mapping own practice against models of contextual practice
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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. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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