Seaside

Took a trip to the seaside - thought unfocused images there might be pretty sweet. Turned out they weren't. I was hoping the colour range of the seaside would work well, but although I still think some of these images are quite nice, they're lacking in depth. Some of the figures are working because they're barely more than black outlines, but overall I don't feel this is going anywhere.

However, an interesting point that's occurring as I write this blog, is the scale of the images - now I've just made them smaller to save space, they actually look more effective. This is an important thing to take on board. I am in the frame of mind that you can't just shrink an image until it looks good, that would be ridiculous, but more the point that the scale of an image really does affect its reading.

This image however, (below,)  is working more than the others, regardless of its scale. This is probably because it has a strong defining feature which stands out from the background. Perhaps the key to this kind of work is that it can be very simply but then has to be a complete abstraction - to the point it's barely recognisable - or have a defining feature to give it an 'edge'.

A Physical Split

This is the physical attempt at splitting the images. I chose to use the market sequence as this has received relatively good feedback, and I wanted to see whether the repetition of the structures might provide good opportunity to play around with the order of the images;

I roughly mounted them to make them more concrete and provide more of a realistic impression of how they could work. I also tried using one of the unfocused night images that was working quite nicely on the projected version.

However, I'm not sure they're as successful made physically as they were projected. I think they may have been relying on the ephemeral nature of the projector as well as the different levels of focus that was unavoidable using different levels. Obviously this could be achieved digitally, but then I think it may feel fake.

Projections

Time to have a better look. It's important now to keep half a mind on how to present the work when it complete. I tried playing with a projector, initially to simply gain a perspective on things such as scale and how the images actually function off the screen in an in depth manner without having to print out vast quantities of every image at differing scales. An obvious problem with this is that by projecting them, they still don't physically exist and therefore maintain an ephemeral quality. However, the ephemeral nature of a projected image is actually quite effective paired with the nature of the images themselves.

I had some trouble finding both a smooth wall and a dark room at the same time - it was always one or the other so I used a piece of A2 mount board to project the images onto. I feel for the nature of the work this was pushing the smaller end of the scale. These images were working best as big as I could get them.

I also tried splitting up the projected image so it appears on different levels and, because they're all projected from the same source and the projector is set at the same focus, the different levels of the image then have different scales and levels of focus within themselves. This is a really interesting effect. I was working small scale because I was making the levels out of paper I had lying around (it was an impromtu experiment) but somehow I don't feel this would work larger. The nature of the levels creates a certain intricacy within the work that the smaller scale then encourages the viewer to engage with. It also further removes the work from its photographic nature and each section begins to take on an almost painterly quality, and the light, shapes and colours of each constituent part become ever more important. This work definitely has some potential. I would also like to try print out the images and mounting them on different levels to see if it works physically or if the projection is an essential part of the work.

Night Time (again)

I thought another round of experimenting with night shots was in order, as last time I couldn't work out quite where I was going wrong.
I clearly still haven't mastered unfocused night photography, but through experimenting with similar compositions at differing levels of focus I am starting to think that the more defocused images seem to be more successful. Some of the images with a higher level of focus have a frustrating appearance to them - like forgetting to wear your glasses.

Some of the images are again appearing incredibly abstract, where its not always possible to discern what the image is actually of. I like this quality but it isn't what I want to focus on in my work.

Next Steps

Feedback from FMP1 was generally positive. My next steps need to be moving the work more towards a final outcome. This means putting a great deal of thought not only to the images I am going to use, but also the way in which they are presented. I am still strongly considering the use of light within my work and am keen to test out the ideas of projections and light boxes. I feel these would both afford my work more depth than a print simply would, and as the work is about abstraction and is taking on a more dreamlike appearance, I think the correct use of light to present the work could really heighten this.
I also need to take more images to really hone where it is I'm headed with the work. This has evolved into using defocused images but I am still working on my technique so I decided the strongest path forward would be simply to experiment further and really start to explore the possibilities of this technique.

These images are beginning to blur the boundaries of the photographic medium. - they are almost becoming more painterly in quality than photographic. Some are also starting to reference abstract painting, however, this is not the direction I want to take my work. 

The skyline images are my favourites. They feel like hazy memories and there's definitely a romantic, perhaps almost nostalgic quality about them. However, I think I need to push the work further than this, as that kind of feeling from an image, although I am keen on them, doesn't necessarily achieve much depth. There's also something about the car sequence that I feel appealing - perhaps I could create a whole collection? But I am just not sure why I feel the need to do that. I think it's probably that the cars used look like the could be from a past time - I would naturally guess the seventies as they remind me of photographs my parents have showed me of their cars. So although I am drawn to these images, I do not feel there is enough scope for me to take them forwards - I like them on a personal level, but they are not achieving what I want to achieve, which is a more provocative, intense form of image.

Critical Appraisal

At the start of this semester I knew I wanted to explore the passage of time within a still image and play with how an image is typically read. I did not start with a definitive idea of how I wanted to achieve this, but instead decided to take my work forward through experimenting with images and then evaluating them.

I initially began working with joined images and panoramas, and this process is something that’s remained in my work all the way through. Images created in this way have to be read more thoroughly. Because the eye takes in visual information through scanning around an image, if the image is too large to be scanned in one go, the viewer has to take in each section one piece at a time. This imbues the work with an innate sense of time, not just because it takes longer to view and decode the image, but also because the different parts of the image are not simultaneous, as with a straight photograph. Any figures, objects and general presences within separate sections of the image were not necessarily present at the same time, and this dislocation of space is something I want to continue to the coming semester.

I have never attempted to join my images in a completely smooth manner. The misaligned parts of the images and if you can see any joins is something I didn’t want to deny – these are separate images joined to create an impression of a whole scene, they are not the whole scene. I want the viewer to at least have clues towards the constituent parts – to be able to see the building blocks.

While progressing with my work, I had to make a choice between taking my work down a more formal, constructional route, or a more aesthetic, evocative, narrative based route. I attempted both, and neither felt to be working until I began to understand the use of narrative hints and subtleties. My work’s been best when it has an implication of a narrative – suggestive, not directive. What I’m taking forward from this is that I want to create open narratives. The work has always been about representing a scene in a slightly unreal way, so all I want is the implication of a narrative. The way I enjoy doing this at the moment is by including a small, subtle figure within the image, and trying to avoid making them appear posed. A tiny figure walking through an empty scene has all sorts of implications and raises all sorts of questions. The viewer then has to decode the image in order to construct a narrative.

My work has recently undergone a change in direction. Although still working strongly within all the above principles, I’m now also experimenting with the focus of the images.

A deliberately unfocused image takes on qualities beyond a straight photograph and we are no longer able to read the photograph in the standard way. Because the details are not clear, we have to deconstruct the image and reconstruct it within our own mind to give it a sense of meaning. This means the work can be individual to every viewer and becomes highly subjective. It also becomes more representational and can become as much about the tonal qualities, colours and shapes as the actual subject of the image, and it no longer has a firm rooting in a definitive time or space. The images take on the language of dreams and memory - hazy and on the cusp of recognition but not quite understandable alone. We have to apply our own knowledge and experience around them to create an interpretation.

I used this semester as a chance to explore and extend my ideas, and through this I feel like I’ve developed a strong process and method of working. I feel I’ve created some fairly strong images, as well as a number of things that haven’t been working, and from this I know I can still stretch my work further next semester. As well as creating stronger images, in the coming semester I want to experiment and decide how to best present my work. I intend to try using light boxes, and possibly projections of the images because these have the potential to emphasise the nature of the work and accentuate the dreamlike qualities that are emerging.


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