This is an inward looking story of the banality of my life. Due to circumstances that I dont need to share my lifestyle has changed considerably over the past year. From my own business as a consultant in the construction industry with work all over the UK and parts of Europe I am now a carer for an elderly disabled parent, a task which is mine to complete until times takes it course. My world is now within a third of an acre that is home, with the once a week visit to the supermarket, peppered with occasional visits for car servicing and the doctor. It is repetitious and banal.
To portray this through photography was it seemed an easy task. For the first week of shooting I used the Leica MM, a dedicated monochrome range finder, assuming that monochrome was the medium and that with its ability to make high quality images at 2500 ISO I would hand hold the camera. Images were OK but there was an element of artistry, especially when in dark rooms I used wide apertures and a resulting shallow depth of field. It simply didnt look banal, it looked interesting. Moving on I used the MM again with a tripod and shot at f16 with long shutter speeds. Less arty (in the defined sense) but for once for me monochrome was not working and I needed colour, albeit the subdued colours of and ordinary home. Another set (maybe 50 or so) were then shot on the Leica M9P using a 50mm lens at f16. The choice all along to use ragefinder type cameras I felt gave me the necessary feel of shooting something private, indoors. The Nikon DSLR equipment seems too commercial and not right, but thats difficult to explain. Once again though I was being overly creative, perhaps too virtuoso in my need to make work that is different. At one stage I was using a table top tripod on the floor and shooting from a height of 6 inches. This produced images that were interesting but for the wrong reasons. They may well be suitable for something later on and offer a different viewpoint if nothing else. Again I had to consider what it was I am trying to say. It should be banal, thats my life, so it needed to be simpler. The final shoot happened yesterday and it was simple, maybe being completed in 12 frames. I loaded the 6x6 with Portra 400 (rated at 320) fitted the 75mm standard lens, put the tripod at full height so the camera was at normal viewing height and took the photographs of my world. No special lighting so simple incident readings were taken, f16/22 as we see naturally a large depth of field and moved around the house on a journey visiting all the places of interest. The kitchen sink, the bathroom, the comode etc, thinking how different it would be to perhaps going the the Lake District and doing a feature on sheep farming or the North Norfolk Coast to photograph the crab fishermen. Those cliched routes are of course valuable as an editorial feature, as many people will never have seen those subjects and together with the overt scenery, interesting characters and possibilities to manipulate the images with increased contrast etc, their appeal is commercial if nothing else.Those opportunities will come back to me one day but not right now. My images will require the viewer to engage with the subject matter on a different level, to see metaphors and become engaged in my world via the photographs. The objects within the images will be familiar to an extent that they are passed by every day, but I am offering a chance to stop and look deeper, to consider the cups, the plates, knives forks, etc as objects of design. In a few days the negs will come back and I will scan and PP them, hopefully retaining the simplistic approach adopted so far.
I have been influenced to some extent by the work of Nigel Shafran (b.1964) although it was quite a surprise when I researched his work how similar it was to my own. This due in some extent to looking for others after I had made my own images, which is probably not the normal routine of research, plan, shoot. It is now clearer that the banal and the mundane do need to be photographed in an understated style with ambient light and long exposures. He resists the urge to construct scenes and I have also found it more real to not tinker with props, condemning the image with untidy composition which is after all how we are most of the time.
On reflection it may be asking too much that one roll of 12 frames will fill the brief (having made more than 100 or so digitally) but I will have to see.
Tuesday, 1 July 2014
Monday, 2 June 2014
Note Book
The Note Book
Because this learning journal is public, meant to be written in an academic style (that didn't bother me previously on Landscape) and visible to my tutor I am finding myself with thoughts and reflection that are not getting written here, due to lack of cogent thinking. For instance, I am fascinated by the poetry of Dylan Thomas and recently watched a TV programme about his life and major works. It didn't focus too much on "Under Milk Wood" (because thats not really a poem) but did look at some other work that interested me. The notes I made are in the note book, scribbled as I watched and have some extremely sketchy bullet point ideas about using poetry alongside photography in a slide show piece of work. To reproduce it here would lose the essence of what I am thinking because of the formalised natured of the keyboard generated text. The notebook will therefore be submitted for assessment alongside this more structured journal. It comes with caveats and warnings that the readers will find it often contradicts what I later write here and in some cases it will be flawed, bigoted and contain some unsustainable thinking.
Because this learning journal is public, meant to be written in an academic style (that didn't bother me previously on Landscape) and visible to my tutor I am finding myself with thoughts and reflection that are not getting written here, due to lack of cogent thinking. For instance, I am fascinated by the poetry of Dylan Thomas and recently watched a TV programme about his life and major works. It didn't focus too much on "Under Milk Wood" (because thats not really a poem) but did look at some other work that interested me. The notes I made are in the note book, scribbled as I watched and have some extremely sketchy bullet point ideas about using poetry alongside photography in a slide show piece of work. To reproduce it here would lose the essence of what I am thinking because of the formalised natured of the keyboard generated text. The notebook will therefore be submitted for assessment alongside this more structured journal. It comes with caveats and warnings that the readers will find it often contradicts what I later write here and in some cases it will be flawed, bigoted and contain some unsustainable thinking.
Saturday, 24 May 2014
On Photography - Susan Sontag
In Plato's Cave
"In Plato's Cave" is the title of the first essay in Susan Sontag's seminal work On Photography first published in 1977 in the USA. Susan Sontag (1933-2004) was a well known intellect, playwright, author and political activist who spent the later part of her life as the partner of Annie Leibovitz
Sontag begins by arguing that photography is flawed and a false way of seeing and we cannot deduce anything from photographs, an allegory to what the prisoners in Plato's Cave saw as shadows cast onto a wall from a fire. Viewing photographs in Sontag's terms comes with a caution. The viewer will never know exactly what was happening when the photograph was taken and as such should it be believed ?. "..being educated by photographs is not like being educated by older, more artisnal images" (Sontag p 3) is perhaps true but without this we are deprived of the the experience of others on a worldwide scale.
Sontag soon moves her thesis towards an acceptance of photography, with caveats that, it can fiddle with the scale of the world by cropping retouching etc., revealing the falseness of photographs and requiring the viewer to accept it for a purpose, even if false.
Having (somewhat reluctantly it seems) accepted photography into the world of visual seeing Sontag relates the problems photographs have in being objects. They age, get bought and sold, are in newspapers and books and how we look at them is an influence on their worthiness, extolling the virtues of photographs in books as it has an order for viewing.
"Photographs furnish evidence. Something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we're shown a photograph of it" (Sontag p 5). Sontag's initial reluctance to believe in the authenticity of the photograph is reversed with this statement and she goes on to explain how the State and the Police can use photographs as evidence. "A photograph passes for incontrovertible proof that a given thing happened" (Sontag p 5). Given that with modification a photograph is never accurate I believe that Sontag remains ambivalent on the subject and before she moves on to write about why we photograph she states "Even when photographers are most concerned with mirroring reality, they are still haunted by the tacit imperatives of taste and conscience" (Sontag p 6). As a statement of fact this view has been under attack since 1977 with imagery (especially from war and famine) in the 21st century often being without taste or conscience in a ever present need to gain commercially through extreme imagery.
Sontag spends some time explaining the uses of photography from 1840 onwards with an assumption that although "....it was a gratuitous, that is, an artistic activity, though with few pretensions to being an art" (Sontag p 8) it only becomes an art after its industrialisation and the introduction of social uses. She continues "It is mainly a social rite, a defence against anxiety, and a tool of power" (Sontag p 8). This industrialisation is therefore the democratisation of the act and allows a large number of people to own and take an image. Sontag makes a point that travellers will want to make an image while on holiday, to make the experience real, and is an act of work while on holiday for those who have a high work ethic. She references Germans, Japanese and Americans with this ethical state. Sontag warns us that the act of picture taking is in some way predatory. The end use is after that point in time in the domain of the photographer and can be used in a positive or negative way. "After the event has ended, the picture will still exist, conferring on the event a kind of immortality (and importance) it would never otherwise have enjoyed" (Sontag p 11)
Sontag cites Diane Arbus as having said "I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do - that was one of my favourite things about it". Arbus is referring to her genre of work which centered around the taboo, marginal and sexual fantasy. Sontag refers to Blowup (1966) and Peeping Tom (1960) as two examples of films where the photographer is seen as a predator and the camera as an inescapable metaphor of phallus, a predatory weapon, a means of violation. Her assumptions here are as true today as when written and perhaps worse with the insatiable desire of the tabloid media for ever more intimate paparazzi type images of the rich and famous.
Sontag makes a point of comparing film (as in a moving image) and still photography with one of her most relevant statements. Each still photograph is a privileged moment, turned into a slim object that one can keep and look at again. (Sontag P 18) and she uses the image from 1972 of a naked South Vietnamese child just sprayed with napalm as a justifiable example enabling a catalogue of cultural and ethical issues to be discussed.
What concerns Sontag it would seem is the ubiquitous nature of photography and its effect on the population. Cameras having come from a time when she states "... had only inventors and buffs to operate them" (Sontag p 7) and they have since become tools for the citizen to enjoy with an addiction as Today everything exists to end in a photograph (Sontag p 24)
Conclusion
Sontag's work is considered by many to be one of the most influential and important works on the subject, and is a particular favourite of the writer and commentator John Berger.
As a student of photography I find myself having a need and a willingness to understand and agree with her while on some levels being offended by her naivety. I try to think back to 1977 and put myself in her position, not knowing the extreme and wide ranging developments in digital awareness, therefore excluding from my understanding the last 37 years and how that will influence my response. I am not sure how accurate her findings are with regard to her factual evidence because at no point does she cite and source to validate her claims, which makes me nervous. Her need to compare the number of people practising photography with the number of people "dancing or having sex as an amusement" is attractive writing but the statement without some statistical evidence is undervalued. The undervalued throw away remark can taint the writing, offering the reader a notion that the whole piece is peppered with such remarks to gain a popular readership, albeit amid the serious academic work.
I will continue with the remainder of the book (the audio version does help before note making is required) but wonder if contemporary writing is more appropriate.
As a photographer any source of opinion is to be explored, notes made and upon reflection a considered view (if any) that this may or may not have an influence on my work. This was certainly the case after having read the day-books of Edward Weston and the general reading around "The New Topographics" but it is here that the difference is exposed. Sontag (as with Berger) are not photographers. They write well on the subject as analysts of art and that is without doubt a worthy pursuit and it is my inability to connect with them at every point that concerns me. This concern may be unfounded, perhaps I am (along with others) too entrenched, too bigoted, too old to see the wood from the trees.
Actions
Continue to read widely (and write about it !!). Now back to the coursework.
References
On Photography, Susan Sontag - Penguin 1977
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Sontag
"In Plato's Cave" is the title of the first essay in Susan Sontag's seminal work On Photography first published in 1977 in the USA. Susan Sontag (1933-2004) was a well known intellect, playwright, author and political activist who spent the later part of her life as the partner of Annie Leibovitz
Sontag begins by arguing that photography is flawed and a false way of seeing and we cannot deduce anything from photographs, an allegory to what the prisoners in Plato's Cave saw as shadows cast onto a wall from a fire. Viewing photographs in Sontag's terms comes with a caution. The viewer will never know exactly what was happening when the photograph was taken and as such should it be believed ?. "..being educated by photographs is not like being educated by older, more artisnal images" (Sontag p 3) is perhaps true but without this we are deprived of the the experience of others on a worldwide scale.
Sontag soon moves her thesis towards an acceptance of photography, with caveats that, it can fiddle with the scale of the world by cropping retouching etc., revealing the falseness of photographs and requiring the viewer to accept it for a purpose, even if false.
Having (somewhat reluctantly it seems) accepted photography into the world of visual seeing Sontag relates the problems photographs have in being objects. They age, get bought and sold, are in newspapers and books and how we look at them is an influence on their worthiness, extolling the virtues of photographs in books as it has an order for viewing.
"Photographs furnish evidence. Something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we're shown a photograph of it" (Sontag p 5). Sontag's initial reluctance to believe in the authenticity of the photograph is reversed with this statement and she goes on to explain how the State and the Police can use photographs as evidence. "A photograph passes for incontrovertible proof that a given thing happened" (Sontag p 5). Given that with modification a photograph is never accurate I believe that Sontag remains ambivalent on the subject and before she moves on to write about why we photograph she states "Even when photographers are most concerned with mirroring reality, they are still haunted by the tacit imperatives of taste and conscience" (Sontag p 6). As a statement of fact this view has been under attack since 1977 with imagery (especially from war and famine) in the 21st century often being without taste or conscience in a ever present need to gain commercially through extreme imagery.
Sontag spends some time explaining the uses of photography from 1840 onwards with an assumption that although "....it was a gratuitous, that is, an artistic activity, though with few pretensions to being an art" (Sontag p 8) it only becomes an art after its industrialisation and the introduction of social uses. She continues "It is mainly a social rite, a defence against anxiety, and a tool of power" (Sontag p 8). This industrialisation is therefore the democratisation of the act and allows a large number of people to own and take an image. Sontag makes a point that travellers will want to make an image while on holiday, to make the experience real, and is an act of work while on holiday for those who have a high work ethic. She references Germans, Japanese and Americans with this ethical state. Sontag warns us that the act of picture taking is in some way predatory. The end use is after that point in time in the domain of the photographer and can be used in a positive or negative way. "After the event has ended, the picture will still exist, conferring on the event a kind of immortality (and importance) it would never otherwise have enjoyed" (Sontag p 11)
Sontag cites Diane Arbus as having said "I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do - that was one of my favourite things about it". Arbus is referring to her genre of work which centered around the taboo, marginal and sexual fantasy. Sontag refers to Blowup (1966) and Peeping Tom (1960) as two examples of films where the photographer is seen as a predator and the camera as an inescapable metaphor of phallus, a predatory weapon, a means of violation. Her assumptions here are as true today as when written and perhaps worse with the insatiable desire of the tabloid media for ever more intimate paparazzi type images of the rich and famous.
Sontag makes a point of comparing film (as in a moving image) and still photography with one of her most relevant statements. Each still photograph is a privileged moment, turned into a slim object that one can keep and look at again. (Sontag P 18) and she uses the image from 1972 of a naked South Vietnamese child just sprayed with napalm as a justifiable example enabling a catalogue of cultural and ethical issues to be discussed.
What concerns Sontag it would seem is the ubiquitous nature of photography and its effect on the population. Cameras having come from a time when she states "... had only inventors and buffs to operate them" (Sontag p 7) and they have since become tools for the citizen to enjoy with an addiction as Today everything exists to end in a photograph (Sontag p 24)
Conclusion
Sontag's work is considered by many to be one of the most influential and important works on the subject, and is a particular favourite of the writer and commentator John Berger.
As a student of photography I find myself having a need and a willingness to understand and agree with her while on some levels being offended by her naivety. I try to think back to 1977 and put myself in her position, not knowing the extreme and wide ranging developments in digital awareness, therefore excluding from my understanding the last 37 years and how that will influence my response. I am not sure how accurate her findings are with regard to her factual evidence because at no point does she cite and source to validate her claims, which makes me nervous. Her need to compare the number of people practising photography with the number of people "dancing or having sex as an amusement" is attractive writing but the statement without some statistical evidence is undervalued. The undervalued throw away remark can taint the writing, offering the reader a notion that the whole piece is peppered with such remarks to gain a popular readership, albeit amid the serious academic work.
I will continue with the remainder of the book (the audio version does help before note making is required) but wonder if contemporary writing is more appropriate.
As a photographer any source of opinion is to be explored, notes made and upon reflection a considered view (if any) that this may or may not have an influence on my work. This was certainly the case after having read the day-books of Edward Weston and the general reading around "The New Topographics" but it is here that the difference is exposed. Sontag (as with Berger) are not photographers. They write well on the subject as analysts of art and that is without doubt a worthy pursuit and it is my inability to connect with them at every point that concerns me. This concern may be unfounded, perhaps I am (along with others) too entrenched, too bigoted, too old to see the wood from the trees.
Actions
Continue to read widely (and write about it !!). Now back to the coursework.
References
On Photography, Susan Sontag - Penguin 1977
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Sontag
Saturday, 19 April 2014
Assignment Two - Feedback and more
I have to admit that there are times when I wonder if (even after all these years) I am at one with my photography and in the early hours of some mornings consider selling up and moving on. However there are other times when I get inspired and can do little else other than look at photographs, make images, print, read and feel that learning rush we all had as teenagers when first exposed to something new and exciting. The feedback for assignment two arrived in the email this morning and once again I am feeling good about my work. The constant self doubts, the nagging little voice, the inner knowing that maybe you could do better are to some extent banished for a few minutes with the favorable comments.
The first few comments were about my online reworking of assignment one, which when first submitted had a few issues relating to it that needed my attention. I am pleased that the second set of photographs were seen as more personal. Upon reflection I am sure that my lack of conceptual thinking was due in part to my year away from the degree and with PWDP you start straight off the start line with an assignment rather that a few exercises to warm up with.
Assignment two was thought of as "considered and thoughtful" with a "strong ability for lateral thinking". This is encouraging for me as I did enjoy the book cover problem solving and realised soon after reading 1984 that there was unlikely to be a simple solution and that the way forward would be with manipulated images that related to the underlying message of the book.
Our tutors do of course look at our learning journals and this where I know there is more work to do. I love books and buy far too many, the result of which is a lack of structure in my reading. This module has a bias towards essays and critical theory and while I have looked at and read much so far there is little evidence of this in the blog which gives the impression (quite rightly) that I haven't been busy. I will address this by way of more mini critical reviews of books and comment on the BJP and Source magazines, both of which I subscribe to.
I have made a start on assignment three and posted a few images in a recent post. My tutor is happy that we are on the same wavelength with this as it is self directed and moves away from the written requirements of the module. Once again a small comment from the tutor has made me aware of my shortcomings when I write the journal. The comment relates to keeping the prints consistent as my examples varied in size and style. One monochrome and the other colour, both with different aspect ratios. My error here is that I did not explain that the example were of two differing styles and I would never see myself putting them together for that very reason. This reminds me of my time studying law and remembering that the prosecution have to back up their claims with "evidence" rather than wishful rhetoric.
So, on refection I need to smarten up my journal writing and remember that apart from a wider public who may have a look, it is being assessed continually by my tutor and ultimately by the assessors. I need to be precise and offer detailed explanation of my choices backed by how the end products are influenced by my conceptual thinking.
The first few comments were about my online reworking of assignment one, which when first submitted had a few issues relating to it that needed my attention. I am pleased that the second set of photographs were seen as more personal. Upon reflection I am sure that my lack of conceptual thinking was due in part to my year away from the degree and with PWDP you start straight off the start line with an assignment rather that a few exercises to warm up with.
Assignment two was thought of as "considered and thoughtful" with a "strong ability for lateral thinking". This is encouraging for me as I did enjoy the book cover problem solving and realised soon after reading 1984 that there was unlikely to be a simple solution and that the way forward would be with manipulated images that related to the underlying message of the book.
Our tutors do of course look at our learning journals and this where I know there is more work to do. I love books and buy far too many, the result of which is a lack of structure in my reading. This module has a bias towards essays and critical theory and while I have looked at and read much so far there is little evidence of this in the blog which gives the impression (quite rightly) that I haven't been busy. I will address this by way of more mini critical reviews of books and comment on the BJP and Source magazines, both of which I subscribe to.
I have made a start on assignment three and posted a few images in a recent post. My tutor is happy that we are on the same wavelength with this as it is self directed and moves away from the written requirements of the module. Once again a small comment from the tutor has made me aware of my shortcomings when I write the journal. The comment relates to keeping the prints consistent as my examples varied in size and style. One monochrome and the other colour, both with different aspect ratios. My error here is that I did not explain that the example were of two differing styles and I would never see myself putting them together for that very reason. This reminds me of my time studying law and remembering that the prosecution have to back up their claims with "evidence" rather than wishful rhetoric.
So, on refection I need to smarten up my journal writing and remember that apart from a wider public who may have a look, it is being assessed continually by my tutor and ultimately by the assessors. I need to be precise and offer detailed explanation of my choices backed by how the end products are influenced by my conceptual thinking.
Friday, 18 April 2014
Exercise - Experiments with Layouts
This exercise takes a simple 2 page layout and asks that we make at least three layouts using different typefaces and describe which is the most satisfactory.
I am making a double page A3 option so that each page is A4 size.
Version 1
The use of Layers allows easy modification and the guides provide a framework for the layout. In this version the typography is simple with minimal fonts. The paragraph control is with no first line indents and the whole page is clean and suitable for the ornithological study. It is normal practice to show Latin names in italics. The A4 page size requires the main body of the text to be 14pt for reading at a distance, more so than a paperback which would tend to be held closer.
Version 2
Version 2 has the main text font changed to Arial and is 12 pt. A clean contemporary layout with reduced column widths adds an element of balance. The font change has produced a less academic look although being smaller may be a disadvantage.
Version 3
Version 3 uses a single wide column for the main text. This is easier to read than the two column versions above and is now with Arial Bold. The paragraphs have indented first lines which create a feeling of older style layouts while using a modern font. The photograph title is now moved to the left as this creates abetter balance and the main heading is moved to the centre.
Version 4
I am making a double page A3 option so that each page is A4 size.
Version 1
Version 1 - Main text 14pt Times New Roman Regular - Main Heading 30pt Arial Bold
The construction for version 1 within Photoshop is shown in the following screen grab. Further versions have similar layers and tools with the only variation being font size and paragraph indents.
The use of Layers allows easy modification and the guides provide a framework for the layout. In this version the typography is simple with minimal fonts. The paragraph control is with no first line indents and the whole page is clean and suitable for the ornithological study. It is normal practice to show Latin names in italics. The A4 page size requires the main body of the text to be 14pt for reading at a distance, more so than a paperback which would tend to be held closer.
Version 2
Version 2 - Main text 12pt Arial Regular - Main Heading 30pt Arial Bold
Version 2 has the main text font changed to Arial and is 12 pt. A clean contemporary layout with reduced column widths adds an element of balance. The font change has produced a less academic look although being smaller may be a disadvantage.
Version 3
Version 3 - Main text 12pt Arial Bold - Main Heading 30pt Arial Bold
Version 3 uses a single wide column for the main text. This is easier to read than the two column versions above and is now with Arial Bold. The paragraphs have indented first lines which create a feeling of older style layouts while using a modern font. The photograph title is now moved to the left as this creates abetter balance and the main heading is moved to the centre.
Version 4
Version 4 - Main text 12pt Lucida Bright Regular - Main Heading 30pt Lucida Bright Demibold
Version 4 returns me to a serif typeface with Lucida Bright for all of the text except the Latin picture title which remains Arial. Picture titles are now moved to the centre to balance with the central position of the main title on the facing page. The main text I have kept regular as this adds a lightness to the page that is lost when the bold is introduced.
Conclusion
The four versions are a mock up page for a book on British birds. It is unlikely that in such a publication there would be any outrageous fonts or layouts so the changes between the four are rather subtle. The variations therefore are as much in the layout and minor adjustments such as one or two columns, position of titles and paragraph indents. The major changes are the main text font and the choice of whether to use a serif typeface such as Times New Roman / Lucida Bright or a sans serif such as Arial. Arial is very similar to Helvetica (which isn't included in Photoshop) which is the most used font in almost every country of the world. In this instance, the subject matter and the scientific nature of the writing suits a serif and between the two I have used I prefer Lucida Bright. It is lighter and less aggressive that the Times New Roman used in version one. The text should not compete visually with the photograph and in four there is harmony.
Exercise - Photographic book covers - choosing imagery
Photography as a book cover can be of any genre. For this exercise we are asked to find some examples in the following categories.
Within each type I will discuss the suitability of the cover after some research into the contents of the book and offer a conclusion why the publishers chose the image.
Out of Focus
"Disguise" is a tale of illegal wartime adoption and the subsequent life story of a man (Gregor) who spends his life with a suspicion that he may not be who he thinks he is. His adoptive parents and his real mother engage in lies and deceit to conceal the reality of who he is. The strain eventually takes it toll and Gregor leaves his wife and family to become a musician and tours Canada and Ireland, "an entire lifetime of departures and comebacks". Described as " a story of double misfortune turned into multiple good luck".
The publishers will have wanted to convey the uncertainty of the central character and the lack of authenticity in the life of Gregor. The blurred image over written with the title word "DISGUISE" is sufficiently connected to offer a hint of a character who is not known and deliberately hidden.
Inverted
Historical
Still life
De Botton takes the reader through 10 self contained studies of the sorrows and pleasures of the complex "workplace". These range from a biscuit factory in Belgium to the soulless headquarters of a firm of London accountants. It is a work of psychology and ideology rather than a practical guide to survival in the workplace. The book teems with interesting detail and shrewd commentary but there is no linear argument. A book rather more for discussion than a "how to". The cover chosen for the edition above shows an office chair in it component parts. We don't know whether it is new and waiting to be assembled or whether it has been taken apart. It shows us the parts rather than the sum of the parts and that is how the book is arranged. As I mentioned, there is no linear argument, only a series of disconnected studies. The photograph connects on a materialistic level, in as much as we are all familiar with a chair in the office an we recognize it here.
Minimalist landscape
A story emanating from the attacks on the Twin Towers of The World Trade Centre in New York on September 11 2001. Keith the central character is caught up in the periphery of the event and finds himself making his way to his one time family home where he is reunited with his estranged wife. He recounts to her seeing people falling from the windows of the twin towers and then later they watch a performance artist recreate the scene as a stunt. Keith feels his life is falling away and through various minor story variations the theme develops to incorporate all three.
Apart from the text on this cover there is nothing other than clouds and two vertical parallel lines. It is clear why the photograph has been selected. The "Falling" theme is present physically and metaphorically throughout the book and the shot from above the clouds invokes a feeling of vertigo, height and danger. The two parallel lines act as a metaphor for the falling action, or at least a trace of it where it has been.
Conclusion
I am concious that there are two ways of approaching this subject at the conceptualisation stage of the process. The straight forward concept will use an image that is overtly connected with the content of the book. The other option is to use an image that is symbolic or at some secondary level has an allegorical link to the content. The use of metaphor is perhaps the most often used to entice the reader to take a closer look inside. There is a point at which the imagery will become too obscure and that can only be counter productive. The typology has to fit around the image and as such is in a auxiliary role. A cover design using graphic art techniques would start with the text and manipulate a design to suit.
- Out of Focus
- Inverted
- Historical archival but not depicting the subject
- Still life close up
- Minimalist landscape or scene for large sky
Within each type I will discuss the suitability of the cover after some research into the contents of the book and offer a conclusion why the publishers chose the image.
Out of Focus
"Disguise" is a tale of illegal wartime adoption and the subsequent life story of a man (Gregor) who spends his life with a suspicion that he may not be who he thinks he is. His adoptive parents and his real mother engage in lies and deceit to conceal the reality of who he is. The strain eventually takes it toll and Gregor leaves his wife and family to become a musician and tours Canada and Ireland, "an entire lifetime of departures and comebacks". Described as " a story of double misfortune turned into multiple good luck".
The publishers will have wanted to convey the uncertainty of the central character and the lack of authenticity in the life of Gregor. The blurred image over written with the title word "DISGUISE" is sufficiently connected to offer a hint of a character who is not known and deliberately hidden.
Inverted
"NoVA" is set in North Vaginia, an otherwise normal part of the suburbs of Washington DC. It as view of contemporary America that starts with a 17 yo boy hanging himself and the subsequent ramifications that surround his family and friends. A tale of sex and drugs amongst the middle classes who work for the technology companies, federal contractors and government institutions of this area. Sharp social observation and dark humour are amongst the techniques used by Boice in this disturbing tale. The cover is not an obvious choice and the inverted picture can only be a metaphor for the upside down world inhabited by the characters. The white painted fence being typical in a clichéd sense for the middle class gardens surrounds of the eastern USA.
"Dominion" is complete fiction with a story that we have all pondered on at some stage. What If we hadn't won the second world war and the Nazis had control of Great Britain. Sansom creates a totally believable place where Jews live in fear, the radio and television are under state control and an underground Resistance movement is led by an ageing Winston Churchill. A Resistance spy is caught up in a plot to free a civil servant who has a secret that could change the world.
The publishers have chosen a cover photograph that is correct for the post war period. The foggy scene is perhaps London (although that's not crucial) and has a touch of menace with isolated characters exchanging a glance while a black cab is close by.
Still life
Minimalist landscape
A story emanating from the attacks on the Twin Towers of The World Trade Centre in New York on September 11 2001. Keith the central character is caught up in the periphery of the event and finds himself making his way to his one time family home where he is reunited with his estranged wife. He recounts to her seeing people falling from the windows of the twin towers and then later they watch a performance artist recreate the scene as a stunt. Keith feels his life is falling away and through various minor story variations the theme develops to incorporate all three.
Apart from the text on this cover there is nothing other than clouds and two vertical parallel lines. It is clear why the photograph has been selected. The "Falling" theme is present physically and metaphorically throughout the book and the shot from above the clouds invokes a feeling of vertigo, height and danger. The two parallel lines act as a metaphor for the falling action, or at least a trace of it where it has been.
Conclusion
I am concious that there are two ways of approaching this subject at the conceptualisation stage of the process. The straight forward concept will use an image that is overtly connected with the content of the book. The other option is to use an image that is symbolic or at some secondary level has an allegorical link to the content. The use of metaphor is perhaps the most often used to entice the reader to take a closer look inside. There is a point at which the imagery will become too obscure and that can only be counter productive. The typology has to fit around the image and as such is in a auxiliary role. A cover design using graphic art techniques would start with the text and manipulate a design to suit.
Wednesday, 9 April 2014
Something and Nothing
I find it difficult these days to come to terms with how banality has taken over my life. Personal circumstances can change so quickly and we have to follow a path through life sometimes not of our own making. I wont go into the detail of what happened a year ago but family matters took over and now as a carer the days are different as my world condenses into a semi medical/domestic routine. A trip to the supermarket for an hour being taken as a rest and the chance to see the world. This lifestyle has had an impact on my photography. No longer can I come and go as I please to places I view as interesting or inspirational. Initially I saw these restrictions as the end of my photography and for a while there was a low point with no activity and when I did force myself to make some images (Assignment One) they were not perhaps my best and I reverted to type and made work reminiscent of the past and inside my comfort zone.
Life has now settled down, I dont find the daily chores so daunting and unattainable anymore and photography is once again making its way back into my life. Assignment Two has been sent off to my tutor and between us we have agreed upon a way forward for Three which is very encouraging.
Something or Nothing is the title of chapter 4 in Charlotte Cotton's book "the photograph as contemporary art" and is one of my favourite long term reads. In this chapter she looks at and explains how non human things that are often seen as being ordinary can be made extraordinary when being photographed. There is nothing extraordinary about our house or the garden so by definition everything is ordinary and is my world photographically for the foreseeable future. As Cotton reminds us we pass by the ordinary or keep them at the periphery of our vision and automatically give them no credence within visual art.
For Assignment Three I intend to make a set of images of the generally non photographed items from my close everyday life captured simply with little post production. The brief will be to capture the banal and foster a curiosity in the item by leaving out some of the visual clues and inducing contemplation with the simple.
Maybe on these lines
Or this.
Life has now settled down, I dont find the daily chores so daunting and unattainable anymore and photography is once again making its way back into my life. Assignment Two has been sent off to my tutor and between us we have agreed upon a way forward for Three which is very encouraging.
Something or Nothing is the title of chapter 4 in Charlotte Cotton's book "the photograph as contemporary art" and is one of my favourite long term reads. In this chapter she looks at and explains how non human things that are often seen as being ordinary can be made extraordinary when being photographed. There is nothing extraordinary about our house or the garden so by definition everything is ordinary and is my world photographically for the foreseeable future. As Cotton reminds us we pass by the ordinary or keep them at the periphery of our vision and automatically give them no credence within visual art.
For Assignment Three I intend to make a set of images of the generally non photographed items from my close everyday life captured simply with little post production. The brief will be to capture the banal and foster a curiosity in the item by leaving out some of the visual clues and inducing contemplation with the simple.
Maybe on these lines
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