I had a very useful discussion with my tutor the other day in response to my submission for Assignment 2, which I am very pleased to report he liked! For ease, below is what he wrote in his formal report, that also covers a number of other issues:

“Overall Comments

We discussed issues relating to the course in general; a perceived (in)balance between theory and practice (something I will raise at the next tutor meeting) and assessment procedure. One particularly interesting observation/revelation you talked about was an increasing sense of politicization relating to matters of Landscape; such a contrast to the classical and modern approaches to work in the genre.

This is a detailed and highly informed submission, clearly documented in the Learning Log from initial ideas to the final set, with an alternative version and two potential modes of presentation – slideshow and concertina artefact printed on both sides.

Feedback on assignment 

The submission is a strong conceptual work based on deep research and knowledge of extant work and practitioners.

Clear evidence of research into practice and an independent take on the brief which explored not only the idea of the ‘journey’, but also an alternative aesthetic, one antithetical to the conventional (picturesque) idea of landscape.  

There is always a danger of allowing a concept to determine the final work rather than having a high level of control over the choice of subject matter, and this can be a problem when engaging the viewer.  However, this set works well with the aims fully realized in a set of ‘randomly’ generated images documenting a train journey, with no post-production work or correction.  The set captures a real sense of the tedium of a repeated journey from the passenger‘s perspective as well as a sense of the physical limitations and possible perceptions of the landscape – snatches of rural and urban life flattened by the parallax depth of field, motion blur and muted seasonal colour and contrast.  This produces some genuinely intriguing images, a fleeting sense of the world around us and the limited grasp and understanding we can have; also, the form of the landscape, often blurred and smeared across the frame and textures, in the river, for example, an accidental byproduct of the process. 

We discussed the possibilities of exhibiting this type of work, with a slideshow as one option, or a printed concertina artefact similar to the work of Zoe Childerley’s work ‘Debatable Lands’.

Finally, what impresses is the amount of work – research and practice – that went into this project and importantly a sense of continuity of approach from Assignment 1.

Coursework

Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Demonstration of Creativity 

Detailed response to projects and exercises throughout.

Research

Context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis  

The research and reflection carried out for this assignment, (mostly) independent and  exploratory, is highly focused and aligns itself to a contemporary contextual framework: from the Land Art of Christo, Long and Nash to recent exemplars by Kazuma Obara and Craig Mod (Kumano Kodo). You draw upon a range of sources and demonstrate a real knowledge and literacy of the medium in this genre.  Importantly, the continuing nature of the research over time running in parallel with the development of the assignment allows you to maintain a critical awareness of your own practice.  The final research note is about Ravilious’ ‘Train Landscape from 1940, with a quote that (I agree) clearly reflects your own aims:

‘We imagine ourselves, by an odd transference, as seated in a stationary interior with the world rushing past outside …”

Learning Log

We didn’t touch on the LL, but I can see that you’ve updated the pages with an article about the recent offerings at the Side Gallery and the ‘One Billion Journeys’ showcasing Wang Fuchun’s work  – interesting parallel to the Provoke group, and of course how this feeds into the development of your A2. 

Three detailed posts uploaded under your Notes tab on Postcards, (the usefulness of) Theory into Practice.  ‘When I am out taking pictures there is no room in my bag for books on theory!’ ,  a lot of practitioners would agree

The piece on filters (for analogue) was particularly interesting, I did a lot of work on ‘day for night’ cinematography in the 70s. Using the conversion tools in PS can produce a range of results and totally different moods in monochrome; I find them most effective with a considerable degree of control.

Suggested reading/viewing 

Tsunami Sidewalk by Chris Steele Perkins

 HYPERLINK “https://vimeo.com/42778555” https://vimeo.com/42778555

Pointers for the next assignment / assessment

We discussed the development of A3 and you are exploring ideas around Memorial benches and the landscape views they offer.  I can see a continuity of theme from A1 and 2 here in the sometimes random or mundane views these benches offer: who determines where they are sited, the doner, charity or local authority (?) 

We also discussed developments for Assignment 6 and the regular captures you have made for the ‘Ford’ project – all going well.”

All very gratifying and encouraging. At last I am beginning to think I am getting somewhere with this!

In the light of this feedback I do not really think that my submission for this Assignment necessarily requires any reworking. Nevertheless, having talked it through with my tutor, and having in particular reconsidered the alternative set that I produced, I do think there is a benefit in adding a couple of images from that other sequence to the primary set. In particular, there is something to be gained by adding the shot of the passing train, the tenth image in that series. Passing other trains, particularly on the bridge, is a common feature of this journey. Visually I also think it adds something in so far as there is the glimpse of the train, the Metro bridge (the blue one) just visible in the background through the windows of the other train, and a reflection of my train.

In addition, as I intend to follow up with the book idea (on which more anon) there are two images that might be used on its cover, that is the first and last of that other sequence. The first effectively gives a title to the set as a whole, and therefore to the book, and would be useful on the front cover. The last one gives a sense of the completion of the journey and so might usefully appear, perhaps just as a quite small print, on the back cover. The next step is to gets some prints made and start mocking up the book!

I will do a separate post next with the full, revised sequence.

Similarly I will write something more once I have had a chance to look at the Chris Steele Perkins video. (There is of course a local connection in so far as he spent a lot of time here in the North East and I wrote about his The Last Ships exhibition on my I&P blog: https://markrobinsonocablog3ip.wordpress.com/2018/09/26/the-last-ships-exhibition/)