Mapping Own Practice Against Models of Contextual Practice

Mapping Own Practice Against Models of Contextual Practice

What I do

Professional

Enhancing creativity through the use of digital technologies

Digital Video

Digital still

Animation

Personal

Photography

Input

Output

Publication and Sharing

Contexts in which I work

Formal

Essentially working in a two-dimensional medium, the outcomes

of photography can be much broader than just a sheet of paper

Materials

Camera (input)

Memory card (storage medium)

Printer (output)

Printer paper

Fine Art

High production values

Expensive appearance

Glossy

Matte

etc

Fabric

Sheet materials other than paper

There are compositional 'rules' which all photographers learn to apply and many go on to ignore,

bend or rewrite

Rules of composition are there to help the photographer make a 'good' picture and the viewer to

understand it

Rule of thirds

Golden Section

Point of Focus

Leading lines

Depth of field

etc etc

Describing my work

I am a photographer, I take, print, publish and exhibit photographs

I take photographs of a broad range of subjects, but specialise in

reportage/street photography/candids/environmental

portraiture

I have developed strategies for taking photographs of people which

are unobtrusive and non-confrontational

I like to think that I can build up a good rapport with people who are

aware of or have consented to being photographed

My photographs are technically good, but not perfect

My images are creative - I look for unusual angles, points of view etc.

I often shoot to crop - none of this 'what you see in the viewfinder is

sacrosanct' nonsense

I look for the unusual, bizarre, amusing in people

I can spot shape, form, texture and compose around these

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)

Effect/s of my work

On me

Satisfying

Frustrating

Liberating

Empowering

Pride

Embarrassment

On peers

Opens up dialogues

Fosters debate

Alters perception of me (favourably, but erroneously in my opinion)

On other viewers

Who knows?

Positive - have sold work

Social

"Viewing and making are influenced by the society we operate in; there

is no innocent eye" SW

Audience for my work

Exhibition viewers/potential purchasers

Competition judges

Peers

Self

Institutional judges (eg RPS)

Society's attitude towards photographers, especially reportage

All men with cameras are paedophiles or terrorists

Go away you're invading my space!

You've got tripod, you must be a professional

This shopping complex is private property so you can't take photos

here

Political

You can't take photos here, you might be a terrorist

Please send us your photos - we (police, TV) rely on the public

Personal

A short biography

I am arts trained - my B.Ed was in Art and my first MA dissertation was

on creativity and IT

I taught Art and Design for many years, heading a department

Particular issues/memories

Photography was in the family. Brother and both parents had

cameras; father and brother active amateur photographers with darkroom facilities at home.

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...

First camera (Brownie 127) at an early age (7?)

Photography always seemed important and was always a means

of recording for me, both socially and professionally

Pleasures in life

Travel

Seeking our alternative cultures - at home or abroad

Good food

Music no more

Motivation/driving forces

Insecurity

Low self-esteem

Need to rebuild and refocus

Brain needs engaging after years of numbness

Particular skills as a photographer

Shooting people

Good sense of colour

Subconscious ability to compose well (traditionally/creatively)

Strategies adopted when it all goes horrible

Open a bottle of Sancerre

Relation of self to social, historical and cultural forces

Very aware that I'm part of a huge continuum in the development of

photography...

... and at an extrememely significant time - there has been no

development like the digital revolution since the arrival of the

first 35mm camera

Photographic history places expectations on one in terms of

genre, technical skill etc.

Critical/Theoretical

Current debates

Freedom to photograph

Consent and ownership

Photography as art

The camera never lies (but Photoshop does)

Social Constructivism

"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/theoretical_framework.htmLinks:• http://www.arches.uga.edu/~jschell/discovery/theoretical_framework.htm

Photographic communities are constantly defining and redefining what a photograph is, especially in

the light of digital technologies

Photographers' practice is influenced by current and historical

perceptions of the nature of photography

Transformational Learning

"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/theoretical_framework.htm

Links:• http://www.arches.uga.edu/~jschell/discovery/theoretical_framework.htm

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

Content analysis

Iconography

Semiotics

Digital and design aesthetics

Digitality: Approximate aesthetics

http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=290

Links:• http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=290

"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?id=290

Questions to ask

What is the nature of the relationship between the viewer and

the image?

How does the camera affect the transaction between the subject and

the viewer?

Disruptive technologies

"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?id=336Links:• http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=336

"Photo-colonialism"

"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.htmLinks:• http://home.utm.utoronto.ca/~jmt/anthrophoto.htm

Historical

Enormous but relatively short history of photography and

photographers

Pioneers in both processes and output

Processes

Daguerre

Niepce

Fox-Talbot

Eastman

etc

Output (images)

Cartier-Bresson

Walker Evans

Ansel Adams

Mapplethorpe

etc

Established genres

Landscape

Portraiture

Abstract

Wildlife

Glamour

etc

Photography has come from an elitist middle-class activity to the

point where everyone is a photographer now (cameraphones,

webcams...)

Geographical

Photography as a Western, developed-world activity - the

egocentric view

Much excellent work goes on in Japan, India, Africa... but we need

to seek it out

My personal practice is limited to my immediate locality most of the

time, with several excursions out of county and occasional trips abroad.

Italy, Tunisia, Morocco...

Norfolk

Norwich

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

Institutional

Family background

Professional parents

Everyone had a camera

Portrait sessions at home

Darkroom in the pantry

Photography was the norm

Repressive upbringing

Desire to leave home asap

Creativity and individuality considered rebellious

Low parental expectations of daughters

Educational background

Single-sex grammar school

Arts subjects (Eng Lang., Lit, Art etc) Art 'A' level

Teacher Training College - B.Ed Art

Main subject Art

MA in Professional Studies (Education)

Professional background

Teaching

Head of Art, Design & Technology

LEA Inspection and Advisory work (inc Ofsted)

Design & Technology, Information Technology

Where did my roots go?

Founded freelance advisory service to schools in 1997 - never looked

back since

IT advice, training and support

Specialisation in fostering creativity through digital technologies (video,

still, animation etc)

NSAD

Return to my art roots

Feeling at home in the environment

Intellectual engagement

Taking after a professional lifetime of giving

Cultural

See 'Mapping the Territory' elsewhere

Influential photographic genres

Reportage

Photojournalism

Street Photography

Influential/admired photographers

Walker Evans

Stealth and ingenuity on the undergound

Diane Arbus

For celebrating human diversity

Dorothea Lange

Reportage which was influential at the time and is now iconic

Jeff Wall

Recording the incidentals of life

Don McCullin

For bringing us the images no-one wanted to see

Robert Mapplethorpe

Pushing the boundaries of portraiture

Immo Klink

Anarchy through the lens

Duane Michals

For blurring the boundaries between photography and

philosophy

Henri Cartier-Bresson