Virtual meeting 19.9.20
11 attended virtually with Tutor Jayne Taylor facilitating. The padlet for the event is at : https://oca.padlet.org/jonathan515050/umqxu3mbws28uuxj?fbclid=IwAR0vh_J4k2iVRifQzC6HLQr42d3fil8fQNVnLCzLvx-zmLSRmxufbOPhhpo
One member who’d just started Documentary had taken photographs recently in Sicily and asked us to consider which assignment they would fit in; we did this however I wasn’t surprised that the tutor advice was to shoot images whilst working through the coursework. The course he’d been on in Italy was facilitated by Mimi Mollica and Martin Parr and he shared their thoughts that there no problem with mixing black and white or frame sizes within one series.
I was glad that Jayne Taylor re-emphasised that these sessions should be about uncompleted, unresolved work, when work is still in the developmental stage; as we can then be helped to reflect on our work and get support with the direction that we’ll go in.
I shared my work for assignment 3 which is certainly still in the developmental stage. I explained that I began the project with one idea but am now being tempted by another. My original idea was to use the car park as a barometer of the business of a local area; but as I’ve been shooting I’ve strayed into the concept of tourists in a car park, what they’re doing and why they’re there. I have probably been swayed by my research into photographers such as Simon Roberts, especially “We English” where he looks at the relationship between a place, leisure and identity. I have also been influenced by the street photography of Peter Dench, Matt Stuart and Paul Reas. So when editing to share with this group I chose the set below:
I explained that my shooting wasn’t complete and I was waiting to get shots of a quieter carpark and a rainy or flooded car park. I asked my peers what they thought the images were about and was asked:
- Is it about the car park as a platform for activities? What brings people to the car park?
- Is it about conflict in their activities?
- Is it about the mundane-ness of the car park?
They asked me, what is it I’m most interested in saying? What is my focal point? Having thought about it, I am most interested in the car park as a barometer and manifestation of how busy the location is as the tourist season comes and goes “Breathe in breath out”, because this is a point of conflict locally, being “invaded” by tourists. On reflection I may have tried too hard to shoehorn closeups and images with strong colour having been influenced by the photographers such as Peter Dench, Paul Reas and Matt Stuart, when this was not my intended approach/subject.
So I will now to take my focus away from the people in the car park and back to the car park itself, and look for the mundane whilst expressing evidence of visitors in varied amounts.
I also shared my thoughts about using text with the images, possibly taken from publicity material and/or coronavirus text. Though I could combine welcoming publicity text with anti-second home text, I am going to try to avoid using anti-second home text as I hope to use this in assignment 5.
Actions:
- Review contact sheets
- Consider mundane aspects of the car park, possibly close ups of things like the potholes
- Exploit the flatness of coming the bad weather for shots of an emptier car park as a contrast to the vibrancy of the height of the season shots.
- Return to a subject of Breathe in breathe out and make the car park not the people my subject – focus on the mundane but different perspectives eg pothole, and quiet to busy.
- Remember to think about what’s outside the frame.
- Think about how to capture different perspectives use wide angle? Prime? Tripod in low light
- Must blur out number plates
I received this feedback from a peer on the padlet after our meeting:
It was really interesting to talk through your work in progress. I certainly relate to your struggle with the germ of an idea and how best to shape it. I think bringing more contrasts in (e.g Image 1 for me has a strong contrast to Image 5) and experimenting with text might help. Your draft title is strong and I think will also give direction – breathing is both banal and unnoticed but essential! Good luck with the next iteration.
One other thing that arose at the meeting was assessment:
- Students will be asked to present work that they think meets the learning outcomes specific to each course, so keep learning outcomes in mind
- Work will now be seen by a second assessor as well as tutor at assessment
- New OCA learn site, I must check out but consensus at the moment is that its not very good.
Photography 2: Documentary 