rosiejadenewton-blog

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My timelapse as part of the personal project.

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Information is everywhere//Lecture 5.

Today’s lecture was about information and data and the differences between them. The aim was for us to learn how we can tailor the information and data to be relevant to our work. We began by defining what the terms information and data actually meant. Information; means something to the person receiving it Data; is without any context

We then looked at the ‘five rings of information’ which helped to break down the different areas of information that are available to us all.

In order for us to understand how different areas of information can be collected, we were asked to answer 7 questions for a survey. These questions were as follows;

1. Are you male or female? 2. Do you have a smartphone with internet connection? 3. How many times do you look at your phone per hour/day? 4. What are you looking for/at? 5. Total minutes per day spent using your phone? 6. List what you ate yesterday 7. List 10 of something (a group of things/category)

I, like everyone else recorded my answers and submitted them into the survey. My answers were as follows;

1. Female 2. Yes 3. 12-14 4. Social Media 5. Approximately 720 minutes 6. Pasta with chicken and bread 7. Music genres; pop, punk, jazz, classic, folk, rock, dance, electronic, indie, acoustic.

We also looked at the 5 ways to make a list, which are;

L //location  A //alphabet T //time  C //category H //hierarchy

Initially I couldn’t understand how I would be able to link this lecture to my photography practice, but after we had a class discussion surrounding the lecture, it became clear. In my practice, information and data can be useful for specifying target audiences. It is also used in market research to produce demographics, such as 17% of readers are male, which can/will/should effect the process of taking and making images.

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An introduction to postmodernism//Lecture 4.

modernism; -technological optimism -universal truth -absolute knowledge -definition and boundaries -colonial belief -believes in one single truth

The postmodernism era occurred, not surprisingly, after the period of modernism, which was between 1870 and 1970.

postmodernism; -is a philosophical idea -we live in a postmodernism time -open to individual interpretation -has no specific definition; it can’t be defined -is a set of concepts and debates -believes truth is a myth

‘There’s no one single meanings; we make meanings’

A large part of the postmodernism era is pastiche and parody, borrowing and re-contextualising. Looking at the historical references in order to not only understand the work, but then also produce newer, postmodernism style work as a result of better understanding.

In the lecture today, we were shown less artists and designers, but instead more information about postmodernism itself and the type of work that can be categorised into the art form.  However, despite this, we were shown some examples of work by 3 artists; Joseph Cornell, Robert Rauschenberg and James Turrell.

I found Robert Rauschenberg’s collage work to be very aesthetically pleasing and it also reminded me of some of my previous pieces. I also liked the fact that Rauschenberg is able to provoke questions and debates through the use of political comments in his work. Although I have little interest in politics, I am still able to appreciate the artwork and its purpose.

To conclude the lecture, we looked at James Turrell’s light installations and briefly discussed their link to postmodernism.

Although this lecture is difficult to link directly to my photography practice, I felt it to be interesting to learn more about the art world in general, instead of ignoring it all except the area I have chosen to specialise in.

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The Portrait//Lecture 3.

-What is it’s function? -What could be more simple and more complex? More obvious and more profound?

I thoroughly enjoyed this lecture as it was very relevant to the type of work that I produce. I also thought that it was very informative which will be extremely beneficial for me to refer back to in the future.

One of the main topics that today’s lecture was based around, was the relationship between the photographer and the subject and the idea that the photographer is in complete control.  We looked at the work of Bill Brandt and the control that he has over the decision to alter the sense of scale in his photographs. I love the abstract ideas behind his images and I think that they really change and mould the atmosphere in his images and the message that comes across to the audience.

We then moved on to look at the constructed portrait and one of the pieces that I was particularly interested in was that of Patrick Tosani titled Braille Portrait no.1 (1985). Such a simple, yet complicated idea to create a portrait for people who cannot see, but I think it works really well. 

To conclude today’s lecture, we looked at self-portraits and what they tell you about the subject and therefore the artist. One of the artists’ self portraits that we studied really stood out to me, this was the work of Lucas Samaras.

His self portraits, like many other artists, are very personal. This image in particular really communicates how he felt during this period of his life, while he was suffering with depression. Samaras has said that producing work of this type, such as the image shown above, allows him to “mutate depression into creativity.”  This then reminded me of a photographer Christian Hopkins, whom I have researched in one of previous projects. Hopkins is a self-taught photographer whom also suffers with depression, he claims “photography was a form of therapy; probably saved my life”.  I always admire artists who convey such strong personal feelings through their work as I imagine it would take a great deal of bravery to not only complete it, but to publish it for all of the world to see.

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Ready Made//Lecture 2.

//David Joseph Osbaldestin.

Today’s lecture was, for me, the most fun and interactive of all of the lectures in both this and the previous series. Although the artists’ work displayed would be most easily relatable to graphic design work, I still walked away feeling inspired.

So-Me

The lecture was mainly revolved around graphic designer/animator, music producer and art director for Ed Banger Records, So-Me and his DIY punk style. One of the things that interests me in him and his work is how he found himself working with Kanye West on the ‘Good Life’ music video. He went from mocking the singer/rapper in his artwork to having his work beat Kanye to an EMA, which then caught his attention. Once Kayne became aware of So-Me and his work, he immediately asked to collaborate on his next single; resulting in this music video, which currently has almost 50 million views.

When So-Me’s work shot to its height of fame, his unique style became instantly recognisable and was influencing other artists and designers across the world. One of the examples of this that we were shown in the lecture was of a Virgin Media campaign Rapier. Here you can clearly see how they “borrowed” So-Me’s graphic identity in order to convey their desired message.

To conclude today’s lecture, we watched an animation titled Logorama.

This piece was my favourite that was shows today as I felt it was the most fun and I was hooked for the entire 16 minutes. We then learnt that there are over 2500 trademarks in this ready made film that was created solely for the purpose of art. We finished with the question as to how this film was legal and how it didn’t breech any of the copyright laws.

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Lesson Notes;

To read; The Nature of Photographs - Stephen Shore.

To research; Robert Frank

All photographic prints have qualities in common that determine how the world is transformed into a photograph.

PRINT

an object of something - content/subject - physical dimensions

-Chapter 1; Physical

A photograph is flat, it has edges. It is static, it doesn’t move.

Colour adds a new level of descriptive information and can alter perception. An orange tone will age a photograph.

The meaning of a photograph changes over time. It can be reproduced as information or as advertisement.

Can be both brought and sold as either a utilitarian object or a work of art.

Context and Functionality. What was it for? What effects how we view things? Audience Meaning relates to context Reference context by adopting a visual style

-Chapter 2; The Depictive Level

Photography is inherently an analytical discipline. The photographic image depicts, within certain formal constraints, an aspect of the world. Make sense of what exists!

Four Central Ways/Attributes:

flatness - lighting and setup

frame - how you compose it

time - show the movement of time

focus - subject matter; we’re in charge!

The frame corrals the content of the photograph all at once. Cropping adds emphasis; what do we want the reader to know and understand? composing making taking

-Chapter 3; The Mental Level

You see a mental image which has been previously decided by the photographer. A discrete snapshot of time.

-Chapter 4; Mental Modelling

Shape and nature of light. 

Pre-visualisation

What you want, not what the camera gives you.

You know what it’s going to be like and for, before you even take the photo.

It becomes a second nature.

Each level provides the foundation the next level builds upon. Seductive illusion or moment of truth and beauty.

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Lighting Workshop//23.11.15.

// Today we were scheduled in our groups to attend a workshop in the photography studio, when we arrived we were greeted by a three different lighting set-ups. We were each given a hand-out, which clearly labelled all of the equipment that we have available for us to use, which I imagine will become extremely useful as the projects develop.

We were then split into three groups, where we had the opportunity to rotate around each of the set-ups and be hands-on with the equipment. We trialled a number of test images using the members of our group as models, each time adjusting the angles and settings until we felt that we had a better understanding of it all.

Here are some of the images that were taken both of and by me.

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Notions of Originality//Lecture 1.

Today we had our first lecture of the new series. Today’s lecture was very brief, but surrounded the idea that nothing is original when it comes to the world of art; everything is just a rework of a classic.

This made me consider some of my previous project and the similarities between my inspiration and my work itself. How many of my ideas are new and my own? I then began to question where the line is considered to be drawn between a new idea and conceptual appropriation and then even further between that and pastiche.  Today there was a new term that I was introduced to, which was synchronicity. This term is used to represent two or more of the same ideas happening unknowingly at the same period of time.

We also discussed the issue surrounding copyright and how it can often be deemed difficult to establish whether the said piece of work is in fact breeching the copyright rules.

We looked at some examples of pieces of artwork and their inspirations to see how similar they really were. One example we looked at was taken from Paloma Faith’s album cover A Perfect Condition. The inspiration for this cover is fairly obvious as it is a rework of a classic; The Deposition - Raphael.

“Select only things to steal that speak directly to your soul.” - Jim Jarmusch.

I think this lecture has and will make me research my idea in more depth to see if it has been done before and to see if I have unintentionally been inspired by an artists work. This way I can learn more about the cultural context behind my work which will not only further my research but also my knowledge on the world, which I will be abel to apply to many aspects of my life.

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Specialist Area//Photography.

// I have chosen to specialise in Photography for the remainder of my time at university. I have decided this because it is the subject I have the most passion and interest for. I already have lots of ideas which I am looking forward to exploring in more detail. I am also really looking forward to learning more about some of the Adobe programmes, such as Photoshop, Lightroom and After Effects.

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//Final Piece.

In order to bring the project to a close, we needed to compete our website (final piece) to its highest standard ready for assessment. I think I was quite good at keeping on top of the rest of my group and reminding them to upload all of their work so that I could publish the website for everyone to see.

I have now completed this, click here to view our final piece.

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05.11.15//Creating a Website.

// For our group outcome, we decided to create a website as we felt it would be the most successful way to display all of our individual outcomes as they are so diverse. Abba has produced a GIF and Diana had created a video, which eliminated the option of anything printed, the rest of the group members, including myself, have produced outcomes that are easy to upload, so we chose a website.  None of us have ever made a website before, so I googled ‘free website’ and ‘WIX’ was one of the first results. The process was so quick and easy and I was totally surprised, I thought it would take us a couple of days to create and complete, but instead it was more like 20 minutes!!

The homepage works as a preview into some of our images has a menu to navigate to any of the other pages I created. I have given each member of our group a page where they can display their final outcome/s and provide a brief explanation as to how they arrived at their idea.

//Check out the finished website here.

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Protest//Lecture 5.

02.11.15 //

PROTEST EMPOWERMENT SUBVERISION PARTICIPATION REVOLUTION ACTIVISM REBELLION 

These were the keywords that formed the basis for today’ lecture, which was the final of the series lead by Paul Proctor. We began by focusing on the subject of Teenage Rebellion in the USA and looking clips from the film ‘Rebel Without a Cause’ by Nicholas Ray, starring James Dean (1955). It was mentioned how this is a “must-see” film for everyone and as I have not yet seen this film, I jotted it down on my ‘to-watch’ list. We then swiftly moved on to The American Apocalypse, as it was subtitled and looked at six images on a slideshow, all captured by different photographers, whilst listening to The Doors - ‘The End’ (1967). This song really helped to set the tone of the images and create an appropriate atmosphere for us as the audience. My favourite of these images were Eddie Adams - The Execution of A Suspected Vietcong Guerilla and Marc Riboud - Jan Rose Kasmir Confronts The American National Guard. These particular images stood out to me the most of the six, firstly because of the reaction of myself and the rest of the lecture theatre when we were shown Adams’ photograph. With this image there is no explanation needed as both the message and theme are instantly made clear to the audience.

I think this image in particular is so successful because of the impact it has on the audience. It instantly evokes a response of some kind, most likely sympathy, shock or sorrow. I like that Riboud’s image is clearly discussing conflict, contradiction and duality. To me these images address highly sensitive issues such as war and peace and innocence and guilt.

We then moved on to look at other artists who have made certain social comments through their work. We looked at well-known photographer David Bailey’s work for an anti-fur campaign and the way he uses his platform to challenge consumerism. 

I think I was most interested in this piece because it has a direct link to fashion photography, albeit a negative link. I think using fashion photography to convey a message to the audience is something I would like to research more into when I specialise in photography after the people and places project.

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Adobe Accreditation Update.

// This is a screenshot from one of the practice tests for the Adobe Accreditation on PhotoShop. This is the main way I have been revising for the exam as I feel it is the most effective to complete multiple practice tests in order for me to remember the information.

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//Finishing touches.

// Today I decided on the four images I plan to use as my final outcomes, I want this image of the homeless man to be my main image and then my three other text and image combinations to go along side it as a series. I wanted to keep the font consistent throughout all of the images, however I was unsure on the placement for this image as there is a lot of text. These are the three different ideas that I tried out. I liked the first one, besides the text in the bottom corner, so for my second attempt I removed this and was really happy with the result. For the final test, I went with my initial idea, which was to have the entire background covered in text, however there wasn’t enough content to fill this, I don’t like the gap at the end, but equally I didn’t like the font any larger, so the middle image will form the majority of my final piece.

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Adobe Accreditation.

// Whilst at university, we have been given the opportunity to complete an Adobe Accreditation, there are a number of programmes that we can receive a certificate in. My main focus and the one I plan to receive first is in Photoshop as I feel it will be the most beneficial to me and my photography. My aim is to have completed my accreditation in Photoshop by Christmas this year. Next year I plan to focus on InDesign as I feel it will be the next most beneficial programme for me to use in terms of producing magazines or other methods of presenting my images for commercial projects.

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30.10.15//An Introduction to Photography.

// “Photographs don’t tell the truth, they never have.”

Today was the final of the subject talks and by far the one I was most looking forward to. Tim and Rob (photography lecturers) lead the talk and began by explaining that not everyone that completed the photography course would become a photographer and that in fact most don’t. I already like that this course will teach us a variety of skills that will be transferable to a range of different career paths, like editing, assisting or directing.

We were given tips and things to look for and include when researching photographs and photographers;

When was the work produced?

What’s the cultural context?

How is the image read? (changes over time)

From here, we were shown the different styles of photography that there are, along with examples of them by a wide variety of photographers. These were the areas that we covered;

documentary

photo journalism

landscape

fashion

portraiture

still life

experimental

fine art

As I am mostly interested in fashion and portrait photography, therefore the photographers mentioned in this talk that inspired me the most are Mario Testino, Annie Leibovitz and David Bailey.

Technical Skills // We then had a brief introduction to the technical aspect of photography and the camera. We were shown a diagram which explained the insides of a camera and how it actually works and we were also told about the basics of aperture, depth of field, shutter speed, ISO and white balance.

For the afternoon, we were given a task to complete in pairs, where we had an envelope with five images in. With nothing but the image itself and the internet, we had to find out three pieces of information for each image.

date it was published its function the author

Me and my partner completed this task pretty quickly as two if our images included celebrities, which helped us narrow down our search. For the remaining three, we used a combination of searching for descriptive key words and using google image search to collect this information.

After having this subject talk I am entirely confident that photography is the area of visual communication that I want to study for the remainder of my time at university.

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//New Edits.