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"Cycles"

These are the final images that I have created. Overall I believe these images work well for a contemporary gallery context. When reflecting I can see that I could have experimented more with this idea of photo montage. I would like to keep working with this context and concept as it interests me and is something that I find myself drawn to. My research has helped to guide and influence my concept. I started out with a very broad concept "time" but after some research, I saw that when artists worked in a time-based practice they looked into a specific area this is what make me look into a certain part of the time which was life cycles. This change in concept changed my images instead of being of people in a forest being manipulated by time it turned into the portrayal of time in nature and its connections to people. I like how the images aren't so realistic but are more constructed and abstract it think that works best for the context as it forces the viewer to engage with the work and think about it contextually. Overall I've enjoyed the challenge that this assignment has provided me and the skills it has given me.

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mock up in gallery

Seeing my work in the context is important for me to address the concept in the images. For these images, I think the gallery space works well.

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Ponga

Ponga commonly referred to as the silver fern is a tree fern found in New Zealand. The Ponga is recognizable by its white colour underneath the fern. This colour can take years to build up so isn't always seen in smaller fern plants. The Ponga has an interesting life cycle. The ferns start out rolled together, forming what is known as a Koru (significant in Māori art and cravings). Once the ferns die often stay connected to the trunk and once they fall off there is a stalk left on the trunk creating this scaley texture.

I think the life cycle of this plant is a representation of time itself and a direct link to our own lives. I find the stalks left behind interesting; they are like memories of the lives there before. Time is basically repeating life cycles.

Understanding the content of my images changes my image's concept. Learning about the life cycle of the Ponga has led me to this specific realm of time and has made my images have more of an intention than being a broad concept of time.

New Zealand Geographic. “Ferns: The Glory of the Forest.” Accessed October 12, 2022. https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/ferns-the-glory-of-the-forest/.

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Celine Marchbank

“I am interested in the way flowers visually represent the ageing process. Flowers express the effects of time in a very short period. They remind me of the mortality of everything around us. We are literally watching them die on a daily basis but it is such a beautiful process.”

Celine is a photographer and author who is very interested in the idea of life cycles. Her images don't look into manipulation but their concept interests me and speaks to my own images. Originally I wanted to look into time's impact on people but that has developed to look at this idea of life cycles and how the natural life cycles around us are much like our own.

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Exploration into maybe having a background for my spheres. I felt that having a background could make the spheres more successful. When reflecting on the artist Cathrine Nelson I felt the way her images looked like little planets was what made her images so powerful. I tested this out with my own images, but I felt that it didn't make sense for my images I thought using the Ponga forest as a background might be better to communicate my ideas. I will continue testing this.

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Here are some more developing images. For these images, I wanted to try manipulating the images more within the sphere shape. I cut out the ferns and created a pattern that would be repeated within the sphere. I would like to learn how I could layer more images together using this method to create a miniature world. I like the smudged outer edge of the image I like how it communicates movement and speed in relation to time. I feel like the need for this smudge effect isn't necessary.

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Where is your photography situated on a spectrum of realism through to fantasy and the fabulous? 

I feel like my images sit in the middle of fantasy and realism. The Ponga and the use of the sphere shape create a magically unworldly effect. I would say that the images do fit into the idea of fantasy a world that doesn't exist. I also believe that the photos communicate A fantastical way of experiencing the idea of time and place. It changes the perception of time by adding a contemporary fantasy element.

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In reflection, my images are not fantasy they are a photomontage a highly constructed images.

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Catherine Nelson

Catherine Nelson is an Australian artist who works with these miniature worlds. She uses images from all over the world, from her travels and combines them together to create these magical worlds. This type of manipulation is along the lines of magic realism because it creates magical real looking worlds. Her images are also fantastical they have a fantasy feel. Nelson's images act as a living memory for her the source images are taken from a different times different countries. The interesting part of these images is that every part of the image is different you can zoom in on one area and it tells a different story to the area across from it.

Catherine Nelson. “About.” Accessed October 10, 2022. http://www.catherinenelson.com/about.

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These are some of my experiments. I like how they turned out but I want to have more of a creative way of combining the images. I feel like they do the job of conveying the life cycle of the trees but the manipulation isn't quite as I had envisioned. So from here, I will see if I can cut up images of the Ponga and see how that works in this circle shape.

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For these images im changing how I manipulate my images. Here are some examples of what I've been looking at. For me, I've always struggled with this side of photoshop I've only really used it to do touch-ups and colour grading so I really wanted to take this opportunity to learn some different manipulation skills.

For these images, I wanted to look into the concept of time through the life cycle of a Ponga. I've always been interested in the life process of the fern and think that it relates to and symbolises the idea of time well. Out of these two images I'm really drawn to the circle image as within the concept of time circles are a common symbol. For example in clocks, and this relates back to my interest in the idea of time spirals.

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These are some images of the Ponga I took. For these photos, I wanted to capture all the stages of life for these ferns. I made sure to get images of the sliver fern on the ground and the Korus. I like how these images turned out.

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Another example of the concept of time showing up in the context of a contemporary gallery.

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"Depicting the passing of time in a still image has been a welcome challenge for photographers, as well as capturing a fleeting moment. Timelessness and eternity are also present in nature, in human life as well as in our built environment."

This gallery has an in interesting exhibition going about the concept of time. Their philosophy speaks around the idea of capturing a second. They look at the role of the photographer and what kinds of images they take in response to this theme. The exhibition is to run from the 17 of November to the 22 of December so they are still curating the selected images.

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How these images work in a series

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Research into what kind of time exhibitions have happened. In this exhibition, the idea of time was exhibited in the Nation Gallery of Art located in Washington DC, America. The exhibition looks at a range of different ideas within the concept of time for example one part of the exhibition is traces of history which looks into the documentation of history in relation to time. Another category is Framing Time and Place which looks into the relationship between time and place. I find the idea of looking into place and how a place can be a direct link to time interesting and something I might want to research further.

This research has helped me to see this concept in a context which helps me to shape my images.

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Here are some edits that I didn't like and don't think were successful. As a photographer I always want to display work that I think is successful but I know to show my process it is nessciary to show some ideas that didn't tick all the boxes. I don't like the smudges I feel like they don't look as cohesive as my other images. I even tried following the outline of the tree to see if I would like that more and I didn't so I've decided to take these images as being a learning curve. I think I've overly used these images and need to take some more to get some more creative ideas. I feel like I'm in a bit of a creative block but I did want to explore as many combinations with these images to see how I could progress the idea.