Mapping Own Practice Against Models of Contextual Practice

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Mapping Own Practice Against Models of Contextual
Practice
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Mapping Own Practice Against Models of Contextual
Practice
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What I do
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Professional
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Enhancing creativity through the use of digital
technologies
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Digital Video
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Digital still
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Animation
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Personal
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Photography
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Input
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Output
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Publication and Sharing
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Contexts in which I work
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Formal
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Essentially working in a two-dimensional medium,
the outcomes of photography can be much broader
than just a sheet of paper
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Materials
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Camera (input)
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Memory card (storage medium)
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Printer (output)
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Printer paper
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Fine Art
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High production values
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Expensive appearance
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Glossy
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Matte
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etc
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Fabric
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Sheet materials other than paper
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There are compositional 'rules' which all
photographers learn to apply and many go on to
ignore, bend or rewrite
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Rules of composition are there to help the
photographer make a 'good' picture and the viewer
to understand it
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Rule of thirds
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Golden Section
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Point of Focus
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Leading lines
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Depth of field
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etc etc
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Describing my work
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I am a photographer, I take, print, publish and
exhibit photographs
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I take photographs of a broad range of subjects,
but specialise in reportage/street
photography/candids/environmental portraiture
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I have developed strategies for taking
photographs of people which are unobtrusive and
non-confrontational
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I like to think that I can build up a good
rapport with people who are aware of or have
consented to being photographed
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My photographs are technically good, but not
perfect
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My images are creative - I look for unusual
angles, points of view etc.
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I often shoot to crop - none of this 'what you
see in the viewfinder is sacrosanct' nonsense
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I look for the unusual, bizarre, amusing in people
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I can spot shape, form, texture and compose
around these
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I teach teachers how to make effective use of
digital technologies to enhance creativity across
the curriculum (but we won't go down that avenue
right now)
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Effect/s of my work
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On me
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Satisfying
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Frustrating
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Liberating
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Empowering
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Pride
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Embarrassment
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On peers
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Opens up dialogues
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Fosters debate
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Alters perception of me (favourably, but
erroneously in my opinion)
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On other viewers
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Who knows?
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Positive - have sold work
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Social
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"Viewing and making are influenced by the society
we operate in there is no innocent eye" SW
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Audience for my work
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Exhibition viewers/potential purchasers
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Competition judges
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Peers
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Self
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Institutional judges (eg RPS)
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Society's attitude towards photographers,
especially reportage
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All men with cameras are paedophiles or terrorists
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Go away you're invading my space!
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You've got tripod, you must be a professional
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This shopping complex is private property so you
can't take photos here
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Political
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You can't take photos here, you might be a
terrorist
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Please send us your photos - we (police, TV) rely
on the public
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Personal
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A short biography
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I am arts trained - my B.Ed was in Art and my
first MA dissertation was on creativity and IT
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I taught Art and Design for many years, heading a
department
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Particular issues/memories
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Photography was in the family. Brother and both
parents had cameras father and brother active
amateur photographers with darkroom facilities at
home.
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Early memories of the walk-in pantry being
converted into a darkroom (where did all the food
go?) and long strips of film swirling around the
bathtub. Sitting in the darkroom under the red
light, wanting to be involved with the magical
enlarge and print process but probably just
getting in the way...
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First camera (Brownie 127) at an early age (7?)
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Photography always seemed important and was
always a means of recording for me, both socially
and professionally
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Pleasures in life
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Travel
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Seeking our alternative cultures - at home or
abroad
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Good food
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Music no more
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Motivation/driving forces
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Insecurity
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Low self-esteem
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Need to rebuild and refocus
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Brain needs engaging after years of numbness
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Particular skills as a photographer
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Shooting people
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Good sense of colour
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Subconscious ability to compose well
(traditionally/creatively)
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Strategies adopted when it all goes horrible
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Open a bottle of Sancerre
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Relation of self to social, historical and
cultural forces
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Very aware that I'm part of a huge continuum in
the development of photography...
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... and at an extrememely significant time -
there has been no development like the digital
revolution since the arrival of the first 35mm
camera
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Photographic history places expectations on one
in terms of genre, technical skill etc.
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Critical/Theoretical
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Current debates
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Freedom to photograph
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Consent and ownership
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Photography as art
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The camera never lies (but Photoshop does)
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Social Constructivism
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"Constructivism is an emerging view of learning
that rests on the idea that new information is
added to existing mental frameworks... social
Constructivism is based on the assumption that
members of a given social network mutually
negotiate meanings of ideas and practices." John
W. Schell
http//www.arches.uga.edu/jschell/discovery/theor
etical_framework.htm

• Links
• http//www.arches.uga.edu/jschell/discovery/theo
  retical_framework.htm

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Photographic communities are constantly defining
and redefining what a photograph is, especially
in the light of digital technologies
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Photographers' practice is influenced by current
and historical perceptions of the nature of
photography
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Transformational Learning
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"Often considered a form of constructivism,
transformational learning is based on reflection
that transforms the beliefs, attitudes, opinions,
and emotions of the learners. Mezirow believes
that transformational learning is based on
disorienting dilemmas or situations that are
outside of our usual world views. To resolve the
dissonance, the learner must create new ways of
interpreting their experiences. This leads to a
new self-view and deeper meaning based on
insight. Transformational learning encourages,
reflection and critical thought, more
receptiveness to the paradigms of others, and
acceptance of new ideas." John W. Schell
http//www.arches.uga.edu/jschell/discovery/theor
etical_framework.htm

• Links
• http//www.arches.uga.edu/jschell/discovery/theo
  retical_framework.htm

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The nature of my photographic practice has
changed significantly in the last couple of years
as I have begun to consider the ethical and
political consequences of street photography
especially in the current 'terrorist aware'
climate
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Content analysis
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Iconography
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Semiotics
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Digital and design aesthetics
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Digitality Approximate aesthetics
http//www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id290

• Links
• http//www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id290

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"The digital camera allows a proximity to
material, to skin, to the surface of paint that
excels the eye's trained ability to sort and
recognise." Matthew Fuller

• Links
• http//www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id290

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Questions to ask
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What is the nature of the relationship between
the viewer and the image?
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How does the camera affect the transaction
between the subject and the viewer?
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Disruptive technologies
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"Disruptive technologies always work
democratically they allow increasing numbers of
people to have access to those things which were
previously very rare, expensive, or difficult to
produce. Photography allows anyone to own a
detailed, realistic picture of anything which can
be photographed such as a portrait. Prior to its
invention, high-quality portraiture was the
exclusive domain of the elites, due largely to
the level of technical skill required of
painters. Photography "short-circuited" this
process. It is no accident that the majority of
images from the first fifty years of photography
are portraits and other subjects well-known from
paintings. In attempting to demonstrate that it
was art by imitating painting, photography proved
to be the archetypal disruptive technology it
replaced painting by doing what painters did,
only cheaper and more often". Michael Betancourt
http//www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id336

• Links
• http//www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id336

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"Photo-colonialism"
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"According to philosopher Michel Foucault, power
and knowledge reinforce each other.
Anthropologists wield power over non-Westerners
through ways of photo-colonialism. The camera can
be seen as analogous to Jeremy Bentham's
Panopticon but non-monolithic..." Joyce Tanjuakio
http//home.utm.utoronto.ca/jmt/anthrophoto.htm

• Links
• http//home.utm.utoronto.ca/jmt/anthrophoto.htm

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Historical
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Enormous but relatively short history of
photography and photographers
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Pioneers in both processes and output
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Processes
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Daguerre
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Niepce
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Fox-Talbot
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Eastman
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etc
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Output (images)
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Cartier-Bresson
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Walker Evans
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Ansel Adams
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Mapplethorpe
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etc
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Established genres
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Landscape
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Portraiture
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Abstract
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Wildlife
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Glamour
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etc
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Photography has come from an elitist middle-class
activity to the point where everyone is a
photographer now (cameraphones, webcams...)
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Geographical
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Photography as a Western, developed-world
activity - the egocentric view
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Much excellent work goes on in Japan, India,
Africa... but we need to seek it out
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My personal practice is limited to my immediate
locality most of the time, with several
excursions out of county and occasional trips
abroad.
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Italy, Tunisia, Morocco...
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Norfolk
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Norwich
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Web-based publishing makes a nonsense of
geographical borders - it doesn't matter where
you make your images, you can share them across
the world
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Institutional
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Family background
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Professional parents
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Everyone had a camera
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Portrait sessions at home
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Darkroom in the pantry
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Photography was the norm
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Repressive upbringing
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Desire to leave home asap
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Creativity and individuality considered rebellious
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Low parental expectations of daughters
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Educational background
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Single-sex grammar school
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Arts subjects (Eng Lang., Lit, Art etc) Art 'A'
level
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Teacher Training College - B.Ed Art
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Main subject Art
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MA in Professional Studies (Education)
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Professional background
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Teaching
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Head of Art, Design Technology
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LEA Inspection and Advisory work (inc Ofsted)
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Design Technology, Information Technology
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Where did my roots go?
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Founded freelance advisory service to schools in
1997 - never looked back since
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IT advice, training and support
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Specialisation in fostering creativity through
digital technologies (video, still, animation etc)
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NSAD
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Return to my art roots
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Feeling at home in the environment
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Intellectual engagement
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Taking after a professional lifetime of giving
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Cultural
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See 'Mapping the Territory' elsewhere
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Influential photographic genres
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Reportage
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Photojournalism
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Street Photography
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Influential/admired photographers
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Walker Evans
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Stealth and ingenuity on the undergound
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Diane Arbus
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For celebrating human diversity
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Dorothea Lange
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Reportage which was influential at the time and
is now iconic
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Jeff Wall
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Recording the incidentals of life
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Don McCullin
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For bringing us the images no-one wanted to see
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Robert Mapplethorpe
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Pushing the boundaries of portraiture
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Immo Klink
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Anarchy through the lens
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Duane Michals
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For blurring the boundaries between photography
and philosophy
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Henri Cartier-Bresson