Am guessing this blog will stagnate for a while, as have decided to make my notes regarding the People and Place course over at :-
papsville.bennphoto.co.uk
As I dont tend to take to many photo's of folk, and although I'm not entirely papping myself I thought the play on words with PaP was an appropriate name for the new blog.
Saturday, 29 October 2011
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
DPP - Sent for assignment! waaaa!!!
Didn't realise how nervous I would be when I took my little parcel to the post office yesterday afternoon...but its now gone, off for assessment... and fingers crossed should arrive in good time for the deadline.
So - 1 year with the OCA has flown by, I started off with in complete apprehension, but ended up getting more and more into the course, and now tend to sing its praises oh too often.
Next up for me is going to be the People & Place course... going to splash some cash and purchase online in the next day or so.
Oh - funny things happen, I made a draft video to show how my learning logs have built up over the course of the year; thinking it could be used in a digital submission, rather than posting everything I had collected in the year. Well, after emailling it to Jose to ask his opinion... it's now been posted on the We Are OCA blog, and view count on vimeo stands at over 500 viewings. My little draft video too... hehehe. Here's the post :-
http://www.weareoca.com/photography/how-ben-works/
Only thing - I may have to change the ending of the video now - after seeing Donovan Wylie at the Ways Of Looking festival. Just everything that was said from both Donovan and Greg Hobson (Media Museum Curator) clicked. Thought some notes about it would make a good beginning to a new blog that I'll setup for People & Place. Until then...
So - 1 year with the OCA has flown by, I started off with in complete apprehension, but ended up getting more and more into the course, and now tend to sing its praises oh too often.
Next up for me is going to be the People & Place course... going to splash some cash and purchase online in the next day or so.
Oh - funny things happen, I made a draft video to show how my learning logs have built up over the course of the year; thinking it could be used in a digital submission, rather than posting everything I had collected in the year. Well, after emailling it to Jose to ask his opinion... it's now been posted on the We Are OCA blog, and view count on vimeo stands at over 500 viewings. My little draft video too... hehehe. Here's the post :-
http://www.weareoca.com/photography/how-ben-works/
Only thing - I may have to change the ending of the video now - after seeing Donovan Wylie at the Ways Of Looking festival. Just everything that was said from both Donovan and Greg Hobson (Media Museum Curator) clicked. Thought some notes about it would make a good beginning to a new blog that I'll setup for People & Place. Until then...
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
DPP Assignment 5 - Feedback
Had my comments back from the 5th assignment, very positive (phew!) but they also reflected the many quandries I had in creating the set.
My main problem was that I was trying to convey aspects that I had learnt, but also combine that into a personal project as well.
For the assignment - I'd wanted to explore how here in the West we're so ready and happy to throw away last years gadgets, and some of the reasons for why we're so indoctrinated to buy. I'd seen an image by Pieter Hugo at the V&A in London, and later purchased his book Permanent Error. Its an horrific book, showing many scenes where electrical waste is being pawed over in a barren wasteland in Ghana. It had quite an effect on me, so wanted to look into that world from the perspective of someone living in the UK. Not setting out to prove any links between what we do in the UK, and the waste that lands in Africa - but more to look at how we're bombarded at all fronts to spend and buy, which then lends itself to people throwing stuff.
Oh - On the flip side, I also wanted to see if there was anything that would portray the things that are going on to push back against mass consumerism. To see if the 3 R's of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle were being put into action.
The final set is on a little web gallery, (as I wanted to see how Lightroom would behave in creating something. Its flash based, so no Apple iOS devices cant see it.)
http://www.bennphoto.co.uk/switchToBetter/dpp5/
I'd cogitated about whether or not to include some images, so it was helpful that Jose thought some of my rejects would be better placed in the main set and others moved out into the rubbish pile.
So the series ended up being quite a melting pot of images of advertising, waste, gadgets, fly tipped stuff. A lot of the images Jose described as having a deadpan look, and that a couple of the images had strong leading lines that didn't fit with the deadpan ones. I think I understand where he's coming from on this, and did feel this myself when gathering the images as they didn't have the flow that my B&W set had back in Assignment 3. In the end though, I liked the fact they didn't let me settle, and I hope this comes across in the sequence of images. Maybe I will look back on this blog in a year or so's time and thing, poo - maybe I should have re-shot some in a similar deadpan vein.
One big thank you! I had to get permission to take a couple of the images. So if you see this blog; you know who you are, and many thanks for letting me take my photo's. I would like to say more, but want the set to be as generic as possible, to make them look like they could have been taken anywhere in the UK.
I'm not an investigative journalist, and didn't set out to find or prove any links between here and Africa, but what I did find, was that although there are small shoots of hope, with people recycling, reusing (by the way, I did take an image to depict freecycle... it was pants and didn't make the final cut, well it did until Jose pointed out that it wasn't much cop... fair cop!)...Anyway
...what I didn't see was any evidence of people reducing.
My main problem was that I was trying to convey aspects that I had learnt, but also combine that into a personal project as well.
For the assignment - I'd wanted to explore how here in the West we're so ready and happy to throw away last years gadgets, and some of the reasons for why we're so indoctrinated to buy. I'd seen an image by Pieter Hugo at the V&A in London, and later purchased his book Permanent Error. Its an horrific book, showing many scenes where electrical waste is being pawed over in a barren wasteland in Ghana. It had quite an effect on me, so wanted to look into that world from the perspective of someone living in the UK. Not setting out to prove any links between what we do in the UK, and the waste that lands in Africa - but more to look at how we're bombarded at all fronts to spend and buy, which then lends itself to people throwing stuff.
Oh - On the flip side, I also wanted to see if there was anything that would portray the things that are going on to push back against mass consumerism. To see if the 3 R's of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle were being put into action.
http://www.bennphoto.co.uk/switchToBetter/dpp5/
I'd cogitated about whether or not to include some images, so it was helpful that Jose thought some of my rejects would be better placed in the main set and others moved out into the rubbish pile.
One big thank you! I had to get permission to take a couple of the images. So if you see this blog; you know who you are, and many thanks for letting me take my photo's. I would like to say more, but want the set to be as generic as possible, to make them look like they could have been taken anywhere in the UK.
I'm not an investigative journalist, and didn't set out to find or prove any links between here and Africa, but what I did find, was that although there are small shoots of hope, with people recycling, reusing (by the way, I did take an image to depict freecycle... it was pants and didn't make the final cut, well it did until Jose pointed out that it wasn't much cop... fair cop!)...Anyway
...what I didn't see was any evidence of people reducing.
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Gallery Brain Dump Part II
Damien Hurst @Leeds City Gallery
Managed to time my visit so that I got in for free. Not sure I like (or is it that I don't appreciate) but there was one of his formaldehyde animals on show. An o'so fluffy lamb. Apart from that I found everything a little bit too clinical and sharp. Everything looked just a bit too good, and precise. Another gallery had some interesting exhibits, and one series of photos called 24hrs in Vienna. The set of a man writhing around on a floor in various contusions. Things like this make me smile a bit, as I can imagine it was interesting to create. The pdf for the exhibition http://www.leeds.gov.uk/artGallery/files/MG_ArtGallery/2011/30/young%20curators%20catalogue.pdf
Back to London...
National Portrait Gallery, There was a series of photos of Team GB 2012 athletes. Managed to sneak a quick grab on the iPod touch, as with many of the images, I couldn't work out how some of the lighting setups had been done. The one attached here, is the strobe just out of shot or was it cloned out? Hmmm. The image is of Philips Odowu, triple jumper.
Still a cracking set of images.
Managed to time my visit so that I got in for free. Not sure I like (or is it that I don't appreciate) but there was one of his formaldehyde animals on show. An o'so fluffy lamb. Apart from that I found everything a little bit too clinical and sharp. Everything looked just a bit too good, and precise. Another gallery had some interesting exhibits, and one series of photos called 24hrs in Vienna. The set of a man writhing around on a floor in various contusions. Things like this make me smile a bit, as I can imagine it was interesting to create. The pdf for the exhibition http://www.leeds.gov.uk/artGallery/files/MG_ArtGallery/2011/30/young%20curators%20catalogue.pdf
Back to London...
National Portrait Gallery, There was a series of photos of Team GB 2012 athletes. Managed to sneak a quick grab on the iPod touch, as with many of the images, I couldn't work out how some of the lighting setups had been done. The one attached here, is the strobe just out of shot or was it cloned out? Hmmm. The image is of Philips Odowu, triple jumper.
Sunday, 11 September 2011
Exhibitions Brain Dump...Part I
Seems that I've been to quite a few galleries in the past week or so; and should make some notes before the grey cells forget.
Impressions Gallery - Murray Bullard's images looking at Cryogenics; from sites in the United States, Russia, and portraits of people who plan to freeze themselves when they die.
For me, the one image by Taryn Simon in her book "American Index of Hidden and Unfamiliar" was enough of a glimpse into this world for me. But what astounded me from the exhibition was the effort that must have been put in to collect this series of images. So although the subject matter wasn't something I much cared for, the impressions gallery is a lovely space, and Bullard's large prints had an excellent quality in this setting.
Constance Stubbs Retrospective, Rougham Barn Suffolk.
Conny has been a friend of my parents for quite some time, so it was lovely to be able to 'gatecrash' this event with them. Conny is an painter / artist, nee a Photographer, but many of her large vibrant paintings have a dreamlike, somewhat fairytale dimension to them. Would love to impart some of that 'wonder' into the photos I take.
Atlas Gallery - Snape Maltings
Didnt plan to go here, as the antiques hall and a spot of lunch in a local pub was the order of the day, so was suprised to find this. The gallery is like a sweet shop of images from all the big name photographers that you could think of, all for sale; rare photo books for sale too... to many names, too many lovely prints to mention. Not enough cash to purchase any! (must try harder) It was like walking into a small version of the media museums "Lives of Great Photographers" and giving it a contemporary squeeze.
Hepworth Wakefield
Avoided going on the bank holiday, and the place was still rammed on the Tuesday. Funny to hear visitors saying 'This is just what Wakefield needs to put it on the map..." - Certainly, Its a step in the right direction for Wakefield and hats off to the people who got it built. (the old addage of 'if you build it they will come') Best room for me in the exhibition was the room that showed Hepworths working practices; her note books, her tools etc. Not going to make any comments about the sculpture, as I dont know enough about the subject, but thoroughly enjoyed the visit.
National Portrait Gallery - BP Portrait Award, London 2012, and Hollywood Gods.
I'll start with the Gods exhibition. This made me think that gallery spaces are sometimes not the best places to view art. The rooms were really full, and it wasnt comfortable lingering on any image due to the numbers of people hustling and bustling. For a paid exhibit; this is obviously fantastic for the gallery - but for me lesson learnt - go early or arrive late-ish. The BP Portrait Award, a free exhibit, and so so many people; Mr Misthanthrope didnt linger long. One thing that I don't understand - the photo realistic paintings; will have to read up to see why someone does something like this and not just use a camera.
Tate Modern - Taryn Simon 'A Living Man Declared Dead and Other Chapters' and Diane Arbus Artitst Room.
Simon's epic exhibition disappointed whilst there, but have thought about it a lot since, and it has lingered afterwards. Did make me think that Photography isn't just about the photography, and that the context, and accompanying text have a massive part to play too. Just can't imagine the effort, time, travel involved, arrangements and logistics involved in something like this. So now I'm not disappointed, but in awe; funny how things get me like this.
Diane Arbus, quite stunning, but also so so sad; especially the last room with quite un-nerving images of masked disabled people. Dates on these images suggested to be around the time that Arbus passed on. The info on the entrances that described the exhibit didn't mention how Arbus died, so although this is well known, i'm not sure if this was intentionally left out.
Thomas Struth
Didn't mean to save the best to last, and got to Whitechapel gallery an hour before it closed, so luckliy not a lot of people were there, and pretty much had the exhibition to myself. You could spend an hour just looking into one of his images; and the scale of them too, just incredible. One maaahooosive image of a Oil rig being built in a harbour, if you looked ever so closely you could see that it had been together from multiple parts; had wondered how you would move something like that about between galleries.
Bought the exhibtion catalogue, as an hour wasnt long enough...
Saturday, 3 September 2011
Tumbleweeds...
This online learning log has taken bit of hit, and been on the back burner due to getting into the final assignment of the course.
It seemed to be that throughout each module, I would make notes on this little learning log, and it would tick over quite nicely, and then brrrrrrrr head down, focus and plug away with the assignment at the end of each module. Day job has also got in the way this time too, and summer hols a little bit as well (even though they've just been the odd day here and there)
But assignment 5 is pretty much in the bag now; just need to review things after my comments from Jose, make some little tweaks.
So...now I hope to get time now to type up my notes from the few exhibitions and places that i've been able to visit - before I forget.
Oh - dont think I ever got round to posting this - a copy of my submission for assignment 4, the book cover.
Had to make one minor adjustment to the final image, as at the roof of the structure (the Atom Panopticon in Lancashire) a small line of pixels had started to glow a bright aqua colour. To over come this, a simple lasso selection was made around it, a hue saturation layer mask made, and then used the pippet to select the colour i wanted to adjust; it was then a matter of dropping the lightness and pulling the hue to match the rest of the surrounding pixels. Quite pleased it only took me a few mins to solve it - guess things must be starting to sink in.
It seemed to be that throughout each module, I would make notes on this little learning log, and it would tick over quite nicely, and then brrrrrrrr head down, focus and plug away with the assignment at the end of each module. Day job has also got in the way this time too, and summer hols a little bit as well (even though they've just been the odd day here and there)
But assignment 5 is pretty much in the bag now; just need to review things after my comments from Jose, make some little tweaks.
So...now I hope to get time now to type up my notes from the few exhibitions and places that i've been able to visit - before I forget.
Oh - dont think I ever got round to posting this - a copy of my submission for assignment 4, the book cover.
Had to make one minor adjustment to the final image, as at the roof of the structure (the Atom Panopticon in Lancashire) a small line of pixels had started to glow a bright aqua colour. To over come this, a simple lasso selection was made around it, a hue saturation layer mask made, and then used the pippet to select the colour i wanted to adjust; it was then a matter of dropping the lightness and pulling the hue to match the rest of the surrounding pixels. Quite pleased it only took me a few mins to solve it - guess things must be starting to sink in.
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
DPP Exercise 25 : Web Gallery
Although I work in I.T, this exercise should be easy for me to tackle, but has also ended up being something that I have struggled with the most.
My thoughts about getting content online were that I would only put images that I'm happy with on Flickr; but over time I've got bored with it, to be honest its interface has been something of a cludge that just isn't enjoyable, so my space on there has become somewhat of a dumping ground of all and everything.
So recently, I've been thinking about getting an account on 500px or 1x, but as yet I haven't plumped for one or t'other. Have flickr as the splurge and one of these sites for anything I want to get out there.
But this exercise asked for creation of a web gallery, and as I have in the past fought with editing HTML, CSS, XML, thought I would let an automated program take the brunt. Ending up using the Web Gallery module in Lightroom to create the following page :-
Web Gallery Exercise
These are the images I submitted for Exercise 3, the B&W module.
Using an automated tool means compromises, in this case, its flash based, so excludes iOS devices such as iPhone, iPad, iPod touch. Being tied in flash means that other content in the page is limited to the options that are provided by Lightroom, and the XML file behind the scenes only allows basic adjustments. It uses Autoviewer, and you can buy a full version from simpleviewer.net, but for a quick and dirty gallery, I'm quite pleased with what the Lightroom module can chuck out.
If I can find something along these lines which includes iOS support, has more options (maybe for captions to be added below each photo) that would be good. May end up look into Slideshow Pro to see what that can do.
My thoughts about getting content online were that I would only put images that I'm happy with on Flickr; but over time I've got bored with it, to be honest its interface has been something of a cludge that just isn't enjoyable, so my space on there has become somewhat of a dumping ground of all and everything.
So recently, I've been thinking about getting an account on 500px or 1x, but as yet I haven't plumped for one or t'other. Have flickr as the splurge and one of these sites for anything I want to get out there.
But this exercise asked for creation of a web gallery, and as I have in the past fought with editing HTML, CSS, XML, thought I would let an automated program take the brunt. Ending up using the Web Gallery module in Lightroom to create the following page :-
Web Gallery Exercise
These are the images I submitted for Exercise 3, the B&W module.
Using an automated tool means compromises, in this case, its flash based, so excludes iOS devices such as iPhone, iPad, iPod touch. Being tied in flash means that other content in the page is limited to the options that are provided by Lightroom, and the XML file behind the scenes only allows basic adjustments. It uses Autoviewer, and you can buy a full version from simpleviewer.net, but for a quick and dirty gallery, I'm quite pleased with what the Lightroom module can chuck out.
If I can find something along these lines which includes iOS support, has more options (maybe for captions to be added below each photo) that would be good. May end up look into Slideshow Pro to see what that can do.
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