Level 3 Photography resources: July 2023

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Progression goals (AC:1)

In the criteria for AC1 is the wording Plans for Progression

One of the key ways of addressing this in your work is to incorporate it in your reflective practice under the heading analysis using a sub-heading "Progression goals".

Whether the work you've produced is research or practical, you should analyse what value was there in producing the work in terms of your progression goals. You could break down your progression goals into 4 differing types...

Immediate goals e.g. Completing the task/unit you're currently working on at a high standard.

Short-term goals e.g. Producing high quality finals for each task and completing year 1 to a high standard.

Mid-term goals e.g. Completing the qualification and being able to access University, assisting work, apprenticeships or internships.

Long-term goals e.g. your dream job - Fashion Photographer with own studio, travel photographer who travels all round the world.

E.g. progression on to University or Employment. (Click image for source of image).

This is a part of the criteria for AC:1 and typically the criteria demands that your work informs your progression.

Progression - because you've signed up for a Photography course at level 3, the expectation is that you have plans to progress onto becoming a Photographer or to do a HE (Higher Education) course in Art or more specifically Photography (Degree/HND).

In your work, it is massively beneficial to discuss your work in terms of how it informs and helps with your plans for progression.

Typically this discussion/analysis might be seen in your reflections where you take the time to comment and analyse how the work and learning you've done has been beneficial in terms of your long term goals. One of the key aspects is your portfolio...

"In this last task, in terms of my plans for progression I feel that some of the images I've done at earlier stages of the development (Images on page 10 and 11) and the finals are of a standard I'd be happy to include in my portfolio. As such, I've separated these images and saved them as TIFF files in the Task Folder and named them as Portfolio Images, so that I can find them easily".

You should use the reflections to review your in terms of your progression goals, ultimately you're looking to be a photographer or some kind - maybe a landscape photographer? In which case mention you're hoping to be a landscape photographer and once you've completed any of your developmental shoots critically question the usefulness of each shoot in terms of your progression - does the work add anything of any value to the idea that you're going to go on and be a landscape photographer (Or whatever type is your progression goal). Was there any value in the shoot - what did you learn that will be potentially useful to you?

*Note if you seem to be repeating the same process over and over again not challenging yourself, you're not really working towards your progression goal.

One of the key things that you should do is use the phrasing seen in the criteria in this case Plans for progression when you write this up as in the example above, or alternatively use the phrase as a sub-heading within the analysis section of your reflection.

In class tasks (ICT's)

ICT's (In class tasks)

Details about how you use and record these and their potential value.

2024-2025

The ICT's are generally either photographic or practical activities that are 'General skills based sessions' that are seen at points throughout the 2 years.

These need to be recorded in your Skills and Knowledge (S&K) folder in the technical section.

Generally, you'll take a series of pictures or you'll make prints in the darkroom using specific techniques, materials or papers.

Minimal expectation - The images you create need to appear in the design sheet with explanations as to what you did, how you did it and what materials, techniques and processes were used.

*Maximum benefit can be added, by going a step further by adding...

Mini-research on photographers that use the same or similar approach/technique with examples of their work.
A plan
A larger selection of the work and details of any photoshop or post production learning involved.
A reflection discussing key elements such as...

Where this type of photography could be seen in an operational context operational context.
Who typically might be the clients
What themes could be communicated effectively using this technique/process and why this might have benefits over using a more conventional approach using a DSLR.
Demographic details relating to the audience for this type of work

*Optional

Monday, July 17, 2023

Demographics

Demographics are the statistical characteristics of a population, such as age, sex, race, ethnicity, education, income, and occupation. Demographic data can used to understand the population's needs and interests. In terms of this course, basic understanding of demographics allows us to identify who buys, commissions, views, accesses or has some knowledge of the types of photography you're researching or producing.

Demographics are important for a variety of reasons. For example, demographic data can be used to:

Understand the population's needs and interests. For example, demographic data can be used to determine where to set up photographic businesses such as studios or galleries. Demographic data can also be used to develop marketing campaigns and products that are tailored to specific population groups. Demographic data can also influence the type of work you might produce in order to generate sales of Photographic are work.
Make decisions about who to target in terms of where you might sell your work. For example, demographic data can be used to determine which communities have more access to expendable cash and are likely to buy Photographic art, or commission photography.

You'll generally be analysing demographics when you discuss the audience for the work you research - who uses, accesses, sees, buys or commissions it. A key part of making these judgements is finding the prices of the work especially when it's Photographic Art. Use the "Sold at Auction" prefix in conjunction with the Photographers name and then be realistic about the audience given the price of the work.

Also consider the image content when making this judgement. Is the work accessible in terms of it's visual aesthetics - think Gursky's Rhine II (Below).

One of the greatest photographs ever taken, valued at over £4.3 million, but completely baffling to anyone without being educated in Photographic art.

If you consider the classic demographic attributes - age, sex, race, ethnicity, education, income, and occupation, you can start to make sense of might use/buy/access this type of work.

Sunday, July 2, 2023

Objectivity in Photography

This can be added to your knowledge and understanding of Objectivity in Photography.

If you watch the Becher's video, this method of shooting the same thing and presenting in composites as a Typology is a useful method for producing your work later in the course. Fashion images potentially if developed further could incorporate this approach.

The theme this week is Objectivity in Photography

For the most widely known example of Objectivity in Photography think back to when you most recently had your passport photography done, or if you've not had one done recently, find a booth and go through the experience of being photographed objectively. See this link here for the instructions for Passport photography.

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The Bechers Click on the image for the video.

These prompts are also useful for your research work. (Similar prompts worded differently).

(1). What kind of Photography is it, what was it's purpose when first produced in the 1970's. What has it become and how are these images used now?

(2). Was the work commissioned or was it a part of a personal project? Was it successful at the time or did the work become increasingly well known - how famous or important has the work become and where is it seen nowadays?

(3). Who see's this work, where is it seen - Galleries, books, newspapers? What demographic groups would be interested in this type of Photography? What newspapers feature art and Photography and what does that tell you about their readership?

(4). Processes. If you watch the video, they talk about a number of processes used to create these images... Waiting for specific light and weather conditions, the use of presenting the images as Typologies, using lenses in particular ways to create a certain end result. Use of two tripods and more.

In the next few days I'll go over this in one of the sessions. Work on it as best you can in the meantime.

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Thomas Ruff

Thomas Ruff is your 2nd Photographer, watch the video's below and use the prompts in the side-bar to generate your written responses. Where possible use the prompts that generate written responses with regards to why the images were created - what is it he is trying to achieve and how does it connect to the Becher's approach? Also use the 4 prompts above to explain the work in terms of their operational context, clients and viewers.

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruff-portrait-1986-stoya-p78091/text-summary

Below this link is potentially the most useful as it is an interview with the photographer

http://phototheoria.ch/up/portrait_visage_6.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djopeab8VYo&t=584s Thomas Ruff. The sections on Interiors and the exteriors and then the colour Portraits are the most relevant.

Saturday, July 1, 2023

The Becher's

Bernd and Hilla Becher

Both are artists – Hilla was a commercial photographer and Bernd was a painter. The work was produced and exhibited as art. Therefore, the wider creative intention was to produce work to be sold as art pieces. The work is personal, as it initially featured buildings and structures seen in the area around the Rhur region in Germany where they both lived. Hilla talks about the work in the video inferring she was fascinated by it to the extent where she was emotionally ‘Moved’ by the sight of the structures. Bernd talks about the connection with the buildings in terms of his family working in the mining industries and these building therefore being the backdrop to their working lives.

Having met at the Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf in 1957, they both began on a project to record the buildings and structures as they were being demolished and replaced as Germany modernised after WWII. As the project grew they moved further afield photographing similar building in other countries, France, Wales and North America.

Creative Intention – The specifics and rationale behind the project stems from the sense of place and the importance of the buildings in terms of defining the place/landscape. Bernd also speaks in the video about how integral the buildings are in terms of the economy; these were the buildings and industries that his family worked in. These were the buildings that defined, the place, the region and how people were able to make a living and prosper, so he has a close affinity with the structures. This connection with these buildings being so strong that he says…

“For us at the time we were trying to carry off these objects – I’ll call them things, but we couldn’t carry them off in their original form. By photographing them we shrank them and turned them into images”.

Bernd goes on to say there was a point where he realised that these structures were going to disappear and were of a time and place and to him seemed as significant as architecture from earlier periods that evoked aspects of another industrial age…

“For me this was an architecture just as important as medieval quarries which evoke for us the thinking of another age”.

The first collaborative photos’ were shot around 1958 using a 6cm x 9cm Linhofcamera. (2)

In terms of why this camera was used and is fit for purpose in realising their creative intentions, simply comes down to the fact that this is a pro-spec camera that produces larger negatives (Medium format). The size of the negative if used in conjunction with a high specification film e.g., one with a lower ISO would enable the prints to be produced at a very high standard suitable for use for exhibiting relatively large and subsequently sold as art pieces. You could also suggest with the 6 x 9 format it suited the compositions given that the buildings where tall and relatively thin in many instances? The other reason for using these cameras was that had the rising front standard which helps with rectifying converging verticals when shooting building from a lower viewpoint

Later they used the larger format 5x4 Plaubel view camera

This is another step up in negative size and therefore a massive increase in the potential quality. Given that one of Bernd's driving forces was to attain precision in depicting these buildings and structures this increase in negative size (Format) makes this camera fit for purpose. With the step up in size and and change of format there's additional scope for the camera being able to cope with issues around converging verticals and therefore create even more accurate recordings of the buildings/structures.

If we watch the video here at 3mins and 29 secs we see a close up of one of their prints and it includes the film rebate details and we can see that they have used APX 25...

25 iso films used on medium and large format cameras would produce ultra fine grain and ridiculously sharp images with incredible detail suitable to meet the Becher's creative intentions. The resulting prints would certainly stand up to being printed to the kind of size you see their work printed in exhibitions (See below).

“The Bechers’ purpose has always been to make the clearest possible photographs of industrial structures. They are not interested in making euphemistic, socio-romantic pictures glorifying industry, nor doom-laden spectacles showing its costs and dangers. Equally, they have nothing in common with photographers who seek to make pleasing modernist abstractions, treating the structures as decorative shapes divorced from their function.

The Bechers’ goal is to create photographs that are concentrated on the structures themselves and not qualified by subjective interpretations. To them, these structures are the ‘architecture of engineers’ and their pictures should be seen as the photography of engineers – that is, record pictures”. (10)

“They are like portraits and the devotional aspect of their work becomes apparent. Photography, like film, has two specific properties. The first is that the photograph will record far more than the eye could see at the time of exposure. It traps details so finely on the negative that it would take the naked eye a long time to uncover the same amount of information”. (10)