinson document the scars left on London by the Blitz

Mishka Henner : Aerial Imagery in the digital age

https://mishkahenner.com

Luke Fowler: Two-Frame Film | Juxtapostions

Image result for luke fowler two frame films

http://www.photopedagogy.com/two-frame-films.html

Stephen Gill :  “in-camera photograms”

Image result for stephen gill photography

https://www.lensculture.com/articles/stephen-gill-outside-in

Joel Sternfeld: documenting the place and the people

https://www.joelsternfeld.net/artworks/2018/3/25/walking-the-high-line

John Bulmer: Working Class environments

home page image

http://www.johnbulmer.co.uk/

Peter Mitchell: re-visiting locations throughout the years

http://www.bjp-online.com/2018/01/peter-mitchell-viking-4/

Typology means the study and interpretation of types and became associated with photography through the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher, whose photographs taken over the course of 50 years of industrial structures; water towers, grain elevators, blast furnaces etc can be considered conceptual art. They were interested in the basic forms of these architectural structures and  referred to them as ‘Anonyme Skulpturen’ (Anonymous Sculptures.)

The Becher’s were influenced by the work of earlier German photographers linked to the New Objectivity movement of the 1920s such as August Sander, Karl Blossfeldt and Albert-Renger-Patzsch.

August Sander
Karl Blosfeldt
Albert-Renger-Patzsch

See also the work by Americans, William Christenberry and Ed Ruscha’s photographic works on types e.g. Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1964). Every building on the Sunset Strip (1966). Or Idris Khan‘s appropriation of Bechers’ images.

Ed Ruscha, 26 Gasoline Stations

William Christenberry
Idris Khan

See previous blog post for more guidelines and a photo-assignment.

Not least of the Bechers’ legacy is their lasting influence on subsequent generations of artists who use the photographic medium today, most notably the students taught by Bernd Becher at the Düsseldorf Art Academy between 1976 and 1996. Among his most renowned students are Andreas Gursky, Candida Höfer, Thomas Ruff, and Thomas Struth.

Andreas Gurkst
Thomas Struth born 1954 Ferdinand-von-Schill-Strasse, Dessau 1991 1991
Thomas Ruff
Candia Hofer

From Germany, apart form the legacy of the Dusseldorf Kunst Akademie headed by the Becher’s another school of photography, the Werkstatt für Fotografie (Workshop for Photography) was founded in Berlin by Michael Schmidt who invited several leading American photographers, including William Eggleston and John Gossage, to teach there.

Michael Schmidt Waffenrufe

Responding to the wall between East and West in Berlin Schmidt produced a seminal work, Waffenrufe. Another body of work Berlin Nach 45 show empty streets of East Berlin made in the early hours as a quite testament to post war German architecture and urban city planning

Conceptual approaches to natural/ man-made environments

Tanja Deman is a Croation artist who was  Archisle’s International Photographer-in-Residence in 2017.

Her art is inspired by her interest in the perception of space, physical and emotional connection to a place and her relationship to nature.  Her  works, incorporating photography, collage, video and public art, are evocative meditations on urban space and landscape. Observing recently built legacy or natural sites her work investigates the sociology of space and reflects dynamics hidden under the surface of both the built and natural environment.

Tanja Deman Fernweh

Fernweh series explores the concept of a modernist city through its extreme relations to the landscape. The images are placed on a blurred line between a past which reminds us of a future and a future which looks like a past. Scenes are referring to the modernist ideas and aspiration of a man conquering the natural wild land and subordinating it to the rational order, and the consequences of those aspirations, which switched into the longing for an escape from urban environments.

Tanja Deman Collected Narratives

Collective Narratives is a series staging a moment of contemplation of nature and built environment. Natural spectacles, framed in theatrical space are contemplated by an audience. These constructed images consolidate: geological formations; a projection of an urban environment; an arena; a deep chasm; a theatre and a crumbling slag-heap through a very active kind of watching.
While making the series ‘Collective Narratives’ I was interested in different types of spectatorship and architectural settings in which they are taking place. Moreover, the notion of a ritual in which a large group of people gathers and participates in order to experience something together by observing, intrigued me. I see these spaces for cultural and sports spectacles, as zones of pure potential, where the world must be rebuilt or re-imagined every time they are in use. Having liberated them from their utilitarian, commercial restrains, and the environments in which they were created, I allow them to cross the boundary of reality.
Together these scenes examine time and the strange modes of spectatorship attached to the inanimate world. A collective witnessing of phenomena that are usually experienced in private atmospheres.

Staged / Constructed Environments
Land art is art that is made directly in the landscape, sculpting the land itself into earthworks or making structures in the landscape using natural materials such as rocks or twigs

Robert Smithson Spiral Jetty

Land art was part of the wider conceptual art movement in the 1960s and 1970s. The most famous land art work is Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty of 1970, an earthwork built out into the Great Salt Lake in the USA. Though some artists such as Smithson used mechanical earth-moving equipment to make their artworks, other artists made minimal and temporary interventions in the landscape such as Richard Long who simply walked up and down until he had made a mark in the earth.

A Line in the Himalayas 1975, printed 2004 Richard Long born 1945 Presented by the artist (Building the Tate Collection) 2005 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/T12035

Land art, which is also known as earth art, was usually documented in artworks using photographs and maps which the artist could exhibit in a gallery. Land artists also made land art in the gallery by bringing in material from the landscape and using it to create installations.

Parallel Stress 1970 Dennis Oppenheim

As well as Richard Long and Robert Smithson, key land artists include Hamish Fulton, Walter de Maria, Michael Heizer,  Dennis Oppenheim and Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Hamish Fulton (born 1946) is a British walking artist. Since 1972 he has only made works based on the experience of walks.

Wind through the Pines 1985, 1991 Hamish Fulton born 1946

Read more here on Tate Online Resources

William Christenberry making typological studies of vernacular architecture traditional to the deep American South.

Christenberry also made little sculptures or 3D models of some of the buildings he had photographed

Photography and sculpture
Photographic installations which are site specific and 3-dimensional is very in vogue right now. In the exam paper starting point 4 is about artists exploring the material nature of a photographic image and the idea that photographs can be sculptural. Here are a few artists to explore

Felicity Hammond is an emerging artist who works across photography and installation. Fascinated by political contradictions within the urban landscape her work explores construction sites and obsolete built environments.

The Space Between @ ART ROTTERDAM 2017

The Space Between @ ART ROTTERDAM 2017

In specific works Hammond photographs digitally manipulated images from property developers’ billboards and brochures and prints them directly onto acrylic sheets which are then manipulated into unique sculptural objects.  http://www.felicityhammond.com/

Lorenzo Venturi: Dalston Anatomy

Lorenzo Vitturi’s vibrant still lifes capture the threatened spirit of Dalston’s Ridley Road Market. Vitturi – who lives locally – feels compelled to capture its distinctive nature before it is gentrified beyond recognition. Vitturi arranges found objects and photographs them against backdrops of discarded market materials, in dynamic compositions. These are combined with street scenes and portraits of local characters to create a unique portrait of a soon to be extinct way of life.

His installation at the Gallery draws on the temporary structures of the market using raw materials, sculptural forms and photographs to explore ideas about creation, consumption and preservation.

Watch our exclusive interview with Lorenzo.

Lorenzo Vetturi

http://www.lorenzovitturi.com/

Mishka Henner, Trevor Paglen, Doug Rickard, Daniel Mayrit all use found images from the internet, Google earth and other satellites images as a way to ask questions and raise awareness about our environment, state operated security facilities, social and urban neighbour hoods, prostitution, and London’s business leaders of major international financial institutions.

Levelland Oil Field- Texas_900
Mishka Henner, Levelland Oil Field- Texas

US oil fields photographed by satellites orbiting Earth.

MH-DutchLandscapes-Staphorst Ammunition Depot_3_900
Mishka Henner Dutch Landscapes

Mishka Henner: I’m not the only one, 2015
Single channel video, 4:34 mins

Photographer Trevor Paglen has long made the advanced technology of global surveillance and military weaponry his subject. This year he has been nominated for the prestigious The Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize which aims to reward a contemporary photographer of any nationality, who has made the most significant contribution (exhibition or publication) to the medium of photography in Europe in the previous year. The Prize showcases new talents and highlights the best of international photography practice. It is one of the most prestigious prizes in the world of photography. Read more here

National_Geospatial-Intelligence_Agency,_2013
Trevor Paglen

Doug Rickard is a north American artist / photographer. He uses technologies such as Google Street View and YouTube to find images, which he then photographs on his monitor, to create series of work that have been published in books, exhibited in galleries.

via-francesca-ciserano-bergamo-italy

Months after the London Riots in 2008 (at the beginning of the economical crash) the Metropolitan Police handed out leaflets depicting youngsters that presumably took part in riots. Images of very low quality, almost amateur, were embedded with unquestioned authority due both to the device used for taking the photographs and to the institution distributing those images. But in reality, what do we actually know about these people? We have no context or explanation of the facts, but we almost inadvertently assume their guilt because they have been ‘caught on CCTV’.

In his awarding book: You Haven’s Seen the Faces.. Daniel Mayrit appropriated the characteristics of surveillance technology using Facebook and Google to collect images of the 100 most powerful people in the City of London (according to the annual report by Square Mile magazine in 2013). The people here featured represent a sector which is arguably regarded in the collective perception as highly responsible for the current economic situation, but  nevertheless  still live  in a comfortable anonymity, away from public scrutiny.

Read article here in the BJP on Shooting the Rich

659;daniel_mayrit_-_you_havent_seen_their_faces_riot_books_2015_

Read and see more here on his website and the publisher, RIOT Books 

See also this book Looters by Tiane Doan Na Champassak

LootersIPB

 

Another Kind of Life: Photography on the Margins
At a time of significant national and global uncertainty, the season in 2018 at the Barbican Art Gallery in London explore how artists respond to, reflect and potentially effect change in the social and political landscape.

Reflecting a diverse, complex and authentic view of the world, the exhibition touches on themes of countercultures, subcultures and minorities of all kinds, the show features the work of 20 photographers from the 1950s to the present day. Diane ArbusCasa Susanna, Philippe Chancel, Larry Clark, Bruce Davidson, Mary Ellen MarkPaz Errázuriz, Jim GoldbergKaty GrannanPieter Hugo, Seiji Kurata, Danny Lyon, Teresa Margolles, Boris MikhailovDaido MoriyamaIgor Palmin, Walter Pfeiffer, Dayanita Singh Alec Soth and Chris Steele-Perkins

Read Press Release here

Paz Errázuriz The beautifully arresting series of photographs, Adam’s Apple (1982-87), by Chilean photographer Paz Errázuriz are of a community of transgender sex-workers working in an underground brothel in Chile in the 1980s. Taken during the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet when gender non-conforming people were regularly subjected to curfews, persecutions and police brutality, the photographs are a collaborative and defiant act of political resistance.

Read review here in Dazed and Confused and a gallery page in the Guardian

Lewis BushArchisle Photographer-in-Residence 2018 is  a Photographer, Writer, Curator and Educator based in London. After studying History and working as a researcher for the United Nations Taskforce on HIV/AIDS he completed a MA in Documentary Photography at the London College of Communication in 2012. Since then he has developed a multifaceted practice encompassing photography, writing and curation to explore ideas about the way power is created and exercised in the world. In The Memory of History (2012) he travelled through ten European countries documenting the way the past was being manipulated in the context of the economic crisis and recession. This project was widely published and was exhibited at the European Union’s permanent representation in London in 2014. More recent works include Metropole (2015) which critiques the architectural transformation of London and the city’s growing inequality by subverting the imagery of London’s luxury and corporate developments. Bush’s new book Shadows of the State (2018) uses open source research to reveal numbers stations, cold war intelligence communications which remain in use today. Bush is a Lecturer on the MA and BA(hons) Documentary Photography Programmes at London College of Communication.

Shadow States
Metropole
The Memory of State

Read Lewis Bush blog Disphotic here

City and abstraction:
Aaron Siskind
Ernst Haas
Saul Leiter

Street Photography:
Beat Streuli

Canon of american street photography
Walker Evans and his project Labour Anonymous
Robert Frank
Lee Friedlander
Gary Winogrand
Diane Arbus
William Eggleston
Stephen Shore

Jim Goldberg
Eamon Doyle: trilogy from Dublin

The City  at Night:
Rut Blees Luxembourg
Maciej Dakowicz: Cardiff at Night
Todd Hido

Saul Leiter
Daniel

Last year Tom Pope came to Jersey for a 6 month residency with Archisle in the Photographic Archive of the Société Jersiaise, Jersey and produced an exhibition and installation I Am Not Tom Pope, You Are All Tom Pope featuring a number of diverse and new work incorporating elements of photography, performance, video and sculpture. Go to his website to see examples of his unique work. Here are some of the key concepts that underpin’s his work and practice:

Performance, Photography, Chance, Humour/Fun, Repetition
Play, Psychogeographydérive (drifting), SituationismDadaism
Public/Private, Challenging authority, Failure, DIY/Ad-hoc approach, Collaboration, Audience participation

Here are a list of other artists/ photographers that has influenced Tom Pope’s work and that may inspire you: Vito Acconci, John Baldessari, Yves Klein, Bas Jan Ader, Erwin Wurm, Chris Arnatt, Richard Long, Hamish Fulton, Joseph Beuys, Chris Burden, Francis Alÿs, , Sophie Calle , Nikki S Lee, Claude Cahun, Dennis Oppenheim, Bruce Nauman, Allan Kaprow, Mark Wallinger, Gillian Wearing, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Steve McQueen, Marcel Duchamp and the Readymade, Andy Warhol’s film work,  Marina AbramovicPipilotti Rist, Luis Bunuel/ Salvatore Dali: , Le Chien Andalou, Dziga Vertov: The Man with a Movie Camera

John Baldessari: “I will not make any more boring art…”

Homework Assignment 1

Contextual Studies : Research

Homework Assignment 2

Night Shoot : St Helier

Homework Assignment 3

Provoke : Japan

Homework Assignment 4

Looking at Photo-Book / Zine Design

Homework Assignment 5

Presentation methods

 

Monday tasks and reminders

Good Morning

I will not be in school today due to illness : so here goes with a few reminders and prompts

  • Good to see new and fresh imagery coming in…please keep adding your responses and photo-shoots
  • Select carefully and edit according to your influences
  • Be selective with your contact sheets too…there is no need at this stage to over-load any blog post with too many contact sheets.
  • Respond to the teaching from Miss Hearn and I last week…some of you will benefit from multi-media approaches and showing an awareness / understanding of conceptual approaches too.
  • See you tomorrow hopefully!

(PS : do not worry about exam clashes…we are aware of them and can work around them)

ESA | Secrets , Codes and Conventions | Schedule and expectations

You are expected to produce 15-20 Blog Posts that explore, define and showcase your ability to respond to the theme of Secrets, Codes and Conventions…

Externally Set Assignment (10 Hours)

Dates and rooms

12A  / Monday 14th May + Wednesday 16 May

Room : Photog 1

12B / Monday 14th May + Wednesday 16 May

Room : Media / ICT

12C / Tuesday 15th May + Thursday 17th May

Room : Photog 1

12D / Tuesday 15th May + Thursday 17th May

Room : Media / ICT

Photography Rooms

will be partly out of use for 2 weeks…23rd April – 4th May inclusive….you must be prepared for this, bring in your laptops and use alternative ICT Rooms. This is due to A2 Photog Exams in both rooms.

JAC will book these for you and email details closer to the dates.

You may not have a teacher available so be prepared to work independently towards your final outcomes…

Print Deadline for Final Outcomes

Tuesday 8th May 2018 9am…Mr Cole be uploading all print files to our printer for ordering.

MR COLE AND MISS HEARN MUST CHECK YOUR CHOICES AND AGREE TO THEM BEFORE PRINTING

Your finish school for STUDY LEAVE on Friday 4th May…our advice to you is to make sure you have the prints ready in the print folder by the end of this day so you do not forget!

Your only other option is to print your own images…but you must have images ready for the exam date itself.

Final Deadline for Coursework

Thursday 29th March NOW EXTENDED TO TUESDAY 17TH APRIL !!!

Assessment Objectives

You should provide evidence that fulfils the four Assessment Objectives:
AO1 Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual
and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding
AO2 Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and
processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops
AO3 Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress
AO4 Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.

 

ESA | Secrets, Codes and Conventions…getting started

Preparatory studies

Preparatory studies will respond to the Externally Set Assignment theme and may include sketchbooks, notebooks, worksheets, design sheets, large-scale rough studies, samples, swatches, test pieces, maquettes, digital material… anything that shows fully
your progress towards your outcomes.
Your preparatory studies should show evidence of:
• your development and control of visual literacy and the formal elements (tone, texture, colour, line, form and structure)
• an exploration of techniques and media
• investigations showing engagement with appropriate primary and secondary sources
• the development of your thoughts, decisions and ideas based on the theme
• critical review and reflection.

Assessment Objectives

You should provide evidence that fulfils the four Assessment Objectives:
AO1 Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual
and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding
AO2 Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and
processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops
AO3 Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress
AO4 Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.

Here are some other suggestions that may stimulate your imagination:
• rules, rituals, etiquette, procedures, conformity, oppression
• masks, disguises, camouflage, costumes
• oceans, forests, caves, smog, night
• hieroglyphs, codes, Braille, runes, fonts
• single-celled organisms, parasites, cocoons, shells, dens
• the Underground, tunnels, cracks, catacombs
• magic, theatre, espionage, Bletchley Park
• lies, deceit, tragedy, romance
• exploration, discovery, archaeology, metal detecting
• science, knowledge, astronomy, space exploration
• diving, caving, orienteering, cellars
• hide and seek, pass the parcel, gambling dice

Theme: SECRETS, CODES AND CONVENTIONS
Title: 8PY0/02 Photography
1.
The group photo has powerful underlying conventions, whether a family portrait or of a gathering of friends. These reflect codes of behaviour that shift over time. In the early 1990s Paul M Smith explored the convention of the ‘team photo’ and the ‘night
out’ – photographs so often taken by groups of ‘lads’, which he took to be anything but spontaneous.

Multiple self portraits from Paul M Smith in his series "Make My Night". An almost forensic scrutiny of masculine identity in one of its aspects. See also his series "Artist Rifles" - again multiple self portraits. "emphasise the effect of the military structure on a person's identity.

Paul M Smith Make My Night 

Trish Morrissey gently subverted the ritual of the family holiday photo in her 2005-7 series of photographs called Front, often swapping clothes and taking on the role of the mother in semi- formal gatherings staged on beaches in Britain and Australia.

Elaine Constantine is a photographer and film-maker. Her film “Northern Soul” depicts how a generation of teenagers from gritty, northern towns in England became fixated with black soul music. The two groups of people are contrasting…but somehow fused together.

As a pioneer of the vibrant, documentary-inspired approach to fashion photography in the 1990s and early 2000s Constantine was a regular contributor to The Face, Italian Vogue and US Vogue.

Many photographers have explored the notion of fringe groups, alternatives, non-conformists, sub-cultures, anarchists etc…everything from biker gangs to surfers, trainspotters to religious groups.

Many documentary photographers have explored sub-cultures, and have recorded their often unconventional lifestyles over a period of time eg Danny Lyons, Larry Clark, Mary Ellen Mark, Chris Killip, John Bulmer and Martin Parr.

http://www.industryart.com/artists/elaineconstantine/northernsoul

https://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2014/sep/10/northern-soul-trailer-video

  • How does Constantine frame and compose the imagery here?
  • What lighting is employed?
  • How do the angles encourage us to view the people / event?

Tom Wood, Brassaї and Malick Sidibé have explored similar territory, recording social gatherings. Diane Arbus, Sally Mann and Nikki S. Lee have taken photographs that challenge and question the normal conventions of such images.

Trish Morrissey
Sylvia Westbrook, August 2nd, 2005

Theme: SECRETS, CODES AND CONVENTIONS
Title: 8PY0/02 Photography

2.

In The Road to Mecca, Maha Malluh mixes signs, symbols and conventions from the present and the past to illustrate the modern experience of the Hajj or journey to Mecca. She uses her children’s toys and the design of the Kiswa as a background, visually unified
by the darkroom process of photograms.

There are clear Tableaux opportunities here…or even possibilities to explore film making, animation, time lapse or DIORAMAs.

Many contemporary photographers, such as Garry Fabian Miller, Susan Derges and
Adam Fuss, mix conventions and visual codes. Isa Genzken challenges expectations of traditional photographs in her work, by combining photography and sculpture. These pieces are influenced in part by Rauschenberg’s Combines and Peter Blake’s paintings.

Maha Malluh
Hajj : The Road to Mecca

Theme: SECRETS, CODES AND CONVENTIONS
Title: 8PY0/02 Photography

3.

Places and objects hold secrets and tell stories. Eugene Atgèt was one of the first photographers to sense the passage of time and a melancholy presence in the quiet backstreets of Paris. Paul Seawright, Simon Norfolk, Donovan Wylie and Willie Doherty record places that bear secret histories or subtle evidence of conflict.

Donovan Wylie, Maze 2007/8

Donovan Wylie MAZE Prison 2007 / 8

In her series Mothers and Frida, the Japanese photographer Ishiuchi Miyako took pictures of the secret history imbued in the possessions left behind after a person’s death. Her work shows a continuing obsession with the traces we leave behind, both as individuals
and as a society.

'The Secret Possessions of Frida Kahlo' by Ishiuchi Miyako.

Ishiuchi Miyako
Frida Kahlo’s corset

Theme: SECRETS, CODES AND CONVENTIONS
Title: 8PY0/02 Photography

4.
The photographer Diane Arbus wrote ‘A picture is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.’ This could equally refer to Maya Deren’s and Alexander Hackenschmied’s 1943 film Meshes of the Afternoon, which used innovative techniques
such as slow motion, repetition and jump cuts to build a sense of a dream interacting with reality. In the film objects seem to have a mysterious and secret significance, known only to the dreamer.

The film’s narrative is circular and repeats several motifs, including a flower on a long driveway, a key falling, a door unlocked, a knife in a loaf of bread, a mysterious Grim Reaper–like cloaked figure with a mirror for a face, a phone off the hook and an ocean. Through creative editing, distinct camera angles, and slow motion, the surrealist film depicts a world in which it is more and more difficult to catch reality.

It has influenced other filmmakers such as David Lynch in
Twin Peaks but was no doubt influenced by Soviet film maker Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin.

The film contains various codes, symbols and metaphors…and makes use of MONTAGE…juxtaposing clashing or contrasting imagery like this…

Picture

Luke Fowler employs this concept effectively in his diptychs…

Picture

Dreams and surreal imagery have also inspired other photographers and filmmakers such as Jerry Uelsmann, Madame Yevonde, Lara Zankoul, Wes Anderson and Matthew Barney.

You could re-interpret a well know fairy tale or moral, as Tim Walker often does in his work and explore the conventions of story telling and narrative

 

Look at Mari Mahr, Sophie Calle, and Claude Cahun (Jersey Link).

Meshes of the Afternoon. 1943. USA. Directed by Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid

Still from Meshes of the Afternoon
Maya Deren and Alexander Hackenschmied

How to get started …

You must look carefully at the examples given above by researching and reading…comparing and contrasting as you move through the options.

Watch the suggested film clips…and be prepared to explore your ideas in a range of media and then create a set of blog posts that develop the process…

  1. Create a mind-map that incorporates your initial thoughts, ideas and findings in response to SECRETS, CODES and CONVENTIONS
  2. Add a mood-board of relevant images
  3. Add definitions of the words : SECRETS, CODES and CONVENTIONS :what are they ?
  4. Choose at least one artist that you think can be an influence for your ideas…but compare and contrast to others
  5. Plan your first photo shoot
  6. Make a set of images as a response to your plan / artists work
  7. Select, edit and present your images
  8. Compare and contrast to your influence / inspiration
  9. Evaluate your process
  10. Repeat the process in order to review and refine…

You are expected to complete 15-20 Blog posts for the ESA

Week 1 Task : exploring codes and conventions

  • research and explore the words and possible meanings of secrets codes and conventions and create a blog post or two outlining your findings, and your plan…
  • apply ONE of these to a specific genre of photography found within the exam booklet
  • an example of this could be…

Photo – Journalism /

Documentary Photography

Until the mid-twentieth century, documentary photography was a vital way of bearing witness to world events: from shoot-from-the-hip photographs of the Spanish Civil War by Robert Capa to the considered portraits of poor farmers by Dorothea Lange.

Documentary photography generally relates to longer term projects with a more complex story line, while photojournalism concerns more breaking news stories. The two approaches often overlap. Some theorists argue that photojournalism, with its close relationship to the news media, is influenced to a greater degree than documentary photography by the need to entertain audiences and even market products.

Dazed Magazine Link

  • Which photographers (suggested in the booklet) do you think employ a documentary approach to their work?

Learn : There are various codes and conventions within the boundaries of documentary photography and photojournalism…

  1. Representation | truth and reality vs misrepresentation
  2. Standards | rules, conventions, acceptability, responsibility and respect
  3. Ethics | privacy, honesty, image theft, manipulation, respect for life

The Importance of Ethics in Photography

CLICK HERE FOR MORE

Your next task is to find out how these codes and conventions are adhered to, but also how they are often ignored or exploited

Why?

How?

And of course…how can you respond to this in a practical and meaningful way whilst either adhering to the codes and conventions, or subverting them?

Other photographic genres (and sub-genres)…

  • Documentary
  • Photo-journalism
  • Narrative
  • Street photography
  • Social documentary
  • Reportage
  • Fine Art
  • Landscape
  • Portrait
  • Abstract
  • Fashion
  • Surrealism
  • Tableaux
  • Conceptual / Installation

The Secrets of Darkroom Processing

https://petapixel.com/2018/03/06/make-bw-photo-print-darkroom-7-minute-crash-course/

 

Coming Up Next : Propaganda

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weeks 5 – 8 | Preparing for your Mock Exam Landscape Photography

Over the coming weeks you must now produce your final mini-unit that clearly demonstrates your knowledge, understanding and practical application of landscape photography…

You must provide blog posts that illustrate :

  1. Mood-board of images relevant to your plan
  2. Mindmaps / brainstorms of ideas
  3. Artist case study + image analysis
  4. Action plan for final photo shoot
  5. Original images ( contact sheet)
  6. Your selection process
  7. Your editing process
  8. Presentation ideas / printing solutions
  9. Compare and contrast to your chosen photographer
  10. Evaluation, critique and analysis of your final response(s)

YOUR FINAL BLOG POST SHOULD CLEARLY SHOW 3-5 POSSIBLE FINAL OUTCOMES, INCLUDING YOUR PRESENTATION METHOD

FROM THIS YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR IMAGES FOR PRINTING

Contemporary approaches to presentation :

Research and explore alternative approaches to presenting your final images. This should be an integral part of your concept…not a gimmick…ultimately, the quality of your photography will be the primary focus and your mark will reflect this…

Dafnor Talmor

Letha Wilson
Noemie Goudal
Alternative shapes…

 

Darren Harvey Regan

 

Print Deadline : Tuesday 20th February

Find the folder : M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Image Transfer\PRINTING

Essentials

  • Remember to label each JPEG  in the print folder with your name
  • 1 x file per A3. A4, A5
  • Ensure that your final images are a direct response to your chosen photographer (s) and show a clear visual link

Marking Criteria

The four assessment objectives clearly outline expectations, so you must provide high quality evidence for each AO…

AO1 : Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations, informed by contextual sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding

AO2 : Explore and select appropriate resources, media, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops

AO3 : Recording ideas (taking photos) that are relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work as it progresses

AO4 : Present a personal and meaningful response(s) that realises intentions, and makes connections with other artists

 

Further Reading CLICK HERE

 

Developing Your Own Ideas | Planning for the Mock Exam | Landscape Photography

You now have 2 weeks + half term to complete this unit, and prepare for the Mock Exams : Mon 26 Feb 12A / Tues 27 Feb 12B / Wed 28 Feb 12 C / Thurs 1 Mar 12 D 2018.

Final images must be in the print folder (M : drive) by 20th Feb at the latest…

In this time you must produce a range of carefully designed and thoroughly researched blog posts that tackle…

A01 : Develop Ideas

A02 : Explore Ideas

A03 : Record Ideas

AO4 : Present Ideas

In the exam you will be…

  • framing and mounting your final outcomes
  • completing any unfinished blog posts
  • adding any extra editing / experimental designs and images

You must look carefully at the following blogs…

  • pay attention to the layout, structure and content of each student’s approach
  • what did they do more of / less of?
  • how did they finalise their ideas and present their work?

Oliver Stockwell Landscape Photography AS (A grade)

Adam Seal Landscape Photography AS (A grade)

Charlotte Dance Landscape Photography AS (A grade)

Lauryn Sutcliffe Landscape Photography AS (A grade)

Maddie Lee Landscape Photography AS (A grade)

Alex Le Put Landscape Photography AS (A grade)

Joshua Twohig-Jones A2 Coursework