A4 Reflection

ASSIGNMENT 4 SUBMISSION: CRITICAL REVIEW

/ niki / Leave a comment

REFLECTIONS ON FORMATIVE FEEDBACK

Tutor report: This was written with a follow up conversation

Nicola South assignment 4.FeedbackDownload

Response to formative feedback

In her feedback my tutor queried several points about my draft critical review. She was positive about my choice of topic, my understanding and my research which has allowed me to contextualise and make perceptive theses; however she points out that the breadth of my research and writing has prevented me from closely analysing my sources. She also pointed out that though my photographs are relevant I haven’t evaluated their potential to make change. I can see now as she says that my “critical engagement and analysis are hinted at rather than exemplified”.

My action plan for a reworking of the critical review

1. Reduce the breadth of my writing by “control and editing of sources”, this will enable me to:

  • Give more in depth analysis
  • Articulate my critical engagement, to describe how my sources support my view and have developed my argument and thesis.
  • Describe how my research has led me to my end thesis – How I get to my ideas.

2. Provide more in-depth image analysis. The activists that I describe in my sources are visual activists so I need to articulate how they provoke a response through the lens, the response they provoke, as the audience is not passive.

My rework

I narrowed down the material that I used so that I could explore what remained in more depth. I have concentrated my review on fewer practitioners, but was able to use the other material that I’d previously used and read to retain my broader understanding of the issues. I have placed these references in my bibliography. I was then able to express how I developed my argument.

I also revisited the images that I’d included and included more background details on the images that I’d used and how they exemplified my thesis.

I can see that I have now formed a more detailed but also succent and cohesive essay which develops more effectively towards my conclusion.

Next Post: https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/submissions/assignment-4-submission-critical-review/a4-submission/

ASSIGNMENT FOUR DRAFT: REFLECTIONS AGAINST ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

/ niki / Leave a comment

REFLECTIONS AGAINST ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

I have not found it as easy to evaluate the critical review against the assessment criteria as it is photographic assignments, however:  

Context and demonstration of technical and visual skills

  • I have researched using secondary source material: facts, images, ideas, quotations, through reading, listening and participation in talks and lectures.
  • I have analysed the material and used it critically to construct and support my opinions about my subject.
  • In the essay I have brought in and engaged in some of the theoretical and particularly ethical issues I encountered during the course such as power, respect, context, intent, social and a photographer’s responsibilities.
  • My choice of subject was driven by learning during the coursework and interest that grew from several photographic talks form a year ago; particularly the Lumix Festival talks in June 2020 which focused on reconsidering perspectives in documentary photography.
  • The essay also grew from being inspired by the working ethics of particular photographers such as Mark Neville and Robert knoth whom I heard speak virtually; as well as commentators on documentary photography such as Fred Ritchen Michelle Borge and Stephen Mayes.

Demonstration of creativity

  • My personal thoughts on photographic practice stimulated by the course guided my choice of topic.
  • I chose my critical review subject so that I could delve deeper into particular types of working in documentary photography that I encountered during the course.
  • Following my research and analysis I have formed and given my own opinions on how a photographer can benefit the communities that they photograph.
  • I redrafted at the end of my writing many times to try to give my personal voice as well as using the work and practice of others for examples.

Quality of outcome

  • I have shared ideas of photographic practice to demonstrate how photography can helped communities photographed.
  • To do this I have related to wider social political and economic issues.
  • I have structured the essay using subtitles and signposting to guide the reader.
  • I have written the essay in an academic style and referenced all material used.
  • I have included photographic images as suggested in the brief although I don’t feel that they are essential to the critical review.
  • I hope that I have communicated my ideas and evidence clearly.  

Next Post: https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/submissions/assignment-4-submission-critical-review/a4-reflections-on-formative-feedback/

RESEARCH AND REFLECTION: LEARNING PART 4

/ niki / Leave a comment

THIS IS A SUMMARY OF THE MAIN LEARNING THAT I HAVE TAKEN AWAY FROM PART 4

PROJECT GAZE AND CONTROL

Reading On Foucault: Disciplinary Power and Photography by David Green (Exercise 4.1)

  • I had not thought of photography as a mechanisms of surveillance to observe/and classify people in order to normalise disciplinary power.
  • As Green suggests if this is so, we should develop alternative ways of working with photography.

The Photograph as an Intersection of Gazes ((Exercise 4.2)  

The seven types of gazes identified gives me something to reflect on I my work going forward:

  1. The photographer’s gaze: the camera’s eye which structures the image.
  2. The magazine gaze: chosen by editing for emphasis.  
  3. The reader’s gaze: a reader’s interpretation, influenced by their experience & imagination.
  4. The non-western subject gaze: confrontational/distanced look/ absent gaze.
  5. Explicit western looking: which is unusual as westerners usually look off camera.
  6. Returned or refracted gaze: usually by mirrors or cameras
  7. Academic gaze: a subtype of the reader’s gaze.

It’s an interesting concept that some photographers are experimenting inviting viewers to interpret them rather than accepting the photographers gaze as their own. I will be more aware going forward of the interplay and relationships of the various gazes and their potential effect on the viewer, and the ambiguity in the work in particular.

PROJECT DOCUMENTS OF CONFLICT AND SUFFERING

Reading  the articles ‘Walk the Line’ (Houghton, 2008) and ‘Imaging War’ (Kaplan, 2008( (Exercise 4.4) raises issues such as:

  • How far should we go with publishing images of war and disasters?
  • What images are suitable?
  • Are there any lines to be crossed?
  • Are the answers defined by ethic, commerce, respect for individuals or their families, politics, relationships between media companies and governments, or are they simply personal?

It is the photographer who must be mindful of the way the images may by used. I believe whether an image should be used or not I think, comes down to if using it adds impact to the story.

THE ETHICS OF AESTHETICS

‘Imaging Famine’ (Exercise 4.5) This research project in 2005 highlights issues that persisted in images of famine:

  • Stereotypical images of victims
  • Could positive images of people in need be presented?
  • Can photographers provide images with context, understanding and explanation?
  • Does immediacy enabled by technology cause simplified compositions?
  • Can just one picture share a good understanding of issues?
  • Are photographers simply image makers or do they have wider responsibilities?

To print or not to print (Exercise 4.7)  

When choosing what to include in an image I would:

  • Think about what I consider decent, is there consent?
  • Consider privacy, is it a public occasion seems to be the crux of this
  • Ask would the presence of the camera invite violence?

This was the first time that I’ve read The National Press Photographers Association, code of ethics (2017), in particular it  states that “our primary role is to report visually on the significant event and varied viewpoints in our common world….the faithful and comprehensive depiction of the  subject at hand”. When photographing as documentary I must remember this.

REFLECTING ON THE WAR PHOTOGRAPHS

Has made me consider topics such as journalist embedding, staging for cameras, rapid publishing, post camera manipulation and their effects on the quality of media images.

PROJECT POST-COLONIAL ETHNOGRAPHY

It was good for me to reflect on colonial and post-colonial world especially certain “traps” that have been identified:

  • Nostalgia – Romanticism of primitive beauty
  • Imbalances of power between photographer and subjects
  • Disciplinary cataloguing and comparing
  • Primitivism
  • Decontextualising
  • Infantising of non-industrial people

I was pleased to find photographer’s work such as David Ju/’hoansi Bushmen (2021), George Rodgers (En Afrique, 2016) and Eduardo Masferré (1909 – 1995) who had avoided most of these traps – I will now be alert to them when viewing such work again.

Next Post: https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/learning-log-research-and-reflection/zoom-oca-meetings/oca-student-led/7-1-21-4-2-21/