Assignment one, brief (Click to open)
My initial thoughts on this project were that it would be quite difficult to do because of the travel involved (Somerset to East Anglia). I then thought that I could cover the village that we have now lived In for about eighteen months. Although very nice and situated no more than a 20 minute country walk to the beach, it consists of only 42 houses. My wife and I lead very busy lives and know nobody beyond our two neighbours. I then started to think about involving my six year old son Beren, and maybe his three year old sister Eledhwen.
Taking this idea further, I could shoot all the images from a very low level to emphasise the perspective from which they see things. I also considered giving him my mobile camera and just going for a wander and letting him do the initial photography, which I would then look at and then reshoot using my DSLR. So far so good, I was quite excited about this progressive thought process.
We discussed my idea/thoughts whilst driving him to school one morning. He gave me his thoughts, but I found that I had my own set ideas and recollections and was increasingly prompting him to give me the answers I wanted to satisfy my view of his life (which he did, with great excitement/recollection, but that wasn’t what my original idea was about!). I tried to follow through with this idea , but we both found the process wholly unnatural and staged (by me!).
After going away and having a rethink about the whole thing, I realised that what I wanted to do was present my memories, but through them (him mainly). So what I have arrived at is a set of images that are staged but not in a rigid way. I basically took them both to areas where I would let them play, knowing full well that I would get something that would remind me of my past. My recollections of this young age are more about feelings than actual places, feelings of adventure, freedom, trepidation, fear and adrenaline rushes, that sort of thing.
Having looked through the suggested research material, I found that I was quite drawn to Venetia Dearden’s work https://www.venetiadearden.com/about/ . This is a bit of a coincidence, as she lives geographically quite close to me. I love the way she flirts with the natural light and shoots into the sun to create a dreamlike quality to her images. It gave me a distinct feeling of long dreamy summers as a child. I tried to employ this technique with limited success, but am excited about trying to pursue the technique further, it can add so much more to a photograph.
I also really like the work of Sally Mann (if only I could get rid of the background ‘disturbed’ feeling). The presentation style of Walker Evan’s ‘American Photograph’ is second to none but is free of any emotion and feels like it is purely recording information. Whereas the work W Eugene Smith, in particular his work ‘Country Doctor’ has much more of a narrative feel about it. This is what I would like to come across in this body of work I have created.
“I’m borrrred!”
“The King is dead, long live The King”
“Yahoooo!”
“I’m BORED!”
An open gate is just the start of an adventure!
“The world is my oyster”
“Hmmmm, The haunted shed!”
Looking for fossils.
“A quick game of Poohsticks”
Before…
“It’s getting late, we’d better be off”
“Aahhhhhhh! Safety & the smell of supper.”
This little pictorial essay puts across much more of a sensory feel of my young life. When I review what I have composed, it still gives me a true recollection of how things felt back then without it having to be pictorially accurate. It still activates all of my senses. I can feel the bark on my knees, and the cuts and bruises from climbing trees, the anticipation of who’s lolly stick was going to come out first, not to mention the fear and dread of certain places and the overwhelming sense of relief when you were home and shutting the gate behind you. Hmmmm! Hot food and a warm bed! Anything that recalls that feeling has got to be good!
If I were to shoot this assignment again, what would I do to improve the presentation?
I like the words that accompany each image but my tutor feels that they are unnecessary and that I am almost patronising the viewer by explaining what they have to see. I’m going to take his advice and remove them!…..
However, images 6,8 and 9, I would frame better. I think that they are probably a little too central for my liking.
Assignment one contact sheet 1-5
I see! 