Update 29 April (2)

Have been using time between courses developing a series of images for an exhibition in St James's Wine Vaults Bath. Have learnt a lot doing this not least why it is a good idea to continut to do OCA digitally - the extra work in printing, mounting (and framing but not required for OCA) etc is not to be understimated, as well as space considerations - what do you do with all the prints when done?

Have 21 framed images and have added notes for each one. Space does not permit to give details on blog but here are four examples of images and accompanying notes:

 

Sunset over the Veldt

Canon EOS 450D with EF70-200mm f/4L USM .  f11; 1/350; ISO 200; focal length 98mm

This sunset scene was taken in Addo Elephant Park, near Port Elizabeth, South Africa. I was struck by the rich colours and the graduated toning that resulted from the undulating landscape.

 Violet

Canon EOS 450D with EF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM. f4.5; 1/90; ISO 800 focal length 22mm

Violet is recognised as the most elusive primary or secondary colour for photographers. It occurs rarely naturally so this opportunity to take a sunset with rich shades of violet just after a thunderstorm was not to be missed. The location was Ephraim in Wisconsin, one of the few places on the western side of Lake Michigan affording a westerly view over the lake.

The image is mainly about colour: not only the violet, but also the deep red sunset near the lake, and the tonated orange higher in the sky. The effect is accentuated by the reflection in the foreground puddle. The heavily silhouetted vertical timber piles make for an interesting contrast to the smooth natural shapes.

 

Milwaukee River Bridge

Canon EOS 450D with EF70-200mm f/4L USM. f13; 1/500; ISO 100 focal length 130mm

I am interested in capturing the texture of structures; this close up is a good example – the weather beaten steel spars and the crudely attached weathered sign made for an ideal sepia style image created using Silver Efex Pro 2.

Marionette

Point and shoot f4.3; 1/80; ISO 160 focal length 14.7mm

These street performers were photographed on the Golden Mile in Edinburgh during the Fringe. A mild painterly effect has been added to accentuate the face paints and costumes. I like the contrast of the in your face stare of the marionette with the almost uninterested expression of the manipulator as he looks at something off shot.

As have mentioned before, have had half an eye on this course for a while now, and this image was taken with P&P in mind; it may yet appear!

I added some bio notes and an invitation to buy the images should there be interest.

About the Photographer

Chris Sims is a keen amateur photographer having taken up the hobby seriously about seven years ago. Chris is studying towards a degree in photography with the Open College of the Arts, though candidly admits he may never quite get time to complete the course!

In his day job, Chris works in finance and it is probably no coincidence that he has been most successful in his OCA course in terms of visual/technical skills; “I need to progress further with creativity” he says.

This is Chris’s first exhibition. He does occasional commissions. He was a member of Hanham Photographic Society until commencing the OCA course – “too much time on photography to continue with both” – and regularly achieved winning and commended entries in competitions; many of the images here being examples.

His work available for sale is viewable on www.poetryspace.co.uk, a website established by his wife Sue and shared with Chris.

Chris shoots using a Canon EOS 450D. “I was told early on that lenses are more important than the camera body so have made my major investment in lenses – five in total, all of which have been used in one or more of the images in the exhibition. He has also an Olympus point and shoot waterproof camera, useful in wet conditions and for having in your pocket as a “just in case camera”, as with the Marrionette image.

A strong believer in post processing, Chris shoots exclusively digital. “We are really now at the point where most images are not complete in camera due to the range of post processing techniques.” He likes to experiment with different techniques as a few of the images in the exhibition demonstrate.

About the Photographs

All the photographs are for sale at the following prices:

20” x 16” mounted and framed                           £69

14” x 11” mounted and framed                           £49

Foam mounted                                                  £39

All the images in this exhibition are available  in these sizes, mounted and/or framed. Different sizes are possible. 

Please contact Chris on 0117 9614081, 07715 760884, chris.sims@cantab.net or via poetryspace.co.uk

Convention seems to be that you theme exhibitions, and I probably have too many images here, but let's see how it goes. It's a bit of fun.

Update 29 April (1)

Had email exchange with previous tutor as follows:

Hello Chris, 

That's a good result, glad you're pleased. I attended a day long workshop for photography tutors at OCA, very interesting, good democratic process. We did some moderation, and interesting to note that very few first class marks have bee awarded over the past years.

I hope you enjoy People and Place, and yes, it's a good idea totake another tutor for a different point of view, but keep in touch, please.

Best

Russell

---

From: Chris Sims <chris.sims@cantab..net>
To: 'russell murray' <rsmurrayuk@yahoo.co.uk>
Sent: Thursday, 26 April 2012, 17:12
Subject: TAOP

Russell

Received the mark from OCA today..

Got 62% (2:1 standard) as follows:

Technical and visual skills              28/40

Quality of Outcome                        12/20

Demonstration of Creativity        10/20

Context                                                12/20

Overall, pleased with this.. Somewhere in the bumph they said they rarely grade at First standard so this seems fine.

And it reflects my work well – the creativity side is my weakest, and technical/visual strongest; pretty much knew that when I started! The overall does I think tie up with your qualitative assessments too.

You mentioned context several times to me; undoubtedly this is something I could work on. Quality might be improved by printing more but I can do this course only by using digital means in order to keep the time spent to a sensible amount.

Having had a break now, I shall take up your suggestion of People and Places. Having thought it through, think it would be better to have another tutor for this course; it will give me another perspective. I am very unlikely ever to do more than another three photography modules so want to take the chance to take a range of views.

Thanks again.

Best wishes

Chris

Interestingly this backs up my feeling that very few Firsts are awarded - the website says so somewhere I believe. Getting a First for technical and visual skills was therefore a good result, and reinforces belief that is the other areas that need development.

  

British Journal of Photography April 2012

This month has the usual range of images from both established and newer photographers.

Main articles are on Boris Mikhailov, a Ukrainian engineer turned photographer. He undoubtedly has benefited simply by being a photographer during the Communist era (he had some grief with the KGB) and then producing Case History, an almanac of the people whose life chances struck rock bottom post Communism.

The prints in the article are striking, ranging from some fairly basic record type shots of the Communist era to some effective monochrome images from At Dusk.

The other leading photographer featured is Roger Ballen, who has become almost a cult figure in South Africa. His work is left field - "at the heart of his practice is a belief that a photograph can encompass or borrow from the attributes of fiction, sculpture, theatre or canvas" writes Lucy Davies.

His latest set of images is Asylum in which he more or less eliminates the human face; an interesting development in light of the title and content of this course - would Ballen only do "Place"? Worth quoting Ballen in this context at length:

"I've found that no matter how hard you try, when people look at a photograph, the first thing they go after is the face. That's where the meaning is centralised.If you can pull the face out, then all the other aspects of the image tend to play a greater role."

I like the work - it is imaginative, creative and as close to "art" as you are likely to get in photography.

There is a  portfolio article on Robin Maddock, in particular his work God Forgotten Face, again relevant to this course as Maddock takes images of his adopted home: Plymouth. Have to be frank and say the images in the article were unremarkable - one, of a set of stairs, and another of two wheelie bins, are really very ordinary; one has difficult understanding what message is being conveyed.

Some shorter articles on travel are the month's featured projects. Like Sabine Mirlesse's image of a naked woman in Iceland but rather less convinced by Rupert Nightingale's work in Benidorm or Mark Hartman's in Panama.

Introductory post 27 April 2012

Yesterday I received the result of the assessment in The Art of Photography. the mark was 62%, equivalent to a 2:1; it counts for nothing in terms of a degree grade, but that is not the point for me. I am unlikely ever to complete the degree so wanted at this stage some reassurance that I am not overstretching myself; that my methodology of using blog solely works; and that I am not wasting my time pretending I am a better photographer than I truly am.

The result satisfied me in all those respects. The breakdown of the mark was as follows:

Technical and visual skills              28/40

Quality of Outcome                       12/20

Demonstration of Creativity            10/20

Context                                        12/20

So, not unexpectedly I am strongest in the technical and visual areas. Have always said that composition is probably my strongest point. Quality and context are OK.Not quite sure what I can do about quality; whether that reflects slightly negatively on using blog is something I shall discuss with tutor. Equally I am not quite sure what is meant by context, again some tutorial help required. 

Clearly the weak area is creativity - it is alright (just) but I can see this being even more of an issue in this course. I have always said this course is one stage at a time - I have elected to do a second course because the first went well; if it transpires that I am simply not creative enough to progress far and this course reflects that problem, then so be it. To a degree, I have proved to myself what I wanted: I can claim to be more than your average happy snapper, now it is a question of extending and challenging myself a little more. If it works, it works; if not, have done what I set out to do and leave it at that.

Why People and Place? Previous tutor put me off doing DPP (what Freeman considers the normal second option) as he said I would not learn that much from it. Perhaps it would be a relatively easy 40 credits but hardly worth spending £675 to do that. I get work flow - use it all the time for my images - and am proficient in PS5 and related software. The alternative was a non photographic course: Visual Culture or Western Art; I will probably do one of those if P&P goes OK and thereby achieve 120 credits. 

But for now, concentrate on this course. Have done very little photography for two months; now is time to get back into it again. TAOP has been very useful in making me aware of the way the courses are structured, the time required; how to set out one's work; how to plan. I wanted to get on with TAOP, and completed in 10 months; this time I anticipate it will take longer. I am running the New York marathon in November and training for that will take up a lot of time (thought about delaying start for a few months because of that but eventually decided to crack on - do have two years to complete). Work may extend to four days pw at least temporarily too.

So let's summarise some aims:

1. Complete course in timely and organised fashion using blogs;
2. Learn more about context and quality and how they might be improved;
3. Try and get creative (do need some help here);
4. Learn some new techniques (TAOP got me taking still life and using flash for example);
5. Enjoy it - had one or two stressful moments with TAOP, and don't want to repeat that (less likely because the stress was caused by ignorance of the processes and now understand these)

I don't actually know a lot about the content of this course but it takes little guessing. In preparation for this course have taken some images that thought likely to be suitable for use so will be using these if and where appropriate.