Archive for September 2016

Home Archive for September 2016

The other day I told my mum and gran about the telephone boxes getting removed and they were pretty raging. My granny loves coming over to Scotland and she said she thought they were iconic and even though nobody uses them, removing them is deleting the history. Walking back from my brothers house my mum was wanting to take some photo's with the box before they get removed. I like this one because my gran is in the box but you can nearly see her as the windows are mucky - shows how old these boxes are - and my mums holding the door ready to get me to photograph her. It's sort of like the stage before getting a photo taken. So i pictured the situation of the prep before the photo and I like it better than the actual photo. There none of my mums silly posing so that's a big plus.

I just find this one funny. On monday me and mum went to get our eyebrows done at a friends house and her cat lay on my mum's legs and cleaned herself. I like this picture because of the angle, how the feet are the dominant image, it sort of looks like the cat has human feet. I don't know depends what way you look at it.

My mum had ran out of fags so she told me to roll her 10 roll ups, without thinking about it I was placing them on this notebook and in the end I realised that I can play with this. That's the outcome

The following two are my favourite so far. I was walking back from college on Tuesday and I saw these 3 pigeons sitting on top of a lamp so I was like fuck it i'll see how that photo will turn out and as I took it one of them took off so I quickly zoomed in and took a snap. The first image is very clear and subtle, with the grey colour scheme, I guess it looks rehearsed, but with the second photo the two photos make a good duet. I feel they contrast against one another as the first one is clean and in focus and in the second one you can tell I was rushing, zooming in and compared to the first one it looks chaotic.

Because I thought the photo's looked good together I joined them together on this app called layout to make it into one image.

This is my mum and dad when they were younger and I absolutely love this photo. It reminds me of Nan Goldin's photography. It's real, it's a relationship, it's natural. It stops time.

This makes me laugh because Jack looks tiny sitting in this big chair hahahah

I also quite like the heads behind him.

Walking to college today I saw this fag standing up straight on the bin, so just thought id take a picture. I wasn't really thinking much when I took it but mow that I look at it I like the composition. The bin from this point of view looks huge. It was really rainy this morning and all of a sudden it brightened up, the background of this photo shows that process of enlightenment of the day.

All of the above photographs were taken on my phone camera that's why they are so long. Getting paid tomorrow so I can get my disposables developed. I can't wait to see how they turned out.

Kerry Jones, in contrast with Mary Morrison was very different in her work ethic. I thought that her ideas for her work were really smart. It's really good to get artists coming in and talking about their experiences and how they got where they are now as it helps us see that things don't always go as planned, not necessarily in a bad way.

"It's important to grab opportunities when they come your way." Kerry said when she was telling us about how while she was a carpenter an opportunity came up and she took it, and it got her some place she'd never be if she didn't. That inspired me to get myself out there when I can, the only barrier I have is my job, every time there is an exhibition on it's on in the weekend when I'm at work. I got an email the other day from the watchtower gallery in Berwick saying that anybody can exhibit their work sometime in October, however I would have to be there all weekend and I just can't get that time off work. I would more than happily quit to do all that stuff that will pay off in the future but I just can't afford it.

Kerry's work definitely wasn't my favorite, but her ideas were excellent, it's just the way that's she has done it in. But that's okay not everything has to be my cup of tea. She did lots of random shit and if I was to describe her work I'd probably say all over the place or I don't know. She did some work with old buildings in the late 90s and she was interested in including text in her work. I though that stuff was cool. Later when she did those puppets it reminded me of the Eden festival I've been to and I swear those puppets there were hers. Then she said she was kind of lost and did community paid work, working with other people and she started getting motivated again. The idea that I really liked was 100 years history of Galashiels High Street. That reminds me that we have to be aware of the world around us, I often forget that.

Film making was probably her stronger point, the first video she showed us was creepy but definitely interesting and got a reaction out of people, in class, at the start, everyone was kinda like ehhhh and laughed because it made them feel uncomfortable. The following film with the stills was really good I liked that one. The last project she showed us was nice as it conveyed the message of us getting sucked into the technological world and forgetting about the rest. It was lovely how she made them wear headphones and listen to all those horrible sounds of technology and then the sounds started merging into the sound of nature, birds singing. That would have probably cause an epiphany for most people, that change from uncomfortable dodgy sounds to what actually makes us feel nice.

Overall, I thought the talk was awesome and I feel I've learned a lot from it, as we learn we evolve.

It was definitely something different, the joint creative process of introducing abstract musical notation in her very subtle abstract paintings was something I've never heard of before. I really liked how everything she did had some sort of link to her growing up on the Isle of Harris, a lot of seascapes that weren't actually seascapes but had that feel to them, as they were too abstract to be definitive. Mary Morrison kept mentioning geometry, grids, patterns, lines, compasses, rulers, maps. All very technical stuff, mixed in with very expressive loose abstractions, actually turned out to be a nice construction. The poetical touch mixed with the Gaelic phrases in her titles made the work all together 100% original. A lot of influences in her life, seems like she doesn't like to do a range of different things, it seems like it's all very similar in terms of style and medium.

She works in a studio shared with other artists which seems interesting but I totally understand how it can make her a lot more motivated. Usually artists go on about how they love their own space, how it's great to have it all to yourself because you can make is as messy as you want. I feel I can never be anywhere near as motivated at home as I do in class, so I feel her.

When she talked about her work she would call most of them fairly small pieces, which obviously doesn't give the same effect on screen, I'm keen to visit the WASPS studios to see her work as it happens I'm off work that weekend and I can actually do something with my life for once. It is interesting to hear what other people say about your work because sometimes they will say things that you haven't thought of yourself, that's something that Mary said that I took note of, that probably is true in the environment that she works in, within experienced artists in an adult situation, I feel that doesn't happen in the lights of the college so much as people are afraid to make any negative comment about others work. Which I don't think is correct in an art studio, people should be more painfully honest rather than sweet and fake.

Personally I liked her work, I felt it was my cup of tea in a wayyyyy but also not so much, the extremely subtle, delicate feel in the colour scheme sort of scared me, in a way it was very meditation and in another it was creepy. Overall I enjoyed what Mary Morrison had to say, everybody is different and it's nice to hear different people talk about different things that interest and inspire them, and maybe not directly but in a way it inspires us also.

Very personal work that revolves around the sexuality of her family and people around her.

“I knew from a very early age, that what I saw on TV had nothing to do with real life. So I wanted to make a record of real life. That included having a camera with me at all times.” – Nan Goldin

Since the 1970s, she has been known for her shockingly raw images of desire, addiction, sexuality, and abuse. I love it, absolutely love it how her images show the real side of life, the visibility of what's underneath a pretty face and nice clothes, a story, a tragedy.

I would absolutely do something like this for my location photography, something extremely personal and raw. However I feel I couldn't because of the person I am, I couldn't expose such personal depth as I try to hide it by my fair confidence, hatred, coldness and being the least sympathetic person ever, people tend to describe me as mean, too honest and cold hearted. The reason I'm like this is because I try to leave my real life problems at home and in the past. And if I was to make a personal series of works I would just be coming back to it and I'd hate to do that because it makes me spew. As much as I enjoy when people make their work personal and real, ironically I feel I don't have the confidence to do it? No problem making it fairly personal, but that's not fun, it's not revealing the whole package. At this point I think I would rather just stick to admiring others personal work rather than making my own.

The following photo's are perfect, they remind me of photo's that are found in photo albums. I like looking through my mums albums, they are filled with photo's like that, totally imperfect yet so perfect because they are so real, the fact they were taken way before the new generation of selfies and controlled photography. Most of them from parties and being fucked up because if you think about it that's the only time you really take photos and they are 100% real. I once asked my mum why she only has photos from when she's drunk etc and she said that she wouldn't go for a coffee with a friend and use up a whole film, because it's nothing interesting. Photo's that are taken whilst drunk are good because they never look the same the next day. I enjoy using disposable cameras the most because once you take a photo that's it, no editing, o deleting. You just have to wait for them to get developed and enjoy them as they are, it's beautiful.

Not having a clue about photography, I took a trip to the library to get some books for a rough idea, thankfully the librarian helped me with which books to pick because I woulnd't have known, one of them was David Bailey "If We Shadows."

I had a read of the introduction, which I don't usually do, as there weren't any descriptions beside the photographs. Given a bit of background information from the book I also had a read online before I tucked into the photographs.

David Bailey is a British photographer, in 1960 he began photography for British Vogue where he transformed British fashion and celebrity photography. Bailey injected a completely different approach to Vogue from the past, where the models were always looking perfect and photographers took simply pretty pictures, Bailey slammed a tad of punk into it, made stars of new generation models including Jean Shrimpton and Penelope Tree and that is how he first became famous and one of the pioneers of contemporary photography.

Image result for david bailey jean shrimpton

Image result for david bailey penelope tree

In the introduction of the book "if we shadows" I found a really interesting quote which I fell for completely.

"It is also certain, not that it will in any way placate the sisters, that his erotic photographs emanate a disturbing poetry. Art, after all, is not necessarily 'correct' and Bailey is undoubtedly and artist."

One thing that I have noticed in his photographs, is that he admires nudity, and I don't see why now it is considered taboo due to the raise of feminism, as mentioned in the book. In my opinion I think that the female body and form is the most beautiful subject matter to photograph, paint, draw, look at and talk about. I am strongly against this new craze about feminism, I just think it has been taken slightly too far and nudity should be praised rather than taken so personally. This is one of the reasons Bailey's photographs have spoken to me. I was actually smiling looking at most of the photographs, but some of them also raised questions, because I am a complete amateur in the world of photography. Looking at the portraits, you can see a personality but how does it work with photograph? because the photographer is the artist, so does that mean he conveys his feelings through the model? his feelings towards the model? or the models personality? Because the photographs are so real they give the impression of there being something bigger than just a photo there.

Image result for david bailey nude photographs

The way the photos were displayed in the book had an impact on the way I felt about them, they either contrasted or complimented each other, if there was a picture of an animals head on one side, o the other there would be a portrait of someone laughing which also made it look humorous. Another thing I notices was that all these photographs were in black and white, but it wasn't just the usual black and white you can edit into your photos, they were a lot more dark and characteristic.

From looking at David Bailey as the first photographer to have pretty much ever looked at, I think it has given me a head start for this unit, there are many things in his photographs that I like and will aspire by in the future.

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Another few photo's with a story

Artist Talk. Kerry Jones

Like a professional

Artist Talk. Mary Morrison

Nan Goldin. Photography Report

Steven Meisel. Photography Report

Elliot Erwitt. Photography Report

Andreas Gursky. Photography Report

Bill Henson. Photography Report

Sam Cornwell. Photography Report

What is location photography?

David Bailey. Photography Report