We have collectively decided to push forward with the idea of an app, which builds on whet that group pitched last year. However, our app is designed to highlight the impact of that the internet has on the environment.
The app would primarily be a widget that highlights the amount of carbon produced by an individual and then provides a series of tools to offset this.
We felt that this very much fulfils the brief set by Oxfam as this impacts everyone who uses the internet and in particular smartphones. These ubiquitous devices are fundamental to the way that we live so it is important that the correct information is provided to highlight that it has an impact too.
My role in the group has been to start putting together some graphics and mock ups of what a potential app and widget might look like (Fig: 1 & 2).
Figure 1: Phil Hill (October, 2020) Initial App icon sketchesFigure 2: Phil Hill (October, 2020) App and Widget icon development
As it stands, the app doesn’t have much to do with photography. However, there are opportunities to include tools that consider the impact that photography has on the world, in terms of its carbon footprint. For example, Tom suggested that we might include some kind of digital clean up where you could delete any unused images that are perpetually stored on a server somewhere, using power.
Figure 1: Phil Hill (October, 2020) ‘Tell a story’ week 5 submission.
For this week’s task, I wanted to start testing some ideas in the way that I am developing my sequencing and placement of images together. As I have started to look at the idea of ‘edgelands’ in support of my research into rurality, I also thought it would be good to see how this might be coming through in the reading of my images.
The story
These images are an exploration of the commuter town of Watford, between city and countryside and could be considered one of these ‘edgelands.’ Where does the countryside stop and the urban begin?
Feedback
Jonjo
Having woken up in a drunken stupor in Stanmore on many occasions there is definitely the fray between city and country. I don’t think you necessarily have to answer the question through your work, but raise the question to the audience and offer some answers. The lady and the flower pair well, have you tried the tree stump and the lady before?
Are there any constructions developing right on the edge of any woodland areas/ views of development?
I believe this is the first time that Jonjo would have seen any of my work, owing to the mix of cohorts, so his feedback on my work is quite valuable, having no prior knowledge of the kinds of images that I am making. I was wondering myself whether to provide too much detail in the description of the post as the images themselves should be enough to carry the narrative however, it is a useful note from Jonjo about the need to answer any of the questions. His work posted to this discussion was actually left with little comment to go on in the reading and I also have not seen his work to know his intentions. I quite liked the ambiguity in the sequence, which also provided some snippets into a narrative. Perhaps I don’t need to try and explain away my images; the ambiguity in the reading may actually be a positive to the work. I am still looking at all aspects of edgelands and the idea of construction or development could be quite a good one to explore in the way that the boundary of the edges are always in flux.
Ross
Works really well mate, I especially like the the non human images in this one. I think they have really come along. The image with the layers of brick and concrete that have broken down is really suggestive for me. They are bit more contrasty this time as well I noticed which I also like.
Ross is familiar with my work so it is valuable from a developmental perspective to get his feedback on my work. I am happy to read that the work is showing some progression. I feel that I hit a bit of a dead-end at the start of this module but since getting into the countryside and urban research my work has taken on a new life. He notes the image of the broken bricks, which I quite like too and almost starts to show how this idea of the countryside turning into the urban towns and cities is taking hold. The contrast is an areas of development highlighted to me from the last module and an area that I have been working on improving from both a technical and aesthetic level. It is good to see that this is being reflected in the feedback that I am getting.
I am feeling that I have made some improvements in the sequencing of my work however acknowledge that there is still a great deal of development to be made. I may be relying on the descriptive text to carry my narrative and this is potentially having a detrimental effect on the way I see my non-human images connecting with the portraits. Too much explanation may also have the opposite effect in the accessibility of the work. By telling you what my image is I am shutting out nuance and ambiguity that may lead to multiple interpretation of it.
After some initial idea planning (Fig: 1), I shared some of the plans with Artist duo Jennifer Essex and Harry Man, who have experience with Arts Council grants. The made some positive contribution to the way that the idea is developing and also some very useful suggestions that will hopefully strengthen my application.
Figure 1: Phil Hill (October, 2020) Ideas on Funding blog post.
I should work to remove central focus from a single institution as the Arts Council wouldn’t want to fund a project that they might consider be me doing my existing job. The application is also for an individual artist; therefore, it should be about me working with a range of institutions.
It would be beneficial to find the local Arts Council officer to discuss my idea, which would support my application when it is ready to be submitted. There might also be a bridge person within the local council already who works with placing artists into educational settings. It is important that I then pursue any connection to the council to support the development with my idea and application. This might also include some match funding that the Arts Council would ultimately be expecting to see as part of any application.
It would be worth pushing for some kind of outdoor exhibition – potentially in the high-street – as the Arts Council would be keen to fund a project that is seen to be reacting positively to the ongoing Covid situation.
As it stands, the biggest challenge for my application is in the lack of other institutions to approach for the images. This in itself is not hugely problematic to overcome as I will happily make those contacts. The main challenge actually would be finding the time to go and work with them. As I work in an educational setting, finding the time would present the biggest obstacle.
Clearly, I have some work to do in order to develop this idea. I have made good strides so far, including some key contact within the council. Jen and Harry both mentioned that these applications take some time to put together, there is a fair amount of logistics to consider and also in gaining support from other stakeholders.
Figure 1: Phil Hill (March & April 2020) Diptych from Informing Contexts WIPP.
I have started to experiment with the idea of throwing the focus of my images, which is something that I started initially for my Informing Contexts WIPP (Fig: 1). What I have found in the black and white landscapes that I am applying this to, is there is a kind of flatness to the image. Uta Barth refers to her work being about the image themselves (Barth, 2012), in that her shallow depth of field forces the viewer to consider the surface of the photographer as much as trying to work out the content that Barth has photographed (Fig: 2). In the book ‘Art and Objects,’ Graham Harmon noted this in the chapter ‘The Canvas is the Message’ (2020, pp. 83-110), which is also in reference to Marshall Mcluhan’s ‘Medium is the Message’ (1967) suggesting that it is important to analyse the medium that the content and ‘message’ is being presented and its impact on the concept. As Harmon discusses on Clement Greenberg: “For the most part, Greenberg was fixated on insisting that content in avant-garde painting must signal awareness of the chief feature of its medium; flatness” (2020, p. 85). And this is an observation that seems to be shared by David Campany when he discusses the work of Robert Rauschenberg (Fig: 3), stating: “here, the flatness of the canvas was emphasised, as opposed to the deep space of realist pictorial illusion” (2020, p. 106).
Figure 2: Uta Barth (1994) Ground #42
Figure 3: Robert Rauschenberg (1963) Scanning.
There is an acknowledgement here that the material has its role to play in first the construction and then the reading of it. By reducing the depth of field and visual information the outcome is as much about the medium as the objects depicted, which in turn can place the photographer into the scene. The awareness that this is a photograph by the image moving further along the spectrum of indexical, which highlights the influence that the medium has over the outcome.
Where I find it useful to experiment with is how I find my connection to this place continually tenuous. It is also a useful method in exploring where the countryside starts to become urban, which is something impossible to photograph as a clearly defined thing. The blur creates its own boundary that I can hang these ideas on.
Throwing Focus Experiment outcome 19/10
Figure 4: Phil Hill (October, 2020) Throwing Focus experiment on 6×7 medium format film.
Reflection 19/10
I am quite happy with the way that these have turned out. There is a quality created by the blur that makes me want to investigate the contents of the image much more (ignoring that I know already). Although I enjoy these images and like the short series that it presents, I am still unsure on how they might fit into the wider narrative. This is potentially a personal challenge as I still find it hard to remove the iconic element of the image – I just want to focus it. That said, this was shot in a location that I have created work before, and that work might be considered tried, tested, even derivative of imagery seen before, so this is a useful way of breaking that kind of image making.
Additionally, I have just started reading ‘Edgelands’ (Farley & Symmonds Roberts, 2011), which was recommended to me by both Colin and Andy during a couple of my webinars. The book is becoming revelatory to the way that I have been approaching my project and consider what I have been looking for in my landscape work. As a result, I am considering working more with the type of image that I created for the last module wipp, and really refine my approach to look at and explore some of the concepts presented in ‘Edgelands.’
Not to discount the throwing focus experiment however, just that presently there does not seem to me a way of constructing my narrative using these disparate elements, which I am keen to avoid owing to some previous WIPP feedback for Informing Contexts.
