Light Shadow and Balance

Photography, Rallying ( Motorsport) and Scuba Diving  have all been  much loved passions  filling my spare time,  emptying  my bank account and  proving  me with endless opportunities for personal development. The last two  are  now memories as  they don’t fit with  married life ( my choice),  but photography carries on. They all have something in common – the need to stay fit ( even  photography  which requires, for me, the ability to often carry  1 or 2  Canon 1DX , a 200 – 400 and  100  – 400 lens  for the day – about 10 kg  by the time you add  the bag  and tripod and other bits )

My Keep fit routine consists  of  MTB  and Peloton rides with some weight work  and stretching thrown in.  Motivation is key to any fitness regime and  many times  mine is lacking till the Trainer offers something  thought  provoking. This morning, as the  pedals went round and round, the words:  Light Shadow and Balance  caught my attention.   Photography is  also about light and shadow, the balance of the two, just as much as lifestyle, attitude etc – lightbulb moment.

Not what I wanted on the day as the light was too poor for a sharp shot. but an abstract of this leaping squirell was another way of looking at things.

Sometimes  it is there in front of you and all is well, other times you have to make it happen- building on what you can see and using your skills  to enhance  the picture and even accepting that what you see is different from what you hoped for  but accepting that it can be  just as good, just different .  A lesson for life, especially pertinent when I look at my back catalogue and  find an image that wasn’t what I wanted, but I made the best of it. And now it has value, for a client  or just  for me  to reassure myself that even though  circumstances were  hard  –  I used my skills  and made the best of it – and that is good.

Term 6 FMP : Matters of Presentation (Part Three – Technical Things)

Presenting these images has been a steep learning curve- my wildlife photography background   means a policy of very little editing, mainly the use of Light room and standard exposure stuff rather than big adjustments. I was brought up with the mantra of ‘get it right in camera’ Fortunately, I attended a Photoshop course at Falmouth in the summer, which allowed me to get to grips with masks and layers – which was necessary for the way I have chosen to present the images.

After a considerable amount of experimenting with style (traditional still life, different coloured backgrounds, natural / studio light etc.) I settled on a single item floating in a black space with subtle shadows – my intention was to create a work of art whilst retaining a Vanitas style message.  I have chosen to use a black background and the items presented are ungrounded. Presenting them this way, allows them to become pieces of art, curated to remind people of the original flawed curatorship of the whole animal.

This then presented one of the most challenging aspects – how to get the items to float in space. Despite passing the Photoshop Course and achieving my ‘Adobe Certified Associate in Visual Design Using Adobe Photoshop’ I was not confident that I could successfully eradicate any supports for the artefacts in the images  – viewers would see traces so the supports needed to be as minimal as possible.

I started by building a ‘ U’ frame above the Shooting Table to which I could attach backdrop clips and light supports. Initially I experimented with beading wire but whilst the wire was rigid I was still worried that it was too thick and would show – additionally it was hard to fasten to some of the more fragile and old artefacts. From there I moved to transparent thread and finally to .010 mm black nylon fishing line. One end could be secured to the back of the objects and the other end looped round a paper clip and hooked onto the holes of the backdrop clips, then suspended from the top of the U frame. A line of the same was be stretched between the two supports of the U as a stabilizer – my floor is wood and vibrates so the stabiliser stopped any pendulum swinging.

Each artefact lived in a plastic box for the duration and only one was allowed out at any one time to keep things tidy and safe (a few have been leant to me by fellow wildlife photographers so I had a duty of care). I kept a small table at the side of the Shooting Table with scissors, thread, wire, paperclips, DS tape, Blue Tack and some small artist’s paintbrushes for dust removal. Coffee etc. was banned from the area. All of this was spelt out in my Project Proposal Risk Assesement

Light was my other headache. I covered the table with a black matt plastic mat – it collected dust like a magnet and had to be wiped every morning before you start. (Whilst the artefacts were suspended, it was better to do this rather than run the risk of any dust in the backgrounds). I worked with various combinations of lights – a large dimmable LED Panel with Barn Doors and temperature controls and various small LED lights that could positioned around the artefact or from the U frame using a Gooseneck or a mini ball head.  The use of the lights was a learning curve in its own right and changed for each artefact – the worst to deal with were those with fur -transparent fur strands reflected light and those with metal attachments, which were also reflective.  Added to this one large, one small reflector, and light diffusing fabric.

Each morning, the relevant artefact was taken to the table, positioned and then the lights set up – a matter of trial and error if you have not done this before. In addition, each artefact was different – light fur / dark fur, bone or feather. Once the table was ready , the camera, lens (100mm Macro) and  UNIQBALL Head / tripod  were adjusted ( I bought this some time ago for Landscape work and it really came into its own  for this type of situation – for wildlife I use a CF gimbal)  so that the artefact was  entirely covered by focus points.

On average, each artefact took around 25 shots although some took a lot more. First shots were test shots and for this I used a LCD Viewfinder Loupe to check sharpness / highlights etc. If all was well then these were binned (to make downloading for processing as simple as possible i.e. no unrequired images) and the front to back sequence of shots for stacking could go ahead.

Initially I used Photoshop for stacking but it started to struggle if there were more than  25 shots so I did some research and purchased a specific stacking software – Learning curve number 3 as there are several  parameters for  successful rendering (the process of stacking the shots).  As I became more confident with the complexity of the artefact I also had to dig deeper into the software package shot parameters to make the most of its abilities.

Photographing the post cards and the open book required a different mind-set. The Postcards were vintage from between 1900 and 1930 – long before machine accurate cutting and so they were all slightly different sizes. I built a frame on a squared base that could be line up with a ruler so the shot was square on to start with, but when they were processed the odd sizes made them look as if they were crooked.  Post card sellers / collectors, when I asked them, advised me to scan them. Scanning did not fit within my ethos for the overall collection, of Fine Art Images created with 90% Human input. After trial and error, the final images were finished using a custom crop and a customised software frame. The book –Bambi  is old and fragile  and  came with a different set of challenges including yellowed pages, which made the WB an issue. When the book was open, the pages had a slight curve to them on the right hand side and so it look like the image was again crooked. In addition, the page that I wanted open was only a third of the way through. I put foam supports under the right hand side to level it out and left the book open for a while to let the page flatten naturally. I don’t have a copy / macro column and base board so used my tripod centre column flipped over

I have now started shooting for my next project with the same set up except I have added the  Lume Cube Air Mini LED Light to my light collection and it is starting to justify its original price. It fixes magnetically to a goose arm, combined with its 10 intensity settings, and its diffusers make it so versatile. Plus it charges via USB and you can use it whilst charging (attach it to a power bank – light without batteries and cables and TCO is already noticeable.

Term 6 FMP: Week 7 Diary:

Since coming back from Scotland it has been a bit of a whirlwind – lots to do but not much time so this morning seemed like a good time to stop and review progress – especially  since my schedule has changed  and for business reasons I might need to have everything complete by the 17^th April.

I have spent the last two weeks continuing with research / writing, preparing for my Installation and preparing a presentation for the Falmouth F2F ,an opportunity for a ‘Public Outcome’  for my project

The schedule must have been a bit much because on the Thursday beforehand I came down with a cold – fortunately  not one that effects the voice – but buckets of lemsip left me feeling unusually calm that morning. My presentation was done via the Web – a lifetime of Video and other conferencing / presenting has never really dealt with presentation nerves and in some way shape or form the technology always gets me. Sunday was no different but at least the visuals were ok even if the sound wasn’t. I will rerecord the presentation and put it on vimeo later ( link to follow)

All the materials are here now for the various Public Outcome Strands and having learnt my lesson Surfaces and Strategies: Week Ten – One Day Local Exhibition Lessons Learnt. last summer ,I devoted a day to preparing and packing up the images to  make set up easy.

White Gloves on – each image checked for  imperfections , fitted with Velcro hanging fixings , wrapped in acid free tissue  paper and packed inside a labelled storage bag. The labels correspond to the hanging plan and the idea is that each one only comes out as it is about to be hung – rather than having to unpack and check identity. Conversely, the same will happen in reverse at breakdown as I am anticipating that the Installation will receive a second showing so needs to stay pristine.

So a review of the Chart for the PP  shows:

Light /Weather and Equipment   

Whilst I was up in Scotland I was given a recommendation, by an experienced macro photographer – the Lume Cube Air Mini LED Light. I wish I had had this at the beginning because it is like having a little sun at your command. In the studio, it fixes magnetically to a goose arm and that combined with its 10 intensity settings and its diffusers make it so versatile. Plus it charges via USB and you can use it whilst charging (attach it to a power bank). Truly, a stupendous recommendation and its cost of ownership will soon be lower than corresponding battery costs for my various miniature led lights. When funds allow I will get another.

Installation

All of the stuff is here for the Installation and packed ready to go

The box of craft fair ‘useful’ things (spare fixings, gaffer tape, string, scissors, pen, paper, spirit level, business cards) is ready

The SM plan is being actioned

The final Zine copies have been delivered

The Installation Images have been delivered. The labels and the catalogue are WIP

The Website Gallery is a little behind – as long as it is updated by the 18^th March then all will be well

The Editorial for print is with the Editor – print due Mid-March

Summary

Progress is as expected; Research still happening as I start to fill-in the outline points for my Critical Review of Practise. I have sorted the size issues for the PDF and have built a template – so I can start populating the document

Term 6 FMP : Week 6 – The Work of Raphael Dallaporta

I touched on the work of Raphael Dellaporta (1980) here Term 6 FMP : Matters of Presentation (Part Two – The Zine)RD is a French documentary photographer whose projects address human rights and the fragility of life.

In 2011 he won the 2011 Foam Paul Huf Award for his series Antipersonnel.- This project presents 35 aesthetically perfect images of a collection of antipersonnel mines – different shape sizes and colours but overall a dichotomy of horror and beauty

Martin Parr as curator for the 35^th edition of Rencontres d’Arles , selected Antipersonnel  for inclusion  in 2004

In the follow on project Fragile, RD worked with a forensic pathologist to produce images of internal body parts from accidents – photographed with the same approach to aesthetic values.

The images for both projects have been shot as luxury products – Low Key so that the lighting increases contrast and potential the drama in the presentation of the object.

Martin Parr, in his introduction to Antipersonnel suggests that RD has:

has photographed these objects in the way an advertising photographer might render a shampoo bottle, he glorifies these objects and yet appears totally neutral in his approach.

And it is no surprise to discover that the early part of his career was in the field of commercial photography.

Earlier in Term 5, I explored the relationship between product photography and still life

Term 5 Week 6 – Contextual Research: Art Movements –Influences, Still Life and Product Photography

Where I questioned whether still life was the origin of advertising/ product photography. Bate (2016 /125)  suggests that

Advertising depends heavily on the rhetoric  of still life  photography …and product shots can be linked to historical uses for example in Flemish and Dutch paintings in the seventeenth century

I can see similar traits in my own work Trophies, choosing to follow Vanitas styling – the construction of the image has an allegorical message – to be read according to conscience. I have also presented the components of Trophies in the same way I would have presented them as  sentient beings.  – aesthetically beautiful.

Informing Contexts: Week 7 Forum :Can photography provoke change?

I wrote that Aesthetics are a result of good craftsmanship and to abandon the standard and skill is disrespectful – suggesting that horror should only be portrayed badly.

Despite all the different work I have seen over the last two years of the course, I still hold true to this principle.

Bibliography

 

Bate, D. Photography: The Key Concepts. 2nd Ed. Bloomsbury Academic

 

Term 6: Week 4 – Scotland Diary

Finally, Feb’s trip to Scotland arrived (much last minute work to FMP projects including sending the first Magazine draft to the printers for a proof print – to be delivered here in Scotland so I can work on it. That is an excuse – I want to see it)

Not much out on the way up but we stopped at the Estate to see what was happening. Its winter so the stags were being fed but the daytime light was very poor. Magnificent sunset at dusk and four Brown Hares at the farm.

A walk the next day to the nearby Lochen and the local Roe Deer Herd were out – but they saw me first so you can guess the rest.  The Heronry had several pairs setting up home. The Grouse were starting to show thick red eyebrows and posturing at each other.

Very little Road Kill but on our way back from our favourite restaurant after lunch on Valentine’s day there was a Roe Deer hind totally intact on the side of the road. High heels, Cream Coat and Dress Trousers plus camera in a gravel ditch on the side of a busy road. My bracelets got in the way of the controls, heels sank in the gravel and the hem of the cream coat dragged on the grass and other detritus. However, I got the shots I needed including some new perspectives that I had not tried before. Sadly, the hind had a broken back and I suspect had been hit by a lorry but was otherwise unmarked. Fortunately, (making the best of a bad situation) it did not look like she was nursing. The only other road kill (that was intact and a new subject) was a brown hare- again I took all the standard shots but also some with new viewpoints.

 ‘Roadkill: Brown Hare’

We spent several days at Squirrel Glen; the intimate contact with the Ginja Ninja is always good for the soul. There were however, some missing personalities, the cycle of life and predation has been at work. Rat Tail, Spot and Big Momma were absent. There were several young Kits (2018 litters) and Tufty – a big scared male appeared (not seen since spring last year) and Pug (short for pugnacious) who I think is one of Tufty’s kits as he has a very distinctive face.

‘Pug’

Another Day on the Estate with the Stags and the light was a photographers dream. In happy anticipation, we moved the truck into position and waited for them to come down the side of the hills for the supplementary feed from the Estate Keepers. And there was a Royal[i] , in prime condition, with white patches on his tines (antler points) from a successful rut. I waited and watched and he moved into the optimum position in front of the hills – and the biggest blackest cloud  ever  moved over the setting sun and stayed there until the sun had sunk below the hills. The weather troll was out to play and destroyed what would have been a great stock image.

I worked on my writing and PDF skills on down days and discovered that the quality on some of my images – when put into PDF and enlarged revealed a number of sins – strange since they didn’t show up with printing – but a web search revealed the following from Adobe

Standard PDFs are not print-ready. They may have poor quality images and colors, which may not print correctly or print at a very low quality. You can use Acrobat Pro DC to create high-resolution print-ready PDFs from your standard PDFs.

There were many other helpful hints – one option is to use In Design but I would prefer to avoid this if possible – I am just grateful that I found this out now rather than the week before submission.

The Zine arrived – showed no issues as above (so it is in the PDF software) and there is very little that needs changing. In fact, I am very pleased with it.

Finally it was time to go home – not enough Roadkill (which is a good thing) to justify changing my FMP – that will be a project on the back burner. Reading up to date and an outline drafted for  my  Critical Review of Practise (CRP) also came up with the inspiration for my next project, which I will detail in my CRP (I learnt the hard way at the beginning of the course to keep  important creative ideas to myself.)

 

Bibliography

PDF Statement. Available at https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/acrobat/kb/create-high-resolution-print-ready-pdf.html [ accessed 20/02/2019]

[i]  A stag with 12 tines is a Royal, 14 makes him an imperial and 16 or more makes him a monarch. No Antlers and he is a Hummel. When he grows his first set , they are called prickets

Term 6 FMP: Week 2 – Looking at Christine Fitzgerald’s work and thinking about Britta Jaschinski’s Crimes and Taryn Simon’s Contraband

Christine Fitzgerald is a fine art photographer from Ottawa, Canada. Her work is focused on the relationship between nature and humans, often with underlying themes relating to identity, memory, and the transience of life. Time often plays an important role in her work and influences her process. Her images are created using a mix of digital and vintage large format cameras and lenses, integrating historical and modern photographic tools and processes. This mix of technique and technology emphasizes the value of historical perspective and continuity within a current reality and a Vanitas style presentation.

Her latest  project ‘Trafficked’ was shot  in the basement of Canada’s Wildlife Enforcement Directorate Building and presents images of some of the animal parts  that have been seized in Canada since 2011.

Crocodile Claw Christine Fitzgerald 2018

This is a similar project to those of Britta Jaschinski’s Crimes and Taryn Simon’s Contraband.  (Term 5 – Week 9:  Photographers presenting Animal Sentience with a purpose) In both, Jaschinski’s and Simon have documented animal artefacts identified at Airports as illegal / smuggled goods. Both photographers have used the medium as a way of drawing attention to one of the results of attitudes to wildlife. In Crimes, artefacts are presented as a commodity whilst in Contraband they are presented in ordered isolation with bureaucratic repetition

The images in Trafficked are artistic rather than photo-documentary with an antique flavour that has resulted from a wet – collodion photographic process.  The antique presentation is intended to mimic colonial times when a disregard for animal sentience was the norm, demonstrated by trophy hunting and animal part utilisation for decorative items, souvenirs etc.  Fitzgerald gives the following explanation for the image production methodology in her interview with Rachel Fobar at National Geographic

“The beauty of the wet-collodion photographic process is that you get all these unplanned imperfections in the process, and for me these imperfections are a metaphor for the imperfections of humanity,” she says. “The illegal trafficking of wildlife is for greed. It’s because of ignorance. It’s because of indifference. These are all imperfections of humanity.”

In her earlier series: Threatened, whilst again considering the nature / human relationship and the ebb and flow of life she was inspired by the specimens collected by naturalists and explorers with the initial objective of trying to understand the world. Ironically, these same specimens are now a symbol of fragility and a warning about a future that we should understand.

My own artefacts fit this description and the way I have chosen to present them is both a reflection and a consequence of their fragility.

In the introduction to Contraband, Obrist (Simon 2015) suggests that Simons work is an example of an artist’s use of the ‘List’ – other examples include Christian Boltanski: The Children of Dijon and Eco’s The Infinity of Lists.

My collection is partially a list of crimes – some of the animals  were murdered rather than dying naturally. The black motif on all the images i.e. the reoccurring colour of the back background is one of mourning / menace / evil. A Black Cap, (a recognised symbol of mourning), is worn by the judge, when sentencing a criminal to death

“You are sentenced to be taken hence to the prison in which you were last confined and from there to a place of execution where you will be hanged by the neck until dead and thereafter your body buried within the precincts of the prison and may the Lord have mercy upon your soul.”

Something to consider –  a very dark thought – was the killer the judge and are we being sentenced to die in a world where the resources are diminishing through our own actions

Suspended in this black space from fine nylon thread, each one curated by me as a museum piece. Some of them are early 19^th C and were given to me as a child, others are later additions but to the same time scale. Preparing them for each session has been an adumbration, once they were warm living creatures. I see their descendants in the wild at regular intervals but rarely get to touch them, the way it should be, as I now touch these parts.

Bibliography

Christin Fitzgerald  Report Available at https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/12/artist-photos-expose-wildlife-trafficking-canada [Accessed 29/12/2018]

Christin Fitzgerald Image Crocodile Claw.  Available at  https://www.lensculture.com/projects/686994-trafficked [Accessed 08/01/2019]

Simon, Taryn. Contraband. 2015. Hatje Cantze Verlag. Germany

Final Major Project -Term 6: Christmas Diary

Despite Christmas and NY celebrations, I kept to the plan ad and got through the work strands I had set. This morning’s mini review shows I am still on track, which is a positive start to the week

Light and Weather 

Two bright days  both of which I spent outside –one at Holy Island and one at a Reserve. Never happy though, the light was too contrasty so it was an opportunity to experiment.

Highland Heifer – enjoying the sun. A Prescott

 

The Last Journey – A Prescott

Journey” is a wooden sculpture, carved from seven elm trees, by Fenwick Lawson (1999). It is located in St. Mary’s Church on Holy Island. The sculpture depicts the monks of Holy Island carrying the coffin of St. Cuthbert to safety and eventual rest in Durham Cathedral, c.875 AD, when Viking raiders threatened the island

Technique & Equipment

Techniques developed to cope with photographing books and post cards (scanning – the recommended method does not fit I in with what I am trying to achieve ( I have written up the complete ‘technical story’ and will post it towards the end of the term)

I have been using MS  Publisher as a DTP package ( fees for In-Design are out of budget)  This weekend it decided to crash and then wouldn’t save to PDF (although it will save as Publisher) but it will save as PDF on another family  machine which is a carbon copy of mine  which  is annoying. All the fixed recommend by MS have been tried so this one goes down as the black art of Software

Project Strands –Portfolio, Zine, and Ephemera

The Portfolio progress for submission (which also includes the gallery and Zine images) is on track. This afternoon I will submit the order to the printers for the first set of mini images so I can see them in real life. This is not the first weed see  (Surfaces and Strategies Sorting Images) but somewhere nearer the final batch of which images I will use. I have an appointment on Thursday to view and measure the Gallery space which has wood walls but I have also sourced a non-damaging fixing methodology.

I also now have to think about the ephemera, which will go with the Images – currently some feathers and two pelts: a fox pelt and  a mink pelt, and a newer copy of Bambi. I am loath to include anymore, as I want them to be handled but cannot be there to supervise .

Research

I have also been researching Typography and area that I know very little about but I do know how important the font is. My first decision was Sans Serif or Serif or both. The difference between Sans Serif and Serif – the latter has small lines (the serif) at the end of the letter and former doesn’t . No Serifs make the words stand out but Serifs also help to guide the eye in blocks of text and with the majority, make reading easier especially where there is justified type.  I have made a decision but again this is written up in a fuller post, which will appear later. I am looking forward to a critique on my ‘Zine’ Draft in early February

Summary

Progress is as expected; learning carries on as I continue my research.

 

Bibliography

The Sculpture The Journey available at https://co-curate.ncl.ac.uk/the-journey-sculpture-holy-island/ [accessed 07/01/2019]

Term 5: Week 10: David Chancellor Lecture

Earlier this month we had an interactive lecture / presentation from David Chancellor- an award-winning documentary photographer. I was not able to attend but I have since caught up with the archived recording.

As a Documentary Photographer DC tells stories, not something, I have done much of and the first thought generated by DC’s presentation,  about my own work, was why don’t I tell stories ?  Throughout the course, I have struggled with the concept of a photographic story resulting from my own practise. I realise now that I have carried out vanity work with pets (i.e. commissioned) and carried over this approach into my wildlife photography – with myself as the commissioner. I have then been lucky enough to sell a lot of this to private buyers as art.

DC went further into his presentation to show us images from several bodies of work with Butterflies and Warriors, Hunted, Beasts and Elephant Stories.

He explained that his stories are like spiders webs and lead from facet to facet. His main linking strand is how Humans and Wildlife live together, what the result of those interactions do for the environment and the species themselves.

Wildlife commoditisation is something that most wild life photographers know about and may have experienced, ditto Hunters and latterly Tourists, the list grows longer as we become more aware of the issues the planet faces. The phrase  ‘If it pays it stays’  represents the ultimate aim of making money  ( from these activities) and  making money is a base objective but things get a little more tense when the way of generation and use of the aforementioned money is examined.

In Elephant Hunters DC worked with the Campfire Organisation   http://campfirezimbabwe.org/ to photograph Elephant Hunts. Ellies have six sets of teeth through their lifetime – when the sixth set start to breakdown, at about 60 years old, the Ellie will starve to death and or look to eat man-grown crops.  The former, whilst natural is unpalatable and the latter increases conflict between the species    On this project, DC photographed a Pro Hunter and San Bushmen tracking Ellies that were at that stage in their life. Once identified and tracked, they were shot to feed local communities – each Ellie yields about 3 tons of meat.  This scenario was facilitated by Campfire as part of their ethos of

The CAMPFIRE Association works with local communities to help them to manage their land and their wildlife for future generations and to help them realise financial benefits from effective resource stewardship.

Some years ago, I had a disagreement with a well-known wildlife photographer on the ethics of shooting a very old Tiger on a reserve against allowing it to starve to death. Since the broadcasting of the latest Attenborough Series Dynasties, many will have debated the ethics of helping the penguins and chicks stuck in the ravine.  Each will have a valid argument and this is the beauty of DC’s work – he presents visual messages from which you can balance up personal ethics, obligations towards Animal Sentience and the future of the environment for us all

He has achieved this with his images, not by just shooting the gory – but by presenting other elements. His reasoning behind this is that he wants to make people look and look again at difficult subjects and this is unlikely to happen if the images are too harsh or difficult.

I am following exactly the same philosophy with my FMP – making the images of long dead animal parts and items using them in an asthetically pleasing style.

Trophy Hunting regularly hits the headlines – Cecil the Lion – being probably the most infamous story. However, the widespread publicity from this story effected change, Australia and France banned Lion Trophies. American Hunters can only bring trophies home if there is proof that the Killing Fee supports conservation. Because of that decision, the Trophy trade is not quite so profitable leaving a number of captive bred lions on unprofitable farms – what now for these Lions if no one want shoot them – they are not paying their way.

The African continent suffers from   poverty and man versus animal as each tries to survive, poaching is a symptom of this. It relies on a market for the end goods and the profit achieved from illegal shortcuts / practises. The about turn of China to accept farmed animal products for Traditional Chinese Medicine is a very divisive one and will likely fuel poaching. This may also be where the lions end up along with Tigers and Rhinos – is it right to farm these animals for the unproven effectiveness of medicines?

A Dead Rhino Post Card ( Binks 1920) and an  Antique Chinese Medicine Container made from  Deer Bone. A Prescott .

Another moral argument but it is hard to dispute that the activity generates income for some. Conversely, some believe that farming will reduces poaching and aid conservation although this is a currently unproven argument. On my trip to Senegal, earlier this year, Poaching, the Reserve Environment/ Community wellbeing were big and contentious issues. My work their will contribute to highlighting Eco Tourism, an alternative way to help to manage the environment / community balance whilst reducing the survival need for illegal activities (the greed need is another matter).

In With Butterflies and Warriors, DC shows the many sides of poaching: results, anti-poaching teams and the poverty that that may see poaching as the only way out. An evenhanded non-judgemental presentation that should make you think more about society’s gaps.

The need for income to improve social standards is not just an African Issue. DC talked about his work ‘Beasts’ (local slang for Deer) about a small Scottish Shooting  Estate and his  current work in progress documenting a young Scottish Gamekeeper on a larger more well-known  Estate , illustrating how his work and his life / life standards are inextricably entwined. This Estate is managed using a holistic style that encourages the environment to support a mixed compliment of Deer, Grouse, and Hares etc. rather than decimating one for the profitability of the other. I am looking forward to seeing this collection and how this Philosophy has been messaged in DC’s images.

The work in Scotland was poignant for me as it is where I spend a good third of the year. I also have a close relationship with a Scottish Estate, built on the trust that I will present a fair view of what happens. The Scottish right to roam is acknowledged, but the staff, over time, have made it easier for me to get the images I want.

Overall, this was the best lecture / presentation, which I have attended, on this course. There was real resonance and tangibility for me in why DC takes the images and presents the stories in the way he does.  I know that this is going to contribute to the development of my FMP as I apply the l same reasoning

 

Bibliography

 

Cecil Changes available at  https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/06/cecil-african-lion-anniversary-death-trophy-hunting-zimbabwe/ [accessed 28/11/2018]

 

CAMPFIRE Statement available at http://campfirezimbabwe.org/ [accessed 28/11/2018]

Informing Contexts: Week 8, Project Development – Paws for a Portrait Photograph

 

Throughout most of March I have been on Mull and in Scottish Highlands – waiting for the snow opportunities that I missed in February whilst in Senegal. The initial trip was only to be two weeks  but then  snow was predicted for Easter and we decided to stay. The snow did arrive, finally, on Easter Monday.

Whilst away I have been reading   John Pope Hennessey’s The Portrait in the Renaissance and working on camera techniques to replicate the style in Camera. (Whilst I admire Tim Flach’s work I have no wish  or even the skill to replicate his ‘in studio’ work. My own work, with the odd exception, has always been outside, working with natural light.

Apart from explaining the evolution of the Renaissance and what a portrait means, the book also encouraged me to look further at Durer’s Work and how I could present his style using modern technology

First the portrait element. Pope Hennessey describes the evolutionary style in terms of the ideas by which they were inspired.

Early fifteenth painters saw the art of the portrait as a way or recording likeness and interpreting the message portrayed by the human face. In today’s terms I interpret this as personality and character – a feature I strive towards with my wildlife photography.

Renaissance Portrature also followed a deeper development in which Pope -Hennessy  ( p205)states

Direct statement was reinforced by literary means

I interpret this to be reinforcement of the portrait message by the addition of non-linguistic symbols with cultural meaning – art with semiosis.

This also made me think about my Rhino and the tree photograph:  https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/130100771/posts/674

A recent portrait of a Rhino easing his itch on a tree, which has a rope attached to it, signifies that man has been there.  There is another interpretation to it beyond but connected to Mans Red In Tooth and Claw Traits. The rope is also a representation of constraint – is there a threat that the Rhino was once constrained or may be constrained in the future.

Back to Durer’s work, especially ‘A Young Hare , which is one of the most inspirational pieces of Art I have ever seen (I saw it whilst it was on loan to the Louvre).  His ‘Wing of a Blue Roller’ captures the vivacity of the European Rollers Colours, which I tried desperately to photograph in flight whilst in Senegal. I wasn’t  technically acceptably successful, the Birds Name – Roller ‘ comes from its unpredictable but acrobatic flight as it captures insects in the air .  You can see from this, the vivacity of the birds colours. and what attracted Durer

 

The other immediate inspiration came from his drawings of hands and I had the idea of trying to get a close up of Red Squirrel paws.  So I spent some time with my Ginja Ninja  ( red squirrel) friends.  I have spent months of hours now watching this colony, the youngsters growing to adulthood, the scraps over territory and women, more youngsters and with the cycle of life , the odd death.   How do you get a squirrel to show you his paws  for an artistic study –  you position some nuts and you wait. If you are lucky they will be gnashing (eating) as opposed to stashing (hiding  food) and he will eat the nut  within a reasonable distance for a close focus. And then it’s up to your camera skills – as with all wildlife photography there is no shortcut.

Bibliography

Durer, A. Wing of a European Roller. Available at  https://www.albertina.at/en/exhibitions/albrecht-duerer/ accessed 15/03/2018.

Pope-Hennessy,J. The Portrait in the Renaissance. 2^nd ed. Princeton University Press. New Jersey. 1966

Informing Contexts: Week 4. Independent Reflection – The Camera never lies

In Chapter 30, Part Two of Camera Lucida, Barthes when describing a photograph of his mother in the winter Gardens says

I cannot reproduce the Winter Garden Photograph, it exists only for me. For you it would be nothing but an indifferent picture, one of the thousand manifestations of the ordinary, it cannot in any way constitute the visible object of a science, it cannot establish an objectivity in the positive sense of the term, at most it would interest your studium, period , clothes , photogeny, but in it, for you, no wound

And this underpins the most important relationship between the viewer and the image as posited by Olin – how we read it and understand it. The tools for this reading and understanding are derived from our culture, our experiences, our knowledge etc.

I posted an analysis of a De Beers diamond advert :

https://wordpress.com/post/alexandra421.wordpress.com/636

which I felt had an oppositional reading for the following reasons

• Women can and regularly buy their own diamonds ( although to be fair when this was created – female independence was not so prevalent)
• It assumes that the engagement ring is a trivial item rather than a deeply meaningful custom.
• The words imply that only females have engagement rings.

A peer on the course (based in Bulgaria) responded to this with

I understand the thing with the ring in quite the opposite way – variable speed hammer drill (whatever it actually is) will make a woman feel like what? To me that thing implies domestic violence.

Not understanding the relevance and culture of the ‘Drill’ gave a different meaning to the advert.

Plato’s cave is often used as an illustration for degrees of knowledge and understanding and we are all familiar with the statement ‘The Camera never lies’. And it many cases it doesn’t – If what it shows you matches your expectations, experience, culture etc.  As an example

The photograph above shows a woman in the driving seat of a BMWi8. This car is a plug in hybrid – but there is nothing to suggest this in the photograph. You would only know if you are ecologically minded or car enthusiast. The woman is in the driving seat – this is obviously a lie if you are an uneducated resident of Saudi Arabia where ( currently) women don’t drive.

The ‘intent’ of my work for this course is to present a view of fantasy or reality in the animal world.

The strategies I use to achieve this intent are mainly staging. I make choices, including  subject, light, location and caption.

The way animals are presented usually governs how we perceive them, the lion cub is sweet and playful, the adult male lion – dangerous as this recent photograph of a top model, a Lion handler , Vayetse the lion and the photographer David Yarrow demonstrates.

This photograph- to the viewer – says everything about the danger – the iron cage, the stance of the lion and position of the lion handler

This photograph Is not ambiguous but the final product will be – the head on shot of the model with a lion stalking her may well look like a captured moment of danger.

Bibliography

Barthes, R. Camera Lucida Available at file:///I:/Reports/Barthes_Roland_Camera_Lucida_Reflections_on_Photography.pdf [ accessed 22/01/2017}

DeMattia,N. Top Five BMWs women might enjoy the most.  Available at http://www.bmwblog.com/2016/03/02/top-five-bmws-ladies/ {accessed 26/02/2018]

 Ames,A  O’Connor,M   A mane attraction joins Cara Delevingne on catwalk.  Available at  https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a-mane-attraction-joins-cara-delevingne-on-catwalk-zn0dsl2q2  [accessed 26/02/2018]