Assignment 5: Response to Tutor Comments

I was extremely relieved that this assignment was favourably received, as I mentioned in my commentary I felt very much out on a limb here and I am reassured that Keith thinks I am on the right path. On his suggestion I have altered the positioning of some of the images, changed the font and centred the text more (revised images are shown below) . How the images would be presented was a consideration for me throughout the assignment. In my minds eye I imagined both pictures printed at 4x6 on opposite pages of a photo album. For assessment I have had the images printed side by side on A4 size paper, with hindsight I maybe should have followed through with my initial concept as presenting in a photo album would change the reading of the images considerably as it would express my intentions more fully and gain strength by becoming an artefact rather than a series of images.

Looking back on the course this last assignment feels light years away from the work I put together for the first assignment and I think demonstrates how I am now more able to take risks with my work. I am starting to think less like a student and more like an artist, I am less worried about failing and more driven to create and express myself. The assignment has given me the confidence to continue  experimenting and to try and push myself out of my comfort zone  whenever possible. I feel positive about my future studies and can see now the aim is to create an independent and sustainable practice.

Assignment 4: Response to Tutor Comments

The first section of Keith's feedback which draws attention to the work of Nick Ut, Dorothea Lange and Robert Capa threw me straight away and I quickly realised I had missed an opportunity with this assignment. These are all documentary photographers and Keith makes valid points about how cropping, perhaps the simplest form of photographic manipulation, can greatly alter how we read a photograph and our perception of the truth it contains.

I was pleased Keith appreciated me citing Morrissey as an influence as one of my reasons for including him is that he had, and continues to have a keen interest in how is worked is packaged and the images that are used to present his work. I think Keith recognises that I did not have the courage of my convictions here to discuss the work further. This explains my very technical approach to the assignment, I think I focussed too much on design rather than exploring the notion of photography and truth. Keith makes pleasing comments about my ascetic choices for the cover design but I feel somewhat disappointed with myself here as I have played safe and not stretched myself to move forward; I have stayed too much in my comfort zone. If I was to complete this assignment again I think I would pursue I more purely photographic approach and try to produce a cover in the style of an artist with a strong visual identity like Morrissey. 

Assignment 5 - Tutor Comments

Overall Comments

Many thanks for submitting this last assignment Michael, which I thought was a very touching and worthwhile project.

Key issues mentioned in my last report are as follows:

• Look at the work of Nick Ut / Dorothea Lange / Robert Capa

Feedback on assignment

I really liked the Barthes quote that you opened with here and a book by Keith Jenkins immediately sprung to mind.  I have listed it below and although it isn’t strictly photographic  … I think you might get something from this.  Jenkins goes on to highlight the fact that ‘History’ and ‘The Past’ are two entirely different things, and can be interpreted differently depending upon who is reading them.  The past has already happened and can never happen again … whereas History, through writings etc, is an attempt to bring it back by the historians / theorists / academics etc.  Jenkins carefully differentiates between the two.

I really liked this project from start to finish and thought there was a real purpose to it.  It can often be very difficult for undergraduates to grasp the fact that this medium is about so much more than just one off slick images.  I liked the fact you have used ‘found’ images, sourced from your family archive – this is a creative milestone in my opinion.  I also thought the presentation worked well in terms of the duplicated reflection, with the opacity reduced.  The text could have been ‘designed’ a little more perhaps … in terms of font  / size / page justification / positioning etc … but the content was very reflective and moving at times.  The fact you have chosen to tackle this project in such a way leads me to believe you are definitely heading in the right direction in terms of your development critically. Take a look at Tacita Dean’s project called ‘Floh’.

I’d also like you to look at the work listed below by a British photographer called Julian Germain.  He was in residence at the National Media Museum a few years back and for the ‘Every Minute ….’ project, he spent a number of years photographing a man called Charles Snelling.  The images have been shot with a large format camera and really enter into the personal life of this fascinating subject.  It shows that a chance encounter with somebody can lead to the development of both a relationship and output of a body of work over an extended period.

Lastly, I would also recommend reading the Photography, History & Memory publication listed below … here is a short quote which might attract your curiosity !

Once a photograph comes out of storage, it is as if ‘energy’ is released. (Hayes, Silvester, Hartmann, 1999)

Learning Logs/Critical essays

Again, this is working well … the only thing I would suggest here is the possibility of making navigation a little more straight forward.  It does seem a little chronological at the moment.

Assignment 4 - Tutor Comments

Overall Comments

Many thanks for submitting this assignment Michael, the imagery and contextualization for which worked well in my opinion.

Key issues mentioned in my last report are as follows:

• Look at the work of Evans / Joshua Cooper / Davis
• Further research the term ‘Genus Loci’ and in particular its application within photographic practice.
• Continue to read around the subject matter and cite academic reference.

Within the broader photographic consideration of the terms ‘real’ and ‘fake’, I normally suggest to my students to take a look at this image taken by Nick Ut in Trang Bang village just outside Saigon, Vietnam in 1972 [see below].  It is a very famous image that has been seen all around the world and has been used on various front covers of magazines etc [Time 1972].  It depicts the young nine year old girl Kim Phuc, running towards the camera after a Napalm attack on her village by the US forces … another example of friendly fire as the villagers were allied Southern Vietnamese and not part of the North Viet Cong fighters.  The image is full of all the harrowing impact expected to be found in war imagery and has lost none of its initial impact over the past 40 years since it was taken.  There was also some moving image footage taken of exactly the same event at the same time, but this fails to have the impact of the stills shot which has literally caught the moment in time.  The reason I bring this image to your attention is that the original image was cropped slighted on the right hand side.  We now know that this was shot on 35mm monochrome film and therefore the format of the shot is slightly more square than it should be for a full frame 35mm image.  What was excluded from the shot was a soldier at the side of the road loading a film into a camera – which when included completely reduces the overall impact of the image as the question is asked why he was not in assistance etc.  He was removed to add impact.

Nick Ut - 1972

There is also a similar debate raised with an image taken by a photographer called Dorothea Lange, who took photographs for the American Farm Security Administration [FSA] in the 1930’s.  This image has been called ‘Migrant Mother’ and is also pictured below – the debate was about a ‘thumb’ that had been printed out of the bottom right hand corner, suggesting somebody was ‘revealing’ the family from behind the side of the tent and therefore staging the shot. 

Dorothea Lange - 1936

It might also be worth reading about Robert Capa’s ‘Death of a Spanish Militiaman’ taken in 1936.  These are all healthy arguments still raging within photographic debate in relation to image manipulation and could be elaborated upon within your blog.

Feedback on assignment

From the outset I was impressed with the fact you had mentioned Morrissey in your initial research, as his attention to detail in terms of packaging his creative output was inspirational to an entire generation.  It may also have been an idea to have shown some visuals here of specifics in relation to these covers … including any critical opinions sourced and your own thoughts etc.

Both Cover A and Cover B are fair attempts and your intention to keep the cover as simple as possible was evident in both.  I think in this respect Cover B worked better and was actually quite convincing. I was also very happy to observe the attention you had given to the use of text on the image, which again worked better in Cover B in my opinion.  This is something that is often overlooked with this exercise or certainly placed at the bottom of the list.  The 30% / 60% is a good rule of thumb and the title sat well on the box at the bottom of the image – even the colour of the type face looked correct as if it had been directly sourced from the original matchbox.  As a technical exercise I think you have learnt from this assignment, which will become helpful in the future.  There is an assignment at level HE5 which requires students to actually produce an illustration of one of a series of titles including Perfume / The Diceman / The Outsiders / 1984 etc … which students find very challenging – you could almost view this attempt as a precursor to that assignment.

Learning Logs/Critical essays

This is proving to be a good vehicle for evidencing the development of ideas and generation of research and testing.  There is plenty of practitioner research being conducted and reviews of exhibitions etc.  Also … you may want to remove any evidence of the use of Wikipedia as source of reference, if this applies.

As mentioned above, you’ll also need to include books / literature / journals / magazines as source of research prior to submission for assessment.