Update 25 October

I have now completed Assignment 3 and will shortly publish and inform tutor.

Last two months have been very busy; training for a Marathon, busy at the schools (as FD of two Academies with 31 August year-ends this is the busiest time of year) and it is the start of the football season. The fruition of the marathon training is 4 November in Manhattan, following which I shall have more time for OCA.

I decided to concentrate on exercises and Assignment rather than worry about reading. This can follow in due course, but explains why log is rather thin.

I have been developing post processing skills. Upgraded Silver Efex Pro 2 and have experimented with some black and white conversions. Here are a couple of examples:

The first has been used by my wife as a cover for her latest publishing enterprise: a book of poetry entitled Through a Child's Eyes; the second is a good use of the structural properties of Silver Efex Pro. Compare the conversions to the originals:

The second in particular is a drab uninteresting picture before post processing; the first leaves us guessing at what the child is looking and in practical terms leaves the upper space for the book's title and author.

I have sensed since commencing OCA that there is a slightly uneasy relationship between the photography world, or, more correctly, the art photography world, and post processing. I am not talking here of a bit of cropping, some saturation and using Unsharp Mask, but more the complete rework of an image, such as the boy above, and even the cliffs image, or using HDR for example. Post processing is the elephant in the room - it is there, it is large, but is rather ignored. We just don't quite know what to do with it.

I had some correspondence on this with previous tutor; his view was as follows:

"......one thing I would mention, is the use of special effects filters, and specialized techniques.  It’s very easy to be seduced by these things, and initially their impact on an image can be gratifying, but it’s essential to use them in moderation, and for an appropriate purpose....explore their use and impact by all means, but then focus on the core approach to the craft."

This seems fair to a point, but I do disgree with the implication in the last clause, that somehow filters etc are not core approach. Obviously, they don't help with choice of subject or even some technical aspaects like focussing or depth of field. But they can change the image not just to be more striking (as with the cliffs) but to send a different message. Take the boy above. In the original, it is obvious he is looking out of a window high up; in the converted image we do not know what he is looking at (in the context of the book cover, that was the point).

I recall seeing about a year ago some images that a tutor was raving about on the OCA site: a girl standing near a window but taken through glass so she appeared partially distorted. This was viewed as imaginative partly no doubt because taken through glass, but a similar effect could easily have been obtained using one of the standard PS filters. Would this have induced the same reaction?

For me, THE most important photographic book is Scott Kelby's Book for Digital Photographers. Currently on CS5, it is updated when new versions of PS are released. It is my photographic bible. His message chimes with me: we do not want to spend ages on post processing so do what works simply and quickly and effectively.

OCA Meeting 13 October

One of the difficulties of studying with OCA is being able to interface with other students. There are meetings at galleries etc but these are usually in London, and there are the online forums but they do not replace face to face contact.

So I was pleased to see a while ago that OCA South West had commenced, using a Flickr account to set up a forum, the group has met once before, in Laycock.

I made contact a few weeks ago when came across the group somewhat by accident, and found that another meeting is being established. After some negotiation, the venue was decided as Bristol Docks, a mere 20 minute drive for me, so it seemed an ideal opportunity to meet some fellow students.

About eight of us (I say about as was not quite sure of status of a couple of the group) met at 11am at M Shed on 14 October. There were two doing art, the rest of us  photographers, all bar one doing Level One courses. We chatted for an hour,; I gained some invaluable feedback on the experiences of other students, for example on their thoughts on tutors, assignments, timetables. It helped to realise that some of my own thoughts on the OCA experience (partially set out in the Conclusion to TAOP) were shared by others. I am very glad previous tutor put me off doing Digital Photographic Practice; the two who are doing the course presently were critical of the material, in particular that it has failed to keep up to date with the fast moving changes in software.

At 12, we set off on our own to take images of the docks area and to share these on Flickr. I took the opportunity to complete images for Assignment 3, and took some other images as set out below.

We met again for lunch and further discussion. A very useful few hours for me, so  pleased to  be able to engage with other students at a similar stage face to face for the first time.  

These are some of the images I took, a couple of which will be used in next Chapter's exercises:

How space changes with light

The exercise is to demonstrate the appearance of space with light by taking images of the same space in different lighting conditions. There is congruence here with an exercise in TAOP - lighting through the day (see http://www.chrissimsartofphotography.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/light-through-day.html) where the same subject was taken at different times of the day.

I selected a fairly straightforward subject for this: our patio. I considered it unnecessary to overly complicate the exercise; something at home made for opportunity to consider different lighting. In order to maintain consistency with the angle of the shot, I used a tripod and marked where the feet should go (similar to the approach taken in the exercise referred to above).

The first two images are taken in sunlight:

The lower level sunlight of the first image provides more detail of the table and chairs. If we were advertising the products, this image would work far better than the second, where the camera has struggled with the degree of lighting contrast. We end up with a rather messy image of chaotic light and dark caused by the shadows. The eye is taken to the shadows on the ground and away from the furniture.

Now consider the scene in completely featureless light on a cloudy day - it is dull, flat and boring. The furniture is clear, but, frankly, looks unappealing in such a dull image.

Lastly, I took an image at night using the the outside tungsten lighting. This provides a much more intimate feel to the space (the far background is now completely dark).

I tried out some differing angles as suggested by the exercise but came to the conclusion that this really is the optimal angle for this space, and reviewing alternative angles confused the message.

So much of photography is about light that is is useful to revisit this concept in the current context. One factor I had not given much thought to before is the sense of intimacy that can be induced by taking images in different light; this plus reinforcing the point that dull light makes dull images are the learning outcomes from this exercise.

British Journal of Photography October 2012

After a couple of very uninspiring issues, October's BJP has in depth interviews with William Klein and Daido Moriyama.

Thankfully avoiding pompous language (notwithstanding a "discombobulation") and meaningless phrases, the interviews are interesting and enlightening.

Klein's seminal work is Life is Good & Good for You in New York: Trance Witness Revels published in 1956. It was very deliberate antidote to Cartier Bresson's The Decisive Moment published five years earlier. Cartier Bresson set a paradigm that was disturbed by the expressionism of Klein. This image  is an example from the book:

I explored more of Klein's work on his online gallery and was impressed. It is art, but not art for art's sake; Klein's images are cleverly composed with interesting subject matters. This is another example:

Cineposter, Tokyo 1961

 Klein wanted to be an artist; he received an education in Paris, courtesy of funding as a GI just after WWII. After New York, He published three more books: Rome (1958), Tokyo (1964) and Moscow (1964).

Moriyama is less well known in West; despite a prolific career mainly producing photobooks, Moriyama has come to the fore relatively recently. As with Klein, I like the images because they are cleverly composed as well as artistic. This is a fine example:

Tights, 2011

Moriyama has an extraordinary breadth of subject matter for the semi abstract as above to the earthy people image:

Provoke no 2, 1969

The user's viewpoint

I chose some very different scenarios to demonstrate user's viewpoint. This is a fairly loosely defined exercise and I had some challenge with understanding what is being looked for; other blogs assisted but it seemed wise to interpret the exercise as I saw fit.

The first location is the hire depot of Edge Equipment Hire in Runcorn; specifically the warehouse section. I co-own this business although am passive as regards management of it.

Both of these shots were taken with f22 focal length, designed to capture a wide perspective of the warehouse.

This is a storage for the equipment waiting to go on hire so the user is concerned with several important operational matters:

• Layout of items so he can easily identify what he wants;
• Space to be able to move and transport the equipment and to work on equipment;
• Light to see the items clearly;
• Health and Safety so items can be stacked sensibly and in an orderly way

The images are taken from an eye level viewpoint as this is the natural way that the user will encounter the viewpoint. The first image works well to give the senses of space and orderliness, the second better meets the third and fourth requirements: light and health and safety.


The next scenario is as far from this as possible can be imagined.

Iona Abbey is a well known pilgrimage destination; I use a viewpoint of the cloisters for this exercise.  This image invites the viewer to be empathetic with the monks as they walk slowly in silent contemplation, and thus is taken at eye level with 28mm focal length. There is a sense of quiet contemplation in the uncluttered environs.

Lastly, and again in contrast, a view of the Olympic stadium in Stratford is included.

This is taken with a very wide angle - 10mm- as we are trying to get the sense of the scale of the vista that confronts the user. I chose this partly because it does include the crowd; in this image I think including many people is important because here we are trying to evoke excitement, anticipation, noise and action, responses that do not naturally flow from still images. The inclusion of someone else taking video adds to the feeling that the user is party to an exciting and fulfilling event. The viewpoint is sitting, exactly as the remainder of the crowd is.

I took this exercise to be about having a sense of empathy with the user; trying to convey the viewpoint and use that the user would make of his or her viewpoint. It is a little about photography in a functional sense and made me think about what the user is anticipating from the space that  he or she confronts.

The Photography as Contemporary Art`: chapters3-4

3 Deadpan

A prominent style of last twenty years has been deadpan shaped by the Bechers and their students, the most prominent of whom is Andreas Gursky. He uses large prints that are discrete, he does not produce series. Uses high vantage points as in Chicago, Board of Trade.

 A number of photographers have used photography to demonstrate scenes without people. I find these interesting because they challenge the viewer to consider what the elements in the image are for, how do they function for their users, DO they function for their users. The absence of people raises the last issue, and gives us no clues as to how the constructions impact on people's lives.

An example is Bridget Smith's Airport, Las Vegas where she deliberately takes casinos in the daytime, when they lack the glitzy bright light look of night.

"Deadpan photography often acts in [a] fact-stating modes; the personal politics of the photographers come into play in their selection of subject matter and their anticipation of the viewer's analysis of it, not in any explicit political statement through text or photographic style."

Lewis Baltz has worked with images of high tech laboratories.

Dan Holdsworth has specialised in in "liminal spaces" where our sense of place is dislocated.

Struth has taken many images of people in galleries, invoking a somewhat self conscious self appraisal for gallery goers of their own behaviour.

Others have used the approach in a more rural setting, eg Niewig's images of places close to home. She looks for examples of where nature may have interfered with the agricultural order of straight lines.

Clare Richardson has taken images of Romanian farming communities to show how the landscape remains unchanged. A similar approach to balancing the sublime and romantic capacity of landscape and a clear cut style of photography has been used also by Jasansky and Polak in Czech Landscapes.

Lastly, Cotton looks at deadpan in portraiture.

Ruff asked his subjects to remain expressionless. Others take expressionless images of people on the street - Sternfeld and Hanzlova, for example.

Dijkstra chooses particular moments or spaces to take unsentimental images, e.g. her images of three naked women after childbirth.

4 Something and Nothing

This chapter focusses on the object - "how non-human things can be made extraordinary by being photographed".

Well-known example is Fischli and  Weiss's Quiet Afternoon series, strange sculptures of every day things.

Less sure about Orzoca's Breath on Piano, an interesting idea but does it show much?

Like Wentworth's photographs of urban detritus being used for unconventional purposes, such as a car door being used to block access to a doorway (King's Cross).

Architectural images in this genre are typically of buildings that have outlived their useful lives, e.g. Hernandez's image Aliso Village of a skeleton hung form a ceiling of a presumably defunct room.

The images here aim to alter our perceptions of daily lives, perhaps to look at our environment with a broader mind, to (colloquially) think outside the box.

Tillmans works with a variety of subjects to explore the relationship of photography with its subjects. Suit  is an example.

Jeff Wall's image of a mop bucket (Diagonal Composition no 3) "...challenges us to consider why we are looking at this". This is an example of where the art stops for me, as in some of the images in chapter one, it is getting too close to taking the audience for granted.

Exploring function

In this exercise, we are to think about space and how it is intended that it is used and then translate this thought into an image.

Working schools provides opportunities to consider a variety of uses for rooms and spaces. I was especially interested to consider a space in Bristol Cathedral Choir School; one that, as far as I am aware, has no name, perhaps in consideration of the very general role it plays.

The space was the main entrance for the school but has now been superseded by another one. Immediately, then, one has to consider what an "ex lobby area" might be used for. I came up with the following:

• exit and entrance;
• information;
• storage;
• meeting;
• waiting room;
• display;
• learning 

Looking at how well the space succeeds in these:

Exit and entrance function is the most fundamental function of any internal space, the ex lobby area has five doors in all; well spaced out. It works.

It is a relatively easy win to provide information in any space - some props like display stands and material on walls  provides ample opportunity. The space in ex lobby is used rather formally and unimaginatively but the function is provided.

Storage is not provided in ex lobby to any degree.

Meetings are made possible by the provision of comfortable chairs but the lack of privacy and amount of passing human traffic mitigates against more than brief non private meetings.

Ex lobby is well suited to being a waiting room, though the unimaginative information and display do little to excite the curiosity of the visitor.

Display material is on view, albeit rather dated and somewhat of an afterthought, being a series of masks evidently made by a year 8 class that would probably prefer to forget them.

Learning is not really possible in this open, busy and rather eclectic space.

Having thought about the space, I decided to take a wide angle shot from a slight elevation:

I think this aspect does show the functions mentioned, but importantly the rather restricted nature of some of them. For example, the mask display is shown as restricted to the mantelpiece and the photographs of teachers and others on the left is very formal and unimaginative (and actually too many).

On a more positive note, the mannequins in the foreground are seen to be demonstrating the school uniform. There is a sense of comfort in the waiting area, and, perhaps most importantly, the central area is free form obstruction for ready ingress and egress.

I was not quite sure of how to tackle this exercise but am content that I achieved the process of considering the theoretical functionality of the space, and then demonstrating with an image.