Definition – Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the “need to know”, perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret.
Secrecy links directly with hidden locations such as abandoned or derelict sites that are guarded against discovery. These often become secrets due to the fact that nature takes over these man made structures, hiding them from people.
Secrecy also has direct connotations with identity and how people will try to keep their personality or identity confidential. This kind of photography often results in surrealistic images which helps to portray this sense of hidden identity.
Our class was split into 3 groups and each made to put down our first thoughts on the 3 words Secrets, Codes and Conventions. These first ideas were put down on brainstorms. Here are the class brainstorms and the actual definitions of the words.
Secret – Not known or seen or not meant to be known or seen by others.
Code – A system of words, letters, figures, or symbols used to represent others, especially for the purposes of secrecy.
Convention – A way in which something is usually done.
Code – A set of conventions or sub-codes currently in use to communicate meaning. The most common is one’s spoken language, but the term can also be used to refer to any narrative form
Secret -Something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others.
Convention – The way in which something is usually done.
Mind Maps
Mood Board
My first ideas for this project is to do a separate word that we have been given, one for codes, one for conventions and finally one for secrets.
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 AO4Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.
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 AO4Present 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.
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.
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 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.
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…
Luke Fowler employs this concept effectively in his diptychs…
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).
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…
Create a mind-map that incorporates your initial thoughts, ideas and findings in response to SECRETS, CODES and CONVENTIONS
Add a mood-board of relevant images
Add definitions of the words : SECRETS, CODES and CONVENTIONS :what are they ?
Choose at least one artist that you think can be an influence for your ideas…but compare and contrast to others
Plan your first photo shoot
Make a set of images as a response to your plan / artists work
Select, edit and present your images
Compare and contrast to your influence / inspiration
Evaluate your process
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.
Experiment wihtin mirroring or using glass to represent a restraint and innovate themes of a slow sense of dream lost within reality.I would emphasis the use of glass in order to present a self reflection and convey their personal thought and feelings,hower I could also experiment wihtin not showing a face, and emphasis of a mystery and secretive time behind the work.I would use dark tonal ranges and different camera perspectives to present a value or part of their life.Wether that be ripping open a part of them or using a pathetic fallacy feature and using what is surrounding them to that their feelings. additionally the split mirror and back symbolise a break and distortion within their self image or additionally within the secrets they hold.
For my section idea I want to focus on areas in which have a lot of historical significance but attain many secrets and stories.I want to emphasis a more scary and or adventful area of locations. This could also be viewed as signs and symbols to illustrate a past experience and a journey through time of past peoples lives.
This next piece is again more landscape inspired but showing the unpredictability and power that nature holds over people. the chosen image is which you are not able to see and cause interesting tonal and lighting effects as this is shot bring about the suspense to the images, it presents a possibly journey to be taken to as past journey, it shows a formation of a personal emotion to the scenario.
This next ideas is similar to the first but to create multiple faces of different angles and shoe a repletion and continuation of a being, this is interesting nd slightly more surreal but inserts codes of insecurity and self reflection,it also could be used to symbolises different emotions and every face symbolises a different emotion of themselves. These images are seen to hold secrets and tell a story of past and possible journeys.This presents the codes and conventions of who and makes up who we are, it allows an interesting composition of forming many feelings
. I could also focus upon the many underlining conventions of old family portraits and their shift of time and development of people within them both with and without spontaneity to the photos but a ritual family series.
