Photoshoot Plan: For my first photoshoot I want to respond to a poem called ‘little changes’ set in my Grandpas garden. I want to capture this space and visualise where he got the inspiration for the poem from. He spent a large amount of time in his garden growing vegetables and caring for wildlife, his environmental interests were strong making his garden a very important place. I want to take photos with bright natural lighting to fit the pale aesthetic i am going for in my book. I want to take photos of signs of life in the garden, from human interaction to animals and plants which inhabit the natural landscape. 

I am happy with how this shoot turned out however I would like to do a second one in the same location in better weather and possibly incorporate a red coat and bird mentioned in the poem.

So far in my personal study I have learned that political landscapes can mean many things, when we initially started thinking about  this title my ideas were drifting towards environmental issues such as pollution of the sea and coastline. I wanted to collect and photograph plastic and debris which washes up on the shores of the island and photograph it in a still life assembled style. I also had the idea to follow one person through their daily activities and capture any moment where they did something which effected the environment negatively. I looked at the work of Mark Power from the Guernsey Photography Festival and liked the style of his images taken using a ring flash, I found the photos no matter how mundane the subjects all corresponded and created their own meaning.However I felt that these viewpoints of the theme were very obvious and straightforward, leading me to explore a new path and ways of taking the title of political landscapes. I had a look through a range of photo books to help me think of new ideas which could link to the title I have been given. One that stood out to me was ‘Where Mimosa Bloom’ by Rita Puig-Serra Costa in this book she explores her family history through a mixture of  archival photos, texts, still life, landscapes and portraits which all work together simultaneously to give us a visual understanding of her story.  I thought of developing my own project on one of my family members, my late grandpa came to mind, he was a teacher and poet who often had strong political views on various subjects.

Rita Puig Serra Costa is a documentary photographer who lives and works in Barcelona, in which she combines personal projects based on events in her life, such as her 2014 work   ‘Where Mimosa Bloom’ which is a project that focuses on the life of her late mother and how her death effected the people closest to her, this project won her numerous awards and was published in the ‘Ruby Star’ magazine. She studied Humanities at Ba level and after completing a degree in Comparative literature she studied photography at  CFD School of Photography.She is now working on a project with Salvi Danés and David Bestué with the support of Terralab.cat.

‘Where Mimosa Blooms‘

Dealing with the grief that the photographer suffered following the death of her mother, Where Mimosa Bloom takes the form of an extended farewell letter; with photography skillfully used to present a visual layout of her life and the people who played a part in it. Where Mimosa Bloom” is the result of over two years of work that Rita spent collecting, curating materials and taking photographs of places, objects and people that played a significant role in her relationship to her mother.  In my opinion Rita skillfully avoided  giving the impression of grief’s self-pity, isolationism, world-scorn and vanity. 

In this image taken from the book, a tiny baby bird can be seen tucked up in a person’s hand for protection, as baby birds are not able to do much by themselves are are very easily to be attacked. Which may be a representation of how Rita felt in regards to her mother, that Rita was weak and was just learning about the world and the way it works but want ready yet to be left by herself. And that her mother would always be there for her to protect her, take care of her and comfort her. But not that she is gone she is weak. In the image the bird is huddled up in a human had but normally baby birds are left in the mother nest while they wait for the mother to come back from hunting. This might suggest that she is having to relay on mother people and not her mother ‘nest’. The images looks as if was taken inside due to the dark background, but the main source of light is natural light which looks as if is coming from the left hand side of the image. The depth of field looks high as only the bird is in complete focus, this may be due to the fact that Rita wanted to be the main focus of the image, rather than the tattoo on the person wrist.

Responses to her work 

Kajia Saye born in London in 1992 was a British – Gambian artist and photographer, who tragically lost her life in the Grenfell tower Disaster in 2017. At aged 16 she won a full scholarship to the prestigious Rugby school where her passion of photography first began to grow she went on to take a BA in Photography at UCA Farnham, where she first began to experiment with her Gambian identity in relation to photography. In early 2017 Saye, completed nine tintype photographers from she project she entitled ‘Dwelling: in this space we breathe’ these self portraits where on Gambian spiritual practises.This project was set to be exhibited at the Venice Biennale, which is a prestigious international art exhibition held every two years in Italy. Her works was meant to be included in a project entitled ‘ Disopra Pavilion’, in which a group of contemporary artist from racially diverse backgrounds presented work on the theme of migration and displacement. Each image was a self -portrait, in which State performs a different, time- honoured, Gambain spiritual ritual. For the project she drew on her own self interest and explored the emotions, feeling and consequences of her journey and heritage.

These images were created to look a certain way, inspired by the Victorian era of tintype photography, in which the image in created by using a wet metal plate and collodion solution. Tintype photography is affected by the environment that they are developed in such as the constancy of light and the temperature the the area. I personally think that she decided to present her work in this format  because there are very few portraits of black woman in the 19th century, when this type of technology was being used. It gives the images a sense of incongruous to them which then makes the viewer think about the the historic documentation of black people throughout photography. When I look at the image the first things that I connect it to is images to slaves from the 19th century as black people where only send document in this type of photography, when then where being documented  as a part of their plantations owners property. Making the images became impactful for Saye, ‘whilst exploring the notions of spirituality and rituals, the process of image-making became a ritual in itself’. In the images Saye in wearing a traditional Gambian headwrap, and is holding an incense burner which is an item considered to be sacred in The Gambia. The image looks as if it was taken in a studio, it is unclear if Saye took this image using a clicker so she would have been pressing the shutter, as her hand is out of the frame, or whether there was somebody on set with her. Saye’s eyeliner looks as if she is looking up to the burning inses, this may be a symbolic sign, because the inse is used is spiritual practices, that maybe she is trying to seek approval from a higher power. The fact that she is facing away from the camera in his image, may be representing the fact that she like many other black woman face prejudice, and are see as the stereotypes set around they are seen to be connected to.

Landscapes without memory is a book by Joan Fontcuberta who is best known for exploring the interstices between art, science, and illusion.  In Landscapes without Memory, Fontcuberta has co-opted a piece of computer software originally designed for military or scientific use in rendering three-dimensional images of landscapes. The software enables the user to build photo-realistic models based on information scanned from two-dimensional sources—usually satellite surveys or cartographic data. The result gives the user the illusion of navigating in three dimensions which had previously been visualized only as a flat image.

Fontcuberta created the two series that constitute his Landscapes without Memory. In the “Landscapes of Landscapes” series, Fontcuberta feeds the software fragments of pictures by Turner, Cézanne, Dalí, Stieglitz, Weston, and others, forcing the program to interpret a variety of landscape masterworks as “real.” The contours and tones of these painted and photographic landscapes are transformed into three-dimensional mountains, rivers, valleys, and clouds. In the “Bodyscapes” series, Fontcuberta uses the same software to reinterpret photographs depicting fragments of his own body. The result producing a wild, virtual- fantasy world. 

The technical aspects to the include simply embedded images on the traditionally right hand side of the double page spread. For the most part, the images take up the whole A4 page with a landscape orientation apart from 4 images that take up only half of the A4 page. I think the idea behind taking up the full A4 sheet is to show how Fontcuberta feels the fantasy landscapes should be endless and carry on throughout the way. However this is juxtaposed with the knowledge that the consumers have in the way that there are clear deformities to our land where humans have destroyed it. The pages on the left hand side are not completely empty as they have a small print of the image that has been interpreted by the technology as well as some text. The text helps to further convey the narrative of the book and give some context too.

There are very few images in black and white which allow for a more realistic interpretation of the concepts. I think this helps the viewer to really connect with the pictures because we don’t view the world in black and white. All the pages in the book are consistent, using the same style of white paper which juxtaposes with the images which alter each page with contrasting environments and colors. There are a total of 96 pages including the pages with text and pictures which is supported by a hard cover. To me, this photo book is essentially a narrative about how the crisis of the landscape today is bound up with a sense of the loss of natural space.

I wanted to edit and mostly experiment with images I have taken more early on in the project, in order to emphasis more of my current themes onto the images themselves, this being water… The themes I have been inspired to edit according to are: Pain and pleasure, Emotions,Loss and rejectionThe sublime, surrealism, romanticism,I also wanted to do a small experimentation inspired from ‘ The earth Is just a little spec of dust under our feet’, and using my photos of rocks and too using a rainbow effect over the top creating a more mystical effect to the imagery itself. cReating more correlation to my images I currently have.

3. Deconstruct the narrative, concept and design of the book for ‘ the earth is only a small spec of dust under our feet’

Book in hand: how does it feel? Smell, sniff the paper: the book in hand has a soft fabric feel in the outter wrap , I feel as if this was purposeful in order to further distinguish the unique elements of the book as a whole, The front also has a unicorn showing in a silver text, this creates a deep contrast and allows the feel to have a significant difference in depth, once again showing connotations of a mythological influence.

Paper and ink: use of different paper/ textures/ colour or B&W or both:  All the paper within the book is white thick glossy photography paper, this is done in order to be able to represent the light and colour of the images in an exaggerated manner, which is more utilising to the colourful vibrancy of the mythological images. Every page within the book has an image on it or next to a set of text. I believe it would be interesting to look more into perhaps if the text should be on a different paper to the glossy, in order to make the story feel more authentic and old, and something the audience and reader would appreciate.

.Format, size and orientation: portraiture/ landscape/ square/ A5, A4, A3 / number of pages: The size of the book, is around 1/4 smaller than a4, I believe this is done purposely as it would be used as a book people bring in hopes to too experience these mystical journeys, but also the unique size further emphasis the individualism to the text. It is portrait orientated, I believe this is due to it focusing on separate individuals throughout, and demonstrating many portrites of them throughout. The book is quite large It does not supply a page number, But I would guess it was around 300-350 pages.

Binding, soft/hard cover. image wrap/dust jacket. saddle stitch/swiss binding/ Japanese stab-binding/ leperello: After further inspection there are many interests within the book of maps and interesting necessities to further develop the journey. This is fascinating as it allows more of a believability and relationship within the people spoken about in the book itself. The covers is hard but covered with a thin fabric with free embroidery embellishment. The front is not an image taken but a design construed off the inspiration of the whole journey. The binding of the book is quite interesting, because it is divided into sections of each shoot. At the beginning and end of the book lies a section of coloured rainbow images, while within it is different it combines individual stories. This is a new constructive narrative to the book which I believe to be fascinating and An interesting composition which would be good to look more into.

Cover: linen/ card. graphic/ printed image. embossed/ debossed. letterpress/ silkscreen/hot-stamping:I believe perhaps it would be interesting to add many more conceptualised and extras into a book, however, I do want to add features within a text that have not been well thought out for a specific purpose, because of this I will think and consider in the future wether it would be worth while to add some of these aspects or not.

Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing:The title is very unique in how long it is, and how symbolic and poetic it is . It bring about such a strong intrigue. It is not written on the front but the side, it is a poetic and perhaps wonderers unique view in order to how people construct the idea of life and what is true and what isn’t. I think it would be fascinating to come up with a title such as this, and will definitely be a strong inspiration for my own individual work.

Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told?:The narrative is many different mini stories, all with the same structure of discussing that of spiritual and mystical experiences which many would presume to be fake. It is shown to be respected and not something which is told throughout to be untrue or not possible, it is an exploration into things we do not know about, and is told form the individual unique viewpoints.

• Structure and architecture: how design/ repeating motifs/ or specific features develops a concept or construct a narrative.

Many of the images come under similar characteristics or categories. Two categories which are current throughout the book, as that of people who have told their story being surrounded by rocks and crystals, this is a dynamic way to show each individual but still showing the direct connection to the themes of mystical fantasy. Secondly many images of rocks are shown throughout, a way to be fitting with the concept, They are shown with different combinations of rainbow patterns internalised over each rock landscape, this is very unique and something which I have never seen in a book before. Thirdly there are many landscapes taken of the areas which she travelled around Iceland, they are all taken in the same manner, but not edited, but taken in such a way there is something always beautiful, spiritual and peaceful found within them. Lastly she has some unique ways to capture her images in terms of light and composition, she occasionally puts her individual under a rainbow, or cover her face in sparks of glitter, she does so in order to allow them to glow and connote a visual representation of their spirit.

• Design and layout: image size on pages/ single page, double-spread/ images/ grid, fold- outs/ inserts.

The images throughout the book have many variations when it comes to size on the pages, many of the landscapes are double pages and objects which show a continuation to the narrative, however many of the portraits and separate images either have a border, next to text, or have a blank page next to them. There is an insert at the end of a map of where she travelled, but displayed as an old fashioned map, i think this is interesting as it completely visualises her trip as a whole.

• Editing and sequencing: selection of images/ juxtaposition of photographs/ editing process.

the sequencing at the beginning and end is both the same, and within the centre is split into double page spread, and portraits of individuals and their stories.  There is not so much a juxtaposition as even is the photos look very different they still carry such a strong visual chemistry within the concept of narrative.

• Images and text: are they linked? Introduction/ essay/ statement by artists or others.  Use of captions (if any.)

I believe the images and the text should definitely have strong connection of themes throughout in order to link them and create a narrative. I will give an introduction to my book as I belive this will be important within the content, and also it will begin linking the text from personal stories and myths. I belive I might try and find or possibly even design my own drawing in order to sync in with the intro and separate parts of the stories themselves. The essay itself is linked quite well to my images with the themes of the sublime and romanticism, i will put this in the back of my book and again will do so, in order for it to be similar to the past myth.

After researching about the photography book ‘The earth is only a little spec of dust under our feet ‘ It really made me think about some pages of text That I feel would really be fitting within the text. I decided to brainstorm over ideas and came up with the following three.

The first idea I had for the text were short stories, about mythological encounters, this could be in relation to sea-storms, sirens or mermaids. I thought this would be a good way to tie the whole concept of the book together, As I have already discussed this concept previously, so already I know it is fitting within my concept. Furthermore, when looking in the book, it was split into three main images. These being the people in a mystical scenario, this would capture my surreal water imagery, then It would incorporate a more abstract colourful imagery in order to give an ability to see the area that was taken place. The colour and way it is shown must be done in such a way to evoke that mystical surrealism, and be more indicative to everyones own impressions. I decided too that I would display the stories in a mythical way, as though on a script, I though this too would enhance the surreal aspect. I belive with the accompaniment of these short stories there is an ability to form a cohesive narrative, rather than a representation of a topic on its own.

During my research into romanticism, which is the base concept to many of my shoots,I found too that female pictorialism was a pivotal moment throughout my own work too, Because of the continuous portrayal of women and friends within this project. Because of this I decided the possible empowerment and non sexualisation of women could be expressed through stories of experiences women have been through, or poetry of what is it like being a women. This allows the highlight issues which women face everyday  which they have to cop through. The women could could be a stance of sublime beauty and power in order to ignight pivotal change.

Throughout this project I have read multiple books upon the philosophers who focus on themes such as the sublime,, and how they are expressed as pain and pleasure. Because of this I could include texts and quotes which philosophers have created when exploring different themes of exoticism and desire.I would divid this into many different themes of emotion that are all included within the images, and also have great significance to that of the sublime, pleasure, pain, desire, exoticism, love, defiance, power, I could do so with then attaching a quote, this would systematically give the book a narrative order and too let the reader apply each emotion found within the image itself.

Picture of my life is a photo-book centered around the suicide of Junpei Ueda's parents in 1998,

• Book in hand: how does it feel? Smell, sniff the paper.

• Paper and ink: use of different paper/ textures/ colour or B&W or both.

• Format, size and orientation: portraiture/ landscape/ square/ A5, A4, A3 / number of pages.

• Binding, soft/hard cover. Image wrap. Swiss binding/ Japanese stab-binding.

• Cover: Linen/ card. Graphic/ printed image. Embossed/ letterpress.

• Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing.

• Images and text: are they linked/ introduction/ essay/ statement by artists/ use of captions (if any.)

• Design and layout: image size on pages/ single page, double-spread/ images/ grid, fold- outs/ inserts.

• Editing and sequencing: selection of images/ juxtaposition of photographs/ editing process.

• Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told?

• Structure and architecture: how design/ repeating motifs/ or specific features develops a concept or construct a narrative.