My Book
Lecture 2
Deadline 15thMay
22ndmarch – term 2 finish
15thApril – term 3 start
Grad show – 17thJune, 19thJune,
last day 21stJune
What kind of photography you aspire to be?
Three phases
Research
Practice
Publish
Research – Jan 15th– 5thFeb.
Initial visuals – art, film, photography, Pinterest, pin on wall, file
Idea generation – pull out some ideas & mapping this
Technical testing – time to work on a technique I want to work on
Solving problems – what can I do? Time? Commitment?
Practice – 5thFeb – 19thMarch
Shoot
Reshoot
Refining approach
Publish – 16thApril – 15thMay
Communicating the message
Size?
Paper stock?
Clients?
Should get the learning in the work
Digital Workbook – 20%
Physical submission – 80%
Documentary photography today
Meiselas S, 2017, “On the Front-line”, Aperture, New York
Learning outcomes
Assessment criteria
Pictures – 25-30
Questions
Raf training
Working on film
Brief Analysis
- looking at the brief this piece of work is such a large unit with weight that it needs to focus on a project which I really believe in and is very personal to me to be successful.
- my career ambition is to go more into the research side of photography and therefore I want to tailor what I do to that
- I feel my most successful work which I enjoy the most is based on location and is using natural light as for me it gives the best images and feel to the narrative within them
- thinking already about the size of how I want to print it, I think it will be best to have something which isn't too big but smaller and more intimate.
Areas of inspiration
- I have begun a pinterest board of images which I enjoy and like the style of. This has helped to generate ideas of the types of images I would like to produce. (which I have included screenshots of below)
- I am particularly drawn to the work of:
- Peter Beard, an American artist, photographer - his work centres around diary making, collages and scrap booking. It has real meaning and gives the audience a lot of information about the work he is producing. He uses a lot of self portraits in his work to document his life and the change he goes through.
- Larry Sultan is another photographer who I take inspiration from. I love the look that his photographs have with such rich colour and the grained look as if they have been taken on film. He considers light very well and shoots on location
- Duane Michaels is another photographer who I very much admire his style. In the same way as Peter Beard, Michaels annotates his work which adds a personal work and for me make it more exciting to look at. The writing makes it more authentic and well crafted.
Martha Rosler - Her work entitled 'Empty Boys' works well in a way which looks at crops of images. Rosler also examines ways of using silhouettes for framing in interesting ways.
Edward Honaker, creates some really interesting montages and collages based on his depression but the photography also becomes a creative piece of art and makes an images more exciting.
My Idea
For generations through my family a story has been passed down about one of our ancestors who was burned at the stake by Mary I for not denouncing his beliefs as a protestant. This tale has obviously greatly marked my family and I remember being very young and my mother telling me of this story. For me though my life I have always been interesed in identity and what it is that makes up the person I am today. I like to know the reasons as to why things are the way they are and why have a ended up where I am at this moment in time.
My Grandfather decided when he was in his 40s that he was going to research out family history and find out the journey our ancestors have taken for us to be at this point today. Not only that but to also examine where members of our family were today and where they had spread off all over the world. Looking also at why they had done so and what they had achieved along the way.
Below is a drawing of the burning of my ancestor John Denley which was drawn somewhere between 1710 and 1767 around 200 years after his death. The third image down is the original which is stored in the British Museum Archives and which I am planning to get in contact with them to view.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?assetId=790149001&objectId=3246122&partId=1
Initial research
My initial research from speaking to my Grandfather has been around interesting people across them recorded period which he had been able to find of people. My Grandfather has spoken of smugglers who lived on the south coast of England near Eastbourne, family who travelled to the United States to be missionaries for the Church to Native Americas - of which he has a copy of the book which the eldest daughter of the family wrote of their travels. Some of them were also sent to Australia as convicts and worked on labour farms in Tasmania.
My Grandfather has also spoken to me a lot of his Grandfather Harry Lincoln Denley of whom had many photographs taken of him and his family. Harry Lincoln Denley is such a key individual who sparked my Grandfathers interest in this that I feel he is key to investigate.
Going through some of my grandfathers files I have found another interesting character is Albert or 'Bert' Denley who was a motorcyclist at Brooklands racing track in the 1920s. From reading an article in The Times he is celebrated as one of the most motorcyclists of the 1920s, breaking numerous records and from an account of my Grandfather he also featured as a picture on a cigarette packet.
16th January 2019 - Visiting Brooklands
Today I visited Brooklands motor museum and race track. Here I was able to see one of the exact motorcycles and side cards that my ancestor Bert Denley raced on. I was also able to go up onto the famous banking at Brooklands race track. (photographs below)
Whilst I was there I asked staff it was possible to speak to anymore about any archive information which they might also have on Bert Denley. They agreed that they would and within a few hours they located one of the volunteer archivists who found me all of the information that they had in their stores about Bert denley. (Below a photo of the archive library)
Here they were also able to give me all of the articles which they had featuring on Bert Denley which I have attached below and also they gave me a fantastic list of all of the races in which he competed in in hist career on cards below.
Here (below) it details the motorcycles he raced on and the exact date in which he raced them on.
Here below are a number of articles which I have read about him which have told me more about his life and who he was as a character. From humble beginnings as a butchers boy delivering meat on his motorbike to then taking part in breaking world records on the worlds first purpose built car and bike race track.
Beginning to read my Grandfather's book on our family history I have been able to see more about the original family lines and I have made many notes about who they were, what they did, where they moved to and who they married. (notes below) Focusing on the line before John Denley the Martyr and who are the earliest Denleys on record.
On My visit I did also further ask to get in contact with one of the photo archivists who was not in on that day but they said I could arrange to meet to go through some original photographs of Bert Denley and get more of a feel for who he was.
Lecture 2 - 22nd January 2019
Basics of premise of intellectual property
How you can assert your moral rights
Practical working solutions
the sartorialist - http://www.thesartorialist.com/
Photography – printed
Image – online
As the creator – you have the rights image, own the creative rights
You own copyright for your life +70 years
Today's rights
- many big publishers and magazines will use contracts to make you sign over the rights of your photographs
- territory - geographical
- media - the format
- usage period - the time it is granted for
- below the line - local - 2-5years
- above the like - international
- orphaned work - no copy right holder
- model release
- All rights reserved: non negotiable position
Credits
- copy right - 'image, © author, date'
- Creative Commons licence - is used when an author wants to give other people the right to share, use, and build upon a work that he or she (that author) has created.
- stamps - watermark across the photograph
Contractual statements
- declaration of usage for commercial commissions
- granting license to use or part ownership of an image
- syndication
- embargoed use
- competition use
- author use post contract
Traffic Light System
- green - can be used with or without credit
- amber - used without consent, low level without capacity
- red being used without consent in commercial capacity
Use of Mirrors self portraiture
A thought that I have had is to tackle a look at self portraiture within this work. As it centres around me discovering my identity through the family history routes tracing and where my family have dispersed to. The use of self portraits will show me in the setting of where my ancestors have been and also will capture how I feel about their existence at the time.
I have through about using mirrors in my work as I can therefore be more creative in the use of reflection. Each location will be a small fragment of me and the refection that I feel for that part in my family history. Therefore to place the mirror in a smaller part of the image will show that small element of the whole location in my life.
Vivian Maier
Particularly influencing my thoughts is the work of Vivian Maier.
Maier's work remained very private and was never truly uncovered until 2007 in a discovery of one of her storage lockers from an auction and thousands of her negatives which she took were con covered. He series of self portraiture discovers a hidden life but also a documentation of her life and the time she lived in is very much a journey of self discovery. She looks to find herself within her surroundings.
She places herself into her into the images but also uses the reflections to immerse herself into the background. The reflections creates an almost double exposure effect. the tint of the windows also casts dark and light parts of the buildings around her onto her body in the reactions creating an almost visionary look to the images. It looks to an extent ghost like and holy.
Below the why in which Maier has postponed herself gives the image two directions and almost two narratives. 1. there is the narrative of the man carrying the mirror and the scene which he is creating 2. there is the section of her looking into the image of herself. There is a gaze of her taking the photograph and knowing that she is there. Almost like the female gaze of knowing that the audience is looking at her to her looking back at them in herself knowing that she is a focal point of the image for the audiences attention.
Reasoning for having myself in the image
For me when documentary photography is of a personal nature to the photographer who is the protagonist too much of the time the photographer is forgotten in the image. The audience is sat in the shoes of the photographer seeing their point of view but does not see who they are. Much of the time when you find a photographer that you like you can never see actually what they look like when you search them on the internet you just see their most famous images. The photographer as the protagonist is such an essential part of the image. Therefore as I feel it is so important to include myself into the image in some way and through a refection I feel is a great creative way to do so.
Thinking further about the way in which I portray myself in the image I think to begin with in the book I will need it to be obvious to the audience that I am in the image. However late I feel I can be more subtle with where I put myself within the images. As a journey of self discovery it is very important to have me in them though.
Tutorial with Geraint - 28.01.19
Today I spoke to Geraint about my intetions and my reasoning to look at the self portraiture.
I spoke about the work of Larry Sultan and his series 'Pictures from home'. I like the way in which each of his images has one or two focal points but then also has much space and area around them and around the individual who is photographed. It asserts a set meaning and element to the photograph without being too crowded and complex. There are also clear considerations for colour and the contrasts in the way certain colours and tones sit against each-other.
This can be seen it Sultan's images below. The photograph on the left makes his mother on the right of the image sit forward in her red jacket against the white background because of the contrast in colour and tone. The background is lighter than the tone of her jacket and therefore makes the silloquette of it really make a mark.
Again in the image on the right the has the same effect. The way in which Sultan uses the natural light as a spotlight on his mother makes her stand out and become a key player within the image.
Larry Sultan is going to be a key reference for me as he is one of the most successful photographers to hold a consistent narrative within all of his photographs.
Geriant also suggested that I look at the work of Duane Michaels and his series 'This house was once a home'. His style from Geriant's feedback would suit the way in which I wish to put my book together. As there is such a strong research base to my photographs we both discussed that the annotations will provide a key depth to the images which make it yet more personal and give that journalistic style.
I am still in two minds as to if I will be shooting in black and white or colour so that is probably something which I will decide after about how I will present them and how the image comes across in both.
It was also great to talk about my motives for choosing such a close connection to Vivian Maier. Geraint further explained to me how her amateur work bluntly addressed her own insecurities. For me I therefore need to convey how this project is about who I am. I need to be direct if I am going to use self portraiture and then later on I can be more crafty about where I put myself in the image.
I also suggested about putting into the equation double exposures. Putting the camera onto a tripod and having a timer. Moving myself about within the image and seeing how I interact within the space. Taking a diary with me and writing down my thoughts about being there. How I feel about them being in that space.
Geriant asked my a series of questions to make me think more about why I was taking the photographs I was...
Why is it important as to why I am in there?
- Visiting where they were gives me a sense of reality to their lives. It puts me into their shoes and makes me experience who they are a little more.
What else is around it??
- the environments will be so different it will make me look at the why in which I can capture intriguing images from the areas. I need to take advantage of being there and take as many images as I can.
Disrepair - I need to examine how the area might have changed over time and what elements are original which I can gain a link to.
I am interested to look are more people as a stimulus for my work and I have found it difficult so far to find photographers who look a family history specifically. Geriant suggested I look at Val Williams and her project 'who's looking at the family'.
Val William
Very similar to the journalistic style of Peter Bread and diary looks of Duane Michaels. Val Williams examines the family unit and its composition in many different cases. It delves into the personal spaces of where families exist. The book produced by Williams examines the memory of family and how they are portrayed in the photographs which are taken by various photographers. It looks at how these photographs serve as a memento to remember people it time. They are almost a visual statement to history of who they are and what they meant.
What am I going to do? – moving forward
- Value of it - look at the costings of going to each location and what I will get from going there
Element I need to think about:
- Exposures – note book, try double exposures
- Light - natural light as it is very much an organic and original project and very much about the natural occurrence of who I am and where I am now.
- Space - I want to experiment with depth of field to make the viewer feel like they could climb into the image and that it actually has some dimension to it
- Long exposures - tracking my movement around the space and how I feel from being in that space.
Publishing
- I have been thinking a little more about my publishing stage of this project and how it is going to look. For me it is very important that it has very much a journal style and look.
- To have hand written thoughts in there and extracts are so important as it is a journey of discovery.
- I like the thought of not necessarily printing on straight up photographic paper but printing on a thick matte paper.
- I want the images to then be printed onto white pages as if the images are from a catalogue or specimens onto a clean white modern surface
- I have seen in the print shop at university there is an option to print onto clear paper. It is a type of cellophane. I feel this would resinate the transparency of looking through my history and through generations. All of the old family photographs which I have have been taken either on film or on glass plate, therefore printing onto this would give it an interesting artful and retro feel.
- Black and white or colour?? - I am still in a debate about how this should be and depending on how all of the final images turn out is when I will decide on black and white or colour.
- Cable release - I have considered using a cable release for my photographs
30.01.19 - Visiting the original etching of John Denley at the Wellcome Library
From a very young age I have been shown the etching of John Denley being burned at the stake. I have been fascinated about the fact that an artist felt that this event was so important to be documented in history.
I wanted to track down where I could see one of these original etching prints. To see these in person would make me consider more about what this project meant and how this image is so important to my family.
Whilst viewing the etching I made the following notes about how it made me feel and I added in some notes from the information that the collection gave to me about it:
Adding to my notes seeing the image also made me realise how important John Denley and his story was to a faith.
Assets
Maximise the potential of your work for the future
Repeat clients
Record of all commercial work for 5 years
Analogue Management
Archival box
Creating a filing system
In the box
Original concepts, diagrams and research
Negatives, transparencies
Polaroids
Prints and reprints from the shoot
Copies of all paperwork
Commission documents
Prints in 10s,50s,100s
Invoicing
E&EO – put at the end of the invoice to show its an estimate
Banking
- RBS
- Natwest
Islington – good location for where photographers
Editions - number the editions
Working with a library
- Be careful of their T&Cs
- some will only let you work on specific cameras
Viewing the etching at the British Library - 1st February
- At the same time as organising to see the etching at the Wellcome Collection I saw there was a copy at the British Museum of the etching which I organised to go and see.
Accompanying the etching of my ancestor were about 100 or so other etchings by the same artist of other people who were burnt.
Within them I also noticed the two images below. One of which was the trail and debate of a protestant in a church around the same time (left). Although it was not of John Denley himself it showed a similar situation to that of the one he would have been in when he was tried. The other image (right) is of fellow Protestants being held in Newgate Prison. It would have been the case for John Denley that we would have been held here before and after his trial, so this therefore gives me an incite into what I would have been like for him on his trial.
From reading my Grandfathers book I have begun to build some character profiles of people I can look at and where I will go to photograph them.
First of all I have looked at John Denley who was burnt at the stakes family to give me incite as to where they were and what they did.
I found out about an interesting ancestor who moved to the United States with her family and her mother has a very interesting story. Lois Denley's mother is said to be one of the favourite nurse's of Florence Nightingale so I am going to visiting the Florence Nightingale Museum at St Thomas's hospital which is where she worked to look as where I could photograph there. I also plan to visit the old operating theatre museum which has one of the original operating theatres which she would have worked at.
Speaking with Geraint I came to the conclusion that I should focus on around five stories or individuals who I can then visit the locations of where they lived and generate images about them.
Below I have stated a list of the people I am going to look at. I feel number 4 will be looking at some of the relatives who lived in London and their lives.
The 5 key elements are as follows:
1. John Denley the Martyr
2. Bert Denley the Motor Cyclist
3. Harry Lincoln Denley - my great great grandfather
4. Missionaries in the family
5. Family who were exiled to Australia
6. The smugglers who lived in Eastbourne
I have begun to look at the costing of how much this going to cost me and where I will be going to for it.
1. John Denley
- train to - tube out to Uxbridge £5
- train to maidstone £13
- London --> Huston, Chichesrer £20
2. Clapham Junction to Brooklands - £8 return
3. Train to Worcester - £25
4. Much of the work done by the family who moved to the United States was in London before they left
5. Clapham to Portsmouth £23 return
6. Clapham to Eastbourne £20, Eastbourne --> Pevensey Bay £2.50
_____________________________________________________
5th February
I have wanted my work to be a modern take on creating a traditionial research scrapbook. Therefore I have begun to look at artist who montage.
Whilst researching on Pinterest through photographs I have come across a sort of modern scrap booking technique which I have come across before. Instead of physically manipulating digital manipulation would be an interesting way to work with photographs to make some visually
Idea development
Below I have created a moodboards which spark ideas for me which are feeling the ideas for what I would like to create.
Parts of the mood-board I like:
- the elements of illustration in combination with the images
- the use of text layers and blanking out people within the images and replacing them with colour or notes - this is a way I can add further information to the images about what they are about
- the combination go people and landscapes are really interesting as the way you are brought up and a family unit are influenced by its surroundings.
- I like the thought of replacing natural textures with those of man made textures.
I have found in the kit store a graphics tab which I can hire out after to experiment with making notes digital in my handwriting and also illustrating onto images.
05/02/19 - Tutorial with Celine
I spoke to Celine and outlines to her what I was going to do when I went to the coast and I wanted to find out from her who she through I could look at to influence and shape my work. She suggested new magnum photographer Christian de Middell who has had many projects which she has generated from extracts she has found in newspapers or in history records and then she has generated images from these. (as show below)
In a very similar way Chloe Dewey created a project based around Frankenstein. She went to backdrops where the Frankenstein was based and shot some very journalistic and crafted art photographs. (as can be seen below) To quote her about her project:
"I looked at these beautiful, fragile expanses, searching for Frankenstein’s creature but realised I was in fact looking at another incarnation of the beast. The grey bulk of melting glacier became, like Frankenstein’s creation, an embodiment of human folly"
From this quote you can see how she has taken though and time into this project and really considered the impact of the landscapes. She has sat within them. Research them through all of the images she can access and really thought about the edit. It looks also like it has been painted. It swings more towards are than anything else.
Others ares which Celine covered are that:
- double exposure might be an interesting technical aspect to look at in terms
collage artists. It could track my movement within the image.
- Where is good for printing a very individual age? - I have left this question with Celine as I would like to print on a combination of tracing paper and normal card in a book.
Here below are the photographs I have taken at my first location of Birling Gap where my relatives the smugglers were living:
Visiting Burling Gap
It was great the day I visited curling gap. When I arrived it was foggy which at first I was annoyed about but actually it played to my advantage and made the photographs have more character.
The fog gave a relation between my relatives and their smuggling past. Smuggled in the fog were lands beyond.
I made notes about how the area made me feel. The sounds, the sights and the feel of the environment. I put myself into the shoes of my ancestors and what a magical world it felt like to be there in the cold and the mist. Anything that came from the fog would have been from some sort of interesting and strange far away land.
I liked this short series I created oh just having the camera in one position and moving about within the space. Using the cliffs and a backdrop like I was in a studio. They give such rich textures and colours to the background. Once I colour graded the photographs it made it look even more rustic and authentic.
Some of the photographs are not completely in focus and I think that adds to the character of them. I want them to have the look as if they are taken on film. Half of the experiment of shooting on film is if they are going to come out well and in focus.
An example is the work of Dorothy Lang. Even her most famous photograph of the migrant mother in the Great Depression is not completely in focus. This misty and out of focus effect that you get on some of the images adds to the depth of it all.
I chose to also look at objects in the area. To look at how they will have been the same today as they were when my ancestors were alive. To draw parallels between them.
11/02/19 - Visiting the Queens Gallery - Early Photos of the Crimean War by Roger Fenton
I visited the exhibition at the Queens Gallery which had early photos of the Crimean War. I found this really inspirational and stimulating for my work.
- I found the working in the field and make shift studio/photoshoots that were made in these images by Roger Fenton.
- He uses a lot of shallow depth of field like me in his work by keeping interest on the subject but also subtly adding in the extra detail through what is in the background.
- Fenton not only looks at the person or people in the image but also the surrounds and the area in which they are taken and also smaller objects like me.
I have detailed some of the images of his which I liked below:
Safeguarding lecture
IP and Copyright
- digit mark - a good site to do regular searches of your images
- how you sell the copy right? - do you sell total, partial or a lease
- association of photographers are great for legal advice
Finance
- keep all finances for 5 years for inland revenue
Release
- historian release - you take full responsibility
- standard release
- your version
Insurance
- need more in depth insurance - need specific serial numbers
- public liability insurance
- employers insurance
Network
- twitter, Instagram, linkedin
Uniqueness
- know to an employer why you are great
- be confident
12/02/19 - Photoshoot at Florence Nightingale Museum
As I have found one of my relatives was a nurse working with Florence Nightingale in London I decided to go to the Florence Nightingale museum to find out more about her life and legacy. Here I also produced some Vivian Maier inspired images and really reflected on her work and what it must have meant to be her at the time.
My relative Maud Reeve Denley was deeply religious and this obviously was a theme which followed through my family. The story of the Mayrtre was of great importance to her and she felt it was something that they should take very seriously. They had a copy of Fox's book of Mayrtres and kept it in the pride of place in their home. Below are some images which I felt showed some of the way I made myself into that world.
20/02/19 - Photoshoot ay St Thomas's Hospital
I did another Photo shoot at St Thomas's hospital but again with myself images. I got a friend to stand with the camera as it was busy area to assist me and make sure everything was safe. Here I put myself into the situation and show my journey.
I feel these images are strong they show a journey self-discovery which is whole project is about. It is about me finding my heritage from a story of his research that might be lost with in a generation.
Here I put myself into the shoes of my ancestor. The building is the other side of the river haven't changed since she was there. The Houses of Parliament still stand. I took a moment to look across at them and think. At that moment in time and still to this day the powers that run our country are just across the water in one of the most famous and influential cities in the world. She must have felt that too and its importance. To juts sit there and ponder.
Below are a few images from older parts of the hospital which still stand and where she would have been working.
For me the images which show my most depth are the most successful. They draw the audience in and makes them feel as if they could climb into the photographs. For me this is so important. To make the viewer stop and look. to take a moment to think about what they are looking at and be inquisitive.
Colour grading
I have decided to colour grade all of my images to show a richness of colour and life to them. This whole project is about life and legacy, about people and how they have changed the lives of those in the generations to come to where I am today therefore this is reflected in the colour.
28/02/19 - Uxbridge
Here is the site where John Denley was burnt. Where it all began. Where the history stems from and where the importance of this whole project comes from. For me it all felt slightly strange. This piece of land which is sacred to my family history is now in the middle of a round about in a commuter town in London. Anyone could walk past and not take notice to its significance. But at the same time it is obviously significant as the piece of land hasn't been developed over. The lynching green stays as a make of significance.
For me I find it interesting that there is a memorial stone to my ancestor and two others but not to everyone else who was killed. He must have been pretty significant to have himself still remembered today and that it what I find so interesting.
Here I have again to look at the surroundings a lot. This tree reminded me of a fire which related to what took place here 450 years ago. The flowers were so still and delicate gently blowing in the wind, such a far cry from the brutality of what had happened before.
02/03/19 - Visit to Shepards print paper shop and book binders
- I have chosen two papers from them to test print onto
- They have given me the contacts of the binding service which charge by the hour so I need to check how much they charge
- I have an A1 pieces of bible paper and an A1 piece of tracing paper
05/03/2019 - Speaking with prototyping about printing on my own paper
I have spoken to prototyping and they have shown me how to use the feed printer. They are also more than happy to help me with any printing that I need to do and an added bonus is that it is free to print in there which really helps me with the cost of my project.
Maidstone - 05/03/19
Today I went to All Saints church in Maidstone where John Denley's grandfather and father worked within the church. It is also where one of them is said to be buried either on or near the alter.
The churchyard area did give me some great greys and earthy colours which come out really nicely. I particularly like the photo below which is where I am stood behind some graves. It hides me within the setting and gives more depth to the image.
Again I have found it crucial to look at me interacting with the space. Having images from my perspective of me touching and being within it.
I think it is important to show me exploring the space. To show me discovering it and really seeing what it is about like in the photo below on the left.
Brooklands
Brooklands creates such a great backdrop for a photoshoot. You can just imagine the excitement and the atmosphere at the time of a race. The noise of the cars passing at high speed around the banking.
Here after speaking to Geraint I thought more about using less and see of me. Just little snippets to show what I am look at and discovering. It also further shows the way I have learned from the photographers I have been influenced by by playing with focus and just having a small matter of me in it.
Again the surroundings are intriguing and the buildings are interesting to look at, such as these viewing boxes on the track.
It was interesting to look at the details and snippets of smaller bits of the track which I discovered such as a pit garage which had some old car parts in from what I could see from peering in through a gap in the door.
It was also interesting to look as the areas of decay and change. How nature was taking over and greenery was working its way through to cover the history. I feel this great juxtaposition of colour really made some quite beautiful images.
Again I like these images of where it looks like I am exploring. Especially the one on the left. The focus is only part of the image and as it is only focussed on the mid part of my jacket it really shows some motion.
Again I have included some portraits. I do love the colours within these. It is all about me discovering and me in these spaces. I do therefore feel it is important to show me sitting within them and feeling immersed. Looking at the camera with the gaze. The gaze of knowing that I am looking at the audience who is looking back at me into the image.
This part of the track where the bridge is, is such a famous and iconic part of the track. Therefore to have a photograph here just really shows how important it was as a place for Bert Denley.
I also went into the museum and photographed close ups of one of the exact motorbikes which he raced.
Worcester
Photographing in the sites in Worcester was tough. As the history of this part of my family is so recent and the places have changed to much I really wanted it to still fit within the project.
Making my book and printing - 19/03/19
I have through about many methods of printing. I have printed on the paper which I bought from the paper shop. - from the results tracing paper is too light and much of the details is lost in it. However bible paper gives it a lovely finish and makes it almost look like water colour.
21/03/19 - I have had a thought today of a completely alternative way of presenting it. I remember when I was younger being shown family photographs from recent history on slides through a slide projector. I am potentially thinking about getting the printing them onto slides and seeing what Geraint thinks about a presentation style using them in some way.
7/04/19
Now into my printing stage I have been thinking about my presentation of my work. I have tried printing them onto two pieces of very similar bible type papers. My findings were that one was too thin and the ink didn’t sit too well into the paper. It sat too much on top and meant that it lost the detail on the photograph (as you can see below). The slightly thicker paper too it better and gave it a really interesting effect making it look like almost a watercolour which I liked the look of and the vivid colours enhanced the life of the images.
The more successful one really did give some great vivid colours.
I have been thinking about the ways in which I can present my work and it has some to mind that I could try and print them onto film. From being very young I remember photographs being shown to me as slides on a slide projector and being so intrigued by the negatives of film. I have found a company online which will be able to print my work from digital onto film.
I also love film slides because they are so small and intimate. They feel so private and personal which is very much what a lot of this project is about. It is about showing the audience the intimate and delicate history of my past.
I also like that they can be projected. I remember sitting in a room with family and going through slides that were projecting onto the wall. It would evoke lots of conversation, debate and emotion about what was going on in the photographs. I feel this is therefore the perfect way to present them.
10/04/19
The prints have arrived and have come out in great quality with great amounts of detail and colour. I have now ordered some slide cases to now cut down the pieces of film and put them each into individual cases
I have now received the cases and cut the film down to fit into them. I now need to think about the way in which I am going to present the slides in an interesting way. Whether it will be using a slide projector or if I will be using some sort of book format.
I am currently looking at some sort of slide wall mount with a light behind it to display them.
Alternately I have looked at a very minimalistic approach to making a book with them in. Having a page per slide and just putting each slide into a pocket on each page.
I really like the thought of writing onto the slides in pen. I remember going through old family slides and my grandfather had written onto them where they were taken and where he could with room the date and anything about the location they were taken.
What has really inspired me presentationally is the Pink Floyd exhibition which I went to last year at the V&A which was stills from the video from one of their album covers. I really liked how it was put together behind a light board.
17/04/19
Having spoken to Geraint about using a Lightbox I now need to buy one and try and mount them onto it. I also want to use black card over the rest of it so that it is just the windows of the slides that are lit up. A friend of mine has one for tracing which I tested them on to see what it looked like and the white light effect that it gave was great. (below)
Also speaking with Geraint he also mentioned about having printed versions of my work too so I need to look at ways in which I could have that as a larger source of reference for the audience and also to give some context to the audience about it.
22/04/19
Selecting down:
It is really important for me to consider how I am going select down my images and the order in which they will be presented. As there are 5 locations I was thinking to do 4-5 images per location and do them in lines across the Lightbox. I need to discuss and go through this further with Geraint.
30/04/19
I am still waiting to speak with Geraint about my selection down but the second lot of slides have arrived and I have cut them down and also put them into the cases.
Today I have had a think about the way to present them on a larger scale and I have wanted to do it in an intimate way. I remember looking through family albums and their intimate little pieces of writing which are had scribbled on to them. Therefore I have decided to buy this album
It has an authentic scrapbook look which related to the influence of Peter Beards which I have spoken about recently. The dust paper which it has between each of the pages also reminds me of the protective paper which were between the etchings when I visited the copy of John Denley's burning.
I have therefore decided not to print onto the bible paper and tracing paper which I first tried as it doesn't make the images sharp enough and the ink sits on top of the paper too much which makes it difficult to print onto therefore this is an alternative option.
I am also printed all of the chosen images which have been made onto slides onto a size of 5x7 so that they are the same size as the family photos which would have been produced from negatives when I was young and the size that went into photo albums.
I have used the slide projectors which my parents have given me to use for the slides and they project out really well and are sharp.
The Layout
In my printed book I have really thought about the way it is presented and where the images will sit on the page.
The only two images which are stuck onto the left of the page are the first page where it is the etching of John Denley being burnt and the last in the book of his memorial stone to show a significant point within the book. The story started with him being burnt and ended with him at the memorial. I have then sequenced everything between that in chronological order of where that part of the family sat in history.
I then also ordered all of my slides onto the light board. I have cut windows into a piece of card for the light to shine into the slides on (below)
I then stuck the slides over the top of the windows so that when the Lightbox is turned on it creates a clean finish of where they are lit up. I have done the all again in a set order of story order of when they happened.
In my printed book each image has a sentence to accompany each image which I have hand written. I feel this gives an authentic and personal feel to the book which is very similar to a family album. Between the pages of the book is a from of very thin bible paper which is very like the paper of when I first viewed the etchings of John Denleys burning at the British museum and also at the Wellcollction.
Evaluation
Concept/Ideation
This body of work as all be developed from a very rich family story which contains a journey which I have gone on to learn about members of my family which I had no idea existed before. It has taken vast amounts of research looking through archives to find the vital information which will help me pin point where they existed and what they did based on my Grandfathers research. Since he has fallen ill he hasn't been able to go through his family history work and his office has been left the same as it was the say he fell it. Nobody within my family has really seen the extent of the research which he has gone to and I want to be the person to the through looking through the work he has done and creating this project. Through the influence of photographers of Peter Beards, Duane Michaels, Larry Salton and Vivian Maier. Their work has helped to craft and form my work into the body this it it now and help my creative style massively.
Development/Prototyping
I have developed a range of pathways to create this project. This is from how the photo will sit and if the body of work is mainly self portraiture and how I can make the self portraiture less direct. I have then finally made this into a mix of both to show an interesting narrative. I then also applied this heavily in my printing process and looking as the ground on which I wanted to print and display my project which took a number of different development stages testing on many different paper types.
(Pre) Production
Throughout the project I continually went through it with Geraint and evaluated the images from each shoot, selecting down, refining the idea and selected elements which worked well which would work well into future shoots. This process helped for later on selected which images were to be in the final edit.
Presentation /Storytelling For Influence
I feel this project really like a very creative story telling stance on the whole narrative I am conveying. The two ways in which I have presented 1. through the slides on the Lightbox really makes the audience get close to the work and work to grasp what it is about. 2. The book works as a tool to accompany the slides to give the images to the audience in a larger way which can be taken away. Obviously in a gallery setting it would have the light box on the wall, the book would be placed on a table infont.
Critical and creative mindsets
This project has created a really interesting body of work which encapsulated many smaller stories which are underpinned by one larger narrative. This work has pinpointed the work where I completely thrive and the edit which I most enjoy out of my photographs which have brought a new style of vivid colour to my work. It has allowed me to collaborate with historians and bring some hard text to life. To print facts and statistics into visuals. It informs and educates the audience onto a history of my family and a reflection of where they were has reach in the present day. I feel it has a really deep meaning and the proposed of the amount I have learned from it all has been massive to me both through developing my style but engaging with a passion of mine which is history. Through using the Leica as it is so manual and takes more time to use it has developed my personal technical skills and taking time more to consider the photographs I have taken.
