So, we are back at school for Monday afternoons once more. It was great to see all of the other classmates in my group and we had a great time looking at new areas of Adobe Photoshop that we haven't covered before. Our first Unit is now completed, and although there is some more work for us all to do on both the Underpinning Knowledge AND the Portfolio; I think all of us are fairly close to completing the work in time for hand-in. This week was all about producing thumbnails and contact sheets in Photoshop - not something I have done before. We were also shown how to automate a process in order to reduce the work that the person using the application has to do. This sets the program to instead replicate actions by using a series of keystrokes or a 'recording' of the process in order to have one or two keystrokes to complete the same task time upon time. The Contacts element is a very useful tool and one that I will use regularly form now on. Below is one of those I created on my own machine a few days after class. It is of the 'heads' that our tutor brought in to look at depth of field and aperture and has the majority of images I took during class. We also looked at 'Smart Targets' - again something I had not come across before - the S.M.A.R.T. acronym stand for:
SPECIFIC - The target should focus on one topic or area MEASURABLE - there should be a way to easily measure the success of the target achieved ATTAINABLE - It is within the ability of the learner to achieve. REALISTIC - The target can be achieved given the limited time and resources available. TIMEBOUND - there is a clear deadline involved. This SMART Target will be important for the second unit and along with this new thread to look at, we were also all given specific photographers to look at. Mine were: Karl BLOSSFEDLT Hilla BECHA and DONOVAN WYLIE One of them (Wylie) I had known of before, the other two were interesting as I had not come across them before. Wylie is a contemporary photographer who is largely based in Northern Ireland. Perhaps his best known work is that where he took images to capture the old Army 'lookout towers' in Northern Ireland prior to them being demolished. For this he wanted to always take the image of the various towers from the same position and viewpoint - this necessitated the use of an Army Helicopter! ('British Watchtowers' 2007). The images, recording more than just social history, are quite haunting and the fact that all have now been demolished makes the images of these barren, dangerous watchtowers all the more poingnant. Karl Blossfeldt was unknown to me, a predecessor of Mapplethorpe, he took a lot of photographs of plants with a home made camera that was able to zoom into a subject at up to thirty times magnification! Considering this was in the 1930's, it was quite a feat. He was compared to Atget and Sander in regards to his contribution to the art of photography and his book 'Urfofmen der Kunst' was included in the "Book of 101 Books" as a seminal 20th Century publication on the photographic arts. Hilla Becher and her husband Bernard, were considered as conceptual artists and photographies who worked as a duo, photographing 'typologies' ('Typology (in urban planning and architecture) is the taxonomic classification of (usually physical) characteristics commonly found in buildings and urban places, according to their association with different categories, such as intensity of development (from natural or rural to highly urban), degrees of formality, and school of thought (for example, modernist or traditional'. - from Wikipedia; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typology_(urban_planning_and_architecture) This categorisation resulted in their form of photography becoming called the 'Dussledorf' or 'Becher' school of photography. They inspired and influenced generations of documentary photographers and artists. Looking at their work resonated with me as I have always had an affinity for the man made structure set against a natural landscape. Their extensive images of buildings and structures are powerful and intriguing, even now. Stay safe and keep snapping...
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The first image is an unappealing monochrome image with very little interest that might even have been taken by mistake. But in the edited second image, I have used the available tools open for me, including the 'Curves' slider, to create a more dramatic feel to the image by removing empty information and focusing on the light and dark tones.
This has turned what was a fairly basic and uninteresting shot - whilst not in 'Mapplethrope' territory - into a much stronger image, and as a result it is more appealing to look at. So, after yesterday, I have more work to do on the shots for my coursework, changes and enhancements to the Portfolio - and that's before any comments on it by our Tutor Denise - plus a review of the Checklist and other sundry items. So I have lots of work to be going on with and still have one of my own books to complete before the end of the summer term! Stay safe all you out in the silent dark, keep snapping... This middle week of the Easter break finds me making some good progress. I have just about completed my Unit 1 Coursework and I have managed to precis it far more than I thought I might! Having reached 63 pages for the first four weeks of the course, I was in danger of writing a dissertation length piece, but now it is down to 38 pages for the whole 10 weeks, which I hope is much more manageable for marking purposes.
I have gone through it and read and re-read it, spell checked it and ensured that, when compared to our 'Checklist' I have evidence in each category required. I have referenced where appropriate and even managed to include some exploratory photographs in the Appendices. At under 40 pages, it flows the way i wanted it too and has a pleasing layout. I'm sure that it is probably still too detailed for the academic level I'm studying; but this has been an interesting exercise in and of itself - paring the content back to what I consider to be only relevant points has not been that difficult, but I have left out a lot that I found interesting and useful to know. So, with one Monday left to go before we return; I am at a point where I have finished the Portfolio (apart from printing that is); have just about finished the Unit One Coursework - apart from leaving it until early next week for a final read-through prior to sending it off for comment by Denise) and can now concentrate on the Journal and IPL, which I should be able to get into a reasonable state by the 24th April (our return to the classroom). Once back, i'm hoping that my colleagues and I can sort out final printing decisions before we congregate at the chosen printers to have our work printed ready for presenting on the 15th May! This first 10 weeks has really sped by, and i'm still finding new things in photography to try! So, stay safe all, keep snapping.... |
Alan MitchellI'm always trying to capture that fleeting 'moment' in time -whether by taking a photo or writing a poem. My attempts to capture that illusive feeling, sight, sensation or sound in some way is, to me, magical. Archives
March 2023
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