ASSIGNMENT 1: LOCAL COMMUNITIES

PHOTOGRAPHY ASSIGNMENT 1: REFLECTION AGAINST ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

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Demonstration of technical and visual skills

  • Focusing on traces of an isolating community from the outside, my visual strategy was to shoot through windows exposing details in the mundane, keeping things simple and uncluttered and with good depth of field.
  • Technically my concept proved challenging to execute, working with glass is never easy. I experimented both by using reflections and eliminating them. I decided to give the simple detail I wanted, I would eliminate reflections as they would be distracting; this took patience and experimentation.
  • Composition and framing were led by the need to include some window frame as context and I learnt a lot as I tried different perspectives (angles, heights, distances) to achieve this.
  • I decided that I could vary the perspective between images if I maintained continuity of subject strongly enough.
  • I tried various techniques to achieve the clarity that I wanted, working always with a tripod: Good depth of field, clean windows, various times of day and weather conditions (unfortunately it was predominantly sunny for the period), polarising filter (though ultimately I didn’t use this), black fabric as a blocker to eliminate reflections, live view so I could check for shadows, colour casts and distracting details.
  • I used my prime lens efs 24mm to keep the focal distance constant.
  • I shot and revised the images over a couple of weeks until I achieved what was looking for.
  • Achieving consistency of colour across the series of window frames was challenging, as they do vary and of colours shooting conditions changed – I tried my best to make these uniform, but maybe more could have been achieved? Would this have been realistic though?

Quality of outcome

  • The outcome looks simple, but I believe it communicates on other levels as well and that viewers will empathise with the representation.
  • When shooting and editing I constantly returned to my intention and I think has helped to give a clear story.
  • I considered at one stage adding text (perhaps govt messages) to the images, but realised that discontinuity is likely to be minimal and that for a long time to come viewers should quickly connect and give meaning to the images.
  • Importantly I believe that the series does say something to my audience about my personal response and allows them to reflect and respond also.
  • My regret is a lack of punctum, I feel, except in the first image; I considered ways to go beyond the signifiers and signified to achieve this but I wanted to share the ordinary in a simple way so decided against constructing something that wasn’t there.

Demonstration of creativity

  • I was forced to be flexible as the Covid19 situation unfolded, as I had to restart this assignment in a different location from my first draft and under restricted conditions.
  • My loss of equilibrium stalled me for a while, however eventually certain advice helped to get me going again: embrace the constraints, don’t get too wrapped up in the end product, develop the project over time.
  • Though the series may appear simple the windows represent my feelings of isolation and barriers to my freedom, and the hiraeth I felt* whilst the subjects show my reaction to perceived threats to my community and my coping mechanisms – I have expressed my emotions.
  • Some of my creativity in this project was technical as I struggled to get clear shots without reflections of the subjects through glass – I tried a lot of new things.

Context

  • There was an awful lot of reflection over the period I worked on this project. My increased interactions with my peer groups aided this and I have recorded these, as well as my actions after such reflections. I also created a “Covid 19 thoughts” document to capture pertinent reflections and advice.
  • Whilst I was preparing to share the work, I reflected that the work is also a response to me withdrawing from the world not only for my safety but also as I felt isolated from my second home.  
  • My research outside of the coursework was led by concept for my assignment but also by opportunities to attend virtual artist talks and virtual photography events.
  • In fact, the increased opportunities for learning online slowed my ability to submit this assignment but I believe it will be a worthwhile time investment long term. I have set out in learning log and mind maps my learning points from the research that I’ve done and advice that I’ve gathered.
  • I have more general research that I’ve done during this period but will post later as I don’t want to delay this assignment submission further; I suppose it is a regret that I don’t seem to have enough hours to do all the research that I would like to!

*Hiraeth (Welsh pronunciation: [hɪraɨ̯θ, hiːrai̯θ]) is a Welsh word for homesickness or nostalgia, an earnest longing or desire, or a sense of regret (Wikipedia 2020)

Reference:

Wikipedia contributors (2020) Hiraeth. At: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hiraeth&oldid=950185684 (Accessed 06/05/2020).

Next post: https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/submissions/assignment-1-submission/

ASSIGNMENT ONE DRAFT: LOCAL COMMUNITIES

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Produce a small photo essay of 10 images that demonstrates your engagement with the lives, experiences and histories of your local community and its people. Decide on a single theme, topic or activity to focus on. Do this assignment with only one camera and one lens.

Provide a short commentary (200 words) explaining your ethos and rationale along with your images (Open College of the Ats, 2014:31).

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NICOLA SOUTH STUDENT NUMBER: 514516

PROVISIONING AND PROTECTING

COMMENTARY

This theme of this photo essay is of my family isolating at home during the “lock down” of Covid19. My choice of subject was driven by the lockdown necessitated by the world-wide pandemic and the adjustments that myself and my immediate family made as we became a physically isolated community. Though the images may appear straight forward they represent my personal response to the suddenly imposed conditions, and the threat of both the pandemic and the isolation to my family. My intention is to share how my attention was initially funnelled to providing what my community would need to survive in an uncertain situation and protecting us; provisioning and protecting.

My concept was to communicate the protection and adjustments that I built for my community but also the isolation and barriers that I was feeling. I was also suffering from being separated from the place that my soul calls home, my second home 220 miles away that I was forbidden to visit. My visual strategy developed from these personal reactions to the situation.

The windows of my house represent physical barriers between the world outside and inside, as well as emotional ones. The subjects photographed through my windows, though mundane, will be familiar to others who have lived through this time. I hope that viewers will connect to these images through their shared experience of the time, using their imagination and experiences to ascribe exact meanings for them, as they trigger their own responses to this shared situation.

Reference:

Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts

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ARTIST STATEMENT

This work shares my experience of isolating at home with my family during Covid 19. The subjects on view are those that I fixated on initially in my personal battle to protect our community. This series is a response to my personal feelings of withdrawal for our protection and to the barriers imposed that separated me from my second home, causing an even stronger sense of nostalgic longing, hiraeth. 

PROVISIONING AND PROTECTING

Provisioning and Protecting #1

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Provisioning and Protecting #2



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Provisioning and Protecting #3



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Provisioning and Protecting #4



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Provisioning and Protecting #5



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Provisioning and Protecting #6



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Provisioning and Protecting #7



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Provisioning and Protecting #8



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Provisioning and Protecting #9




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Provisioning and Protecting #10



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Next post: https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/learning-log-research-and-reflection/reflection/a1-reflection/a1-reflection-against-assessment-criteria/

LEARNING LOG: ASSIGNMENT 1

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Assignment one: Local communities Learning log

In preparation…

We were asked to read the section entitled ‘The Photographic Brief’ in Short, M. (2011) Creative photography: context and narrative. Lausanne: AVA Publishing, pp.20–26. See my post: https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/research/a1-research/the-photographic-brief-short/

The brief

Produce a small photo essay of 10 images that demonstrates your engagement with the lives, experiences and histories of your local community and its people. Decide on a single theme, topic or activity to focus on. Discuss your ideas with your tutor before committing to it. Do this assignment with only one camera and one lens. Provide a short commentary (200 words) explaining your ethos and rationale along with your images. Provide a short commentary (200 words) explaining your ethos and rationale along with your images.

Delivery: For this assignment you’ll need to submit 10 unmounted quality prints. The size should be 8×10 or A4. Liaise with your tutor regarding the technical aspects of printing your photographs.

Aims

The emphasis is on engaging with the world with your camera. You’re encouraged to be a participant-observer in the situations and activities that you photograph. By limiting your field of action to your immediate surroundings, you’ll develop the ability to find the extraordinary in the ordinary – the things that may go unnoticed when you’re familiar with a place. This assignment will develop your observational skills and prepare you for more involved projects towards the second half of the course (Open College of the Arts, 2014, p31).

INITIAL PLANS:

Initially I ran through possible ideas for the assignment I have 2 locations that I engage with Tredreath Pembrokeshire and Old Basing Hampshire. I decided to shot the Boat club comitteeI’m a member of in Tredreath and spent a few weeks exploring ideas and did quite a bit of exploratory shooting late February early March when I was in Pembrokeshire, see my earlier post : https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/learning-log-assignments-2/assignment-1-local-communities/a1-learning-log/1st-draft-pre-covid-19/

This took me to the 15th of March when the impact of Covid19 began to have an effect on social engagement. I had planned to return to Pembrokeshire for the next committee meeting 26th of March with a developed plan (conceptual, visual narrative) to finish the project. It quickly became evident that this would not be possible.

I dithered whether to stop, move on and return to the work later or start afresh.

I shared my dilemma with the OCA Tutor led meeting 18th March “approaching an assignment”, see post: https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/learning-log-research-and-reflection/zoom-oca-meetings/18-3-20/

I also shared with my peers at the virtual Thames Valley OCA monthly meeting 21st March facilitated by OCA tutor Jayne Taylor, see posts: https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/learning-log-research-and-reflection/thames-valley-oca-meetings/21-3-20/

Generally my peers suggested moving on, and we talked about new ways in the current circumstances that I could capture community engagement (Traces of people, disruption in the community, changes in the community, barriers to engaging with the community).

Following these meetings I have resolved to start again with a new idea for assignment 1, even though I lost a lot of time but I was concerned that if we have a “lockdown” opportunities will be even more limited. In the event the lock down did begin March 23rd and I had to conceive a new idea that would show my community engagement withing these restrictions. I contacted my tutor to let him know that I’d lost time by beginning over.

ASSIGNMENT ONE SECOND ATTEMPT:

BRAINSTORMING:

So my first idea and shoots for assignment 1 thwarted I looked for other ideas. Now in Hampshire and quite rural I felt my options were quite limited. I considered shooting from my window or through my gate but there is little footfall outside my street so that didn’t look fruitful. So I turned to the community inside my house, 2 older adults and 2 young ones, some home working some not. I brainstormed some ideas:

Mindmap Initial ideas:

I also considered advice I had recently in particular, embrace the constraints, don’t get wrapped up in the end product, see differently.

My research made me consider:

  • Express my emotions in the images
  • Pay attention to the ordinary and bring attention to it
  • Really think about what concept of home/community I am sharing
  • That I can vary the perspective if I maintain continuity of subject strongly enough
  • Show a sense of isolation

Advice gathered encouraged me to:

  • Accentuate the detail in the ordinary
  • Show the boundaries between the inner and out worlds
  • Show a sense of isolation
  • Be sure what concept of the home I’m sharing

SHOOTING

I decided to go with the theme of staying safe at home and to begin by photographing by looking in through my windows as an outsider would, I wanted to portray a house in a Covid 19 lock down. I reduced my initial ideas for subjects to about 10 that represented for me life in a lock down house, these would be headed by an image of the front door opening carefully as if to an outsider, and finished with an image of a closed front door with an empty shopping bag outside. I also knew from the outset that this would be a colour project.

To fit with the brief I used one lens, my prime Efs 24mm.

The idea seemed simple but the execution I discovered was not. To begin with I live in a house with few window sills downstairs as they are nearly all full length windows so I had to be inventive to get the variety of locations that I needed. I found reflections were a huge consideration and I experimented with shots without reflections and those with reflections accentuating them. I decided that for the message I intended to share I wanted clear images with detail, so shot at different times of day and directions until I got what I needed.

Part way through I re-clarified my objectives to make sure that I was capturing the right images for my narrative:

  • CONCEPT: Safe at home – a community isolating at home
  • CONTEXT: COVID 19
  • NARRATIVE: Outsider looking in at traces of a protected community inside
  • RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUDIENCE/SUBJECT/PHOTOGRAPH: Physical barriers but connections through understanding
  • WANT TO SHARE: Feeling of being outside looking in at a protected world

I decided that it was important to:

  • Express in my images how I am feeling (barriers, isolated, provisioning, protector).
  • Attention and focus on the ordinary
  • Present things simply- don’t over complicate for the sake of it

I shot as close as I could to subjects but could only go so close before I lost the window frame and therefore the context.

Mindmap shooting:

EDITING

As I edited my images I began to form the series.

When shooting I captured windows and subjects both straight on and at angles and considered like Anna Fox in “My Mother’s cupboards” keeping the same perspective throughout the series; I settled on a variety of perspectives but keeping a similar focal length and simple composition. Likewise after asking others I decided that it was okay to have some windows open and some closed, this was more realistic and increased my options when shooting and making the series.

After sharing twice with different OCA peer groups I’d reshot my bottles on the window sill as empty bottles outside the backdoor instead (as this seemed more realistic). And even after reshooting the laptop at a closer distance after peer group advice I chose not to use it and replaced it with a close up of paracetamol packets which I had reshot at a closer distance.

Links to peer sharing opportunities:

Documentary hangout 9.4.20: https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/learning-log-research-and-reflection/zoom-oca-meetings/documentary-hangout-9-4-20/

Thames Valley OCA group: https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/learning-log-research-and-reflection/thames-valley-oca-meetings/18-4-20-virtual/

Choosing the final 10 images I prioritised:

  • The ordinary
  • Simple representation (framing, focus, lack of distraction-less is more)
  • Detail in the ordinary – Good depth of field
  • Subjects that viewers will ascribe a Covid19 lockdown connotation to- the invisible in the visible
  • Images that viewers will empathise and respond to
  • Signs of human traces of: protection, safety, provisioning, routines and barriers

Mindmap Editing:

From my first draft of the series I decided to drop this image of the paracetamols on a table as it was too long range, as well as this image of a lap top on a table:

I re shoot the paracetamol at closer range and used this in the final series. I did re shoot the lap top at closer range but ultimately it was still an image I dropped because I thought it fitted less well:

I also deliberated over which of these two images of washing up to use but decided on the angled perspective.

For the final series of 10 I replaced this image of full bottles of wine on the window sill for empty ones outside the door as I felt it was more realistic:

Presentation:

I considered whether to add text to the images such as government orders to the images so that they would have context later, or whether not to in order to allow some discontinuity. I have decided that text won’y be necessary to give context as I’m now sure that the event will live on for a very long time and I think be very easily recognised in the future.

The size of the prints will be A4 which is the ratio as shot.

Next post: https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/learning-log-assignments-2/assignment-1-local-communities/a1-learning-log/2nd-draft-during-covid19/

LEARNING LOG: ASSIGNMENT 1

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First draft Pre Covid 19

Having had an introductory video meeting with my tutor I am going to begin to record my thought process/reflections on the first assignment. This has all spurred me to get started with both the course and the first assignment.

We discussed that I should consider what I have access to and that it should be a “less is more” approach to try to cover a small topic in depth.

Living in two locations should give me plenty of options of communities to document, however I do need to consider carefully what I choose in terms of timing and location.

I immediately thought of the boat club, and in particular the committee there that I am a part of, however I may be able to use this subject another time. My next thought is the one of five pubs in my village that is my “local” and I am well integrated with the the owners, staff and customers; I shall leave this one in the melting pot.

INITIAL IDEAS:

I ran through possible ideas for the assignment. I have 2 locations that I engage with Tredreath Pembrokeshire and Old Basing Hampshire. I think I will concentrate on Tredreath as this is where I am probably most engaged at the moment:

  • The Boat Club Committee (Mancom – management committee) I’m a member– lots of scope, but I might I want to use later in documentary.
  • Rowing club – I’m a member but it’s the wrong time of year to capture activities at the club.
  • Coastal footpath walkers – I’m one
  • The Castle Pub – I’m a regular customer and know the owners and the staff well.

I began exploring my idea of the Newport Boat Club Management committee: A committee of 13 with monthly meetings and sub group meetings between also individual responsibilities. We had a committee meeting scheduled for 28.2.20 so I decided to document it as an opportunity experiment  photograph the committee to see what it might bring. Before the shoot I sent the following to all members by email:

Dear all

For those of you who aren’t aware I am in the middle of a photography degree and am currently working on documentary photography. For my next assignment I have to produce a small photo essay to demonstrate my engagement with part of the my local community and its people – something that I’m a participant in. 

The theme I’d like to explore is Mancom, so I hope it’s okay with you if I take the occasional snap at committee tonight. The project will take me a while to complete so I will probably appear with my camera some more over the next few weeks – though I only submit 10 photos I have to show that I’ve done a lot of experimenting! 

This work will only be shared with my tutor and will not appear anywhere else, so I hope you’ll be able to indulge me and just pretend that my camera is not with me.

Thanks in advance

Niki

There were no members that objected.

I visited the room beforehand to check lighting levels and layouts.

1ST SHOOT:

During the meeting I took images of the committee in action from the time they entered to the time that they left; these were a combination of close ups and longer shots, though they were all shot with my prime efs 24mm lens.

These images are just to treat as sketches as I discovered that more lighting was required, especially as the evening wore on. I fitted a diffuser on my strobe so as not to disrupt the meeting however this reduced the lighting too much causing the images to be taken with longer exposures than I would have liked and culminating I movement within the shots – however they were enough to help me to decide on a way forward.

Committee meeting experiments:

Reflections from the 1st shoot:

Things that I took away from this:

  • That I want to capture the meeting from entering to leaving as this gives a narrative
  • Use the prime lens at different distances
  • Take more pictures at table level
  • There is something to say with the vacant seats of those who are absent
  • There is something to say with way the meeting is punctuated by members pooping down to the toilet.
  • Correspondingly there is a story showing with the full pints at the beginning of the meeting and the empty at the end.
  • I noticed details such as the variety of committee papers that people used or not – some bring nothing to the meeting,

Problems:

  • Lighting and people moving so need to increase ISO and use flash exposure compensation set higher
  • Only 7 of committee attended, next meeting 26th March so can’t finish project until then

To do: Improve on committee meeting photographs:

  • Arriving
  • Pre meetings
  • Whole committee from table level
  • Empty seat esp charles
  • Full glasses
  • Leaving
  • Afterwards

WHILST WAITING FOR THE NEXT COMMITTEE I EXPERIMENTED WITH VARIOUS PORTRAITS OF THE COMMITTEE:

Portrait experiments:

  1. Laura/sailing and boating: Rowing boat – done
  2. Amanda/facilities: Roof leaks – done
  3. Retired commodores drinking in bar – done
  4. Ema/Club manager: In office – done
  5. Gaynor medals – done
  6. Doug/Bar and social: behind bar or in kitchen -done
  7. Tony/Commodore: flags/ensign- done
  8. Liz/Rowing cox – not done
  9. Secretary with archives – not done
  10. Andrew – empty seat to represent with IT items as hes not attended this year? not done
  11. Charles empty seat but with personal items – as he’s rarely there- not done

Charles empty seat but with personal items – as he’s rarely there

I thought I should consider whether these portraits are portrait or landscape orientation as the committee shots are, so I shot both & varied depth of fields.

This took me to the 15th of March when the impact of Covid19 began to have an effect on immediate social engagement. I had planned to return to Pembrokeshire for the next committee meeting 26th of March with a developed plan (conceptual, visual narrative) to finish the project. It quickly became evident that this would not be possible.

I shared my dilemma with the OCS Tutor led meeting 18th March “approaching an assignment” and my peers at the virtual Thames Valley OCA monthly meeting 21st March facilitated by OCA tutor Jayne Taylor, see posts:

Following these I have resolved to start again with a new idea for assignment 1, even though I’ve lost a lot of time and probably whilst I’m developing this begin working on part 2 and assignment 2 as I’m worried that if we have a “lockdown” opportunities will be even more limited.

Next Post: https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/learning-log-research-and-reflection/thames-valley-oca-meetings/21-3-20/