Sustainable Prospects PHO704

My Authorship – initial images

| Phil Hill

This is actually a challenging question – worth exploring. How much of my work is influenced to the point of being derivative of others. I have of course taken inspiration from a number of different photographers throughout this MA for example, Alys Tomlinson, Alec Soth and Vanessa Winship. During Landings, my work was complimented by a number of my peers, which is always appreciated, notably, Gem Crichton asked me if I liked the work of Winship, clearly highlighting that the influence of her work is present in mine; potentially there is some work that needs to be done to continue to use these influences in a positive way without my work becoming homage to a practitioner or style.

Caution

In the episode of ‘The Messy Truth’ featuring Alex Coggin on ‘Authorship’ (2019)  this idea was discussed with a key takeaway was the suggestion from Coggin that photographer must be careful what they are consuming in the form of other images, with interviewer Gem Fletcher also noting that too much influence can lead to ‘Career suicide’ (2019). The comment is fairly alarming when I find myself working to develop my workflow and style. However, it is also worth noting that within the same episode both Coggin and Fletcher talk openly about how Coggin’ s own work is visually similar to practitioners, such as Martin Parr, to the extent that his agents have trouble navigating this at times. That said, they do have a point as I am not aiming to emulate another photographer’s style, only take inspiration from and it can be quite easy to get caught up in the kinds of trends that are happening on platform’s such as Instagram, which leads too homogenisation in terms of what we consume and ultimately produce. Clearly, I have work to do in order to resolve this, especially before the start of the FMP.

Commercial attributes

Taking a minute to consider my strengths from a commercial point of view. Attributes, such as the ability to network effectively is not something I have been hugely prolific with and when the opportunity has presented itself, I have not found that I could capitalise on it. Not to say that I am completely unable, as I have been a freelance – more that I work more effectively electronically. Email and I also keep a fairly large mailing list. When I was working as a travel & lifestyle photographer, I was also living in Perth, Western Australia, which has a significantly smaller creative network and easier to stand out and also cut through and market the fact I was based in a region useful to an editor of a European travel publication.

If I was to aim and compete in the UK market, then I feel I would need to develop my confidence in this area a lot more. I don’t rely on full time commercial compensation to survive however, in order to develop my practice, it is in a world that is still competitive and requires work in this area.

Initial images

As I am considering strategies for working with landscapes and bringing these into my broader narrative, my initial explorations vary slightly. I am primarily continuing to look at the idea of where the countryside stops and the urban begins. A useful visual way of showing this initially is where the M25 is, as it provides a useful barrier between what is considered greater London versus everything outside of it. An area worth exploring is the images shot during fog, albeit weather dependent.

During the last webinar with Colin, it was suggested that I could also consider the idea of edgelands and the book by Michael Symmons Roberts and Paul Farley, which I think would link quite well to my initial research into this area. It was also suggested that I consider the way that create a story and then take control of it. Chris Killip was also suggested as he has stated before about his work in the foreword to In flagrante that: “This book is a fiction about a metaphor” (Roberts, 2009), which is definitely an area of investigation.

I am continuing to produce portraits as part of my work in progress and hope that the current pandemic rules allow for that to continue. My focus is shifting with these onto people that I know, over encounters that I am having in my community – although, I could extend this to people that I have already photographed to see how that relationship is changing.

Sequencing experimentation

I am also wanting to experiment with the placement and sequencing of images together to see how they are working as diptychs. For example, the placement of Ryan next to the disused church is in part because of the window in the Ryan portrait and also the symbolism of his tattoo in relation to the cross on the side of the church

Bibliography

Coggin, A., 2019. The Messy Truth: Alex Coggin on Authorship [Interview] (May 2019).

Roberts, S., 2009. CHRIS KILLIP, IN FLAGRANTE. [Online]
Available at: http://we-english.co.uk/blog/2009/03/03/chris-killip-in-flagrante/
[Accessed 9 October 2020].

Oxfam A – Development

| Phil Hill
Carbon Selfie

During the second meeting, we decided that one of the strongest ideas for this brief could be the idea of ‘Greenwashing’ and how a company, or entity might signal that they are green but in fact have an underlying carbon footprint. For example, using online streaming services, such as Spotify are actually worse for the environment than producing physical media in plastic, owing to the amount of energy it takes to send content over the internet (Blistein, 2019), and the use of cotton ‘tote’ bags over their plastic equivalent also have a pretty significant cost and need to be reused over 120 times for the offset to take effect (Edgington, 2019).

Aiming to stick with an online impact, we discussed the impact of the internet on the environment and there are figures that suggest that it contributes around 3.7% of the world’s greenhouse emissions (Griffiths, 2020). Where this relates to the ‘Your Street & Climate Change’ brief could be in raising awareness of this impact as it impacts all of us; we are all users of the internet, social media and mobile devices so all are contributing to this significant effect on climate change.

How do you raise awareness?

My idea is to create a viral social media campaign that could include short mobile device advertisements, hashtags, and even Instagram and/or Snapchat filters. It is worth noting however, that this would also have an impact on the environment by its very nature so it would be important to weight the cost/benefit of such a campaign. Ultimately, I believe that in order to cut-through in today’s online world, it is important to use the platform that everyone is currently engaged with – or risk such a campaign being ignored.

The goal of such a campaign might be to set a date where people could take part in a ‘world social media detox’ in a similar way to how the ‘Earth Hour’ works. This would focus on internet use.

Testing my idea
Figure 1: Phil Hill (October, 2020) Initial test for a viral video campaign.

To play with the idea of a viral social media campaign, I decided to utilise the statistics and see how that might look in the format of a quick video that would appear in the timeline of a social media app (Fig: 1). I feel that there is potential for a kind of interruption of the usual scrolling that takes place and may even have some kind of interaction with after they have uploaded a selfie.

I used a series of selfie images as a stand in for anything produced for the campaign that cycle quickly through to denote the amount of images uploaded to the internet every second. The text ‘Did you know that your #selfie costs 3.7% of the world’s greenhouse emissions’ is animated and plays through the duration of the short video. In order to give this additional clarity, I added a green layer in between with an 80% opacity, which also creates a link to Oxfam branding.

This is an initial test, so completely rough. The text could benefit from being slightly faster and there is also opportunity to add additional copy, such as the source of the statistics and additional Oxfam Branding.

Bibliography

Blistein, J., 2019. Is Streaming Music Dangerous to the Environment? One Researcher Is Sounding the Alarm. [Online] Available at: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/environmental-impact-streaming-music-835220/ [Accessed 7 October 2020].

Edgington, T., 2019. Plastic or paper: Which bag is greener?. [Online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47027792 [Accessed 7 October 2020].

Griffiths, S., 2020. Why your internet habits are not as clean as you think. [Online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200305-why-your-internet-habits-are-not-as-clean-as-you-think [Accessed 7 October 2020].

Writing Feedback

| Phil Hill

I have felt that I would like to develop my writing about photography as I have become quite interested in some of the ideas behind the reasons why I am photographing. I have taken the opportunity to submit a number of text to open calls and other competitions to see how I might develop this as part of my visual practice. Prior to the MA and when I was a freelance photographer, I would often contribute written articles to accompany my images and found that this was a useful way to present myself commercially. I found that editors and commissioners of work were more likely to hire me if I had a complete package of word and images – for the travel sector at least. This very much sits in the topics of the ‘Art and Commerce’ week as I acknowledge that the style of writing that I am pitching for are very different entities and should be approached in different ways.

After submitting to a number of these calls without much success, I replied to my rejected entry to the Source Magazine’s writing prize to see if I could get some feedback from the Editor, Richard West. For some context, my entry to the prize was about an idea that I had during the last module about how photographers aim to separate themselves from the sea of images; by drawing attention to the process of the photography in the images that they produce (Fig: 1).

Drawing Attention to the Image: Essay

Figure 1: Phil Hill (July, 2020) Link to ‘Drawing Attention to the Image’

West did see that I was aiming to write about what he referred to as the ‘presence of the photographer in the image’ (2020) however he didn’t think that the ideas I was putting across were put across in a convincing way. The idea of ‘Presence’ is clearly an area that I need to continue to investigate and read further into the topic in order to create a fully rounded argument. The examples that I used to support my points were also considered disparate, which may be a reflection of how I was trying to cram in as much information within the 700-word limit. Not a great deal of space to flesh out a convincing argument, which is completely a reflection on me as I have a tendency of dancing around a topic when I really need to be more concise (a challenge that I have found for each of the oral presentations). I was reading quite a bit into the topic and possibly needed some more time to really drill down to the fundamentals of the idea; I can see the links, yet unable to convey this to the reader, an important consideration for my writing and also my images. To better communicate the idea of drawing attention to the process, it was suggested that I might be better looking at concentrating on photographers working at a similar time, or focus on a similar subject as a better basis for comparison.

For example, West mentions that my use of Robert Frank in this regard as Source have in the past highlighted similarities to his aesthetic with that of the vernacular, and it is in fact Frank’s lens on the culture and politics of the time that is important (2020). This is a valid point, and I think that I have missed an opportunity to better explain my reasoning behind using Frank as an example in my essay. Crucially, I believe that there is an awareness that Frank has over the vernacular, which creates the separation of his work and comment on American society that it is synonymous for. Interestingly, in this week’s reading was ‘The Messy Truth’ episode on Authorship with Alex Coggin (2019) discussed the idea of how an image can be ‘unmistakeably authored,’ which is something that definitely feeds into this idea that I am trying to get across. Ultimately, the authorship that Coggin is referring to is a way that photographers apply the process and intentionally draws attention to the photograph, the photography, and the photographer creating a significance for the image. My essay, I feel was misinterpreted to be more about the photographer might use equipment, so I must work harder to ensure that my meaning is being interpreted. As West suggests, it is important to get many people to read through my work.  

Finally, West notes that my concluding paragraph could have been more concise, which is a fair point. I have started to understand that I have a tendency to not properly structure my essays and instead keen to get the ideas down onto the page in order to evolve the writing as I am typing. Potentially, in future this is something that I should treat as a draft version to be structured (Table: 1).

Introduction
Definition of TermsIf you are going to utilise terminology in a particular context
Argument oneReason + Counter point
Argument twoReason + Counter point
Argument threeReason + Counter point
Conclusion
Table 1: Phil Hill (October, 2020) Suggested future essay structure
Bibliography

Coggin, A., 2019. The Messy Truth: Alex Coggin on Authorship [Interview] (May 2019).

West, R., 2020. RE: Submission: Source Writing Prize [Email] (1 October 2020).

Art & Commerce

| Phil Hill

I teach digital media at an FE college, so my current practice is focused on this as my full time profession. I have also spent the last number of years working towards teaching qualifications and HEA Fellowship, which has meant the commercial aspects of my practice have taken more of a back seat. Prior to teaching, I was a full time freelance photographer, working on the travel and lifestyle sector mainly for airline publications (Fig: 1). Although this is far removed from the practice that I am aiming to develop on the MA, I do still license images from my archive on a fairly regular basis through a range of different platforms.

Figure 1: Phil Hill (2012) ‘Australia’s Wild West’ spread for Sawasdee Magazine (Thai Airlines).

Throughout this process, I have sought commercial opportunities with the work that I have produced for each of the module in order to raise my profile as an art practitioner over an editorial photographer. I enjoy teaching, so see myself producing longer term projects whilst moving more into higher education teaching in the medium to long term.

During the afternoon 'Children's Procession' at Gillingham Carnival. Part of Wessex Grand Prix: Gillingham Carnival
Figure 2: Phil Hill (October, 2019) Gillingham Carnival
During the afternoon 'Children's Procession' at Gillingham Carnival. Part of: Wessex Grand Prix
Figure 3: Phil Hill (October, 2019) Rory, Gillingham Carnival

During Positions and Practice for example, I created a project around Somerset Carnivals that I grew up with (Fig: 2). As this was the first project that I produced for the MA, I feel that it was more in line with the work that I used to produce. I aimed to share this work through a number of platforms and gained initial interest from the BBC and C41 magazine but unfortunately, owing to the pandemic, priorities changed, and the work no longer fit into what they were publishing. I did get one of the portraits from the series into the KLPA this year and although that has no reward as commerce, it does help to raise profile (Fig: 3).

Figure 4: Phil Hill (July, 2020) Beechfield School marketing banner
Figure 5: Phil Hill (July, 2020) Luis, Beechfield School.

During the last module, I also produced a series of images for a local school, which they used for marketing (Fig: 4) and in return I was able to access and create a number of portraits that contributed towards my project (Fig: 5).

Jumping to this module, my aim is to try and create some projects that would run alongside the development of my WIPP, which also have more commercial possibilities and could translate into funding and/or building of profile. To develop my approach from the first module, I also want to see the possibilities of creating work utilising the research, style and intent developed over the past year. I have been continuing to send work and have gained some interest, which has yet to translate into something tangible but has been quite positive. One of my aims since the beginning of the MA was to also explore the potential for funding, which might be more in line with my intent, so will be creating a community focused grant application to gauge possibilities in Art and Commerce.

Alys Tomlinson – Tomlinson comfortably blends both her commercial practice as well as her long term art projects on her website as there is a clear difference between these two areas. Her client list is very much based on working with institutions and focussed on people, which aligns quite well with her personal work, such as ‘Ex-Voto.’ She has said that she doesn’t see a significant need to separate these two on her site as they all represent her practice and her ability to work in both realms (2020). Tomlinson has also stated however, that even though she is represented by a gallery and she would like to see her work move towards this area, she acknowledges the need for her commercial practice to co-exist with her art practice (2019)

Clementine Schneiderman – What is most interesting about Schneiderman’s approach is how she embeds herself into the communities that she focusses her work on. And by doing so she creates opportunities for both her own practice and also commercial outlets for her images without compromising her intent. ‘It’s Called ffasiwin’ (2019) for example, is an ongoing collaborative project with a community of the Welsh Valley and merges seamlessly with commissioned work that she has completed for Vogue.

Simon Roberts – Roberts has established a practice that also blends his personal projects with his commercial work and seems to have reached a point where he is commissioned to create work related to this personal practice.

Planned Commerce
Grants

I stated in my project proposal for positions and practice that I was keen to go through the process of applying for grants and bursaries, especially during this module where it feels the most relevant. I have applied for others prior to this module, for example a Grain Bursary and the RPS Postgraduate bursary, which have been useful to work through the process of these kinds of application. I am interested to apply for an Arts Council Grant as I feel this too would be useful to explore possibilities and work through the process. My aim is to propose a project that is thematically related to my research project and can be worked on alongside it, if not form part of my wider project. As my research is centered around the idea of community, I feel that it would be a good organisation to work with and I also aim to include the college where I work as it performs an essential service for the community.

Writing

I have been developing my academic writing and during the breaks between modules, I have been aiming to consolidate my research by writing essays in response to ‘calls for papers.’ So far I have not had success at publishing any of these however, one of my essays was well received by the editor who replied with interest in the ideas that I presented but unfortunately it did not fit with what they were currently publishing. I take this as a really positive response to my writing yet my approach still needs to be refined. In that case, I submitted what I had instead of considering what they would be interested in, which is clearly not the right way to approach submitting work. I have now focused attention onto themed calls to create a piece of writing that is still speculative but also thematically expected. For example, I was forwarded an opportunity that called for papers on the theme of ‘Community,’ which aligns with my research project and I will work towards submitting for this. Additionally, this has the added benefit of supporting the research that I am creating for my photography.

Feedback from rejected essays has been a challenge as most organisations are not in a position to provide it. However, I recently entered the Source magazine writing prize and although I did not get my essay selected, the editor was willing to respond to my request for feedback, which I was greatly appreciative and intend to reflect and refine my approach to writing.

Bibliography

Schneiderman, C., 2019. Ffasiwn Magazine. Bristol: Bleak & Fabulous / Martin Parr Foundation.

Tomlinson, A., 2019. The Messy Truth – Alys Tomlinson on Awards [Interview] (11 November 2019).

Tomlinson, A., 2020. A Small Voice: Conversations with Photographers – Episode 123: Alys Tomlinson [Interview] (5 February 2020).

Oxfam A initial Idea

| Phil Hill

I decided to select the Oxfam A as I am quite interested in exploring the idea of climate change on my own street. It aligns quite well with the research and my investigations into the idea of community and that I have already begun to create work based in my local area.

One of my key goals for Sustainable prospects was also to see how I might apply the focus of my research project and its core idea into a more commercially viable project, so this creates an embedded opportunity for me to consider first. It also means that there is potential for crossover and any of the images that I create for the brief might also sit quite well in the broader project that I am working on this module.

1. Your Street & Climate Change

Coming up with a concept that shows how climate change impacts everyone, not just how it is perceived in media as happening in other places far away. There is a topicality to how we are being impacted during the pandemic and arguments as to if Covid-19 was as a result of climate change, with no clear evidence that suggests so. However, there are other drug resistant Pathogens that are becoming more and more dangerous as a result of climate change (Richtel & Jacobs, 2019).

We are surrounded by all kinds of fungus, which are unable to live in the human body owing to our warm blood and a body temperature of 37 degrees Celsius, which the fungi will die off as it lives at much lower temps. Yet, one particular strain known as Candida Auris has been infecting a number of people around the world leading to deaths in some of the cases (Webster, 2020). What is being suggested, is that this fungus is periodically being exposed to warmer and warmer days as the climate is heating up ono average every year. As a result, it is able to survive at much higher temperatures, which crucially means that it can also survive in the human body causing disease (2020). Additionally, there has been a steady decline in body temperatures, especially in western culture, which has been linked to the way modern medicine has had an impact on our ability to survive many illnesses (Casadevall, et al., 2019).

What is quite striking about Candida Auris is that it exists everywhere, including on the streets that we live. Until now it has not posed a threat, until climate change has created the conditions for its need to survive at higher temperatures. This is something that has the potential to impact all of us and could even lead to the next pandemic if not addressed.

This is an initial idea at this stage, but I do see some potential in exploring it as a way to highlight that climate change impacts everyone and Is not just something that effects those in faraway places. I will pitch the idea as I feel that it can fit the Oxfam brief however, do realise that it also has a lot of links to the Welcome Trust ‘Climate and Health’ brief. If we as a group decide to create something else for the Oxfam A challenge, I may still explore this one independently and submit to the Welcome Trust photo competition as I feel it should be explored.

Bibliography

Casadevall, A., Kontoyiannis, D. P. & Vincent, R., 2019. On the Emergence of Candida auris: Climate Change, Azoles, Swamps, and Birds. American Society for Microbiology.

Richtel, M. & Jacobs, A., 2019. A Mysterious Infection, Spanning the Globe in a Climate of Secrecy: The rise of Candida auris embodies a serious and growing public health threat: drug-resistant germs.. [Online] Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/06/health/drug-resistant-candida-auris.html
[Accessed 1 October 2020].

Webster, M., 2020. Radiolab Podcast – Fungus Amungus. [Online]
Available at: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/fungus-amungus
[Accessed 1 October 2020].

Starting to consider the metaphysical landscape & looking at: Awoiska Van Der Molen

| Phil Hill

Identifying that I need to develop my approach to photographing the land to then create better links between people and place, I have started to consider key terms in how I might begin to interact with the land and the way that I photography differently.

Figure 1: Phil Hill (June, 2020) Garston Nature reserve, Watford.

Much of my recent research has focused away from an anthropocentric interpretation of the object, or at least acknowledging that the object also has an impact on the way that it can be interpreted by humans. Graham Harmon’s view of an object orientated ontology invites us to consider that “All objects must be given equal attention, whether they be human, natural, cultural, real or fictional” (2018: 6). I have given a considerable amount of attention into the way the inanimate has a fundamental impact on the animate reading, without fully appreciating how the conceptual and the metaphysical can also exist in this space (Fig: 1). It has been useful consider ways that the object exists without anthropocentrism thrust upon it however, ultimately my own interpretation will continue to shape the way that I approach anything. Additionally, the idea of giving everything equal attention as Harmon suggests has clearly not been evident in my work up to this point, leading to the feedback on the need for the metaphorical to be more present in my non-portraits – even referring to these images as non-portraits creates the sense for me and for the reader that they are merely secondary to the people I am photographing.

Linking

Roger W. Hepburn notes that any aesthetic appreciation of the landscape can also allow for reflection and more cognitive elements to exist alongside its visual appeal (1996: 191) however, there are also times where representation in art versus the reality of the scene might create dissonance in this appreciation:

“the aesthetic assimilation of human artefacts, industrial objects like pipelines, or a power station on an estuary, or a windfarm on a hilltop – drawing these into the world of his painting […] why is it quite different (for many people) with aesthetic appreciation of nature – revulsion at the slicing of a Down, let us say by a motorway cutting?”

(p. 193)

We seem to value the impact – even when negative – of humans on the landscape as if the art creates space for the aesthetic appreciation of degradation, which in some way might explain the appeal of subjects such the vernacular and the banal.

Wanting to start my exploration in the land within the idea of where the rural becomes urban (Beynon, et al., 2016), I could also start to see how the impact of humans starts to build up and become the city. Of course, the idea of rural has its own human trace and impact, especially in a country like the UK; it is quite a rare thing to discover an area that has be untouched by a human presence – in the south east anyway. Showing how the land changes as you move closer to the more urban elements of this area is something that can be explored in a relative straight forward way, allowing to experiment with methods of recording it. My first shoots therefore will aim to show this change and also the build-up of human traces, which may start to reveal how the community interacts with place.

Awoiska Van Der Molen
Figure 2: Awoiska van der Molen (2014) #245-18.

Awoiska Van Der Molen was suggested in the first webinar with Colin to one of my peers however, I decided to also look up her work and found that it really resonated with me. Molen seems to really utilise the medium of black and white film photography and traditional dark room methods (Fig:2), which is where much of my research led me during the last module; in order to better execute my own research project I felt it important to explore the aspects of the medium that I was using, push its boundaries and embrace its limitations. As I have written before, black and white also provides an established series of readings of a work, it also draws attention to the process of photography, which firmly places the photographer at the centre of the work, something that Molen acknowledges in her process. When referring to her exhibition prints and the “traces that someone was working on it” (Molen in French, 2020), which are formed from the traditional printing process that she uses. This drawing attention to the process of her photography is what separates her work from how Hepburn describes as the “aesthetic appeal” of other works that is without the cognitive recognition or “metaphysical imagination” (1996: 191) that Molen has specifically sought to move away from:

“so I found I was feeling really outside the landscape. Trip after trip this happened, until I decided I had to go deeper. I needed to find something beyond the kind of perspective we have learned from landscape painting and find something more personal”

(2020)

What is interesting about Molen’s comments is in the idea of learned knowledge from established tropes such as painting. I have been openly referencing how black and white draws from a learned knowledge and aim to continue this to a certain degree however, it is important not to fall into the trap of creating work that is a derivative of what already exists. Looking at Molen’s approach, it is possible to continue using the process in a way that still draws the attention to it but also not being a copy if what already exists. My reference to the documentary canon, should now start to develop into part of the process over full emulation.

Figure 3: Awoiska van der Molen (2014) #212-7.

The approach will need investigating. Do I aim to use the qualities of the camera or the qualities of post-production. Molen uses both at different stages to build her outcome (Fig: 3). Not to emulate (as stated above), I do want to see how each of these methods will have an impact on my work.

Bibliography

Beynon, M., Cawley, A. & Munday, M., 2016. Measuring and Understanding the differences between urban and rural areas, a new approach for planners. Environment and Planning B. Urban Analytics and city Science, 43(6).

Harmon, G., 2018. Object Orientated Ontology – A New Theory of Everything. 1st ed. London: Pelican Books.

Hepburn, R. W., 1996. Landscape and the Metaphysical Imagination. Environmental Values, 5(3), pp. 191-204.

Molen, A. v. d. M., 2020. Blanco: Silent Landscapes [Interview] 2020.

Project Development – Notes

| Phil Hill
Figure 1: Phil Hill (June, 2020) Wais.
Figure 2: Phil Hill (July, 2020) Disused Rail, Watford.

In the description for my last WIPP submission I stated: “Watford, a commuter town between city and countryside.” I feel that I only really had half an awareness of what I meant by this in the sense that my focus on the work has been focused on the collection of portraits (Fig: 1), which I believe is one of my strengths however, potentially at the detriment of other elements of the project considered only secondary (Fig: 2). There needs to be a more focused development on these other images within the broader narrative of my work.

Alys Tomlinson has discussed that within her own investigations, the relationship between the people and the land that they inhabit is of fundamental importance, which is why she remain fixed to a location and explores within (2019). The link in the land to the people could start with investigating Watford as a commuter hub and also in its position between countryside and urban; at what point does the countryside become suburban, and then urban. I feel that it would be good to resolve the idea of a place between places; especially as we are undergoing some fundamental societal changes, which place different priorities on the commuter associations of Watford ad what Malcom Beynon et al refer to as ‘Rurality’ (2016), yet not something that necessarily quantifiable, as Weisheit et al note: “Like concepts such as “truth,” “beauty,” or “justice,” everyone knows the term rural, but no one can define the term very precisely” (1995, p. 6).

An area of research I am finding useful is in the agency of the object, or specifically the impact that the qualities of the object have on the construction and the reading of the image. My focus for the last module was in the portrait but also in the medium that I chose to create the work. I took special care to really consider the qualities of the black and white image and see how it has a fundamental impact on the outcome of the image. In my feedback, there was a question of ‘flatness’ in the presentation of the photographs, something which, I felt was reflective of the place that I am photographing however, something that I did not spend enough time discussing in my reflections. It would be useful to experiment with different methods of editing. I also made connection to the location of Watford through the use of design and colour of my zine, this can continue through the use of medium; I have been photographing on Kodak film, which had a significant presence in the area. Watford was also between two Kodak production sites in Hemel Hempstead and Harrow, continuing the link to the place and the idea of being in between.

My aim was to start drawing attention to the process of the photograph to somehow separate it from the sea of images and also create an awareness of it being photographed. Black and serves this purpose because of its contrast to the concrete world as we perceive it. The switch black and white also represents an opportunity to re-visit some of the initial work that I undertook to see if there are any locations that would be worth re-visiting. This would be useful research tool in order to re-consider anything overlooked previously.

Bibliography

Beynon, M., Cawley, A. & Munday, M., 2016. Measuring and Understanding the differences between urban and rural areas, a new approach for planners. Environment and Planning B. Urban Analytics and city Science, 43(6).

Tomlinson, A., 2019. The Messy Truth – Alys Tomlinson on Awards [Interview] (11 November 2019).

Weisheit, D. R. A., Wells, D. L. E. & Falcone, D. D. N., 1995. Crime and Policing in Rural and Small Town America: An overview of the issues, s.l.: National Institute of Justice.

Continuing with Black and White

| Phil Hill

One of the key pieces of feedback that I received during the last module was that my images were coming across a bit ‘flat.’ I was a little surprised by this comment as I felt the aesthetic of my images and the flatness presented was reflective of the place that I was photographing. Crucially, I did not spend any time really discussing this in my CRJ so the feedback is fair in my lack of justification. Additionally, the images in my zine were definitely flatter than the digital version owing to the way that the work was printed. I take on board this feedback and will aim to work to explore different ways of editing and presenting the work for my next WIPP.

Underpinning my reasoning to continue with black and white is also how Vanessa Winship comments on its contrast to the way that we view the world (2015), which is supported by David Campany’s view that “the supposedly greater seriousness of black and white was also present in photojournalism, which remained distinct from the pages of colour advertising well into the 1950s” (2020: 36). This contrast is useful to construct ‘seriousness’ and also ‘nostalgia’ in a body of work, knowing that it can be read in an ‘already learned’ sense by the reader. This is also the reason why photographers such as Alec Soth utilise it to create a perceived sense of a world that used to exist, yet probably never existed, or only existent through the photographs that we learned it from. It was useful for me to explore this throughout the last module to see how its use can impact the images that I am producing. Campany also offers additional interpretation in the value placed onto the black and white image: “The habits and criteria for art photography were formed in relation to black and white, and were entrenched by those who could not see beyond colour’s association with commerce and entertainment” (p. 36). This view again shows how the contrast is impacting the reading of the images and can be a powerful tool to start shaping it using these inherent qualities.

I want to continue to utilise black and white for this next module’s work, I feel that the medium lends an aspect of consistency to the work that I have not had before. My project intends to continue building on the ideas that I developed during the last module; in the idea of connection to place and my aesthetic choices to represent it. I spent a great deal of time investigating the impact of these choices on the outcome of the images and to build on this, I aim to take the technical and apply it more to the metaphorical and the conceptual, which is crucial to a well-executed project.

Contrast in the image

There is an argument that any kind of manipulation of the image is an act of misrepresentation of the truth in the image. My editing, or lack thereof, may have been in part aiming to follow some kind of ethical trope. Knowing however, that all images are constructions, then is seems clear that the editing of the work becomes another step in the workflow of making that image – in camera, in post-production.

Bibliography

Campany, D., 2020. On Photographs. 1 ed. London: Thames and Hudson.

Stein, S., 2020. Migrant Mother Migrant Gender. 1 ed. London: Mack.

Winship, V., 2015. A Small Voice: Conversations with Photographers – 082 – Vanessa Winship: “And Time Folds” Special [Interview] (11 September 2015).

Research Methods

| Phil Hill

For this module, I intend to focus my research into testing a number of ideas ready for the FMP. I have spent the last three modules looking at the idea of community and my connection to it, which has been fairly outward in its focus when actually, my work is about me. My aim is to broaden my reading to consider theory outside of the field of photography. For example, Ferdinand Toiness defines two types of community: Gemeinschaft (family, personal, emotional connection) and Gessellschaft (societal, impersonal, civic connection) (2001). My project has been very much based in the Gessellschaft and I realised during the break that I should also consider more of an emotional and personal connection to the work that I am creating, which could result in a stronger body of work.

My feedback reflected this for the last module in how I need to create more metaphor in my non-portraits, which also create a link between the people and the land they inhabit. My research will center on this and bring in anthropological elements to hopefully make the links I am currently lacking

I also have a number of plans to produce work, either directly from my research projects, or related to the ideas that I exploring in more of a commercially focussed way. As David Campany notes: “The commercial images that survive their principle function are the ones that are better than the principle function required, or deserved” (2020, p. 26), which suggests that it is possible to create meaningful work that exists in both the commercial and conceptual spheres, yet able to transcend the context of commerciality.

Figure 1: Alys Tomlinson (2019) From ‘ex-voto’
Alys Tomlinson

Tomlinson’s work is deeply rooted in research and underpinned by her anthropological approach to her subjects. Her own MA was in the field of Anthropology and it was during that time, which she created the body of work ‘ex-voto’ (Fig:1) Her use of black and white is what drew me to the images in the first place and how she discussed the way that she made this switch from colour from a need to slow down her practice and be more considered. The initial work that led to the switch then became part of her research and informed the final body of work. Tomlinson had an increased awareness of the location she was photographing and how the people were linked to the land, which she was able to consider from all of the initial visits to the location and also the initial images, even if they are in colour.

Figure 2: Bryan Schutmaat (2015) From ‘Grays the Mountain Send’
Bryan Schutmaat

Schutmaat’s approach is based in the first-hand experience of the area steeped in its own mythology (Fig:2). Schutmaat avoids detailed research into the history of a location and instead reads regional literature and works to understand the culture by observation and also by talking with local people and spending time where people are. Schutmaat’s approach is in the construction of the place, which is supported by an overview of the area beforehand. This creates discovery, and as he put it “inventing a sense of place” (Schutmaat in Pollock: 2011) Although, in interview, Schutmaat is trying to steer away from the idea of a research based approach, it is clear that it exists in his images. It makes sense to look at regional literature that might seek to create an ideal when Schutmaat is working to create a mythology in his work.

Applied to my practice

Tomlinson takes a very anthropological approach to her photographic work, clearly driven by her own Anthropological background. When looking at the forum for this week, it is clear that anthropology is an area of significance when considering photographic studies that explore concepts similar to my own research project – connection, identity, community. I aim to bring this area of research into the centre of my reading for this module and start to see how the theory can really underpin and clarify what I am aiming to achieve within my own work.

I find Schutmaat’s approach to researching his subjects quite interesting too. The use of literature about an area and the culture could prove useful to developing my research project. It is something that I did – without realising – during informing contexts as I utilised Junichiro Tanizaki’s ‘In Praise of Shadow’s’ (2001) to support the development of my project during the lock down period. A more focused approach to this could be useful and finding material and literature that is set in the area that I am trying to photograph.

Bibliography

Campany, D., 2020. On Photographs. 1 ed. London: Thames and Hudson.

Pollock, D., n.d. BRYAN SCHUTMAAT. THE PROCESS OF DISCOVERY. [Online]
Available at: https://urbanautica.com/interview/bryan-schutmaat-the-process-of-discovery/348 [Accessed 22 September 2020].

Tanizaki, J., 2001. In Praise of Shadows. London: Vintage.

Tönnies, F., 2001. Community and Civil Society. Translation ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.