I struggle sometimes with the term contemporary art and sometimes when I look at contemporary images some capture my thoughts and some do not.
I have purchased the book The Photograph as Contemporary Art (2nd Edition)- Charlotte Cotton and slowly start to digest elements of it to help increase my understanding and encourage my photography to explore areas I would not normally.
Contemporary Art is that which is produced in our / my current life time e.g. contemporary to us and not historical. It continues on from Modern and Post Modern all times present for certain people reflecting a style of art that has evolved. I think to a degree Art and of course photographic art will follow fashions just like clothing and so at times will go around in a circle and perhaps adapt and mutate slightly from its initial viewing or construction first time around
I like the way Cotton introduces the chapters through the introduction and splits her book across 8 areas of contemporary art photography, in summary these:
Chapter 1 - Finding / waiting for that moment where almost a pre-conceived idea is captured so that viewers will reconsider how they view the world
Chapter 2 - Story telling through art photography, semiotics but perhaps much more intellectual or thought provoking than standard story telling that perhaps reportage photography most commonly achieves.
Chapter 3 -Cotton calls this Deadpan and appears to discuss images with less emotional content and perhaps with less dynamics within them but no less thought provoking
Chapter 4 - Here she discusses and explores the ordinary every day objects within our lives but with a creative mind using elements such as juxtaposition, shape, form, colour etc shows how information can be captured and presented to the viewer in ways they would not normally see them
Chapter 5 - Cotton explores photographers creating images around intimacy within lives, observational but also participation. I found this chapter quite intriguing and its interesting how the photographer is telling a story within them
Chapter 6 - Titled "Moments in History" is an interesting statement as all photographic images are indeed just that. Documentary and reportage images are indeed moments in history and what is the story being told. Do we capture how subjects are seen or how they want to be seen or indeed how the photographer wishes the image to be understood.
Chapter 7 - This chapter appears to look at interpretation and reconstruction of images or styles from the past
Chapter 8 - Cotton considers how photography has become considered an art and perhaps how digital photography allows more active and direct choices in how photography is expressed. More images are displayed electronically now than in in print form and this are now less material. Does this make today's images more fleeting?
There is much more in this book for me to explore, go back and re-read and understand it more in tune as more knowledge and understanding increase. I think I am reading this book at the right time just as my knowledge and understanding of photography is starting to move away from I understood to be basic knowledge. There is much reference to photographer's and therefore investigating these photographers and their work will give me further insight.
Contemporary photography allows the exploration of style, form, subject matter but also individual motivations of the photographer and the message within the image they have created.
I know have a small insight into contemporary art photography and I have a basic understanding allow me to explore it perhaps in my own practise but also pursue the work of some of these photographers mentioned in the book
Tuesday, 31 March 2015
Friday, 20 March 2015
Partial Solar Eclipse - 20/03/2015
This event kind of caught my by surprise. I have been off recovering following knee surgery and this event came round pretty quick.
I set up my tripod with camera and my longest zoom, an 80-200. Having not prepared I had no filters other than a big stopper and I didn't want to risk using this as it would likely have captured moon movement and left a blurred image.
I was operating with out eye safety wear for the reasons above so was using material to cover my eyes and a pair of polarised sunglasses.
The camera was set to manual focus and at infinity and used use the smallest aperture I thought I could and maintain a decent image, I selected f/13. I also underexposed on the camera 3 stops of light.
I took a few images and this I think was the best,. the moon actually moving away. The star effect is common with Nikon lenses as a result of the multiple optics within the lens when shooting into the sun.
The day in my location was cloudy, misty so I was pleased to get this image
I set up my tripod with camera and my longest zoom, an 80-200. Having not prepared I had no filters other than a big stopper and I didn't want to risk using this as it would likely have captured moon movement and left a blurred image.
I was operating with out eye safety wear for the reasons above so was using material to cover my eyes and a pair of polarised sunglasses.
The camera was set to manual focus and at infinity and used use the smallest aperture I thought I could and maintain a decent image, I selected f/13. I also underexposed on the camera 3 stops of light.
I took a few images and this I think was the best,. the moon actually moving away. The star effect is common with Nikon lenses as a result of the multiple optics within the lens when shooting into the sun.
The day in my location was cloudy, misty so I was pleased to get this image
Sunday, 1 March 2015
P & P - Space and Function - Exercise 1 - Exploring Function
This exercise is a way of approaching space and thinking about how it was intended to be used and whether or not its design was successful, and secondly translating this thought process into an image.
When we talk about space, what does this mean? The first thing that comes to my mind is the space in which our planet earth resides in. In relative terms the Universe as we know it is 99.99% space. Even the atoms that make up matter in the Universe are filled with space. When you think about this its pretty hard to imagine what a space this large is really like, and remember, its still expanding.
For me the word space is large area, at its extreme its infinite. For this reason we need an adjective to quantify this. A sports pitch has boundaries, say a football pitch, a rugby, a tennis court, the mind can size this. The game is bounded by lines restricting the game. How about a parking space, again it has boundaries that a car should be placed in, or preferably parked.
An even smaller space is called personal space. It has no clear boundaries but most of us understand the size of it and if uninvited entry can cause distress and reaction. A packed tube train can put this to the test.
Space needs to be sized in some way for the mind to try and understand it. The more we think about space in which our planet inhabits then larger the space gets and the smaller we feel.
How about a house, we try to size this by the number of bedrooms it may have, is it detached or attached? The front elevation may give an impression of a small house but its very deep and walking into it can be surprising. We like to discover space, a garden viewed in one glance is perhaps not as fun as one that needs to be discovered moving along paths where views are hidden by plants and trees and space may not be seen until turning a corner.
The space in rooms serve a purpose, but they are not always matched to that purpose. Its perhaps hard to get a balance as everyones view of the space allocated to each room may be different.
How about a kitchen, most would like this fairly large and modern families now enjoy a host of appliances that need to fit. In fact the idea and use of utility rooms is in fact a kitchen overflow. A living room, a dinning room, a combined lounge diner. Some may like small and cosy, so may like large and functional. In all these cases the space is firmly bounded and for most we feel secure within its boundaries.
We have much to thank or dislike about designers of houses. I can recall my parents 3 bed semi, all its rooms and the functions of each and how we used them, I have 3 brothers. Modern houses seem to be designed better but they feel smaller, gardens certainly are in new builds.
I live in the Forest of Dean, and I am surrounded by space, for the most part this is unbounded.
However we have one room in our house, it will only fit one person and each using it will regard it as there personal space. It has a door, we feel more comfortable with it closed but we use it on a regular basis. In our house its the smallest room we all use, its functional but its small. I'm glad that its small as it allows more space to be allocated to other rooms.
My challenge is creating an image that allows you to see this room but to make the image interesting and to hold your gaze for more than a fleeting moment. My challenge is also to show you how it works but the image I show will make this obvious, everything to be used is within the image and needs no explanation.....well this is what I try to do. Its called many names but its function remains the same. Did you guess the space and function to which I described?
When we talk about space, what does this mean? The first thing that comes to my mind is the space in which our planet earth resides in. In relative terms the Universe as we know it is 99.99% space. Even the atoms that make up matter in the Universe are filled with space. When you think about this its pretty hard to imagine what a space this large is really like, and remember, its still expanding.
For me the word space is large area, at its extreme its infinite. For this reason we need an adjective to quantify this. A sports pitch has boundaries, say a football pitch, a rugby, a tennis court, the mind can size this. The game is bounded by lines restricting the game. How about a parking space, again it has boundaries that a car should be placed in, or preferably parked.
An even smaller space is called personal space. It has no clear boundaries but most of us understand the size of it and if uninvited entry can cause distress and reaction. A packed tube train can put this to the test.
Space needs to be sized in some way for the mind to try and understand it. The more we think about space in which our planet inhabits then larger the space gets and the smaller we feel.
How about a house, we try to size this by the number of bedrooms it may have, is it detached or attached? The front elevation may give an impression of a small house but its very deep and walking into it can be surprising. We like to discover space, a garden viewed in one glance is perhaps not as fun as one that needs to be discovered moving along paths where views are hidden by plants and trees and space may not be seen until turning a corner.
The space in rooms serve a purpose, but they are not always matched to that purpose. Its perhaps hard to get a balance as everyones view of the space allocated to each room may be different.
How about a kitchen, most would like this fairly large and modern families now enjoy a host of appliances that need to fit. In fact the idea and use of utility rooms is in fact a kitchen overflow. A living room, a dinning room, a combined lounge diner. Some may like small and cosy, so may like large and functional. In all these cases the space is firmly bounded and for most we feel secure within its boundaries.
We have much to thank or dislike about designers of houses. I can recall my parents 3 bed semi, all its rooms and the functions of each and how we used them, I have 3 brothers. Modern houses seem to be designed better but they feel smaller, gardens certainly are in new builds.
I live in the Forest of Dean, and I am surrounded by space, for the most part this is unbounded.
However we have one room in our house, it will only fit one person and each using it will regard it as there personal space. It has a door, we feel more comfortable with it closed but we use it on a regular basis. In our house its the smallest room we all use, its functional but its small. I'm glad that its small as it allows more space to be allocated to other rooms.
My challenge is creating an image that allows you to see this room but to make the image interesting and to hold your gaze for more than a fleeting moment. My challenge is also to show you how it works but the image I show will make this obvious, everything to be used is within the image and needs no explanation.....well this is what I try to do. Its called many names but its function remains the same. Did you guess the space and function to which I described?
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