Month: November 2019

Sculpted by Light

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The Light (and Delight) of the Photogram

‘I am doing Photograms! I am having such fun. They reveal the most beautiful new world of light & form’ (Hepworth in Bowness, 2013)
Barbara Hepworth (1932-33) Self Portrait Photogram

 

This is a fun session in which participants will make photograms, as well as learn the basics of analogue processes. It also serves as an introduction to the constructed image, the dependence of the photographic process on light and time, as well as basic darkroom development principles.

 

 

 

 

‘A photogram is not a photograph, not really. Sure, it is usually discussed as a subset of photography, and it was born around the same time, from similar chemistry, but is practically and conceptually only remotely related. A photogram is a 1:1 scale negative record of a shadow. It is unique and unpredictable. Photographs tell sweeping, barefaced lies; photograms tell the truth, but only a thin slice of it. the ocean of images that surges and swells around us is mainly photographic; we are awash with manipulated half-truths and shameless fictions’ (Griffin, 2019)

This Session could be run in conjunction with:

Lloyd Godman (1993-94) from Evidence from the Religion of Technology
‘An automatic reproduction by the action of light’ (Niepce (1839) in Trachtenberg, 1980, p.5)
‘It is not an instrument which serves to draw nature but a chemical and physical process which gives her the power to reproduce herself’ (Daguerre (1839) in Trachtenberg, 1980, p.13)
‘By optical and chemical means alone [the image is] impressed by Nature’s hand’ (Talbot (1839) in Wood, 2001, p.192)

Aims & Outcomes:

  • For participants to discuss and visually explore the nature of photographic seeing
  • For participants to experience and understand the nature of darkroom processing
  • Participant Take Away Outcome: At least 3 photograms
Dan Peyton (2015) Forsythia Elegy

You will need:

  • A selection of small objects / materials to make photograms with (participants can also bring / find objects / materials)
  • 10 x 8 inch Ilford Multigrade Paper
  • A Darkroom / Darkroom chemicals
  • *if you are working off-campus you will need a light tight room, chemicals, trays and red lights
  • An introductory brief & Presentation (below) for participants to outline the ideas and provide examples
  • A booked room to critique participants work
  • Blue tack to pin the work
  • * Access to Photocopiers with a scan function / Scanners, Printers etc if you are planning on making digital photograms
  • Costings and Risk Assessments
‘Photography can lie as to the meaning of a thing but never to its existence’ (Barthes, 1980, p.89)
Jochen Lempert (2010) Glow-worm

presentation ideas: The Light (and Delight) of the photogram

Preparation Work:

  • Make sure you have all of the required materials (including some objects)
  • Make sure you have booked the darkrooms if you are working on campus / have chemicals, lights, trays etc if off campus.
  • Set up the enlargers (with carriers / lenses) and easels (9×6) in advance of the session
  • Introduce participants / teachers to darkroom processes / photograms by asking them to watch ‘Making a Photogram’ (2017) for Ilford available here
  • If you are working with Secondary School / College participants to read Jonathan Griffin (2019) ‘Out of the Light / Into the Shadow’ for Tate available here
  • If you are working with Primary School participants you could ask them to make a montage with some / the objects you have chosen on A4 paper and draw or photograph it. In the sesison / in advance, younger children can also cut out shapes and images from magazines (and mount onto card) as ‘objects’ to make storytelling photograms with.
  • You might encourage participants to make digital photograms using a photocopier / scanner. Some useful ideas are available here
‘For the first time an image of the world is formed automatically without the creative intervention of man. The personality of the photographer enters into proceedings only in his selection of the object to be photographed and by way of the purpose he has in mind. Although the final result may reflect something of his personality, this does not play the same role as that of the painter’ (Bazin (1967) in Trachtenberg, 1980, p.241)

Constructing Photograms: objects & Visual ideas

Suggested Session Outline:

Fake News?

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reading is believing (or is it?)

‘The caption permits me to focus not only my gaze, but also my understanding’ (Barthes, 1977, p.39)
Dr R.K. Wilson (1934) Loch Ness Monster in The Daily Mail (21st April 1934)

This session aims to introduce participants to Barthes (1977) idea of the caption ‘anchoring’ photographs with meaning and they way we view / understand photographs in relation to such ‘informatory’ text, as well as the context they are viewed in. Using real-life news captions, participants will explore the veracity of the photograph (or not), as well as specifically practicing thier technical skills in construction and story-telling.

‘Photography’s plausibility has always rested on the uniqueness of its indexical relation to the world it images, a relation that is regarded as fundamental to its operation as a system of representation. For this reason, a photograph of something has long been held to be a proof of that thing’s being, even if not of its truth’ (Batchen, 2002, p.139)

This Session could be run in conjunction with:

John Baldessari (1973) from The Meaning of Various News Photos to Ed Henderson
‘In the Photograph, the power of authentication exceeds the power of representation’ Barthes, 1980, p.89)

Aims & Outcomes:

  • For participants to explore the construction of photographs in response to real-life captions
  • For participants to consider the reality of the photograph (or not) and how our understanding may be led by caption / title / headlines and the context we consume them in
  • Participant Outcome: 3 (edited) final 6×4 digital prints
‘What is true of photographs is true of the world seen photographically’ (Sontag, 1977, p.79)
Donald Trump (2016) I Love Hispanics Twitter post

You Will Need:

  • Digital cameras for all participants (and appropriate memory cards) *This session can also be run using Camera phones or Lumix cameras
  • Card readers
  • Access to computers (or laptops)
  • A selection of real life news photographs (for participants to write captions). You can devise your own or there are some useful examples and questions here
  • A selection of real-life captions (for participants to make photographs)
  • An introductory brief & Presentation (below) for participants to outline the ideas and provide examples
  • A booked room to critique participants work (either via a projector or via print)
  • Blue tack to pin the work
  • Costings and Risk Assessments
Joan Fontcuberta (2001) from Sirens

‘Various theories are being considered that would explain its exceptionally well preserved state. The arched posture of the spine and the fact that the front limbs are close together and the cranium side-on reveal that this hydropithicus was buried rapidly while it slept, which would also explain why the bones have not broken up, despite the disappearance of the soft parts (muscles, ligaments etc). The cause of death and subsequent covering up of the skeleton could be an underwater landslide’ (Fontcuberta in Cotton, 2004, p.202)

Caption ideas:

*You can also make your own using news stories, Twitter etc / or you might ask participants to find / bring them and swap with a partner.

  • Woman Finds Hat in a Tree (Harrogate Advertiser)
  • Yellow Object Spotted in the Sky (Metro Herald)
  • Anger at Recycling Banks Removal (Falmouth Packet)
  • Cows Lose thier Jobs as Milk Prices Drop (The Balitmore Sun)

  • Day of the Triffids gets real as horrific sheep-eating plant grows in Truro (Cornwall Live)

Presentation ideas: Is reading leading?

Preparation Work:

  • Ask participants to read Sandra Phillips (2017) ‘A History of the Evidence’ in The Paris Review, 3rd May 2017 available here
  • Ask participants to watch the video Joan Fontcuberta Stranger than Fiction (2014) available here
  • Ask participants if they have thier own digital cameras and cards
  • Make sure you have access to computers / image editing software
  • Make sure there are enough team members to support participants (never assume thier prior knowledge)
  • Decide whether you will project the work or print it.
  • If you are printing it make sure the Photo Lab are aware and be aware of timekeeping so they have space to print the work.
  • *If you are running this session off campus, make sure there is access to printers or projectors
René Magritte (1929) The Treachery of Images

suggested session outline:

The Seen is the Sum of its parts

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Fragmented Scenes

‘If you don’t mind looking at the world from the point of view of a paralyzed Cyclops – for a split second. But that’s not what it’s like to live in the world’ (Hockney in Weschler, 2013)
David Hockney (1982) Kasmin, Los Angeles (12th March, 1982)

 

This is an adaptable session which aims to introduce participants to the construction of abstract / alternative scenes and spaces using simple joiner techniques. It encourages in-depth independent research into David Hockney’s practice and its positioning within wider ideas regarding the nature of photographic representation. It encourages participants to consider issues of perspective, scale, point of view, time and motion.

 

 

 

‘I never thought the world looked like photographs, really. A lot of people think it does but it’s just one little way of seeing it’ (Hockney in Jones, 2004)

This Session could be run in conjunction with:

David Hockney (1986) Pearblossom Highway (11th – 18th April, 1986)

Aims & Outcomes:

  • For participants to explore the construction of meaning in fragmented photographic representations.
  • For participants to consider time, perspective, scale, point of view, composition and juxtapositions in the construction of photographic joiners.
  • For participants to conduct in depth research on the work of David Hockney, his Cubist influences and apply these ideas to thier photographic practice.
  • Participant Outcome: 1 final 12×16 digital print

Research: the work of david hockney

‘When is the present? When did the past end and the present occur, and when does the future start? Ordinary photography has one way of seeing only, which is fixed, as if there is kind of an objective reality, which simply cannot be. Picasso…knew that every time you look there’s something different. There is so much there but we´re not seeing it, that’s the problem’ (Hockney in Joyce, 1998, p.31)

You will Need:

  • Digital cameras for all participants (and appropriate memory cards) *This session can also be run using Camera phones or Lumix cameras
  • Card readers
  • Access to computers (or laptops) and Photoshop / image editing software to make joiners
  • Cardboard 6×4 ‘viewfinders’ (or ask participants to make them)
  • An introductory brief & Presentation (above) for participants to outline the ideas and provide examples
  • A booked room to critique participants work (either via a projector or via print)
  • Blue tack to pin the work
  • Costings and Risk Assessments
  • Investigate the Tate resources for All About Cubism available here
  • Make sure you are confident making joiners in Photoshop

preparation work:

  • Ask participants to read Jonathan Jones (2004) ‘Disposable Cameras’ in The Guardian, 4th March 2004 available here
  • Ask participants to read Martin Gayford (2012) ‘Inverview with David Hockney in The Telegraph, 14th February 2012 available here
  • Ask participants to independently research the work of David Hockney 
  • Ask participants to watch the video David Hockney on What’s Unphotographable (2007) with Robert Hughes available here
  • Ask participants if they have thier own digital cameras and cards
  • Decide whether or not you wish participants to work in pairs / small groups to make thier joiners
  • Make sure you have access to computers / image editing software
  • Make sure there are enough team members to support participants (never assume thier prior knowledge)
  • Decide whether you will project the work or print it.
  • If you are printing it (12×16 per joiner) make sure the Photo Lab are aware and be aware of timekeeping so they have space to print the work.
  • *If you are running this session off campus, make sure there is access to printers or projectors
David Hockney (1987) Caribbean Tea Time

suggested session outline:

A Model World

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Seeing the Miniature (Or is it?)

‘What is true of photographs is true of the world seen photographically’ (Sontag, 1977, p.79)
Marco Pece (2009) Mona Lisa

 

This session aims to introduce participants to the idea of the photograph as a constructed world of the real. Using miniature models, participants will explore the veracity of the photograph (or not), as well as specifically practicing thier technical skills in construction, story-telling, lighting and depth of field.

‘Photography can lie as to the meaning of a thing but never to its existence’ (Barthes, 1980, p.89)

This Session could be run in conjunction with:

Aims & Outcomes:

  • For participants to explore the construction of scenes using miniature models and backdrops.
  • For participants to consider the reality of the photograph (or not) and practice lighting, and depth of field.
  • For participants to conduct in depth research on the work of Hiroshi Sugimoto and apply these ideas to thier practice.
  • Participant Outcome: 3 (edited) final 6×4 digital prints

Research: the work of hiroshi sugimoto:

When I first arrived in New York in 1974, I visited many of the city’s tourist sites, one of which was the the American Museum of Natural History. I made a curious discovery while looking at the exhibition of animal dioramas: the stuffed animals positioned before painted backdrops looked utterly fake, yet by taking a quick peek with one eye closed, all perspective vanished,and suddenly they looked very real. I had found a way to see the world as a camera does. However fake the subject, once photographed, it’s as good as real. (Sugimoto, 2019)

You Will Need:

  • Digital cameras for all participants (and appropriate memory cards) *This session can also be run using Camera phones or Lumix cameras
  • Card readers
  • Access to computers (or laptops)
  • A selection of miniature models and material to make backdrops / dioramas
  • Consider also environmental scenes you could use: puddles / grass / stones / concrete / sand as well as buildings / landscapes / road scenes / bus stops etc to explore depth of field.
  • Flash-guns, lamps (or tin foil) to demonstrate lighting ideas
  • An introductory brief & Presentation (below) for participants to outline the ideas and provide examples
  • Prepared demonstrations on using apertures to effect the depth of field and using flash / reflected light
  • A booked room to critique participants work (either via a projector or via print)
  • Blue tack to pin the work
  • Costings and Risk Assessments

Presentation ideas: A (small) model world

Preparation Work:

  • Ask participants to read Karol Sienkiewicz (2010) ‘Lego Concentration Camp / Lego. Obóz koncentracyjny’ in Culture.Pl (March 2015) available here
  • Ask participants to watch Thomas Demand (2008) ‘Presidency’ from TateShots available here
  • Ask participants to independently research the work of Hiroshi Sugimoto
  • Ask participants if they have thier own digital cameras and cards
  • Make sure you have access to computers
  • Make sure there are enough team members to support participants (never assume thier prior knowledge)
  • Decide whether you will project the work or print it.
  • If you are printing it (6×4) make sure the Photo Lab are aware and be aware of timekeeping so they have space to print the work.
  • *If you are running this session off campus, make sure there is access to printers or projectors
James Casebere (1994) Asylum

Suggested Session Outline:

 

Splitting Image

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The dual worlds of John Stezaker

John Stezaker (2012) Muse XII

This is an adaptable session which aims to introduce participants to the construction (or confusion) of meaning using simple / dual collage techniques. It encourages in-depth independent research into John Stezaker’s practice and its positioning within wider ideas regarding collage/montage and the nature of photographic representation.

‘Since the 1970s, the celebrated artist John Stezaker (b. 1949) has created distinctive collages using found photographs and illustrated ephemera, particularly mid twentieth-century film stills, press and publicity portraits. His minimal, but impactful interventions in these works – cutting out, slicing and splicing images – create uncanny and psychologically charged results, which challenge our ways of seeing and interpreting images’ (National Portrait Gallery, 2019)

This Session could be run in conjunction with:

John Stezaker (2007) Pair IV

Aims & Outcomes:

  • For participants to explore the construction / confusion of meaning in photographic representation.
  • For participants to consider scale, composition and juxtapositions in the construction of dual collage portraits.
  • For participants to conduct in depth research on the work of John Stezaker and apply these ideas to thier practice.
  • Participant Outcome: 3 (edited) final 6×4 digital prints

Research: the work of John Stezaker:

‘Montage is about producing something seamless and legible, whereas collage is about interrupting the seam and making something illegible’ (Stezaker in O’Hagan 2014)

You will Need:

  • An introductory brief & Presentation (below) for participants to outline the ideas and provide examples
  • A booked room to critique participants work (either via a projector or via print)
  • Blue tack to pin the work
  • Costings and Risk Assessments
  • *If you are running this as a physical / craft session you will need: A selection of magazines, Glue, Scissors, A photocopier
  • *If you are running this as a digital session you will need: digital cameras for all participants (and appropriate memory cards) This session can also be run using Camera phones or Lumix cameras, Card readers, Access to the Internet, Photoshop and computers (or laptops)
  • If you are running this in conjunction with a Portait / Studio session you will need: Portraits of all participants, A booked studio, Access to the Internet, Photoshop and computers (or laptops).

Preparation work:

    • Ask participants to read John Stezaker in conversation with Sophie Cristello (2015) in The Seen available here
    • Ask participants to independently research John Stezaker’s practice and watch the video John Stezaker In Conversation (2011) for the Picture This Exhibition at Laurent Delaye Gallery available here
    • Ask participants if they have thier own digital cameras and cards
    • Make sure you have collected magazines / have access to computers
    • Make sure there are enough team members to support participants (never assume thier prior knowledge)
    • Decide whether you will project the work or print it.
    • If you are printing it (6×4) make sure the Photo Lab are aware and be aware of timekeeping so they have space to print the work.
    • *If you are running this session off campus, make sure there is access to printers or projectors

suggested session outline:

Part 1: splitting image / dual portraits

Presentation ideas: the Neutral Portrait

part 2: splitting image / the photographed and the found

Presentation ideas: The constructed collage

Neutral Vision (s)

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Typologies & Types: Faces, Spaces, Places

‘Throughout the modern era, photography has been enlisted to classify the world and its people. Driven by a belief in the scientific objectivity of photographic evidence, the logics utilized to classify photographs-in groups and categories or sequences of identically organized images-also shape our visual consciousness’ (Baker, 2015)
Sophie Calle (1981) from The Hotel

This is an adaptable session which encourages participants to consider a potential neutrality and objectivity of photographic vision. Through the construction of a typology, it encourages participants to also think about the nature of comparative and investigative viewing (whether the subject matter is face, places or spaces).

 

‘I am an eye. A mechanical eye. I, the machine, show you a world the way only I can see it. My way leads towards a fresh perception of the world. Thus, I explain in a new way the world unknown to you’ (Vertov in Berger, 1972, p.17)

This Session could be run in conjunction with:

Andy Warhol (1962) Campbell’s Soup Cans

Aims & Outcomes:

  • For participants to explore the aesthetic implications of a ‘neutral’ view. Can photographs ever be objective?
  • For participants to visually consider how typologies work. Do they encourage investigative viewing? Can they transform the banal?
  • Participant Outcome: 4 (edited) 6×4 digital prints per approach (Faces / Spaces / Places)
‘For the first time an image of the world is formed automatically without the creative intervention of man. The personality of the photographer enters into proceedings only in his selection of the object to be photographed and by way of the purpose he has in mind’
(Bazin (1967) in Trachtenberg, 1980, p.241)
Jochen Lempert (1993-2016) The Skins of Alca impennis

You will need:

  • Digital cameras for all participants (and appropriate memory cards) *This session can also be run using Camera phones or Lumix cameras
  • Card readers
  • Access to computers (or laptops)
  • An introductory brief & presentation for participants to outline the ideas and provide examples
  • A booked room to critique participants work (either via a projector or via print)
  • Blue tack to pin the work
  • Costings and Risk Assessments
Bernd & Hilla Becher (1966-1997) from Winding Towers

 

‘This is a requiem for a lost world and shows that, through the passing of time, even that which was once considered purely functional and even ugly, can attain beauty when seen through the eyes of the most attentive photographers’ (O’Hagan, 2014)

 

 

Presentation ideas: constructing typologies:

Faces:
Spaces:
places:

Preparation Work:

    • Ask participants to read Sean O’Hagan (2014) ‘Lost world: Bernd and Hilla Becher’s legendary industrial photographs’ in The Guardian 3rd September 2014 available here
    • Ask participants to watch Francis Hodgson (2011) Thomas Struth – An Objective Photographer? In The Financial Times available here
    • Ask participants if they have thier own digital cameras and cards
    • Make sure you have access to computers
    • Make sure there are enough team members to support participants (never assume thier prior knowledge)
    • Decide whether you will project the work or print it.
    • If you are printing it (6×4) make sure the Photo Lab are aware and be aware of timekeeping so they have space to print the work.
    • *If you are running this session off campus, make sure there is access to printers or projectors
Tim Flach (2014) for The Sunday Times

suggested Session Outline:

 

Me, Myself and Eye

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Looking at the ‘Selfie’

‘Once I feel myself observed by the lens, everything changes; I constitute myself in the process of ‘posing’, I instantaneously make another body for myself, I transform myself in advance into an image’ (Barthes, 1980, p.10)
Chompoo Baritone (2015) from Instagram

 

This is an adaptable session which encourages participants to consider the ways in which we represent and project ourselves as well as constructed nature of the performed portrait. It encourages participants to also make relationships with a history of painting, and the nature of social media in our ‘image world’ today.

 

This Session could be run in conjunction with:

Adapted from: PhotoPedagogy / ‘The Selfie’ which can be accessed here
Nikki S. Lee (2001) from Projects

Aims & Outcomes:

  • For participants to explore the nature of a ‘performed’ self. Is is all a mask?
  • For participants to consider the different ways in which the self might be represented. Do we have multiple selves?
  • For participants to consider the ‘intent’ of thier work. What aspect of the self are they trying to portray?
  • Participant Outcome: 3 (edited) 6×4 digital prints
Jen Davis (2014) from 11 Years

‘In my photographs I aim to raise questions regarding beauty, desire, body image, and identity through a focused observation of my personal story. I have built a relationship between the camera and myself where I transform the act of taking a photograph into a performance for the camera.  My work is partially based on personal experiences that I have re- constructed into a photograph, and the other part consists of made up fantasies of what I imagine a physical relationship to be regarding intimacy, love and desire’ (Davis in Smithson, 2014)

  • Digital cameras for all participants (and appropriate memory cards) *This session can also be run using Pinhole cameras, Camera phones or Lumix cameras
  • Card readers
  • Access to computers (or laptops)
  • An introductory brief & Presentation (below) for participants to outline the ideas and provide examples
  • A printed ‘Selfie‘ list
  • A booked room to critique participants work (either via a projector or via print)
  • Blue tack to pin the work
  • Costings and Risk Assessments

Presentation ideas: Different selves

Create ‘Selves’ Which Are: Neutral / Performed / Disguised / Distorted / Reflected / Multiple / Hidden / Shadow / Partial / Constructed / Environmental

‘we have front-stage and backstage personalities, that we perform all the time, when we walk down the street, when we go into a shop. And when we are behind closed doors we go into a bit of a slump’ (Goffman, 1959)

Preparation Work:

    • Ask participants to read Interview with Daniel Herrmann on Gillian Wearing (2012) from 200% Magazine available here
    • Ask participants to independently research the From Selfie to Self Expression Exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery (2017) and watch the video available here
    • Ask participants if they have thier own digital cameras and cards
    • Make sure you have access to computers
    • Make sure there are enough team members to support participants (never assume thier prior knowledge)
    • Decide whether you will project the work or print it.
    • If you are printing it (6×4) make sure the Photo Lab are aware and be aware of timekeeping so they have space to print the work.
    • *If you are running this session off campus, make sure there is access to printers or projectors

 

Suggested Session Outline:

 

We seek him Here: We seek him There

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A photographic treasure hunt

‘Photography is a system of visual editing. At bottom, it is a matter of surrounding with a frame a portion of one’s cone of vision, while standing in the right place at the right time. Like chess, or writing, it is a matter of choosing from among given possibilities, but in the case of photography the number of possibilities is not finite but infinite. The world now contains more photographs than bricks, and they are, astonishingly, all different (Szarkowski, 1976)
William Eggleston (1973) The Red Ceiling

This session is very adaptable and encourages participants to ‘notice’ the world around them, as well as encouraging to ‘see’ it in photographic terms. In very structrured terms, it instigates a new / differnt type of vision to encourage participants to really notice the world around them, explore the role of aesthetics, framing, vantage point and depth of field, and investigate the idea of ‘photographic seeing’ as the world is transformed / constructed into an image.

This Session could be run in conjunction with:

‘The best photographs always inspire curiosity, rather than satisfy it.  I think that this ambiguity is one of the most thrilling aspects of the medium.  A photograph is only a minute fragment of an experience, but quite a precise, detailed, and telling fragment.  And although it might only provide little clues, the photographer is telling us that they are very important clues’ (Soth in Schuman, 2004)
Alec Soth (2004) from Sleeping by the Mississippi

Aims & Outcomes:

  • For participants to visually notice and explore the nature of a ‘photographic’ way of seeing and framing the world around them
  • For participants to ‘notice’ the world and produce 5 (edited) images which visually / aesthetically transform and change the objects / scenes they have photographed
  • For participants to conduct in depth research on the work of William Eggleston and apply these ideas to thier practice.
  • *This session works best when participants are encouraged to really ‘look’ at the world around them rather than construct or interfere with the scene.
  • Participant Outcome: 5 6×4 digital prints

Research: the work of William Eggleston:

‘The empire of photography expanded, or perhaps shrunk, the world into a grain of sand’ (Badger, 2007, p.48)
Todd Hido (2011) from A Road Divided

You will need:

  • Digital cameras for all participants (and appropriate memory cards) *This session can also be run using camera phones or Lumix cameras
  • Card readers
  • Access to computers (or laptops)
  • An introductory presentation for participants to outline the ideas and provide examples
  • A printed ‘Treasure Hunt’ list
  • A booked room to critique participants work (either via a projector or via print)
  • Blue tack to pin the work
  • Costings and Risk Assessments

Presentation ideas: Hunting The Photograph

Find Something; Ephemeral / Liminal / Low / Strange / Mundane / Framed / Broken / Red / Decayed / Quiet / Light / Dark / Living / Empty / Alien / Boring / Fake / Shiny / Slow / Useless / Re-purposed / A Non Place / A Portal

‘The very act of photographing something makes it special and indeed its significance and our understanding of it can change dramatically once it is turned into a subject.’ (Bright, 2011, p.107)

Preparation Work:

    • Ask participants to read Bruce Wagner (1999) ‘Mystagogue’ in American Suburb X  available here
    • Ask participants to read John Szarkowski (1976) ‘Introduction’ to William Eggletons’s Guide available here
    • Ask participants to watch Martin Parr (2007) from TateShots available here
    • Ask participants if they have thier own digital cameras and cards
    • Make sure you have access to computers
    • Make sure there are enough team members to support participants (never assume thier prior knowledge)
    • Decide whether you will project the work or print it.
    • If you are printing it (6×4) make sure the Photo Lab are aware and be aware of timekeeping so they have space to print the work.
    • *If you are running this session off campus, make sure there is access to printers or projectors

Suggested Session Outline:

The Ordinary / Extraordinary Object

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constructing the mundane object

‘To see something spectacular and recognise it as a photographic possibility is not making a very big leap. But to see something ordinary, something you’d see every day, and recognise it as a photographic possibility – that’s what I’m interested in’ (Shore in O’ Hagan, 2015)
Sian Bonnell (1999) from When the Domestic Meets the Wild

This is an adaptable session in which participants will explore the idea that through photographic construction, ordinary objects can be made extraordinary by making a scene and photographing it. It encourages participants to ‘think’ about these ordinary objects and gives a freedom to explore potential new uses of these. Participants are encouraged to explore aesthetics, lighting, framing, vantage point and depth of field, and investigate the idea of the ordinary being seen in a ‘new way’.

This Session could be run in conjunction with:

‘An ordinary object can be elevated to the dignity of a work of art by the mere choice of an artist’ (Duchamp in Obalk, 2000)

Aims & Outcomes:

  • For participants to explore the nature of the constructed image
  • For participants to work in groups to investigate different ways of ‘seeing’ a single ordinary object
  • To produce 5 (edited) constructed images which demonstrate different ways of ‘seeing’ this object
  • *This session works best when participants are in groups. Studio and location lighting may be introduced.
  • Participant Outcome: 5 x 6×4 edited Final prints

Research: Ordinary Magazine

 

Ordinary Magazine
Ordinary magazine: Issue #6 Air: Air is the general name for the mixture of gases that makes up the Earth’s atmosphere. It is the clear gas in which living things live and breathe. It has an indefinite shape and volume. It has no colour or smell. Air is a mixture of about 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon, 0.04% carbon dioxide, and very small amounts of other gases. There is an average of about 1% water vapour.

See the full images from Ordinary Magazine Air here

 

You will need:

  • Digital cameras for all participants (and appropriate memory cards)
  • Card readers
  • Access to computers (or laptops)
  • An introductory brief & Presentation (above / Ordinary Magazine) for participants to outline the ideas and provide examples
  • A booked room to critique participants work (either via projector or print)
  • Blu-tack if you are pinning up physical prints
  • Costings and Risk Assessments
Gabriel Orozco (1992) Breath on A Piano

Preparation work:

  • Ask participants to watch the Ordinary Magazine presentation of plastic cutlery which can be found here
  • Ask participants to bring along 3 ordinary objects to the session *Or you can bring / devise your own.
  • Ask participants if they have their own digital cameras and cards
  • Make sure you have access to computers * Decide whether you plan to project the work or print it
Felix Gonzales Torres (1992) Untitled

Suggested Session Outline:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Unseen & Overlooked

Posted on Posted in Banal, Digital, Theory & PracticeTagged , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

‘Seeing’ the mundane & banal

‘There is no such thing as an un-photographed or un-photographable subject. It is for us to determine a subjects significance, knowing it must have one, for the artist has photographed it and thereby designated it as significant.’ (Cotton, 2014, p.115)
Rinko Kawauchi (2001) from Utatane

This is an adaptable session in which participants will explore the idea that banal/mundane subject matter can be made extraordinary merely by the act of photographing it. It encourages participants to ‘look’ at the world around them, explore the role of aesthetics, framing, vantage point and depth of field, and investigate the idea of ‘photographic seeing’ as the world is transformed / constructed into an image.

‘To photograph is to confer importance. There is probably no subject that cannot be beautified; moreover, there is no way to suppress the tendency inherent in all photographs to accord value to their subjects’ (Sontag, 1977, p.28)

This Session could be run in conjunction with:

Gus Van Sant (2004) film still from Elephant
‘The Fact that the banal image points towards its own status as object suggests that the aesthetics of the banal be approached not just in terms of what we read in the image, but of how we read it.’ (Shinkle, 2004, p.175)

Aims & Outcomes:

  • For participants to visually explore the nature of a ‘photographic’ way of seeing and framing the world around them
  • For participants to produce 5 (edited) images which visually / aesthetically transform and change the objects / scenes they have photographed
  • For participants to conduct in depth research on the work of Peter Fraser and apply these ideas to thier practice.
  • *This session works best when participants are encouraged to really ‘look’ at the world around them rather than construct or interfere with the scene.
  • Participant Outcome: 5 6×4 digital prints

Research: the work of Peter fraser:

You will need:

  • Digital cameras for all participants (and appropriate memory cards) *This session can also be run using camera phones or Lumix cameras
  • Card readers
  • Access to computers (or laptops)
  • An introductory brief & Presentation (below) for participants to outline the ideas and provide examples
  • A booked room to critique participants work (either via a projector or via print)
  • Blue tack to pin the work
  • Costings and Risk Assessments

Presentation ideas: Looking at the overlooked

Preparation work:

  • Ask participants to watch the Peter Fraser (2013) Tate Shots interview which can be accessed here
  • Ask participants if they have thier own digital cameras and cards
  • Make sure you have access to computers
  • Make sure there are enough team members to support participants (never assume thier prior knowledge)
  • Decide whether you will project the work or print it.
  • If you are printing it (6×4) make sure the Photo Lab are aware and be aware of timekeeping so they have space to print the work.
  • *If you are running this session off campus, make sure there is access to printers or projectors

Suggested Session Outline:

  • Ask participants what they think most boring objects / scenes they can think of.
  • Deliver presentation / brief and encourage discussion and debate
  • In small groups investigate the local area and encourage visual exploration of banaal objects and scenes
  • Encourage participants not to interfere with the object / scene but to try to show it in a ‘new way’ through the act of photographing it.
  • Download and edit final images (5 per participant) *have a break here to give good time to print these physically or organise a slideshow
  • Critique and feedback with the group