Assignment 5, First Thoughts.

This is a first attempt at Assignment 5.  I am aware that in his feedback from Assignment 4 my tutor suggested that there were still a lot of ideas in the mix.  The text remains the same but now it needs to be refined.  This is my starting point.  My tutor also suggested that I begin to separate the series and I have used the text to do this much as I did in the video I presented for Assignment 4.  I feel that I have too many images at the moment and will use this blog as a starting pont for editing them down by printing them rearranging and cutting some out.

Walking in Woods

Walking allows me to slow down and fully experience and appreciate the landscape through which I travel.  When walking in woodland, it is easy to lose and find oneself again, to reflect, meditate and to reconnect with the world.  Footpaths disappearing into the distance are seductive, perhaps holding memories of many passings over the years.  Woods can be places of mystery and paths often wind and twist, seeming to have no purpose except to be followed. 

The horizon is limited and paths disappear round corners or into a hole in the vegetation leaving the walker to speculate on where they might lead or who they might meet.

 Indefinite, ephemeral paths may be so faint as to be nearly not paths; what recent memories do these hold?

Some paths are not as they seem.  At first they may appear to be a path, but when followed they lead to where no human would go.

Printing BOW images on Permajet Oyster - A Trial

As part of Assignment 4 I sent my tutor some sample images printed on a heavyweight matte paper. Whilst Rob felt that the images "looked lovely on screen", he thought that the prints were"decent enough although one or two lacked a little clarity perhaps.  You might have to compensate for the matte paper but don't overdo it.  There might be a slight feeling of craft object with the uncoated matte that you're trying hard to get away from - have you tried printing on lustre? But as discussed previously, this (matte) may be appropriate for the quiet contemplation you are interested in."

 In view of this I have experimented with printing a couple of the images on Permajet Oyster paper. They are certainly crisper and brighter, but I am not so sure whether they move away from the quiet contemplation idea.  I will send the ones I have printed to Rob for his comments.  I may also print some more matte ones but increase the sharpness a tad in the printer dialogue box in Lightroom.  At the end of the day it needs to be my decision.  At the moment it is perhaps for the oyster, but we shall see.

A Path Is a Path Until It's Not a Path.

In the feedback to my last assignment my tutor  suggested that I should explore the core ideas of holes and indefinite paths further through walking, photographing, editing and writing.  He suggests that rather than shooting more indefinite paths (and I have plenty!), I could use the more extreme shots that I have as starting points for further exploration.  I had already been noticing paths that were not paths in that they were animal tracks.  This fascinated me and in discussion with Rob suggested that I might explore this idea.  He responded with the point that the animal world is interesting - wild and outside of culture; a different perspective.  I decided to explore the idea further with some new work which is displayed below.

Lake District Paths

Whilst in the Lake District in December we were lucky enough to experience a good fall of snow and I took the opportunity to make some new work on paths with snow cover.  The results are displayed below.

My one reservation with these images is that in the feedback for Assignment 4 my tutor responded to my suggestion that I might look to photograph in snow/fog or frost in order to provide a sense of mystery by reminding that perhaps it was the ambiguity, the indefinite, the edge of recognition that I was after rather than a sense of mystery.  He also felt that weather could be an aesthetic crutch that might pitch me back into the picturesque,  I think that, certainly with the first couple of images in this series and, particularly the second, he is correct.  In view of this I shall probably not use them for Assignment 5.

Reflection on Feedback from Assignment 4

I received the feedback for this assignment at the beginning of December, but at the time I was embroiled in completing Assignment 4 for my Contextual Studies module and then Christmas and New Year festivities intervened.  It is now time to get back to work!

I was pleased and encouraged by this feedback - plenty of positives and good suggestions for taking the work forward.

You're sharing the work widely and absorbing everything you can.  It's shaping up Mike.

Rob also commented that my research and study visit work were excellent - encouraging.  He suggested that I shouldn't overload myself at this point and that I need to assimilate what I have taken in.  With this I concur!  I do have a couple of books that I have read to blog, though.  Interestingly the other day someone was asking me about my work and I was able to talk about it logically and coherently, explaining how the BOW and CS essay are linked.  As Rob mentions I think that this has resulted from spending time absorbing and reflecting on what I have been doing over the last 2-3 weeks.

Rob felt that the images that I presented for A4 look lovely on the screen but the prints were only decent enough, suggesting that the matte paper I used, although appropriate for the quiet contemplation I was looking for, meant that perhaps they lacked clarity somewhat.  He suggested that I tried printing on lustre so I am going to print a couple on Permajet Oyster paper to compare.  I may get one or two printed commercially as well to see how that goes.

I had been thinking about making some images in frost/snow/fog, but Rob thought that maybe this could be an aesthetic crutch and pitch me back into the picturesque; something I am trying to avoid.  I have, actually made some new work since submitting the assignment and have photographed some paths/tracks made by animals - When is a path not a path?  If I use these that will give me three themes: paths with holes in the image, indefinite paths and paths that are not paths.  I think that this is probably enough and feel that I now need to edit and select images for A5.  Rob also feels that I should start to separate out the series.  Rhe question is how?

Finally he feels that I need to refine my artist statement/text to go with the work as there are perhaps still too many ideas in the mix.

All in all encouraging and plenty of food for thought.