Update 29 December

Photography generally, and OCA work in particular, has been fitted in around other things recently: training for the New York marathon was a particular distraction and work has also been very busy, with City Academy becoming a multi trust. as Finance Director. This involved me in a lot of work with advisers and solicitors such that work matters have strayed into Fridays, the day I normally spend on OCA.

I have started the South West Coast Path, on 1st and 2nd December walking from Minehead to Porlock Weir and from there to Lynmouth. The 630 walk will provide opportunities for images suitable for Landscapes, a module I wish to do in the future. For the present, I have set up a blog - Minehead to Poole - that uses the dynamic view available in blogspot and linked images from Flickr account to the blog. Have found that images do not upload easily to blogspot so a link works well. This would have been an idea for this blog, and would be a way to keep blogs for future courses.

As I near the end of this course - Assignment 4 is nearly complete and have idea for Assignment 5 - I am thinking about what next with OCA. Have not completed much reading on this course. This is partly because I found the recommended books a difficult read and not particularly relevant, and partly because of time. I have viewed reading as part of a long-term interest in the subject (and do so even when not on OCA course so some of my background reading does not feature on the blog) so am concentrating on completing exercises and assignments.

I have decided that the only other Part 1 course I am interested in is Understanding Visual Culture. Digital Photograhic Practice is too basic and outdated to add much to my knowledge and I am uninterested in Digital Film Production. History of Western Art requires drawing skills I do not possess so UVC is by default the only option, and have had some good feedback on from one other OCA student on the course.

The main challenge for UVC is that it will require a degree of discipline as regards reading, so  have decided to finish People & Place now and then take a break until I am confident that I have time enough to devote to the requisite reading.

Feel more content that have a plan now; Assignment 5 beckons.

British Journal of Photography December 2012

The December issue of BJP is devoted almost entirely to emerging talent. Under the generic title of  "Ones to Watch", the magazine sets out some of the work of twenty emerging talents in the photographic world.

It is an eclectic mix of the spectacular, the bizarre, the artistic and the ordinary. I select three: the two whose work struck me best, and one whose work I found somewhat less appealing.

Jun Ahn's project Self Portrait comprises images she took of herself on the top of tall buildings or at or near windows. This series is difficult for those like me who dislike heights, but it is impossible not to be amazed at the cleverness and boldness (some may say brash carelessness) of the situations in which Ahn puts herself. One's first conclusion is that Ahn has cleverly used post processing to superimpose one image on a background but she denies this; the only prop is a harness for some of the images.

The images are available at  http://ahnjun.com/section/247497_S_e_l_f_P_o_r_t_r_a_i_t.html - it was not possible to download.


Ahn takes many images by putting her camera into drive mode then reviewing thousands of images that, in her words "subvert the context".

I am taken greatly with these images. Beautifully produced, the subject matter is dramatic. It is photography at its best.

In a slightly different mode, I am impressed with the series Martimas 1 and Maritimas 2 from Brazilian photographer Jose Diniz. He shoots monochrome images of seascapes with what BJP describes a. "curious unsettling view". I know what they mean. These are dark images, in a literal and metaphorical sense. Diniz clearly uses a high degree of post processing, including a liberal degree of vignetting.

Diniz J. (2012 [online image] available from http://www.josediniz.com.br/ [Accessed 22 December 2012]

Diniz J. (2012) [online image] available from http://www.josediniz.com.br/ [Accessed 22 December 2012]

This series strikes me as an original presentation of what is well worked subject. Simple but dramatic.

Lastly, I look at the work of Lauren Marsolier. The images in BJP are taken from Transition, a set of images very much in the mould of  the Dusseldorf school, albeit Marsolier makes no mention of the influence of the Bechers and their students.

Marsolier L. (2009-12) [onlime image] available from http://www.laurenmarsolier.com/index.php?/ongoing/projects/ {Accessed 22 December 2012]

Marsolier L. (2009-12) [onlime image] available from http://www.laurenmarsolier.com/index.php?/ongoing/projects/ {Accessed 22 December 2012]

"I felt compelled to give a visual shape to my disorientated mental state" she says. Frankly, it is difficult to see what a composite image constructed from photographs taken in Europe and the US is really telling us. I find it pointless; it is not clever photography, and the message is either too abstract or possibly not really there despite Marsolier's claim.