Demonstration of technical and visual skills

• This assignment was shot over a few months and I observed the space much more than I shot, my observational skills sharpened as I worked into the project.
• My framing became more deliberate through the shooting period, especially my awareness of what was outside of the frame.
• I tried a variety of lens, perspective and shot at different times of day, in different weathers and through seasonal changes, to give visual variety; I had to learn to accommodate rather than hide inconsistencies in lighting and colour. My visual strategy incorporated these inconsistencies moving from saturated to less saturated duller images through the sequence.
• To communicate my concept, I chose to present the images as small and “compressed” for the busy season to larger images gradually to larger images for the quiet season to narrate the feeling of breathing in to breathing out that occurs during this transition.
• In retrospect I would make the text smaller on the cover,

Quality of outcome

• My concept is straightforward but communicating it took quite a bit of experimenting. I settled on sharing the transition just from busy to quiet rather than beginning from quiet initially. I think this communicates the transition more strongly.
• Campbell (2010) says that events have their meaning formed by the narrative, I hope my choice of images (edited many times) combined with the sequencing helps to give meaning.
• I would like to reshoot the final image as a completely empty car park – which I am in a position to do.
• It was important to me to have it recognised as being one space, one car park and I anchored this by including fixed elements such as the bus shelter in most images.
• Though I considered using text I believe the book presentation of the images, sequencing, colour and size provides as much meaning as I need to; I think adding text would have over controlled interpretation.
• If I had settled on my perspective earlier on when shooting I would have had more “busy” shots which fulfilled my needs; I had plenty but had to choose from only those which focused on the feeling of the space being compressed, rather than English/Welshness or surreality which I started out shooting,

Demonstration of creativity

• With a conceptual starting point, I experimented with different ways of representing the issue, initially playing as Matt Stuart, Peter Dench, Paul Reas, and Marin Parr do with saturated colour and a slight irreverence to their subjects. I then moved onto exploring Englishness (and Welshness) influenced by Martin Parr, Simon Roberts and Anna Fox; but eventually settled on my own style, a quieter one. 
• Though I say that I am in an unusual position understanding both the local and visitor response to the seasonal change, you can see my emotional response in the work. Parr says, “it’s the subjectivity not the subject matter that is important”,and I believe my personal voice is evident.
• As I worked into the project the car park took became a character for me, and the bus shelter also as a part of the landscape. I could almost feel their tenseness during the busy time and their relief when their space became quiet again.

Context

• This was a personal context to me from the outset. It explored a local issue but one that I was at this precise time able to see both as an insider and outsider being in the throes of transferring from a second homer to a resident. I had been excluded during the lockdown and returned as this ended to become a resident. I was privy to the local resentment to the tourists and to the excitement of the visitors. This transformation was heightened this year, and there will be a discontinuity to the work later however the issue will remain at a lesser level.
• Though I understood the local issue from both sides as Campbell (2010) suggested it seemed impossible to present this objectively. I think my personal stance shows through in the document, but it will be interesting to see if the document is interpreted in different ways.
• Personal circumstance meant that this was shot over a longer period than I planned but I used this to my advantage reflecting at length between shooting and between that and editing/presenting.
• I reflected and fed my learning from my coursework and research into my work and was able to share my work with various OCA peer groups as it developed; this is evidenced in my learning log. As well as the research I have mentioned I was affected by that I did on senses of place Alex Webb, Mikael Subotzy, Marco Van Duyvendik, Laurel Chor, and Hannah Reyes Morales who underlined the importance of knowing a place well to capture it effectively. I also visited photographer’s work which though interesting was not relevant to my project though a similar subject matter such as Stephen Shore, Brice Gilden, Ed Ruscha and Martin Parr’s “Parking Spaces”; all research as an influence but it’s knowing which to discount as well as be led by.

My main regret is the time that it took me to complete this project due to events in my personal life. Looking for the positives, it did give me an extended shooting time, plenty of time to research and experiment and time to reflect between shooting and presenting the work.

References:

David Campbell – Narrative, Power and Responsibility (2010) At: https://soundcloud.com/mattjohnston/david-campbell (Accessed 15/08/2020)

Potter (2018) ‘Martin Parr interview (The World According To Parr, 2003) At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCRyB2SFQZ4&feature=youtu.be (Accessed 25/10/2020).

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