On Influences and Inspiration: Part 1 (May 2015)

Whilst progressing through my course work it has regularly been suggested, both by the OCA manuals and successive tutors, that I should note down and discuss, in my logbook / blog, the books and exhibitions that have influenced me and shaped my photographic practice….and why they have had that effect. Indeed, the current course notes suggest that for Assignment 3 (the critical review) I should research and write about “…..the life and work of a photographer or photographic theme that has influenced you or had an impact on the way you work”. I have always had problems doing this, and as a consequence my logbook has fallen short as a document that clearly denotes the journey that I am taking through the world of photographic art. This document attempts to analyse why I have difficulty finding and expressing influences in my photographic work and from where and why I can derive the inspiration to progress. In part two, I will give a typical practical example, concerning a recent visit to two very different exhibitions on the same afternoon that influenced my thinking and might provide me with material for future photographic work.

I am sure that most professional photographers and practitioners of photographic art would, if asked, be able to provide the names of other photographers past and present, who have been important and influential in their development. However, I cannot in all honesty name a single one. I wrote about the contemporary photojournalists Daniel Beltra and Edward Stirton in my Assignment 3 essay and they have certainly had an influence on my current OCA project work, but whether that influence is lasting remains to be seen. I studied the work of Fay Godwin for my OCA Level 2 “Landscape” course and her work has certainly influenced the way that I look at landscapes, but I do very little landscape photography nowadays. My major interest has always been in natural history photography, a genre that is out of step with photographic art (see my essay) and which is often connected to aesthetics. Most, but not all practitioners in this field are largely concerned with the aesthetics of their imagery, since they need to promote their work to the general public in order to make a living by selling it. Whilst some photographers, such as Bence Mate, Paul Nicklen and Stefano Unterthiner produce distinctive, imaginative work that stands out from the pack, it is the aesthetics and imagination that are linked to individual images (produced by people that I may have never heard of) that tend to influence and inspire me when I visit exhibitions such as “Wildlife Photographer of the Year”.

So, what of the influences of modernist and postmodernist photographers? It should be clear from what I have written so far that, for me, the initial appeal of any photograph or set of photographs is aesthetic. Sadly, I find little aesthetic appeal in the works of postmodernist and current fine (conceptual) art photographers. However, closer study of their work and the ideas behind it produces a greater affinity with certain practitioners, such as Cindy Sherman (“Untitled Film Stills”: see Image below) and Jeff Wall (staged tableau). Both photographers produce work that is both aesthetically pleasing and contains narrative and/or (implied) action - this requires interpretation by the viewer, and I enjoy trying to solve puzzles! Some social documentary work, by photographers such as William Klein, also appeals to me. However, I cannot claim that my practice has been significantly influenced by any of these photographers, although it may be in the future.

Cindy Sherman: "Untitled #48"

So, is the lack of an obvious photographic “mentor” a liability? I decided to broaden my search for influences to take in the entire art world. Here there are, I believe, influences on my work. I have always been attracted to the work of the Surrealist painters and, in particular, Salvador Dali. As is the case with many great artists in different fields there is much to disapprove of in Dali the man. He was an extrovert and a showman, a man of dubious politics and low morals who sought to publicise and commercially exploit his talents wherever possible. He also happened to be a supreme draughtsman with a totally original and creative mind, who produced work, the likes of which has never been seen before or since. It is true that his work polarises opinions (my partner hates it), but for me Dali’s work is very special. Why do I find Dali’s work inspirational and how has it influenced me as a photographer? Perhaps some of the answers lie in Dali’s most famous painting, “The Persistence of Memory" (image below).

Salvador Dali: "The Persistence of Memory"

The first thing to strike me about this work is the lovely Catalan landscape, illuminated in soft colours by the setting sun. The aesthetic appeal of the scene is, for me, strong and immediate. The addition of the three “melted” watches, one hanging over the branch of a dead olive tree, one flopping over the edge of an architectural block and the third lying on an amorphous, sleeping creature on the ground (actually known to be a type of self-portrait from Dali’s earlier works) adds an element of mystery which demands that the viewer should spend time contemplating the meaning of the painting. Does it, as Dali comments, disrupt conventional notions of reality and the universe by exploiting moments of extreme irrational intuition? Or was it inspired (as Dali again comments) by the remains of a very strong Camembert cheese? Either way, this painting inspires me because it contains three key elements in huge doses: aesthetic appeal, the ability to enthral by virtue of the nature of its content and finally the narrative within the painting, which challenges the viewer to look more deeply to appreciate its meaning.

I enjoy viewing the works of many other artists: imaginary landscapes and scenes of festivals by Flemish painters, the landscapes of Poussin and the variety of works (particularly his later work) by Goya. However, it is the virtuosity and visual appeal of Dali’s work that stands out above the others for me, work which reached a zenith in his amazing “trompe-l’oeil”, “The Metamorphosis of Narcissus” (below).

Salvador Dali: "The Metamorphosis of Narcissus"

Has Dali’s work influenced or inspired my photography? It has, because although I cannot construct his dream-like images in front of the camera I can, at least, produce distorted images of subjects by photographing their reflections in water, glass and other media. An example is a reflection of a large building in London’s Regents Canal (Image 4).

Reflections in Regent's Canal

Whereas Image 4 appeals to me on an aesthetic level and requires a certain amount of study in order to be interpreted it doesn’t, either in its own right or combined with other images, contain any narrative but is primarily an abstract. Could I use reflections in water, glass or other media that produce an image or a series of images that do contain a narrative? This should be possible, but I would need to seek inspiration from another source and then link the two together to produce a suitable concept for a project. This would represent a further step in my artistic development: to absorb ideas and inspiration from different sources and then link them together to generate another, novel idea that could be developed into a photographic project.

In summary, I currently derive inspiration for my photographic work from many different sections of the art world. Aesthetic appeal continues to play a big part in my own work. Given that I see no reason to avoid trying to produce images having aesthetic appeal I need to develop an approach that underlies this appeal with narrative and that also makes a statement. I have tried to do this during the current course (in particular with the major project) and will continue to do so in the future.

In the second part I will try to show how I can use exhibition visits to spark ideas and inspiration for future work.

Major Project Update for Assignment 5, May 2015

Current Status

Following tutor feedback for my 4^th assignment and a further discussion with my tutor in February 2015 I have completely restructured the format and presentation of my Major Project work. Instead of attempting to answer the question “Why do we feed wild birds?” the project (and the image portfolio) has been split into two sections to answer the questions: “What do wild birds do for us……..and what do we do for wild birds?” The first section (“what wild birds do for us”) still concentrates on the direct action of feeding wild birds in public places, whilst the second section (“what we do for wild birds”) concentrates on man’s impact, both deliberate and accidental, on wild birds. Each section consists of 12 images/prints. Whereas there is a dominant photographic theme to the first section (the process of directly feeding wild birds, using a “social documentary” style) the second section does not contain an obvious photographic theme, incorporating both landscape and social documentary type images. This set of images tells a story with an environmental theme, but in order to clarify the theme and provide a link with the first set of images it was necessary to use other media to provide narrative and context.

I had always planned to produce some videos as back up material for my assessment submission. At my tutor’s suggestion I have now produced a multimedia presentation (using “Windows Moviemaker”) that links the 24 images with video clips, commentary and a little bird song in order to help the viewer to understand in greater depth the themes, visual links and narrative behind my portfolio work. This presentation will be an integral part of my submission.

Additionally, I fully intend to produce a photo book to accompany my submission. This work will, with the addition of further images and a significant amount of text, further clarify the narrative running through my work. To this end I have produced a document which, in addition to being a template for the photo book, contains further brief details relating to each of the portfolio images.

Portfolio Images

Many of the 12 images in the first section “what wild birds do for us” were obtained during the autumn and winter of 2014-15 and have previously been submitted to accompany my 4^th assignment (see elsewhere in the blog). There are a few new additions and one or two from the original set have been omitted. Work on this set is, for better or worse, essentially complete although I may replace images if the opportunity to include a “better” photograph presents itself.

Some of the 12 images for the second section, “what we do for wild birds”, have been used in my 4^th assignment but many are new and I am still working on these, looking for better and/or more relevant images to replace some of those in the later sections of the portfolio. This search will continue into the summer and, in addition to acting on tutor feedback, I may also change the emphasis on certain sections of the later narrative.

Portfolio Prints

All the portfolio images were submitted for this assignment as A4 (Permajet/Epson Glossy) prints. I have been investigating printing a couple of randomly selected images using different print papers, obtained from Permajet and Hahnemuhle test packs. I quite like the look (and feel!) of Hahnemuhle fine art prints, in particular William Turner 310 gsm, Pearl 285gsm, Albrecht Durer 210 gsm and Photo Rag Baryta 315gsm, but I’m currently struggling to make a decision on which paper to use for my assessment submission of A3 prints. I will probably get a few A3 prints made before making a final decision about which paper to use, in addition to seeking further advice from my tutor. Getting the final assessment portfolio prints produced will have to wait until all my images have been finalised, which may mean having to wait until July (for September submission). All the images will be printed for the assessment submission using a single type of paper. All the images are currently in “landscape” format and it is unlikely that I will “disturb the symmetry” of the submission by producing any “portrait” images at a later date.

Multimedia Presentation

A multimedia presentation, featuring each of the 24 images together with eight video clips, video commentary, commentary to introduce each section and bird song at the start and finish has been produced and sent to my tutor with the Assignment 5 material. At over 10 minutes it is perhaps a little long. Cropping some of the video clips (which I have yet to do) will shorten it slightly. I have resisted the temptation to add commentary to any of the images (which are on screen for 10 seconds each) and have added a little text to some additional slides to further contextualise the presentation and highlight environmental issues that are the driving force behind the second section of the portfolio. This presentation links the two sections of the major project and highlights the concerns that I have, as an environmentalist. These deep-rooted concerns have driven the second section, but also underlie all of my major project work. Working with video and combining video with commentary and images has been a new experience for me, but one that I have embraced and will develop further in the future. However I am still naïve in this area and I have no doubt that this first ever multimedia presentation reflects my naivety.

Photo Book

I had always planned to produce a photo book to accompany my submission for assessment. This has now become a more important objective, because I believe that the draft that I have produced (as a “Word” document, submitted to my tutor with the other Assignment 5 material) provides a more in depth background and narrative to my major project than can be provided, even by the multimedia presentation. Whether it is fair to call this work a “photo book” is a moot point: there is a significant amount of accompanying text. However, whilst the book is a self-contained record of my project work, the text provides additional explanations behind my choice of images for the portfolio. Some extra images are included in this work and overall the message is less hard-hitting than in the multimedia presentation. The document incorporates proposed images for the front and back covers of the book. These are separate from the images in the portfolio. The “Word” document has been set out with two landscape pages abreast: these are intended to be left hand and right hand (or top and bottom: see below) pages of the book. Changes will need to be made to reflect changes to the final image portfolio and tutor recommendations. However, I intend to keep these changes to a minimum. Because all my portfolio images are “landscape” sized the book is intended to be produced either with the spine on the left and (10x8 or A4) “landscape” pages or as a “portrait” shaped book (far more normal!), with images placed “sideways” and designed to be read with the spine at the top and pairs of pages placed vertically above/below each other.

Story Board

No story board was produced for the assignment submission, since the story board was essentially contained within both the multimedia presentation and the draft photo book and labelled A4 prints of all the (24) portfolio images were also submitted to my tutor.

Style and Influences

During the 20 months that I have been working on this course my photographic style has changed to reflect a more journalistic approach. I have switched from taking photographs of wildlife for purely aesthetic reasons to producing multiple photographs that (hopefully!) fit together to tell a story. Influential in my work have been the photojournalists Daniel Beltra (whose work I discussed in the Assignment 3 essay) and, in particular, Brent Stirton, a South African photojournalist who has won many awards for hard-hitting stories on (for example) the illegal trade in ivory. I will discuss influences and inspiration shortly, in further blog posts. I chose to use a straightforward presentation style for all the images in the Assignment 5 portfolio and, indeed, for the images in the other projects. I feel that the subject matter is inappropriate for using monochrome, vignetting, deliberate blurring or other, more unusual or creative styles and I ran out of time for trying out ideas such as surrounding each image with a border consisting of (feeding) birds (but see the multimedia presentation). Maybe this is for the future!

Future Work

In addition to any changes resulting from feedback from my tutor I intend to continue to search for better, more relevant images to replace some of the images in the second section of my major project portfolio and likewise videos for the multimedia presentation (although in the latter case I am prepared to go with what I’ve produced to date). I still have to produce A3 prints of my portfolio images. My intention is to finish all practical work and have the portfolio and multimedia presentation ready for submission (in September 2015) by July and to get the photo book and A3 prints produced shortly afterwards. I will continue to review this blog and add articles until shortly before the submission date. It is my intention to at least read the notes for my second level 3 course (“Advanced”) during the summer and before submission of the current course work for assessment, so that I can get a feel for what is required in this final Level 3 course and how I can prepare future project work to satisfy the demands of the course (see also below). 

Final Thoughts

By the time I submit for assessment I will have been working on this course for two years – far longer than I intended. There are several reasons why the course work has taken so long, but I think that the main one is that I chose a very difficult subject, in terms of being able to satisfy the remit for the major project. I then changed course several times, back-tracked and ended up in a rather different place from where I started. These changes in direction are, I believe, not uncommon in artistic concept-driven project work. However, before embarking on another project of this scale I would like to have a much clearer picture of what I want to achieve and how I am going to achieve it. The concept, the subject matter and the motivation have to be very clear and I should try to visualise beforehand what the end product will look like and that the project is, of course, feasible. There have been many “spin-offs” from the current project, which could have uses in the future. This may be true for my next project, but from an academic point of view I need to stick to the “straight and narrow” and I would like to complete the course, without rushing, in 15-18 months rather than two years.

For all that the course work has thrown up numerous problems I have learnt more along the way than on any of the previous OCA courses. In particular I am starting to come to terms with understanding what conceptual art is, even if I am still failing to appreciate the value of much that I see!

On Making Movies

I was a “video virgin” when I started this course. Despite my current cameras having the capability to capture video clips I never felt the need to stray from “stills”. However, when I started my major project work I committed myself to augmenting the photographic portfolio with some video action. I had intended to leave this work until near the end of the project, when all the “stills photography” work had been completed. However, following my tutor’s feedback from Assignment 4 and my own frustration with attempts to integrate the two threads of the project within a simple image portfolio, I leaped at the idea of using video to link the different aspects of the project in a multimedia presentation, incorporating video clips. Starting in late February 2015, I have embarked on a steep learning curve as I started to record video: what follows is a short overview of my progress.

I started by recording videos of birds feeding from my hand, using both my Nikon D7000 SLR camera with 17-70mm Sigma zoom lens and my Panasonic FZ200 “bridge” camera. The first and most obvious problem to overcome was that I was no longer able to compose my shots through the viewfinder, but had to use the camera screens in “live view”. As I need reading glasses anyway, looking at the screen of the Nikon proved particularly difficult, particularly in strong light. The Panasonic was better, as I could fold the screen out and adjust the angle of view. However, the quality of the Nikon videos (shot at 1920 x 1080 resolution and 24 frames per second) was superior to those of the Panasonic, so I decided to stick with the Nikon. By careful adjustment of the focal length (around 24mm seemed optimum) and focussing on the tip of my hand I was able to get what, for me, were unexpectedly good results, although in some cases there were bright highlights, particularly on my hand.

In the early weeks I had the microphones switched on and tried to do some commentary (rehearsed beforehand) in addition to taking the videos. This proved to be almost impossible to co-ordinate, and frequently resulted in the video ending with a handful of choice four letter words, followed a few seconds later by deletion of the video. In the end I decided to buy a software package and a microphone, to record the commentary separately and then add it to the video in “Windows Moviemaker”. There were new issues regarding timings, etc. to contend with here, but this was a lot easier than an intense period of multi-tasking whilst making the video on location. I now had to remember to switch the microphone off when making videos, unless of course I wanted a soundtrack of (for example) birds singing.

Satisfied with my first efforts I moved on to making some video clips of “ATM” street art in London, moving through the streets before apparently coming across his paintings of birds (relevant to the second half of my project). I now had to watch out for traffic whilst making the video, whilst keeping at least one eye on the screen. Passers-by would get in the way, but at least I had the chance to repeat the video over and over again until I got it right.

The ultimate challenge came when I set about making videos of distant birds. The birds I wanted to concentrate on were not those that come to bird feeders or were happy to be fed by hand. These were shy species that it was hard to get close to. I needed to use a long lens for this work, with the more versatile 70-300mm zoom being favoured. I quickly found that when I did get close enough for video work there were two major problems. Firstly, I had to use a very narrow aperture to prevent the birds moving in and out of focus during filming (an otherwise excellent video of an avocet feeding was ruined by not doing this). Secondly, I had to find the bird on the screen after moving to “live view” and then maintain its position on the screen as it moved about. Remembering to do all this whilst hoping that the bird would perform as I hoped resulted in many failures! There were problems with even the more successful videos – I was hand-holding the camera (using a tripod was not an option when working in the field, especially as the birds rarely stayed still), so there was some camera shake, which could be a little disconcerting whilst I was watching the video on screen, but at least gave the work an air of authenticity.

I reached the limit of my ability when trying to photograph birds in flight. I could cope with distant birds, such as marsh harriers, where I could focus on a large area of reed bed (their natural habitat), but in this case the birds were rather insignificant in relation to their environment (no bad thing for “habitat” videos, but of no use when concentrating on the birds). For the video of red kites at Gigrin Farm I just focussed on the meat on the ground and waited for the kites to come and grab it. However, for the multimedia presentation I really wanted to video a skylark singing in the sky above me, but finding the bird in “live view” and then keeping it on the screen proved to be impossible. After many frustrating attempts I abandoned this exercise.

I’ve progressed from being a “video virgin” to just being a near beginner. I still make mistakes, lots of them (like making an otherwise lively video of the goldfinches on my garden feeders only to discover that the microphone had been left on the highest setting and I had a soundtrack of “Radio Five Live” in the background. However, they say that practice makes perfect - look out for my movies on "You Tube", coming soon!

Exhibition Visit - Syngenta Photography Award: "Scarcity - Waste" (Somerset House, London, 14 March 2015)

The stated aim of the Syngenta Photography Award is to draw attention to and stimulate dialogue around key global challenges, such as food security. The first competition, held in 2013, took as its theme the tensions between urban and rural environments. This, the second competition, took on the twin themes of scarcity of resources such as land, food and water and the damage to the environment caused by the waste that we generate. The professional competition invited photographers to submit a themed portfolio of images, together with a proposal for a further project (to be funded for the winner by Syngenta to the tune of $25,000) related to the theme. The Open competition invited individual submissions from any photographer. With hefty prizes of up to $15,000, the competitions attracted more than 2,000 entries from around the world.

The professional competition was essentially aimed at photojournalists, with those interested in environmental issues starting with a clear advantage. The winner, Mustafah Abdulaziz, produced a portfolio of images (including Image 1, which shows women in Pakistan working together to draw brackish water from a well) on the scarcity of water. The importance of the subject matter is abundantly clear, although this could hardly be described as the sexiest subject in the world. Abdulaziz managed to produce aesthetically pleasing images that showed empathy with people across two continents whom he shadowed, without diminishing the importance of his subject matter.

Image 1; Mustafah Abdulaziz

Other topics predictably included environmental pollution (aka smog) in China, huge landfill sites and piles of tyres and electrical waste. Even Greenland is not immune from abandoned waste, as Camille Michel’s photograph (Image 2) demonstrates. All these subjects allowed the photographers to present the subject matter in a visually appealing manner, even if the ethereal beauty of the dim shapes of Chinese city buildings almost hidden by smog is of little consolation to those who have to live and work there. The success of the winning portfolios was presumably dependent on their ability to engage with and provoke empathy (rather than apathy!) from the judges, so human subjects were very much to the fore. Bénédicte Desrus’ highly commended images of obese people in Mexico and the USA were a good example of this. On the other hand Marcus Doyle’s soft palette Californian beach sunset, with abandoned chair and other beach detritus carefully positioned in the foreground, was outstanding in my personal “beauty in waste” category.

Image 2 (Camille Michel)

Throughout the exhibition, statements placed on walls rammed home the message that, unless something changes, the planet is heading for disaster…….and it’s all because of how we live our lives. One example: “four billion trees are cut down each year around the world and paper recycling only accounts for 43% of all paper used”. I suspect that the organisers are preaching to the converted but, with nature and the environment lagging well behind the main issues taxing the minds of our politicians, journalists and electorate in the run up to the (May 2015) UK general election, the point is well worth making yet again. Furthermore, in the final section (“shaping our future”), some possible solutions to the planet’s problems are represented, with Jamey Stillings’ monochrome images of huge, desert-sited solar arrays standing out.

Several international photo-journalists have risen to the challenge of producing engaging and aesthetically pleasing photographic portfolios featuring what, on the face of it, are rather dry topics. I found the exhibition fascinating and rewarding. The empathy that the portfolios show for their subject matter was one reason for their success and is a learning point that I can take for my own portfolio work, now and in the future. The ability of some of the finalists to make even the driest subject matter visually appealing is another key learning point. Whilst some of the individual images in the “open” competition held even more aesthetic appeal it was the ways in which the portfolios in the professional competition had been constructed that proved to be of more value to me. 

Assignment 4: Tutor Feedback on Major Project Work and "The Way Forward" (March 2015)

In his report my tutor commented that “the image quality is of a good standard throughout – as is the print quality.” This was a great relief, as I had been very concerned that I would have to re-shoot quite a few of the images due to less than ideal composition, clutter caused by the feeding birds etc.

However my other major concern, that of narrative flow (discussed elsewhere in my blog in the update for the submission of my work for Assignment 4) was a major issue. I had attempted to integrate two separate themes, one dealing with our direct interaction with wild birds through the process of feeding them and the other dealing with the indirect interaction with wild birds due to man’s change of land use and the resultant habitat and food loss for many species of birds. I knew that this mixture, which involved combining different genres of images and therefore did not provide an obvious visual flow from image to image, might not fit the remit. I desperately wanted to include my environmental concerns in the final portfolio, but as I commented in the update provided with my Assignment submission:  “as a “fall back” position I have the option of removing the “environmental” images from the portfolio, perhaps adding a few more images of interactions between people and wild birds, to produce a portfolio made up entirely of the direct interactions between people and birds.”

My tutor’s comments confirmed these fears: “there is without doubt evidence of some difficulties in making these images sit together as a set of work” and “there is not a real fit, visually and contextually, as a set of work for the landscape/environment images with the bird feeding images. I feel it would be difficult to present the work in the way that the story board is currently set out”. On a related theme he made two other points. Firstly, he reminded me of earlier feedback: “again there is the issue of the different genres. It may have an unobserved or unexpected result in seriously undermining your quality”. Secondly, he reminded me that the “environmental” images did not inform the answer to the key question in my original proposal: “why do we feed wild birds?”

To be honest, I had been expecting these comments and had been preparing to assume the “fall back” position described above. I was therefore very happy to take on board an alternative suggestion by my tutor that I had not considered or thought possible within the confines of the remit: “Your initial question – why do we feed wild birds – may be where the issue lies. Perhaps something along the lines of what wild birds do for us and what we do for wild birds? Your images would fit this type of question much better.” He then went on to suggest submitting the images as two sets. The first set (“what wild birds do for us”) would feature the images showing people feeding wild birds, whilst the second set (“what we do for/to wild birds”) would feature the “environmental” images. Furthermore, he suggested that I could adapt the video work that I had planned in order to prepare a multimedia presentation (a “third set”) that would act as a link between the two sets of images. As he pointed out, “this is perhaps a self-contained learning experience and it should inform visually and literally”. Windows Movie Maker was the recommended medium for the multimedia presentation: it was also recommended that I experiment with using both music and commentary, as well as moving and still images, in the presentation.

I was happy to take my tutor’s suggestion on board. Following a telephone conversation (my tutor’s suggestion) I decided to produce a 5 to 8 minute multimedia presentation, using video clips to both express the themes and concepts behind the project and to link the images in the two sections of the project together. This would necessitate a modification of my original proposal from (essentially) “why do we feed wild birds?” to either “what do wild birds do for us and what do we do for wild birds?” or, more specifically, “what does feeding wild birds do for us and what do we do for feeding wild birds?”. Work on the first set of images (people feeding wild birds) was essentially complete, although I would continue to look for opportunities to improve on what I had got. I would provide 10 to 12 images for this set. Some new images were still required to make the second set (again, 10 to 12 images) complete. I hoped that the video work for the multimedia presentation would provide fresh ideas and stimulus for creating and ordering the second set of images.

At the time of writing (early March) I have been experimenting with video work and with using “Windows Movie Maker”. Like a child with new toys, this work has given me a lot of pleasure, albeit with some frustration, and will be the subject of (a) blog(s) in the near future.

Update on Major Project for Assignment 4 Submission (January 2015)

Following an agreed extension, due to the difficulties that I had had in coming up with a plan for the major project that was both true to the brief and to my original proposal in January 2014 (see earlier "Assignment 4" blogs), I eventually submitted major project parts 3 and 4 to my tutor in late January 2015. The submission included 17 A4 prints that I intended to incorporate into the portfolio, together with a revised story board and a long discussion document. The bulk of the discussion document consisted of comments on the individual prints/images, how and why they had been produced and where they fitted within the framework of the plan. This blog omits all those details, concentrating instead on the introductory section, which explains my thinking and plans at the time of the submission and has not been modified for the blog. I have also included the story board at the end, although the individual images are necessarily small. The original 21 page document will be included for assessment as “hard copy”.

Current Status

After much trial and tribulation I have eventually come up with a plan, and a story board, that I hope satisfies both the requirements of the brief for the project and my personal environmental concerns, whilst still attempting to answer the question “why do we feed wild birds”? The current portfolio consists of 17 images, which will be forwarded as A4 prints with this submission. A further 3 images/prints have yet to be produced (these include opening and closing images), so I hope to have a final portfolio of 20 images/prints. My plans are flexible and I’m still coming up with ideas that I would like to incorporate into the portfolio, but at this relatively late stage of the project I will have limited opportunities to diverge from the current, basic plan. I will, however, continue to look for better photographs to represent the themes running through the portfolio.

All the photographs within the portfolio deal with our interactions (direct and indirect) with wild birds and most of the photographs attempt to address the question of why we feed them. There is a dominant photographic theme, which deals with the feeding of wild birds. The images in this section are documentary, with a strong emphasis on what might loosely be called “social documentary” or possibly even “street photography”, although streets do not (yet) feature in any of these photographs. Many of the photographs were taken in public parks. A second theme addresses the topic of feeding wild birds more obliquely, by dealing step by step with the environmental issues of habitat destruction and change of land use, both of which have had a profound effect on populations of wild birds. I struggled to find a smooth way to link the different sections of the story within the portfolio. Eventually I decided to mix the two themes, causing (in the absence of accompanying text) the viewer to have to think carefully about the significance of each image and why it is in a certain position within the portfolio. As a “fall back” position I have the option of removing the “environmental” images from the portfolio, perhaps adding a few more images of interactions between people and wild birds, to produce a portfolio made up entirely of the direct interactions between people and birds.

Modification of the Story Board

The images within the story board continue to explore the reasons why we feed wild birds. However my observations whilst carrying out field work have led me to add entertainment, or at least the pursuit of pleasure, as a further reason. I have also decided not to include any examples of feeding wild birds to produce food for ourselves (e.g. pheasant rearing) within the portfolio, because I was unable to come up with a single photograph that could represent this reason and I decided that each image in the portfolio would (with the possible exception of the opening and closing images) consist of a single photograph. Furthermore, I have omitted any images relating to the historical background of why we feed wild birds. The portfolio therefore represents the following reasons for feeding wild birds: (a) altruism, (b) commercial benefits, (c) conservation of species, (d) introducing young people to nature, (e) taming and “controlling” nature, (f) bird and wildlife photography, (g) companionship with birds and (h) human entertainment. By studying the portfolio it should be possible to deduce why some birds benefit from our behaviour and why others don’t.

Interactions between People and Birds

No fewer than 12 of the submitted images/prints feature the act of people feeding birds. Between them, these pictures illustrate all of the reasons (a) to (h) above for feeding wild birds. Of these, six (images 2,4,6,15,17 and 19) are arranged to show how age progression, from very young to very old, influences our reasons for feeding wild birds. Of the other photographs there is also a link between images 10 and 11 (which are run together), 9 and 12 and 8 and 13, the ordering being deliberately chosen to produce an element of symmetry to the portfolio.

Environmental Issues

Six pictures (images 3,5,7,14,16 and 18) will relate to the ways we have altered our environment in recent years. They are intended to run as a very small picture story that tries to illustrate how change of land use (for example, from countryside to housing estates) has benefited some birds and been detrimental to others.

Opening and Closing Images

I have yet to choose between various options for the opening image (Image 1). Some of these options will be discussed below. It may well be a composite image, possibly incorporating text such as “why feed the birds?” or a straightforward image showing a classic example of birds being fed. I have had some elaborate and/or ambitious ideas, but above all I would like an image that sets the scene. The closing image could bring the series to a positive or negative conclusion: I have yet to decide. I would like it to be a single photograph, ideally one that marries the themes which are covered by the portfolio.

Story Board Diagram

The images chosen for submission with this assignment are shown as thumbnails, in order from top left to bottom right, in an accompanying Diagram (see later).

Style

The photographs are presented with this submission as straightforward colour prints. I have considered ways in which I could “individualise” them, for example by using high key monochrome throughout. Whilst this could work for certain images others look, I believe, better in colour. Vignetting every image is a possibility, but this would not, in my opinion, add anything to the portfolio. More ambitious concepts, such as “blacking” or “whiting” out all areas of each photograph other than those that are key to the points that I am making are being considered, but would involve considerable time and effort. However, concepts of this type would establish a strong (bizarre?) individual style that I could take into other work. Surrounding each photograph with a white border featuring faded images of birds feeding or enclosing each photograph within the silhouette of a bird are other possibilities, although these features may detract from the photographs themselves and weaken the points that I am making. I have acquired a variety of different types of paper on which to print my images, but have yet to investigate the effects of using this paper. I suspect that some prints will look better on certain types of paper but others will look worse.

Overall, I am currently just trying to reach the point where I have a portfolio of photographs that satisfy the requirements of the project remit and that both I and my tutor are happy with.

Final Thoughts

I am constantly reviewing my images and I strongly suspect that quite a few changes will be made before the submission of Assignment 5. However, the story board plan is the most satisfactory that I have come up with so far and I hope that the concepts contained therein can be retained in the final portfolio.

I still intend to make some videos featuring, for example, birds feeding from the hand. These will be submitted with the assessment work, as an “optional extra”. I will also produce a photo book, with added text for each of the photographs and possibly some extra photographs, once the portfolio has been finalised.

Exhibition Visit: "Guy Bourdin: Image Maker" (Somerset House, London, 14 February 2015)

A protégé of the surrealist Man Ray, Guy Bourdin (1928-91) rose to fame in the 1970s as a fashion photographer, working for Vogue magazine (Paris) and Charles Jourdin, manufacturer of high class women’s shoes (and in particular stiletto heels). Bourdin used his surrealist training, combined with a vivid imagination and a head full of ideas, to overturn convention in the world of fashion and advertising. He was a supreme innovator: where others used monochrome, he used vivid colour. Where others concentrated their efforts on the model and the product that (normally) she was wearing, he concentrated on the space surrounding her or did away with the model completely, creating mysterious, surreal tableaux around the product. Bourdin was also a perfectionist, planning his shoots in great detail in the form of working drawings, paintings and even Polaroid prints before producing his final work. Perhaps surprisingly he was also a very private person, refusing all interviews and never selling his work, despite receiving many generous offers. This exhibition, featuring over 100 of his works, including movies, notebooks and working drawings (many previously unseen), is the most comprehensive exhibition of Bourdin’s work to date.

Image 1 (Guy Bourdin for Charles Jourdin)

Image 1 (above), which was used extensively to advertise this exhibition, is typical of Bourdin’s work. Used as part of a Charles Jourdin advertising campaign, the shoes are stylish and clearly visible but only form a very small, if important part of the tableau. The eyes of the viewer (voyeur?) are drawn to the model’s body; her legs and backside, as we ask the question: what is she doing? Is there a gap between the red floor and the yellow wall if, indeed, these are floor and wall? In the absence of the model we would have been unaware of the three dimensionality of this image, but even in her presence we can’t be sure how Bourdin created his set and of what it consisted. Today we are used to seeing digitally altered images and (in particular) video in which the aesthetics of the advertising, rather than its bland details, attract us to a particular product. In Bourdin’s time this concept was revolutionary. My feminist companion was somewhat offended by Image 1 and some other images in the exhibition and there is indeed a feeling that the advertised clothes and accessories are deliberately made to play “second fiddle” to an erotic, titillating vision that prompts desire, for different reasons, in both men and women. However, in the 1960s and 1970s a new Jourdan advertising campaign was awaited with much anticipation.

The exhibition opens with several prints from Bourdin’s “Walking Legs” series, produced on a road trip round the UK in 1979. These photographs, again for the benefit of Charles Jourdin, do away with the use of models. Instead, several pairs of mannequin lower legs accompanied the heels, Bourdin, his partner, his son and an assistant on their journey. Giving free rein to his imagination and surrealist roots, Bourdin produced a collection of wild, fantastical images which explored the British culture (Image 2 is a good example). I have to say that I admired the richness and diversity of Bourdin’s work in the exhibition, his provocative use of eroticism and his daring (particularly for that era) in relegating the product, in many cases, to a minor role in the photograph. Whilst his portraits for Vogue were more “mainstream” than his Jourdin adverts they were still full of creativity in the way that he used his models and the props that often accompanied them.

Image 2 (Guy Bourdin for Charles Jourdin)

I thoroughly enjoyed this exhibition. Bourdin was many years ahead of his time: much of his work would still have been lauded if it had been produced today. In particular, his photographs for Charles Jourdin are not only innovatory and aesthetically pleasing; they also present tableaux that require the viewer to explore and interpret the image and to tease out the significance of the story portrayed. Furthermore, they do this without ever forgetting that they are advertising a particular product (for a final example of this, see Image 3).

Image 3 (Guy Bourdin for Charles Jourdin)

Bourdin’s creations were not produced overnight. A lot of planning went into his work and each tableau was probably prepared for several weeks prior to the final shoot. I can consider using some of his ideas (which include the example of holding a Polaroid print depicting a scene in the foreground of a modified version of the same scene: many fine art photographers have subsequently “stolen” this device), but the most important learning point that I can take from the exhibition is that success and recognition in photographic art come from a combination of imagination, planning and the drive to convert an idea into an end product.