ASSIGNMENT 5. Tutor feedback
My response to tutor feedback
The first thing I had to address was the quality of the image. This was daunting as it would involve a lot of Photoshop work which I still struggle with. Nevertheless, after eighteen hours I was able to produce an image of significantly higher quality. The problem had been that I had used so many layers to add and alter the original image, that it had systematically partially destroyed/corrupted the image final image. I had to go back to the original image, compress and convert it to a JPG the ‘final image, and layer it above the original. Then, flitting between the two, erase significant parts of the background from the ‘final’ image, then use the clone tool to blend the original and final to create a seamless effect.
My tutor questioned the significance of the images I have placed on the wall. They were perceived as representing moments from my own life, which isn’t exactly true. However I would agree that the two side images are a little tenuous to the overall image. That said, I have left them in as they neither enhance or detract from the whole ensemble. I do happen to think that Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’ does however add to to the image and should viewers know of the painting, will understand it’s position within the image (Click on link ‘The Kiss’ above).
The other major point raised was the replaced background viewed through the windows. The original view is a wall of green bush and foliage, which is very bland. Part of my original idea was to have a dead tree in the background which the woman would be looking to, suggesting this to be a visual metaphor of her thoughts. My tutor rightly pointed out that the window frames were so bright (burnt out) that they were not a true reflection of the existing light from outside. I made further adjustment within Photoshop to temper the light quality imbalance. I also adjusted the angle of the model’s head to make it much clearer as to where she was looking (Originally her head was tilted down too much), and the link with the dead tree was lost. This small adjustment has made her action the centre piece of the image!
PROJECT 2 THE ARCHIVE
23rd June 2021
I once bought a toolbox and roll cabinet from somebody who had stored them in his garage for the seller. The seller was going to come and collect them in a few weeks. They belonged to his father, who I believe had passed away some years prior. After four years, it was assumed that the man was not coming back to collect, and with the new owner now moving out himself, I offered to buy both boxes. Having settled on a price, I collected them and took them home. The roll cab was locked and had no key! Having forced the lock, I found that there were a lot of specialist engineering tools in there. In the bottom there was a plastic bag with about one hundred photos in from what I would estimate to be the 1970’s. I thought nothing of them at the time as I was more concerned with organising my tools into my new boxes. Over the years I have returned and glanced through the photo’s, always asking myself why I was hanging on to the photo’s. Each time I look at them, I get more and more drawn into them, asking more questions. I’m eager to go and retrieve them again, and see what my feelings are now.
Exercise Two
Recalling a conversation
MB: Morning Peter. How was your day off yesterday? Did you get up to much?
PP: As I haven’t got a car at the moment, I washed the kitchen floor, put some washing on….
MB: All the mundane things you’d normally do on a Saturday morning!
PP: Yeah! The car should be back this afternoon. He said he is going to drop it off to me here.
MB: Yeah right, of course he will!
PP: Hmmm! Well I’ve got no way of getting home otherwise. I’ll have to wait until 17.30 for Sarah to pick me up.
MB: There is a spare van if you want it.
PP: Yes, but I’ve then got to get it back to you which wouldn’t be until Saturday, and Charlotte may need it before then.
PP: You know this new game, it was released this morning at 07.30. There is a bit of a problem that people are up in arms about, as they are not opening the servers simultaneously around the world. So UK is the first. This meant that whilst we were trying to register our guild name and player names, people from the States were logging on to our server too. My friend managed to get my name for me, but was worried that he wouldn’t be able to get our guild name. Anyway, one of the others got the name for us.
MB: So there’ll be some late nights coming up?
PP: No, I’m going to restrict myself to 22.00 otherwise I’ll get really tired. I was going to book next week off, but what with what’s happening with Jo at the moment, I’d best not.
MB: Have you heard from Jo?
PP: Yes she’s been on the phone a fair bit.
PP: The mechanic better come today.
MB: If not, you’ll have to tell him you’ll get a taxi and he’ll have to re-reimburse you!
PP: Yes.
MB: Don’t tell him to take it off of your bill, as he’ll just up the bill then take it off.
PP: Yes that’s right.
Transcript of what was said
MB: I’ve been living on double shot of coffee for the last week!
PP Haha!
MB: It’s that stuff that BJ brought in.
PP: Who is this med for?
MB: Can’t remember now, speak to HJ.
PP: HJ said she’d keep Davis informed about a visit! I’ve just had a call from Pearl, “What’s happening?” Sorry Pearl BJ is just around the corner
MB: What did you do on your day off?
PP: Well I had no van, so I cut the lawns, mopped the floors.
MB The mundane stuff.
PP: Yeah! Nothing exciting apart from the game downloaded. Basically they’ve made the servers and each one can hold 3000 players, but they’ve made too many, but you want too many because you can merge or delete them. Because servers are expensive to run you want to get rid of some when the initial spike drops. Instead of everybody starting at the same time, they did rolling server. EU first at 07.30 this morn. This is the controversial thing, as they know the are going to merge servers, so they said guild and character names are world unique so anybody in the US that wanted a guild name were logging into the EU servers this morn to secure their name. I had somebody this morning said, does anybody want their name saving? Somebody tagged me in and said “I bet Pete does?” He said “Pete, Pete, I’ve got your name! basically he got it. He then went on the other server and he’s still queueing with 8500 others for his name. I was v fortunate. The guild master was trying to get our guild name and got it eventually.
MB: There’ll be some late nights coming up then?
PP: NO, I’ll cap it a 22.00 just because I’ll just end up being tired. What I wanted to do was take some time off next week, but because of Jo’s development I don’t think I’ll do it, because she’ll need the time off then.
MB: Have you spoken to her this morning?
PP: Yes, yes plenty! Yes. I haven’t heard from that muppet about my van yete. The last I left it with him was he said “don’t worry I’ll pick you up”
MB: What, from here?
PP: Yes,
MB: Of course he won’t.
PP: Well I said I don’t know how I’m going to get home.
MB: He won’t pick you up.
PP: No he won’t. Well he actually said I’ll deliver your van to you.
MB: It’ll get to 13.45 and call and I meant I’d deliver it to your house, across the road.
PP: Yeah, then were stuck as I’ve no way of getting home.
MB: Why don’t you take EYU home?
PP: Yes but if Charlotte needs it. If she wasn’t here I’d basically drive it bacvk Saturday. So if it comes to it I’ll have to wait here for 2 hours!
MB: Until Sarah comes?
PP: Yes, I can’t pay for a taxi that would be loads.
MB: Well wait til he calls then tell him you’ll get a taxi and he can pay for it.
PP: Yes I’ll put that to him.
MB: He doesn’t know that Sarah can pick you up does he?
PP: No.
MB: well just say “Shall I order a taxi and on charge it to you.
PP: Yes. What I hope is he delivers it. Can’t see it happening, but he said it, not me.
MB: Does he know where you work?
PP: He knows it is Nether Stowey. His comment was “Oh it aint that far I can sort something out”
MB: Its 1.5 hour espec for him that doesn’t like inconvenience.
PP: I’m expecting a bill at cost price.
MB: Yes don’t say I’ll pay for the taxi and you take it off the bill cos he’ll just add it on first then take it off.
PP: Yes he will. See what he say. I’ll give him til 14,00 to call then I’ll ring him.
MB: OK, watch this space.
This made uncomfortable listening, as I always thought I listened and never interrupted! How wrong I was. Not major ‘butt-ins’ but finishing Peter’s sentences. When I did speak, it was often stilted, lacking fluency. I know that my brain is slowing down and that I often struggle to find the correct words, refusing to uses another word which would suffice.
I’m quite impressed with my own powers of recollection on this occasion, given that my memory is atrocious. As the situation was a construct, I was at least aware that it was a test for me. The conversation lasted over twelve minutes, and I think my main issue was recounting the order in which the topics came.
As it was Peter that was doing most of the talking, conversely, it was me that did the interrupting! On a number of occasions I interruption to finish/help was wrong. I see these as wanting Peter to know that I was listening and that I was on his side.
looking at my review of what was actually said, it is clear that it has been pared down to almost the bear essentials. I picked out the key subjects, then worked out from the core of each, recounting and putting flesh on the bones. I did reach a point though with each topic, where I was unable to recount more, even though I knew there was more said.
I think this is a very worthwhile process which should/is applied by writers when they are producing scripts. Starting with the fundamentals, you can always add to it, making it more or less interesting subject to how you want the story to flow (sometimes fast, sometimes slow). This also allows for the author to add or create interest on at selected points which have key information that the viewer is required to see/pick up on, being fundamental to the plot whether it be a book or image or film.
To extend this to the creation of an image; I would break the idea down and list the key points and objectives. Sketch them out in different arrangements to strike a balanced image. Then dress, furnish or embellish these areas accordingly.
Exercise one
19th June 2021
Question for Seller re-situates images in a different context and in so doing allows for a new dialogue to take place.
Question: Does their presence on a gallery wall give these images an elevated status?
Answer: Unless I am completely misunderstanding the term, I don’t think that it gives them an elevated status. I think it merely puts them in a different arena, where people are able to view them with no pre conception, tainted by foreknowledge of the subject matter. By doing this, Nicky Bird is certainly giving us entertainment, and giving the images themselves a second lease of life, albeit in a different way. This does bring to the fore one interesting point, and that is; All photos released by, let’s say ‘professional photographers, will only get one lease of life! That is to say, once an image is ‘out there’ it cannot then be retracted and then be represented in a different way, because we the viewers have already seen it!….. Perhaps as an integral part of another image (Montage say) it could have its context changed!
Question: Where does their meaning derive from?
Answer: In this particular circumstance, the meaning is derived from the foreknowledge of the subject matter. With this removed, what is left for us the viewer is, the process of inventing or guessing at what went before, what was actually happening at the time & what followed. We could say that without knowledge of the subjects/matter, these are a decluttered version of what Gregory Crewdson is producing!
Question: When they are sold (again on eBay, via auction direct from the gallery) is there value increased by the fact that they are now ‘art’?
Answer: This is down to the fickleness of human nature! If I were to sell them on, after having used them to create art, then who would pay more than the going rate for second (third) hand photographs of no significance? I think the answer to that is nobody! If they were sold in the same circumstance (i.e. appearing as part of a piece of work) by Jeff Wall or Gregory Crewdson, then for sure, the market value would surely rise. This would be the same as saying both myself and Jurgen Klopp bought the same coat at the same shop. when we sold them a month later on eBay, the demand/asking price would be wildly different. In summary, something is deemed to be art, subject to it’s demand, as is the price! If I recreated my bed/bedroom as an installation in an art gallery, would that instantly make me a renowned artist?…
16th June 2021
Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin were commissioned by Belfast Exposed to create a body of work in response to the archives kept by Belfast Exposed. This consisted of over fourteen thousand contact sheets of black & white images collected over a twenty year period, documenting the Anglo/Northern Ireland troubles. These contact sheets were produced by professional and amateur photographers alike.
What they found, searching through this vast collection (kept on the first floor of 23 Donegal Street) of data, were many images that had been marked in some way and for multiple reasons, by a succession of archivists (each trying to file the images in their own way) and also visitors that have removed/obscured or defaced the images to protect their own anonymity (For fear of reprisal?). Many of them were also marked with a large dot. In isolation these images gave a very different view and representation of what had been covered as a whole (A bias towards one faction). They took these images, and selected only a part of them, framed in the same circular way, and showed these bits in isolation of the rest of each image. The results definitely neutralised all ‘weighted’ meaning, but provided a whole lot more to ponder and muse over.
By doing this, they have made a very clear statement, challenging how we see and take as read what is presented to us.
Reference
http://www.broombergchanarin.com/contacts
PROJECT 1 SETTING THE SCENE
Drawing on documentary and art
13th June 2021
Cindy Sherman, almost unique within the world of photographers, still after forty plus years in the industry, singularly photographs herself. All of her images are untitled, with the aim in mind that the viewer should create their own narrative for each of her pieces of work. That said, each body of work has an ‘unofficial’ name (given by others) to broadly catagorise and make discussions easier. All of her images are titled “Untitled #X,”.1
Sherman has very cleverly used her work to draw people in, to make them ask the questions about (generally) issues that exist in and around the exploitation of females/women, as opposed to her going out and preaching to the masses!
She uses her own face and body as a canvass to decorate, dress up and adorn with make-up, to make statements about such issues as rape, abduction, murder or the exploitation of women through pornography.
One question that always sprung to my mind when I viewed her work was; How much does she try to get into the head/under the skin of the person she is representing? This is answered interestingly in her interview for The gentlewoman1 , where she say; “It’s not like I’m method acting or anything. I don’t feel that I am that person… I may be thinking about a certain story or situation, but I don’t become her. There’s this distance. The image in the mirror becomes her – the image the camera gets on the film. And the one thing I’ve always known is that the camera lies.”
References
Research point
11th June 2021
Crewdson’s work is deliberately cinematic in style, drawing us into a purposefully fictional tableaux. Some commentators view this as ‘legitimate’ image making, whilst others see the work of DiCorcia’s & Wall’s work as more of the ‘real deal’. I believe that this is because they almost mistrust what they are seeing, and don’t want to let themselves go on a trip, not knowing where it will take them. With Crewdson’s work, we know that the before and after are there for us to create, and to, if albeit briefly, exist in, but that is the beauty of his work. With DiCorcia, much of his work is about capturing a moment (as is both Wall & Crewdson’s work), but it is a real moment. Yes DiCorsia is using lighting heavily, but he is working in ‘real time’ which I think puts critics more at ease, almost in a territory that they can easily understand and interpret with confidence. His series ‘Heads’ is a good example.
Philip-Lorca diCorsia, Heads #7, 2000
Jeff Wall’s work, is more of a halfway house. Again, it is tableaux, but it is often designed to recreate an actual moment. As stand alone images, you would think many of them to be ‘actual’ moments! I think the main difference that gives Wall’s work a sense of ‘honesty’, and in so doing, allows people to more easily accept them is the natural lighting that he uses.
Jeff Wall, Overpass, 2001
Nobody can doubt or question the amount of work or integrity that goes into a Crewdson image, however, we cannot get away from the fact that the whole image is a construct from start to finish. Is it the fact that his images are so close to a reality as to be unsettling? Is this what makes people distrust them?
9th June 2021
Asked to watch a YouTube video about/containing Gregory Crewdson, which I was unable to download, I watched four other interviews to get more of an insight as to how the man works, and his thoughts and what he is looking for.
Question: Do you think there is more to Gregory Crewdson’s work than aesthetic beauty?
Answer: Aesthetic beauty is certainly an objective that GC sets out to obtain. However this is only part of his journey, and with every step, he creates something else because of his need to do things in a certain way. For example; Because his images are heavily weighted in the style of ‘tableaux’, and his attention to every minute detail (“move your head forward 1 cm” (the camera is 40ft away))1, he brings to every image intrigue and a composition that compels you to ask so many questions about the content of the image. I love seeing an image for the first time and being bombarded with so much information that I have to take a step back, work out what I think I am seeing then try to workout where the beginning of the story is. For me they are like being presented with a picture story book where the leaves of the book have all been taken out and laid out before me, and it is then for me to work out the story.
Question: Do you think Crewdson succeeds in making his work ‘psychological’? What does this mean?
Answer: His work is psychological, for the reasons given above. Each image is a story, although Crewdson tells us that he is not interested in what has happened either before or after the moment of his scene2. The psychology of each image is that he is only interesting something in the moment, like a hyper distilled version of Cartier-Bresson’s ‘decisive moment’. It is left purposely for you the view to create the story, what happened in the moments leading up to, and the consequences that followed ‘his’ instant in time. The psychology of his images is encouraged by him, and highlighted by his exhibition ‘Beneath the Roses’, where he has deliberately left all exhibits untitled to give them an “open ended” feel.
Question: What is your main goal when making pictures? Do you think there’s anything wrong with making beauty your main goal? Why or why not?
Answer: For me the beauty that I strive for, or see in some of my images, isn’t a classic beauty, but more an inner feeling I get when I know that what I’ve achieved is either (in my mind) perfect, or done to the best of my ability, and everything, i.e. all of the components, have come together perfectly as I have orchestrated them. Producing what I see in my minds eye before the image is made, makes it a thing of beauty. In a nutshell; Anything that I have produced, that has come out as I had envisaged, is a thing of beauty!
References
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNPwVLU38pc There But Not There: Gregory Crewdson Documentary. Minutes 14 onward.
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqYNGJlA6Z4&t=1s Epson Print Your Legacy | Photographer Gregory Crewdson.
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB5XqQFVTE0 Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters Official Trailer #1 (2012) – Documentary Movie HD
6th June 2021
Within photography the use of mirrors, shadows and reflections have strong connotations towards reminding us that what we are seeing is not reality, but a version of. These signifiers give us a very subtle reminder of what constitutes honesty. Not only can they be a frame within a frame, providing all manner of juxtaposition et al, but can also add a view of another dimension which cannot be viewed either by the human eye or the camera lens without distortion, or calling into question what we are seeing.
If the reflection/mirror (and even the shadow) is positioned in such a way, the view can feel as though they have ‘discovered’ something that should not have been seen, something behind the scenes. You can be left to think that the composer/photographer has been lax in his/her composition and hasn’t realised what we have been able to see behind the scene, whether it be to do with the setting up or making of the image (set production) or a continuation of the world we are currently viewing. Francesca Woodman was a keen user of mirrors to create tension, and often great signifiers. They often leave you feeling uncomfortable, as though you have been caught as the voyeur, looking at things you shouldn’t have seen.
19th May 2021
Much of Jeff Wall’s work involves stand alone images that have a lot to say, they have a lot of feeling about them. To get to the bottom of what it is that really gets under our skin, and makes us ask questions about the individual image, we have to deconstruct the image, to really discover the individual signs and pieces that give us what feelings we get. With some of the images that Wall produces, they are so ‘cluttered’ with items that are actually an integral part of the image, but are in danger of being overlooked. So deconstructing allows us to really lay out the nuts and bolts, and see how, when re assembled, they interact with other parts of the image. In doing so, we are also truelly understand the depth of these images.
The above image is full of ‘Mise en Scene’. Wall has been very clever in his creation of this image. He rented the apartment, and asked one of the models to live in it & furnish it. Over the period of almost a whole year, Wall would visit and take photograph. After the year he then selected items from the images and carefully stitched them all together to create a compilation of a years items & ‘things’ into one believable image. Wall had to be meticulous in his setting up of each scene, in particular, getting the lighting as close as possible, to make things ‘do-able’ within the post production process. There is more to this image than just the objects within the room, as the title suggests. However maybe now is not the time to look at this.
Chromogenic print mounted on board: 47.3 x 60 x 4.4 cm.
Image courtesy of Richard Saltoun Gallery, 2017.
Eleanor Antin has done many projects in her time, and this is a beautiful composition. The components of this image, like the image itself are very subtle & delicate, all coming together to give us a sublime piece of work. The soft pastel colour of the back wall hinting at and complimenting the tranquility and calm shown in the model, and the smoothness of her skin. It also allows hers & his skin tone (complimented by the terracotta pots) to stand out beautifully. The stones under the table, and the dirty and creased sheet hint at the texture of what the sculpture will have looked like before the sculptor had worked it. The table sets the ‘two females’ apart from the male, yet they are intrinsically linked to the sculptor by the very slender line that is the chisel & the platter, both giving, both receiving. All of the sundry items are set perfectly to frame and encapsulate the three human shapes. Is there a hint of humour in the placing of the small bronze on the right? His nonchalant pose and outstretched arm pointing to the main characters in a slightly defamatory way! The whole picture is a very busy dichotomy of soft and hard, male and female, rough and smooth brought together and cemented by the complex arrangement of the ‘peripheral’ ephemera.
Gregory Crewdson has become legendary in his construction of a set with so much attention to detail, often using hundreds of people to construct sets and star in too. His productions can take a year to come to fruition. They are so heavily laden with ‘mise en scene’ articles/people that the skill required can often be how to cut to the chase. Nothing is a red herring, but there are so many leads that you can easily be drawn down a parallel idea route. All of his human subjects have an ethereal presents to them. You could be forgiven for thinking them to be androids that have stopped. This has the effect of one viewing them in isolation, and thinking that they actually provide no clues or answers to what is presented, instead relying on the material objects that surround them! This does however encourage us to look and seek more deeply than we perhaps would normally.
17th May 2021
EXERCISE
We are asked to watch a three-minute clip from the film Goodfellas then describe what the scene tells us about the main character. Having done this, list how this is shown, the ‘clues’. These must be answered before moving on.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ojeevtqxdk8
Q: What does this scene tell you about the main character?
A: I came up with a list of word which typify and generalise him; Influential, connected, affluent, respected, liked, feared, known, privileged, comfortable (with himself), charismatic, a liar & smooth.
Q: How does it do this? List the ‘clues’.
A: He hands over the keys to his car, signifying trust to a subordinate to take care of something expensive, but in doing so shows that the financial risk is not important.
He pushes through the queue of people to get to the back door without even noticing them, as though it is his birth right.
He puts his arm around her waist, even though it a first ‘date’, showing her to perhaps be his property, and being the protector.
He gives his money away in large amounts freely for insignificant gestures (holding the door open), again showing that he has wealth, and furthermore that it doesn’t govern his life (on a day to day basis).
I feel as though the background music was significant too, but unsure as to why at the moment.
He leads her, like the bow of an icebreaker, removing obstacles.
When they move through the kitchen, he stands out, alone in a smart black tuxedo whilst all around are in working ‘chef whites’, this setting him apart from everybody else.
Everybody looks at him as he passes, smiling and nodding, even though he acknowledges very few of them. This adding to his status in the social hierarchy.
A waiter walks in between the camera and him, our view of him being temporarily obscured by a red crate. Again, i feel there is important significance here, but i don’t know what it is!
He walks straight past the people at the front of the queue without even seeing or acknowledging them, showing again his assumption of rightfulness.
The table is set right at the front for perfect, clear viewing. He sits there and is unconcerned as to whether he is blocking anybody’s view.
‘Mr. Tony’ pays for something, and he only offers a cursory thanks for it.
Throughout the whole scene, there is lots of hustle and bustle within tight confines, people walking past each other sideway to get past. Yet He and his partner appear to breeze through as though there are no obstacles. This is done in two ways. Firstly, the speed at which they move through the scenes is smooth and quick, and secondly, the camera shots/angles; He is always shot moving away from the camera, until he comes to rest at the table. Then the shots change to a close up of him and her. He is off to the side and her in the middle, leaving a lot of free frame space and implied space. This close up also makes the background people and general hubbub fall away. Here is a man who, even in a confined space, commands his space (and more) like a king.
I see! 