Film and digital

Slow progress over the last couple of weeks. Have managed to get out with the camera a little over the last couple of weekends, and the ideas for the Major project are starting to form into something more solid with a definite 'look' to the images. I want to pursue the idea of shooting at twilight, using a mix of ambient and artificial light (streetlights, flash, car headlights etc.)

Have started to use the digital camera as a way of shooting test shots in these difficult conditions, a bit like the old 'polariod' method of doing things. It gives the added bonus of providing a 'backup shot' incase there are any disasters with the film shots (which happens more frequently than I would like, especially with the large format camera). What has struck me the most is the difference in the 'look' between the shots done on digital and those on film, the two having a quite different feel and atmosphere. I've also experimented with making the shots more subtle and less 'popped', while trying to avoid them looking dull or lifeless.

Of the two images below, the top one was shot on film, and the bottom one on digital. Both have had some processing done in Photoshop, but retain the key differences in the 'look' of each shot straight from the scanner or RAW file. On balance I prefer the film version, it has an 'edge' to it which I feel is lost on the digital version, which is more 'polished' looking, and somehow looks a little artificial, almost CGI-like. Some may not like the colour cast from the lamp in the film shot, but I feel it adds to the atmosphere (it looks a bit greener for some reason on the original, less yellow than below - maybe the blog software playing a part there).

I've also been getting to grips better with scanning the images, with the discovery the for some reason, certain negs look better scanned as a positive, then inverted and colour balanced later. Im not sure of the science behind this, but I know it works with some negatives.

Still frustrated by my lack of progress on Assignment 2, I seem to be stuck on the Colour Accent brief in finding enough oppertuunities to make images using the principle, there just doesn't seem to be that much around which I can use. I shall endeavour to continue the search.

Took delivery of the book 'The Language of Landscape' by Anne Whiston Spirn, so this will hopefully give me a deeper insight into my subject matter and provide some food for philosophical thought. I shall post my thoughts on the book when I have read through it; it's quite a substantial book, so there is plenty to go at.

Re-shoots and further developing ideas

Further to my concerns about some of the shots for Assignment 2 'ticking the boxes' rather than reflecting the intention of the shot, though with the aims of the brief fulfilled, I have been re-shooting some of the shots and doing some other ones which I think are moving more towards the theme for the Major Project.

Spent a lot of time thinking about this idea of 'the periphery' and how it can be interpreted. I realised that one theme that was coming out was that of intruding into the background or things looking over barriers or divisions: things such as control towers or radar equipment protruding from behind hedges or woods near the airport; moterway signs forming a backdrop for playing fields; tower-blocks behind common green areas etc.

Just waiting for the films to come back from processing to see what the results are like. Included a fair number of long exposures in low light, so may be a bit hit or miss. This is a n area I am hoping to improve my skills at. Had some success shooting that way using didgital, but it is trickier with film due to reciprosity failure nad no immediate feedback of the results.

Mood lifting news and and further thoughts on Assignment 2

After a slight feeling of 'setback' with the feedback from Assignment 1 in relation to the Gastalt project, my mood has been lifted following an email from OCA to say one of my shots will be used on an advert for the college which is set to be included in the January edition of Advanced Photographer and Black and White Photography. A couple of months ago I was also charmed to be told that another of my images would be used on one of the 'Assignment Completion' postcards; so receiving those will be fun little progress markers as I go throught the course.

After mulling through the comments about my Gestalt shots being 'too technically focussed', and aso watching the WeAreOCA video of Jefffrey Martin's eloquent and inspiring work, I think the penny has fully dropped at where I went wrong. Jeffrey's images set out on a visual path which follows his interest, with the images incorporating the requirements of the brief within the images and in so doing creating some great images along the way; rather than setting out to demonstrate the theories and finding a means of visually doing so, as mine did.

I think part of the reason for my stumble here may be with not having worked though the different levels of the photography course and not being used this kind of project. Having been APL'd onto Level 3 and starting with the Advanced course where the student more or less has total control over what they will produce, The Gestalt project was the first one where I had to meet requirments laid down by the couse; hence to some extent, I went about it in the wrong way; kind of back to front. So, henceforth, I shalt be making that mistake again.

Looking through what I have produced for Assignment 2, because the shots are starting to 'build up' to the major project using locations and exploring ideas, I don't feel the images quite fall into the same trap, though with some of them it could be constued in that way so a bit of selective editing of which ones to use, plus a few re-shoots with better variations on the theme will be taking place over the festive holidays.

Assignment Feedback initial response.

Got official feedback on Assignment 1 finally after some communication confusion. Hopefully now the procedure for Assignments will be as it was when I did the Advanced course - I submit work to the tutor, the tutor sends their feed back and I act on the feedback, sending a response and any changes deemed necessary.

I had received most of the comments via email before, but the note on the images for the Gestalt project I hadn't been seen before. The first comment was that In general this project is too technically focused and lacks personal engagement and conceptual thinking. OK. I take this to mean that I've concentrated on making images that demonstrate the theories, rather than creating images an idea or voice behind them, and using the Gestalt principles to help deliver idea or make the images work. I suppose this is fair comment really as I hadn't at the time I took them decided on an idea for the direction of my major project, and was still thinking things through, so the images were I suppose in hindsight demonstrating the principles rather than incorporating them into meaningful images, which I think is what the feedback is getting at.

This has started me wondering a about the shots I have done for Assignment 2, the 'Clear Separation', 'Eliminating Depth Clues', and 'Colour Accent' briefs. I need to take a long hard look at what I have produced for those projects and make sure I haven't fallen into the same trap. The images I have created are meant as build-up to my Major Project, shot in the locations I will be using for that, and a way of starting to work the ideas through to develop a clear train of thought as to how the  major project images will look, while trying to answer the demands of the briefs for Ass. 2. In that way they are relevant and the ideas of the Periphery or Edgelands hopefully are starting to come through, and hopefully these won't be seen as much as a 'box ticking exercise'. I think the difficulty with these kind of projects is marrying the outline of the brief with the idea of the shot, always a chicken and egg situation, and one where the difficulty is in producing something that doesn't look contrives or too self conscious.

I will look at the images again over the next few days and think about changing some of the ones I was going to submit for Assignment 2. I will also have to think about possibly re-shooting for Assignment 1, as I do not want negative feedback to go unaddressed as I feel it would be detrimental come assessment time. Hopefully I will have some time over the upcoming festive holiday period to think things through more clearly.

Assignment 2 at the Mersey and Crowden

Spent the week reading up on Stephen Shore for the Critical Review and making notes of points to include on my thoughts abouot his work. What may be a challenge is putting these thoughts into some kind of logical order whereby different points expand on or are connected to earlier points.I've realised that at the moment it is important just to get the thoughts down in written form, then I can start to order them and tweak with sentence structure and logical sequencing.

Photographically, Saturday saw an early start with a trip out to the banks of the Mersey to add a couple of shots for the 'Colour Accent' brief. I know it is becoming a photographers cliche, but I am genuinely feeling using medium / large format film cameras is slowing down the way I work and making me think a lot more about shots before I take them. This is mostly due to the cost of film and processing as I can ill-afford to waqste many shots, especially in large format.  The large bulky equipment just makes me feel like taking more time and care over what I am doing - of crafting the image rather than just taking it. The way I have been working lately tends to follow the flow of exploring and taking some initial shots with the digital SLR or compact, then returning the following week with one of the 'big cameras' to realise the vision. I think I should start taking back-up shots on the digital camera, as one or two mishaps lately have meant I have ended up with nothing to show for some trips out, and I feel very much tah time is running away at the moment.

Later in the day I headed out into Derbyshire with the intention of taking some shots for the 'Clear Seperation' brief. The areas where I have been exploring for my Major Project haven't lent themselves very well to this paricular brief, so I felt it was time to try something a litle different. I went to the area near Crowden, where there is a trail headoung out towards Black Hill, I tried for some minimalist landscapes. I also though a change of environment might help freshen my approach when it comes to the Major Project shots. As the light faded I took the opportunity to practise for the long exposure shots I have planned, tr get a feel for how things may turn out and develop a shooting methodology.

 I will have to wait until the films are back from the lab later in the week to asses the outcome. One of the great unknowns in this case is the effects of reciprosity failure of the film. With exposure of around 1 minute registered on the meter, I'm pretty sure I will have to expose for a while longer. Just how much longer, I will have to wait and see from the results of the shots.

Weekend wanderings and Hans-Christian Schink

Ventured further into the outlands of Manchester's periphery on Saturday afternoon to check out some locations for the major project. Took some preliminary shots of an area on the edge of a commercial development which can be seen protruding from behind a hedge from in farmland. Also around the same area was a dwelling which warrants inclusion in the part of the project concerned with buildings and residency in the edgelands.

I had planned to get up early to do some pre-sun-up shots, as the forecast had been for clear shies, but exhaustion mixed with insomnia had caused a bad night and saw me eventually sleeping in until mid morning, missing the best art of the day.

Sunday didn't get off to a good start either with me fretting about Assignment 2 'Colour Accent' project and getting into a bit of a quandary as to how to progress with it. I want a variety of shots for this project but seem to keep retuning to quite similar themes. Eventually got out to do some shooting by mid afternoon, by which time the light was bad, and the shots I managed to squeeze weren't really up to much. The silver lining was that I found an interesting location where some coppiced woodland had re-grown in way which made it look like a wicker forest. This probably wont fit in with y major project but may be useful for another type of project in the future.

I was browsing the library at work and came across a book by Hans-Christian Schink titled Verkehrsprojekte   Traffic Projects. This book is comprised largely of a collection of images of the, at that time, newly built road and rail infrastructure in to eastern Germany in the years after reunification of the country. The images feature huge swathes cut through the countryside, cuttings through  hillsides newly landscaped and ready for the road or railtrack to open, newly planted trees on the landscaped verges; grass still not yet grown over. Huge concrete and metal supporting structures grow out of the ground like odd alien plants. Shot in colour, yet having a hard still look, the images have grey monotone skies, minimal landscapes; no humans are present yet the stamp of mankind on the landscape is clearly the subject here.

The feeling I got as a viewer was one of emptyness, stillness; of a land sliced through by concrete, metal and machinery. The surfaces and structures in the images are new, not yet established or having softened with time and the growth of vegetation, brutally unyielding and faceless, without character.

What I really like about this series is the use of lines and space. There is a sense of openness in the images: the sky often occupies a large proportion of the image. The weather in this area of Germany must be very consistent, or Schink is remarkably fast at getting around many locations in the same day. All the images use the soft light of an overcast, still day to great effect, for it is not the 'brave, optimistic face of progress, opportunity and promise for all' we see of blue skies and smiling faces. I'm sure these images will be influential and inspirational for my own major project.

Early rise dawn shoot, research and develompent of ideas

Awoke early for some reason on Saturday morning, and looked out to see the first traces of daylight appearing and a clear sky with frost. Took advantage of my unplanned early rise by heading out to an area near Sale Water Park (one of the areas I have earmarked for my major project) to get some pre-sunrise shots in. lots of pastel colours in the sky and on land before sun-up. Took the opportunity to try out my new 250mm lens for the RZ67. It brings things closer than I expected, and a couple of times I found its field of view a little too narrow for the shot I had in mind, as it was difficult to move further away from the subject (which was quite far away) due to bushes, fences etc. Will have to wait until the film comes back from processing to evaluate the results and sum up what I leaned from the morning.

In the afternoon, headed out to the airport area again to try to get some shots for Assignment 2, 'A clear separation' and 'Colour accent'. I'm getting quite frustrated with the amount of time this assignment is taking. Working full time I can only get out at weekends to shoot, as it is dark when I come out of work, and luck dictates that the atmospheric conditions aren't always ideal for photography on the weekend. I shall, however, persevere in the knowledge that I shall try to catch up once the evenings draw out again after January / February.managed a shot of a building which may be suitable for the Colour Accent brief, but if not, it is good rearch to build on for shots for the MAjor project.

Sunday saw me head to an area near the Trafford Centre to check out some unused land with the Trafford Centre in the background. Althoughtall trees blocked the view I was expecting, I did see some perspectives which included modern flats appearing behind scrubland which may be useful for the major project. Took a short walk along the canal near Barton sing-bridge and took some shots to experiment with perspective and leading lines.

This weekend's progress:

• Slowly developing more ideas and locations for the major project.
• Getting a clear idea of themes which could run through the project.
• Found a couple of new locations which may prove to be useful.

A little disappointed that I still haven't finished Assignment 2, but the background work I have been doing may help me get back on schedule in later assignments.