A little bit delayed but I have now had formal feedback from my tutor on Assignment 4 following our conversation a couple of weeks ago:  all very positive and supportive.

“We had a long conversation about a range of topics including progress on the course, the thematic continuity in your work, including the written assignment, and the possible modes of presentation for Assignment 6.

The essay, although a subject difficult to condense into 2000 words, reflects a strength and depth of research that supports all of the coursework – theory and practice.  I was impressed with the revision/reworking of earlier assignments – 2 and 3 looking at alternative forms of exhibition/dissemination; real evidence of dealing with a body of work in continual development.

Feedback on assignment 

Discussing the essay for Assignment 4, your view is that it works as a starting point for a much larger piece.  The limitations imposed by the brief mean that it is not really possible to explore the subject in depth at this stage.  Perhaps it is something that could be picked up again later and developed.  My own view is that it is little more than an introduction to a potentially much bigger exploration of the topic; there are lots more places that it might be possible to go with this line of thought.   If anything, it leaves open and raises still more questions that might usefully be addressed and to be answered.   As it stands though, it offers a starting point for a personal exploration of a subject that has not already been covered within the course or any of the other work I have done for it.   As ever, a major practical question is whether or not I might have the time to devote to developing the subject further.

Coursework

Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Demonstration of Creativity 

So far as other course work is concerned, we discussed my approach to the print on demand book mock-up exercise.  You feel that this has worked well for the chosen subject matter and is possibly worth having printed in any event just for myself.  I certainly feel quite happy with the concept that I have produced.  I am already having a book made by Blurb of another, older, project, and once I have seen how that comes out, I will probably go ahead with this project as well.

 I have in the meantime been working on a hand-made concertina book for the sequence of images that make up Assignment 2, in particular struggling with how to approach the map to go on the verso, discussing the practical and stylistic problems of trying to use an OS map.  I showed you my current mock-up of a hand-drawn, rail network style map (which is currently having text added to it in Photoshop) and your reaction was that this looks good.  In particular, that it does not contain too much information, which would otherwise be the case if it had been practical to use an OS map.  I will press ahead with this concept and complete a maquette.

We also discussed my thoughts about slideshows for Assignment 1 and possibly for Assignment 6.  You will have a look at the examples that I have produced so far, posted on my learning log, and we can discuss next time we speak.

Research

Context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis  

Thorough and detailed research for A4, covering practitioners from three continents and a long time-frame.

Suggested ‘Return Journey, a film about Mass Observation and Jimmy Forsyth for further research, also a link to Amber’s site and exhibition of Jimmy Forsyth.  Work – You are already acquainted with both.

Learning Log

There are a range of new items uploaded under the Books tab, including the online arts magazine Learned Pig,  ‘Landscape as memory device – redux’ looking at the work of Onaka and Ogawa, interpretation through curating. Shibata’s ‘Gas Stations’, which could relate to your work for A5.

Suggested reading/viewing 

You will come back with some suggestions for slideshows and movies that might be useful to consider when developing my own ideas.

(Still) looking for something a bit more engaging than time lapse sequences

An interesting pair of videos constructed from still images following the tsunami at Fukushima.  The link wasn’t working at the time of search, but CSP’s site is worth exploring.  http://www.chrissteeleperkins.com/multimedia/

Pointers for the next assignment / assessment

Having discussed my proposal for Assignment 5 we agreed that I should press ahead as planned.  It is a logical development from the benches project for Assignment 3 and fits in well with the work that I have done until now on this course, and even going back as far as Square Mile for EYV.  I certainly feel that over time my work has developed a distinctly local flavor and that my immediate locality is proving to be a major theme, and area of interest.  We also discussed how my move from the city (now almost 15 years ago!) has influenced the way that I look at the village.  This chimes with the hypothesis that I raised in the essay for Assignment 4 about the photographer as an outsider and how that colours the way a locality is seen.

You encouraged me to press ahead with both of the ideas that I have come up with so far:  the postcards, and black and white, large format, images.  This will fit well the workflow that I have already projected, starting with test shots with a digital camera to determine points of view and composition, which can then be developed into the postcards, before taking out the 4×5 camera.  Using the latter I cannot afford to be making test shots and need to make each exposure count.  Whilst the continuing Covod-19 lock-down continues, this is not really something that should get in the way of pressing on with this project.  It is now more a practical question of when I am going to be able to devote the time to it.”