Day 27 Monday 31st October 2011 (Environment)

Monday 31st Oct 2011

Today started off with Tom's perception lecture. Camera position. I found this lecture quite interesting, and the whole time I was thinking about camera positions and angles for the environment project. Despite the fire alarm and running out of time to view Tom's examples of essays (which I would have liked to have seen and I hope get posted) I was interested in the different approaches to the subject matter. My notes mostly consisted of photographers names and snippets about how they shoot.

After the lecture I sought Jonathan out and I've offered to assist the course by putting my name forward as a student representative. Initially I thought it sounded like an interesting opportunity to have a voice at an official level within UCA, but I held back because I look after my son every other weekend, and thus my study time is already partially restricted. Seeing that the list of volunteers wasn't a long one, and having previous experience (as an employee rep and a shop steward for the Transport and General Workers Union TGWU), I've put my name forward.


It seemed pretty clear that I'd have spent most of the day hanging around if I tried to print today, so I decided to go shoot another roll of test shots on 35mm. This decision was based on the mornings lecture, and Steffi's earlier tutorial, and a desire to explore an alternate viewpoint for the images. It also means I'll have more material to print tomorrow, and I'll be happier having a selection of images. I returned to Dartford Park (where I met up with a friend who had offered to assist etc), but due to the number of people there I was only able to shoot the one swing set, so I returned to Waller Park which is always less busy. Shooting on 35mm 400 ISO HP5 I used the Patterson tank and my chemicals to develop the film again with the following results. Thanks for your assistance Jenna, hanging around parks alone always looks odd/suspicious so the company was appreciated!

My new direction comes from studying the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher

I liked the head on/side on nature of the images, the way the viewer sees the structures always from one direction. Some of the structures almost look like they need slides attached and swings because the shapes resemble play equipment.
My images take some of the Berchers visual elements, with a degree of the topographic about the actual play equipment.
But unlike the Berchers, my brief is for an environment/landscape (not just a single structure) so I have pulled back to contextualise my images by showing the locations. Although these may not be 'countryside' images, to many children parks are the only green space they see, and to them it's the landscape of their youths.

Free day Sunday 30th October 2011

Sunday 30th October 2011

Spent the entire day looking after my son and have spent as much of the evening reading the required reading material for Mondays lecture and seminar, as well as research for ongoing projects.

I've mostly been reading from 'The Genius of Photography-How Photography has changed our lives' (Gerry Badger) this evening

Free Day Saturday 29th October

Saturday 29th October 2011

Spent all day with my son, and he's taken my whole day up. During the day we carved a pumpkin which he seemed to enjoy, making a face on both the front and the back.

I've spent the few spare hours I've had this evening reading, mostly 'The Photo Book' (Phaidon). Just trying to broaden my knowledge of other artists work.  I've also started to make up the presentation required for next week, it's only just started but the plan is to continue to perfect the blog then use that to populate the presentation.

Day 26 Friday 28th October 2011 (Object Shoot-IanTurner)

 Friday 28th October 2011 Object shoot for Ian Turner (myself assisting)


I'll let the pictures speak for themselves and not steal Ian's thunder. The images were taken as we experimented with the position of the equipment and objects, finally settling on a position suggested by Jonathan which required further work to achieve.

Thanks to Jonathan's announcement (below), Monday will be a much more productive day.


"To help with the pressures of printing in the Darkrooms we have decided to revise the schedule for this Monday 31st October. 

Tom Slevin will give a Lecture from 10am to 11am. We have revised the afternoon's Seminars in to a special all Group session session in the Lecture Theatre from 11am to 12pm. This will allow students continue working in the darkrooms.

We have also arranged to keep the Darkrooms, Colour and B&W Printing, open in the evening. We will now stay open till 7.30pm for Monday 31st, Tuesday 2nd, and Wednesday 3rd. We hope that this special arrangement will help you at this time."

Free Day Thursday 27th October 2011: Plan

27th October 2011 Planning:

Watched the tate short documentory/interview on Don McCullin http://channel.tate.org.uk/media/1115319613001 Posted by Steffi.

Interestingly I purchased his book 'Shaped by War' about two weeks ago, I'm very interested in his work.


I've also watched http://channel.tate.org.uk/media/974388916001  Taryn Simon work.

I've also read http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n17/hal-foster/the-last-column Regarding the artifacts from hanger 17

Planning to meet deadline.

Due to the impending interim deadline my plan now looks something like:

Thursday 27th (today) Print off information relating to interim review and start to collate info, I'm still doing research as well so I may concentrate on that also. At the very least set out template for how to write up my information to present.

Friday 28th Object shoot (supporting Ian Turner as assistant) (working on written aspect of presentation in the evening)

Saturday 29th Oct. Looking after my son all day. (working on written aspect of presentation in the evening)

Sunday 30th Oct. Looking after my son all day. (working on written aspect of presentation in the evening)

Monday 1st Nov. 10:00 Perception Lecture (printing afterwards until 16:00) Perception Seminar 16:00 onwards. (working on written aspect of presentation in the evening)

Tuesday 2nd Nov. Printing test shots for review (working on written aspect of presentation if required)

Wednesday 3rd Nov. Final touches/prints/text (work to be posted by 16:30)

Free Day 26th Wednesday October 2011 Environment

I used today to do some test shots using my 35mm camera for the Environment project, using the 35mm as no medium format cameras are available until Monday.
Worked on one of the ideas I posted yesterday, namely the moving playground furniture concept. I was very kindly assisted by a friend (Jenna Williams) so unusually I'm in a few of the blog pictures! The weather was a unsettled and changeable all day, making the process very difficult!
Locations were Dartford Park (where I take my son), and Waller park which I've shot previously and where we go frequently.
Whilst in Dartford I've joined Dartford library and taken out three books: 'Light in the Landscape a Photographers Year' Peter Watson; 'Ansel Adams The Camera' The Ansel Adams Photography Series 1; Processing and Printing; B&W Processing and Printing Julien Brusselle:

I've processed the film in a Paterson tank at home, then scanned the images to attach to the blog

Alexander aged two

Day 25 Tuesday 25th Oct 2011 Environment tutorial

Tuesday 25th Oct 2011: 10:00 Environment Tutorial, Steffi Klenz

For those of us from group I who attended we had the opportunity to discuss progress and ideas. The definition of what a Pastiche was made clear to me, and my initial test attempts clearly aim to meet this definition (although my definition of what I thought the pastiches was during the tutorial may have made it sound as if I wasn't actually on track!) I choose Robert Adams image and my test shot is two trees with an ugly urban sprawl at a lower elevation, Steffi advised the camera might need to be higher (so something to consider there for the final images). I've still not ruled out further location changes and options here as well.

With regards my ideas for the three main images, it became clear that the test images lacked a simple clear narrative, with at least two sub contexts on the go. It is clear I need to focus on the basics of the message, decide what i want in the form of a 'mission statement' to use Business terminology. My initial ideas of shooting play locations with my son absent didn't seem to draw people in, I suspect it's something a parent would relate too, but not a non parent. It's interesting that Steffi had some ideas about the duality of play areas, the innocent and the darker side. Also the concept of a defined constructed space built and designed for a very specific singular use. I now have a number of concepts running through my mind :

1. The concept of environment (Play Area) with Children Absent- Using moving playground furniture-roundabouts, swings etc and slow shutter speeds to capture the movement contrasted against the stillness of the environment and highlighting the absence of children. (A more defined version of my initial idea)
2. The duel use of play areas concept. Using drugs and alcohol props to highlight an edgy more dangerous aspect of alternate users of these environments. (Further away from my initial concept and not really specific to me or my life)
3. The concept of a defined space with single purpose where the environment is controlled and controlling

One of my prvious test shots

Steffi gave me a number of photographers to review which included Rut Blees (whose night time images we'd seen previously). Looking specifically at her 'Silverblade' image for reference (since I'd also shot a test shot of a slide) John Fishe and Ed Ruscha who's work and interview I'd previously watched on 'The Genius of Photography'

'Silverblade'

Day 24 Object Monday 24th Oct 2011

Monday 24th Oct 2011

After today's Perception lecture I took myself to the digital lab and introduced myself to the tutor there. I enquired about scanning my object negatives and was instructed how to use the 'Flextight X1' scanner. I used this to scan two of my images and they are attached here for reference. One shows a few marks probably acquired whilst the dark slide was being loaded by my assistant, the other is better, being unmarked.  For the blog a simple photograph of the printed image would suffice, but I wanted to scan the negatives themselves to see which was the best (and this proved a good move as one is marked). I now have the final image negative selected and tomorrow I can purchase some colour paper and print the image. I was concerned about Jonathans comments about shooting black, but I did want deep shadow and the effect of a "black hole" (a term I used on the shoot day).

This neg has some marks on the emulsion, and it might be an interesting exercise to speak to Colin and see if they could be cleaned

Scanned Final neg (next taxt is to Print)

Day 24 Perception Monday 24th Oct 2011

Monday 24th Oct 2011

10:00 Perception unit Lecture Colour:

Slightly cut sort by administrative announcements this lecture highlighted the use of colours as signification. Moods and messages dictated by the colour palette used, and aspects such as saturation and printing techniques.

Artists mentioned included:
William Eggelston "The Father of colour"
Stephen Shore "The Colour code Godfather"
Martin Parr
Richard Billingham
Philip Toledano

Free day Sunday 23rd Oct 2011

Sunday 23rd Oct 2011

Darkroom/Study room progress:

I've still been reading 'Photography and Art' as well as reading the required reading for Mondays Perception Lecture and Seminar.

Free day Saturday 22nd Oct 2011

Saturday 22nd Oct 2011

I've been reading 'Art and Photography' (phaidon) today

My Father has been working on building my darkrrom when he has the spare time to spend on it, which is lovely of him..I now have a new windows and a blackout system to cover them!

Day 23 (Object shoot) Friday 21st Oct 2011

Friday 21st Oct 2011 Object Shoot:

Starting off early in the morning with everything I needed I met up with Ian Turner as we both arrived at the main entrance. We quickly identified studio three as being empty so we proceeded to set up, and within an hour and a half or so had everything arranged.

Having arranged the set as per my test shots I spent a long time discussing the layout with Steve, and we spent a fair amount of time discussing the cover of the training record book, should it be visible, or folded back? Despite my initial fears the red cover would be overpowering, Steve convinced me that the red cover was better off displayed. That was the first change to my last draft/test shots images. Having explained the reasoning behind all the objects and the order etc, Steve then advised I strip back the number of objects to create a cleaner image. Steve is obviously being a fan of a minimalist approach I took on board his comments and we spent the next few hours adjusting the items. My initial idea reflected the busy/chaotic nature of redundancy, but this obviously made the message less easy to read and possibly to personal to my individual situation with regards to some of the specific objects.

With regards colour Steve also liked the use of repeating shapes and colours so we worked on that aspect also taking pictures along the way as we built up and then altered the objects.
Having completed that I then asked Jonathan for his opinion and that prompted an interesting discussion about my proposed background. The test shots were created on a sheet (simply because I have no backdrop at home yet), and Jonathan really liked the idea of using a sheet. It created images in the mind of lay ins, hours wasted in bed, all the things people associate with not working. Where as Steve had liked the clean white "It's like the blank pages of the book", which is a part of the narrative of the image. With contrasting views we stopped for lunch at which time I procured a sheet.

Rather than replicate a bed, and taking into account this is a symbolic image I opted to place the sheet over the background, re-building the set/objects on top, creating texture and more interest in the background. As much as Jonathan would have liked a bed against a wall looking banal and showing the emptiness, my idea slightly differed. It wasn't an empty banal experience, it was scary, exciting, worrying, at times unpleasant, a shock but not banal, so I accepted the idea of the sheet but positioned it over the existing background as already mentioned. The sheet becomes symbolic of rest and home after activity and work which I think works as a concept.

Prior to the shoot I purchased film and was shown how to load the dark slides (another new skill!), myself loading the first two, Ian doing the second two. With four frames being used.

After turning the light up to full power (because we had a large soft box) we identified the range of F stops available to us which was actually between F 5,6 and F22. Steve once again advised what he thought would give me the depth of field I required to maintain sharpness on the objects,with focus trailing off in the foreground and background. We shot at F11 1/400th (using a 210mm lens) and used a 160 ISO colour film for the first test shot. The exposure looked to be reasonable (to my untrained eye!), although I'd not clicked the dark slide fully home on the camera, thus not exposing about 5mm of the neg. We re-shot the test and this time there were no technical issues. Further discussions led us to moving the tripod back slightly, prior to shooting two more final images. All negs were obviously processed and discussed prior to further shots being made.

I think with hindsight I could have moved back further to give more leeway/ breathing space for printing. That could have been the fifth image from the pack which would have worked out nicely (if we split the film between Ian and myself). But time was against us,  and I was looking for a tight image, I really didn't want the bag to be small in the frame, I wanted the viewer to be lead into the bag visually. If I had pulled back further though this simple move would have given me more freedom and choice at the printing stage. I was also given some late advice from Jonathan (after we'd shot the images) about shooting black, about not being afraid to over expose it (giving detail in the blacks, the highlights can always be toned down in the printing stage. Good advice I thought.

The following images were taken during the day to record the process for the blog (canon G11)

Inital Object layout

Objects removed, awaiting 'extra layers'

Close up with a number of items returned

Final layout and objects

Overview with the addition of the new background for the final images

Day 22 (Object lighting) Thursday 20th October 2011

Thursday 20th October 2011 Object shoot Lighting and prep.



Lighting is always an issue.

Having been told that most of the studios were booked, and that lighting could be sorted on the shoot day simply by bringing in an example of how we want our shoot to look I really didn't feel comfortable with that. I like to have a good idea and some direction.
So I set up a light at home and just moved it about and thought about what I wanted to do. The lighting seemed to work best coming from the RH side, for several reasons: the layout of the objects, The position of the skull; but for me symbolically the open blank page to the RH side of the image was lit first and the light came from that direction..The light coming from the new unwritten chapter, I liked that idea.
Of course the camera, light, ambient light all differ from those in the studio, but it gives me enough of an idea of the overall lighting to make me feel more comfortable I have a starting position to work from tomorrow. The light is diffused and I may lower the angle yet but overall I like the effect. Although the light is diffused I get a mix of light and dark, shadow and drama (with the skull). The only concern is incorrect exposure on the shoot. I might seek some advice on lighting the white colorama I intend to place the still life upon as ideally I'd have some contrast between the black bag and the white clean background  (at least on the lit side-and possibly more if extra directional light is applied by further lights)

I've tweaked the actual objects also and made a few final changes such as: Removed the fake money, and decided to place real coins in the eyes of the skull on the final image (blinded by money- very Vanitas I thought); Bent and (made redundant) every paper clip; Every elastic band will be cut and also made redundant; Turned the cover of the training record book, to remove the primary red colour, muting the overall image; Increased the size of the black plastic bag; Scanned my old works social club pass (original was laminated and un-rippable), printed a paper copy that will be torn for the final image; Torn all the photographs, mostly across the face leaving the eyes separated from the lower face.