i have nothing to post today :(

Evaluation

 “As an object, a photograph has its own life in the world. It can be saved in a shoebox or in a museum. It can be reproduced as information or as an advertisement. It can be bought and sold. It may be regarded as a utilitarian object or as a work of art. The context in which a photograph is seen effects the meaning a viewer draws from it” - Stephen Shore

That was the quote I had to work with this project, and I found this a very challenging project. I found it hard to find any ideas from my quote, and for this project i had to keep a blog instead of a journal which I didn’t really like. I don’t mind blogs and i will keep posting a few things here and there. As for keeping it to store all research and everything else for my project I hated it, I like to look at my research throughout my work, and to do that I had to log on a computer, so I found myself printing most things out so I could refer to them easier.

The main thing I pulled from my quote was how a photographed is viewed, so I began to work on that. The obvious thing was presentation, which didn’t give me any ideas as to what to photograph. I began my just photographing everything I seen I thought was interesting to create something visual to help me think. I took a few rolls of film one using a macro lens the other a fisheye, looking at how the just the photograph itself can show things in a different context without the aid of presentation. Which lead me on to thing about how everyone views things differently, everyone has a different opinion and taste. So no matter how my photographs are presented everyone will see them in different ways. 

I looked a few photographers/artists; I looked for ones which presented there work differently instead of just a perfect straight edged print in a nice clean frame. Such as Francesca Woodman and Jim Goldberg who had handwritten text with their photographs which I have always liked I think it gives them a personal touch. Ernest James Bellocq who destroys the film emulsion on his work. Tim Georgeson who turns his work into collages. But it was Ruth Van Beek and John Stezaker that I got the most inspiration from. Van Beek the way the photographs were folded and ripped, a photograph of two people fighting turned into an embrace with just a few rips. Stezaker gave me the idea of using old photographs with new to create something different.

As i already photographing family, I used my new photographs with old baby and child photographs. Doing this gave both the old and new photographs a new meaning and context. To keep them different I my Photographs were black and white and the older ones were colour. I also added text, either about the photographs, or something about who was in it. When doing a crit it was said to me to try framing my work and re-photographing it around the home, as that’s were most family photographs are seen and displayed. These be came my finals, common family photos viewed in a very different way.  I like that I used family photographs as the family will always see them differently than people who are not in the family.

Overall I found this project very challenging, but that what I want from a project, it pushes me to work harder and gives me more to think about. I enjoyed looking into different ways of presenting photography, which has always interested me and I am happy I was able to try it. Also learning cyanotypes, salt print and the van dyke process I loved and now what to learn more of the older processes of photography. What I feel I do need to work on is my idea generation if I hadn’t been stuck for the first half of the project I think I could of tried more.