Photography: February 2018

READING:

The Spectacle of the Other - Stuart Hall

- 'The same photo can carry several, quite different, sometimes diametrically opposite meanings.'
- 'However, the attempting to 'fix' is the work of a representational practice, which intervenes in the many potential meanings of an image in an attempt to privilege one.'
- Roland Barthes (1977) argues, the image and text are two discourses, 'the discourse of written language and the discourse of photography - are required to produce and 'fix' the meaning.'
- People who are 'significantly different to the majority' seem to be exposed and represented through to binary extremes, (good/bad).
- Barthes - would call photographs with a connotation (message or meaning) and denotation (showing an event) a meta-message or myth.
- 'This accumulation of meanings across different texts, where one image refers to another, or has its meaning altered by being 'read' in the context of other images, is called inter-textuality. We may describe the whole repetoire of imagery and visual effects through which 'difference' is represented at any one moment of historical moment as a regime of representation.'

WORKSHOP:

Testing the Nikon SB-800 Flashgun -

Editing to make the pictures slightly film like -

William Eggleston -

The Godfather of Colour Photography :

Though his images record a particular place at a certain point in time, Eggleston is not interested in their documentary qualities. Instead, when asked what he is photographing, Eggleston simply answers ‘life today’. Curator Simon Baker explores the work of this master and pioneer of colour in fine art photography.

Juno Calypso

- Juno began a series of self-portraits disguised as a fictional character named Joyce.

- Secretly photographing herself at her grandmothers house or in bedrooms rented online. Joyce was used to reenact the private life of a woman consumed by the labour of constructed femininity, carried out to the point of ritualised absurdity.

- In 2015 Juno spent a week alone at a romantic-themed couples resort in the USA to continue her series of self portraits. With a suitcase of wigs and lingerie, Juno posed as a travel writer and multiple rooms as a stage to perform solitary acts of desire and disappointment. In 2016 Juno returned to the honeymoon hotel to continue to continue the series. https://www.junocalypso.com/about/

Selection of Photographs :

Things to consider -

- Exposure

- Focus

- Resolution required or desired

- Required aspect ratios and final display method

- Blurring

- Composition and rule(s) of thirds

- Tonal spectrum/histogram

- Colour

Ask yourself -

- Does it contain subjects of interest?

- Does it fit with the concept of interest?

- Does it stand out in some way that is visually unusual?

- Is it amusing, affective, provocative?

Series criteria -

- Consistency

- Pattern

- Narrative/Story

- Repetition

- Variety

PRESENTATION :

READING:

1) Ways of Seeing - John Berger

I liked the reading for this week because it was interesting to hear how deep the meaning of seeing and observing something can actually go. I think the quote 'Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.' is a very helpful quote to help understand seeing as a whole. I thought that the way he had put photos in and then referred to what was happening in the picture helpful and insightful.

As we discussed the reading in our workshop with my peers, it intrigued me as to how others found certain parts of it interesting. Berger talks about how the moment of realisation that we can see and what we can see is knowing the present. He says: 'Soon after we can see, we are aware that we can also be seen.' This stood out to me as sometimes we can get lost in visualisation and really concentrate on what we can personally see but then forget how others can see yourself.