...that time runs on and there is nothing mere mortals can do about it. I wasn't able to get to the session on Monday due to a family break in Kent; but the great thing that came out of that break were some very good photographs and some great ideas for my second portfolio.
This is a keenly felt issue for me as I have to be sure that I follow the 'S.M.A.R.T.' target process, and some of my ideas I began to realise were too ambitious and would not be achievable within the time limit allowed. Thus, a return to the central idea - time, nature and the futility of man's attempts to control time - for a re-focusing and a scaling down of parts of the project. At the same time, I have been readying my other documents to ensure that, come the day when hand-in cannot be avoided any longer; I will have everything completed and ready to do so. So the final documents I've been workng on are as follows:
So, still lots of work to do,editing, polishing and updating. I also have to ensure that every element of the course criteria has been addressed, mentioned, explained and dealt with. Thus far, I think I'm on track and with some work after the session next week; I should have the final information to complete and print the documents. So, if you'll excuse me, I have some more photos to work on... happy snapping! A R C
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So yesterday -a really hot day among hot days - was a day when at first I was the only one in! I knew that my two main compadres were going to be late but I didn't know that our fourth member was not going to be attending. In fact, he might be another lost by the wayside - but I hope not.
Anyway, I found out that this was our 17th Week - only three more to go before the end of the course! I have enjoyed the course immensely; the camera controls, techniques, lenses and placing of the camera - even the health & safety sessions - have been an interesting and entertaining way to spend a Monday afternoon. Our group - if such a term can be used for the number we have now - has got on very well. We all have our own ways of doing things, our own areas of interest and our own techniques. There has been a mutual swapping of information, advice and responses to photographs taken. We have been out taking some photos on shoot of our own without the tutor and this has helped us to bond a little more too. The great thing about this learning journey I think for all of us is that we have been able to come together without any competition, acknowledging success and advances without any personal agenda - this has been incredibly refreshing and it has helped engender a supportive and progressive ethos throughout the course. This week is another one of those specialist Photoshop sessions. I have been having a lot of issues with the 'marching ants' selection tools. My work requires me to cut out areas of images and then move them into another photo to create a composite or 'montage'. One of these images that I hope to use has been slightly fractured in an initial test image and is below: I had to miss my first session on Monday due to an appointment I could not miss. But myself and the inimitable Ms G went out to the Heybridge Basin to take some photos, have a cup of tea or two and a chat to boot. It was a great afternoon, and along with our tutor sending me some work I had missed from Monday, I was brought up to speed and believe that I am on the right track for my second portfolio.
The idea is really taking shape and I think I have managed to take an image or two that I might be able to use in the work, this shoot was really good for me; both as an exercise (literal and figurative) and spending some time with someone I get on really well with. Must dash though, I have a hundred or so images to sift through before Monday arrives once more. Keep taking the pictures snappers... Back to school on the 5th, but without a few of our cohort - we were down to only a couple! It seems that another of our number has had to withdraw due to a personal situation so that is three of the original seven who have fallen by the wayside.
Nevertheless, that resulted in some good attention from our Tutor; she was able to show the two of us some of the techniques in a slightly more detailed way than if there had been a few few more of us. This was good as some of them I will need for my next portfolio - tentatively entitled 'Time Passages'. I want to use the tree motif of the first portfolio and utilise this with a few other images to meld them into a vision of time as an organic and mutable thing. In this way, I can have two or three images of the disparate elements that go to make up the final photo and can show the work on each image as I take what I need form it and discard the rest. I envisage that each final image will require at least three working or donor images to best achieve the final product. I'm excited about it - the more I think about it, the more i work out how I can give them thought form, the more I believe it can work. My session on Monday saw me using some images of Nigel Farage, plus a couple of others, to turn the three elements into a single image. My affinity for the work of Magritte can come to the fore here - I have always loved his work and been both captivated and moved by it. Bresson and his idea of the perfect moment chimed with me as soon as I read about it, Escher's art has always interested me and Mapplethorpe's delicate touch has stunned me; but Magritte takes it to a whole different world. |
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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