18.3.20

Photography Zoom Talk 18.3.20 Tutor Andrea Norrington

This is zoom meeting for level 1 and 2 students that I’d not joined before but I was particularly interested as I’d heard good things about the meeting, also as Andrea was my Tutor for the landscape course I’ve just completed. This was the first Zoom meeting that I’d taken part in.

The title of this zoom meeting was Approaching an Assignment

Andrea shared the evolving project in John Blakemore’s Black and White Photography Workshop book, particularly Chapter 2: The Tulip Journey, Tulipomania. Here his work came out of an extended visual enquiry, underlining the suggestion that a photographer shouldn’t make judgements before they start.

Tulipa Kitchen Series – 12

Tips:

Don’t get too wrapped up in the end product, get started and see where it goes.
Take photos as sketches, see “new ways of seeing” Scott, G. (2020) New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography, London: Bloomsbury.
Don’t worry about what’s good or what might be thought to be good, at the early stages.
Research at a start point but don’t worry if you go off on a tangent
An assignment should be a development not a one off shot; best work is likely to be when you really explore and push the boundaries of the work outwards
Use your reflective writing – Plan – review – Revise –replan

Beau lotto book on seeing differently exploring an idea Lotto, B., Cardilli, L. and Socci, L., 2018. Deviate. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

“Learning to deviate innovatively…much of the engagement grows out of the obstacles of your surroundings”

“One cannot photograph experience, but to have lived it can change and develop habitual ways of seeing and of knowing…They became possible only through the extended visual enquiry that I allowed myself” (Lotto, Cardilli and Socci, 2018)

Photographer Chase Jarvis. He shows every photograph he took in each series, the video lingers on the shots that were selected. It is fast paced but you can see how ideas develop within each shoot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKK9-HEDa8I

We also spent some time discussing how we might approach assignments in light of the restrictions of the Covid19 virus. Suggestions of work to look at on isolated spaces:

Raymond Moore. Moore, R. (n.d.) Every so often, UK: BBC North East. https://unitednationsofphotography.com/2014/07/19/video-photographer-raymond-moore-every-so-often/
Andre Kertesz photographed from a window. Gonzalez, D. (2019) Andre Kertersz’s Photos From His Window, At: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/lens/andre-kerteszs-photos-from-his-window.html
Jusef Sudek “The window of my Studio” Sudek, J. (2015) The Window of My Studio, Prague: Torst & see you tube
OCA student: Timothy Van Zundert – just completed Level 3 – isolated spaces Blog post on We AreOCA: https://www.oca.ac.uk/weareoca/photography/student-stories-timothy-van- zundert-photography/

Other suggested work to look at:

OCA student: Anna Dranitzke – OCA Documentary Course – photographs within family home: https://annasphotoblog.wordpress.com/ Assignment 1, 5 and 6 are relevant
OCA Student: Nicola South , OCA Landscape Course, photographs from local environment: https://nkssite4.wordpress.com/category/learning-log/assignment-6-transitions/ Assignment 6 – based around two trees
Nick Waplington ‘Living Room’
J A Mortram ‘Small Town Inertia’
Nan Goldin ‘The Ballard of Sexual Dependency’
Matthew Finn ‘Mother’
Richard Billingham ‘Ray’s A Laugh’ – there is also a film ‘Ray and Liz’ available to watch online
Anna Fox – good starting points – “My Mother’s Cupboards and My
Father’s Words’ and ‘Notes from Home’
Keith Arnatt – most of his work but ‘Notes from Jo’ and ’German Toys’ are starting points
Robert Adams
Joel Sternfeld

Tips:

Embrace the constraints

Create another world: