I have made a point of looking back at photographs that I have taken during the last six years that I have been using a digital camera and a PC monitor.
The process has made me review the image quality, the technical skill and the subject matter with a different eye.
I have edited down my 'best shots' folders on my PC and printed these out so as I can see them as real photographs as opposed to PC monitors renditions. I have found this process interesting in that what looks good on a TV screen and what looks good as a photographic print are not always the same. There is something about the physical object that forces me to be more critical. I am guessing that watching TV and working on PCs for so long makes us all experience images differently. Perhaps my visual acuity has been desensitised by the ubiquitous nature of the screen format. I suppose there is a physical difference and a response difference to a TV which is projecting light and colour to a photograph which is reflecting light and colour.
I have also been thinking about the way my working method has changed from film to digital. It is now much easier to capture the initial image and to carry out post processing changes. This may have made me lazy at the point of image capture.
There has also been a change in the way that I take photos brought about by the significant cost savings from digital technologies. I used to think about wastage a lot more due to the price of film and processing. It has become cheaper and easier to fire off 'cheap shots'. I think that this will provoke the first change in the way that I am currently working. I will certainly be taking more time with each shot. I am planning a photo shoot where I will use an old 128MB memory card in my DSLR. This will limit me to a 36 exposure shoot.
I have noticed some distracting features in a number of my photographs. Distant pylons, microscopic birds, distant walkers with annoying red jackets and tiny cars in otherwise timeless landscapes consistently appear. These could have been resolved by taking the time to look forensically around the frame.
I understand that some photographic opportunities will require a fast working method but I shall bear in mind that I may need an arsenal of different working methods for different subject matter.
Collecting examples of work (Google images etc)
Collecting subjects for photographing (form, texture, colour etc)
Make lists of subjects (locations, people, buildings, events etc)
LOCATIONS : Coopers metals, Town centre, Coate Water, Radnor cemetery, Railway village, Steam.
PEOPLE : Family (Tracey , friends (Eric, Mandi, Lee, Fleety, JP, Hop), work colleagues (Richard Simpson, Doug Garroway, Dave Davies, Ray Stratford), DAR passengers, Me (makeovers, hats, wigs), Max Keiser.
Collect background materials (textiles, paper, card, plastic, wood, stone, etc)
Make lists of changing lighting possibilities to revisit locations (rain, after rain, low sun, street lighting, seasonal variation)
Review professional work. Keep photos from colour supplement magazines in a folder (make notes about composition, subject, colour, lighting etc)
Think about the photographic equipment. Understand the core functions that give creative control.
Tripod.
Cable release.
Flash.
Digital viewing (PC monitor). BenQ GL2450HM 24" LED HDMI Monitor ???
Storage and backups.
PROJECT : Getting to know your camera
Tuesday 14 January 2014
Thursday 19 December 2013
London Trip
Just noticed on the Time Out website, a list of 10 photographic exhibitions currently on in London.
Thought it might be a good opportunity to see these and to get some busy shots for my stock photo pile.
They are spread around the capitol but today looks bright so I think I'll do the eleven mile circuit on foot.
Camera charged and A-Z in pocket, so off to catch the train into town shortly.
Will report back later.
The following is not meant to be a formal critique, but more of a broad brush description of what I saw.
1. Daido Moriyama : Silkscreens at Hamiltons on Carlos Place.
A collection of 11 large (60"x40") monochromatic silkscreen prints on canvas stretched over wooden frames. These pictures looked like happy accidents like when you take a random walk and shoot from the hip without looking through the viewfinder. Images were often on the skew. The silk-screening process was heavy. The use of thick black inks reminiscent of tar was used. This lent the final results both gravitas and a certain hand craftedness.
2. Stephen Shore : Something and Nothing at Spruth Magers on Grafton Street.
A collection of medium sized (20"x16") colour prints of various middle eastern city and village scenes. This collection looked like a set of outtakes from somebody holiday snaps from the 1970s. I could not find much technical merit in these pictures but it did get me thinking about how the passing of time and the political events that have a happened in that region can make you see an old image with fresh eyes. These pictures would stir huge and emotional feeling by anyone from that time and place who was looking back at them. Although I have no real connection to that time and place, it did made me think about conflict and memory of places in my own past.
I will spend tomorrow revisiting my old photos (that go back to 1975) to find some emotional and visual similarities.
3. The Dusseldorf School of Photography at Sothebys on St George St.
This collection is certainly designed to WOW! its audience. The pieces are large (60"x60"), ultra high colour, ultra high gloss, ultra high definition, ultra wide angle and ultra high perspective. They are mainly of opulent interiors taking on themes of grandeur and high Victoriana. I have to say that I was seduced by their overwhelming glitz (not normally my thing at all).
4. Stan Douglas : Disco Angola at Victoria Miro on St George St.
Not really my cup of tea but I'm sure this exhibition has its audience. It is a series of images made in Angola during the war when an underground disco movement was recorded by this documentary photographer.
5. Home Truths : Photography, Motherhood and Indentity at The Photographers Gallery on Ramillies Street.
A revealing and at times disturbing set of images featuring a number of mother and child images. A theme running through this series suggested a life of entrapment for women who can be enslaved by their maternal and 'home-making' responsibilities.
6. LCC MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Degree Show (31 Degees) at London College of Communication, Elephant & Castle.
Enjoyed this end of year show and also found it interesting how final work is displayed and marketed.
Collections I particularly liked included:
7. Tom Hunter : Axis Mundi at Purdy Hicks on Hopton Street.
A collection of large photographs of megaliths and standing stones. I was looking forward to seeing these as I am a regular visitor to Avebury (on my doorstep) and many other ancient sites around the British Isles and France. Sadly this exhibition failed to excite or surprise me. I know from personal experience how difficult these large objects are to photograph but I really was expecting a lot more.
8. Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2013 at The National Portrait Gallery.
I liked the winning entry a lot but my personal favourite was Maria and Corinne by Lydia Panas.
As far as the idea about getting some busy city shots for my photo stock pile. It didn't really happen to any large extent due to the amount of time spent at each expo and the walking time incurred.
A well worthwhile trip though.
Thought it might be a good opportunity to see these and to get some busy shots for my stock photo pile.
They are spread around the capitol but today looks bright so I think I'll do the eleven mile circuit on foot.
Camera charged and A-Z in pocket, so off to catch the train into town shortly.
Will report back later.
The following is not meant to be a formal critique, but more of a broad brush description of what I saw.
1. Daido Moriyama : Silkscreens at Hamiltons on Carlos Place.
A collection of 11 large (60"x40") monochromatic silkscreen prints on canvas stretched over wooden frames. These pictures looked like happy accidents like when you take a random walk and shoot from the hip without looking through the viewfinder. Images were often on the skew. The silk-screening process was heavy. The use of thick black inks reminiscent of tar was used. This lent the final results both gravitas and a certain hand craftedness.
2. Stephen Shore : Something and Nothing at Spruth Magers on Grafton Street.
A collection of medium sized (20"x16") colour prints of various middle eastern city and village scenes. This collection looked like a set of outtakes from somebody holiday snaps from the 1970s. I could not find much technical merit in these pictures but it did get me thinking about how the passing of time and the political events that have a happened in that region can make you see an old image with fresh eyes. These pictures would stir huge and emotional feeling by anyone from that time and place who was looking back at them. Although I have no real connection to that time and place, it did made me think about conflict and memory of places in my own past.
I will spend tomorrow revisiting my old photos (that go back to 1975) to find some emotional and visual similarities.
3. The Dusseldorf School of Photography at Sothebys on St George St.
This collection is certainly designed to WOW! its audience. The pieces are large (60"x60"), ultra high colour, ultra high gloss, ultra high definition, ultra wide angle and ultra high perspective. They are mainly of opulent interiors taking on themes of grandeur and high Victoriana. I have to say that I was seduced by their overwhelming glitz (not normally my thing at all).
4. Stan Douglas : Disco Angola at Victoria Miro on St George St.
Not really my cup of tea but I'm sure this exhibition has its audience. It is a series of images made in Angola during the war when an underground disco movement was recorded by this documentary photographer.
5. Home Truths : Photography, Motherhood and Indentity at The Photographers Gallery on Ramillies Street.
A revealing and at times disturbing set of images featuring a number of mother and child images. A theme running through this series suggested a life of entrapment for women who can be enslaved by their maternal and 'home-making' responsibilities.
6. LCC MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Degree Show (31 Degees) at London College of Communication, Elephant & Castle.
Enjoyed this end of year show and also found it interesting how final work is displayed and marketed.
Collections I particularly liked included:
Emilia Lloret.
Yvonne De Rosa
Farhad Berahman
7. Tom Hunter : Axis Mundi at Purdy Hicks on Hopton Street.
A collection of large photographs of megaliths and standing stones. I was looking forward to seeing these as I am a regular visitor to Avebury (on my doorstep) and many other ancient sites around the British Isles and France. Sadly this exhibition failed to excite or surprise me. I know from personal experience how difficult these large objects are to photograph but I really was expecting a lot more.
8. Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2013 at The National Portrait Gallery.
The winning portrait was of Katie Walsh by Spencer Murphy.
I liked the winning entry a lot but my personal favourite was Maria and Corinne by Lydia Panas.
As far as the idea about getting some busy city shots for my photo stock pile. It didn't really happen to any large extent due to the amount of time spent at each expo and the walking time incurred.
A well worthwhile trip though.
Tuesday 17 December 2013
My Profile - Marcus Kittridge
I thought it would be a good idea for me to write down a few notes here about myself in order that my future tutor(s) will get some idea of who I am, where I have come from, why I am doing this, where I hope to be going etc.
Also by looking back at myself I might get some idea of where my strengths and weaknesses may lie and reflect upon my journey to this point.
So,
My name is Marcus and I am 51 years old and married to my partner, Tracey. We live in Swindon in Wiltshire.
I have a 26 year old daughter, Charmaine, who has recently left home.
I was doing well at school until my father died suddenly when I was 10 years old. My focus disappeared and I muddled through the rest of school and left with a clutch of technical 'O' levels.
I completed a five year engineering apprenticeship with Vickers Ltd and concurrently with attended college where I completed an ONC and an HND in Engineering.
I worked in several engineering disciplines (design, installation, field service, special projects and consulting) for the next 25 years with a couple of small career breaks along the way. My work involved extensive national and international travel and I enjoyed being immersed in the local cultures of Europe, the USA, the middle east and Asia.
I have used all of these experiences to broaden my cultural horizons.
Although I have mainly learned and worked in a technical engineering environment, I have always gravitated towards friends who are largely from an Arts background be that music, literary or visual fields.
I enjoy photography and painting as well as producing and playing music. Where time has allowed, I have played in punk, indie, metal and grunge bands over the years.
I left engineering about 5 years ago. The main reason for this is that I just wasn't enjoying it anymore. Over the years the role of the engineer has become less creative, less hands-on and become more about financial management and outsourcing of risk. I am hoping that an artistic future for me will give me back that creative hands on feeling and the possibility of once more seeing my ideas through from the creative spark to completed projects.
For the past 5 years I have worked on a casual basis (0-2 days per week) driving minibuses for a local community transport charity. We provide transport for people with disabilities in order that they can go about their business in a normal as manor as possible. I find this work rewarding and I hope that the flexible nature of my part-time workload and the flexibility of a distance learning course should gel together well. My wife works in education and the organisation that I work for is comfortable with me taking all of the school holiday times off. This enables us to travel extensively and photography is always an important part of our holiday.
I first became interested in photography when I was eight years old. I was given an instamatic 126 camera for xmas and before long my father gave me an old 35mm Voigtländer Vito B which had a great lens. My father had upgraded to a twin lens reflex camera. At age 14, I had a Saturday job in a local camera shop. As well as getting to know a lot of hardware, I received a good staff discount which enabled me to buy a second hand Nikon F2A, a new Olympus OM1 and a Durst F30 enlarger based darkroom.
I used this equipment to do some wedding and graduation photography in the early 1980s as a way of supplementing my poor apprentice wage.
At some point adult life responsibilities took over and I sold most of my gear and I used compacts for a few years which I still like and use often for reasons of availability and portability. About 7 years ago I bought a Sony DSLR which I am still currently using. I went for the Sony on the basis of the availability of excellent value secondhand Minolta lenses. I have a 50mm f1.4 prime, an old but very good Minolta 'beercan' telephoto zoom and a Tamron 90mm macro lens. I use a PC running Windows 7 for processing and use Photoshop 7.0 and Microsoft Office 2002 SP3.
I like to tackle all types of photographic genres but feel most comfortable with landscapes. I enjoy the immersive and meditative nature of the process and the resulting images.
In the future, I would like to be in a position where I can sell my work commercially. It is difficult for 'outsider art' to break through and I hope that a successful completion of a BA degree program will help me with that goal.
Also by looking back at myself I might get some idea of where my strengths and weaknesses may lie and reflect upon my journey to this point.
So,
My name is Marcus and I am 51 years old and married to my partner, Tracey. We live in Swindon in Wiltshire.
I have a 26 year old daughter, Charmaine, who has recently left home.
I was doing well at school until my father died suddenly when I was 10 years old. My focus disappeared and I muddled through the rest of school and left with a clutch of technical 'O' levels.
I completed a five year engineering apprenticeship with Vickers Ltd and concurrently with attended college where I completed an ONC and an HND in Engineering.
I worked in several engineering disciplines (design, installation, field service, special projects and consulting) for the next 25 years with a couple of small career breaks along the way. My work involved extensive national and international travel and I enjoyed being immersed in the local cultures of Europe, the USA, the middle east and Asia.
I have used all of these experiences to broaden my cultural horizons.
Although I have mainly learned and worked in a technical engineering environment, I have always gravitated towards friends who are largely from an Arts background be that music, literary or visual fields.
I enjoy photography and painting as well as producing and playing music. Where time has allowed, I have played in punk, indie, metal and grunge bands over the years.
I left engineering about 5 years ago. The main reason for this is that I just wasn't enjoying it anymore. Over the years the role of the engineer has become less creative, less hands-on and become more about financial management and outsourcing of risk. I am hoping that an artistic future for me will give me back that creative hands on feeling and the possibility of once more seeing my ideas through from the creative spark to completed projects.
For the past 5 years I have worked on a casual basis (0-2 days per week) driving minibuses for a local community transport charity. We provide transport for people with disabilities in order that they can go about their business in a normal as manor as possible. I find this work rewarding and I hope that the flexible nature of my part-time workload and the flexibility of a distance learning course should gel together well. My wife works in education and the organisation that I work for is comfortable with me taking all of the school holiday times off. This enables us to travel extensively and photography is always an important part of our holiday.
I first became interested in photography when I was eight years old. I was given an instamatic 126 camera for xmas and before long my father gave me an old 35mm Voigtländer Vito B which had a great lens. My father had upgraded to a twin lens reflex camera. At age 14, I had a Saturday job in a local camera shop. As well as getting to know a lot of hardware, I received a good staff discount which enabled me to buy a second hand Nikon F2A, a new Olympus OM1 and a Durst F30 enlarger based darkroom.
I used this equipment to do some wedding and graduation photography in the early 1980s as a way of supplementing my poor apprentice wage.
At some point adult life responsibilities took over and I sold most of my gear and I used compacts for a few years which I still like and use often for reasons of availability and portability. About 7 years ago I bought a Sony DSLR which I am still currently using. I went for the Sony on the basis of the availability of excellent value secondhand Minolta lenses. I have a 50mm f1.4 prime, an old but very good Minolta 'beercan' telephoto zoom and a Tamron 90mm macro lens. I use a PC running Windows 7 for processing and use Photoshop 7.0 and Microsoft Office 2002 SP3.
I like to tackle all types of photographic genres but feel most comfortable with landscapes. I enjoy the immersive and meditative nature of the process and the resulting images.
In the future, I would like to be in a position where I can sell my work commercially. It is difficult for 'outsider art' to break through and I hope that a successful completion of a BA degree program will help me with that goal.
Initial settings
In advance of officially enrolling, I have today downloaded a sample learning document from the OCA website relating to the Photography 1 course.
I have spent a few hours looking through the document and have made a preparatory start.
The engineer in me likes to get a wide overview of the brief, understand the scope of work and make a preliminary schedule.
To that end, I have
(i) created a time based project plan complete with tasks and subtasks based on the OCA document contents page.
(ii) created a directory structure on my PC to organise and store my digital work.
(iii) made a list of materials needed in order to get started.
Oh! And I also re-joined the local library after a number of years being lazy and just googling stuff.
Today (12/01/2014) I have received confirmation that student finance is available, so I have now chosen my 3 level 4 options and submitted my enrolment form to the OCA. According to the student finance letter, I should be able to start my course, proper on Feb 5th.
I have spent a few hours looking through the document and have made a preparatory start.
The engineer in me likes to get a wide overview of the brief, understand the scope of work and make a preliminary schedule.
To that end, I have
(i) created a time based project plan complete with tasks and subtasks based on the OCA document contents page.
However like the mice and the men, I expect some slippage here.
(ii) created a directory structure on my PC to organise and store my digital work.
(iii) made a list of materials needed in order to get started.
Oh! And I also re-joined the local library after a number of years being lazy and just googling stuff.
Today (12/01/2014) I have received confirmation that student finance is available, so I have now chosen my 3 level 4 options and submitted my enrolment form to the OCA. According to the student finance letter, I should be able to start my course, proper on Feb 5th.
Sunday 15 December 2013
Thinking ahead, thinking out loud.
I have just set up this blog in advance of starting a BA (Hons) Painting Degree with the OCA.
I shall be using this space for recording all aspects of the learning process.
I have decided to initially take Photography 1 - The Art of Photography. There are several reasons for this.
Firstly, I have been a keen amateur photographer for many years and I hope that will enable me to hit the ground running (or at the very least, briskly walking).
Secondly, I hope that my past life technical career as an engineer will give me the initial comfort that I may need after a 30 year gap from formal learning.
Thirdly, this module can be used against three BA Hons degrees (Painting, Creative Arts or Photography). I have an interest in all three possibilities and feel that I may have a better idea of which direction to take after some feedback from this first module choice.
I shall be using this space for recording all aspects of the learning process.
I have decided to initially take Photography 1 - The Art of Photography. There are several reasons for this.
Firstly, I have been a keen amateur photographer for many years and I hope that will enable me to hit the ground running (or at the very least, briskly walking).
Secondly, I hope that my past life technical career as an engineer will give me the initial comfort that I may need after a 30 year gap from formal learning.
Thirdly, this module can be used against three BA Hons degrees (Painting, Creative Arts or Photography). I have an interest in all three possibilities and feel that I may have a better idea of which direction to take after some feedback from this first module choice.
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