Sunday, May 30, 2010
Reflecting and presenting
So today is the day for my presentation!
What have I done?
I have created a presentation entitled 'Mary St'. It is a photographic portrait of a street in my neighbourhood. This is the first time, other than a holiday photographic projects, that I have worked through a project from the conceptual struggle to the stress of presentation.
This is something I have wanted to do for a really long time and I have had great fun as well as plenty of challenges in thinking and working this through. It is definitely a work in progress...there is plenty of room for improvement and I'm hopping that I am brave enough to hear to comments of others today...it is both hard to ask for and open your head and heart to receive feedback.
I also find myself thinking about future 'street' projects...so I think this is the beginning, not the end.
Why have I done it?
I settled on this project because it seemed to give me an opportunity to work in a structured way on some of the things that have capured my imagination over time. I began with thinking about the graffiti on the walls in my area but soon realised that graffiti only has significance for me when it is situated, with a relationship to it's location and so I spread my wings to focus on the whole street.
I have always been interested in the detail of a particular place urging myself to wonder about the essence that makes one place similar to of different from another. I usually think about plants, buildings etc and only recently have I explored the place of people in my photographs. And so this project gave me a chance to:
Along the way I have:
So today is the day for my presentation!
What have I done?
I have created a presentation entitled 'Mary St'. It is a photographic portrait of a street in my neighbourhood. This is the first time, other than a holiday photographic projects, that I have worked through a project from the conceptual struggle to the stress of presentation.
This is something I have wanted to do for a really long time and I have had great fun as well as plenty of challenges in thinking and working this through. It is definitely a work in progress...there is plenty of room for improvement and I'm hopping that I am brave enough to hear to comments of others today...it is both hard to ask for and open your head and heart to receive feedback.
I also find myself thinking about future 'street' projects...so I think this is the beginning, not the end.
Why have I done it?
I settled on this project because it seemed to give me an opportunity to work in a structured way on some of the things that have capured my imagination over time. I began with thinking about the graffiti on the walls in my area but soon realised that graffiti only has significance for me when it is situated, with a relationship to it's location and so I spread my wings to focus on the whole street.
I have always been interested in the detail of a particular place urging myself to wonder about the essence that makes one place similar to of different from another. I usually think about plants, buildings etc and only recently have I explored the place of people in my photographs. And so this project gave me a chance to:
- portray Mary St (trying to learn from Atget in Paris or Cazneaux in Sydney or Abbott in New York)
- explore the architecture (inspired by Sean Scully
- think about how people use the street
- to photograph shops and shoppers
- to look for the expected and the unexpected.
Along the way I have:
- begun to make friends with my camera
- begun to make friends with my new Mac
- expanded my capacity to use Bridge, Photoshop and Aperture for the management of photographic projects
- taken care to document as much of the process as I could both in my blog and and my notebook
- with so many new things to learn to part that I have not done successfully was being a generous contributor to the flickr interactions...I regret this but time and priorities have been my enemies
- I have been to exhibitions and looked at photography books with new eyes
- I have pushed myself to discover and use as many of the functions as possible, especially in Aperture
What now?
I need to spend a lot of time developing my eye for technique.
I need to spend a lot of time further exploring and understanding the capacity of Aperture and Photoshop in getting photos to look their best.
I need to think more about the basic principles of what makes fine art fine art...questions about line and form, structure and emotion etc
Could I ever have an exhibition...I'd better read that book I bought, insired by Sue D, about being a contemporary artisit...tha's what I'd like to be. I think I've begun.
Collage
I have been thinking about the possibility of photographing collages in Mary St.
STICK IT!
I went to see the exhibition STICK IT! at the NGV at Fed Square.
Works including those by Madonna Staunton gave me ideas.
ISABEL DAVIES
Isabel is my mother and she is a collage artists and I admire her work enormously...of course what I have learned from her will influence my work.
She has been an active member of the Australian Women's Art Register and you can see her work at: http://www.womensartregister.org/star-DAVIES.htm
SEAN SCULLY
Sean Scully talks about the idea of photo as painting...this has made me think about photos that have a collage quality about them.
Sean Scully talks about the idea of photo as painting...this has made me think about photos that have a collage quality about them.
MY THINKING
When I started to think about my photos as art I started to think about the ‘collage’ quality of my photos and I started to look for collages in the streetscape.
Thinking about photos as collages has given me a framework for making judgements about my photos. Why would I choose to put 5 stars on one photo and not another? I discovered that when I assign the keyword ‘collage’ to a photo it meant that I could see something pleasing with regard to one or more of the following:
· Layer
· Texture
· Line
· Blocks of colour
· Shape rather than content
· Geometry
· Abstract
When I started to think about my photos as art I started to think about the ‘collage’ quality of my photos and I started to look for collages in the streetscape.
Thinking about photos as collages has given me a framework for making judgements about my photos. Why would I choose to put 5 stars on one photo and not another? I discovered that when I assign the keyword ‘collage’ to a photo it meant that I could see something pleasing with regard to one or more of the following:
· Layer
· Texture
· Line
· Blocks of colour
· Shape rather than content
· Geometry
· Abstract
Asking questions
Agnes Varda asked questions of the people she interviewed in Rue Dagguerre. I didn't have that luxury but the people in Mary St got used to me taking photos, I chated with them and I got used to including people in my images...this is a very new experience for me! I found it was much easier to do this once you had had a conversation.
Photos as questions
Anne Noble, in an artist’s presentation at her exhibition held 12 Sept.-25 Oct., 2008, at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, said that all photos are questions...I will never forget this! So, what are the questions that sit behind my photographs?...what questions do they answer?
What seems to be the everyday in Mary Street?
What’s out of the ordinary about Mary Street?
What’s the quality of Mary Street? What does it feel like? Look like? Smell like? Sound like?
What do I feel about Mary Street?
What would you find in Mary Street?
What kind of buildings are there in Mary Street?
Who lives in Mary Street?
Who passes through?
Who works in Mary Street?
Agnes Varda asked questions of the people she interviewed in Rue Dagguerre. I didn't have that luxury but the people in Mary St got used to me taking photos, I chated with them and I got used to including people in my images...this is a very new experience for me! I found it was much easier to do this once you had had a conversation.
Photos as questions
Anne Noble, in an artist’s presentation at her exhibition held 12 Sept.-25 Oct., 2008, at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, said that all photos are questions...I will never forget this! So, what are the questions that sit behind my photographs?...what questions do they answer?
What seems to be the everyday in Mary Street?
What’s out of the ordinary about Mary Street?
What’s the quality of Mary Street? What does it feel like? Look like? Smell like? Sound like?
What do I feel about Mary Street?
What would you find in Mary Street?
What kind of buildings are there in Mary Street?
Who lives in Mary Street?
Who passes through?
Who works in Mary Street?
Mary Street progress report!
More lists...as I have begun to take photos and sort through them I have started to use keywords in Adobe Bridge to sort and group the images.
Adobe Bridge keywords for Mary Street project (so far!)
Abstract
Bakery
Bicycles
Bricks
Buildings
Chimneys
Collage
Dogs
Doors
Facing the wall
Fences
Graffiti
Humour
Letter boxes
Lights
Locks and handles
Looking up
Looking down
Looking east
Looking west
Looking south
Mary and Steve
Mary Street
Messages
Night
Numbers
Pedestrians
Plants plumbing
Reflections
Roofline
Rubbish
Rubbish bins
Second hand
Shadows
Shopping trolley
Shops and shopping
Signs
Street signs
Streetscape
Stripes
Text
Thirds
Utilities
Walls
Windows
Wires
There are quite a few overlaps with the first concept map and the list from Varda's film.
Each time I set out down Mary St with camera in hand I find something new.
More lists...as I have begun to take photos and sort through them I have started to use keywords in Adobe Bridge to sort and group the images.
Adobe Bridge keywords for Mary Street project (so far!)
Abstract
Bakery
Bicycles
Bricks
Buildings
Chimneys
Collage
Dogs
Doors
Facing the wall
Fences
Graffiti
Humour
Letter boxes
Lights
Locks and handles
Looking up
Looking down
Looking east
Looking west
Looking south
Mary and Steve
Mary Street
Messages
Night
Numbers
Pedestrians
Plants plumbing
Reflections
Roofline
Rubbish
Rubbish bins
Second hand
Shadows
Shopping trolley
Shops and shopping
Signs
Street signs
Streetscape
Stripes
Text
Thirds
Utilities
Walls
Windows
Wires
There are quite a few overlaps with the first concept map and the list from Varda's film.
Each time I set out down Mary St with camera in hand I find something new.
Agnes Varda's film Daguerrotypes (1975)
What a great piece of good fortune!
On Wednesday 14th April I went to see this Agnes Varda film at ACMI.
I have admired other films made by Varda including 'The Gleaners and I' and I knew it would be inspiring in some way. As it turned out the connections with my Mary St project couldn't have been better.
Agnes lived and worked as a filmmaker in Rue Dagguerre and she set out to make a film about the street.
As I watched the film, transported to Rue Dagguerre, I took notes about what I saw/thought about as I watched the film.
Anne’s list
Those I know
The every day
Shop sellers
Goods
Relationships
Observers
Business people
Interactions
Children, older people
Windows
Looking in
Being inside
Tools of trade
Division of labour
Shape of the shop
Wrapping
Coming and going
The signs
Goods/wares
When the shops are closed, home, shop keepers lives
Cleaning
Storage
Relaxing
Passing traffic, cars, trucks
Looking out
Don’t forget humour
Unusual connections
Setting up
Closing up
Looking through, windows
Mirrors
Connections between components eg purple jumper and purple poster
Hairdos and clothes
One shot takes us to the next
Dreams
Nature
Stills, posed, not moving
Approach, essay
Who’s shopping?
Who’s passing?
What’s happening on the street?
Agnes Varda’s questions
How did you come to work in Rue Daguerre?
How do you see you life...work, family?
What do you dream?
What a great piece of good fortune!
On Wednesday 14th April I went to see this Agnes Varda film at ACMI.
I have admired other films made by Varda including 'The Gleaners and I' and I knew it would be inspiring in some way. As it turned out the connections with my Mary St project couldn't have been better.
Agnes lived and worked as a filmmaker in Rue Dagguerre and she set out to make a film about the street.
As I watched the film, transported to Rue Dagguerre, I took notes about what I saw/thought about as I watched the film.
Anne’s list
Those I know
The every day
Shop sellers
Goods
Relationships
Observers
Business people
Interactions
Children, older people
Windows
Looking in
Being inside
Tools of trade
Division of labour
Shape of the shop
Wrapping
Coming and going
The signs
Goods/wares
When the shops are closed, home, shop keepers lives
Cleaning
Storage
Relaxing
Passing traffic, cars, trucks
Looking out
Don’t forget humour
Unusual connections
Setting up
Closing up
Looking through, windows
Mirrors
Connections between components eg purple jumper and purple poster
Hairdos and clothes
One shot takes us to the next
Dreams
Nature
Stills, posed, not moving
Approach, essay
Who’s shopping?
Who’s passing?
What’s happening on the street?
Agnes Varda’s questions
How did you come to work in Rue Daguerre?
How do you see you life...work, family?
What do you dream?
Mary Street: My first concept map
When I began to develop the idea of a project about Mary Street I made a concept map in my notebook recording the range of ideas that I might pursue. This is a list of the headings and subheadings in the concept map:
Boundaries
Fences
Joins
Bookends
Writing
Business signs
House names
Street signs
Numbers
Graffiti
Parking signs
Street
Cobblestones
Gutters
Metal covers for utilities
People
Residents
Passers by
Streetscape
Streets and laneways
Corners and intersections
Buildings
Walls
Windows
Doors
Letterboxes
Fences
Verandas
Roofs
Building materials
Curtains
Awnings
Safety screensKnobs and locks
This thinking stood me in good stead as I began to photograph.
When I began to develop the idea of a project about Mary Street I made a concept map in my notebook recording the range of ideas that I might pursue. This is a list of the headings and subheadings in the concept map:
Boundaries
Fences
Joins
Bookends
Writing
Business signs
House names
Street signs
Numbers
Graffiti
Parking signs
Street
Cobblestones
Gutters
Metal covers for utilities
People
Residents
Passers by
Streetscape
Streets and laneways
Corners and intersections
Buildings
Walls
Windows
Doors
Letterboxes
Fences
Verandas
Roofs
Building materials
Curtains
Awnings
Safety screensKnobs and locks
This thinking stood me in good stead as I began to photograph.
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