I think I’ll try my hand with some self-portraits seeing we have time on our hands. Three keywords above I’ll use to try and portray this idea.
Whether I chose to show them a Diptych or as a Triptych I’m undecided as yet. I may try to blend two pictures into one a half and half type.-face
So below is a quick WIP on what I think can be achieved whilst being at home during the lockdown. Its nowhere near as good as I would like, the first image isn’t great from a Brighton calendar leftover Christmas present. May look at stock images online to use. My photoshop skills arent great when it comes to erasing and keeping a steady hand.
Nowhere near perfect!Although this is just a wip it challenges you to think outside the box when limited to what you can do.
Since the start of the lockdown and not knowing what the path will be like in a few weeks to possibly months, I’ve started to think how my new life would be like once I transition into civilian street from a long career in the Army.
Had I left last year I would be in an awkward position now if job security were an issue like so many I know and read about today. It’s an interesting question as what will I be doing this time next year?
In roughly October time I will start the resettlement process hopefully as long as the is COVID-19 outbreak does effect anything, who knows?
This assignment asks to keep a diary, now I’m no good with a journal, hence why I’ve used my blog to write small chunks in.
Whilst out riding this morning for my daily one bit of exercise I started to think about the last exercise where I rebuilt a child hood memory. This could be an idea in itself for this assignment by creating a number of self-portraits in locations I just can’t be at this moment in time.
I’ve several Brighton calendars my Dad would get me each year with 12 different locations for each month. The idea is to use this as a backdrop and somehow have me in frame as well.
Times when you’re bored and trying new ideas out can be fun. When using Google and 3D views of animal and an iPhone 📲.
Interesting times ahead, how do you beat the boredom. I am exercising once a day, whilst out I tend to see elements I’ve not seen before. Probably due to the lack of people around.
Even these last few days the light has been fantastic. The “Stay at home” phrase has been quite good at times when I just don’t know what the sun is going to be like when you wake up and it’s shining through the window blinds.
recreate a childhood memory in a photograph.
Brighton View from WindsorWell, this has been a challenge in itself with the whole lockdown. How will I create something when we are in lockdown and not allowed to travel. Exercise yes but it wouldn’t be a good decision to travel to where I was brought up in Brighton. So what are we supposed to do in these strange times?
Who better to ask than family members. I thought about the views I enjoyed as a child. First, that comes to mind was the seafront and views of Brighton’s West Pier. If your not aware of it, its become a mystical place in my eyes. It’s pretty mesmerising when you’re sat or stood looking at it. But that wasn’t going to be achieved and not the kind of burden id place on my Dad.
My Dad was the person that got me into photography in the first place and knew he still has a camera and thought about using dad to take an image I wanted. Growing up as a child we had great views over to the South Downs and the fields that surround Brighton, in particular, the view I had from my shared bedroom with my brothers. I would look out to the hills and wonder whos out walking and venture out. The place I could always see was the Chatri a War memorial for the Indian Soldiers from WW1.
It gave my Dad something to do and assist me. The idea was for dad to take and image of which I could use. No editing just SOOC image not worrying about the state of the picture just about building the memory.To build this image was something id thought about for some time, overly this image on an image from my window in Windsor. Using myself in the image with a double exposure trying to portray one view from Windsor and the other from Brighton. Using photoshop to blend both images and reduce the opacity so that the image can be seen.
Double exposure and use of layers in PS
Bibliography
Wikipedia. (2020, March 29). Chattri, Brighton. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 28, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chattri,_Brighton [assesed 20200328]
So as the country prepares for part one of the lockdown. As we can tell by now this is just the beginning. How now will this journey go forward. Not only am I struggling with some of the coursework, I’m struggling to commit to any research. I learn by getting outside with my camera finding locations with great light and shadows.
Only yesterday was did it start to his home how real this is. And that everyone needs to get on bored. You start to see things different. Yes it not the first time I’ve been in a situation like this as in isolation to everyone but this is different this is a now a fit to stay mentally stimulated and prepared to think outside the box. I’m not sure how I will tackle the rest of this course but I have ideas that just need to start working on inside.
Exercise
Reflect on the pieces of work discussed in this project in your learning log and do some further research of your own.
Here are a few questions you might ask yourself:
• How do these images make you feel?
• Do you think there’s an element of narcissism or self-indulgence in focusing on your own identity in this way?
• What’s the significance of Brotherus’s nakedness?
• Can such images ‘work’ for an outsider without accompanying text?
• Do you think any of these artists are also addressing wider issues beyond the purely personal?
Make some notes in your learning log.
Having looked at some of the images in the course handbook. I find these types of pictures hard to understand what it is I’m looking at and for?
I don’t find images like these have any form of connection when I look at them. Even by reading about the artist and seeing more artworks by them. I just can’t see it. I’m sorry, but I have to find a connection with the photographer. Probably one reason why I don’t like portraiture style of photography.
“I’m showing this series of photographs to give a visibility to those whose treatments lead nowhere. The hopeless story with an unhappy end is the story of the majority. My way of discussing the matter is to give out the pictures, not to give an interview. I’m not sure if I will be able to actually speak about this. I’m still too sad. This is the saddest thing that has happened to me since my mother’s death. Yet, I’m tired of lying and inventing excuses to this or that medication, not drinking, having to cancel trips etc. People these days aren’t ashamed of talking about sex, psychological problems, alcohol and drugs, but for some reason involuntary childlessness is very much a taboo topic….
Elina Brotherus
The above quote from the OCA coursebook. I find quite hard to understand but I know of individuals suffering with PTSD. That I can understand as I know them but there are also individuals I know using it as a way to try and beat the system so that they can benefit from it.
Gillian Wearings images I find quite strange and scary. Who is she and is she hiding from something?
So many individuals hide behind a mask to conceal something, whether this is emotions or something a little deeper with meaning behind it or not.
• How do these images make you feel? I have no feeling towards them, If anything it’s a feeling of unknown.
• Do you think there’s an element of narcissism or self-indulgence in focusing on your own identity in this way? Some may say yes there is but in these images had the beauty shown the face I would say yes. But the face is being hidden in most. So I would say no.
• What’s the significance of Brotherus’s nakedness? Nakedness I believe is a simple way of showing forms of emotions and we enter this world naked and unprotected for a split second.
• Can such images ‘work’ for an outsider without accompanying text? Simple text or not I still do not understand them.
• Do you think any of these artists are also addressing wider issues beyond the purely personal? Probably is the likely answer. Every photographer will try and resolve issues in images nowadays. It’s a modern media form where you have thousands if not millions able to see things. You just have to hope the majority can see what you are trying to portray the narrative is.
Bibliography
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2012/mar/27/gillian-wearing-takeover-mask%5Bacessed 080420]
Even the exercises within the course are boring me. I need to be stimulated when looking at a picture. Does it need to tell a story does it need this that the list goes on. No. For me I need to like it first and foremost.
If I don’t like I won’t look at it any longer. I won’t try and see what else it hides or what’s it’s narrative is. I have to find it holds my eyes and draws me in wanting to find meaning. 🤔
Part Two Context and Narrative BA HONS in Photography OCA 